Are you ready to sell onine?

That's right! We're talking about the big E: E Commerce.

 

Don't let this big word scare you, all it is is selling your products/services online.
So, before you storm PayPal and find a store to host your things, let's see if you are even ready to start selling online.
Here's a quick checklist to help ensure your success.

• Product/Services

Do you have a product ready to ship our right now? If it's not finished, not ready to be used yet, or you don't have your services ready to be priced, then maybe you should stop and think about that step first.
If your products are done and ready to ship, your services prepared, then let's go to the next step.

• Place to sell your products

Where are you going to sell these things? There are several different avenues to pick here. I use my own store on my website, and sell from my Facebook page using Easy Social Shop. It's completely free and super easy to use. I highly recommend it! There of course is Etsy, Ebay, Shopify, and Squarespace.Be sure to look at a few things before you settle on just the first thing on your Google search. 
Now that you have a place to sell your things, let's go to the next point.

• Way to get shop traffic (customers)

Where are you going to pull your customers from? Make sure you have your store shareable on all of your social sites and with everyone you know. Plus their friends. Plus their friends. A good rule of thumb is that only 25% of people you send a link to will actually go to it. Of them, only another 10% will likely buy a product/service. So, doing the math only about 3 out of 100 links sent will produce a sale. So, cast a wide net!

• How will you accept orders and payments?

 Typically your store service will handle this for you, but not all will. Make sure to read and that you understand exactly what is expected of you to get your payments and orders in on time. Make sure to set up a alert if you can, so that you don't miss any orders or special request.
Now, let's make sure those orders are taken care of in our next step.

• How will you ship your orders?

This can be a bit hard, frustrating, and scary. But, it doesn't have to be! I use FedEx and have for years! I love the way I can do what I need regardless of where I am. Plus, things are just easy with their orders and shipping charges. Other services such as UPS, DHL, and even USPS can be just as helpful Check out the sites and stores first to see which one best fits your needs and style.

•  How will you handle claims/returns/warranties?

 Make you you type up our own fine print! If you aren't sure what to put, check the rules for your state or area. Make sure your policies are things you can handle, such as paying for shipping an item back, how to refund money, etc. You don't want to be in a bind and end up shutting down because you over looked something easily forgotten. Shopify has some great helpful hints to get you going on this point, just click here.
Now, the last, but most importantly not least point....

• How will you handle customer service?

 Will you do it yourself? Or will you have another person or service do it for you? I recommend Desk or ZenDesk if you think emails and phone calls straight to you just won't do. Don't sweat it though, you can handle anything that they throw at you. So long as you know how to hang up a phone!
(just a joke, don't actually hang up on all of them)

Now, did you complete each step? Then you're ready! Just get to selling and making your check!

I recommend this blog post for a great help in eCommerce stores!