Selling toys online can be a great business. It can also be an okay business. It can also be a lousy business. It all depends on the steps you take to set up and run your business. This guide will walk you through the key steps to sell toys online successfully. You’ll learn how to do everything from coming up with a business plan to running your business to growing your sales channels.
The toy market online is competitive. There are a ton of people selling toys. If you don’t take the right steps, your business could end up being just another seller that nobody knows or cares about.
Imagine spending time and money on your toy business and nobody buys your toys. You don’t know where to start. You don’t know how to market your toys. It’s frustrating. It’s overwhelming. It’s discouraging.
If you follow a step-by-step guide to sell toys online, you can build a business that people know about. You can attract a base of customers who buy from you regularly. You can make sales every day. Let’s walk through the steps to make that happen.
Table of Contents
- How to sell toys online?
- Do I need approval to sell toys on Amazon?
- What is the best platform to sell toys?
- Is it profitable to sell toys online?
- What toys will be popular in 2024?
- How to find toys to sell?
How to sell toys online?
1. Develop a Business Plan
Figure Out What You Want to Sell: Do you want to sell new toys, used toys, or a combination of both? Who are you going to sell to? What kinds of toys will you offer? Educational toys? Collectible toys? Green toys? Knowing your niche will allow you to offer the right toys for the right people.
Find a Source for Your Toys: Where are you going to buy your toys? Do you need to find a manufacturer? A wholesaler? A distributor? How are you going to make sure that you can consistently get the toys that you need? Making sure you have a reliable source for your toys is critical to being able to deliver quality products to your customers.
Figure Out Your Money: What are all of your costs? What do you need to spend to operate your business? What will you spend on marketing? What will it cost you to make your toys? What will it cost to ship your toys? What will you owe in taxes? Will you need to pay anyone? Do you need to borrow money to get started? Knowing all of your costs will help you manage your money and make sure that your business can survive.
2. Set Up Your Online Store
Pick a Platform to Sell From: There are a lot of platforms that will allow you to create and manage your online store. Shopify, Ecwid, Instamojo, and others will help you set up a professional-looking store that is easy to manage.
Buy a Domain Name: Pick a name for your store. Make sure it is easy to remember. A good domain name will help build your brand and make it easy for people to find your store.
Make Your Website Look Good: Use a theme that looks good and is easy for people to use. Make sure it works on mobile devices. Make sure it is easy for people to find what they are looking for. People need to be able to see good pictures and read good descriptions of your toys to be able to buy them.
Put Your Toys on Your Website: Create pages for your toys. Make sure you have good pictures and good descriptions. Tell people why your toys are cool and why they should buy them.
3. Register Your Business
Legal Stuff: Make sure you register your business name and do all of the other things you need to do to be legal in your state. Doing this will make sure you don’t have any problems and you can run your business.
4. Marketing and Promotion
Make Your Website Show Up in Google: Make sure that your website shows up in Google when people are looking for toys to buy. Write blog posts. Write good product descriptions. Do other things that make your website show up in Google. Doing this will help you get more people to come to your website.
Tell People on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: Show people your toys on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Pay for ads. Work with people who have a lot of followers. Doing this will help people know who you are and what you sell.
Send People Emails: Make a list of people who like your toys. Send them emails. Tell them about your sales. Tell them about your new toys. Doing this will help you sell more toys.
5. Manage Operations
Keep Track of How Many Toys You Have: Use tools that will help you keep track of how many toys you have and help you automatically order more toys when you need them. Doing this will help make sure that you don’t run out of toys or have too many toys.
Send Your Toys to People: Work with shipping companies to send your toys to people. Charge people a fair price for shipping. If people buy a lot of toys, send them to people for free. Doing this will make people happy and they will buy more toys.
Take Care of People Who Buy Your Toys: Make sure that you give people really good customer service. Answer their questions quickly. Fix any problems they have. Doing this will help you build a good reputation and make people come back and buy more toys.
6. Expand Where You Sell Your Toys
Sell Your Toys on Amazon & eBay: People buy a lot of toys on Amazon and eBay. You should sell your toys there so that more people can buy them. Doing this will help you sell more toys.
Sell Your Toys on Facebook, Instagram, and Other Social Media: You can sell your toys directly to people on social media. For example, you can use Ecwid to sell your toys on your Facebook page. Doing this will help you sell more toys.
7. Monitor and Optimize
Look at Your Numbers: People will tell you what they like and don’t like. Your sales will tell you what people like and don’t like. You need to look at both so that you can make your store better. Doing this will help you run your store better and make more money.
Don’t Stop Making Your Store Better: People will always come up with new ways to sell things. People will always want new things to buy. You need to keep up with these changes so that you can keep making money. Doing this will help you keep making money.
If you follow these steps, you will be able to start and run a successful online toy store. You will be able to sell toys to people all over the world and make a lot of money.
Do I need approval to sell toys on Amazon?
Yes, you need permission to sell toys, especially toys for kids 12 and under. This is to make sure the toys are safe. To get permission, you might need to give Amazon:
- Invoices showing wholesale purchases from authorized distributors/manufacturers
- Business license or company details
- List of product ASINs you want to sell
- Compliant product images and manuals
- Safety certifications like ASTM F963-17, CPSIA for lead/phthalates, small parts warnings
In summary, while toys are not a gated category overall, Amazon does require sellers to get specific approval and provide safety documentation, especially for toys for young children.
What is the best platform to sell toys?
Top Platforms for Selling Toys Online
eBay: eBay is one of the best places to sell toys because a lot of people use it and you can sell toys to people all over the world. You can sell new toys, used toys, toys that are still in the box, or toys that you take out of the box. You can sell toys in an auction or tell people how much they need to pay for the toy.
Amazon: Amazon is a great place to sell toys. A lot of people buy toys on Amazon. You can only sell toys that are still in the box and look brand new. Amazon charges you a little bit more money for selling toys, but you can usually sell your toys for more money on Amazon.
Facebook Marketplace: Facebook Marketplace is a good way to sell toys to people in your area. You can list your toys for free. If someone buys a toy, you can tell them to come to your house to pick it up.
Is it profitable to sell toys online?
Yes! The toy market is really big, and it’s growing fast. People spend $305 billion on toys now, and they are expected to spend $405 billion on toys in 2026. There is a lot of money to be made in the toy business. You can make 25-30% profit on the toys you sell online. I found a bunch of toys that you can sell on Amazon for $3.55 to $5.85 each. You can make hundreds of thousands of dollars selling toys online.
Here are the best things about selling toys online:
- You can sell all the toys you want. You don’t need a giant store to put all of your toys in.
- You can find toys that nobody else is selling. You can make your own brand selling toys for kids who like to learn things, toys that teach people about other cultures, toys that are good for the earth, etc.
- You can change the toys you sell based on what people tell you they want to buy, what is popular, and what you are selling.
- You can send people messages and show them toys that they want to buy using the computer.
Even though lots of people sell toys online, you can make a lot of money selling toys to people if you sell toys that are different, make your own brand, and do everything else I talked about.
What toys will be popular in 2024?
Squishmallows: People love Squishmallows. They are stuffed animals that people collect. They are making new Squishmallows like Harry Potter and Pikachu. People will buy them all up as soon as they come out.
Barbie Dreamhouse: The Barbie Dreamhouse is getting a new look in 2023. It has a new water slide, elevator, and a bigger closet. People still love it.
Remote Control Cars: You can drive remote control cars on the ground, in the water, and on walls. People will buy a lot of them.
Toys That Help You Learn: There are toys that help kids learn how to do things. For example, Snap Circuits help you learn how to make things with electricity. Magna-Tiles help you build things. There are even robots that help you learn how to write computer programs. People will buy a lot of these toys.
How to find toys to sell?
To find toys people want to buy, you need to think about who you are selling to and what kind of toys they like. Here are some ways to figure out what toys to sell:
Look for toys that are popular. Watch TV and movies. What are the kids on the shows playing with? What are the kids in the movies playing with? People will want to buy toys that look like the toys they see on TV and in movies.
Sell toys for kids of all ages. Sell toys for babies. Sell toys for teenagers. Sell toys for everybody. If you sell toys for all ages, moms and dads can buy toys for everyone in their family from you.
Sell toys that feel funny. Sell slime, putty, and other toys that feel funny. People like toys they can squish, stretch, and play with. Make sure the toys are easy to clean up.
Sell toys that win awards. People like to buy toys that win awards. Put the toys that win awards where people can see them in your store or on your website.
Sell toys that help kids learn. Kids want to play with toys that help them learn new things. Sell toys that are a little hard but not too hard. The toys should help kids learn new things and be fun to play with.
Sell toys that kids can play with in lots of different ways. Sell toys that kids can use with other toys. Sell dolls that come with a lot of clothes. Sell toys that let kids use their imagination.
If you think about the people who want to buy toys from you and keep looking for new toys, you will be able to sell toys that people want to buy.
Conclusion
To sell toys online, you need to think about what you are doing and what your customers want. Follow the steps in this guide to sell toys online. You will build a store that people like and buy from. You will make money selling toys to people. Watch what is happening in the toy market and keep making your store better. Make sure the people who buy toys from you are happy.
Corleone Du
Hi, I’m Corleone, the marketing manager of Deb Toys. I’ve been in the toy industry since 2018, helping 300+ clients source toys from China. I’ll be regularly sharing my industry knowledge to help you gain an advantage in future market competition.
Corleone Du
Hi, I’m Corleone, the marketing manager of Deb Toys. I’ve been in the toy industry since 2018, helping 300+ clients source toys from China. I’ll be regularly sharing my industry knowledge to help you gain an advantage in future market competition.