Knowing where to buy and where to sell can be a little complicated if you've never ventured into online transactions or e-business. Staying organized and directed is the key to online profits.
Creating Contact Info
Almost all selling sites require a few simple things to get started, namely an email address and a PayPal account. It's easiest to set up a new email just for messages related to your sales without having to bother filtering personal messages from business-related queries. PayPal isn't always used universally, but these two accounts make the average user ready for most sales. PayPal registration is quick and easy.
eBay and Selling Sites
The most common or popular online buying and selling site is definitely eBay. It boasts the most recognizable international e-market and a large selection of customizable features and services. Those services and features are a double-edged sword, however.
eBay and other bidding websites bring a certain level of mandatory costs and expenses. Users have to spend to post ads, spend to sell items and pay even more for upgraded features like showcasing items in a highlighted ad.
Make sure you know your bottom end as far as asking price is concerned and keep in mind that selling expenses comes off of the top of that sales total. All sites of that orientation use a similar structure with a varying level of cost to the customer and the consumer. If giving someone a cut doesn't sit well with you, there are alternatives free of charge.
One major disadvantage to this style of selling site is that such sites sometimes lack in security. Often from out of the country, scam artists will attempt to collect items without payment or even attempt to steal personal banking info for account fraud. As with any online sales, it's up to the user to be vigilant against thieves, however, con-people do tend to focus more on these sites than other, less monetary focused websites.
Both an email address and a PayPal account or active credit card is needed to sign up for services with most of these sites.
Here is a list of bid and auction sites.
Kijiji and Online Classifieds
Kijiji and online classified sites would be the foil to eBay-type stores and auctions. These free to use sites offer users a chance to reach a wide audience, often bound by geography, for selling their items. Although the posting of basic ads is free, there are pay options for upgrading your sale listing.
Unlike eBay and other selling sites, free online classifieds offer less shipping and more instances of face-to-face transactions. This has positives and negatives as stated above. A smaller market comes with these ads but more personal control and security based on less use of personal account info result as well.
Often serious sellers will place ads on both sites, gaining an even larger consumer audience.
The majority of online classifieds sites only require a working email account to get started. Once a user profile has been created in their system, you are good to start the selling.
Here is a list of free online classifieds sites.
It's worth noting that some of these sites are more regional than others. If these sites don't have a large presence where you are geographically, there will be equivalent sites available for public use.
Group Buying Sites
The group buying concept is the freshest to hit the market, and based on it's growing popularity, it deserves mention in this article. The group buying concept is fairly new and works in one simple way. It allows users to buy a share of a larger promotion. Let's say, for instance, a hair salon sell 10 haircuts that normally run $20 a piece.
The total cost is $200, but in a group buy, those services might be sold at half off the original price, provided a volume limit is met. That means simply that the business making the offer needs at minimum 10 purchases (in this example) at half price for the deal to become valid.
Each individual gets half off the price, and the business gets $100 dollars of guaranteed business and possible return customers. In this model, everybody wins. That is probably why it is coming on so strongly.
The other mark in its favor is the relevance of items sold. All products and services on these sites are new. There are no resales or used merchandise. What you pay for is what you get.
Similar to online classified sites, the group buy concept requires little more than an email to sync to a profile created for that specific site being used. Create your profile and reap your savings.
One draw back is that users sometimes buy good deals that they don't really want or need, leaving the purchased service or coupon unused.
Here is a list of group buying and coupon sites.
- WagJag
- Groupon
- StealTheDeal
- TeamBuy
There is a multitude of ways to buy and sell new and used items and services online. Stay organized and alert for poachers. There are significant gains to be made online if you keep your wits about you. Please refer to each site's tutorials and help sections for more details.
Mike Sheeler - Mike Sheeler is a bright new talent emerging in the world of journalism. He has a passion for news and politics and remains a strong ...
