Selling and marketing
Online Flea Market Website: What It Is and Where Your Bakes Fit
You will know what an online flea market website is, what it takes out of each order, and how to choose where to sell your bakes.
On this page
If you have been baking for neighbors and you are ready to sell to people you have never met, an online flea market website is usually the first thing you find. It sounds simple. You make the cookies, you post the cookies, the orders come in.
It can work. But it helps to know what you are signing up for before you bake your first tray for strangers.
What an online flea market website actually is
It is a website where many sellers list their goods under one roof. You are one listing among thousands. Buyers come to the site for the site, not for you.
That is the trade. You get a crowd you did not have to build. You give up your own name on the door, your own colors, and a slice of every order.
The fee, in plain numbers
Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee on the total order amount in the listing currency, and that applies to the item price plus shipping and gift wrap. So it is not just a bite out of the cookie. It is a bite out of the box and the postage too.
On a $40 order, that comes to $2.60, and it comes out before you count flour, butter, and packaging.
Cottage food rules follow you online
A website does not make your kitchen legal. Cottage food is regulated by state, not by the FDA, and the FDA does not approve food labels. Your state decides what you can bake, how you package it, and what has to be printed on the label.
So before you photograph anything, look up your own state’s rules. Our cottage food approved list walks through how to check what you are allowed to sell.
Questions to ask before you list anywhere
- Who keeps the customer? Can I email the buyer again, or does the site own that relationship?
- What is the full fee on an order, including the payment fee?
- Can buyers find me by my bakery name, or only by digging through a pile of listings?
- What happens to my photos, my reviews, and my customer list if I leave?
- Do I get a web address I can print on a sticker and hand to a neighbor?
- How do I get paid, and how long does the money take to reach me?
None of these have a wrong answer on their own. You just want to know the answers before you bake.
Setting up a place of your own
Check your state rules first
Look up your state’s cottage food rules and confirm what you can bake, how to package it, and what goes on the label. This is step one, not step ten.
Pick a short menu
Choose a handful of items you can make well and repeat. A tight menu is easier to cost, easier to photograph, and easier for a stranger to order from.
Price with the fee built in
Add the site fee and the payment fee on top of your ingredient and packaging cost. If you swallow the fee instead, you work for less on every order.
Put up a place to take orders
Either list on a big site, or set up a shop with your own web address that you can print on a sticker and hand out.
Start with people who already buy from you
Neighbors, coworkers, and church friends who already ask for your banana bread. Their first orders get you photos and reviews.
You do not have to pick one
Some bakers list on a big site and keep their own shop at the same time. The big site gets you in front of people who have never heard of you. Your own shop is where those people land when they want to order again.
If you are still deciding, our roundup of the best website builder for bakery compares the options fairly, and the home baking business app guide covers how to take orders and get paid once you know where you are selling. If you also want a table at the local flea market, flea market used things covers gear to buy and how to sell your bakes there.
Start with your state rules. Then pick where you sell. Then bake.
This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Cottage food rules are set by your state, and fees are set by each website, so check both before you sell.