One of the easiest ways to make money is to buy and sell online. There are ways to make more money if you expand your horizons and are happy to sell internationally or expand your product base, but you must get the basics right first before you jump into the larger arenas.
1. Sourcing Stock
There are various places that you can get the stock to sell online from depending on what it is that you want to sell. For instance, picking up bargains at thrift stores or yard sales is good if you are happy to feed the second-hand market, for which there is still a very demand if you have the right kinds of stock.
However, if you are looking at selling new items, you will probably want to go to wholesalers or even manufacturers themselves to get the best prices that you can for your stock items.
2. Listing Stock for Sale
When it comes to listing stock for sale, you may want to go to sites that already have their own customers browsing their shelves so to speak. These sites would include those such as eBay, Etsy, and social media platforms to mention just a few.
Accounts are very easy to set up and, as they already have visitors, you will not have to worry about such things as SEO, PPC marketing strategies, or even having your own website unless you particularly want to.
However, regardless of where you are listing your items for sale, it is important that you provide clear and accurate information about the items and that you also provide your potential customers with plenty of good-quality photos so that they can see what it is that they are thinking of purchasing.
3. Shipping Items
Unless you limit your customer base to your local vicinity, which is not a bright thing to do, you will have to investigate your shipping options. Of course, you are likely to have more interest in your items if you state that you are happy to use shipping companies and send your items far afield. For instance, furniture delivery becomes stress-free when you are happy to use shipping companies as they have the right-sized vehicles to move sofas, beds, tables and chairs easily and efficiently and get them to the desired location on the correct day without any fuss.
4. Achieving Positive Feedback
When selling online, you will have to concentrate on getting good positive feedback from your customers, and many selling sites rate their sellers on their ability to keep their customers happy, and if they don’t, they find that their selling accounts are frozen or even suspended and closed.
One of the best and easiest ways to get good, positive feedback is to make sure that the information in your listings is true, honest, and correct. If there is any fault, damage, or wear to the item that you are selling, make sure that you mention it in your description and that you take photographs for your potential customers to see.
Another way to ensure that your customers will rate your service as good is to make sure that you inform them of every step when their item is packaged, sent, and on its way to them, where possible provide a tracking number so that they can see their package en-route.