My Online Selling journey begins back in 2004. At that time I worked in a dead end job with a bunch of catty co-workers. I hated my job so much and decided to open an online pet boutique, hoping that it would divert my mind from how much I hated coming to work everyday. At that time I had no kids, was a newlywed, and my dog was pretty much my child. The way I describe how I did the business was sort of plunging my head first and try to find ways to stay afloat. Boy, did I learn a valuable lesson from that experience! I closed my online boutique in 2008, a year after my oldest son was born. At that time I was so busy with my new role as a mom and my passion simply had changed from a furry baby to a real baby. I lost a chunk of money mainly from making the wrong decision. Luckily, I never quit my job so it’s not like I had to declare bankruptcy or anything like that. Plus things started to get better at my job with a few transitions, so coming to work everyday was not too bad in the end. But still it was pretty hard to swallow. Lesson learned from this experience:
- Always start small and grow bigger
- Make smart decision when putting investment in your business (I spent too much money making catalogs and purchased excessive inventory I couldn’t sell)
- Understand your market and purchase inventory that your customer wants, not what you want. This might sound cliche, but in reality many business owners failed from making that mistake. I made a mistake in buying inventory because it looks “cute”. I should have studied what sells and not sells
Two years ago I sold all my inventory which include dog collars, leash, harness, dog clothes, boots, toys, and some carriers on EBay and to other retailers. Right now I only have 3 carriers left I still need to sell, which would be a part of my goal this year. Then last year as a part of my mission to declutter my house, I sold the majority of my husband’s DVDs on both EBay and an online secondhand DVD store (see my post in here ). On top of that, I consigned my kids clothes, toys and baby gear at Three Bags Full consignment sales (read my post here ). So what have I learned from this experience selling what I could find around my house on EBay, a used store, and consignment sale? First and foremost, I would recommend anyone who wants to open an online store to start selling on EBay because you will learn these valuable lessons:
- Customer Service . Getting negative feedback on EBay is a big no no. As a result, you have no choice but treat your buyers like they can do no wrong. I had a buyer who purchased my dog stuffs (I forgot what it was) and claimed the items inside the package is not what she ordered. She sent me a picture of the package, and inside was a bunch of metals that look like a workout tool. Now could she be lying to me to refuse to pay? Possibly. However, is it likely that she lives in a crappy neighborhood and some neighbor stole her package and replaced it with a bogus package? Very likely. In this case I had no choice but refund her money.
- Competitive Market . Before listing your items, always check completed sales for your item or similar item. You want to see how much your item is actually worth to make sure you don’t over or under price
- Income Statement analysis . I’m such a dork but before deciding to sell my husband’s DVDs at EBay or a used store, I created a spreadsheet that lists how much I think the DVDs are going to sell on EBay vs Used Store, minus the fees and shipping. Whichever gives you larger income is the one you should pick
After tons of consideration, I decided to use the money I earned from the above selling for my next venture of online selling, which will be covered on my next post. So stay tuned!! :)
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