So You Want To Sell Online? Take these issues into consideration before selling online.
By Aliza P. Sherman •
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.
