It seems like everyone is doing it, running an ecommerce site or selling on eBay, and now you got the bug.  The question is, what to sell online?

There are many schools of thought and plenty of advice floating around the web on what to sell to make it big online.  But what works for one person does not always lead to success for another.  Some say that if you sell what everyone else is selling then you are competing in a saturated marketplace and the only way to make a profit is to carry a huge inventory because many suppliers will not deal in small quantities.  This puts you in the position of investing a sizable amount of capital which can result in huge losses if you fail to move your inventory quickly.

Others say, don’t get involved selling a product related to an activity that you love.  They say that this may stick you into a niche market that may offer limited sales opportunities and again you will be stuck with inventory that you cannot move.

Quite a dilemma.  You can’t sell what is popular and you can’t sell what you enjoy.  My advice, either path can lead to success but it begins with a plan.  Sure, everywhere you turn on the internet there is a website offering to set you up with an online store.  Quick and easy.  And to a point they are telling you the truth.  It is quite possible to create an online store using any number of services that offer tools to help you design a store, setup a shopping cart and accept credit card payments online.  They offer services to help market your online store and drive traffic to your site and they offer support when something breaks.  But the one thing they do not offer is a guarantee that you will make sales with your online store.  Why?  The simple reality is that whether you run an online store or a traditional brick-and-mortar store the fact remains that starting a business takes time and hard work.

The title of this post is What To Sell Online but really it all begins with a business plan.  It doesn’t matter what you choose to sell online if you don’t lay out the basic foundation of your business.  Selling iPods?  Computers, vitamin supplements or designer clothes?  Let me ask you this, do you know how to acquire these items?  Are you going to deal with the first supplier you find when doing a search online or are you going to take the time to look around and find a supplier who can meet your needs?

What about credit card transaction fees and monthly costs to host your online store?  Have you calculated how much you will need to spend on these recurring costs?  They aren’t services that are typically provided for free.

Shipping costs.  Again, not only do you have to think about where your buyers are located but you need to have some idea of how much it will cost to ship a typical order based on weight.  And on top of the actual shipping charges you need to think about how much you will be spending on shipping materials.  Boxes, tape, labels, invoices and packing material all add up.

Marketing is another major part of doing business, online and offline.  Will you pay for sponsored search or bid on keywords or take the organic approach and design your online store so that it will be optimized for the major search engines?  Depending on what you decide to sell it might also be prudent to look into other outlets for getting your name out to the public.  Print advertising or direct mail are often overlooked by online merchants.

This is just an example of the many things it takes to open a business, any business.  The most successful merchants are the ones who thought about the details before they even considered opening their stores to the public.  It’s not just the major retailers who develop a plan, many small online merchants are successful, not just based on what they sell but because they have taken the time to research what it means to run a business.  It is easy to see dollar signs and imagine your bank account growing daily as the sales pour in but as they say, it takes money to make money.  It also takes time and commitment on your part.

So when you ask yourself what should you sell online the answer is easy.  Practically anything you want as long as you’ve taken the time to develop a plan.