Finding the right product for you to sell could be the hardest part of starting an e-commerce business. However, it’s a good idea to think about your interests and hobbies to see if you can devise a product from that. Once you’ve got an idea it’s time to carry out some research on the price you can buy the items at, what they sell for, how much shipping costs will be, and the frequency of sale. This should provide you with a good idea whether it’s a worthwhile business plan.
As far as technology is concerned, you’ll need little more than a computer or smartphone, a camera (or your phone), and a printer to print labels.
#1 Source the products you’ll sell
You’re going to have to
spend some time finding the products that you want to sell and make sure that you can get hold of enough of them to supply the demand. There’s nothing worse than having a product that sells like hotcakes, having customers asking and wanting them, and yet not having any to sell — this is frustrating, to say the least.
#2 Choose a platform to sell from
Of course, you could sell from your own website, however with so many selling platforms already available, such as
Amazon, eBay, Esty, and Facebook, to name just a few, there’s no reason to go through the added expense of creating, hosting, updating and paying for security on your own. Then, of course, there’s the added cost of driving quality traffic to your website. The platforms that are already available will take care of all of this for you; all you have to do is physically create an account and start listing your items.
#3 Prioritise a shipping method
If you decide to sell your items, it’s guaranteed that at some stage you’re going to have to ship them further than you can drop off or where your customer is happy to collect them from. You’ll therefore have to specify which shipping method you want to use.
Regardless of whether you need a specialist fragile item shipping company or a man with a van, using the services of a shipping broker, such as
https://www.shiply.com/us/fragile-item-shipping, will prove to be time well spent. A shipping broker will provide you with multiple quotes from shipping companies so that you can choose the one that suits your requirements the best.
#4 Keep your customers happy
Regardless of how you’re going to sell or ship, it’s important that you keep your customers happy. The best way of doing this is to be honest with your product listings, and keep in contact with your buyer to let them know what’s happening with their order and when it will be shipped to them.
Where possible, include a slip with their order thanking them and stating what to do if they’re unhappy with their purchase. This way, you should be able to limit the amount of negative or neutral feedback you receive, which could reflect very badly on you on sites such as eBay.
Final thoughts
As you can see, it isn’t hard to set up your own e-commerce business, you don’t need loads of room or equipment, but you will have to find a product that you can make a profit selling and make sure there’s adequate demand to keep your business going.