Buy and Sell Online

One of the biggest advantages of selling online is the minimal amount of start-up capital. Where you only have to invest on some decent PC or personal computer with an Internet connection, preferably a broadband connection because a dial-up connection is very slow and will hinder your work. But if you are just experimenting, I guess that will do. You can start selling goods worth a few thousand pesos like for instance garments, underwear or slippers on auction sites like eBay Philippines or social networking site like multiply.com. You can also sell on the international market but it seems not realistic because of the cost of shipping specially if the items cost less than a hundred pesos each. A more realistic approach is selling locally. As I’ve mentioned before, selling on auction sites and buy and sell sites have many advantages. The first thing is the market is already there and lots of traffic or visitors. Not only visitors but “targeted” visitors, meaning the visitors were already conditioned to buy because most visitors who visit auction sites like ebay are searching for things to buy.

Unlike setting up your own website where you have to promote it first just to have visitors. Like for example the social networking site multiply.com. You have to build network of friends. Although it’s hard at first, the result is rewarding if you have hundreds or even thousands of friends because you can sell easily to them. So aside from investing on a PC, you also need a camera and skills in writing your sales copy and some technical know-how on computers and Internet. Although this method of selling seems to be easy, there are some disadvantages, since you are literally selling a photograph or pictures, most buyers prefer that they can feel, touch and see the items you are selling before you can convince them to buy. Accepting payments is another thing. Who on earth will give money to a total stranger without the merchandise in your hand? Its a different story when you buy in a physical store where before you hand over your money, the item you bought is already in your hands. On the contrary, you can be convincing if you already built your reputation as a seller by having many feedback. 

But it I think there are also some advantages selling online like for example selling sexy underwear where people are very hesitant to buy them because Filipinos are still conservative and selling it in shops publicly might not be acceptable. Just think of items that are not sold in stores that might fit in the online category.  So before I end this post below are list of local auction sites and buy and sell sites that you might have missed:

• www.auction.ph
• www.sulit.com.ph
• www.buyandsellph.com
• www.kaliwaan.com
• www.pinoybuynsell.com
• www.realfreeads.com
• www.carfinderph.com
• www.philhousing.com
• www.propertyfinderph.com
• www.davaoexchange.com
• www.davaosale.com