Selling Online 2.0 Migrating from eBay to Amazon, craigslist, and Your Own E-Commerce Website

by Miller, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780789739742
• ISBN10: 0789739747
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-27
• Publisher: Que Pub

Summary

The complete guide for every online seller who's frustrated with eBay auctions and needs more profitable alternatives- Helps online sellers choose the right channels, plan the transition away from eBay auctions, and thrive.- All online entrepreneurs need to know about the Amazon Marketplace, craigslist online classifieds, building their own e-commerce sites, and more.- Reflects the latest marketplace realities, and the unique insights of the #1 author on online selling, Michael Miller Millions of individuals and small businesses started out selling online via eBay auctions. But times have changed. In recent years, thanks to eBay's soaring fees and growing focus on large sellers, thousands are walking away from eBay auctions, or are seriously considering doing so. It's a daunting decision. Fortunately, many businesses have done so, and are profiting as a result. Now, drawing on what they've learned, top eBay and online business expert Michael Miller shows how any online business can make the jump - and thrive. Step by step, Miller helps online sellers choose the right strategies and channels for their specific online businesses. He helps readers compare and assess all these alternatives -- and then succeed with the options they choose. Here's just some of what online businesspeople will learn: how to systematically plan a move away from eBay auctions... how to migrate listings and selling operations... where online classified selling works, and where it doesn't... how to write more effective copy for alternative channels... how to efficiently create, run, and promote an online e-tail site... how to choose the right online payment system... whether and how to sell in multiple channels... and more.

Author Biography

Michael Miller has written more than 90 nonfiction how-to books over the past two decades, including Que’s Absolute Beginner’s Guide to eBay, Making a Living from Your eBay Business, and Tricks of the eBay Business Masters. He also wrote Teach Yourself Business Plans in 24 Hours and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization for Alpha Books and Online Marketing Heroes: Interviews with 25 Successful Online Marketing Gurus for Wiley.

 

Mr. Miller has established a reputation for clearly explaining complex topics to the average reader and for offering useful real-world advice. Find more information at his website, www.molehillgroup.com.

Table of Contents

Beyond Online Auctions:

The Problem with Online Auctions

Planning for Selling Success

Fixed-Price Selling on eBay

Migrating to Fixed-Price Listings

Fixed-Price Selling on Half.com and eBay Stores

Promoting Your eBay Business

Selling via Craigslist Online Classifieds

Online Classifieds: Are They Right for Your Business?

Doing Business on Craigslist

Migrating from Online Auctions to Online Classifieds

Promoting Your Craiglist Business

Selling on the Amazon Marketplace

The Amazon Marketplace: Is It Right for Your Business?

Different Ways to Sell on Amazon

Doing Business on the Amazon Marketplace

Migrating Your eBay Business to Amazon

Promoting Your Amazon Business

Selling on Your Own Website

Establishing Your Own Website: Is it Right for Your Business?

Planning Your Online Presence

Setting Up an Ecommerce Website

Managing Online Sales

Choosing an Online Payment System

Promoting Your Ecommerce Website

Migrating Your eBay Business to Your Own Website

Selling in Multiple Channels

Multichannel Selling: Is it Right for Your Business?

Creating a Multichannel Marketing Plan

Managing Multichannel Sales

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Introduction IntroductionSelling online isn't quite as simple as it used to be. In the good old days, just about anybody could create an eBay listing and let the online auction site do the bulk of the work. All you had to do was wait for the auction to end to see what the final price was and who to ship to. This model created a lot of successful sellers.All things change, however, and online selling is in the process of some major changes. The eBay auction site isn't near as friendly to small sellers as it used to be; sellers are finding that it's harder and harder to make a decent profit selling exclusively on eBay.If you made your mark as an eBay seller but find eBay an increasingly unfriendly environment, what do you do next? It's all about migrating your sales to the next-generation selling modelwhat I like to call Selling Online 2.0.Selling Online 2.0 doesn't completely abandon eBayat least, it doesn't have to. But it does embrace alternative marketplaces and channels, opening up the opportunity for you to sell your merchandise on sites such as craigslist and Amazon, as well as on your own e-commerce website.Here's the bottom line: If you want to maintain or grow your current level of sales, you have to move beyond eBay auctions. To do this, you have to learn some new skills and fine-tune some old ones; you may even have to spend some money setting things up. But the upside is that your online sales can be even more profitable than beforeand you may be able to attract a completely new base of customers.If all you know is selling on eBay, how do you learn what you need to know to sell in other marketplaces and channels? Well, you've come to the right place; that's what this book is all about. While selling on Amazon or craigslist or your own online store might seem daunting at first, it's something you can do if you have the motivation and the knowledge. You'll have to supply your own motivation, of course, but the knowledge you can get from reading this book. What's in This BookAs you can probably tell from the title, this book tells you everything you need to know to migrate your current eBay business to other online marketplaces and channels. You'll learn how sites such as Amazon and craigslist work, how to plan for success on these sites, and how to create listings, manage sales, accept payments, and even migrate your existing eBay sales to the new marketplaces. You'll also learn how to plan for and launch your own e-commerce website and how to promote and manage that site on a day-to-day basis. Some of the information presented will be familiar to you (both craigslist and Amazon share some similarities with eBay, after all), and some will be completely new. That's the nature of the beast.There are 22 chapters in this book, divided into five major parts. Each part deals with a different online selling channel, walking you through everything you need to know to get your business up and running in that channel: Part I, "Beyond Online Auctions: Creating a Successful Online Business," is the part you want to read before you get into all the details in the rest of the book. Here is where you learn about how eBay is changing and how to plan