I do alot of ebay consultancy, but eBay once considered the ultimate way to make money online is fast dwindling in the eyes of my clients. Its still great for start ups, but focusing on eBay solely is a sure way to sink under the pressure of feedback, DSR’s and the ‘easy returns’ process.
However, setting up an e-commerce website and driving traffic is easier and cheaper than EVER before.
Lets consider the free open source websites:
- oscommerce
- zencart
- cubecart
- spreecommerce (ruby on rails offering)
- prestastore
The list is a lot bigger now since I started, and even to get someone to do it for you is cheaper than ever. I only charge around £500 to set up an e-commerce website, and that includes design, SEO marketing and various integrations. Then as the client owns everything (PSD’s the lot, I never hold onto design rights) they just have to pay their hosting every month and update their SSL certificate each year. Simples.
Services like shopify are still going strong, so you don’t have to mess with any code and pay a percentage.
So what to do in 2010 when most of my clients will loose their eBay fee discount? Websites here we come…
