Selling on Back Market: what are the main advantages and how to do it?

Discover in this article what are the specificities and advantages of this platform as well as the best practices to sell well on Back Market.

Selling on Back Market: presentation and specificities

Created in November 2014, the French company focuses on the sale of reconditioned electrical and electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops, and even clothes dryers! To sell on BackMarket, there are two types of fees to consider:

• The subscription, at 50€ / month

• A 10% commission for selling costs (regardless of the product)

When it comes to pricing, the refurbisher is more or less at the same level as the competition, as shown in this table which summarizes the cost structure:

The advantages of selling on Back Market

Its important notoriety

Although relatively young, the platform is already well established in 8 European countries as well as in the United States and is the leading marketplace in the field of refurbishing. The market and the sales opportunities are therefore significant: the marketplace claims more than 12 million unique visitors per month. Finally, it is a marketplace that has been growing rapidly since it was founded, generating significant sales and having raised 110 million euros by 2020.

A focus on the best price-quality offer

Unlike its competitors, Back Market relies on a "proprietary quality" algorithm that emphasizes the most attractive price-quality ratio to guarantee buyers the best offer. You can therefore enjoy greater visibility than on other marketplaces.

Beware: this can be double-edged for you. If your price-quality ratio is lower than the competition, your visibility will be limited. It is therefore necessary to pay particular attention to this; we will come back to this in the last part.

Price readability and transparency

Unlike its competitors, the Back Market reseller has a single commission, set at 10% regardless of the type of product, its condition or its price. In comparison, selling on Fnac marketplace requires knowing in detail the commission applied to each device. This is also true for the subscription. It is unique for Back Market, at 50€, whereas it can be declined in several variants for the competition. To sell on Amazon, for example, you have to choose between two types of subscription; for Ebay, moreover, there are three. This means you know exactly what fees apply to your sales.  

Sales and competition data

Back Market provides you with information about the prices charged for your products, current and future trends, and attractive niches (low competition and high sales volume). This is information you can use to improve your visibility and increase sales.

Additional logistics services

Back Market offers to assist you with the logistics of your sales through three services:

• BackShip: for the carrier DHL-Express;

• Back Care: to entrust the management of the multi-language customer service to BackMarket;

• Fulfillment by Back Market: for the storage and shipping of products. This logistics service is provided by Cubyn to ensure the best receiving experience. An automatic module allows you to automatically synchronize all your orders, to facilitate daily logistics management.

How to sell well on BackMarket in 3 steps?

#1 What are the legal requirements?

Any commercial activity must comply with the relevant legislation: you must therefore be registered with the RCS and comply with VAT obligations. Once you have passed this first regulatory step, you must now meet the conditions established by the marketplace.

#2 The selection and the "Back Label

The seller goes through a selection process called the "Back Label", which must be obtained in order to sell on Back Market. In this way, the reconditioner checks the legal requirements previously detailed, then focuses on quality standards. Many questions are asked about the various aspects of the product being sold (appearance, battery, camera, accessories, etc.) and, more broadly, the service (delivery, after-sales service, etc.).

Acceptance is not systematic: the marketplace indicates that, on average, 1 in 3 sellers is authorized to sell on Back Market. Once the mandatory fields have been filled in and the selection process has been completed, the platform continues to scrutinize the quality processes of the sellers. They ask for customer feedback and opinions on products and service; experts also use mystery shopping to gauge the quality standards of refurbished or used devices. Find out more about Black Label on video.

#3 The importance of value for money to increase sales on Back Market

As we mentioned earlier, the marketplace's algorithm values sellers with the best quality-price ratio. This is a fundamental step in order to benefit from unique visibility and thus boost sales. To do this:

• Determine the condition of the product: several categories are proposed by the platform in order to facilitate the choice of potential buyers from "Stallone" to "Like new": an iPhone with a few visible scratches will not sell for the same price as a Samsung in perfect condition. The prices charged and the estimate provided by the platform depend mainly on this factor, so you must identify it precisely. Check in detail what the Back Market grades are.

• Study the competition's prices: now that you know the condition of the product, it's time to compare the prices of other sellers for the relevant category.

• Set your price accordingly: schematically, the maximum price you should not exceed when buying should be the lowest price offered in your category. This covers the "price" aspect, but remember that it is linked to "quality". The most ideal situation is to offer products in like-new or near-new condition at a lower price than the competition.

In summary, selling on Back Market has a number of ecological and economic advantages. The well-established status of the company allows merchants to benefit from a certain legitimacy in the eyes of potential buyers, who thus avoid any risk of being ripped off. Keep the above tips in mind to succeed and get started!

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