How to sell on OnBuy

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OnBuy can lay claim to to be the world’s fastest-growing marketplace and with their announcement of a marketing campaign for Q4, we asked them to set out how to sell on OnBuy so that you can get up and running and selling as quickly as possible:

How to sell on OnBuy

OnBuy is the fastest-growing marketplace in the world and the next smart step to expanding your business. Known as the marketplace for sellers, we make it easy for online retailers to sign up, get started and benefit from a huge opportunity to gain incremental revenue growth.

After our successful Series A funding round along with our incredible 24,000% growth in just 4 years, we’re set to launch into over 140 countries by 2023, starting with 40 initial sites in 2020, putting our sellers’ products in front of a global audience and opening up new opportunities for retailers worldwide.

Add to that our most wide-scale £5m Q4 marketing campaign yet, including an exclusive £1m deal with ITV that’ll put OnBuy in front of over 44 million people across the nation, there’s no better time to sign up and expand your reach with OnBuy.

Why sell with OnBuy?

Thanks to our fair and transparent approach, you’ll never have to worry about us competing with you or using your sales data against you. We’re a true marketplace and we intend to stay one! This means we’ll never sell our own products and compete against you – our focus will always remain on growing your sales.

Between our low selling fees, effective product marketing and superb seller support (plus a wealth of additional benefits), it’s no wonder we have hundreds of online retailers signing up each month. Take a look below at just some of the reasons why sellers love OnBuy.

  • Competitive selling fees
  • With fees of 5-9%, you can price lower to attract more buyers without losing profit.

  • Get paid immediately
  • As soon as your item is dispatched, our payment processor PayPal will instantly release the funds into your account.

  • Risk-free selling
  • If you make less than £500 in a month, we’ll waive next month’s Standard subscription fee through our Sales Guarantee.

  • PayPal Seller Protection
  • Sell with confidence and additional security courtesy of our partnership with PayPal on eligible orders.

  • We don’t compete with sellers
  • As a true marketplace, we sell your products (not our own), so we will never sell alongside you and use your sales data to boost our sales – our focus is on helping you grow your business instead!

  • Dedicated UK-based seller support team
  • Signing up and getting started is easy thanks to our brilliant team who get back to applications by the next working day – and we’ll continue to support you through your journey with OnBuy!

How to start selling with OnBuy

Selling with OnBuy is quick, easy and designed to work with your business. In just four simple steps, you can be up and running, reaching new customers across the UK – and soon the world!

We understand how busy sellers are, so we’ve made the process as seamless as possible to allow you to get set up with ease.

  1. Register
  2. Start by filling out our easy application form to register your interest. Our fantastic Onboarding team will be in touch by the next working day.

  3. Upload
  4. Once you’re set up, you can start listing your products. We have three ways to do this: create products manually, use our handy templates, or opt for a channel integration.

  5. Sell
  6. Now it’s time to start selling! Our team are here to promote your products to help you reach millions of customers.

  7. Earn
  8. As the only marketplace in the UK to offer sellers immediate payment, your funds will be released by our payment processor PayPal as soon as your item is dispatched!

Now that you know just how easy it is to get started, let’s delve a little more into listing your products on OnBuy.

How to list your products on OnBuy

Having worked with numerous online retailers of all sizes since our launch in 2016, we know that every business operates differently. That’s why we wanted to give our sellers more choice when it comes to listing products in our catalogue.

Whether you’ll be mapping onto existing products or creating new ones, our convenient system is here to make it swift and straightforward. With three different ways to list your products on our marketplace, you’ll have stock ready in your OnBuy store in no time:

  • Create products manually using our helpful Product Wizard
  • Use our handy template to add your data – you can ask for assistance from our Product team
  • Upload your products using a channel integration

Top tips for selling on OnBuy

Images

  • Set the main image on your listing as a photo of the product on a white background without packaging to ensure it’s eligible for external marketing – this will increase the visibility of your product to an even wider audience of shoppers!
  • Use high-quality images to present your product in the most attractive way to buyers
  • Avoid using images containing other products not included in the listing as this can mislead customers

Product descriptions

  • OnBuy works on a catalogue system where multiple sellers can list on a single product, so avoid any references to shipping, seller-specific freebies and warranties
  • Take extra care with quantities, measurements and volumes to ensure there’ll be no surprises for customers upon delivery!

Product details

  • You can claim your brand through the OnBuy Brand Ownership feature to prevent other sellers from listing on your products – just fill out a form through the Seller Control Panel when you’re signed up for our brilliant Seller Management team to review!
  • You’ll need to list your products with a barcode (our team can assist with this) unless you’re listing in an exempt category, such as jewellery

Customer service

  • We have a secure messaging system that allows buyers and sellers to communicate safely through the OnBuy platform
  • Should you have any issues with customers, our Seller Support team are on hand to advise on the best way to handle any situations.
  • Our partnership with PayPal offers protection for sellers and buyers alike, so any issues can be handled via their trusted dispute system

Now that you know just how easy it is to get started, head straight over to our site to register or find out even more about becoming a seller on OnBuy!

10 Responses

  1. I have been selling on OnBuy for a while now and have had some success.
    My only gripe is that if another seller undercuts your price by 1p, then your offering seems to disappear.
    Having been seriously affected by eBay’s continued race to the bottom on price (and to hell with any consideration for excellent service, warranties, etc), I am concerned that OnBuy will follow this trend when the Chinese invade, as they surely will.

  2. It is just another catalogue marketplace like the rest of them. Lowest price WINS. In our sector your 9% plus Paypal 2.9% plus a 30p which is actually a fair bit more expensive than eBay.
    The few things I listed were so badly described. However they seem fairly quick to actually change the listing which is good.
    I have said before the big advantage they are throwing your stuff around the web on all the price comparison sites, it does not do much in our sector because the high fees but would probably suit others.
    Don’t use the multi channel extensions they provide however “nightmare” untested, broke my whole site (I did reach out Onbuy before you start the message has been left open for weeks now) I gave up.
    As others are saying YES China sellers have started to appear.
    We do need some other alternate platforms in the UK as we only have ebay and Amazon so there is little choice or competition.

  3. Been excellent for us this year on Onbuy, sales went through the roof and margins much better than on other sites, but we don’t have as much competition as we do on ebay at the moment.
    However 2 things that wind me up, but are found on all market places, are these huge companies that just stock everything, but they have no knowledge of what they sell and the listings are clearly just grabbed from catalogues etc… The big issue is that they obviously automatically upload duplicates of their other sites and so the listing is riddled with ‘special characters’, typos and the such. They obviously never bother to check anything after the upload.
    To add insult to injury, and i would love to mention a name here, but i won’t, some companies mark branded products as their own so you can not add to the listing. As they use the correct EAN it causes issue. I will give Onbuy full credit for being quick to address these issues, but it is time consuming when a company has done this to masses of listings.
    As for Chinese sellers and drop shippers. I have no idea what to do about them. It is very hard to prove when applying that they aren’t in the UK if they provide a UK business address etc? I’m guessing that atleast they must be registered as a business, but still an issue.
    A few things i have really liked though…. The ability to add different shipping rates to different places in the UK on the same listing! Why oh why the likes of ebay can’t work this out i don’t know? It means i don’t have to exclude locations because people don’t read decriptions that tell them to contact us before purchase if in certain areas… so no email ping pong, extra invoices and cancelled sales. The holiday settings thing is great too, and i see ebay have finally woken up to this!
    So all in all, it may not be perfect, i doubt any market place will ever be, but it is good to see a new face on the block that is taking itself and its sellers seriously. We have certainly done very well out of it.

  4. “How to sell on onBuy” ???

    It must be hard going for them is they need the repetitive marketing on TB and other sites.

  5. I would love to know if there are any plans in the pipeline for an integration with Visualsoft?

    I know on here there are the usual negative people who basically complain continuously about eBay and other platforms – and I too have frustrations, but at the end of the day we have the choice to be on them or not. It is like takeaways who complain about Just Eat, Hotels moan about Booking.com – remember when these places didn’t exist and you had to find a way to get business directly. We really do need positive thinking with what is going on in the world at the minute – especially if like me you sell to the Entertainment and Events industry.

  6. I had never heard of onbuy but it does look really promising!

    Definitely a lot of drop shipping going on, however, but there is on Amazon and eBay also. Will have to keep an eye on these guys!

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