Can anyone give me pointers to starting home-based internet business to sell stuff?

[SaltyNuts]

I definitely want to do this. I'm going to be selling cosmetics. Anybody set up such an internet business and have pointers? I want a professional website, but don't want to get raped on the cost. Any suggestions? What about a shopping cart? How easy is it to integrate those two? What about paying some company to take credit cards? Any suggestions who to use?

I assume setting up a shipping account with Fed-Ex or UPS or whatever is easy enough. Making the cosmetics, packaging, etc. I can handle on my own. Its the other stuff that I just have no familiarity with.

Thanks for any pointers!

 

[Stopsignhank]

Is this for when you become a doctor. Then you can write prescriptions and mail out the drugs to your "patients"?

 

[SaltyNuts]

Is this for when you become a doctor. Then you can write prescriptions and mail out the drugs to your "patients"?

No. Unrelated. Thanks.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Want advice? Don't do it. Whatever you're thinking, it's already been done and they are skating on razor thin profit. Unless you have an original idea where a market is not yet fully established stay away.

Or you could just be stupid like plenty of the girls I know on Facebook and sign up for Pyramid sheme-ish based sales of cosmetics/clothes/pills and learn your lesson the hard way. To each their own.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Want advice? Don't do it. Whatever you're thinking, it's already been done and they are skating on razor thin profit. Unless you have an original idea where a market is not yet fully established stay away.

Or you could just be stupid like plenty of the girls I know on Facebook and sign up for Pyramid sheme-ish based sales of cosmetics/clothes/pills and learn your lesson the hard way. To each their own.

Thanks someonesmind1, but it is an original idea, at least original enough. I'm definitely going to do it.

 

[Ken g6]

If your idea is sufficiently original, try https://www.etsy.com/sell

If your idea is not that original,

Don't do it.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

One of the worst things people do is simply say something like: "People like food. I made some amazing food from all the recipes I've been handed down. Everyone tells me they love them!" and from there they assume there is a market for it.

Wrong. There is tons of amazing food from every nationality, race, food type, setting, etc... You can try to inch your way in, but you're essentially showing up to a gun fight with a knife. The restaurant industry is a perfect example of people's stupidity for understanding business. 60% of all restaurants fail within the first 3 years alone, and it only goes up from there as it approaches 80% at about 5 years.

Other industries are no different. This is why you need to find a niche, a corner of the market that no one has yet to utilize....

 

[RLGL]

As soon as you say "business" the price goes waaaay up. Don't expect to do this on any kind of budget. You need deeeep pockets. Been theere done that an lost the t-shirt

 

[SaltyNuts]

If your idea is sufficiently original, try https://www.etsy.com/sell

If your idea is not that original,

Thanks, but I'm aware of etsy, and I'm not talking about some cheesy arts or crafts thing. This is going to be the real deal. I want it to be very, very professional.

 

[SaltyNuts]

One of the worst things people do is simply say something like: "People like food. I made some amazing food from all the recipes I've been handed down. Everyone tells me they love them!" and from there they assume there is a market for it.

Wrong. There is tons of amazing food from every nationality, race, food type, setting, etc... You can try to inch your way in, but you're essentially showing up to a gun fight with a knife. The restaurant industry is a perfect example of people's stupidity for understanding business. 60% of all restaurants fail within the first 3 years alone, and it only goes up from there as it approaches 80% at about 5 years.

Other industries are no different. This is why you need to find a niche, a corner of the market that no one has yet to utilize....

This makes sense. I do have a niche in mind. I have no doubt I will make good money at this. Just need some help on my initial questions (not a tech guy at all, never had a business).

 

[SaltyNuts]

As soon as you say "business" the price goes waaaay up. Don't expect to do this on any kind of budget. You need deeeep pockets. Been theere done that an lost the t-shirt

Shucks RLGL, what kind of business did you lose your shirt on?

 

[shortylickens]

If I actually knew anything about that I'd have started my own business years ago.
And if I WERE doing that, I sure as HELL would not give advice to the competition!!

 

[sdifox]

Ebay

 

[Pantoot]

use shopify.
beware the fda.

 

[Humpy]

The first step will be to identify a category of vulnerable people and target their specific insecurities with false promises.

The second is to source some type of waste product that can be repackaged and sold as a cosmetic.

Finally, be sure to route all transactions through the underworld financial system and realize your profits by importing some hard to trace commodity like aluminum or cocoa.

 

[PottedMeat]

The first step will be to identify a category of vulnerable people and target their specific insecurities with false promises.

OP, you need to focus your pressure on immediate family and friends - you know them best. It's important you use the opportunity to push your potential customers to the breaking point to achieve a sale. You should be able to burn them repeatedly.

 

[Tweak155]

I see not a lot of business minds in here... you don't necessarily need a niche product (although this helps early on), you do need good demand for whatever product you choose to try and sell.

I did pretty much exactly what you're trying to do... built my own internet business. It was pretty successful monetarily, but I did not particularly enjoy the work. As to your questions:

1 - To not get "raped" you have to have some knowledge of the process / work needed to complete something. In my case, I built my own websites to avoid costs, but I'm sure a professionally built page would have been better (and likely worth the investment). You have to decide now whether or not you are OK with losing money, because this will happen.

2 - I paid for a shopping cart as they handled all the legal requirements for storing CC information and made setting up product sales and tracking data much, much easier. Cost me about $35/mo if I remember correctly (1ShoppingCart, although looks like their fees have changed drastically, I never paid per-transaction like they have now) and I thought it was worth every penny. Otherwise, you'll have to either design your own system or buy one then get certified to be allowed to make sales.

Also related to this, you'll need to set up a merchant account and link this information to whatever sales system you set up. This is how you accept credit card payments. These merchant account companies are all scummy so I do not have a personal recommendation. In my case, I joined one through a guy I knew because due to his sales volume & recommendation, I received lower fees than pretty much anywhere else. I had to borrow from his volume though ($1mil/yr + ).

Also one last note here, in addition it is worth while accepting PayPal even though the fees are higher. Probably 20-30% of my sales were PayPal, people just trust using it when paying at a new / unknown site. You will either need to set up a business account with PayPal or convert your current personal one (which is what I did, huge mistake if you ask me - I would just set up a 2nd PayPal account for this one).

3 - As far as shipping, I exclusively used USPS as it was very easily the cheapest of the 3 for inside the US. They had a very good system (I thought). Initially I was going to set up using all 3 major companies, but you'll quickly learn that's a huge hassle as you need to keep on top of their rates to make sure you're not losing money to shipping. If you get big enough it will likely be worth the effort. I mainly chose USPS because I could advertise 2-3 day deliveries (I exclusively used Priority unless the buyer forked out for overnight delivery).

But yeah, you'll be spending a lot of money up front. At one point I was spending about $3k/month on advertising but it ended up being worth it as I saw my sales increase month over month over month. You can't be afraid to spend / invest.

Good luck!

 

[zinfamous]

Selling your urine stored in jars will be difficult, because carriers like UPS and FedEx do not allow glass to be shipped. Of course, you could just package everything yourself and lie to them, but it will probably catch up to you before you sell your 100th urine jar.

Good luck!

 

[sdifox]

Selling your urine stored in jars will be difficult, because carriers like UPS and FedEx do not allow glass to be shipped. Of course, you could just package everything yourself and lie to them, but it will probably catch up to you before you sell your 100th urine jar.

Good luck!

There are plastic jars duh

 

[zinfamous]

There are plastic jars duh

plastics leach hydrocarbons that interfere with the precious contents stored within. The urine (or whatever else) could never be considered pure or organic if stored long-term in plastic. Besides, everyone knows that you always store precious liquids in glass!

 

[sdifox]

plastics leach hydrocarbons that interfere with the precious contents stored within. The urine (or whatever else) could never be considered pure or organic if stored long-term in plastic. Besides, everyone knows that you always store precious liquids in glass!

Sorry, I don't know anything about urine storage.

 

[zinfamous]

Sorry, I don't know anything about urine storage.

this is why you'll never be a successful businessman.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I see not a lot of business minds in here... you don't necessarily need a niche product (although this helps early on), you do need good demand for whatever product you choose to try and sell.

I did pretty much exactly what you're trying to do... built my own internet business. It was pretty successful monetarily, but I did not particularly enjoy the work. As to your questions

Sorry, going to have to disagree here - this goes back to my statement on opening a restaurant. We have all the demand in the world for fatties that want to go out to eat every-day. It could be fast food, sit down restaurants, coffee, etc... we have a HUGE amount of people that demand restaurants of all shapes and sizes. Again, you will be crushed instantly, ESPECIALLY if you don't have any upfront capital (which most individual people do not).

If it's not a niche product, that means there is already a producer for it and there is already someone making the product. What does that mean? It means someone else has already established the market, and has likely already fine tuned it with cheap manufacturing and cheap materials than you are likely to need to buy for much more expensive.

Of course, it all depends on what your goals are though. If you want a thriving business, you better have a niche. If you want some side income, go for it. They are two very different things.

 

[SaltyNuts]

I see not a lot of business minds in here... you don't necessarily need a niche product (although this helps early on), you do need good demand for whatever product you choose to try and sell.

I did pretty much exactly what you're trying to do... built my own internet business. It was pretty successful monetarily, but I did not particularly enjoy the work. As to your questions:

1 - To not get "raped" you have to have some knowledge of the process / work needed to complete something. In my case, I built my own websites to avoid costs, but I'm sure a professionally built page would have been better (and likely worth the investment). You have to decide now whether or not you are OK with losing money, because this will happen.

2 - I paid for a shopping cart as they handled all the legal requirements for storing CC information and made setting up product sales and tracking data much, much easier. Cost me about $35/mo if I remember correctly (1ShoppingCart, although looks like their fees have changed drastically, I never paid per-transaction like they have now) and I thought it was worth every penny. Otherwise, you'll have to either design your own system or buy one then get certified to be allowed to make sales.

Also related to this, you'll need to set up a merchant account and link this information to whatever sales system you set up. This is how you accept credit card payments. These merchant account companies are all scummy so I do not have a personal recommendation. In my case, I joined one through a guy I knew because due to his sales volume & recommendation, I received lower fees than pretty much anywhere else. I had to borrow from his volume though ($1mil/yr + ).

Also one last note here, in addition it is worth while accepting PayPal even though the fees are higher. Probably 20-30% of my sales were PayPal, people just trust using it when paying at a new / unknown site. You will either need to set up a business account with PayPal or convert your current personal one (which is what I did, huge mistake if you ask me - I would just set up a 2nd PayPal account for this one).

3 - As far as shipping, I exclusively used USPS as it was very easily the cheapest of the 3 for inside the US. They had a very good system (I thought). Initially I was going to set up using all 3 major companies, but you'll quickly learn that's a huge hassle as you need to keep on top of their rates to make sure you're not losing money to shipping. If you get big enough it will likely be worth the effort. I mainly chose USPS because I could advertise 2-3 day deliveries (I exclusively used Priority unless the buyer forked out for overnight delivery).

But yeah, you'll be spending a lot of money up front. At one point I was spending about $3k/month on advertising but it ended up being worth it as I saw my sales increase month over month over month. You can't be afraid to spend / invest.

Good luck!

Tweak155, thank you so very much! Haha you will not only find not a lot of business minds in here, but not a lot of minds in general! Mostly loser and trolls, as you can tell from this thread! So I take it you overall made money, you just didn't enjoy it so you wound it down? Thanks!

 

[SaltyNuts]

Sorry, going to have to disagree here - this goes back to my statement on opening a restaurant. We have all the demand in the world for fatties that want to go out to eat every-day. It could be fast food, sit down restaurants, coffee, etc... we have a HUGE amount of people that demand restaurants of all shapes and sizes. Again, you will be crushed instantly, ESPECIALLY if you don't have any upfront capital (which most individual people do not).

If it's not a niche product, that means there is already a producer for it and there is already someone making the product. What does that mean? It means someone else has already established the market, and has likely already fine tuned it with cheap manufacturing and cheap materials than you are likely to need to buy for much more expensive.

Of course, it all depends on what your goals are though. If you want a thriving business, you better have a niche. If you want some side income, go for it. They are two very different things.

Dude, you shoot yourself down in your very own restaurant example. Every freaking niche of every freaking restaurant has been filled. But new restaurants are going up, and successfully, every day. Sure, if you have your won niche, all the better. We get that. But let's not get stupid, ok?