Selling on Bol.com

Interested in selling via Bol? Then you’ve come to the right place. In the table of contents below you can see (and click on) what we will cover in this article.

More information

e-tailize | official partner

Why sell via Bol?

Bol is a marketplace where 50,000 sellers sell more than ten million consumer products annually. It has been an open marketplace selling new and used products since 1999. The company – part of Ahold Delhaize – has a turnover of almost 3 billion euros. That means a lot of opportunities as a seller!

On an annual basis, Bol spends millions of euros to do promotions for selling via Bol. They also offer many options for shipping at Bol, such as Shipping via Bol or Logistics via Bol.

Bol.com

1 Selling on Bol.com

Advantages of selling on Bol via e-tailize

No start-up costs
Wide reach (13 million customers BE/NL)
Support and service in your own language
Low risk, you only pay commission

Good support services (customer service, FBB, VBB)
Can be linked with software that makes scaling easy
Good advertising opportunities

Fully integrate Bol with your systems

Do you want to manage Bol and any future or current marketplace in one place? At e-tailize you can accommodate the following functionalities:

Sell on marketplaces across Europe (over 100 integrations)
Centralized order management (automatic & manual)
Centralized inventory management
Full PIM system specifically designed for marketplaces
Easily post products on marketplaces from one screen
Integration with all kinds of fulfillment software (e.g. MyParcel or Picqer)
Connection with the well-known CMS platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce and more)

How do you sell on Bol?

Step 1

Step 2

Create & activate account

Create an account at Bol.com and go through the steps in the platform. Within 3 days you will receive a letter with your verification code (by post).

Step 3

Centralize with e-tailize

Connect e-tailize and upload your products to Bol.com. After uploading, we immediately track your stock and send orders to your order system.

Step 4

Optimize your content

Use our data analysis tools to optimize your content and increase your sales.

Possible Problems and Challenges

Knowledge | Quite a bit of knowledge is needed to be able to compete well with current sellers on Bol. That’s where an analytical tool like e-tailize can help you. Our dashboard gives you the insights and pointers you need to take on the fight.

Errors | It is important that you as a seller keep your performance score as high as possible. Stable stock synchronization and reliable order forwarding are therefore critical. In addition, you also want to be able to efficiently process a high number of returns. With a tool like e-tailize you can be sure that there are no (synchronization) errors between your marketplaces, webshop(s), fulfillment parties, and the PIM system.

Scaling | When you have Bol under control, you want to expand the number of channels – and thus your reach. If you import your products into a PIM system, you can also upload the products to other marketplaces in addition to Bol. Even better; immediately your order management and stock synchronization are arranged.

The main selling categories on Bol:

The main selling categories of Bol are:

Books
Music, Movies & Games
Computer & Electronics
Toys, Hobbies & Party
Pregnant, Baby & Toddler
Beauty & Health

Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
Sports, Outdoor & Travel
Office & School
Eat Drink
Living, Cooking & Pets
Animal, Garden & DIY

The Buy Box

The Buy Box

When several partners offer the same product, one of the partners is featured in 'het koopblok' or the Buy Box. That's because this partner has the best offer in terms of price, delivery time and service. Most sales are made through the Buy Box. So it is essential to win this. A common tactic to always win the Buy Box is to set up your own brand with unique EANs. If you are the only provider of a product, you will always win the Buy Box.

Seller Rating

Seller Rating

Your ability to get a high score on the 'service' aspect (named in the Buy Box section) depends entirely on your Seller Rating. Your Seller Rating is determined based on how well you meet Bol.com's terms of service. Below this block you can find some of the conditions Bol.com will measure.

The costs & conditions

Bol charges with a fixed fee + a percentage. The full table of commissions and a price calculator can be found here. In addition, you can find all the conditions and rules regarding selling on Bol here. Note, Bol is known to rule with an iron fist regarding their terms.

For example, consider the standard requirements:

98% of the items must be delivered on time
Customers must be able to return purchased items free of charge within 30 days
Customer questions must be answered within 24 hours
Cancellation requests must be responded to within 24 hours
You must be available during the standard working day (In the Netherlands and Belgium between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM)
Delivery of orders must be as promised with a maximum delivery time of eight days
Processing returns must be within 24 hours
Your products must have an EAN

How to learn to sell on Bol

There are a number of ways to learn how to sell through Bol. Bol has its own webinars, white papers, and more. In addition, there are blogs with useful tips about marketplaces such as Bol. At e-tailize we also offer tools such as our ‘Analyze’ module, which generates insights for you and gives you an overview of the data of marketplaces. This way you can act quickly and efficiently on ‘Actionable Metrics‘.

Conclusion

Bol is the marketplace in the Netherlands for reaching consumers. There are many opportunities and it is easy to get started. It is important that you set up your processes properly from the start. So look carefully at software that can unburden you with that. Not only in terms of processes but also when it comes to features related to data analysis.