Opening an online retail business can be complicated and costly when you lack web design savvy and start-up capital. As of June 2011, eBay allows you to sell merchandise for as little as the price of listing an item, up to $2.00 per item, plus a percentage of the sales. eBay also provides sellers with merchant processing through PayPal. If you have a just a few items to sell, or if you sell one-of-a-kind specialty items, you can list those items in the auction format, or you can open an eBay storefront for a more permanent home for your retail business.
Instructions:
1) Organize your inventory. Set the items you plan to sell on a shelf or in a closet organized by size, type or price. Whether you plan to sell new or used items, keeping them in one place makes for a more efficient selling process.
2) Purchase shipping materials. You can buy these at an office supply or discount store, depending on your budget. You can also gather used boxes from friends and family, or ask managers at local retail stores where you shop to save used boxes and packing materials for you. Organizing your shipping materials before you make your first sale helps you ship items quickly, which could boost your seller rating.
3) Take good quality photographs of your products. eBay users make buying decisions based on photographs. Take pictures of your items from multiple angles using a high-resolution digital camera. Save the pictures as .jpg files, the format required to upload the images into your eBay product listings.
4) Register for an eBay seller account. To open an account, create a username and password on eBay's homepage. Once you open an account, you can visit eBay's "Start Selling" page to list items immediately, or you can setup an eBay storefront if you have a large inventory.
5) Set up your eBay storefront. ProStores sets up eBay storefronts that allow you to list up to 100,000 products. The eBay storefront provider also gives you customized email addresses, inventory management tools that allow you to upload multiple listings and photos at a time, and search engine optimization. As of June 2011, the cost of eBay storefronts ranges between $29 and $100 per month, depending on the number of product listings.
6) List items for sale. Enter the listing by first selecting the category in which your item belongs. List a gold ring, for a example, in the "jewelry" category. Then enter a product description. Product descriptions include such product details as size, manufacturer information, product age and history, if you sell used and vintage items. To complete the listing, follow the steps provided to you in the listing template and enter the price of the item and the shipping and handling terms.
7) Market your eBay business. You can start by creating and sending an online sales flyer to your existing list of email contacts. You can also include a sales flyer signup box on your eBay storefront to grow your contact list. Your email marketing flyer can be as simple as an typed email with information about new items and prices, or more a more detailed newsletter with color photos, which you can design by opening an account with an email marketing company.
Source - eHow
