Online marketplace
What is an online marketplace?
An online marketplace is a platform where many sellers reach one shared audience and the platform takes a commission on every sale. eMAG Marketplace, Amazon and Etsy work this way. A seller stands on demand they did not build, and in exchange accepts someone else’s rules on price, delivery and service, sits beside competing offers on the same page, and does not own the relationship with the buyer.
Example
A shop sells a kettle for €60. On a marketplace charging 15 per cent, the platform keeps €9; delivery costs €4, packaging €1, and the kettle was bought in at €35. That leaves €11 a sale, with nothing spent on finding the buyer.
The same kettle in the shop’s own store: €60 less €35 of goods, €4 of delivery and €1 of packaging leaves €20, but the buyer has to be brought in. At €6 of advertising per order, €14 remains; at €12, only €8 — and the channel is now dearer than the platform. The amounts are illustrative, but the sum is exactly this one: commission against customer acquisition cost.
What the sum leaves out is the second order. On a marketplace the customer belongs to the platform and sees every rival offer next time. In your own shop you keep the email address, the order history and a reason to come back.
Why it matters for a business
A marketplace is a channel, not a strategy. It brings volume quickly and is a sensible place to test whether a product is wanted at all. In exchange it fixes the rules: your price sits beside ten others on the same screen, dispatch times and service standards belong to the platform, and the account can be suspended by its decision.
Sales there are not off the books either. Under the DAC7 rules, platforms report their sellers to the tax authorities above a minimum volume of sales, so the platform’s statement and your own accounts have to agree.
The workable arrangement is both channels at once: the marketplace brings volume, and your own shop is the part that stays yours — your domain, your data, your terms for delivery and returns. We build the second part — an online shop with a catalogue, a basket, payment and delivery — and connect it to the first: products and stock go out to eMAG Marketplace, Amazon or any other marketplace from one system.
What to ask
- What is the commission by category, and what else is deducted — handling fees, on-platform advertising, returns?
- Is there margin left after the commission at your prices and your delivery rates?
- Who answers to the customer for a late or faulty order, and whose rules govern the return?
- What customer data do you receive, and what remains yours if the account is suspended?
- Who keeps stock in step across both places so one item is not sold twice?