Online Merchants
Conduct retail activities of businesses operating exclusively online. May perform duties such as preparing business strategies, buying merchandise, managing inventory, implementing marketing activities, fulfilling and shipping online orders, and balancing financial records.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Persuasion
- Service Orientation
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Sales and Marketing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Communications and Media
- Administration and Management
- Computers and Electronics
- Administrative
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Upload digital media, such as photos, video, or scanned images to online storefront, auction sites, or other shopping Web sites.
- Order or purchase merchandise to maintain optimal inventory levels.
- Maintain inventory of shipping supplies, such as boxes, labels, tape, bubble wrap, loose packing materials, or tape guns.
- Determine and set product prices.
- Disclose merchant information and terms and policies of transactions in online or offline materials.
- Deliver e-mail confirmation of completed transactions and shipment.
- Create, manage, or automate orders or invoices, using order management or invoicing software.
- Create or maintain database of customer accounts.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (41.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (26.1%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (40.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Online Merchants is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 13-1199 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Higher on contact with others than 56% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 79% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 73% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 87% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 69% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 56% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 71% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 87% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 17.7%
- Contact with others most of the time: 18.22%
- Constant contact with others: 64.07%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 13.18%
- Important: 11.95%
- Very important: 20.94%
- Extremely important: 53.93%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 3.92%
- Fairly important: 4.23%
- Important: 31.64%
- Very important: 10.08%
- Extremely important: 50.14%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 2.15%
- Some freedom: 35.96%
- A lot of freedom: 61.89%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
Time pressure
- Never: 3.92%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 47.05%
- Every day: 35.59%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
Conflict situations
- Never: 4.28%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 23.66%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 55.08%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10.08%
- Every day: 6.9%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 1.97%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.77%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 47.69%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 29.64%
- Every day: 4.93%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 35.23%
- Fairly serious: 28.02%
- Serious: 28.9%
- Very serious: 0%
- Extremely serious: 7.85%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2014
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O*NET-SOC 13-1199.06 · SOC 13-1199 (detailed_parent, medium confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8