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261Chapter 16: Tapping the Internet’s Marketing Power

ߜ Is your customer willing to pay for shipping? Or are you willing to
include shipping in your product price? Especially if your product is
available locally, you may need to include shipping to win the business.

ߜ Does your product require only limited after-the-purchase support? In
other words, if assembly, installation, or usage training is required, can
your customers handle the task on their own?

ߜ Is the risk relatively low if a customer makes an ordering mistake? For
example, if your customer meant 10 and typed 100 on an order of pack-
aged goods, correcting the error involves only shipping costs. But if the
mistake involves an order of custom-made windows, you’re talking about
absorbing a serious after-the-fact expense. Use this guideline: If your prod-
uct involves more than a few simple steps for configuration to the buyer’s
specifications, it is likely too complicated for online sale.

ߜ Is your product or service unique or difficult to find? If not, your online
offer has to include competitive pricing or other enhancements to tip the
decision in your favor.

ߜ Are you ready for the administrative and marketing realities of online
sales? E-commerce requires intensive marketing to drive prospects to
your site, and systems that allow customers to input data, select prod-
ucts, make payments, and trigger shipping and billing — promptly, effi-
ciently, without error, and, with luck, on a repeated basis.

Selling online using auction sites

Auction sites allow you to sell products just like you would in a live auction,
only online. Auctions at sites like Yahoo! Auctions, Amazon Marketplace, and
eBay sell surplus inventory, creative or unique items, used products, and
products available only in a limited supply.

To sell in an online auction, you don’t need to have or use your own site. You
don’t need to set up an online payment process. You don’t even need to find
customers; you just wait for them to come to the auction site.

Your role is to pay the transaction fee (and sometimes a setup fee as well),
set the lowest acceptable price for your item, write a marketing blurb, upload
a few pictures, and ship out the product.

When using online auctions, include a link to your Web site in your product
description to increase traffic to your own site.