How to Sell a Product on the Web

The Internet has several tools you can use to sell products. You can sell products on the World Wide Web without spending one cent on advertising. The key is to connect with interested buyers and spread the word about the product you want to sell. Whether you place an ad for the product on a free website or spread the word via email, selling products on the web is simple. You can even receive inquiries about and payments for products while you sleep.

Things You'll Need

• Computer Products to sell

Instructions

1. Get the word out about your product for sale by using a popular ad posting website. Craigslist reports that over 50 million people a month from all over the world visit their website. In addition, over 30 million new ads run on Craigslist every month.

   Create a Craigslist account by following the intuitive steps at the Craigslist website (see Resources). Select the city you would like to run the ad in (Atlanta, Sydney, Calgary, etc.) to alert Craigslist users that your product is for sale. When you set up your Craigslist account, you will be given an email address interested buyers can use to ask you for more information about your product or to set up payment methods.

   Write a brief and compelling ad that describes the product and lists the price. For example, if you are selling a baby bed, you could write, "Dark mahogany baby bed with wood safety bars for sale. Bed is one year old, looks new. Mattress included. For sale for only $50. First come, first served."

2. Put your product up for auction on eBay. According to eBay's 2008 fourth quarter earnings report, the company had more than 400 million global registered users and reported annual revenue of $8.54 billion. Every second eBay registered users trade over $1,500 worth of goods.

   Register for an eBay account by following the registration steps at the company's official website (see Resources). Because eBay is the parent company of PayPal, an online payment and merchant processing firm, if you register with PayPal when you register with eBay, you can accept payments for your sold products directly online for a small processing fee. eBay has an online community that you can advertise your products to, receive bids and inquiries on your product from and negotiate and accept payments.

3. Announce your product on public forums. Join public discussion forums you are genuinely interested in being a part of. This allows you to engage in honest conversations, building trust and credibility with other forum members. If you have a website, include its URL in your signature line at the bottom of each thread you post to the forum. You can also join discussion forums that focus on selling products and openly advertise your products by placing for sale ads on the forums. Popular discussion forum directories include Google forums, Amazon.com forums, Bravenet forums and Big Boards.

4. Sell your product through a free website. Create a free website using templates and free hosting services. Take advantage of free web tools offered by companies such as Bravenet, Free Webhosts, Mister.net and Doteasy.com. The companies offer webpage builder templates, free content, calendars and graphics that make it easy to build a website in less than one hour. Highlight the products you are selling on the main page of the website. Include product descriptions, prices and your contact information.

5. Visit discussion list directories such as Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, MSN Groups and listserv. It's free to join most discussion lists. Directories list discussion groups by categories such as sports, gardening and writing. Join discussion lists that genuinely interest you as well as lists that allow members to post for sale ads. For discussion lists that are to build community rather than to post ads, include your website URL in your signature line each time you send an email across the list. As members visit your website they will learn about your products and may contact you or let friends who are looking for the types of products you sell know about your products.

Resources

• Craigslist
• eBay