Five Tips for Home Ecommerce Business

Written by Strand Davis Thursday, 09 June 2011 05:59

Tip Number One Many people make the mistake of confusing ecommerce on eBay with ecommerce on a commercial retail site, such as Amazon.com or Bestbuy.com or any number of other retailers selling their own physical products. However, the eBay environment and online retail environment are very different. Perhaps in the early days of eBay this distinction did not matter, but eBay is a highly sophisticated selling venue and understanding your selling environment makes a big difference.

Tip Number One Many people make the mistake of confusing ecommerce on eBay with ecommerce on a commercial retail site, such as Amazon.com or Bestbuy.com or any number of other retailers selling their own physical products. However, the eBay environment and online retail environment are very different. Perhaps in the early days of eBay this distinction did not matter, but eBay is a highly sophisticated selling venue and understanding your selling environment makes a big difference.

Tip Number Two Regarding eBay shipping, find out what your rivals are charging for shipping and try to just undercut them while still making an overall profit on your item. If you managed to buy some cheaper materials, this shouldn't be too hard for you - most of the sellers on eBay are buying envelopes and boxes one-by-one, which is a very expensive way to do things. If you work things out correctly, you should be able to offer shipping at a price point which makes your rivals look silly, and still make a profit. Remember, too, that the U.S. Post Office (if you are in the U.S.) provides boxes printed with your business name and address free of charge.

Tip Three: Get links back to your site from 'authority' sites, such as directories, non-profit organizations, .gov sites, or high ranking .com sites. These will always help boost and stabilize your page rank. Google likes to decide what sites are important. A site has some huge credential for being a spectacular source for quality information will be appreciated more than sites that don't have such strong affiliations with quality work and content. This will result in stronger, more heavily weighted links to and from this site.

Tip #4 The most difficult decisions are made in the beginning as you prepare to open your store. Make your first orders from your suppliers well in advance of that opening day, by at least 4 to 6 weeks. Most suppliers will promise receipt on your end within a week. If this happens, you then have ample time to inventory and prepare the items for sale. However, you don't know yet who is slow and who is not. Secondly, backorders can be a nightmare. You often will not know that an item is on backorder until you receive an invoice. Some companies will automatically send you the backordered items as they replenish their stock (and that can take months) and some will not. Make sure that you know that supplier's policy in advance.

Tip Number Five Working from your home selling products or services is an excellent means of creating a steady income. Internet marketing will not make you an instant millionaire or give you instant rewards. Building a profitable home-based business is no different from more traditional business ventures. It will take effort and wisdom on your part if you want to succeed. Advertising, web site promotion, and hard work are the keys to making money working from home. Before you begin, research the products or services you intend to provide to determine the long-term marketability prospects. You will want to provide products that will be in demand over time, not products that will sell for a very short time then fade away.