How to Sell Successfully on idealo

Why sell on idealo

Germany, in particular, is a crucial market. Idealo holds its position there as the largest price comparison platform and is also the fourth-largest e‑commerce website overall. In the last quarter of 2024 alone, it attracted more than 182 million users. That’s an audience worth paying attention to.

For you as a seller, idealo is primarily a source of highly qualified traffic. Users visit the platform when they already know exactly what they want to buy and are only deciding on the final factors—price, shipping, or availability.

Another major advantage is its transparent PPC model with fixed cost-per-click prices by category, rather than an auction system. You don’t pay for product listings, account setup fees, or sales commissions. The platform also allows for relatively fast international expansion.

Getting Started: Registration and Requirements

Before you start selling, there are a few basic requirements you need to meet. Fortunately, nothing here should be surprising if you already run an online store.

✅ B2C sales: Idealo is designed exclusively for B2C sales. If you operate purely in B2B, unfortunately, the platform won’t be a good fit.

✅ History and background: Ideally, you should have at least six months of sales history. A fully functional website with complete company information is a must.

✅ Customer service and terms & conditions: You need to offer a minimum 14-day return period. Customer support should be available, ideally in the language of the target market. Email support is perfectly sufficient.

✅ Payment methods: Offer at least two payment methods, with at least one considered secure — typically PayPal or a credit card.

The registration process itself starts on the idealo Partner website. You’ll fill in basic information about your e‑shop and add the URL of your product feed. During registration, you’ll gain access to your idealo account administration on idealo Business. Every new store goes through a verification process that takes around 11 days on average. However, if you provide high-quality data, approval can take as little as one day.

Product Feed Optimization for idealo

This is the moment of truth. Your product feed is the heart of selling on idealo—and the better you prepare it, the better results you can expect. This is where Mergado can help significantly, allowing you to make bulk and automated data edits without touching the data in your online store. Mergado converts your existing feed into the exact CSV format required by idealo.

• Required elements: You’ll need to provide SKU (a unique product ID), brand, product name, online store category, product URL, price including VAT, shipping costs, delivery time, image URL, and identifiers such as EAN/GTIN or MPN.
   
• Technical specifications: EAN/GTIN is absolutely essential. Without it, the product won’t be properly matched to the catalog and will end up in the “free catalog,” where visibility is significantly lower.
   
• Feed updates: Idealo typically fetches your feed every 30 minutes. If you work with frequent price or availability changes, you can arrange updates every 5 minutes by contacting idealo support.
   
• Localization: Don’t forget that your feed must be fully localized. Texts, currencies, size charts — everything needs to match the target market, or your store will appear untrustworthy. The Mergado Translate extension in Mergado Editor can help you with this.

You can find all feed specification details on idealo’s website.

Best Practices to Maximize Sales

To make idealo a true revenue-generating channel rather than just another budget line, focus on these areas:

💰 Competitive pricing

The first position in the offer list receives an average of 53% of all clicks. The second gets 17%, and the third 9%. Positions 2 and 3 can still be very profitable, often with better margins. We recommend using dynamic pricing that reacts to market and competitor movements and participating in seasonal events like Black Friday.

🖼️ Visuals and descriptions

Use high-quality, high-resolution images, ideally on a white background, and show the product from multiple angles. You can fine-tune visuals using the Feed Image Editor extension. Product descriptions can be up to 1,000 characters long, so use the space to clearly and concisely describe key parameters (without HTML tags, unusual characters, or emojis).

📦 Variants and shipping

List each product variant as a separate item in the feed, with a unique name and EAN. Be completely transparent about shipping. The “free shipping” label often makes the difference, even if your product price is slightly higher.

⭐ Reviews

Actively collect reviews directly on idealo. Reviews cannot be imported from elsewhere — not even from idealo accounts in other countries — but their impact on trust and click-through rate is enormous.

Keeping idealo Under Control Long Term

Selling on idealo isn’t a one-time effort. If you want to grow sustainably, you need to keep your data up to date at all times.

• Competitor monitoring and analytics: The idealo Business interface provides detailed insights into clicks, pricing, and market trends, allowing you to adjust your offers almost in real time. 
   
• Support: Every seller gets a dedicated Account Manager and a Technical Account Manager (TAM) who can help with feed optimization and technical issues.
   
• Reliability: Regularly check that your inventory, feed data, and idealo listings are aligned to avoid order rejections due to out-of-stock products.
   
• Building customer relationships: Idealo users are price-sensitive, so give them additional reasons to buy from you. Add discount coupons to your feed to highlight your offers directly in comparisons. After purchase, encourage customers to leave a review and return for future purchases, perhaps with a discount on their next order or a small gift.
   
• Clear shipping information: Reliable shipping has a direct impact on conversions and your overall rating. Always clearly list all available shipping options and highlight express delivery.

What Determines Success on idealo

Success on idealo rests on three pillars: precise data, a smart pricing strategy, and high-quality customer service. If you regularly optimize your feed, monitor competitors, and respond quickly to market changes, you can turn millions of visitors into paying and returning customers.