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Private label, white label or reselling: what still works on bol in 2026?

Lars Hurkmans·Co-founder·1 April 2026·Reading time 9 minutes

Private label works best on bol in 2026. You source the same generic products as with white label, but you improve them based on reviews and sell them under your own brand. White label gets stuck in price competition and reselling requires a lot of starting capital. Plan on around 2,500 to 5,000 euros for your first private label product.

You've surely heard the terms: private label, white label and reselling. You know you need to choose, but which one fits you, and what actually still works in 2026? Below we walk through the difference between the three, what each route costs, and why private label with data-driven improvements is the strongest choice for the long term. This way you can make the call without watching the whole video.

What's the difference between white label, private label and reselling?

In short: with white label you resell generic, unbranded products unchanged, with private label you adjust those same products and sell them under your own brand, and with reselling you buy and resell existing brands through the buy box. The three differ mainly in how much differentiation you create and how much starting capital you need.

White label means you source generic, unbranded products and resell them exactly as you got them. You buy unbranded yoga mats, for example, and list them online as received, or you attach yourself to someone else's listing. So you don't need to come up with a new product, but you do end up in direct price competition with all the other sellers on that listing. The obstacle is that twenty other sellers are doing exactly the same thing, often with products from the same supplier. The only difference is the price you ask.

White label can generate a high turnover if you catch a trend at the right moment. Think of face masks during covid, or emergency radios now that many households received a letter to put together an emergency kit. Through our market data we saw a generic emergency radio that turned around 250,000 euros in revenue in a month. That's a market observation about how big a hype can get, not an amount you can count on: hype products aren't consistent, often don't meet the set requirements and laws, and once demand stops you're left with stock you can no longer get rid of.

Private label starts with those same generic products, but you adjust components. You have a logo put on the product, you design packaging that fits your brand, and you improve the product based on what customers miss. That can be as simple as just a logo, or as extensive as making the product better in multiple ways. On bol you see two routes for this. The brand Nuance started as private label and built an established name with a broad, generic store: they looked at the market and put online what, according to their data, sold well. Welch instead chose a niche brand around hair products such as shavers, and put more into building a brand. A generic store makes you less limited in your product choice, but a well-known name is harder to build that way. Recently partners on bol can create branded pages, which lets you further bring your brand to life.

Reselling is buying and reselling existing brands. You're one of many resellers, sometimes alongside five others, sometimes alongside fifty, and you compete for the buy box on price, listing age and performance score. Take ShopPartners on bol: that range counts over 160,000 products, all running through the buy box. Just to be shown at all is a daily battle, and that doesn't work out for every product by a long shot. So you need to buy in many products, and that requires a lot of starting capital.

Why doesn't white label work as well on bol anymore in 2026?

Because the market is saturated and the differentiation is gone. Between 2020 and 2023 you could still survive with white label. You saw demand for phone cases, ordered 200 from China for 2 euros each, listed them for 12 euros, and it sold. Not because your product was better, but because there was demand and little supply. If you uploaded a case, you might have three to five competitors with the same thing.

In 2026 there are over 45,000 sellers on bol. Everyone has access to the same suppliers, the same products and the same tools. If you list a white label product now, within two weeks fifteen others are selling exactly the same thing, with the same supplier photos and the same description. On top of that, consumers increasingly notice that an order on bol doesn't necessarily come from bol itself, and that they can get the same product directly from Temu or AliExpress. Before you know it everyone's selling with two or three euros margin, or even break-even. Whoever wins then isn't the best seller, but whoever can survive longest on minimal margins.

Why is private label with data-driven improvements the smarter choice?

Because you create differentiation and thereby stay out of the price war. The difference between white label and private label looks small, a logo, different packaging, some adjustments, but that differentiation determines everything. If you sell a yoga mat with your own logo, your own packaging and better specifications, you're effectively selling a different product. There are still other yoga mats on bol, but not specifically your version. So there's no more direct price comparison, and you set your price based on value instead of on what the other twenty are doing.

In 2026 you don't have to guess which adjustments to make, because you can use data. You analyse competing products and their reviews, and see exactly what customers complain about. If you read across 200 yoga mat reviews that they're too thin, slide around and have a strange smell, you immediately have your improvement points: make your version 2 millimetres thicker, with better grip and odour-free material. Then you have something that's objectively better than the white label versions, and probably better than most other private label versions. You solve exactly the problems other sellers get marked down for in their reviews.

You do that analysis with data. In our product database you analyse existing products on bol, their competition and their reviews, so you choose based on numbers what you can improve on instead of on gut feeling. How you set up that market research, from first idea to sourcing decision, is worked out in market research on bol. And because you sell under your own brand, you'll want to protect that brand name too; how and when you arrange that is covered in BOIP trademark registration.

What does private label, white label and reselling cost on bol?

Private label requires the most upfront, white label the least, and reselling sits on the high side in terms of capital. For a first private label product you quickly reach around 2,500 to 5,000 euros. The breakdown from this article looks like this:

On top of that come costs outside this list, such as EAN codes, compliance, forwarding and building out your listing. So plan for relatively high starting capital. The EAN codes you need for your own product are explained in EAN codes on bol. The amounts above are indicative and differ per product group.

You can start white label with 500 to 1,000 euros. You buy unbranded stock, use the standard supplier photos, copy a description and put it online. The investment is minimal, and because you don't adjust anything about the product, the turnaround is faster.

Reselling doesn't require a budget for branding or adjustments, but does require a lot of starting capital. You often buy in larger volumes to get good purchase deals, and the resellers who do well work with a supplier network you can't easily get into. Before you invest in such volumes, you'll want to be able to check whether you can even win the buy box at all and what minimum order quantity (MOQ) you need to be profitable. If you want to resell Apple Watches, for example, you first look at the competition and the required MOQ for that specific product.

With private label you start from zero, without an existing listing with sales and reviews. So plan for a marketing budget to bring in your first sales and make your product visible. That's money you only earn back later, and in the beginning part of your launch strategy.

Which strategy fits your budget and situation?

That depends mainly on your starting capital and on how much you want to build.

• Less than 1,000 euros: start with white label to learn how bol works. See it as a learning ground and as tuition money. You can make money with it in the short term, but be realistic: as soon as your product does well, others see that and buy in the same thing, and your lead disappears. With white label you keep moving from opportunity to opportunity. Use the experience and the cash flow you build up to grow into private label, because products that do well as white label also do well as private label.
• 3,000 to 5,000 euros: start straight with private label and skip white label. Analyse with data what's already selling on bol, read the reviews, choose a product you can improve on, order samples, test them and lock in your adjustments. This way you work strategically from day one and build something that can grow, instead of discovering after three months that the margins don't work.
• Reselling: it keeps working, but it requires a specific approach. There are sellers who earn good money with it, but you constantly need to find deals, be fast, rotate stock quickly and be comfortable with price competition and repricing. If you can keep up that pace and enjoy it, fine. For most starters, private label gives more control and predictability: reselling is a grind, private label is a business.

The broader trade-off around starting on bol, from market and margins to cash flow and compliance, is worked out in is selling on bol still worth it in 2026.

Summary: what still works on bol in 2026?

The opportunities on bol are there and the market is growing, but only for sellers who work strategically. White label as a standalone strategy no longer works: too much competition, too little differentiation. Private label with data-driven improvements does work, because you start with the same generic products but make them better.

The amounts mentioned are indicative and come from this article; they differ per product group and approach.

Read more:

• Is selling on bol still worth it in 2026?
• Market research on bol: from first idea to sourcing decision
• Everything about BOIP trademark registration