Marketplaces, or your own customers?
Weigh selling through a marketplace or delivery app against building customers who come to you directly.
6 min read
Marketplaces and delivery apps can put your product in front of thousands of buyers on day one. They can also take a large share of every sale, own the customer relationship, and change their rules overnight. Selling directly — your shop, WhatsApp, your own page — is slower to build but the customers are yours. Most businesses end up doing some of both. This lesson is how to decide the mix.
It applies whether you are thinking of listing for the first time or you already sell on a platform and wonder if you depend on it too much.
What a marketplace gives you
- Buyers already looking. People open the app to buy; you do not have to find them.
- Trust. A buyer who has never heard of you will still pay, because the platform handles payment and returns.
- Delivery and payments handled, or made simpler.
- Reach beyond your area — other cities, sometimes other states.
What it costs you
The fees are only part of it. Before you list, find and write down every charge on the platform's current seller terms: commission, fixed fees, shipping, payment collection, advertising, returns, penalties. They differ by platform and by category, and they change — so check them yourself rather than trusting a figure someone quotes you.
Then the costs that are not on the fee sheet:
- You do not own the customer. You often cannot contact them again, and they remember the app, not your name.
- Price comparison. Your product sits next to a dozen others. The easiest way to win is to be cheapest, which eats your margin.
- Rules you do not control. Fees, ranking and return policies can change at the platform's choice.
- Paperwork. Selling through an e-commerce platform can bring tax and registration requirements of its own. Check what applies to you — see the registration checklists — before you list.
Work out your margin per order after every platform charge and any returns before you list. Many sellers find out only after a busy month that their best seller was making a loss.
Do the sum per order
Use your real numbers, and repeat it for each channel you sell through:
| Per order | Marketplace | Direct (shop or WhatsApp) |
|---|---|---|
| Price the customer pays | ||
| Cost of the product | ||
| Platform fees and commission | — | |
| Delivery and packaging | ||
| Payment charges | ||
| Allowance for returns | ||
| What is left |
If the marketplace column leaves little or nothing, it can still be worth it — but only as a way to find new customers, not as the business itself.
Using a marketplace to find customers you keep
A sensible pattern for many small businesses:
- Use the marketplace for discovery. New customers find you there.
- Be memorable. Good packaging, your business name clearly on it, a neat thank-you card.
- Give them a reason to come direct — where the platform's own rules allow it. Check the seller terms: some forbid putting contact details or offers in the package.
- Look after direct customers best. Faster replies, regular updates, the new items first.
Over time, the share of sales that come to you directly is a good measure of how strong your business is. A business that is 100% one platform is one rule-change away from trouble.
When to lean which way
| Lean towards a marketplace when… | Lean towards direct when… |
|---|---|
| You are new and nobody knows your name | You already have regulars |
| Your product travels well and sells across cities | You sell locally, or a service in person |
| Your margin can carry the fees | Your margin is thin |
| Buyers search for the product, not the seller | Buyers choose you for you — your skill, your taste |
Start small, measure, decide
If you are trying a platform, list your three best products, not everything. Run it for a couple of months, do the per-order sum with your real numbers, and then decide whether to grow it, keep it small, or stop.
Ask the tool below about your own products and margins — it will work through which channels are worth it for you.