I am wanting to start a web based business selling handbags and accessories at affordable prices. I have a small inventory right now of everything I am going to sell. Any pointers? I am wanting to start next month.
2007-12-19 05:30:02 · 6 answers · asked by MrsClark 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Small Business
If you can be a little patient I would suggest that you list your products on free online classified ads while you build a personal website. You can put a personal touch on a website that will attract people to you. The art of web design accompanied with the important key factors to getting targeted traffic to your site is difficult to learn and implement over night. There are many free web hosts that will help you to set up an online store. It is very difficult to get traffic to them without spending a lot of money on advertising. I chose a web host to build my website that offers a step by step program to teach and assist in the designing and building of your site so you can get targeted traffic for free. There are a few web hosts that offer help/ You can search for one that will suit your needs if you wish. You can send me a message with any questions about the one that I chose if you'd like. You can also read more in my Yahoo Answers Profile page. I hope this helps.
BEST WISHES!
2007-12-19 12:04:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can browse eBay and look up handbags similar to your and see what the going rate is and read their feed backs and see how many are being sold. If you have your own website you can always sell a few on eBay to get some advertisement in. Only the people who you give your link to know about it or the ones actually searching for your product - but the whole world shops ebay. Agreat way to direct people to your private website. If you sell only one ebay - remember all the fees they have and make sure you add that to your pricing. They charge you to list - then charge a percentage of your sales - then paypal takes a percentage of the over all amount that goes through them. A triple whammy that you can loose on if your not careful! Good luck!
2007-12-19 05:56:07 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK here you go.
Open an account with Yahoo Website services. Pay 14.95 a month for Yahoo to host your website.Safe to have your credit card on file with Yahoo.Opt for the "Web Hosting Starter"
They will then send you a link to "Site Builder" a very simple and easy way to build your website and publish it to the web (What you see is what you get) you can insert jpeg pictures and arrange them as you wish also insert tex describing your bags etc.(See www.agribags.com ) I built that in a few weeks and we have 5 websites hosted by Yahoo that support 3 families...we do thousands of dollars a month.
Next contact "Coolcart.com" ask for Bruce and tell him you want a shopping cart basic setup he will advise you how to set up your cart and link it to merchant services and your bank so customers can shop online and the money is transferred from their credit cards directly to your bank.
Next you need to submit your site to Google and Yahoo its free type in "submit url" you will get listed at least.
The more "Content about say "handbags" you mention on your site pages the better chance you have of getting up front. We are on page One and two of Google anf Yahoo FREE or you can pay per click...Space does not allow me to get too deep but I hope this helps.
PS I sold a website for $400K in 2000 I built it in my bedroom all I sold was a computer and a fax machine, not bragging just showing you what is possible Good luck I love entrapernuers...DJ.
2007-12-19 06:36:47 · answer #3 · answered by davejoyce1286 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
if u have a list of customers lined up, then you can open your own store, by hosting on a site... most of them give csome credit to purchase ads on search engines.
But if you are starting with no such clients, again have your own store, but you might need cheaper hosting services, with lesser bandwidth and space. Start by listing your items on Amazon or so on, and link your store. Once people know about you and the reputation you have, they will tend to buy directly from your store. Also when they buy from Amazon or so, offer a 5% or so discount for the next purchase if they buy directly from your site. Do this till you have enough vistiors to your own store.
Check http://www.dreamofone.com/webhosting.htm for a lot of options.
2007-12-19 05:52:06 · answer #4 · answered by shadow 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Post a few things on eBay with links to your site. If you belong to any groups, put a small ad in your signature (and also on your email sig). Place ads on Backpage.com (for free) and any communities out there that might revolve around (or at least be associated with) what you're selling. Also, you may want to try submitting your site to dmoz.org and Google.
http://www.ebay.com/
http://www.backpage.com/classifieds/index
http://www.dmoz.org/
http://www.google.com/
..Also, as a sidenote, if you have not already created a website, I strongly recommend MS Live. They've got a really sweet deal going on (free domain, free [adequate] basic space, etc). If you need help building it (or someone to build it for you), drop me a line, I'll be happy to help. Good luck. ^.^
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/default.aspx
2007-12-19 05:54:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
RE: reasom77
I just had a ton of trouble with my website and moved my domain to MSNLive, just to have it up and running until I could get it straightened out. I can't believe the quality of it and it's free. I am staying with them. It's definitely worth checking out. Saving me a ton of money. Wanna see it? http://www.prinport.com
2007-12-19 17:32:27 · answer #6 · answered by jennyleighoh 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
open a store in yahoo small business, or you could try eBay or webidz.com they are better than eBay as far as fees go
2007-12-19 07:07:29 · answer #7 · answered by Rev.Michelle 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋