Pros & Cons of having online store?
463590
Pros\n\n- Allows you to establish your own "real estate" on the Web;\n- Allows you to attract a bigger audience not limited to marketplace such as eBay buyers (not everyone buys on eBay and the target audience you want may not be those who wants the cheapest prices that shops on ebay)\n- Scaleable as it allows your business to grow; \n- Allows you to give more information about your business to your visitors and give them reasons to trust you as you can put as many supplemental pages you want (from About Us to Contact Us pages)\n- Allows you to give more information about the product, play around with factors that can increase conversion\n- Gives you a more professional look \n- Makes you look like a "big" business \n- You can put in as many items you want without paying listing fees\n- You can sell as many items as you can without paying value added fees\n- Less restrictions than eBay (you are more free to write your sales copy)\n- Easier to market on the Web as you can play with search optimization factors from your metatags to keyword density\n\nCons:\n\n- Requires technical knowhow to create a website (or money to pay someone to do it for you) and make all elements work from shopping cart to payment gateway to SSL certificates to your sales admin panels\n- Fixed price (price you set is what you get)\n- Higher risk of hacking and security being compromised
149593
For the things unavailable in my area, yes.\n\nIf eBay sales can offer a better deal for something I can otherwise get locally, including shipping costs, I'll buy it online then, too.\n\nThe key is to do your shopping, and to be honest with yourself as to how badly you need something.
716670
online stores are the best.
583018
You'd really have to be more specific for any of us to help you.  Like, what kind of products; are they illegal to be sold online; are you the company, needing advice?\n\nPlease fill us in (as much as you can without any trouble).  :)
761530
The answer depends on what you want to do. I'm presuming you are interested in online payment options.\n\nIf you are selling digital only products the clickbank is a good option. ClickBank does NOT let you sell physical products.\nAnother advantage is that it has a built in affiliate program so that other people can easily sell products for you and get a commission you set. I believe it costs about $50 to set up a sellers account - affiliate accounts are free.\n*I am an affiliate but do not have a sellers account\n\nIf you sell digital (recurring memberships, ebooks, etc) and physical products then I would suggest 2Checkout.com. Basically they act as your reseller and process credit cards for the customer and you are the supplier. They charge a one time $50 setup fee as well.\n*I have a 2checkout account\n\nPaypal is a good payment processor option as the money is available instantly. They are great if you are using eBay (eBay owns PayPal). If you are in Network Marketing however Paypal will no longer accept payment for programs that have more than 1 tier of affiliates in their system. Thus if your program is to pay on 5 or 7 levels they will not accept you.\n*I have a paypal account\n\nAnother option is to visit your own Bank and apply for a merchant account. Most banks specialize in either VISA or MC so you may need 2 bank accounts. I think SAMs Club deals with DISCOVER. \n*I have had merchant accounts (VISA/MC/AMEX)\n\nI haven't used paydotcom so I have no idea about it\n\nIf you sell only digital products then Clickbank is good because of the built in affiliate program. If you sell physical products and digital products then I would say 2Checkout. \n\nYou could have both for $100 -  pretty small investment\n\nPaypal is great for auctions because of the connectivity with eBay\n\nHope this helps\nWayne
338133
yes...it gives you something to do with friends, you're not going to huddle around a computer and shop together.  Internet takes all the fun out of shopping, even though it is fast and very efficient!
311999
No, if ...\n1. their coupons face value is low, \n2. you don't have to buy a lot\n3. you don't have to give out personal info\n4. no fine prints
302425
Pro's-\n1) You don't hold any stock, so no chance of having left over stock to get rid of\n2) No overheads of storage, etc\n3) Allows the opportunity to 'buy' a wider range of products\n\nNegatives-\n\nHere, I will speak personally. I used a dropshipper for a while, The Select.co.uk, and they were useless. They sent a package to one of my customers that was broken, they didn't send an order out to someone but didn't tell me, so I had no idea that I had a p*ssed off customer on my hands... they go out of stock but don't tell you, so you sell something that basically you can't supply... but it's you who has to deal with the flack, not them!! \n\nI really wouldn't advise it, it may seem cost effective, but it is more stressful than you can imagine!
1157197
Honestly, as long as you don't try to sell on eBay, than there are not allot of cons.  Everybody goes to eBay to find a good deal and cheep items.  The power-sellers secret is really volume.  They only make a few dollars of each auction but have 200+ auctions end a day.  Unless you sell something you make or something you can't just go to wal-mart and buy, I don't suggest eBay.\n\nI have 5 on-line stores and only pay $30.00 a month for all of them.  Of course, I am a web programmer.  But for pre-designed options, you can use Mambo CMS with Virtue Mart.  A GREAT free store plug-in.\n\nFor hosting:  www.dailyrazor.com\nFor Mambo:  www.mamboserver.com (don't have to go here is you use Daily Razor web hosting.  Just install it from the web control panel)\nFor Virtual Mart (Mambo Component): www.virtuemart.net\n\nGood luck.\n\nBy the way, as far as taking payments, PayPal works well and saves you from monthly costs.  Authorize.net would be my favorite gateway provider if you don't choose Pay Pal.
154755
There are pros and cons both ways. I'll tell you my position below.\nFor a small business (large businesses are too sophisticated to need internet storage) this can provide essential "off-site" backup storage for critical files. Too often the small businessman concientiously backs up his files to a CD and then puts the CD in his disk which is 3 feet away from the computer! What happens when there is a fire in the office!However, if he takes the backups home each night this kills the argument for off-site storage!\nNext, what about the private or work-at-home user? When you are working and living in the same space (home) and have REALLY critical files you'll have to find another place to put them or use on-line storage places. Also, for this category, even if it's just a private person with his single PC at home, think about the consequences of fire, natural disaster, etc. to his ORIGINAL installation disks of such programs as the OS (XP, W2K, ME, 98, Windows Office Suite etc.). Think of the problems if they were destroyed. Personally, I keep mine (at home, unfortunately) BUT in a fire-resistant (3 hour UL listed file cabinet that I picked up at a garage sale for 10 bucks. (took four of us to move it to my basement).\nOf course, the one big disadvantage to on-line storage is the cost for a truly reputable storage location. Typically you pay for the amount of storage space you rent. And, speaking of rent, your typical neighborhood bank rents safety deposit boxes in their vaults that you may consider.\nThe whole notion of internet file storage is for either safety and security OR because you are out of storage space on your own computer (I would buy a larger hard drive or install a secondary hard drive.\nBottom line for me (as a private user) is CONTROL. I'm nervous about giving anyone control over my most critical files and disks.
1125564
Think about this logically--Youre on the computer playing and you can check out prices and locations to buy or have them sent to your home, maybe at a shipping cost. Or maybe free. Now I am thinking this must be for a car ?? If so you are at home with the local phone book, look up parts places, get your information together, ( data on car)call them all, compare prices and go buy one, provided you are in an area where there are parts stores. My little town has only about 5 and all the prices are different. So I manage to save money this way. No going thru different  web sights, being thrown from here to there and about 1 hour later you may have a couple prices. I could go on but I won't.  Happy Shopping !
472905
I just did, not a pro store but an ebay store and its great.  The listing fees are by far less expensive though your items are not auctions people see them whenever they search on important key words.  I like the ebay store...very affordable...good service.
734501
by offering solutions based on the current business model.\n\na friend of mines doing a collectable show this weekend, he wants a shop online to support after show sales and further orders. it's not going to happen. but i can offer him a temporary solution but hosting his current stocklist and a simple order form/contact page.
83868
If you're talking about e-commerce on websites I think a disadvantage is the difficulty in satsifying customers.  Viewing product details, shopping carts and checking out all have to be very intuitive and if they're not you could lose a customer very easly.  I think customer satisfaction is much more important (and easier to lose) on an ecommerce website than regular one.
459464
They are good for traditional businesses like restaurants and the like. \n\nBut HORRIBLE when it comes to businesses online. They have hardly any clue. Most of those I talked to either do not understand the Web, how one can make money from the Web and totally clueless to marketing a website.\n\nIf your business is OFFLINE - traditional and brick and mortar, they can give you helpful advice.
600014
Ecommerce is not cheap. The development of a robust ecommerce system especially with the type of business you have in mind is not something that can be done with $9.99 monthly. \n\n1. Develop your unique selling proposition. Before you even think of starting your website and spending money on ecommerce development, ask yourself: What is so special with the online bookshop I am planning that people will come to me instead of going to Amazon to buy a book? How different will you be from your competitors? \n\nIf you can't answer this satisfactorily, then you have an uphill climb ahead considering the big boys you will be competing. If you are going to focus exclusively on a niche such as everything and anything religious, then you may stand a chance.\n\n2. Line up suppliers. Get an account with book wholesalers such as Ingram Books http://www.ingrambook.com/home.asp and other book wholesalers. You need to get good low prices as profit margins for books are very tight, especially with the heavily discounted prices Amazon.com and Overstock are offering.\n\n3. Begin the process of developing your online storefront - get a domain name, find an ecommerce webhost, find shopping cart systems, buy license for SSL encryption, get merchant account, choose payment gateway provider, hire programmer and web designer to create your site.\n\n4. Join associations such as American Booksellers Association http://www.bookweb.org to network with other booksellers and learn more about the industry\n\n5. Develop a plan to market your website.\n\nThe above are just very simple steps - there's so much more layers to the above. One article that I found very useful is "7 Steps to Successful Web Site Development" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol142/website.htm  as it takes to you all the decision steps that you need to take when starting an online business. Like any other business, startup period is full of "should I do this" or "should I do that" questions. The article is useful because it helps you think through every step of the way - from why do you want a website to who is your audience to how will you create your website to how you will market your new website.
426402
1) Convience (Don't leave home or work)\n2) Better photos and descriptions of items.\n     You can see all of the available items \n3) Have your purchase delivered to your home or work\n4) I like to buy things on line because I can research the products that are out there easier, and there is no pressure to buy now!  I find that it is best to deal with companies that have a physical site because they are easier to work with if there is a problem.