The Pros and Cons of Selling Online

Are you interested in selling stuff online?  Launching your own e-commerce business?  Do you have dreams of quitting the rat-race, walking away from your 9-5 (or 7-6, or whatever crazy hours you work!), and becoming a small business owner? 

Or….

Are you looking for a creative outlet?  A way to generate some additional income?  A means to turn a hobby or passion into a side gig?  Or full-time gig?

Whatever your motivation, or driving force behind your entrepreneurial dreams, e-Commerce offers huge opportunities for anyone with ambition and an internet connection.  And of all the ways to generate income online, e-commerce is one of the easiest to understand and implement.

However, as with any new business venture, before investing your time and money, it’s important to explore whether the opportunity is right for YOU! 

Here are some of the pros and cons of selling online!

The Pros of Selling Online

There is a lot of upsides to launching your own eCommerce business:

• You can work from home, make your own hours, and choose how far you want to take it. The possibilities are endless!  Want to make a few extra bucks to save? Want to create an online eCommerce empire? The choice is yours! There is no glass ceiling, no cap on your income, and virtually no limitations! 
• E-commerce is likely something you’re probably already familiar with! If you’ve bought or sold something online, you basically understand how it works. Which, ultimately, makes selling online an easier skill to grasp than many other home business options.
• You can follow your own interests. Are you passionate about fly fishing? Cake decorating? Refurbishing antique dolls? When you start selling online, you can often turn your hobbies and passions into a profitable business.
• It’s not as difficult or risky as starting a “traditional” business. You don’t have to invest a lot of money when you’re first getting started (not to mention, you won’t have to worry about buying or leasing a physical property). It has a very low barrier to entry, which means practically anyone can give it a go!
• You do not necessarily have to worry about storing inventory!  With on-demand partnership opportunities and drop shipping options, customers can order products directly from your online store and a third-party partner can process the order, produce it, and drop ship direct to your customer via white label packaging!
• It’s fun!

The Cons of Selling Online

Like anything in life, selling online comes with a few downsides. Being aware of the potential pitfalls can help you level set and create realistic expectations for your e-commerce venture.

• It takes time. It may take you a month or two to start seeing consistent results. The chances of you accumulating over $100 worth of sales on your first day is, well, highly unlikely.
• There’s a learning curve. If you’ve sold a few things online before, you’re already one step ahead of your competitors! However, you’ll need to step up your game to sell online professionally.
• You wear all the hats. As a business owner, you’re an incredible team of one (at least starting out). You’ll take on the roles of accountant, marketer, web designer, as well as everything else. This also means that you shoulder all the responsibility. If something goes wrong, you can’t blame anyone but yourself.
• It’s not all passive income. You’ll hopefully be dealing with regular sales, regular shipments, and regular customer inquiries, which means that your business will require you to do real work and invest time and effort. That is, until you can afford to hire staff! Even then, you’ll want to remain involved in everything that happens.

E-commerce is by no means a “get rich quick” scheme but if you’re willing to spend a little time building a reputation, developing your brand, and optimizing your processes… the sky’s the limit!

And we’re here to help you every step of the way!  StickersAndPosters.com offers the highest quality products, unlimited customization, and quantities ranging from ONE to custom bulk orders of any size! We specialize in on-demand, one-off printing of stickers, posters, and custom gift wrapping paper.

Let’s collaborate to create the most unique, ingenious print products directly from your website!  Our agile system seamlessly integrates with e-Commerce websites to enable your customers to order directly from your site. Once their order is placed, we handle the rest!  Let us know how we can help make your ideas, reality!