Why Some Products Are Harder to Sell Online Than Others

A and B both opened a store exactly 2 weeks ago. Both stores use the same platform, the photos are similar, and so are the price tags. They both spent $200 (USD) in Facebook ads, and you’d think they’d both be making around the same amount of money because nothing else makes sense.

They’re pretty much doing the exact same things.

But you look at what happens 6 months after opening day and find out that A’s store is thriving while B’s is having plenty of problems and very little sales. So, what’s the difference here when they both seem to be doing the same thing(s)?

In order to be a successful online seller, you have to have demand for whatever it is you’re selling, and you have to invest in marketing.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In this article, we’ll focus on the stuff below the water level.

The Reasons Why Platforms and Payment Systems Don’t Treat All Products the Same

Let’s explain this with Amazon (Amazon Seller Central) and Shopify, two of the most popular platforms.

They have to protect themselves, so in order to do that, they sort all products into so-called buckets. If you’re selling a wooden chair, you’re in the low-risk bucket. But if you’re selling diet pills, then you’re not. The reason why those buckets are important is that they decide how fast your listings get approved and how many products you can sell per day.

Buckets also decide if your account will be randomly paused or not.

It’s not just the platforms you have to think about, though.

Payment processors do their own checks, so even though Shopify says you’re fine, Stripe could still flag you. You have two systems trying to figure out if what you sell is risky or not, and your goal is to seem as safe as possible to both.

Of course, that’s not always possible, which is why a store that’s perfectly organized can feel, well… Broken.

You answer every customer within an hour, you ship every single package on time, but your money?

You don’t see it for 2 weeks after making the sale because you sell phone cases, and a lot of people dispute orders because they apparently don’t arrive. Or maybe you sell products that have a bit of baggage, like ones that contain CBD.

In that case, a lot of standard payment processors might decline you, so you might want to look into a CBD business payment gateway. It’s built precisely for 'risky' businesses, and while there are some downsides to it, it makes your business a whole lot more stable.

What Slows the Products Down

If you’re selling teddy bears and hair bows, there’s a whole world of problems you’re not even aware of. And it has nothing to do with luck but with the nature of certain products.

Here are a couple of reasons why some of them hit way too many speed bumps along the way.

Extra Rules Before and After the Sale

You’ve got a new batch of CBD gummies you want to sell, and since CBD is legal, the whole process should be easy.

That’s right, it should be. But it isn’t, and you’ll notice that before you can even list the gummies.

There are quite a few loops to jump through, like age verification tools, making sure the label says what it should, checking if some states ban that particular product, and so on. And even if it all goes well, the next time you want to list another CBD product, you’ll have to do all that again.

Customers Return Some Products More Often

Clothing and perfume are some of these.

Customers imagine one thing, get something else, and they immediately return it. Next thing you know, you have a refund request, and the more refunds you issue, the more the platform notices you in a bad way.

Once you get to a certain number of returns, the system will start to hold your money, even if your store is perfectly run.

Chargebacks Are More Frequent in Some Niches

The customer doesn’t get what they paid for (or they think they didn’t), calls up their bank, and asks for their money back.Then, the bank pulls the money from you, even if none of this was your fault.

Electronics and subscriptions are especially problematic in this regard.

For you, that means that not only did you lose the sale, but you also paid a fee. Little by little, you’ve had one too many chargebacks, and now you’re 'risky' according to the payment processor.

Conclusion

You take a few pictures in your living room, post the product on a platform, and watch the money pour in. Yes, that’s how many people see the lives of online sellers, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

That doesn’t mean that there’s no place on the market for your high-quality CBD gummies or innovative face creams.

But yeah, it DOES mean that you have to prepare yourself for a somewhat harder process, and possibly some unpleasant surprises.