Owning & Operating Ecommerce Businesses on a Shoestring

Previously, we discussed becoming an active member of at least one ecommerce forum. I can't stress the advantages and importance of doing this before you make any business decisions enough. The information, marketing opportunities, and help you will receive are invaluable. It's like going to college without paying the tuition. In fact, I think it is even better than a college education. The help is ongoing for as long as you wish to avail yourself. And it will save you from some very costly mistakes. My personal favorite is http://community.tuliptools.com/index.php but there are many others. Just put the keywords: ecommerce forums in your favorite search engine.

Today, let's focus on choosing a business you can get passionate about. One of the websites I was most proud of having owned was TheActiveDog.com. It was a great example of my love for dogs becoming a business opportunity. I had already been selling dog related items on eBay. For me, that was a great way to get started and quite an education in itself. They had the traffic and their fees weren't prohibitive. Nowadays, with their huge fees, I'm not sure about the practicality of eBay any more. You might want to check them out anyway, but be careful not to relist nonselling items too frequently. They become stale and eBay charges you relisting fees which can really add up and eat into your profits. If you are REALLY careful about how you spend your money there, it might still work for you. Keep DETAILED records if you do try it, so you can tell if you are losing money before you go broke. Personally, these days, I'll stick with Craig's List. Remember, we're operating on a shoestring and Craig's List is free. At the very least, check out what others are saying about eBay on the ecommerce forums to avoid getting burned.

My husband turned his hobby of collecting scale model cars and automobilia into an internet business. He sold duplicates of his scale models and kits that he no longer had the time to build with his busy schedule. One of the biggest advantages of owning a website is that it can be operated in your spare time around your existing work schedule and your customers don't even need to know it is only a spare time business. Eventually he sold out of his duplicates and he had to find suppliers. You might get some bargains for resale on Craig's List or even eBay. Again, be careful on both sites. There are some unscrupulous sellers on both. He also picked up some bargains at rummage sales, estate sales, and flea markets. Once you have exhausted those sources you will need to find reliable suppliers, but I'll cover that in depth in another article.

For those of you interested in providing a service, I also owned a website that offered my ecommerce writing services. One of the advantages of a service oriented site is you don't have an investment in inventory and, depending on what service you are providing, you probably won't have to worry about packing, shipping, and inventory control either. It can be a real challenge to price your services to make it worth your while and yet, not price yourself out of business, though.

The next article will focus on finding a niche.