Well, where are you selling now? Because the marketplaces you’re already the most experienced with are your best bets for selling client items. You don’t want to be learning a whole new selling system while you’re trying to start up a new service.

Photo by Wonderlane

Of course, as you grow into your SA service, you’ll want to experiment with how you sell so you’ll always be able to choose the right platform for the situation. Stay flexible and open to selling on a variety of platforms. If you’re selling for a crafter, you’ll probably want to list on Etsy. For a client with a lot of media, Amazon or Half.com might be the better fit. You may have the most success selling on Craigslist for that client with large or difficult-to-ship items.

Some things to consider when choosing a marketplace are:

• how well the marketplace fits the items you have to sell, which will determine how well and how fast they sell
• the cost of selling there, such as fees and other expenses
• policies and restrictions that could affect your business
• Tools, features and upgrades that make your job easier
• speed of the sale

If I’m selling an item for myself, I can afford to be patient; I can let that item linger in my own webstore for weeks until the right buyer comes along with the best price. That’s not always the case with Selling Assistant items. You’ll want a marketplace where you cannot only be sure that the item will sell but also that it will sell quickly, even if that means taking a slightly lower price than your ideal.

If you’re not selling anywhere yet and don’t know where to start, look for the venue that best fits the kind of items you’ll be specializing in. But then, all things being equal, sell where you’re the most comfortable. If your selling skills lie with a particular marketplace, that can make up for all sorts of deficiencies in the platform itself.