As parents we need to find ways to make an income while maintaining a good work/life balance so that we have enough time with our kids. People often look for things that they can do on their own time or from home so they are available. Being an online seller is one way to do that. Here are some tips so you can be more successful in this endeavor should you choose to embark on this path.
Becoming an online seller is a great way to make money online with minimal effort or investment. For all intents and purposes, you are basically setting up your own small business. When done correctly, you should capture lots of customers and make loads of profitable sales. But, this is only possible if you follow the advice below:
Start as a third-party seller
Third-party sellers are people that sell items on existing websites. Two easy examples of this are sellers on Amazon or eBay. You can create accounts on these sites and begin listing products to sell.
The reason you should start doing this is that you take advantage of the marketing and traffic that these big websites possess. Millions of people flood the sites every day, searching for items you sell. It’s easier to get noticed and make sales here than it is to set up your own site from the word go.
Eventually, after gaining success as a third-party seller, you will set up an eCommerce site of your own to gain more traffic and make sales without fees.
Keep your shipping costs as low as possible
Nobody likes paying for shipping, and many consumers will actively avoid sellers that charge really high rates. Plus, if you can keep the shipping costs low, it widens your profit margin for each sale.
A good place to start is to compare UPS shipping quotes for your SMB, letting you find which rates are the cheapest. Provide minimal shipping fees for customers and you entice more people to buy from you. But, the main reason this is important is to keep the costs of selling as low as you can. The cheaper it is for you to make a sale, the more money you can make.
If you have s large number of products to ship though, it might be best to rent a whole shipping container. This is especially the case if they're for international customers. There are plenty of shipping containers for rent you can find online so it shouldn't be a challenge to find one that suits your needs.
Pick your products wisely
What should you sell to make money? Think about products that people are likely to search for all the time. Or, find a niche and tap into it. Ideally, the best products are those that people will continue to buy again and again. Selling household products or food could be great because you know existing customers will keep coming back, and new ones will always be lining up.
Try to avoid selling random things that people are only likely to buy once. Or, they buy really sporadically - this means you put too much reliance on generating new customers. You need people to return, so you can keep making sales to your existing customer base, rather than rely on new people all the time.
With the right setup, you should be able to make a lot of money selling things online. Remember, overnight success is unlikely - you will have to be patient and wait for things to slowly kick into action. Investing a bit of money into advertising/marketing can be beneficial to encourage more people to find out about you. If all goes according to plan, this could be an affordable business idea that helps you make a lot of cash from the comfort of your home.