| Brick and Mortar vs.
Online Stores: |
| There's a little dream in many of us
to own a store of some sort or else a business.
We usually picture a building with a large set of
windows out front and what we hope are enticing
displays in those windows. A beautiful, colorful
sign hangs above the facade or atleast the door
proclaiming our stores name, maybe a clever
tagline and our name followed by
"Prop." or "Proprietor" in
slightly smaller but very legible letters below. |
| |
| We envision smiling people purchasing
our wares and coming back for more. Our business
will be the first truly based on good service and
value. We ignore the worry about building leases,
phone service, advertising, liability insurance,
upkeep, employees, and the utilities to keep our
store lighted, cooled or heated, and secure. |
| |
| Sometimes we set the dream to paper
and start the process only to run headlong into
the reality of "the sever lack of
funds" or worse yet "time". We set
aside the dream of owning that store until funds
are avilable or we can retire and open the store
then. |
| |
| Advertising: |
| Another hang up is advertising. You
need to advertise. You can advertise on the web
and newspapers fairly inexpensively but to bring
in the "foot traffic" needed to make a
"Brick and Mortar" store viable costs
more per month than most of us earn in a year. |
| |
| The answer: |
| The World Wide Web might be a perfect
answer though. The entry fee is low. Some
advertising is built in. Search engines will find
you after a time and tell the world about you if
you'll help them just a little. |
| |
| Here's How: |
| Bootstrap Method: |
| Go through your home
and find everything you might want to sell at a
near future yardsale. Catalog those items, set
prices and take pictures. |
| |
| If you don't already have one, get a
Paypal account. Use the Paypal account to get a
domain and web hosting. Now take your first item
and build a simple for sale page featuring that
item. Don't forget to specify shipping. |
| |
| Go to Paypal and get the code to
"buy it now" with shipping costs added.
Add the code to your page. Your first item is
done. Repeat with more items. |
| |
| If after a couple weeks the item
doesn't sell you can post it for sale at Ebay.
Remove the Paypal "buy it now" code and
replace with a link to your Ebay sale. If it
doesn't sell there, put it back on your page and
reinstall the Paypal code. You may need to reduce
prices some. Do the same for each item as they
age. |
| |
| Arbitrage Method: |
| Search online for people looking for
specific items. Find the item on Craig's List or
other places. Buy it then offer it on your page
or Ebay. Notify the buyers you have the item and
where the item is for sale. You'll buy low and
sell for a profit here. Don't forget shipping. |
| |
| Actual Online Store
Method: |
| This ones pretty easy but requires
more funds and skills. First you'll build a
online store. Use Paypal as a shopping cart. |
| |
| Now find the items you
want to sell. This is just like a Brick and
Mortar store now. You'll need to charge sales
taxes since these are retail items. Shipping is
still a factor, too. |
| |
| A shortcut here might be to use a
Ebay type store. Or a combination of your own
site and Ebay store. There's more to learn here
but Paypal and Ebay have tutorials. |
| |
| More to come: |
| |
| Later, Bill
---
|
| |
www.MonsterHighway.net |
| |
www.StarmakingMachinery.com |
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