Successfully selling physical goods online requires the creation of an image of your brand that will make buyers trust you and your company. Trust is the number one issue for buyers online, while newer (and younger) Internet users are more accepting of eCommerce shopping, making sure your presenting the very best image to each and every person who lands on your products is key to any kind of online success plan.

eBay – Option 1

If your plan is to expand an existing business, or start a new online business starting with eBay is usually the first option. eBay is not the only method of Internet merchandising available but it is the easiest to start with as a new seller. Certainly other options exist and we will detail those options in later articles, for now, lets look at eBay as a strong starting point for online sales.

Initially several steps are required to sell on eBay. First you must register as a seller and then you must register a PayPal account and confirm the account. This process is not difficult, but may take a couple of days to complete. Part of the process involves providing a credit or debit card verification and bank account deposits from PayPal to your bank of minimal amounts, this verifies your identity in an effort to minimize fraud and protect buyers.

eBay Tools

eBay provides many tools in the basic “sell your item” form used by most new sellers. This is a step by step process meant to take new sellers through the process of making all of the proper decisions when creating a listing.

While the “sell your item” form is certainly easy, it is not the most efficient or cost effective way to manage eBay listings. Several other listing management options are available both within eBay and by third party providers. Some of these third party listing and inventory solutions are even offered to the public as free solutions to use. These solutions make their money in other ways and they do not always focus on your needs as a business owner when providing you with “free” software. If your intention is to create a real online business, finding free solutions is not always the best option for your business plan. I recommend finding a solution which fits your future business plans.

Growing Beyond eBay - Multi-Channel

If you plan on growing beyond eBay, a multi-channel solution may be key as you will not want to change your listing procedures and workflow prior to taking the next step. If your business involved specific requirements of a solution, such as consignment capabilities or intensive inventory control, I suggest you find the right solution to start. This will allow you as a business owner to manage your business, not micro manage your solutions.

Once you have “tested the waters” by listing a few items on eBay with the basic sell your item form, as a business person you should have a better idea of the requirements you will have when looking for a long term solution to scale up your business on eBay. Considerations such as pre-formatted text options which allow each listing to present the same standard information, inventory management and re-listing options, live revisions of listings with mistakes or pricing changes, template options, fee calculations options, employee compartmentalization and more. All of these considerations become the basis for an online business solution selection process.

Lets look at the different steps involved with making an eBay Listing: Read More→

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