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Vital tips for people starting out in ecommerce.

by Auctiondebteliminator
5 replies
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#1 - Do not expose your niche. Never tell people where your money tree is planted. If it's a good one, people, especially on WF will give you unnecessary competition. You did the work, you didn't sleep at night, you sacrificed your pet goat, so keep it to yourself.

#2 - No mention of research done. What is your demand? Competition? Commercial intention? If you truly do it right, what are the actual numbers you came to to justify your niche?

#3 - Has their been a discussion on how you will sell your product? I don't mean on what platform, or your marketing strategy. What I'm referring to is: "What is going to set you apart from everyone else that is selling this product? It's not the product - not even the price that matters. What matters is how you sell it. It's hard to have an original idea on the Internet. 65 million-billion-infinity people are selling your product online. But why will they buy from you?

#4 - With selling on eBay, or anywhere else, what is the market worth? Are you assuming that you'd sell your items at the MSRP? If so, nothing ever in the history of the universe has something sold for the MSRP. People buy it for the perceived MARKET worth of the item.

#5 - How much are you making per sale? This cannot, and should not be assumed/guessed. Even worse, it cannot be given to you buy a supplier. I often see this from suppliers: "Your cost is this, you sell it for this, you'll make this much!" (The worst offender, and supplier, is Doba. There are many like it, but Doba is a cancer.) However, they never tell you what the fees are - shipping, eBay, Paypal, Dropship fees, etc. When calculating all of them fairly, you'll often see that you're taking a loss.
#dropshipping #ebay #ecommerce #people #starting #tips #vital
  • Profile picture of the author rocknitish
    If you are looking to sell just a few products then the methods we've discussed work fine. Get a web host, create a site using a CMS and an ecommerce addon and you're good. But if you're looking to really have an online store where you do lots of sales with lots of products and reliability and no headaches are important, then we'd recommend a different approach.

    Instead of purchasing a hosting plan and creating a site on your own or with the help of a designer, it is better to create a store using a HOSTED ECOMMERCE SOLUTION. For a small monthly price, a company like Big Commerce or Volusion will give you a stable, online platform to add products, manage orders, take payments securely, and get help and support. You don't worry about software, hosting, or other website issues. Just add products and worry about your business. The small monthly price is often far less than you would pay for leasing a building to sell products and will cost you far less in support costs, downtime, and lost sales. Many people who build a standalone website on their own hosting plan often have issues when trying to run an online store. And when running an online store that is generating revenue, this is not good.

    So sign up with a reputable company like BigCommerce that offers a Hosted Ecommerce solution. They host the software, the data, and worry about security. You just run the biz. In the long run, this is probably the best recommendation we can give to those wanting a serious online store. Just do your homework when choosing a company.
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    • Profile picture of the author tgpros
      Originally Posted by rocknitish View Post

      If you are looking to sell just a few products then the methods we've discussed work fine. Get a web host, create a site using a CMS and an ecommerce addon and you're good. But if you're looking to really have an online store where you do lots of sales with lots of products and reliability and no headaches are important, then we'd recommend a different approach.

      Instead of purchasing a hosting plan and creating a site on your own or with the help of a designer, it is better to create a store using a HOSTED ECOMMERCE SOLUTION. For a small monthly price, a company like Big Commerce or Volusion will give you a stable, online platform to add products, manage orders, take payments securely, and get help and support. You don't worry about software, hosting, or other website issues. Just add products and worry about your business. The small monthly price is often far less than you would pay for leasing a building to sell products and will cost you far less in support costs, downtime, and lost sales. Many people who build a standalone website on their own hosting plan often have issues when trying to run an online store. And when running an online store that is generating revenue, this is not good.

      So sign up with a reputable company like BigCommerce that offers a Hosted Ecommerce solution. They host the software, the data, and worry about security. You just run the biz. In the long run, this is probably the best recommendation we can give to those wanting a serious online store. Just do your homework when choosing a company.
      I would echo this advice! The CMS you choose can make or break your ecommerce venture... so don't dive in without giving it proper thought. Spend time making the right decision at the first time of asking. Migrating from one CMS to another can be time consuming and costly at a later date.
      Signature
      Last month I turned over $57,646 on one of my Shopify web stores. Read my honest "warts n' all" review of the Shopify platform click here now!
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  • Profile picture of the author firewire
    1) Take your current idea and niche down

    2) Test again and again before you invest

    3) Manufacturing in Asia will be a MAJOR headache

    4) Don’t underestimate the power of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

    5) Put careful thought into your E-commerce platform
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  • Profile picture of the author fast2net
    Originally Posted by Auctiondebteliminator View Post

    #1 - Do not expose your niche. Never tell people where your money tree is planted. If it's a good one, people, especially on WF will give you unnecessary competition. You did the work, you didn't sleep at night, you sacrificed your pet goat, so keep it to yourself.

    #2 - No mention of research done. What is your demand? Competition? Commercial intention? If you truly do it right, what are the actual numbers you came to to justify your niche?

    #3 - Has their been a discussion on how you will sell your product? I don't mean on what platform, or your marketing strategy. What I'm referring to is: "What is going to set you apart from everyone else that is selling this product? It's not the product - not even the price that matters. What matters is how you sell it. It's hard to have an original idea on the Internet. 65 million-billion-infinity people are selling your product online. But why will they buy from you?

    #4 - With selling on eBay, or anywhere else, what is the market worth? Are you assuming that you'd sell your items at the MSRP? If so, nothing ever in the history of the universe has something sold for the MSRP. People buy it for the perceived MARKET worth of the item.

    #5 - How much are you making per sale? This cannot, and should not be assumed/guessed. Even worse, it cannot be given to you buy a supplier. I often see this from suppliers: "Your cost is this, you sell it for this, you'll make this much!" (The worst offender, and supplier, is Doba. There are many like it, but Doba is a cancer.) However, they never tell you what the fees are - shipping, eBay, Paypal, Dropship fees, etc. When calculating all of them fairly, you'll often see that you're taking a loss.
    #1 is probably the most vital tip on this list!
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