Chinese merchants represent less than 10% of sellers on Sears.com, while competing U.S. shopping portals feature far more goods from China. Sears.com now ships to China.

Many Chinese companies sell on web marketplaces operated by Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. Now Sears Holding Corp. is recruiting companies based in China to add their products to selection available on Sears.com and Kmart.com, which Sears owns.

Sears executives, including Bob Crum, senior director of sales and business development, spoke at a news conference in Shanghai this month, promoting the value of selling on Sears’ marketplaces.

The average Sears shopper is 52 years of age, and many purchase high-ticket merchandise.
Sears executives

What’s more, Sears said it would also sell items from participating Chinese companies in its 1,500 stores.

To sell on Sears.com and Kmart.com, a Chinese merchant must have a U.S. tax identification number, which requires registering as a business in the U.S, according to Sears.

For Chinese merchants, this could be an opportunity as Sears says Chinese merchants represent less than 10% of the merchants selling on Sears.com, which is far less than on other U.S. marketplaces. For example, an executive of Amazon China said at a conference last year that about 30% apparel sellers on Amazon’s marketplace come from China.

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Sears faces plenty of competition in seeking the attention of Chinese companies.

Besides U.S.-based Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500, and eBay, major online marketplaces actively recruiting Chinese sellers include France’s PriceMinister and Cdiscount, Lazada of Southeast Asia, Mercado Libre from Latin American and Kilimall of Africa.

Sears (No. 19) has also begun selling online to Chinese consumers, as Sears.com now ships to China.

According to Top500Guide.com, Sears did an estimated $3.150 billion in online sales in 2016, down 10% from $3.5 billion in 2015. Total revenue declined to $22.1 billion in 2016 from $25.1 billion the prior year.

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The Sears executives noted in their presentation that there are no listing fees on the Sears’ marketplaces. A Sears spokesman says the fees are the same for all international sellers. There is a monthly fee of $39.99 to participate as a Sears marketplace seller. Sears also takes a 2.5% fee to cover credit and debit card interchange, plus charges a commission that varies by category, ranging from 5.5% of the sale to 17.5%.

Here are the commissions by category:

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