This document provides information about online marketplaces for selling products as a creative entrepreneur. It defines online marketplaces and discusses the benefits of using them, such as avoiding the need to set up your own payment processing and reaching a wider audience with less investment. The document analyzes several major online marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Bonanza) and provides tips for selling effectively on each platform. It concludes that the best marketplace depends on the types of products being sold and suggests Etsy for handmade goods.

1. This programme has been funded with
support from the European Commission
MODULE 3
ONLINE MARKETPLACES
FOR SELLING YOUR
PRODUCTS

2. This module will introduce the idea of online marketplaces to
creative entrepreneurs. It discusses the benefits of using online
marketplaces and why they are a good first step when starting to
sell online. This module will act as a guide and will help the
creative entrepreneurs choose the online marketplace most suited
to their business. It will also provide insider tips and trick to setting
up a professional online shop on one of these marketplaces.

3. Learning Focus
• Learn the definition of an Online Marketplace
• Discuss the benefits of Online Marketplaces and how
they differ from
• independant ecommerce sites.
• Spotlight on the main Online Marketplaces for Creative
and the Pros/Cons of each
• What you need to sell through an Online Marketplace

4. Definition of an Online Marketplace:
A marketplace is a multi-vendor online store that enables
consumers to shop for a variety of products and brands from
multiple vendors across multiple locations.

5. Benefits of Marketplaces
• Marketplaces make it convenient for businesses to list and sell
their products
• By using a marketplace, you avoid the need to set up your own
shopping cart and payment process
• Marketplaces build a community around the common needs of
retailers and consumers
• People recognize and trust the well-known marketplaces and
can buy in the reassurance of their strong customer protection
• Online marketplaces can help quickly reach a wider audience
with a smaller investment

6. Benefits of Marketplaces
The main reason for choosing an online marketplace is the massive
audiences that these sites attract. Think of it like this: if you were given
the choice would you set up a stall in a major shopping centre or in a
back-alley? If you set up away from the main thoroughfare, you would
have spend more on signs and leaflets to let people know where you are
and encourage customers to seek you out.
While we suggesting you set up your shop on an online marketplace, the
benefits of having your own website should not be overlooked. A website
will help you build your brand, personalize your offerings, and drive
customer relationship and experience.

7. What they sell: Little fairies and leprechauns
made from felt.
Their USP: They are one off - each one is unique!
Where she sells: On her own website
www.irishfeltfairy.com and on Etsy
CASE STUDY Franziska Lienberger of Irishfeltfairy

8. Which site sells more? Etsy!!
www.etsy.com/ie/shop/IrishFeltFairy
3 top tips for people who Tip 1 Good variety of products
want to start selling online? Tip 2 Good pricing
Tip 3 Clear understanding of website
CASE STUDY Franziska Lienberger of Irishfeltfairy

9. Still not sure if an Online Marketplace is right for you?
The following table outlined some of the
differences between Ecommerce Websites
and Online Marketplaces

10. CATEGORY E-COMMERCE STORES ONLINE MARKETPLACES
Investment (Development
Time and Costs)
Require more time and
budget – while businesses
can leverage low cost
platforms like Wordpress
to; efforts are required for
Customization
Require little upfront
investment and businesses
can get started very quickly
– Register and sell
Functionality
& Extensibility
Feature rich and can be
further extended to add
more functionality.
Limited functionality
available to businesses –
usually just provide the
basic functionality required
by businesses to sell
effectively.
Maintenance Require more maintenance A lot less maintenance

11. CATEGORY E-COMMERCE STORES ONLINE MARKETPLACES
Customization Can be customized to
incorporate any custom
requirements or workflows
specific to your
organization.
No flexibility for
customization. They
mandate the businesses
the use the platform as is.
Reach Customer reach in e-
commerce stores is usually
very limited compared to
online marketplaces.
Allow you to reach a much
wider audience across
geographies.
Scalability While e-commerce stores
can be scaled to meet the
growing needs of
businesses they may
require additional
investments
Online marketplaces are
designed for scalability (as
they have to cater to
multiple businesses and a
relatively
larger customer base).

12. CATEGORY E-COMMERCE STORES ONLINE MARKETPLACES
SEO Store needs to be
optimized for search
engines. SEO, for most
businesses, is often a
tough nut to crack.
The popular online
marketplaces are already
optimized for search
engines. Businesses can
quickly take advantage of
their popularity with
search engines
Customer
Acquisition Cost
The customer acquisition
cost is higher for
ecommerce stores as you
have to invest additional
marketing dollars to attract
customers to your
ecommerce store.
The customer acquisition
cost is usually lower for
online marketplaces; it
allows you to leverage the
existing large customer
base (the costs are spread
across multiple businesses).

13. CATEGORY E-COMMERCE STORES ONLINE MARKETPLACES
Branding Flexibility to control all the
aspects of your brand –
from your website
template, logo, call to
action, to customer
communication.
Very limited brand visibility.
Customers, more often
than not associate all their
positive (and negative)
experiences with the online
marketplace and
not the brand.
Customer service While businesses can
Better control the customer
experience in e-commerce
stores, customer service
can be a daunting task for
businesses (both small
and big) and require
significant investments.
Particular about customer
experience and have
stringent rules in place
(mostly in favor of
customers) to control that
experience. Businesses can
easily offload customer
service to online
marketplaces /leverage
infrastructure control
customer experiences.

14. CATEGORY E-COMMERCE STORES ONLINE MARKETPLACES
Flexibility and control Businesses have better
control over what is
displayed about their
brand. They can decide if
and how an information
is conveyed.
Businesses often have very
little say in if and how a
positive or negative review
about the brand or its
product, is displayed.
Competition With e-commerce store you
make customers go the
extra mile to compare your
product price with that
of competition.
Listing alongside a number
of other businesses making
it easy for consumers to
compare prices.
Margins Businesses do not have to
share any commission.
Commissions charged on
every sale impacting
merchant’s profit margin.

15. CATEGORY E-COMMERCE STORES ONLINE MARKETPLACES
Data (Customer Insights) Businesses own the
customer data which can
be collected to draw
meaningful insights and
better target the customers
(promotions, offers, emails,
cross-sell, upsell, etc.)
No access to customer
information with
businesses that limits how
they reach out
to the customers.
Personalization The available data on hand
and advanced features of
the e-commerce store can
be easily used to
personalize the product
offering and customer
experience (custom pricing,
etc.).
This is a level playing field
for all businesses. While the
marketplace can
personalize the customer
experience the benefit is
not passed on.

16. CATEGORY E-COMMERCE STORES ONLINE MARKETPLACES
Customer Relationship
Management
With e-commerce stores
businesses are in complete
of how they manage and
nurture the customer
relationship. E-commerce
stores give them the
flexibility to target
customers better and
increase the customer
lifetime value.
No concept of customer
relationship management.
While online marketplaces
can help businesses reach a
wider audience the
customer lifetime value is
limited because businesses
cannot retarget them
for lack of data

17. Online Marketplaces for Creatives –
choosing the right one for you!
Having your own online store has its benefits as we have seen, but is in
no way a simple and effortless experience. For a small or medium
business, especially if you’re just starting it, selling on online
marketplaces might be an easier and quicker way to achieve profit.
For Creative Businesses, there are a huge number of online marketplaces
to choose from - we’ll look at the advatnages and disadvatnages of
of these to get started..
5

18. Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer and it’s been online for
nearly 20 years, so they have enormous experience and expertise in
e-commerce. It was started as an online bookstore but soon extended
its activity, letting everyone use their platform to sell
almost anything they want… for a fee, of course.
Pros and cons on the next slides
AMAZON1

19. 1. Unmatched traffic. Amazon.com is the fifth most visited website
in the United States, so you can only imagine what kind of selling
possibilities it provides. The number of merchants is large as well
though, so you have to constantly look for ways to stand out
from the crowd.
2. Reliable platform. The Amazon’s system prevents possible fraud
from customers and ensures them of their order’s safety as well.
This two-way security brings additional trust – most people tend
to use well known marketplaces such as Amazon as it’s generally
considered to be safer than smaller competitors or private
online stores.
3. Straightforward cost system. Selling on your own online store
might inflate the marketing costs to heights you wouldn’t have
ever expected and it’s not easy at all to determine future profits.
Amazon, on the other hand, collects a fee for each item sold,
usually a percentage of the price – and that’s pretty much it.
Pros:

20. 1. Major competition. Amazon has a lot of merchants you’ll have
to compete with.
2. Withholding your money. Depending on the situation, you
won’t get your money for 14 to 90 days after selling an item.
For smaller sellers, it might cause some difficulties of running
business.
3. Rarely a second chance. There are numerous cases when
Amazon closes a merchant’s store without any obvious reasons.
Just a couple of negative reviews can evoke substantial
problems, even though they make up only a small percentage
of all your customers. The only way to completely avoid this is
to satisfy every single customer, which might prove to be rather
difficult.
Cons:

21. Selling
Tips:
• Think about how you will ship your items. Amazon provides a
fulfillment service that many sellers choose to use. Simply ship
your inventory to an Amazon warehouse, and when an item sells,
they will ship your item. They also take care of returns and
customer service.
• Avoid weird punctuation, asterisks, caps or special characters in
your item titles. It may be tempting to add exclamations or
capital letters to catch the eye of shoppers, but most of the time
those characters won’t be in the search terms, and could
negatively impact the chances of your items getting seen.
• Consider upgrading your membership to unlock extra features.
Many online marketplaces offer great tools for their free
memberships, but Amazon keeps all the goodies locked away for
Pro Merchants only. Upgrading will give you access to tools like
bulk uploading and enhanced editing

22. Amazon is usually the best option if you’re
selling mainstream products.
RESOURCE The Amazon Training Center offer tutorials
and guides to help you sell on the platform.

23. eBay – the Ultimate Online Auction. A contemporary to Amazon,
eBay has similar presence on the internet, but the business model
isslightly different. The largest C2C (consumer to consumer)
marketplace on the internet, it provides a possibility to sell nearly
anything you want bysetting up an auction as well as by a fixed price.
Pros and cons on the next slides
EBAY2

24. 1. Plenty of potential customers. eBay.com ranks as the 7th most
visited website in the United States, and most of these visitors
can become your customers if you know how to reach them.
2. The auction system. If you’re selling rare or unique items, the
auction system might prove to be your best friend, as the price
can inflate to unexpected levels. If your merchandise is widely
available, selling with a fixed price might prove to be a better
choice though.
3. Increased trust. eBay has anti-fraud systems in place,
increasing the confidence of customers, as they are ensured
they’ll get their money back if they don’t receive exactly what
they ordered. This usually leads to increased sales, as trust is
one of the most important issues when buying online.
Pros:

25. 1. The dominance of PayPal. eBay requires that all transactions
are made through PayPal. While this increases security of both
parties, it might cause some unexpected problems which can
range from withholding your earnings for a long time to an
overall closure of your account.
2. The auction system. Yes, it’s one of the main advantages of this
selling system, but have in mind that if your items are easily
accessible, you shouldn’t expect extensive bid wars on them.
This might make you lose some profits you may gain in other
marketplaces.
Cons:

26. Selling
Tips:
• Follow along with eBay’s item listing recommendations to find
out best practices for item title, price, description, and more.
This will help you get maximum exposure of your items.
• Expand your selling options by using listing upgrades or
automating seller tasks. Although these things may cost extra
money, they could benefit your item listings significantly.
• Offer details to your buyers upfront so that there is no
miscommunication at any point in the buying process. This
transparency will save you from returns or bad reviews, because
your customers will know exactly what they are getting when
they buy from you.

27. eBay is best for rarer or unique items
RESOURCE Start selling with Ebay: Check out Ebay
Seller Centre which offers a multitude of
resources to help you set up and start
selling on Ebay.

28. Etsy – the Leading Marketplace for Hand-Crafted Goods
A fairly new marketplace which was started in 2005, Etsy was created
as a meeting place between those who produce handmade
merchandise or want to sell vintage items that are at least 20 years
old and those who are looking to buy such items
Pros and cons on the next slides
ETSY3

29. 1. The audience. The visitors of Etsy.com usually know what
they’re looking for and have a little more sophisticated taste
than the ones of the previous marketplaces. This might lead to
additional sales if you produce your own goods or have
something really stylish to sell.
2. Customization of the store. Etsy has probably the most
beautiful interface for your store and you can craft it to suit your
(and your customers’) needs the best. A good home page of
your store on Etsy could be that little something that brings
extra sales.
3. A good place for starters. If you’re an aspiring designer or
manufacturer of unique, hand-made items, this might be the
best marketplace to start selling. It won’t overwhelm you with
its vastness as eBay and Amazon would, and again, the people
here are usually looking for something different, so it’s a great
place to shine.
Pros:

30. 1. Lesser amount of customers. Etsy is not as popular as its major
competitors, although it still is near the top 50 of the most
visited websites in the USA, showing considerable growth in
recent years.
2. Limited range. If you don’t sell vintage or hand-made items,
you can’t sell on Etsy - it’s simple as that. Therefore if your
products don’t fall in these categories, you should look for
other marketplaces to do your business in.
3. Lots of talent. If you don’t create something that is high quality
as well as different from the others, you might face some
difficulties selling in this marketplace, as there are lots of very
talented sellers who don’t raise their prices to unaffordable
levels. There’s always the all-important area of marketing
though, so everything is possible.
Cons:

31. Selling
Tips:
• Use high-quality photos that display your products from every
angle. Etsy is perfect for handmade items, but sellers are
sometimes weary of buying hand-crafted or individually
produced items because the quality is unknown. Eliminate the
fear of the unexpected by providing photos that capture the
entire essence of your product.
• Let your handmade brand shine from beginning to end.
Because you are selling more personalized items, you have the
opportunity to carry your brand through the whole buying
process. Use your thank-you email and product packaging to
further showcase your unique brand.
• Treat customers with a great experience to encourage word-of-
mouth marketing. Providing an excellent service will not only
build repeat customers, but also get your customers sharing the
word about your products with their network.

32. Etsy is definitely the ultimate place to sell if you’re
producing your own goods. It’s a great place to sell
Handmade Clothing, Jewelry, Crafts & Gifts.
RESOURCE Getting started with Etsy: Check out their
Etsy Seller Handbook with inspiration and
advice on setting up your Etsy Shop

33. Bonanza – the Social Marketplace. Bonanza is a marketplace built for
those who don’t know exactly what they want to buy, but are open to
discoveries and the social side of shopping. Buyers and sellers can
chat real-time on this site, and everyone can create collections of
items of a certain theme, opening new ways both to market your
goods and provide great customer service.
Pros and cons on the next slides
BONANZA4

34. 1. Unique audience. If you’re selling stylish goods that are
different from anything else you can find on the internet, then
there’s a very high chance the Bonanza’s audience will be
interested.
2. Easy to use. You can easily import all your merchandise from
eBay or Etsy, so if you’re already selling on those marketplaces,
starting up here will be a hassle-free experience.
3. Competitive fees. Bonanza offers some of the lowest fees for
using their platform to sell your items on the internet, so it’s a
good place if you’re just starting up and are not sure about the
costs you can handle.
Pros:

35. 1. Less traffic. As Bonanza is quite a new marketplace, it still
doesn’t have a wide circle of buyers. Lower amount of people
who see your products usually means lower sales.
2. Limited range of merchandise. While the items that can be
sold on Bonanza range from perfume and shoes to helmets and
bikes, all of the merchandise here is unique, so it’s not a good
place if you’re selling identical items in large quantities or
reselling.
3. Competitive atmosphere. It’s not easy to stand out on Bonanza
- there are lots of very talented people selling their goods
there.
Cons:

36. Selling
Tips:
• Save time getting started on Bonanza by using their time-saving
tools. Bonanza has a great importing system that automatically
imports and syncs your item listings from an existing
marketplace you use, like Amazon or eBay. If you are listing
items online for the first time, Bonanza allows you to edit
multiple items at once.
• Use Bonanza’s item description drop-down menus to add
specific item description details. These are the categories that
shoppers use to filter their searches, so it will bring you more
relevant traffic and shoppers.
• Use Bonanza’s Background Burner to replace the background of
your item photo. Having a clean, blank background gives your
item photos an added level of professionalism. On top of that,
many online marketplaces require an all-white background for
their item photos.

37. RESOURCE Getting started with Bonanza: Check out
the Bonanza Help Centre which offers
start up selling advice and resources

38. CafePress – a Great Addition to Your Business
While CafePress isn’t your usual online marketplace as you can’t sell
your own items here, what it does though is allow you to upload your
own designs and create some great merchandise from them such as
greetings cards, keyrings, coasters, t-shirts etc.It can be also be used
as an extra sales channel if you’re in the fashion business – the
possibilities are actually endless, you just need to think of a way how
this customized merchandise can help your business.
Pros and cons on the next slides
CAFE PRESS5

39. 1. No unsold inventory. All products on CafePress are made to
order, meaning you won’t have to worry about any
merchandise you weren’t able to sell.
2. Reliable service. The marketplace handles all your sales from
order to shipping, so you can sit back and watch the profits
grow – if you offer some exceptional designs, of course.
3. Additional platform for sales. You can integrate the CafePress
products you design into your website, but the items still show
up in the searches on the marketplace itself, providing you with
two sales channels.
Pros:

40. 1. You can’t sell your own goods. You can customize the products
CafePress has to offer, but selling your own merchandise, even
if it’s t-shirts or posters, is impossible here.
2. Less control over customer service. As mentioned above,
CafePress handles all your sales, so everything doesn’t depend
on you here. If you’re used to providing top-notch customer
service, it might cause some problems… not necessarily, of
course.
3. Low profit margins. The marketplace retains most of the
profits for the items you sell, so you probably won’t earn a
fortune selling only on this website – but it’s a very good
addition to your business nevertheless.
Cons:

41. RESOURCE Getting started with CafePress: Check out
the CafePress Learner Centre which offers
start up selling advice and resources

42. Think you can’t make a
living out of designed
T-shirts and mugs?
In 2005, I approached my bank looking for €15,000.
We have a quote of their reply hanging on the
wall of our offices which reads:
‘You want to sell T-shirts on the internet.
Are you sure about that,
would ya not try and think of something else?’
“
”Daragh Murphy Hairy Baby.com

43. Their story: One Saturday afternoon during the summer of 2005 a
computer made the best sound ever. Bing! That was the sound of the
first t-shirt sold on hairybaby.com. It was music to the ears of
Kerryman Daragh Murphy, founder and owner of Hairy Baby online
clothing company. Could he possibly prove the numerous bank
managers that turned him down for a loan wrong? Armed with a
computer, a printer and a bucket load of ideas, he was willing to give it
a try. Now 9 years later, the company is turning a healthy profit and
sending t-shirts to Irish people all over the world. Even bank managers.
Where they sell: www.hairybaby.com
CASE STUDY Hairy Baby, Ireland
What they sell: Irish themed
clothing including t-shirts and
hoodies featuring Irish saying and
slogans, they sell mugs too!

44. Selling online doesn’t end with
creating a membership on eBay…
There are numerous interesting and fun ways to offer your merchandise
to potential customers - you just need to find an online marketplace that
is the right fit for your business. Some other worth mentioning:
Folksy is much the same as Etsy and is a place to buy hand-
crafted gifts and handmade or commercial supplies from
Britain's best designers and makers.
Not on the High Street - Not on the High Street gets over
two million unique visitors per month, which then doubles
at Christmas. Their TV and outdoor ad campaigns are also
seen by millions, so this is a site for some great exposure.
They are constantly looking for small businesses that are
looking to grow, so if that's you - head here!

45. Shopify is a hosted ecommerce solution that allows you to
set up and run your own online store.
Goodsie is a simple, stylish and affordable way to create an
online store.
Storenvy is a marketplace and store platform for the
world's most unique businesses. Shop thousands of indie
merchants or open your own store for free.
EXERCISE Selling Online Diagnostic Tool
This exercise will help you determine which online
marketplace is most suited to your business.

46. How to stand out on Online Marketplaces?
Product information is your way of marketing to customers and needs to
be accurate and compelling. Bad images, too-brief descriptions or
absence of key product attributes may put customers off. Here are 5
things to master to help your products stand out.
• Who else is serving them?
• Who makes or sells the same thing as you?
• And don’t stop at your direct competitors -are there other products
that satisfy your customer’s needs?
• Is there a need you identified above that’s not currently being met?
Research the Competition1

47. Jennifer Slyuseranskiy of WatchMeWorld puts it this way:
Some of my shop’s most popular and best-selling items are the
result of a customer asking me to do a custom piece for them
I’ve found if someone has to ask me to [make] something
special for them, there are usually other people out there
looking for that item, too, and just not finding it.
That’s been a huge help in growing my business.
Look for gaps in the market or areas where other
shops aren’t meeting customer needs well
-these are ripe opportunities for sellers to compete.
“
”
Research the Competition1

48. On Collaborating: Clever collaborations helped build the Cork-based
internet Tshirt retailer’s brand. After the recession hit, their business
started to struggle, they knew they had to rethink their approach, so
they looked at partnering with other brands that were a good fit with
their own. They contacted Hat Trick Productions and pitched the idea
of a website based on Father Ted sayings. They agreed, and that has led
to a few more partnerships since with, Sminky Animation, Moone Boy
and various RTÉ productions. The collaborations strengthened the
Hairy Baby brand and since then the company has been approached by
other brands such as Disney and Paramount Pictures to design T-shirts
to help promote their productions.
CASE STUDY Hairy Baby, Ireland

49. Hat Trick Productions collaboration:
CASE STUDY Hairy Baby, Ireland
Where they sell: www.hairybaby.com

50. There’s almost no limit to the ways you can differentiate your shop, but
some of the most common strategies are:
• Product Quality: Sourcing top-of-the-line materials or rare items.
• Design: Offering superior aesthetic or functional design.
• Service: Doing absolutely everything in your power to exceed
customer expectations.
• Innovation: Introducing new and unexpected variations on existing
products.
• Niche Focus: Comprehensively serving a subset of a product category.
• Authenticity: Establishing unique credibility in a particular area.
Choose a Positioning Strategy - Your USP’s2
EXERCISE Review your USP exercise from Module 1

51. Pricing your product usually involves considering certain key factors,
including pinpointing your target customer, tracking how much
competitors are charging, and understanding the relationship between
quality and price. If you’ve been selling offline for some time, you will
already have a pricing strategy in place.
For some creative businesses, price is something you may have to
somewhat reconsider when it comes to selling in online marketplaces
which depending on your business could be somewhat saturated with
products like yours.
The Price is right!3

52. See search below for: Personalised Teddy Bear for Baby
The Price is right!3

53. As the saying goes -“a picture tells a thousand words”. When it comes to
selling online the quality of that image will determine if those words are
good or bad, positive or negative, whether they lead to a sale or
completely turn the prospective customer off your products for good!
In general, marketplaces insist on at least one image per product and in
general, they each have their own guidelines on the formatting they
require. If you have had some photography taken of your work over the
years - great! You already have a stock pile of images to use but if you
are starting out. You may not have any product images or any budget to
hire someone else to take them for you.
Thankfully, due to recent advances in technology, with some guidance
and a smartphone with a good camera, you should be able to take your
own images for online sales use.
Great Photos!4

54. Great Photos! 9 TIPS FOR TAKING PHOTOS THAT SELL4
Tip #1: Use a plain, uncluttered backdrop
Draw attention to your item by setting it up
against a plain white or neutral backdrop. White
poster board clipped to a stand and bent to
form a backdrop works well. White background
- gives a clean look and optimises clarity of the
product. Keep it clean - avoid including borders,
logos or watermarks. Marketplaces usually have
policies that restrict thisbut it is also
aesthetically preferable to leave these out. If
possible, show the product outside its
packaging too.

55. Great Photos! 9 TIPS FOR TAKING PHOTOS THAT SELL4
Tip #2: Turn off the flash. Use diffused lighting
Avoid using a flash, which can cause shadows, reflections, hot spots,
and grayness. Diffused lighting helps eliminate shadows and
reflections. Lighting is very important: natural daylight can make for the
clearest

56. Great Photos! 9 TIPS FOR TAKING PHOTOS THAT SELL4
Tip #3: Use a tripod
Unsteady hands can lead to fuzzy photos.
A tripod keeps the camera steady for clear,
sharp photos. If you don’t have a tripod,
place the camera on a flat surface and use
the shutter timer to eliminate excess
motion.
Tip #4: Capture high-resolution photos
Use the Medium or High file size setting on
your camera so buyers can enlarge and
zoom in on your photo.

57. Great Photos! 9 TIPS FOR TAKING PHOTOS THAT SELL4
Tip #5: Fill the frame with the item
Center the item so that it takes up 80%–90% of
the frame, allowing buyers to see every detail.
Think big – most sites have zoom capability so
ensure you provide an image that can be cleanly
enlarged without pixilation

58. Great Photos! 9 TIPS FOR TAKING PHOTOS THAT SELL4
Tip #6: Capture all angles, details, and blemishes
Capture images of the top, bottom, and sides of your item with detailed
close-ups. Also, include photos that clearly show any flaws, and always
share pertinent details in the Item Description area of your listing.

59. Great Photos! 9 TIPS FOR TAKING PHOTOS THAT SELL4
Tip #7: Show the scale/size
If the size of your item isn’t clear, avoid
buyer confusion by placing a coin or
ruler next to the item to indicate its size.
Tip #8: Capture detailed
close-up shots/textures
For some customers, the finer details
like finish and texture may be the selling
point and you may be losing out on sales
if your customers are unable to see
that texture.

60. Great Photos! 9 TIPS FOR TAKING PHOTOS THAT SELL4
Tip #9: Avoid using props
Avoid using props if they obscure the
product or prevent the item from filling
the majority of the frame. Props may
confuse buyers about exactly what’s
included in your listing.
Additional images - if your product looks markedly different at different
angles, these are likely to be of interest to customers so add multiple
images - the major marketplaces all allow this at no extra charge.
Standard format – JPG format is usually preferred.

61. Work on this exercise in pairs, review each other’s product
photography (on your phones/laptops) and discuss which of the
above tips might improve the images for use of your new online
marketplace shop
EXERCISE Product Photography Peer Review

62. Should you need to edit or resize images you can do so fee and online
using the following sites. Due care should be taken when editing
images to ensure they remain a true representation of the product
and are not misleading.
Free Online Editing Software:
www.pixlr.com
Free Online Image Resizing:
www.picresize.com
RESOURCE

63. Other ways to sell your products online
Self-Publish Kindle Digital Books: If you love to write and believe you can
write an entertaining fiction or non-fiction book, consider authoring and
publishing a digital book through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing
platform.

64. Other ways to sell your products online
Sell Your Original Instagram Photos: While you can share your
social media photos on Instagram, you can also sell prints of your
photos for a profit on Instaprints.com and similar sites. Check out
this YouTube video to find out more.

65. Congratulations
you have completed Module 3