Starting a venue for sales on the internet can be a daunting experience if you’re just looking at technical requirements. You need a server, a certificate, a merchant services vendor, tested and trusted security and on top of that, you need something to sell! Putting all the pieces together can be a lot of work.
There are two my internet business sales options we’re going to review – eBay (which you’ve probably heard of) and Etsy. Both give a venue for you to sell to qualified buyers, and both have their ins and outs, including ways to automate product loading. Understand that we’re not endorsing either of them – just providing a conduit of information for you to make an informed decision from.
EBay offers options to having your own store or just your own auction site. You can personalize it however you want. You decide the price, shipping price, descriptions, and pictures. It is relatively simple to figure out and there is already a customer base. People from all over the globe recognize and use eBay. If you are going to venture here, avoid the places that will help you sell your things on eBay. They charge up to 30% of the purchase price. Doing this also will not help you reach your goal of launching your own webpage.
The next step up from Cafe Press is Amazon Shops. Amazon Shops lets you print books on their Booksurge service, or just sell used books online. My internet business is not limited solely to books – we’ve sold tee shirts, cookware and electronics on ours. Amazon Shops charges $40 per month as a listing fee and takes anywhere from 10% to 25% of the sale price of the item. The advantage is that it’s a natural destination for selling things online. Millions of customers go to Amazon every day. The setup is more involved than Caf Press is, but the reduced fees probably make it worthwhile once your business grows.
Once you figure out what you want to buy, make sure it is selling and check out the competition. You can research similar products that are on eBay and read the customer reviews. These customer reviews are also another advantage to using eBay as a precursor to your own webpage. You can later state your rating and quote some customer reviews that you received from eBay.
So, now that you’ve picked a sales venue, what next? First, save any item descriptions for things you’ll regularly have in stock in a text file or word processing file. It allows you to cut and paste whenever a new item shows up. Next is to figure out what you’re going to sell – the most common choice is to buy items at wholesale (or as remaindered goods) and sell lots on eBay. You’ll need to do some research to find a supplier (and a good price) and to research what your sales niche is.
Checking out the sales niche means checking out the competition. Unless it’s a really popular item (like, say, an iPhone), you’re going to want to narrowcast your sales items. Always search for the item you intend to sell and look for other people selling the same thing or similar items. Watch how their auctions and sales options run.
Finally, keep your options open. Never ever sign an exclusive deal, and always be on the lookout for new products you can sell; not all products have to be made of atoms, Informational products are also a natural product for the Internet, and may be the product type that catapults you into doing your own web shop.