Working from Home in Sales over the Internet

Do you have a product/products you want to sell? Run a home based shop. The internet provides the medium for selling from your own home.

For example, a friend of a friend, designed pyjamas for kids, and set up a home based business selling these over the internet (and ultimately to high street retailers).

You obviously need to have the idea, and the means to develop it, as well as enough understanding of the retail world to make this a success.

Multi Level Marketing (MLM)

If you are not up for going it alone, there are thousands of multi level marketing (MLM) businesses out there that can be run over the internet.

Please be aware of scams, and don't mistake a Pyramid scheme for an MLM business.

Pyramid schemes are illegal. They cost people a lot of money. You pay to join a scheme and the only way to recoup your money is to recruit other people to join. In contrast, a legitimate MLM has an actual product it is selling and participants make money two ways:

- The sale of product to a Customer (Retail Sales)
- The recruitment of new Distributors to expand the Distributor Network for the products (Sponsoring)

(Watch out for Pyramid schemes that include a product that is hard to sell, as a cover for the underlying scam.)

One example of an MLM product I have come across recently is Xango. Our babysitter persuaded me to buy some Xango juice - it is a fruit juice that contains the juice of the Mangosteen fruit which has been shown to have long term health benefits in a wide range of areas. I bought a bottle to try and later agreed to one a fortnight.

The baby sitter's partner is a rep for Xango juice. For every bottle he sells, he gets a commission, and I believe he would also be compensated if he persuaded someone else to start selling as well.

As far as products go, if you believe the health benefits (and my babysitter is quite passionate about them) then this is not bad. It is a repeat product. Unlike something like jewelry which we only buy occasionally, once signed up, customers could continue buying Xango juice for years.

So how do you find the right MLM business for you?

As with Party Plan sales, I believe that you are only going to be successful in internet sales, if you are passionate about the product. I'm therefore very wary of any advert that suggests I can make lots of money, but doesn't tell me what I'll be selling.

Please also be wary of schemes that have big up front costs.

You need to be able to see the business in action and try the product. If you are convinced it is a brilliant product, you are going to be able to sell it honestly.

If you are concerned about scams, the website below has some useful information:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au

Selling on eBay

It is possible to make money buying and selling on eBay, if you understand the marketplace and what and when to sell.

You can also set up as an online trader with eBay and run your own store through their website.

There have been several books written to teach you how to make a profit using eBay. If you're serious about it, they are worth a read.

It is easy not to make money, for example, if you time your auction wrong. Most people don't bid on an item until the last half hour of its listing. If you list an item to end midweek at school pickup time, and you are selling children's items, you will miss a lot of your market. Sunday evening appears to be a popular time to end an auction, as most people are thought to be home at that time.