Make Money Selling Stuff Online

Selling stuff online is a great way to make some extra money on the side, and if the right amount of effort is put in, it’s even a good way to make a living.

But what items should you sell? How should you sell them? And where should you sell them?

Today I’m going to be covering three methods, and strategies that can be used to sell things online.

3 Ways to Make Money Selling Stuff Online

There are three main methods that you can use to sell items online. Each of the methods has it’s own perks, and downsides which I will go over throughout this post. It’s up to you to use the information that I provide to pick which way is the best method for you.

The three methods are:

Affiliate Marketing
Selling products on sites like Amazon, eBay and Etsy
Creating an Online Store

1. Affiliate Marketing

The reason I chose to go with affiliate marketing first is because I believe that it is the easiest of the three methods, and can be accomplished with little to no cost, by anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketers are basically like online sales representatives. They are people who promote products online, and earn a certain percentage of every sale that they make. In other words, they get customers to buy other people’s products in exchange for a commission.

How Does It Work?

Websites like Amazon.com (among many others), have affiliate programs where you can sign up and start referring people through affiliate links. Affiliate links are links to products that are specifically unique to each individual. Anytime you get someone to click on your affiliate link, and they continue to buy a product, or several products, you will earn a percentage of that sale.

Perks of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can either be something that you can do on the side, or something that you can do for a living. It is truly a business where you get back what you put into it.

These are the main reasons why I recommend this more than any other way.

Cheaper than other options because you don’t have to purchase products to sell
No shipping expenses
Websites can be created in a matter of minutes
Several methods can be used to promote products

Promoting Products

There are several ways to promote products, here are a few of the most popular and effective methods:

Building a Promotional Website (easier than you may think)
Email Marketing
Video Marketing
Social Media Marketing

I’m not going to go into too much detail about how to incorporate these methods because I’ve already written an entire post that goes into depth about each of them. You can access that article by clicking here: What is Online Affiliate Marketing?, or you can click here: Wealthy Affiliate, to learn about my #1 recommended place to learn everything there is to know about Affiliate Marketing.

2. Selling on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy

Selling physical products on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy can be a very rewarding if you’re willing to put the time, effort and money to start. There are a couple different ways to go about selling products on these websites.

Retail Arbitrage
Private Labelling

What is Retail Arbitrage?

Retail arbitrage is the art of finding retail items that are listing at a lower price than the normal selling rate, then turning around to sell them at close to normal price to make a profit.

This is something that can be done for a living, I know of many people who do it for a living. They visit stores like, Target, Walmart, and even yard sales, and thrift shops, in order to find marked down items that they can purchase and resale, it’s possible, but it takes a lot of time and effort.

What is Private Labelling?

Private labeling is basically creating your own brand of items to sell online. There is a lot of initial research to do, and several hoops to jump through in order to create your own private label product, but once you’ve done it, it can be extremely rewarding.

In order to create a private label product you must find an item that sells well on Amazon, but also has relatively low competition. Then you have to find and contact a Chinese manufacturer through the use of a website such as Alibaba.com so that you can purchase it and have it shipped to you.

The initial cost to purchase a private label product can be in the thousands of dollars, but the end result can range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if done correctly.

I would suggest starting with Affiliate Marketing to earn the cash to start a private label product. I actually plan to start a private label business in the near future.

Creating an Online Store

In my opinion, creating an online store appears to be the most difficult of the three methods to achieve, but also can be the most rewarding if it is done correctly.

If you’ve spent any time researching ways to make money online, you’ve probably come across the idea of making a niche website. A website that is specifically targeted at a relatively small group of people.

Well creating an online store is taking that idea to another level. Instead of creating a niche website and earning commission through affiliate marketing, you create a website that directly sells your own products.

It involves all of the difficulties of building a website, contacting Chinese manufacturers, and getting your own shoppers. Though it is something that can be challenging to do, it is also something that is possible to do.

Though I would not recommend trying it if you are new to the world of making money online.

Conclusion

Affiliate Marketing, Selling on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, and creating an online store are the three main ways to sell stuff online.

If you are interested in making a little of extra cash by selling stuff online, or if you’re trying to make a living online, I would recommend starting with affiliate marketing, and then moving your way up to one of the other two methods.

If you want to get started with an online career, I suggest that you read more into where I got my start online, and my #1 recommended place to start earning money online, Wealthy Affiliate.