My top tips for selling online:

1. Research your market – recognize what buyers are looking for, and how much they will pay for it. Learn to identify what’s common and what’s rare. Make yourself an expert in one or two categories, and develop the ability to spot each specimen’s unique ‘hidden qualities.’ This means reading support material, articles and blogs and spending time on eBay watching popular auctions close to learn the true prices of things.

2. Develop exclusive sources of merchandise – once you’ve experimented with online sales and sold off some things you’ve had lying around the house, you must find the courage to shop for more stuff. ‘Merch’ is what they call it in retail sales, and acquiring good quality unique merchandise is the downfall of many ecommerce businesses – everything from sales tax, broker’s fees, transportation and the price of gas will cut into your bottom line. To shop smarter, you have to use the computer. Smart shoppers use their computers to select the best hunting grounds, find parking, and even the cheapest place to buy fuel, in advance.

If you are like me and you buy and sell vintage clothing and fashion accessories, you’ll shop at charitable second hand stores like Salvation Army, Value Village, and Goodwill. Use a local search service on your computer to find other discount retail outlets that are liquidating terrific merchandise at rock bottom prices. I use Poynt on Microsoft® Windows Live Messenger™ or AIM® to make a map of such stores in my area. Powered by Yellow Pages in Canada and Superpages.com in the United States, Poynt is a great tool for finding used clothing stores outside trendy overpriced neighborhoods. Enter keywords like ‘second hand’, and ‘used furniture’ and ‘used electronics’ and click on the pins as they appear on the corresponding Microsoft® Virtual Earth scalable map interface. Poynt is a whole new way to economize shopping. Another secret: hit the ‘print screen’ button on your computer to screen grab the image and make a handy map to print or send to friends.

3. Get a merchant account at Paypal to safely and easily accept payments from your buyers. Paypal was bought by eBay almost five years ago and has since become the ubiquitous payment standard - the word Paypal is now used as a verb. "I’ll send the dress when you Paypal the money."

4. Shoot crystal clear photographs - make sure you include at least three different angles of each item you are selling. Amateurs, photograph the objects outside during the day against neutral backgrounds.

5. The online world is a small - do unto others as you would have them do unto you: be honest about your merchandise and ship items quickly.

6. Stay focused and don’t give up: it WILL be slow at times, but a consistent presence is always key to building your profile as a reputable business. Remember this is a business, and just like the bricks and mortar firms on main street - you have to keep the shop open and lights on, even if people don’t step inside the front door.

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