Happy Moms Day
If don’t make a post tomorrow, I just wanted to say Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there, that do so much for so little and without them none of us would be here. So everybody give a mom a kiss. Mom
This week we added a few new items to our store and put somethings on sale. As we add sockets to our used sockets category it seems as if they are multiplying. So we’ve decided to just add a few a week and add a few new other products also. So if you need some tools to get a job done, stop by our site and see if we have anything you can use. Have a good weekend all and till next bye.
After my last post
After my last post I found out that pro stores had some issues with there upgrade and our credit card processor wasn’t working. When we straighten it out our sales stared going through.
This is why I suggested to start with a blog or free website, and just check your email regular. If someone wants to make a purchase bad enough they will email you with payment problems and you will still make the transaction. Not like what happened to us and find out that the problem had been an on going thing, our customers had been being charged twice and we never even new a transaction had been made until a customer emailed and asked why they where being charged twice and that they never had a confirmation sent. The way I see it is if you stay small and do things as you learn them you will have a lot more control over what happens with your little business, it’s not that these larger internet companies don’t care about your business, it’s that have people who work for them could care less about it, it’s just a job to them. When you find help on the internet you’ll find that the forums or sites that work out the best are free and mostly volunteer these people are doing this because they like to and aren’t just doing a job.
I over slept this mourning so going to have to cut it short, but found some new places that where very helpful yesterday and I’ll try to post some links to them later day. Have a good day today.
Sell On The Web For Free
We have been adding new items to our website daily. So please if you have a chance check it out our store. We started out just selling hand tools about 20yrs. ago as mostly a wholesale business. Later we went into the retail end of the business and got into more specialty tools. About 5 years ago I started selling a few items on eBay and now we have our own website, With hopes of having the success we’ve had in the past with our other businesses. Things have been very good for us on eBay (well considering the economy any way) but the website has been a challenge trying to get traffic, with fuel prices what they are I was hoping things would pick up on the web.
I’ve posted some links to books about selling online they mostly are about selling on eBay. I would just like to suggest that eBay isn’t the first place to start and if you choose that route read the books first, it is the most expensive way to go. They are probably the biggest in the business and they will be the most expensive, sellers are at there mercy, they get about 40% and I consider them a partner on my eBay accounts. Also for you eBayers out there the Doba drop ship site is a joke at this time, it seems to be an online Walmart times 10 in price there may be at the maximum 2 sellers selling at wholesale prices. Enough about eBay, Amazon has a fair site to sell on and if you don’t sell it you don’t have to pay anything, Google Base is one of our favorites and it’s free. The reason we like Google is so much is there support they have a video on how to do almost anything with your website, since we had no experience with anything on the web and no one to ask we just Googled it. So if your thinking about selling online start with free sites or a site like Amazon.
Before you list items any place you will need at least a processor or shopping cart, email address thats not your personal email and some sort of website or blog mostly because you want customers to feel that you have a presents and your not a fly by night business also you want a place for them to come back to. PayPal is a great way to except payments because all you need is an email address and bank account so customers can just send money to your email address in a couple of days it can be in the bank, it’s free (you may have to pay a fee to except credit cards) most online buyers trust and use PayPal. Google Checkout is another great way to except payments and I think it’s free as well. I Hope this can help and remember one thing you don’t need much to sell online it shouldn’t cost much either, when I first started surfing the web almost everything was free then Bill Gates left IBM and started Microsoft and I don’t know what happened after that but thing sure have changed.
Here are some free places that you might want to start with and should cut your research time down (you will need a credit card for a lot of them) so you can start making money. The only website that I know of that is really free is Microsoft Office Live Small Business I think when you sign up they charge $1.00 to your card then refund it. This is a simple site to design but a website consists of a lot of pages with codes for everything to work automatic thats why I said you should have a PayPal account and Google Checkout they can be easily placed on you site for you to be paid. You don’t need to have a website you can get do this by just having a blog, I’m not going to list all the free blogs because there’s to many and most of sites that you can sell for free will have free blogs, you should try to use sites you’ve heard of. Places to sell items for free Google Base, Yahoo Classifieds, Craigslist , Kijiji Classifieds, myublo.com, classifiedads.com, USA4SALE Networks, AOL message Boards, Flugpo Classifieds, and if you want to find some others try Google Classified Directory.
Social Networking=good vs evil
Since the Internet has become more popular things like craigslist, My space and U tube have come under Scrutinization. Is the Internet making kids meaner? Moms talking about their daughters friends, sex scandals disclosed about teachers and students, kids video taping the beating of a child. I wonder how bad kids were before the Internet came out?
Cold Front in Florida
Wow it supposed to be beach weather in April and it is awful chilly even inside the house. I’m sure I won’t be complaining in a few weeks. Just doing some listings on the website, literally chillin. Also, the election is coming soon don’t forget to vote.
My Plan is to quit eating to pay for gas
I looked in my senior book from high school and found that Christmas of ‘01 gas was .99 cents per gallon in our town. Now, gas is 3.42 per gallon in my town. At this rate I will have to quite eating to support my gas habit. LOL. Enlighten me folks? What is the price of fuel in your town?
It is a vicious circle, leave to go to work, use gas, run out, fill up, starve. LOL It really isn’t that bad for me yet unfortunately I know that it is that bad for some people. Let me know how much you paid for gas today
A1toolstore
New tools are posted weekly, right now we are working on our socket selection, but in the next few weeks will be moving on to a new category. Categories we have worked on previously include, satellite and cable TV, nut setters, abrasives, wire ties and of course the sockets we are now working on. Looking for more just contact us and we will see what we can do for you. As we are working on our site all the time we would appreciate any constructive criticism or positive comments.
A1toolstore’s First Weblog
Hello everybody, this is our first weblog. Along with information and updates on our business, we will also be posting some how-to information on some of the products that we sell. I will also try to post some interesting links and materials for friends and customers, to try and get all of you to return.
If things seem to be moving a little slow that might the ease of use here at WordPress, but as things go it’s getting better for us at A1toolstore and I’m sure we will be posting better posts. So please keep in mind that WordPress is free and their whole concept of sharing thoughts and information is was what I believed the web was originally started for, long before it became such an effective marketing tool. So if we get something for free we will be posting it here as long as it’s legal, but through out the years I’ve found that a lot of my friends have learned much more than I about things like web developing, or coding and scripting and much more, but what I know is how to get free information and this will be where I’ll be sharing what I can.
