As mentioned in the other articles in this series, there are many factors to consider when choosing a marketplace. In this context, another important point is to clearly determine what kind of service you will receive. When selecting the platform on which you will sell, you should keep in mind that you are establishing a partnership with it and that you will also be receiving services from the platform. For this reason, we recommend making your decision by carefully weighing the answers to the questions below.

• What is the level of support the platform provides to sellers when they start their sales activities, and how does it offer this support?
• Will the platform help with content localization, or is this entirely the seller’s responsibility?
• How important are promotions and marketing in the marketplace, and what opportunities do they offer?
• Does the platform provide a payment service? Does it allow the seller to choose between different payment methods? If so, what are these options, and does it require the seller to have a local bank account?
• Does the platform provide warehousing services? Does the platform have a preferred logistics partner for warehousing, or is the seller expected to manage their storage needs independently?
• Does the platform offer a solution for shipping and logistics operations? Is the seller expected to handle dropshipping with their own resources, or does the marketplace have pre-approved logistics partners?
• Does the marketplace manage the return process, or should the seller be prepared in advance to handle the necessary arrangements?

How Suitable Is the Global Marketplace for You?

When researching e-commerce platforms, you can determine how well the marketplace you are evaluating fits your business model based on the answers you receive to the questions below.

• Is the seller required to have a registered company?
• What are the data obligations? (Taxes may vary depending on the workload assumed by the marketplace and the value-added services it provides.)
• Are there any restrictions on the products being sold? (Some platforms have strict rules. They may decide who is allowed to sell or permit sales only by authorized sellers.)
• How does the return process work?
• Which categories are restricted? (Category restrictions do not only mean limitations on your own products. For example, you may not want your dietary supplement product to be sold in a category where sexual products are widely offered.)

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