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You can get up and running cheaply and quickly using the tools freely available on the web.
| Nervous about trading on the internet and eBay? Here are 10 good reasons to trade. | |
| Love it or hate it, eBay offers you an unmatched marketplace with no upfront costs. | |
| Paying and getting paid over the internet: eBay's partner. | |
| You don't need IT skills, you don't need expensive programmers, your online shop is only an hour or two away!. | |
| Just a forum topic at present but likely to grow in importance for non entrepreneurial mature people, the microbusiness is one designed to top up a pension and keep you interested. |
We try to put the issues into perspective and help you through the processes.
| Vent your frustrations, share your triumphs, and plan your programme with others | |
| Share ideas and experiences, benefit from the knowledge of others, maximise your chances of success. | |
| Got some inside knowledge on or experience about these topics - then add your own page(s) to Life's 3rd Phase. | |
| Found the site interesting? Got friends who might benefit or even be able to contribute from their own knowledge and experience? |
The days of sudden fortune trading on the internet are probably over
- During the dot-com bubble any business focussed on the internet made sure-fire fortunes for the promoters: in the years that followed the crash investors and banks avoided ecommerce and internet based businesses like the plague.
- But many people work from home and make a good living just trading on eBay
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Which shows that with a sensible business plan you can succeed provided you control costs, focus on 'revenue' and have an attractive 'USP' - The Internet allows you to trade on any scale you choose
- ...providing you can deliver your product you can trade world-wide like a multinational, or buy and sell a few trinkets on e.Bay.
- ..and ecommerce facilities like Paypal allow you to transfer money simply and safely.
- Choose your market carefully
- ...You can't take on ASDA or AMAZON head on, but you could beat them in a specialist market particularly if you are adding specific expertise as part of your USP.
- But the Internet is possibly...
- .....the only market where the small man who works from home with low overheads and the ability to respond quickly to the market has a natural advantage over the big boys.
- Watch the Pennies
- ...Use low cost, or preferably free software, work from home if you possibly can, remember the cost of your time and use the shortcuts to an effective storefront provided by Yahoo, Ebay and others.
- Draw Traffic to your Site
- ...Up to now 'Google' and 'Yahoo' have been your useful internet tools. Now they very much decide your fate. Unless you use the Ebay or Yahoo shop-fronts that bring traffic to your site, you're going to have to win it for yourself.
- This involves a process known as 'Search Engine Optimisation' or SEO.
- SEO is a big subject but you need to know the basics. David Viney's 'Get to the Top on Google' will give you everything you need to succeed.
A 'USP' is a 'unique selling point'. Something that differentiates your business from the millions of others out there.
A web business, like any other, needs a business plan even if it's only two sides of paper.
You can't challenge ASDA in on-line food sales, but 'www.worldhoney.com' might be a winner if you can tell your customers how and why a particular honey scores against all others.
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Micro-Businesses
Starting Point
The British government through its site http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Over50s/Working/WorkingToSuitYou/DG_10027003 actively promotes us over-50s to start our own businesses and offers a whole bunch of soft inducements to encourage us to do so, and Saga, finds space on its website http://www.saga.co.uk/money/makingmoney/making-money-over-50-spare-room-... to focus on the very small business as a source of income for its target audience which tends to be rather older.
In the States AARP on its page http://www.aarp.org/money/work/articles/thinking_about_starting_a_busine... gives useful pointers to its visitors who might contemplate a business start up.
can help you get the best possible value.Getting Paid
Business is a matter of money in and money out ..
..and internet business is no exception.
- Unless you're setting up a mega-business
- You'll probobly find
the simplest and quickest solution to paying and getting paid.
Winning the Auction Game
It's easy to win at an Auction!
You just have to bid more than anyone else did.
...but the point of an auction - if you are the buyer - is to come away with the goods at the lowest possible price!
eBay Auctions
eBay Auctions are eBay's Lifeblood.
eBay built it's business around the excitement of the auction and invites the world to join: more specifically it invites you to join.
eBay's auctions follow the general pattern of a normal auction, with each successive bid trying to top the one before with some notable differences:
is just a market place, like main street, where anyone can trade if they stick to the rules.
10 Good Reasons to Trade on the Internet
Choosing your market place.
In their book "Start your own E-business
