How do you start your own online Retail Store?
So how do you go about starting your own Retail Store online?
There are several things you need to do inorder to get a Retail Store up and running online.
First thing is think about what you want to sell. Look for a niche market. A market with high demand and low competition but available to you.
Second thing you need to do is get a DBA aka "Doing Business As", this is your business name. Try to think of a name that will reflect what you are selling or something that stands out. You can get your DBA at the county clerks office where you live, there is a small fee for registering a DBA. You may want to incorporate later but for now this is all you need to get started.
Third thing you need to do is get an EIN number aka "Employer Identification Number". You need this even if you don't have employees. You can apply online for an EIN thru this link http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html
Fourth thing you will need to do is get a Sales Tax Permit. You can get this at the State Comptroller Office and most likely you can apply for the Sales Tax Permit online. Just google sales tax permit + "your state".
You need all the above before a drop shipper or wholesaler will let you set up an account with them. Some drop shippers even require you have a website already and already making sales on other products. If they don't require an EIN and Sales Tax Permit information you can assume that anyone can buy from them at the same price you are being offered. Which is not good for you, so move on and find one that requires a Sales Tax Permit and EIN.
And of course you need to decide what products you want to sell and where to sell them.
When deciding on what to sell you need to keep in mind "your buying power". Even though the customer pays you at the time of sell, you will not receive that money for a few days and at the same time you need to place the order with the drop shipper. What can you afford to purchase while you wait for your money?
As an example, I would love to sell "example" and it cost xxx amounts of dollars, I place "example" in my web store and sell it. Now I need to purchase "example" from my drop shipper to send to customer. But I don't have xxx amount of dollars. So I have to wait until money is deposited into my account (which can take 3 to 7 days) and then order. This is not good for business. So as much as I would like to sell "example" I am better off if I sold products that are related to "example" and later when my buying power has built up then I can add "example" to my web store.
You will need a Merchant Account, which gives you the ability to accept credit card payments. You will, of course, be charged a "percentage of your sales" for this service each time a purchase is made through your shopping cart (merchant account), the more sales you have the lower "percentage of sale" you will be charged. Its just one of those things you will have to figure on paying. You will need to be able to accept credit cards after all. Usually about 3.5% or less. Shop around and add several to your website because everyone has their favorite way to pay online.
Merchant Account / Shopping Cart
https://www.paypal.com/ sign up for a Merchant Account
https://checkout.google.com/agentSignupAccount?agent=Merchant&continueUrl=https://checkout.google.com/agentSignupLanding?agent%3DMerchant&gsessionid=8GwdwqZ8w0_tDzAbVngO9w sign up for a Merchant Account. Cost and fees for Google Checkout for less than $3000.00 in monthly sales is 2.9% + 0.30 for each sale and goes down the more sales you make each month. They deduct the money when a sale goes through the Google Checkout shopping cart.
Free Web Sites
You of course need somewhere to sell your products and I started a list of totally free places you can sell.
http://www.ecrater.com/ a free web store builder and an online marketplace. You can create your own free online store in minutes. All products are submitted to Google Product Search. You can easily import your eBay products as well. Plus they have this nifty gadet, you can place anywhere they let you edit the html.
http://mybluesofa.com/ a free (for now) marketplace for anyone to sell anything home related.
http://www.vstore.ca Free online storefront with shopping cart, website builder, merchant account integration and free web hosting. Also offers free auctions.
http://www.vendio.com/ecommerce/stores The Vendio Store is a powerful eCommerce solution that provides you a branded presence online and an instant channel to promote your products. You can also easily manage items, orders, and customers all from one place, all for free
Store Gadgets
These cool gadgets let you have a store on a website you already own, or on a blog. One thing I like about this idea is that you can take it with you to another website or blog. You are not having to set up all over again. You can put it in more than one place and if you had just one website you can place several gadget stores, if you wanted.
https://storegadgetwizard.appspot.com/storegadgetwizard/index.html free The Google Checkout store gadget allows you to quickly and easily create an online store using a Google Docs spreadsheet. This you can use with Blogger, Google Sites, iGoogle, and personal websites where HTML can be modified.
https://storefront.paypallabs.com/authenticate/review free Create your own online store with the PayPal storefront. Upload products, set prices, and start selling on your website or blog.
