My Internet Business Review: Where To Sell On The Internet
Before you start your own site, selling things, it’s worth your while to take a look at the established selling services out there. They can be a good place to “get your feet wet” as it were, and start selling things before investing a lot of time and effort into your own site. A lot of businesses never “graduate past them”, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to do so with your business.
The first option is eBay. It is a widely known site and there are endless possibilities to selling here. It is also something that you can stop or start anytime. If you decide you don’t like it, you haven’t invested a lot of money and time into a webpage of your own.
The easiest one to get into, assuming you have a means of generating graphics, is Caf Press. You upload your artwork, set up the shop, and select what products it’ll be on, ranging from tee shirts, to coffee mugs, to calendars - even intimate apparel. (Yes, we have seen “Just Do IT?” thongs) The flip side is that Caf Press charges a pretty premium; they handle all the manufacturing for you, so you don’t have to cover inventory. So you’re not making much per sale unless you can command a premium. Still, if you’re an artist and lazy, they’re a good way to make some money off of your artwork.
The next step up from Caf 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, cookwear 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.
The all time champion for people selling things online is eBay. It effectively defined (and dominates) the online auction business. eBay is more than auctions, however. You can set up your own eBay shop with a lot of custom options, including setting the price, setting shipping options, and more. Plus, there’s always the auctions.
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.
Deciding what to sell is the next step - you’ll want something that’s distinctive, and that you can get at a reasonable price, and can sell for a reasonable markup. Again, Amazon and eBay are good places to do the research. Any time you think of something you might sell, do a search for it on eBay or Amazon and see how many other people are selling it. Also look at how they’re selling it; the mistakes of your competition are how you propel yourself in this business.
A variation on buy wholesale and sell direct is to find something that’s locally available and sell it for more money on eBay nationwide. This is a surprisingly effective avenue for all kinds of things, from rubber floor mats for automobiles to satellite dishes. Look for something that’s being liquidated locally and work from there.
Tags: Amazon, book, Business, calendar, competition, Internet, Links, manufacturing, Marketing, Marketing, money, niche, Online, product, search, site, Source
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Tags: Amazon, book, Business, calendar, competition, Internet, Links, manufacturing, Marketing, money, niche, Online, product, search, site, Source
