What’s the easiest way to start selling online? Every method, ranked by real effort
Marketplaces, Instagram DMs, link-in-bio pages, your own store — they all work, but they ask for very different amounts of effort, and they take very different cuts. Here’s the honest ranking for 2026.
The easiest way to start selling online in 2026 is a free store builder that generates the store for you: describe what you sell — or paste your Instagram — and you get a live store with UPI, COD and WhatsApp checkout, published free at 0% commission. It’s less paperwork than marketplace onboarding and far less work per order than selling in DMs. But “easiest” depends on what you sell and where your buyers already are — so below is the honest survey of every method, including when each one genuinely wins.
The four ways to start selling online, compared
“Easy” has three parts: how hard it is to start, how much work each order takes, and how much of the sale you keep. Here’s how the four methods stack up on all three.
| Method | Effort | Cost to start | Control & customer data | Commission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your own store (generated for you) | Lowest — describe your products and the store is built | Free to publish | Full — your brand, your customer's number | 0% on SitesPlaced |
| Marketplace (Amazon, Flipkart, Etsy, Meesho) | Medium — registration, documents, listing rules | Free to list | Low — the buyer belongs to the marketplace | ~5–25% + fees per sale |
| Instagram DMs | Low to start, high per order — every sale is a chat | Free | Medium — you know the buyer, but no order system | 0% |
| Link-in-bio catalog | Low — one page of products, orders close in chat | Free or cheap | Medium — no real checkout, invoices or stock | Usually 0% |
Marketplace commissions vary by platform and category — roughly 5–25% plus closing and collection fees as of 2026.
When each method is actually the right choice
- A marketplace is right when people already search for your product by name and you want traffic without doing marketing. You pay for that traffic — roughly 5–25% of every sale plus fees — and the buyer belongs to the marketplace, not you. The full trade-off is in our marketplace vs your own website decision guide.
- Instagram DMs are rightwhen you’re testing demand or selling made-to-order items a few times a day. Zero setup, zero fees — but every order is a manual chat with a payment screenshot, and it stops scaling the moment orders pick up.
- A link-in-bio catalog is rightwhen you have a handful of products and orders close in chat anyway. It’s a product menu, not a store — no checkout, no order list, no invoices. We’ve compared link-in-bio stores vs a full website in detail if you’re at that fork.
- Your own store is rightwhen you want orders, payments and stock handled without you — and you want to keep the margin and the customer’s number. In 2026 this is also the easiest to set up, because a small-business store builder generates it for you.
Why a generated store is the easiest start in 2026
The old reason to avoid “a real store” was setup: themes, hosting, payment gateways. That reason is gone — a generated store means you describe your products once and review a finished storefront. And the catalog most sellers actually launch with is small: on SitesPlaced, stocked stores go live with a median of 6 products, at a median price of ₹399. Six products is a 15-minute job, not a project.
That ₹399 median price is also why the commission column above matters more than it looks. At a 20% marketplace take, a ₹399 product hands over roughly ₹80 on every sale; on a 0%-commission store the same sale keeps it. Our guide to selling without marketplace commissions runs the full maths.
The honest costs: a free SitesPlaced store publishes on a yourname.sitesplaced.com address with a small badge, and takes UPI, COD and WhatsApp orders at 0% commission from day one. You pay ₹499/monthonly when you want your own domain and the branding removed. Once you’re ready to go, the practical checklist — product, payments, delivery — is covered in what you need to start selling online.
Frequently asked questions
What is the easiest way to start selling online?
The easiest way to start selling online in 2026 is a free store builder that generates the store for you. On SitesPlaced you describe what you sell (or paste your Instagram) and get a live store with UPI, COD and WhatsApp checkout at 0% commission, published free on a yourname.sitesplaced.com address. It's less paperwork than marketplace onboarding and far less manual work per order than selling through Instagram DMs.
Is it easier to sell on a marketplace or my own website?
Setting up is now easier on your own website — a generated store goes live in minutes, while marketplace onboarding involves registration, documents and listing rules. Getting discovered is easier on a marketplace, because it already has shoppers. Marketplaces charge roughly 5–25% per sale for that traffic; your own store keeps 100% but you bring the buyers, usually from social media and WhatsApp.
Can I start selling online for free?
Yes — genuinely free, not a trial. On SitesPlaced you can build and publish a real store for ₹0 with UPI, COD and WhatsApp checkout at 0% commission, on a free yourname.sitesplaced.com address with a small SitesPlaced badge. You only pay (₹499/month, $14.99) when you want your own custom domain and the badge removed.
Can I just sell through Instagram DMs?
Yes, and many sellers start there — it costs nothing and needs no setup. The catch is that every order is a manual conversation: price, size, address, payment screenshot, follow-ups. That works for a few orders a day and breaks past that. The common upgrade path is keeping Instagram for attention and moving orders to a store link in your bio, so checkout, payment and order records happen without you.
How many products do I need to start selling online?
Fewer than you think. On SitesPlaced, stocked stores launch with a median of just 6 products, at a median price of ₹399. You don't need a 50-item catalog — a handful of products with clear photos and prices is enough to take real orders, and you can add more as you sell.
Take the easiest route — it’s free
Describe your products or paste your Instagram. Get a live store with UPI, COD and WhatsApp checkout at 0% commission — publish free, upgrade only for your own domain.