In February 2014, Tamebay co-editor Dan Wilson will be looking at starting an ecommerce business from scratch. Read all the Ecommerce start-up 2014 posts here.Start on eBay. Then branch out. The choice is yours. Dan’s focus is ecommerce success, profitability and efficiency. Check out his book: Make Serious Money on eBay UK, Amazon & Beyond.
Just Do It
The best way to start an ecommerce business is to list something on eBay right now. Something from the cupboard, something you don’t need: a CD, DVD, video game or anything to hand. Just get on and do it. And list another and another. Try and end your first day with ten things listed for sale.
There’s a lot of thinking and legwork to do to get your business proper off the ground (and I’ll look at some of that over the next four weeks) but getting to grips with how eBay works is the best start and there’s no better way of doing that than leaping right in.
You also need a bit of a run up to get started on eBay these days. It takes longer to build up a feedback and DSR reputation, selling limits mean that you might not be able to list many items at first (these are lifted as eBay discovers you are honest) and it’s such a competitive marketplace these days that the sooner you learn about it, the better.
Back in the day people almost became eBay entrepreneurs by accident. Nowadays it takes a bit more graft.
eBay is absolutely the best place to start though. Unlike other marketplaces that can require accreditation for new sellers, eBay is still a free for all (even if increasingly many sellers are professionals and high street names) and requires no initial outlay and making a success of initial sales is quite easy.
Probably the easiest way to get started is to download the eBay app for your smartphone or tablet and use that device to start with. But really there is no better way to start than to start. What are you waiting for?
2 Responses
Agree 100% – eBay is practically zero risk, and excellent exposure. Start small. If you get no traction, then what you have on offer is probably not going to work – try something else.
I am doing the same thing 🙂 To be fair I have been super busy with other peoples businesses but it has been 3 years now since I had my own retail operation so I am getting back on the horse.
Off to the Spring Fair tomorrow to meet a supplier 🙂