Saturday, December 16, 2006

Be Your Own Guide When Deciding on What to Sell Online

What I always tell people is, "Use yourself as the measure." If you won't buy it, why do you think others will? OK, so you might catch a few intellectually-challenged people but the adage is true that you can skin a sheep once but you can shear it many times. So ideally, you should choose a business model that will last.

Have you ever paid for a date or friendship? Will you buy used clothing even offline? Oh, but it worked in the States! Well, in the States, there are over 203 million people online so it is especially true for them that there is a buyer for everything. You, however, would need a lot of time, patience and deep pockets to be internationally promoting and funding an e-commerce site while waiting to find a buyer for something that you wouldn't buy yourself. Of course, if your target market is the States, then pack your wallets and go brave.

If you would buy it yourself, ask a couple of other people who are likely to be part of your target market and find out if they would buy it online or better still if they're buying it offline now. If your answers are for the most part positive, you might be on to something. If not, maybe you can start small with a simple website that just takes orders online but processes payment offline. That way, you wouldn'be be out of beer money too early.

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