I just signed a deal to be the sole-source online seller for a manufactured product! Now what?!

Why in hell did they choose you if you are not familiar with what works now? I wish I could help you, but I don't know how to do it too well either.

Good luck, I hope you succeed for the manufactures benefit.

Make sure whatever ecommerce service or script you use has a really active community and that they are willing to support one another. You don't need to pay for the service, as you can use a number of different opensource scripts. Weigh your options carefully before you sink money and time into listing your products and paying for someone to customize it for you.

Don't go with shared hosting, unless it is very limited on the number of people on the server. The last thing you want is to crash during Christmas buying season, like what happened to me.

If you only have a small selection of products, then Wordpress might be sufficient.

Also, and this is important, read about the recent tax changes in the US. Read about the Marketplace Fairness Act so you clearly understand how this will impact you. It may also play into your choice of ecommerce platform. You will want good reporting features, so you can have a clear picture of what is happening within your business. With the new tax changes you are looking at having to deal with the 9600+ tax jurisdictions in the US, as the tax burden is moving from the consumer to the seller. With the changes, there is increased likelihood of being audited, so make sure you keep really good records.

Meanwhile, congratulations!! I hope it goes really well for you.

Not sure about the best affiliate network to use although I would definitely consider either share a sale.

With regards to the best e Comm platform, I would definitely look at either shopify or BigCommerce.

They are both very responsive and easy to setup and allow you to display your products in a professional manner.

You may also want to look at listing on Amazon and consider using FBA as a way to grow your sales. Amazon is an amazing platform if you learn how to leverage it, and you get access to their buyers which can really mean a big jump in sales.

All the best Matey

True, in your case because you're the sole internet seller of the product, Amazon could be a great place to sell. You could even have Amazon handle the fulfillment.

This might seem strange, but you could simply have the Amazon affiliate program handle your affiliate question.


*So envious!

Amazon or Ebay would be a great way to go. Perhaps pitch it to other home and garden websites at wholesale price. Let them do all of the selling for you.

On second thought, it sounds like the company made a very poor business deal entrusting their product to someone with zero experience. This may be a red flag that the company is not all that reliable or doesn't have the sh#t together. I would start on Amazon and see how they handle small orders before spending the time and effort to build a site.

It would really suck if you start bringing in big orders and they can't deliver.