The Best Products to Sell Online

Running an online retail business can be difficult if you are not sure what kinds of products to sell. There are certain kinds of products that sell well on the Internet, and then there is a set of criteria you can use to determine what products may be best for your website.

eBooks

• Ebooks are books that are distributed electronically. They can be downloaded to a computer in a few minutes, and they are rapidly becoming the distribution method of choice for many book publishers. An eBook is an entire book put into a computer file, and then when customers purchase the eBook, it is either emailed to them or they are given a link from which they can make their download. It eliminates the need to create and warehouse thousands of copies of a book, and with new eBook reading computers being created it also allows readers to carry their entire library around with them in one convenient small computer. Selling eBooks may put you in direct competition with some of the larger book retailers on the Internet. This can be a problem because those larger Internet retailers are known for selling eBooks, and your smaller organization does not get the same marketing coverage as the larger retailers. However, you may be able to compete on price as you can offer lower prices than the major retailers on eBooks and still make a good profit.

Business Letterhead and Stationery

• Even if you do not own a printing company, you can still offer business letterhead and stationery printing services online and do so for a profit. If you do not own a printing company, find one that you can develop a subcontracting relationship with and sell business letterhead and stationery printing services online. Many online printers offer wholesale pricing to resellers, and all you would have to do is market the product and take the orders. The printer does the rest of the work, including shipping the final product, and the printer will do so using your company name and logo on all of the paperwork. Also consider selling printing services for wedding materials and corporate forms as well.
  

Tips on Finding the Right Products

• Try to find direct relationships with manufacturers so that you have a better chance of getting the best wholesale price possible, and you can also have direct access to the customer service department of the manufacturer if something should go wrong. Make sure that the manufacturer will drop ship your product for you, and that the manufacturer will put your company name and information on all of the paperwork. Drop shipping is when the manufacturer will package and ship the product to your end user for you. Blind drop shipping is when the manufacturer will drop ship for you and put your company information on all of the paperwork instead of the manufacturer's company name on the packing list. It helps to have a manufacturer that will blind drop ship so that the customer sees your company name on the paperwork and knows who to call if there is a problem or question.

You should try to sell brand-name products that people already trust. If you decide to go with an off-name product then test the product before you sell it.
Try to find products that you can either sell as repeat business, or products that generate their own repeat business using other products. For example, if you can sell printers by a name-brand manufacturer then make sure you also sell the ink for the printers because that is where the recurring profit is.

By Arnold Anderson, eHow Contributor

http://www.ehow.com