Hi Sheryl and Dale,
Let's tackle the store issue, and that's a pretty simple NO from my perspective. Ultimately, an independent web store is where you need to be aiming, but you need to have some experience behind you and the cashflow to market it or it's just a waste of time.
You've got 4 main supply options to consider, wholesale, dropshipping, surplus (liquidation) or second hand. Each have their own benefits and disadvantages, you really should research all 4 of those to see what platform best suits. A traditional way to start selling on eBay has been to start off by listing some things from around the house that you have no further use for, and that still holds very true today.
You don't just get a taste for online sales, but there is no to extremely low cashflow required, you have the ability to earn some cash and it might even give you an idea of other items to focus on selling from the results you get.
Now things like customer returns, if you're dealing in new products then that's something you are probably going to have to formulate as customers expect some sort of guarantees on new products. If you are dropshipping, then you need to be aware of your suppliers requirements and you simply have to parrot that. If you are wholesaling, then you will have to again, be aware of the manufacturer's warranty terms and formulate a policy around those.
I would advise looking through our Seller Training Centre for some great advice and tips, link is in the title bar at the top of the screen.
It can be very daunting to know exactly when and where to jump in, but my advice is to keep it simple and low cost to kick it off. Keep the risk to a minimum, especially if cashflow is a BIG issue. The term "learning to crawl before you can walk" in this type of business is absolutely true. Success can't come over night, but failure can .......