You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

So You Want To Sell Online? Take these issues into consideration before selling online.

By Aliza P. Sherman

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

There are so many things to consider when planning to sellonline, but here are some of the first issues that should bediscussed, decided and planned out:

  • Fulfillment. Once an order is placed, are you going topersonally pick, package and ship each order? Will the order gointo your traditional shipping system? Or will you partner with afulfillment house to take care of the order?
  • Shipping. How are you going to charge for shipping? Willit be per item? By weight? A flat rate? Will you offer FedEx, UPSor another shipping service?
  • Taxation. How will you tax the order? Will it be basedon the state where the buyer is located or the state where yourcompany is based? What about overseas orders? Will you even botherwith international orders initially?
  • Return Policies. What will you do when items arereturned? Keep in mind that buying online is still unfamiliar tomany people and images online are of a lesser quality than mostpaper catalogs, so returns could be far more frequent thanyou're used to experiencing. How will you handle the extraexpense of dealing with returns?
  • Customer Service. How will you handle customer serviceinquiries? Will you use e-mail, phone or some other means? Are youstaffed to handle the need?

Planning ahead means a better chance at a successful onlineselling experience.

Aliza Sherman is an entrepreneur and author of Cybergrrl:A Woman's Guide to the World Wide Web (Ballantine Books).She is currently working on her next book and new company.

Aliza Sherman is a web pioneer, e-entrepreneur and author of eight books, including

PowerTools for Women in Business.

Her work can be found at mediaegg.com.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Multibillion-Dollar Crypto Fraud

Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan said that the loss amount to the victims of Bankman-Fried's crimes surpassed $550 million.

Side Hustle

This Mom Started a Side Hustle After a 'Shocking' Realization in the Toy Aisle. Her Product Was in Macy's Within the Year — Seeing Nearly $350,000 in Sales.

Elenor Mak, now founder of Jilly Bing, didn't plan to start a business — but the search for a doll that looked like her daughter inspired her to do just that.

Growing a Business

To Achieve Sustainable Success, You Need to Stop Focusing on Disruption. Here's Why — and What You Must Focus on Instead.

Instead of zeroing in solely on disruptive innovation, embrace a pragmatic approach to innovation, recognizing and leveraging the potential within ongoing industry shifts.

Marketing

5 Ways to Get on the Media's Good Side (and Stay There)

When you're trying to make a name and a mark for yourself and your business, it's really important to get on the media's good side — and stay there.

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Told Meta Engineers to 'Figure Out' Snapchat's Privacy Protections: 'We Have No Analytics on Them'

Recently unsealed court documents detail "Project Ghostbusters," Meta's project to work around Snapchat's end-to-end encryption to intercept data.