What to sell online

[piggyface]

I am going to dive in a set up an online store with stuff I haven't even got to sell online. If someone wants to buy at my prices, then fine, I'll order or buy from up town and mail it to them.

Anyone been down this road?

[simonsta]

Hi! I was just wondering what the 'value' of the service you provide is? If you're buying from a store, adding on P&P and then your profit, why would someone pay that cost rather than buying off eBay or another online store?

I think this can only work if:

• The Product Is specialist/art (basically non-commodity)
• The Product isn't sold elsewhere
• The Product is Worth a Lot
• You have unique distribution rights

[piggyface]

Well, for one thing I figured that it wouldn't cost me more than the domain and hosting and that it would be banking on the impulsive buyer market.

A niche product would be the best option, I agree.

[dave marshall]

definately go for a niche, it is where you expertise is.

The better the niche the easier it is to target your audience, has worked for me with some ebooks,

dave

[Mantius]

Originally Posted by piggyface

Well, for one thing I figured that it wouldn't cost me more than the domain and hosting and that it would be banking on the impulsive buyer market.

A niche product would be the best option, I agree.

One of the first things to think about is how you're gonna generate traffic. There's a lot involved. Take time to learn how to do this first. It's about TRAFFIC.

[Vanessa]

Hi Dave!
Congrats on choosing to take action by setting up an online store, just in time for the holiday season

Best advice I can give you to help pick out a niche to target is to not reinvent the wheel. Find a product that people are already looking to buy online.

You'll want to sell things that are both in demand and of interest to you. You don't want to be working with scuba diving gear if you hate the idea of being underwater. Know what i mean?

Here are 2 ways to get an idea of what's selling right now.
First place to look is eBay pulse.
Don't just look at the overall list. Choose a category that's of interest to you, then see what the popular searches are for that particular niche.

Second way: the top searches on shopping.com
Gives you the top 100 niches, and the keywords people use to search to get there. Pretty useful stuff when you're competing in a big market. Example, if you like car audio you'll want to target something smaller inside that niche, this list says that the top keyword used was kenwood. That's the niche you'll want to go after, the Kenwood --not the car audio.

There you go! Once you've got your niche, you're ready to move to the next step of getting yourself online and selling.

[Vdesign]

Once you figure out your niche and what your going to sell, you will need to set up a website. You then need to figure out your process that you will use to sell your products. will you have a shopping cart, paypal, or do everything via email? how will people find your website?

[actualize81]

Some people sell physical products they don't have while others sell a service or information.

It makes sense with the advent of the web there is a huge increase in selling services. The one thing that's important with any business is marketing. Remember that without some marketing it will be difficult to sell anything, regardless of niche.

Learning marketing for me has been key to my own success. It used to seem obvious about "how" to market but a while back I fell flat on my face. I've been humbled and now have learned from others about which strategies are effective.

[Liveformx64]

What hobbies do you have?

Are there any areas you would consider yourself an expert it in?

If so, find a way to provide value to others in that field.

Everyone is an expert at something.

One last thing, selling physical goods may not always be the best solution either.

[Dagan]

hay piggyface, you probably have already thought of this.

We all know that all products have a sell price (the pricetag) and most products have a CAN sell price (the amount that the seller will give the product to you in order to get your business).

So why not have a running deal with you local shop to buy at the CAN sell price because at the end of the day you are brining them customers that would have already gone somewhere else. Maybe take a small commission or something.

Read a few books on SEO optimization so that whenever someone types in cheap stereos , for example, then you will come up first on google and other searchengine

I know i am always happy to buy things for cheaper than the marked price and im sure everyone else is too. so post your website up here when its done and let us all know how you come along with it.