How to Be a Successful Online Seller: 5 Expert Tips

Putting up an online business is a trend today because this is one of the most practical ways you can earn money; everything is done online so you can do it at the comfort of your own home. Thus, you can avoid unnecessary expenses and you have more time for yourself or for your family. So how can you start an online business? Here are tips given by an awarded, top seller to help you out.

Contemplate. For instance, do you really want to get into online selling? Why do you want to start a business? Is it because you like to save money? Or, you want to do it so you can help your parents or family? If you are a student, you just want an extra allowance so you like sideline as an online seller? Or, you just like the thought of selling? For most top rated sellers, online selling gives them satisfaction, fulfillment.

From there, think about your goal. For example, you are a student and you want to start an online business, would you like to become independent already in terms of money? That stage of life where you will not depend on your parents anymore financially? Or, you are a stay-at-home parent who likes to help your husband or wife in saving money? You might also be an employee who just wants to have your own separate savings coming from your business.

What is that why that will motivate you to be a dedicated seller?

Once you are clear as to why you want to become an online seller, move forward to researching. What do you want to sell? You have lots of options nowadays. You can sell foods, accessories, clothes, cosmetics, skincare, even kitchen needs.

Once you’ve figured what you like to sell, start finding suppliers. Most of the suppliers’ information are available online. They also have Facebook account or a shop in Shopee, Lazada or any other e-commerce sites. You can almost find all of them through the different social media platforms where you can search what they offer so it would be easier for you to list what products you would be selling. Research multiple suppliers so you can better compare in terms of prices.

Once you’ve already found your preferred suppliers, ask about their wholesale price or distributor price. Now if you are just starting, you can begin as a reseller.

Check your capital. Some sellers may already have the capital while others have no extra money to buy on hand items. In terms of having capital or not, there are a few advantages and disadvantages. For example, if you have the capital, you can already buy the items from your supplier to tag as on-hand in your own shop.

What is good about offering on-hand items? Transaction is fast when you have the items on-hand. Why? Because when someone orders from you, you can have it shipped immediately. You don’t have to wait for your supplier to ship the items. On the other hand, if you don’t have the capital, which happens to be mostly students with limited budget, no worries because you can still start as a reseller.

But how does selling without capital work? The suppliers have separate pricing for that. As a seller with no capital or limited capital, what you do is to gather orders until you meet the minimum number required by your supplier per transaction. There are suppliers though who do not require minimum number of orders.

Next is prepare the platforms where you will upload the items. No worries because most of these platforms are for free. You can use Facebook, Instagram, Shopee, Carousell, Shopify, and many more. If you don’t have the budget yet to buy a domain or get a paid e-commerce website, grab the opportunity to upload your items in all those free to use platforms. You will reach a wider market if you do so.

And of course, the last but equally important tip is to promote. Since you are doing the transaction online, you have to promote the product. For example, you post in Facebook, where you can create a separate album for the item. However, it is best if you have a business page where you can upload the items in an organize manner. There, you can post actual pictures and details.

Put all the details you can provide especially the price so you can avoid unnecessary questions from the clients. Otherwise, you might respond late to their queries or worst, you forget to reply so they transfer to another seller or supplier.

It is very important that all the information is readily available where the buyers can just read it from there and once satisfied, place an order directly from you. If ever they privately sent a message, they will only be asking how to order and where to pay.

Post the feedback from your successful previous transactions if you have. If your supplier has gotten some good feedback from their other clients, then you post it on your page as well. These will serve as reference for your new buyers who are not familiar with the product so they know what to expect. Sometimes, you need to put disclaimers too because there are products, especially skincare, that works for some, but not for others.

You must be dedicated. You research where to get the item, the pricing, and all. Consider your capital. Are you able to on-hand items or you just want to resell? So that you can assess how much you will sell it to others. How about the platforms where you will upload the items? Of course, the actual pictures should be ready for uploading. And lastly promote the product because this is how customers will find you. If you upload consistently, you will be able to cater to more market or reach a wider audience.

Don’t worry if there are lots of sellers in your community already. The most important thing is you start now. Because if there are many sellers, there are more buyers. Because even the sellers shop online. They are also a buyer.