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The_Only_5_Things_You_Can_Sell
| The Only 5 Things You Can Sell
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'The Only 5 Things You Can Sell' by Palyn Peterson
So, you want to start an internet store do you? What is it are
you going to sell? This really is the first thing to tackle,
because without any products your store will fail, guaranteed.
All jokes aside, let me share some insight on broad this topic.
First, do you have anything to offer that you can make? Crafts,
exotic bird houses, jewelry, doll houses? Most people will
answer "No" to this one, but that is ok! Lots of options are
still available. In fact, most online stores do not create their
own products.
Affiliate programs are another great choice. An affiliate
program is when a company gives you commission to sell their
products. You direct customers to their website, and that is it.
You don't manage inventory, the sale or shipping. Some companies
may provide web space and site creation support, but be careful
about going that route -- they may want to charge you setup fees
and maybe a membership fee. If the affiliate program is worth
it, it will most likely be free. Here are other points to pay
attention to:
1. How much commission you will receive with each sale. 5%- 10%
is on the low side. Try to stick with companies that will pay
you 20%-35%. I've even come across some affiliate programs that
pay as much as 50%. 2. Read the affiliate agreement. Some
companies state you can only sell their products on your
website, and no one else's. If this works for you, great. If
not, be sure to read the agreement and make sure this is not the
case. 3. What the pay out amounts are. Know how much you need to
make before a check is cut and mailed to you. 4. Do you receive
support? Many companies offer their affiliates marketing
material to help sell products. This could include website
content, pictures, banners, cut-and- paste emails, and
classified ads.
Some people pull in many thousands of dollars a month with
affiliate programs, they can work, but remember to be careful!
There are many wolves in sheep clothing just waiting to take
your setup fee and monthly payments just to leave you without
support and no sales. If affiliate programs interest you, there
are a number of good affiliate program directories. Here are a
few:
1. www.affiliatesdirectory.com 2. www.associateprograms.com 3.
www.affiliatematch.com
Next, a very popular and incredibly practical choice is drop
shipping. Drop shipping is when a wholesale distributor
maintains the product inventory, you create a store selling
those products and take customer's orders at retail prices. You
then turn around and send the customer's order to the wholesale
distributor who ships the products to your customer, often with
your company name on the package.
The customer receives their products not knowing that you are
running the business with no inventory and from the comfort of
your home. And no inventory means you only spend money when you
are making money. In other words, you only spend money buying
products at wholesale when you are just going to turn around and
charge retail price to a customer. How great is that? This is
one of the most popular methods of running a retail business on
the internet, and for good reason!
The great majority of wholesale distributors will ask you for
your TAX ID number when creating an account. Your TAX ID number
can be found on your sales tax license if you have one, or
usually your social security number will suffice if you do not
have a license. For free information on getting a sales tax
license, visit this page:
www.futureinternetmarketing.com/inetlaw/inetlaw.htm.
When searching for wholesale distributors, be careful because
there are a lot of companies out there that will drop ship
products and claim to be wholesale distributors when they really
aren't! They will take your order just to turn around and order
from the real wholesaler. This should spell L-O-S-S to you.
What's happening is that you are buying the product at a price
marked up from the actual wholesale price, and then you'll need
to mark it up even further when selling it to your customer.
There is a big slice of the profit pie that you aren't getting!
Most distributors that offer thousands of different products in
a number of different categories are usually that type of
operation. Also, if the distributor wants to charge you a
subscription fee, that should set an alarm off in your head.
Occasionally the wholesale distributor will charge a per-
drop-ship fee, and maybe have a minimum order requirement
(either in quantity or dollar amount). A FEW (and I say few)
legit wholesale distributors will charge a setup fee (one
wholesale distributor I worked required that the first order be
$200 or more), but I have NEVER come across a legit wholesale
distributor that charges a subscription fee.
If you are having trouble deciding what products to sell, try
this: go shopping! Don't actually buy anything (if you don't
want to, at least), just look around and see what products
interest you.
Do you see a site that you think you could do better? Are you a
sports fan? Sell sports equipment or memorabilia! Do you enjoy
pool? Sell billiard supplies! Enjoy gardening, or interior
decorating? Sell products for those!
A word of advice though, the computer component market is
crammed. You will have more competition there than with most
other products.
Information products are a fabulous option as well. Not only can
they easily be created by you, they are even easier to
distribute because they can simply be emailed to your customers.
Can you fix cars? Write a maintenance tips manual. Write an
eBook on saving money around the household. Write a manual on
how to negotiate with car dealers. Maybe you know how to make
the cue ball jump across a pool table over what would have been
an obstacle. I sure don't, and I wouldn't mind finding out!
Basically, the question is "What do you know?" Don't
underestimate yourself either! A great way to get started is to
use the mind-map technique. This technique allows you to jot
down ideas that relate to a core idea and build a skeleton of
subjects that are all associated with each other. After only a
short time doing this, you should have more than enough subjects
to piece together a good eBook. For more information on mind-
maps, visit these resources:
1. www.peterussell.com/mindmaps/mindmap.html 2.
www.shared-visions.com/explore/literature/mindmap.htm 3.
www.tsd.jcu.edu.au/netshare/learn/mindmap/howto.html
If you look long enough, or are just plain lucky, you will
eventually come across someone selling the complete rights to a
product. You can buy it from them and resell it for as much as
you want, as often as you want, and retain 100% of the profits.
These deals are few and far between, and can usually cost quite
a bit. But do keep your eyes open for them, it may be just what
you are looking for.
Hopefully a number of product ideas have sparked as you were
reading this article. As you can see, there are a lot of very
good options available to you. Review all of them and choose the
best one, or ones, for your business situation.
Copyright © 2003 by Palyn Peterson
palyn@futureinternetmarketing.com
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