Make Money Working from Home as an Online Retailer

Are you looking for a work at home job that requires very low initial investment, works at your own pace, and requires no previous experience? Then perhaps you should consider becoming an online retailer—or eTailer, as it is often called. All you need is a little patience, persistence, and a willingness to uncover what people really want. This article will show you how to get started.

How to Get Started

There are only 4 things that you need to do to make a good living as an eTailer:

1. You need to have products people are willing to buy.
2. You need to offer them at an attractive price.
3. You need to offer them where people can find them.
4. You have to give great customer service.
   

How to Find Out What People are Willing to Buy

There is no point offering products that people don’t want to buy. It’s a waste of your time. Here is how to figure out what people are looking for: go to eBay and go to the ‘Seller Central’ part of the website. Look under ‘what’s hot’ to find out what people are buying. It is as simple as that.

How to Get Popular Products

You may be lucky enough to have some of these popular products hanging around at home. You may have friends who have things they are willing to give to you for a cut of the profit. You can also start hunting for treasures at garage sales and swap meets and buy your products there.

This may work for the first time or two, but it is no way to run a retail business. If you run your business legally you can apply for a “reseller’s” license and shop at wholesale stores for your merchandise.

How to Price Your Products

You can go about this a few ways.

1. You can look at other eTail shops and copy the prices that your competition is using.
2. You can take your product cost, add on a random mark up, and hope for the best.
3. You can offer it on eBay and let the market decide how much they are willing to pay for your product.

The last strategy has a lot of advantages. The two biggest are that

1. You don’t have to play guessing games, and
2. The winner is generally happy to pay the price he or she bid. You are in business to make money, not give yourself pricing headaches.

How to Offer Products Where People Can Find Them

eBay is a godsend for the small-time eTailer. If you’re really serious about working online selling products, open an eBay store. Starting at $15.00 a month you get access to the world’s largest auction site. Everyone knows about eBay. Most people have shopped there.

eBay helps you out by buying key words and using other great internet marketing strategies to drive traffic to your store. You could do all of this yourself using your own website, but why would you? The eBay marketers know what they are doing. Let them do it for you for less than a nice dinner on the town.

Offer Great Customer Service

The cheapest customers are repeat customers. If you treat people well they will buy from you again. Repeat customers are easier to deal with, they spend more money (over time) than first-time customers, and they tell their friends about you.

But if you want to reap these benefits you have to treat people well. Be honest in your dealings. Respond quickly to all customer messages. Present yourself professionally. And offer a money-back guarantee. Your first time customers will appreciate it and come back to you again and again.

Starting an online retail business is an exciting—and sometimes intimidating—undertaking. But if you are patient, willing to learn, and honest, you can succeed. Start up an online retail business today and watch your balance soar.