How should I start?

Hi everyone i just signed to Salehoo 3 days ago , right now i am reading all i can here and the more i read the more i am lost in here .
Honestly i have not even clue how to start , what to choose , how to advertise on ebay .
I know what i want but those products are kind of limited here , i was going to open internet store than i read is not really good idea for beginners .
Right now i am turning in the circle lol should i open this internet store or not , i was thinking it would be the easiest for me to start since i can build my own website myself , but maybe i am wrong
Thanks for listening :)

Hi and welcome Etro,

Nice to have you here with us :) Ultimately having a store or site of your own is a really good idea.

But for a beginner such as yourself you might consider starting by listing a few items for sale just to get your feet wet and get the opportunity to try how the whole online business goes... You can start out with a few old things you no longer use. This way you have very little risk to think about, you get to practice listing and selling (to help you prepare for the big stuff!) and also you get to build your seller feedback.

Here are a few guides that may help ease your confusion -

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Also, when you get the chance you can search through the forum for similar posts.

All the best. I hope this helps. If you need further assistance please don't hesitate to let us know.

:)

Hi Etro. I'm a new member myself a week or so, my idea for You (if you haven't yet) is to download all the guides educational material salehoo offers, there you will find very important information that clears many doubts and same time learn the different ways of selling on the internet ... ebay, drop shipping, web-store etc pros and cons etc. Ebay is a very competitive space to deal with, but is a way to get u familiarize with the selling as i understood from salehoo staff, no need to sell something new, just get something that is not of your use anymore and try to sell it. Reading the forum you will find valuable information many links that will make you gain more and more knowledge and confidence, I am trying to open my web store as well, thanks to salehoo and all the information in here i think i am doing it the right way.

Wish u luck
mkdelia

That's a great tip there mkdelia :) The guides were written for a specific reason and it's great reading that you have found them quite helpful!

Thanks for sharing this with us. All the best!

Thank you i have already downloaded important articles just have to read all very carefully what i will decide to do

You're welcome Etro,

If you come to any dead ends, don't hesitate to let us know, we would be more than happy to help you out.

The best of luck to you!

Great question....where to start....

Yeah, I'll agree with everyone, start selling on ebay if you're beginning. Maybe try Craigslist if you in an area where it's popular. But by selling on ebay, you don't really have to worry about the important aspect of marketing/advertising. If you start your own website, the next question you'll ask yourself is, where are my buyers coming from now? (maybe I'm partial to ebay because I don't have the expertise of how to build an ecommerce site.)

I completely agree, sell a few things you don't use anymore to get the hang of it. That's how I got started. How I really got into it is funnier.

I was walking around the community college one day and there was a huge table with textbooks with a sign "free books." They were all very nice looking books. I stood there frozen for about 20 minutes as a few hundred students passed by and not a single one cared to stop at the "free book" table. My girlfriend at the time had just bought all her college textbooks on ebay, so you know exactly what was on my mind. Finally, I took them all, about 150-200 total books. Over about a two month span I made $4000 off the books. I was hooked.

The moral of the story is, you just gotta find something and just jump in. I had no idea the "free book" table would lead me to where I am now. The best part is I got really comfy on ebay from that. Find something, go with it, learn from it.....and hopefully you make a few bucks.

Best wishes!

I was walking around the community college one day and there was a huge table with textbooks with a sign "free books." They were all very nice looking books. I stood there frozen for about 20 minutes as a few hundred students passed by and not a single one cared to stop at the "free book" table. My girlfriend at the time had just bought all her college textbooks on ebay, so you know exactly what was on my mind. Finally, I took them all, about 150-200 total books. Over about a two month span I made $4000 off the books. I was hooked.

The moral of the story is, you just gotta find something and just jump in. I had no idea the "free book" table would lead me to where I am now. The best part is I got really comfy on ebay from that. Find something, go with it, learn from it.....and hopefully you make a few bucks.

Best wishes!

That is a funny yet very resourceful way of starting out! I like the moral even better, really nice and simple way of putting it :)

Cheers!

Great advice TBlack41, and that's the type of attitude you have to have. As they say, one man's garbage is another's treasure.

The biggest advantage an online seller, especially an online eBay seller has, is market coverage. Just because something is not selling or even not being taken for free in one location, doesn't mean it doesn't have real value to buyers in another area.

It frustrates me when I see people making stupid mistakes like not offering shipping on a small, easy to ship item. It's just lazy and really bad business. If you're an online seller, then you should exploit the advantages that a mass-market like eBay presents to maximise your business potential!

The beauty about what you did was you gained experience and you actually discovered a market at the same time. These are both things that can be done by selling off old unwanted items from around the house, spending 50 at a garage sale....or even finding a free book table : )

Hey thanks for the comments! I'd just like to add, finding something free or cheap at a garage sale (which I've done a few times) is always great but don't bet on building a business that way.

For me it was a perfect way to break into the business and gain the confidence to do it. After I sold all the books I felt comfortable making my first transaction with liquidation.com.

Nowadays though, free or very cheap picks like that are just bonus time for me. I never factor in things like that because you never know when they'll come.

But I think right now is a good time for new people....especially in the United States now that it's spring cleaning time....TONS of garage sales! Go to them, see what you can turn $10 into.

Hi everyone, question? How does one go about picking out a name for one's business? I understand that the products that one might sell would be one deciding factor, what are others that I need to think of?

Hi Mike,

From a marketing perspective, business branding is extremely important. Business branding includes things like name, logo design, colour scheme, even music in some instances.

What you are to trying to accomplish with business branding is building familiarity with customers. If you hear the word Mc'donalds, chances are you will thing of the golden arches, think of Coke and you may thing of Coke Red.

Those are two examples of excellent business branding by both image and colour, but there is less importance placed on the actual name itself.

How important is a business name itself?, well it depends how you choose to market your business. Is your name going to be key to your overall branding as opposed to logo or colour branding, if so then a name is most definitely important.

Having said that I have never given any credibility to the train of thought that a business name has to reflect what you sell. Yes, that can be a very simple way to make an obvious point, but that's what smart marketing is all about.

I would say think of a name that is catchy rather than related to the products you sell, unless of course you can combine both, then that's a bonus.

A good catchy name will stick in a customers mind easier than anything else, and that's exactly where you want your name to be!

The one thing I would strongly suggest is to work in with a name that you can secure the URL for. Not an easy task, but don't limit yourself to a dot com if nothing i available.

: )

Thank you for the input fudjj. Your input has put me at ease and has allowed me to be creative when it comes to a business name. Thank you again, Mike

Hi everyone, question? How does one go about picking out a name for one's business? I understand that the products that one might sell would be one deciding factor, what are others that I need to think of?

Hi Mike,

I know Marc has given you great tips, just in case here's a thread with more tips :)

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All he best, Cheers!