Hi, So I am considering importing some products from abroad and selling them online, using Ebay and a new site which I will make, using Zencart or similar. Never done this before, so am looking for any advice whatsoever. I plan to use part of the budget to pay for online promotion, as it will be mail order only business. I fully expect almost all of the sales to come from the ebay store, the separate site I am thinking will start of being used to give a good impression, hi res images etc. With a online promotion budget of say $25 per week, what should I look to buy? I want to drive people to the ebay store. It will be the UK market. Lots of thanks for any advice whatsoever.
Well, after you have all your necessary licenses (not sure what you'll need in the uk) get a cheap host to set-up a small website and then just advertise on eBay. eBay will drive traffic to you for free if your prices are lower than your competitors on eBay.
I would said buy some banner ads at trade forum such as business niche. And buy some blog review about your ebay store. Blog commenting at related niche with your product and put a link back to your ebay store.
which country exactly you gonna import this physical goods? be carefull, import cost might be expensive.
So letme get this straight your budget is $100 per month on Online promotion so that be about £70 ( uk money ). I think you are seriously need to up ur budget abit to make a success of this. just to give u an idea of the cost of online promotion i am currently spending about £1000 per month on Pay per click advertising to promote various affiliate programs.
The amount your willing to spend should be determined by the profit of each item, and not a random figure. if you can spend $1 and get back $1.50, then you would want to spend as much as possible, as long as it makes financial sense to do so. Make sure there is a market for the products (and a good mark-up) before you invest too much.