Online Marketplace Comparison for Sellers
Amazon
Amazon is the largest online marketplace in the United States with over $700 billion in annual gross merchandise volume, 300 million active customer accounts, and more than 200 million Prime members worldwide. The platform dominates virtually every new product category, with especially strong positions in electronics, household essentials, health and beauty, books, toys, and grocery. Amazon's Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program handles storage, packing, shipping, and returns, qualifying products for Prime two-day delivery and dramatically increasing conversion rates.
The cost of selling on Amazon is the highest among major marketplaces. The Professional seller plan costs $39.99 per month, referral fees range from 8 to 45 percent by category (most are 15 percent), and FBA adds fulfillment fees of $3.22 to $10+ per unit plus storage fees of $0.87 to $2.40 per cubic foot per month. Competition is intense with over 2 million active third-party sellers, and advertising through Amazon PPC is effectively mandatory for new product launches, adding $0.50 to $5.00+ per click depending on category. Amazon works best for sellers with private label brands, established wholesale relationships, or unique products that can compete on more than just price. Our complete Amazon FBA guide covers the platform in depth.
eBay
eBay is the second-largest general marketplace with $73 billion in annual GMV and 132 million active buyers. The platform's strength lies in its flexibility: auction, fixed-price, and Best Offer formats accommodate everything from $5 garage sale items to $50,000 vintage watches. eBay dominates used goods, refurbished electronics, collectibles, auto parts, vintage clothing, trading cards, and specialty items that Amazon's product-focused catalog system handles poorly.
eBay's fees are more straightforward than Amazon's. There is no mandatory monthly subscription (optional Store subscriptions from $7.95 to $349.95 per month), sellers get 250 free listings per month, and the final value fee is 13.25 percent plus $0.30 per order in most categories. There is no fulfillment service, so sellers handle their own shipping using eBay's discounted labels (20 to 40 percent off retail rates). eBay works best for resellers sourcing from thrift stores, estate sales, and liquidation, for sellers of collectible and vintage items, and for refurbished electronics sellers. The eBay getting started guide walks through the full setup process.
Walmart Marketplace
Walmart Marketplace has grown rapidly since opening to third-party sellers in 2016, now processing over $100 billion in annual ecommerce sales and hosting approximately 150,000 active sellers. The platform's key advantage is significantly less competition than Amazon in most product categories, since Walmart's seller approval process is selective and filters out casual or low-quality sellers. There are no monthly fees, no listing fees, and referral fees range from 6 to 20 percent with most categories between 8 and 15 percent.
Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) provides FBA-like logistics with storage, packing, and shipping at competitive rates, plus a "Fulfilled by Walmart" badge and two-day shipping tags that boost search ranking. The main barrier is the approval process, which requires an established business with ecommerce history, a US Tax ID, and UPCs for all products. Walmart works best for established sellers expanding from Amazon, for brands selling value-oriented consumer products, and for sellers seeking lower competition without sacrificing audience size. The Walmart Marketplace guide covers the application and setup process.
Etsy
Etsy serves a focused market of handmade goods, vintage items (20+ years old), and craft supplies, with 96 million active buyers who specifically seek unique, artisan, and one-of-a-kind products. The platform's buyer demographic skews female, ages 25 to 45, with above-average household income, and purchasing motivation driven by uniqueness and craftsmanship rather than price or convenience.
Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee per item (valid for four months or until sold), a 6.5 percent transaction fee, and a 3 percent plus $0.25 payment processing fee. Offsite Ads add 15 percent on sales generated through Etsy's external advertising (12 percent for sellers making over $10,000 annually), though you can opt out if your annual revenue is below $10,000. Total effective fees range from 10 to 22 percent depending on whether the sale came through an offsite ad. Etsy works best for makers, crafters, vintage dealers, and artists who can create products that cannot be found on mass-market platforms.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace reaches over one billion monthly users and has become the dominant platform for local selling, effectively replacing Craigslist for most consumer-to-consumer and small business transactions. The platform charges zero fees for local pickup transactions and only 5 percent for shipped orders, making it the lowest-cost marketplace available.
Facebook Marketplace's strength is local selling of items where shipping is impractical or where buyers want to inspect before purchasing: furniture, vehicles, appliances, home goods, and large sporting equipment. For shipped items, it provides basic functionality but lacks the seller tools, analytics, and buyer protection programs that eBay, Amazon, and Walmart offer. Facebook works best as a complementary channel for local sales, for clearing inventory quickly at low cost, and for testing product demand before investing in listing on fee-based platforms.
Poshmark
Poshmark is a social commerce platform focused on fashion, clothing, shoes, and accessories, with 80 million registered users who browse the app like a social media feed rather than a traditional search-based marketplace. The platform's social features, including sharing listings to followers, virtual "Posh Parties" organized by brand or category, and community interaction, create an engagement model that rewards active sellers who treat Poshmark as a social channel rather than a static listing platform.
Poshmark's fee structure is simple: a flat $2.95 fee on sales under $15 and a 20 percent commission on sales of $15 or more. Shipping is a flat $7.67 for Priority Mail packages up to 5 pounds, prepaid by the buyer. The 20 percent commission is higher than eBay's 13.25 percent, but Poshmark includes shipping label costs in the buyer's total, so sellers do not pay for shipping out of their earnings. Poshmark works best for fashion resellers, thrift store sourcers focusing on clothing, and anyone selling branded apparel and accessories.
Mercari
Mercari is a general-purpose resale marketplace that positions itself as simpler than eBay with lower barriers to entry. Listing takes under two minutes on the mobile app, and the platform handles shipping labels, payment processing, and buyer protection. Mercari attracts casual sellers and buyers looking for secondhand goods across all categories, from electronics and clothing to home goods and toys.
Mercari charges a 10 percent selling fee plus payment processing of 2.9 percent plus $0.50 per transaction, bringing the effective fee to approximately 13 percent plus $0.50 on most sales. The platform provides prepaid shipping labels at competitive rates, and sellers can choose between several shipping options based on package size and weight. Mercari works best for casual sellers, for items in the $10 to $75 range, and as a secondary channel for inventory that does not sell on primary platforms.
Bonanza
Bonanza positions itself as a lower-fee alternative to eBay and Amazon, with approximately 50,000 active sellers and significantly less traffic than major marketplaces. The platform charges a Final Offer Value fee of 3.5 percent on sales under $500 (plus an additional 1.5 percent on the portion above $500), making it one of the cheapest marketplaces for sellers. However, Bonanza's lower traffic means sellers typically need to import their eBay listings and use Bonanza as a supplementary channel rather than a primary one.
Bonanza offers optional advertising tiers that boost your listings' visibility through Google Shopping and other external channels, with fees ranging from 9 to 30 percent on advertised sales. Without paid advertising, organic traffic on Bonanza is a fraction of what eBay or Amazon deliver. Bonanza works best as a low-cost additional channel for sellers already listing on eBay, particularly for unique or niche items where Bonanza's smaller but engaged buyer base might generate supplemental sales at lower fees.
Choosing the Right Combination
Most successful ecommerce sellers use two to three marketplaces rather than spreading across every available platform. The ideal combination depends on your product type, business model, and operational capacity. For new branded or private label products, the strongest combination is Amazon plus Walmart Marketplace, capturing the two largest buyer audiences with different competitive dynamics. For used and vintage goods, eBay plus one specialty platform (Poshmark for fashion, Facebook Marketplace for local items) covers the broadest resale audience. For handmade and artisan products, Etsy plus your own Shopify store builds brand equity while accessing Etsy's targeted buyer base.
The detailed marketplace selection guide walks through the decision framework for every business type, and the multi-channel selling guide covers the tools and processes needed to manage multiple platforms efficiently once you have made your selection.