So you have a cute product, or at least one everyone raves about. You have given them as gifts to all your friends and relatives, maybe even sold a few.
If you are not the type to start schlepping around to art fairs and flea markets with your product, then marketing them online is the next best step.
There are several ways to do this, the one that first comes to mind is of course good ole' Ebay. This venue was good in it's early beginnings, but if you just have a few items to sell, then this venue can easily suck all your profits away. It is no longer the place for little people, or hobby sellers, or people looking to just make a few bucks. This is now a ruthless, madhouse, filled with the "big" time sellers, who use sophisiticated selling techniques, buy in gynormous wholesale quantities, and therefore can make a killing at it.
If you are the hobby artists, I suggest some of the more tamer, easier venues such as Etsy, or Artfire. These are the two that come to mind that seem to be the easiest to work with.
Before you run over and set up accounts there, however, you need to make sure you have all your other business ducks in a row.
First work really hard on a business name. This is going to be very important for your "Branding" development. There is another link that talks about how to brand yourself. Your business name should not only reflect you, but also your business. If you sell dog collars only, then something like TinaCollars would work, but if you plan to expand into more pet products then TinaPetDesigns would be a better choice. From here on Tina will brand herself and her pet products. She may use "hotchicktina328" as her email, or social networking name, but a name such as that will not make it in the marketing world, if you want to be taken seriously.
Just a side note here. When you sign up for Etsy, whatever you choose for your sign in name IS YOUR STORE NAME! Beware, they don't tell you this, so there are alot of stores that have names like "bigmamma43" but there store banner might say "Sweet Baby Bows". And in Etsy at least there is no way to make a chance once you sign in.
My choice is to brand myself as SusanLeeGlam...my shop has all kinds of glam items, my Facebook Fan Page is the same, and as you see, so is my blog.
Once you have finally decided on a suitable name for your business you need to make it legitimate. Check with your USA state for a business tax number. You will need this to report your business to the IRS when your products start flying off your imaginary shelves. We are thinking big right?
In order to collect money online, one of the best and safest venues is of course "Paypal". I find most people have already been a customer online, so may already have this account. You need to set up an account here, making sure it is a merchant account also. It is pretty self explanitory over there, of course they make it easy...they want everyone using their venue. As for some of the other payment places, in my experience, most everyone knows and trusts Paypal, therefore, they have accounts there.
Now you are ready to go open your store. Don't forget to check my info on "How to take pictures that sell", along with all the other good information here.
It doesn't stop there, either, you'll want to do some social networking to let your friends know about your store or Facebooking. Learn to do it the right way because doing it the wrong way will get you closed down lickity quick.
You are now on your way to becoming an online entrepreneur! Go for it!!
