Best Online Selling Methods
Selling online may sound simple, but there are actually plenty of details and options to wrap your head around. Lucky our eCommerce experts have all been where you are.
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Successfully Ordering from a Wholesale Supplier: Everything You Need to Know
Placing your first wholesale order is a monumental step in your entrepreneurial journey. It signals that you’ve found a profitable niche, identified a reputable supplier, and are on the brink of launching your business to the next level. While it’s an exciting time, it’s crucial to proceed with caution and thoroughness to ensure a smooth experience. This guide will walk you through the essential steps, offering tips and insights to help you place your first wholesale order with confidence.
1. Obtain a Tax ID (for US Sellers)
Before you place any orders, it’s essential to have your legal ducks in a row. For sellers in the United States, this often means obtaining a tax ID, also known as a sales tax permit or resale certificate. This ID is critical as most suppliers will require it before doing business with you.
Why Do You Need a Tax ID?
A tax ID is nec
Mastering Dropshipping: How to Avoid Shipping Nightmares and Keep Your Customers Happy
Dropshipping has opened doors for countless entrepreneurs, allowing them to run businesses without holding inventory or worrying about warehouse logistics.
5 Steps to becoming a PowerSeller
Are you ready to become the next eBay success story? Wanting to leave your day job behind and move on to making serious cash from home? Join me as I reveal the five key steps to becoming an eBay PowerSeller.
What is a PowerSeller?
PowerSellers are quite simply eBay sellers who achieve a high level of sales and consistently receive positive feedback based on their exceptional customer service. Some PowerSellers really take online retail to the next level when they turn selling on eBay into a full blown business. These sellers work full time on their business for years and fully immerse themselves - and some even end up with millions of dollars in the bank!
Wondering how exactly you can become a PowerSeller? For starters, you need to have been an eBay member for at least 90 days and have a minimum of 100 feedback ratings. Of those 100 feedback ratings, at least 98% from the las
Temu Dropshipping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Actually Making Money
You can make money with Temu dropshipping by finding products for sale on the platform and then listing them on your own eCommerce website at a higher price. When a customer places an order, you purchase the product from Temu, and they handle the packaging and shipping directly to the customer.
The Product Life Cycle for eCommerce: What is it & Why it Matters
Understanding the product life cycle is crucial because it acts as a roadmap for long-term success. By knowing each stage of a product's life, companies can handle challenges more effectively, adjust their strategies to stay competitive, and make sure their products remain appealing to customers. This can help businesses maximize profits and thrive in a competitive marketplace.
32 Useful Online Seller Business Tools & Resources
What are some useful online seller business tools and resources and what niches can benefit from them?
Leveraging cutting-edge tools like Shopify, SaleHoo, PayPal, ShipStation, and Quickbooks for operations, SEMrush, Canva, and Google Analytics for marketing, and Zendesk and Salesforce for customer relationship management can benefit online sellers. These software solutions are great for all eCommerce niches and business models.
Online shopping is incredibly convenient, and millions of consumers do it regularly. However, being an online seller can be quite complicated. Putting up a storefront, managing products for sale, and handling financial transactions and shipping can be daunting.
Luckily, many useful online business tools are readily available to make the process manageable, even easy. We’ve listed some of them here!
eCommerce platforms
Let’s start w
A Step-By-Step Guide On How to Start eCommerce Business
Starting an online shop is easier than you think. First, decide on what you want to sell. It could be something you make or items you buy to resell. Next, set up your online store. There are plenty of platforms out there that make it simple to get started. Lastly, attract shoppers. Use social media marketing, SEO, and online ads to attract potential customers. Nail these three things, and you’re all set.
19 Online Selling Apps to Make Money in 2024
Quick Answer: Some of the best and most trustworthy selling apps to make more money in 2024 include Shopify, BigCommerce, SaleHoo Dropship, Amazon Seller App, and others. There are many apps for many different aspects of the selling process, which we will go through below.
15 Most Profitable Items to Flip in 2024
Some great products to flip are vintage clothes and accessories. People love the thrill of thrifting, buying vintage clothing, and discovering unique pieces. That’s why the margins and profits of vintage clothes and accessories can be quite large and can reach up to 100% or more.
The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Wholesale Selling Business: Tips, Strategies, and Tools
Wholesaling is a business-to-business (B2B) transaction in which a company buys products in bulk from manufacturers or other suppliers and resells them to other businesses.
How to Market Your Wholesale Products - The Only Guide You Need
To successfully market wholesale products, you need to follow a targeted wholesale marketing strategy that consists of building brand awareness, creating engagement, generating leads, capitalizing on conversions, and consistently working on retention/expansion.
How Amazon Arbitrage Can Make You High Profits (Step by Step Guide)
How does Amazon arbitrage work, and is it still a profitable business model?
Quick Answer: Amazon arbitrage is an ecommerce strategy that involves buying products from a retail store or online marketplace at a lower price and reselling them on Amazon for a higher price. Retail arbitrage can be profitable with the right product selection and sourcing.
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Introduction
How much do you need to begin Amazon retail arbitrage?
How Amazon arbitrage actually works - step-by-step
Amazon arbitrage step-by-step guide
Research profitable products
Set up a seller account
Find suppliers
Calculate profitability
List products on Amazon
Choose fulfillment method
Monitor and manage inventory
Optimize pricing
Provide excellent customer service
Scale your business
How profitable is Amazon arbitrage?
Amazon re
How to Write an eCommerce Business Plan + 3 High Profit Ideas
Creating an eCommerce business plan is an essential step that no one should ever skip. It will help you identify your goals, define your target audience, and develop a strategy to meet your objectives.
7 Tips for Wholesale Selling Online: The Ultimate Guide to Profitable Wholesaling
Starting a wholesale business requires the right kind of knowledge, whether building it from scratch or incorporating it into an existing venture.
10 Print-on-Demand Products That Sell Fast (High Margins) + 3 Key Suppliers
What are the best print-on-demand products to dropship?
Quick Answer: T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, bags, water bottles, and throw blankets. Print-on-demand products have a vast scope for long-term success and profitability. Choose products that sell fast with high margins and partner with a reliable supplier for your business to take off.
These days, it seems like everyone and their cousin has at least one side hustle that’s keeping them busy.
After all, earning extra income is easier—and more necessary—than ever.
With expenses rising and salaries at a standstill, it’s become so important for many to increase their incom
12 eCommerce Product Packaging Tips That’ll Make Customers Buy Again
eCommerce packaging can vary depending on the product type and retailer’s preferences. The most common are corrugated boxes, poly mailers, and padded envelopes. It’s important for eCommerce businesses to choose packaging materials that provide adequate protection while considering cost, sustainability, and branding.
Instantly Boost Sales with These 10 Multichannel & Omnichannel eCommerce Strategies
What are omnichannel eCommerce and multichannel eCommerce, and what are some strategies?
Quick Answer: Omnichannel and multichannel eCommerce are different approaches to selling products online.
With multichannel eCommerce, you sell products through independent channels like an online store, a mobile app, or third-party marketplaces.
Omnichannel eCommerce is a more integrated approach. It focuses on creating a smooth and consistent customer experience across all online and offline channels. For example, a customer could begin their shopping journey on a mobile app, switch to a website for more information, and then purchase in a physical store.
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Etsy SEO Bible: How to Rank High & Quickly Increase Sales
Getting noticed on Etsy requires a strategic approach to SEO. You need to target relevant keywords, optimize your listings, and create an appealing storefront. Etsy uses customer reviews as part of its ranking algorithm, so selling high-quality products and offering exceptional customer service is also key. We tackle what else you need to do to get your products ranking higher on Etsy in today’s eCommerce environment.
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Keyword research for Etsy SEO
Optimizing product titles and descriptions
Utilizing Tags and Attributes
Build backlinks to your Etsy shop
Enhancing product images for SEO
Store and shop sections optimization
Leveraging customer reviews for SEO
Utilizing promoted listings to boost SEO performance
Monitoring and adjusting Etsy SEO
9 eCommerce Cross-selling Strategies (Instantly Sell More) + Live Examples
How do I cross-sell products in my eCommerce business?
Quick Answer: The key to successful cross-selling is to prioritize customer needs. The cross-sell items must genuinely add value to the primary purchase. You can create bundles with complementary products, utilize recommendation engines, and use follow-up emails to promote related products. Like all eCommerce marketing tactics, test and optimize to refine your cross-selling strategy.xo
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Introduction
What eCommerce cross-selling is and what it isn’t
9 eCommerce c
8 Amazon SEO Hacks That’ll Boost Sales in 2024 (Easy to Implement)
Boost your Amazon listings by using the right keywords, having a catchy product title and detailed product description that emphasizes product features, integrating high-quality images, encouraging reviews, having purposeful pricing, and enhancing backend optimization.
9 Best eCommerce Sales Channels to Tap Into + 3 Case Studies
The best eCommerce sales channels include setting up a website, social media platforms, and online marketplaces.
Is Your Returns Policy Costing you Sales?
A couple of years ago, some of the biggest eCommerce giants in the world started offering very buyer-friendly returns policies. ASOS.com not only offer free return shipping, they also give buyers 28 days to to decide whether they want to keep an item or return it. Pretty lenient huh?
Improve Your Profit Margin With eBay Arbitrage
Looking for a ‘Get Rich Quick’ scheme? Then arbitrage would definitely qualify! Learn all about it here.
Why Your Online Selling Ideas Should Cater to Generation X
There has been a lot of talk about how Millennials rule the digital world. Business store owners and dropshippers are super-busy outlining their strategies to capture this largest, most dynamic, and probably most influential of online audiences. While it could be wise to follow the conventional idea that Millennials should be your no. 1 focus in developing online selling business ideas, it could also be futile, or even downright foolish, to assume Millennials should be your only audience.
Today, we will talk about the MTV and Star Trek generation, a group of strangers at home with the digital world, and yet who remember a time before it. A group of people we call Generation X, or Gen Xers. And we'll learn how they can make (or break) your e-commerce business.
Wholesale Distributors: A Quick-Start Guide
Chances are, whenever you’ve bought a product online, it wasn’t actually made or even sourced by the shop you purchased from.
Pros and Cons: Owning a Website
In this lesson, we will look at selling on your own website and some of the benefits and drawbacks. Creating your own website to sell on is a big step in the right direction to grow your business and boost your income. Setting up a website can be time consuming and intimidating for some though.
There are 3 main benefits of selling on your own site:
1. Eliminate your competitors
When buyers come to your website, they can only buy your items. This is a huge advantage to sellers who are used to the very tough competition on eBay and other marketplaces. Eliminating your competitors offers two advantages:
A. You won’t lose sales to competitors who are selling the same item as you for a lesser price and,
B. You can actually increase your prices because, unlike on eBay, you aren’t having to drive your prices down and compete with sellers who seem to be able to sell items for a lo
How to Source Wholesale Jeans For Profit
Looking to penetrate the lucrative clothing market? Wholesale jeans could be just the ticket! They're durable and practical yet always fashionable. They are versatile and essential to the modern wardrobe. Anyone and everyone wears jeans and there is plenty of room for new sellers to get into this competitive but rewarding market - just look at how many types of jeans there are out there:
Baggy jeans
Bell-bottoms/Flares/Boot-cut
Boy cut
Capri's
Carpenter jeans
High waist cut
Jorts (Jean/denim shorts)
Low-rise jeans/Hip-huggers
Overalls
Relaxed fit
Shortalls (shorts + overalls – denim overall's with the leg length of shorts)
Skinny
Slim
Straight-cut
Wholesale Jeans Sourcing Tips
When it comes to selling in such a competitive category, it's important to get a great wholesale price, which is why finding the right supplier is so important. Generally, d
4 Myths of Wholesale Buying
Are you curious about buying wholesale items to sell online? For some people, it’s a confusing and daunting process, while for others it’s proven to be a profitable business model. In this article, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of wholesale buying, how to find the best wholesale items to sell, and where to sell your products, as well as a few myths about the process of wholesale buying.
What Is Wholesale Buying?
The key differences between wholesale and retail buying are the quantities of products purchased and the prices of the products. Wholesale buyers purchase a large quantity of products from a supplier at a reduced cost with the intention of selling them in a retail setting, whether that’s a brick-and-mortar store or an online shop.
Wholesale prices are always a good deal lower than retail price because wholesalers often get their products di
How to Strategically Sell on Amazon
Online selling is one of the quickest, easiest, and most effective ways to start earning an additional income. You can even begin by getting rid of old possessions that you don't use anymore. You can further your e-commerce ambitions by finding reliable suppliers and drop shipping products to direct to consumers from the manufacturer. The barriers to entry are low, and the steps to take getting started are fairly simple, especially if you want to sell on Amazon.
Amazon.com has a pretty intuitive setup process, and a platform that makes it easy for you to build your brand as a third-party seller in its marketplace. As a result, it's become flooded with competitors. The real effort in online selling, is finding a way to stand out. Doing this requires a level of strategic thinking.
This how-to guide is designed to help you break that glass ceiling and become a top Amazon seller.
10 Mistakes I Made on Amazon when I First Started Selling
I started selling on Amazon for the same reasons that most people do.
I wanted to start my own business, work from home, have more freedom and autonomy, and make money while I sleep.
My Amazon venture started as a part-time side-hustle while I was still working a full-time job.
This was back in 2008, a couple of years after Amazon introduced its Fulfillment by Amazon service, making it easier for busy people like me to start selling online.
A majority of my spare time was spent reading “how to sell on Amazon” guides and dreaming of the perfect products to sell.
It only took me a few weeks before I had my first product in an Amazon warehouse and my first listings online.
I was live. This was supposed to be a major milestone on my journey to online selling success.
However, I quickly realized that I still had a lot to learn.
The mistakes I made on Amazon
Wholesale Clearance as a Dropshipping Strategy
Most dropshippers concentrate on driving the sales of their chosen e-commerce products, because narrow profit margins necessitate that they sell more than the brick and mortar retailers. Successful dropshippers have already worked out which products sell best in their chosen niche, and they've established stable relationships with their regular suppliers.
Take these two sets of facts together and you have a recipe for a great idea to make money: wholesale clearance sales. Wait a minute…cleara—what? Okay, technically as a dropshipper, you don't have any old stocks to clear out to make way for the new…but your suppliers do.
How to Buy Cheap Shoes in Bulk from Wholesale Shoes Suppliers
This MUST-READ guide will teach you step by step how to wholesale shoes for resale, find distributors, test shoe suppliers, and actually make money from it all!
Find a Product Supplier
Looking for the best wholesale drop shipping companies? Read our guide to finding the best!
Beginner's Guide to Finding Private Label Manufacturers in 2024 [with examples]
Private labeling is one of the most effective ways to make your products stand out from the millions of others listed for sale online.
Creating a private label product can give you more control over production, pricing, branding, and profitability.
It has become a very popular business model for sellers on online marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, and Etsy.
And the good news is that it’s not hard to get started.
However, there are common pitfalls that you need to be aware of before committing to your first private label product.
This guide will take you through the benefits and risks of private labeling, including tips for how to source the best private label products.
What is private labeling?
A private label product is one that is manufactured and supplied by one company and offered for sale under another company’s (or individual seller’s) brand.
For example,
11 Pricing Strategies for eCommerce to Implement Today
Pricing has a massive impact on sales. Obviously! I mean, just think back to the last time you bought something online. Did you consider pricing when trying to choose one product over another? I’m sure you did.
Understanding Wholesale Clearance and Liquidation Sales
Dropshippers are primarily middle men; they take on the hassle of the sale to avoid the headache of the inventory by mediating between buyers and manufacturers. As a dropshipper, you're like an electrical wire; the current passes through you from the power plant to the appliance. In the process, some of the juice leaks out. This is your slice of the pie, your cut of the profits. Often, this is smaller than you'd like, but at least you're not tying up any of your own money.
Using Consumer Psychology to Boost Online Sales
Understanding consumer psychology is not as difficult as you may think. If fact, if you read this article you'll have everything you need to put it in use!
Why You Shouldn't Compete on Price in eCommerce
Do you feel like you can’t make any money because your item is selling for the same price on Amazon or eBay? I feel your pain. Competition is stiff these days and it can seem like the only way to get ahead is by cutting your prices. However, I’m here to tell you: Don’t do it! Lowering your prices to try and beat these eCommerce giants simple won’t work, and is bad for your business.
How to Sell on Value Rather than Price: A Guide for eCommerce Store Owners
What role does value play in sales generation?
Better yet, let me ask another question: Are you sure you have a clear understanding of what value is?
Hopefully you do, but so many businesses get it wrong.
They compete and sell based solely on competitive pricing strategies then wonder why they go out of business after a few months. Here’s how you can avoid that mistake
The difference between value selling and a competitive pricing strategy
Value is NOT selling based on strategic pricing - the two are very different.
What is a Competitive Pricing Strategy?
A competitive pricing strategy is simply following your competitors’ prices to make sure yours are the same or lower.
Best Buy and WalMart are two successful companies that implement this, in the form of price matching as their primary sales tactic. In these cases, it works well. But competitive pr
How to Sell Wholesale Online (Step-by-Step Guide) + 5 Free Wholesale Suppliers
Are you looking for a way to take your online business to the next level?
Selling wholesale could be the answer. It’s a great business model that many entrepreneurs overlook.
Most online stores sell their products directly to retail customers.
But that’s not always the best option.
There are a bunch of benefits to wholesaling online.
Instead of handling thousands of orders each month, you can make just as much money with only a handful of large orders. Selling wholesale also makes customer support and marketing much more manageable.
So you get more time to enjoy the money you make.
If you want to learn how to sell wholesale online, this guide is for you. You&rsqu
What are the best eCommerce business models in 2024?
How to find the right business model and start making money online
What eCommerce business model is best for you?
The most important two words in that question are: For you.
There’s a range of ways to structure an online business - dropshipping, Amazon FBA, your own online store, to name a few - but there is no best way to do it.
However, it’s highly likely that there is an eCommerce business model that’s best for you.
Best for your level of experience. Best for your budget. Best for the amount of time you have. Best for your risk tolerance.
Choosing the best eCommerce business model for you is the single most important factor in your long-term success.
Importing Goods and Wholesale Products into United States
Most people would agree that the most difficult part of importing merchandise is the bureaucratic nightmare that goes with it. We’ve all heard the horror stories of outrageous duties being charged, goods being confiscated and so on. So, in this post, we’re going to try and clear up some of the mystery by de-jargonizing the requirements.
Remember that if you don’t want to handle customs yourself, you can use a Customs broker who will clear goods through customs on your behalf and take care of all the technicalities.
Do I need to meet any requirements before I can import goods into the US?
You don’t need a license to act as an importer but you will need a business tax number, which you’ll have to get through the IRS. This is the number you put on all customs paperwork that requires an ‘importer number’.
Note that there are some items that require a license or permit from
How to Import Products to Sell Online
We have discussed in some detail the pros and cons of dropshipping. On so many levels it's an excellent way to make money online, particularly if you don't want to/can't put a lot of cash down up front. However, we have also discussed the two main drawbacks of dropshipping. If you need reminding, they are narrow profit margins and potential fulfillment problems. Both of these can be addressed by simply importing products from the same wholesale suppliers that dropship.
A Guide to Importing Wholesale: Tips and Secrets
Importing low-cost goods from other countries and then reselling them for a profit can really turn your life around. At first, the process may seem complicated and risky, but once you get to know the basics, you’ll see it’s actually easy.
We’ve come up with this handy guide filled with tips and secrets on importing wholesale to help you launch your import business and make the profits you’ve always dreamed of.
Why Import Wholesale?
When asked why he planned to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory is said to have replied, “Because it’s there.” Like climbing the highest mountain in the world, importing goods from overseas seems daunting, but it can be done.
Anyone can go into this business. You can easily learn how to find suppliers and manufacturers, import products from China and other countries, and sell products for a good profit. You can even do it from the comfort of y
eCommerce Order Fulfillment Guide: Service Types and Strategies
So you’re finally diving into eCommerce, fueled by the positive reception of your product when you first tested the waters. You’ve done the math and the numbers indicate it will be a profitable venture for you. It’s all good - there’s a strong demand for your product, which means the customers are just there, waiting to give you their money.
You forecast a spike in demand as the holidays near. You chuckle and joke that you’ll probably be buried in orders to fulfill you won’t have time to eat and sleep.
That joke, however, is a possibility that happens all too often in real life. While it’s good that you already have a robust customer base hungry for what you have to offer, you need to think about how you are going to fulfill all their orders.
Now this may sound a bit harsh, but it’s true nonetheless: Not being able to have time for your
Get Repeat Sales with Email Marketing
This is the final post in our Simple 5 Step Method for Mega Sales This Holiday Season and we are going out with a bang by talking about a really fantastic free selling strategy which is all about customer retention and making repeat sales to customers that you already have. This is a fantastic way to make money online without investment so it’s great...
Scaling Your Store
Running a business and growing a business are two very different things
