eBay is an online auction where ordinary people can sell an item or two for small up-front charges. People with an eBay account can bid on these items until the sellers close, just like in an in-person auction. However, the seller can choose the ‘Buy It Now’ option, which lists an item at a fixed price and there is no bidding process. eBay is an online auction where ordinary people can sell an item or two for small up-front charges. People with an eBay account can bid on these items until the sellers close, just like in an in-person auction. However, the seller can choose the ‘Buy It Now’ option, which lists an item at a fixed price and there is no bidding process.
Payment can be made with a credit / debit card or the most popular method: PayPal, which keeps personal information confidential and also acts to prevent fraudulent transactions. Once the payment is confirmed, eBay deducts its fees, which is usually a percentage of the final sale and the initial posting fee. The rate schedule depends on the sale price of the item. If a person has more than a few items to sell or wants to sell continuously, the best option is to open an eBay store. These come with pre-designed templates, setup is pretty easy in terms of having a choice of shipping options, pricing, and the type of customer a seller wants to do business with.
For example, a seller can make their eBay store invisible to buyers who have recently received negative feedback from other sellers or who have had trouble clearing payments for items they purchased on eBay. Store monthly fees vary and other options are available. The downsides are that customization is limited and regardless of whether a sale is made or not; A flat monthly fee must be paid to stay open. Some people start out by selling some items and little by little they open a store just to test the waters.
For some, opening an e-commerce website is a better solution. If you are adept at desktop publishing, HTML, or basic web design, this would give a person a chance to show their creative side. Even if a person has no artistic ability but has a vision or theme in mind, they are more likely to get positive results from a custom ecommerce store rather than a preformatted template that is offered as part of an online auction package. . At the time of setup, payment preferences and other filters can be set with the webmaster or the company that manages the site. Companies that offer e-commerce websites have other essentials such as email, weblogs, search engine optimization, and marketing packages are usually included in the price. Fees for eCommerce setup are annual, and in most cases lower than online auctions when calculated monthly. This eliminates the hassle of dealing with a monthly invoice, post-sale percentages that must be paid to a third party, and most online shipments prefer to have a partnership with a separate store rather than an auction site.
The downside is that if a seller wants to cancel their store after, say, six months of operation, they will not receive a refund of any initial fees that have been paid. Another possibility is that the seller is solely responsible for the transaction, from start to finish. This means providing efficient customer service to make sure those items are received in a timely manner and, unless the seller is a PayPal customer, taking responsibility for losses such as fraud and other defaults.
In general, if you are just starting out in the world of e-commerce websites, choose an eBay store. However, if you are looking to start a business and earn a living, open a custom ecommerce store on your own domain and hosting.
Here is a list of what you will need to do.
or – Get a domain name and website hosting package (about $ 150 per year).
or – Buy a preconfigured ecommerce package (about $ 500 one time) or get a free package like os-commerce and have a website designer and coder modify it.
or – Have a webmaster (someone who knows about FTP upload) to upload your site.
or – Add your products and customize your store
o – Higher and more SEO savvy so your website ranks higher on Google Yahoo and other search engines. As with the real world, it’s all about location, location, location. Being on top of Google for your keyword is paramount for a profitable business. (Keep in mind that SEO will take 6-12 months to work, there are a lot of SEO scammers out there, so make sure you are a big company or a reputable company. And no one can guarantee a top position if Google leaves. if it does) .
or – Make sure you have as many payment options available, from pay pal to credit card payment on Google.
