Wednesday, February 11, 2009

My Internet Business Review Options For Webpage Prelaunch Sales

By Trisha Frauenhofer

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.

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.

eBay is more labor intensive than Amazon, but the percentages that they take out are less. eBay has moderately high listing fees, so keep that in mind when planning your sales patterns. eBay is the ideal forum for selling things you buy locally, or retailing something you buy at wholesale. By the time you've outgrown an eBay shop, you'll be well set on setting up your own eCommerce site.

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.

Another website option to consider is called Etsy. It is very similar to an eBay store except it is for handmade items. There are also more personalization options. Etsy also charges much less for listings than eBay. If you have things you are making, Etsy is for sure the place. There are over 5,000 people with stores and even more who just shop. Etsy has wonderful options for people to find your products. Amongst other cool features, Etsy has a color search wheel, a new shop highlight, and a geolocator. They also allow you to put several tags on your items so people can find them better. Once you have pictures and descriptions written out you should save them in a word type program on your computer. That way when you run out of products, you can list more later with ease. Etsy is a fun and popular place to be for handmade items. - 15634

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