Starting online store/business... advise?

[Caelanseth]

So for quite some time I have been pondering a way of supplementing my income. I have decided i want to open an online dropshipping store. I have looked into it quite extensively and here is where I am at:

I am in the process of registering my business, getting a tax id number and all that good stuff.

I have contacted and found several suppliers that will dropship for me, and they are real suppliers, selling at wholesale. not those scamming middlemen dropship sites like doba.

Now, here is where I would need some advise and just some general pointers. First and foremost, I am torn on what I want to sell. Ideally I would like to find some sort of niche, originally I want to sell either paintball equipment, but cannot find the right suppliers, or electronics but the market is so saturated. So now I am thinking either some sort of niche market ( possibly alternative style clothes or specific fragrances) or somthing that is mass consumed, such as DVD's, radios, etc.

Second, I am torn as to whether to open an actual online store, and try to effectivly market it to recieve required traffic, or use existing stores, such as ebay, yahoo, and amazon. With using an existing shopping site, I can attemt to leverage existing traffic. The drawback is, I could end up having an enormous amount of posting fees if nothing sells. On the other hand, my own sit wouldnt have fees, commisions, etc but there is the possibility that I will not get sufficient traffic.

lastly, I have been looking at a site called Inventory Source (i cannot post url) that seems like a really good deal, not only do they put you in contact with a variety of wholesalers, but work with you either setting up your store, but also automatically updating inventory, and just all aorund making life easier.

I am very committed to starting my business, and again I am just looking for a few pointers and any advise I could get would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[jonathanfigaro]

If you want to know what to sell online, here is a nice video that can give you
some inspiration of a bit of guidance...

YouTube - studio437's Channel

I suggest looking at all the videos on the right hand side....

[Caelanseth]

Thanks for the link and info, they were very informative. I am leaning towards setting up an ebay store to start out with, and possibly creating a site later on.

I am still unsure of what products i can sell effectivly, some products are just so saturated.

[Caelanseth]

bump...

Wanted to see if anyone out there had any more useful input.
I have decided to design a website, and have found a reliable wholesaler that dropships, they have been around for 40 years and have a huge and varied inventory, specializing in outdoor and sporting goods.

I am aware of various tools I can use to drive traffic to my site.

Still I have an idea of what I want to sell. is there anything to avoid? I know i should avoid everyday products conmsumers can buy in department stores, yet I am having a hard time researching buying trends on specific products. I want to start small, atleast make enough to cover start up costs and running my site, and try and grow from there. Im really just looking for ideas that are near fail safe for startup, if something exists. anyone?

[Lambo]

with starting your own website, it might take a little bit to generate traffic. With ebay and all those other ones, the traffic is already there and you just pay small listing fees.

there is always a trade off, but initially generating your own consistent traffic will be an interesting challenge.