Online Merchants Career, Salary and Skills
Online Merchants have a BLS-reported national median annual wage of $83,050 based on the 2025 OEWS dataset, with reported national employment of 1,087,090. Wage data is published for 443 locations.
Occupation description
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.
O*NET code
13-1199.06
Job zone
4
Typical education
Bachelor's Degree
Experience
Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years
National salary and employment
Median annual
$83,050
Hourly median
$39.93
Employment
1,087,090
Data year
2025
National salary distribution
Top skills
| Skill | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | 3.62 | 3.75 |
| Speaking | 3.50 | 3.38 |
| Active Listening | 3.50 | 3.62 |
| Critical Thinking | 3.50 | 3.88 |
| Service Orientation | 3.38 | 3.25 |
| Persuasion | 3.38 | 3.12 |
| Writing | 3.38 | 3.25 |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.25 | 3.25 |
| Negotiation | 3.12 | 3.12 |
| Monitoring | 3.12 | 3.62 |
Typical tasks
- Deliver e-mail confirmation of completed transactions and shipment.
- Design customer interface of online storefront, using web programming or e-commerce software.
- Develop or revise business plans for online business, emphasizing factors such as product line, pricing, inventory, or marketing strategy.
- Fill customer orders by packaging sold items and documentation for direct shipping or by transferring orders to manufacturers or third-party distributors.
- Receive and process payments from customers, using electronic transaction services.
- Correspond with online customers via electronic mail, telephone, or other electronic messaging to address questions or complaints about products, policies, or shipping methods.
- Purchase new or used items from online or physical sources for resale via retail or auction Web site.
- Create, manage, or automate orders or invoices, using order management or invoicing software.
Technology
- Adobe Dreamweaver
- Adobe Photoshop
- AJAX
- Apache Solr
- Apache Struts
- Apple macOS
- Bing Ads
- Bing for Power BI
- Blogging software
- C#
- CCBill
- Content management systems CMS
- Drupal
- Dynamic hypertext markup language DHTML
Online Merchants salary by location
Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.
- Online Merchants Salary in CAMedian $87,570 · Employment 155,000
- Online Merchants Salary in TXMedian $80,820 · Employment 104,270
- Online Merchants Salary in Washington, DCMedian $104,770 · Employment 76,600
- Online Merchants Salary in GAMedian $78,410 · Employment 67,450
- Online Merchants Salary in FLMedian $79,650 · Employment 66,230
- Online Merchants Salary in WAMedian $100,360 · Employment 51,650
- Online Merchants Salary in Los Angeles, CAMedian $82,750 · Employment 50,470
- Online Merchants Salary in COMedian $92,520 · Employment 45,670
- Online Merchants Salary in VAMedian $85,200 · Employment 45,160
- Online Merchants Salary in Atlanta, GAMedian $80,020 · Employment 43,720
- Online Merchants Salary in NCMedian $80,230 · Employment 41,180
- Online Merchants Salary in MDMedian $101,500 · Employment 39,820
Related careers
- Order ClerksNational median $46,170
- Retail SalespersonsNational median $35,410
- Counter and Rental ClerksNational median $41,300
- Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific ProductsNational median $72,080
- Brokerage ClerksNational median $65,750
- TelemarketersNational median $35,450
- Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm ProductsNational median not published
- Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific ProductsNational median $104,920
Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, 2025 (bls.gov/oes). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.