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Cratejoy offers a free platform for people to start an online subscription box business. It has a quick sign-up process and an easy-to-use dashboard. While listing your products on their marketplace is free, you’ll still need to consider some fees once these sell. Overall, you’ll encounter 1.25% + $0.10 transaction fees, plus 15% referral fees when applicable.
Pros
- Listing products is free
- Easy-to-use web interface
- Many knowledge base and support articles
- Offers a unique business model
Cons
- Relatively high fees
- Challenging to manage your online store
Jump to: Full Review
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How Does Cratejoy Work?
Cratejoy is a subscription box company where customers receive boxes of goodies, usually monthly. It was founded in 2014 in Texas with its mission to make subscriptions accessible across the world.
Cratejoy offers three types of services through its online platform:
Subscription Marketplace
The first one, which is its subscription marketplace, caters to customers looking to purchase subscriptions. They can choose subscriptions based on categories and purchase them.
Site Builder
The platform also offers a site builder where aspiring online business owners can create and design their websites. This can be a great tool if you want to launch your business on the worldwide web, and just need some guidance to do so.
But if you’re looking to sell items online without needing to manage your website, you can sign up at Cratejoy as a seller. Through its website, you can sign up and provide information on subscription boxes you’ll be selling on the platform.
You’ll need to add photos and descriptions of your subscription boxes. From there, Cratejoy will need you to decide on a shipping schedule. This schedule covers your packing, shipping, and subscription renewal days for your customers.
Customizable Checkout Page
The platform also includes a feature where you can customize what your potential subscribers will see on the checkout page. This includes the pricing and prepaid terms, which can be helpful if you want to get your customers to have extended subscriptions.
Shipping can take a significant chunk of your earnings, depending on where your customers are located.
For that, you have three options to charge for shipping:
- The first option is that you can cover the entire shipping cost, which can be an effective way to attract subscribers.
- Another is that you’ll set the shipping fee depending on the location of the customer. Cratejoy calculates the shipping fee when the customer checks out.
- The last one is by charging a flat shipping rate. In this option, customers will pay a shipping fee regardless of their location.
After setting up your store, adding subscription boxes and products, and setting the shipping costs, you’ll need to add a payment processor. Once done, you’re ready to launch your store.
When customers subscribe to your store, you’ll need to meet your monthly shipping schedule. It’s also crucial to keep your subscribers happy so they will renew their subscriptions, ensuring your monthly income.
How Much Can You Earn With Cratejoy?
You’ll need to decide how much you want to sell your subscription boxes at Cratejoy. By that, how much you earn depends on the things you can sell, minus related costs like shipping and transaction fees.
Here are a few examples of subscription boxes currently listed on Cratejoy:
Cratejoy Reviews: Is Cratejoy Legit?
Cratejoy received a 1.8 rating in Trustpilot from less than 20 reviews. Meanwhile, it has a 1.11 rating at the Better Business Bureau, with 9 customer reviews. Most of these reviews came from customers.
With such limited ratings and reviews, it may be hard to gauge whether this platform is safe to use. Despite that, Cratejoy offers a legit free listing of subscription products. Considering that, you can check out the platform and see for yourself how well it works.
However, it’s noteworthy that the reviews on Trustpilot and the BBB are from buyers, not sellers.
Who Is Cratejoy Best for?
Cratejoy is an ideal platform for people looking to start an online subscription box business.
What Can You Sell With Cratejoy?
You can sell the following subscription box categories with Cratejoy:
- Men, women, kids, and family
- Beauty
- Books
- Food
- Drinks
- Art and Culture
- Fitness and outdoors
- Entertainment
- Pets
- Homewares
Cratejoy Benefits: What Does Cratejoy Offer?
The Cratejoy Dashboard
The Cratejoy Dashboard lets you manage your entire subscription box business in one user-friendly web interface. You can check your listings, manage logistics, and complete orders of your subscription boxes.
You can also view your invoices, collect payments, and customize your store through your dashboard. It also includes the Analytics feature, so you can study data, get insights into your customer base, and plan the marketing.
Shipping
Cratejoy works with reputable shipping companies, providing sellers with competitive rates. You can integrate your Cratejoy store with 3rd party fulfillment solutions, such as Pirate Ship and ShipStation.
Ecommerce Features
Ecommerce features offer various ways for sellers to reach greater markets. Some of these allow sellers to send customized emails to let customers know of current promos.
Sellers can also set teams and add multiple users to their accounts. This feature allows them to delegate tasks as their business grows.
Cratejoy Fees: How Much Does It Cost to Use Cratejoy?
You can join the Cratejoy marketplace for free, creating your store and listing your subscription boxes without paying for any subscription yourself.
However, Cratejoy charges the following fees once you start getting subscribers:
| Transaction fees | 1.25% + $0.10 |
|---|---|
| Referral fees | 15% |
| Applicable minimum referral fee | $0.30 |
Suppose you want to use its site builder and run your subscription box business outside the platform. In that case, you can opt for a monthly premium subscription of $39.
Besides this amount, you’ll also need to pay for transaction and referral fees to keep your listing on the platform.
Cratejoy Requirements?
Signing up to Cratejoy requires personal details, such as complete name, address, phone number, and email.
When it comes to listing in the marketplace, sellers must meet the following requirements:
- Have at least one subscription product in their dashboard
- Upload authentic, non-stock, photos
- Add readable descriptions and headlines of their products
- Set up a target shipping date
- Have their listing included in at least one subcategory in the marketplace
Cratejoy Payout Terms and Options
Cratejoy uses Stripe to process payments from customers. Then, sellers receive their earnings through direct deposit, usually at the end of each month.
What Are the Cratejoy Pros & Cons?
Cratejoy Pros
- Listing products is free
- Easy-to-use web interface
- Many knowledge base and support articles
- Offers a unique business model
Cratejoy Cons
- Relatively high fees
- Challenging to manage your online store
How Good Is Cratejoy Support?
Cratejoy offers support through its extensive knowledge base. There are hundreds of articles listed there, organized in topics. Also, it has a search field to quickly look for articles.
If you need to contact their support team, you can do so by clicking on the Need Help button at the bottom left of the Support page. This opens up a chat box where you can enter your question.
The chatbot will look for relevant articles to address it. But if you prefer to talk to their support team, you can just choose the option “No, contact support.”
You’ll need to provide your name, email address, and description of the issue, and click on Send. Cratejoy will confirm receipt of your support ticket and will assign an agent to contact you through email.
Cratejoy Review Verdict: Is Cratejoy Worth It?
Cratejoy offers a free platform for people to start an online subscription box business. It has a quick sign-up process and an easy-to-use dashboard. The platform even provides a launch checklist so sellers know what to do before launching their stores.
While listing your products on their marketplace is free, you’ll still need to consider some fees once these sell. The transaction fees are relatively low compared to other online selling platforms.
Overall, you’ll deal with 1.25% + $0.10 transaction fees, plus 15% referral fees when applicable.
However, the referral fees are considerably high, taking a dent in your sales. You can offset these fees by using the eCommerce features and adding more subscribers. In addition, having more subscribers guarantees your future earnings.
How to Sign Up With Cratejoy?
To sign up with Cratejoy, go to their website and click on Sell on Cratejoy at the top right corner. Once the next page loads, click on the Get Started button.
There, you will need to enter your first and last name, business email, and preferred password. Finally, make sure to tick the checkbox next to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Once done, click on Create My Listing.
Cratejoy will proceed to set up your store by asking for your store name and phone number. It will also require you to enter your business address, including the postal code.
From there, Cratejoy will confirm further information, such as if you have any prior online selling experience, and what category of subscription box you want to sell.
Sites Like Cratejoy
Cratejoy vs. Decluttr
Decluttr Summary
- Next-day payment upon delivery of goods
- Get the best prices for your used tech
- 2 different payment options available
- Get extra cash if you are a student
Decluttr, similar to Cratejoy, provides people a platform to sell things online. But compared to the latter, Decluttr buys items from people and sells those items on their terms.
While Decluttr lets you off the hook when it comes to dealing with customers, you don’t have the freedom to choose how much you can sell your items for. It’s a quick way to make money, but of a relatively lower amount than when you sell on other platforms.
Cratejoy vs. Swappa
Swappa Summary
- No fees to list and sell your products
- Optional featured listing for just $5
- 2 days to ship the item after getting paid
- Instant payments via PayPal
Swappa is one of the alternatives to Cratejoy if you’re looking for places to sell stuff. You can also create a listing here, receive customer orders, and ship out your products to them. However, Swappa only caters to gently used electronic devices.
Cratejoy vs. eBay
eBay Summary
- High user traffic – over 187 million users
- No listing fees for small scale sellers
- Promote your listing from as little as 1%
- Quick processing time for payouts
Sites like eBay and Cratejoy make it possible to sell anything on the internet. Both require you to create a listing for your products and manage your online store. However, these two platforms differ in their target markets.
While people go to eBay knowing exactly what they want to buy, Cratejoy sells the surprise through its subscription boxes.
Other Sites Like Cratejoy
Cratejoy FAQ
What Is Cratejoy?
Cratejoy has over 392,000 total subscribers and 4 million unique visitors every month, making it the eBay of subscription boxes. Moreover, it has reported earning more than $2.25 million.
Where is Cratejoy located?
Cratejoy is located in Austin, Texas.
How many sellers are on Cratejoy?
There are over 2,100 sellers on Cratejoy.
Who owns Cratejoy?
Amir Elaguizy is the current CEO of Cratejoy.
What percentage does Cratejoy take?
Cratejoy takes 1.25% plus 10 cents off every sale.
How much is the membership for Cratejoy?
Cratejoy charges $0 for its Marketplace-Only plan, and $39 monthly for its All-in-One plan.
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