Selling on Amazon or Ebay for Beginners

Looking to make some extra money doing a side hustle? Lots of people are. One way to make some extra green is by selling on Amazon or Ebay. Most people know you can sell on Ebay, but not everyone knows you can sell on Amazon as well. They have allowed people / businesses to sell on their site since 2000. Both Amazon and Ebay you can do right from your couch right now. Being able to work at any time of day so it is ideal for just about anyone, i.e. moms working after the kids go to sleep, college students working their side hustle between classes and studying or just anyone looking to make extra income.

Google and Youtube Are Your Friends

If you aren’t sure how to get started there are lots of videos you can watch on how to get started. We’re going to give you the quick and dirty version of what you need to do to get started selling.

Form Your Online Business Online

You obviously need a name for your business, but that isn’t too important because this is just to get the legal paperwork out of the way. You can always use a trade name that is catchy to help increase sales and marketing. It could simply be your Last Name Brands.

You need to form you LLC, the LLC will form a Limited Liability Company around you as a person. This means if your business has collections or anything it limits the collectors from being able put a lien on your home or garnish your wages etc. An LLC is a good idea. You can go online to LegalZoom.com and form your LLC right from your couch or recliner.

You can go online to a number of different sites to get your EIN EZFilingSolutions.com is one of them. You must first select what type of entity you want your business to be. If there is only you, you can be a Sole Proprietor / Individual, an LLC or an S-Corp. If you have someone else working with you, you can be an LLC S-Corp or a Partnership. You will not be a Non-Profit or a C-Corp.

Products

Before you even have your business name you should be researching what you want to sell. You want to know the ins and outs of not only the product but also your competition. You can work with someone locally that makes and sells a product that you want to take to the next level. You can also go online and look for niches of products that you feel are underserved through local and online shopping. Not all products will be a hit, but some will and that’s called your cash cow.  Online price is king. If you sell your product head to head against your competition and yours is $1 cheaper and you both have good seller ratings, 9/10 times buyers will choose to save $1 over not.

UPC | Professional Images

Your products need to have an UPC you can get one online, much like everyone else. GS1US.org is one of the sites you can use to get your barcode for your UPC. Your products should have professional images, if you can get them from your supplier you can take them yourself if you have the right equipment. But remember if you aren’t going to be able to create a professional looking picture, it is best to outsource that to a professional like a photographer or a marketing company. Sometimes your supplier will have professional images you can use.

Shipping

If your supplier is local then you can choose between which is most cost efficient for your UPS, FedEx, USPS or others. If you are buying from an international supplier you will have the choice between air and boat. By boat is cheaper but more of a pain for business supplier practices. By air is the ideal way to get your products in and on a timely manner. The products will go directly to Amazon if you are selling with Amazon. If you are selling with Ebay the shipment will go to you.

Third Party Vendor on Amazon

You can set up your Amazon account and follow their tutorials on how to get your business up and going. Of course they have fees, it wouldn’t make sense for them to all you access to their 150 million customers a month without charging you something. You will pay a fee depending on the volume and price of your monthly sales.

Selling on Ebay

You can set up your account on Ebay and choose business account and the rest is up to you. Your products will be displayed, searchable and sold through Ebay however shipping and customer service are entirely up to you. You will also pay a fee to Ebay for the use of their site it is also by transaction and amount.

Domestic or International

You can choose to only ship domestic, but you are limiting yourself and your potential income by doing so. Learn about international shipping to see what you need to do to ship products and what you need to charge and expand your reach and go global! There are challenges but if your products are worth taking to the next sales level, this shouldn’t be a daunting task. Whenever you start dealing with international business you will in turn start learning about the exchange rates. Neither Ebay or Amazon have great currency conversion programs, they have them, but they aren’t the most cost effective. If you start to grow your international business you will want to learn about how to save on international transactions. Sites like WorldFirst.com and OFX.com are less expensive ways to convert currency and can definitely save you bunches when your business goes beyond the boarder!

Let’s Roll

Now the fantastic news is you do not have to choose! You can sell on both Amazon and Ebay. This gives you the opportunity to see which platform is going to work best for you and the products you intend to sell. Who knows perhaps you will make your side hustle your full time hustle and make a living right from your couch selling products online.