How to sell online for free

Would you like to sell used items but don’t feel like paying commissions from popular internet sites like eBay? Are you considering expanding your business by opening an online store but, at least for the moment, since it is an investment, you wouldn’t want to spend money to do it? Don’t worry, I think I have solutions that are right for you.

There are ad sites and services for creating online stores that allow you to sell your items on the web at no cost. In fact, you will not have to pay either the advertisements or the commissions on any items sold. Clearly, these services have some limitations – more than a few limitations to tell the truth -, but to take the first steps in this world they are just fine.

If you want to know more about the services that will allow you to sell online for free, all you have to do is take five minutes of free time to read this guide. You will thus be able to find out how to sell online for free thanks to the information I am about to give you. But I recommend: if you intend to open a stable business, after this first run-in period at no cost, consider the possibility of contacting a professional in the sector (there are many good ones in our country): you will be able to create an online store more complete and professional. Before we begin, I would like to wish you a good read.

Index

  • Ad sites
  • Online shops
  • Other services to sell online

Table of Contents

Ad sites

If you want to scrape together some money by selling used items, you can rely on online classifieds sites, which, as you may already know, allow you to sell any type of item at no cost … or almost. I say “almost” because the insertion of the ads is free, there are no commissions on the sale of objects, but to make your ad stand out in searches you often have to buy “options” with variable prices.

Among the most popular and reliable services in this sector, I would like to point out  Subito.it which allows you to sell any type of object at no cost. To use it, all you have to do is connect to its home page and create a free account via the Register button. In reality, registration is not mandatory but I recommend it as it allows you to better manage your ads.

Once you have filled out the Subito.it registration form and put the checkmark in correspondence with the items that will ask you to accept the terms of the service, press the button Confirm to confirm the registration. You will be emailed a link which you will need to click to verify your account. To post a  new ad you will need to click on the Post Ad button.

Adding a free listing to the Subito.it website is very simple: all you have to do is choose one category for the ad from the drop-down menu of the same name, select the type of ad ( for sale or wanted ) depending on whether you a product/service is coming or if you are looking for a particular product or service.

Optionally, you can also add images to your ad by uploading up to 6 images to the Images box (symbol of a camera).

You will then need to enter the title of the ad and a description; the latter will be inserted in the text field of the announcement. After indicating whether you are a private or ‘ Company, please enter your name and telephone number in the appropriate text fields. Accept the terms of service by ticking the appropriate item and clicking on the Continue button.

Confirmation of the announcement is required for it to be approved by the site staff. Once you pass this step (it usually takes a few minutes to complete the verification), the ad is posted online and made available to potential buyers.

As mentioned above, emerging on online classifieds sites isn’t easy. There are thousands of advertisements that are published every day on the latter and therefore there are paid options that you can use to make your ads stand out. Find more information about it on the Subito.it support page.

Subito.it is also available as an app for smartphones and tablets. You can find them easily by searching the store on your device. Alternatively, if you wish, you can download the application by clicking on the link I share with you below.

  • it– Download the application for free on Android from the Google Play Store
  • it– Download the application for free on iOS from the Apple App Store

As an alternative to Subito.it, one of the most popular classifieds sites that you can use to sell online for free is Kijiji, a web portal formerly known as Ebay Classifieds, as the owner of a company affiliated with Ebay.

To use Kijiji as a website to view online for free, first connect to its main page to be able to register for a free account. Also in this case, even the registration is not mandatory, in order to be able to better manage your advert published, it is necessary to register for the service.

To register, click on the Menu button located in the top bar of the main page of Kijiji. In the sidebar that will open, press the Register button. Then type your name, email and password in the respective text fields. Accept the terms of service by placing the checkmark in the appropriate box and then press the Register button to confirm the registration. Then complete your profile by typing a name that will be used as a nickname that will appear in your ads and then press the Confirm button.

Alternatively, you can register an account on Kijii through your Facebook profile, to do so, click on the Login with Facebook button. Once you are logged in to Kijiji, you can post a new ad via the Post Ad button.

To sell free online on Kijiji you will therefore have to fill in the ad form in detail. The Category item which, with a drop-down menu, allows you to indicate the category of your ad; the Common indication is used instead to geographically position the ad.

You will then need to enter the title, description and images of your ad. As you can see when filling in the form, the fields marked with the symbol * (\ ) **, only some fields are required to be able to publish your ad online; in any case, my advice is to fill in all the text fields to complete the ad to the best of your ability. On Kijij you also have the possibility to upload up to 8 photos for your ad.

When you have finished writing your ad, you can check that it is correct by clicking on the Preview ad button. You can then publish it for free by clicking on the Publish your ad button. I also point out that Kijiji is available as an application for Android and iOS.

Online shops

You can also sell online for free by opening your own shop. In this regard, I would like to talk to you about Shopify: a service used by over 1,000,000 stores around the world that allows you to create professional e-commerce even for those who have no knowledge in programming and Web design (just choose a theme, add the products to sell and that’s it). Shopify offers unlimited hosting, free unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificate, blog, the ability to add unlimited products to your store, and a free shopify.com domain name, with the option to purchase a custom one or use an existing one.

With Shopify, you can easily manage everything: orders, payments, shipments, inventory, customer lists, marketing campaigns (on Google, Facebook, via email or SMS) and analyze sales data in detail. The service can be used for free for a trial period (without entering payment data and without obligation to renew), after which you can choose between various paid plans, starting at $ 29 / month.

To try Shopify at no cost, connected to the official website of the service, type your email address in the appropriate text field and click on the Start free trial button. Then continue by entering the password you want to use for your shop, specifying the name you want to assign to it and pressing the Create your shop button.

Then you must indicate, through the appropriate drop-down menus, if you have already started sellingwhat are your current revenues and if you are creating a shop for a customer, provide the rest of the information requested, click on the Next button (or on Skip, to skip the step) and provide the address to receive payments.

Once the store management panel is displayed, you can access all Shopify sections using the menu located on the left: Home allows you to access the main dashboard; OrdersProducts and Customers allow you to manage the content in question; Analysis allows you to view sales data; Marketing to set up marketing campaigns; Discounts to set up discount codes; App to expand e-commerce with additional functions, while Online Store allows you to customize the appearance of the pages.

Finally, I point out that Shopify is also available as an app for Android and iOS / iPadOS , to create and manage e-commerce from smartphones and tablets. More information can be found in my tutorial on how to create an e-commerce with Shopify .

Other services to sell online

Thanks to the Internet it is possible to sell your products online for free, in a very simple way. In fact, platforms and applications that allow you to sell your products or services are increasingly widespread. I want to tell you below about what are, in my opinion, the best platforms that will allow you to sell online for free.

  • Etsy: if you have passion and creativity to sell, I suggest you take a look at the popular Etsy site, a well-known sales showcase for handmade or homemade products; you can sell everything, the categories of the site are numerous and you can find jewelry, dolls, clothes, household items and items with a slightly vintage look.
  • eBay: certainly one of the best known worldwide that hardly needs any introduction. eBay is in fact a very popular and professional site where you can sell your products online. However, we must consider that selling on Ebay is not free as commissions are applied on the sale of products. If you decide to sell an item on eBay, you must also know that you are charged a fee for the publication of the advertisement. A commission is also charged based on the price at which the item is sold. Like many other platforms, you can also pay to promote the item on eBay. The total cost for the sale of an object is therefore given by the sum of the fee for the publication of the advertisement, of the commission on the final value to which the possible purchase of an option to promote the sale must be added. It should be noted that the rates vary according to the category in which the object is offered for sale. For more information see the section Help

 

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