Ask HN: Is e-commerce the easiest way to make money online?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5496718

by kevbam • 13 years ago

10 13 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi, I have been reading a lot about setting up an estore & drop shipping since coming across this thread. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5377821

Just wondering, is ecommerce and drop shipping one of the surest and most direct ways to make money online? I understand that it is unlikely that it will make you a billionaire, but it seems like with a bit of tech/SEO work and the right niche you could make a nice living for yourself.

Is this a fair assumption? I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who is running an ecommerce site or has tried and failed.

Thanks

OafTobark• 13 years ago

Bad assumption. Plenty of ways (too many to name) that can make money online. Some harder than others and ecommerce, drop shipping, and the like comes with its own set of challenges (big or small). It's more on how you execute something than it is thinking something will be a sure or more sure way of working

kevbam5• 13 years ago

Thanks for your reply. I understand that building a business is never going to be easy and that there will always be challenges. However, I guess the question I am asking is whether or not e-commerce is a faster route to sure profitability? For example, if I was to devote my time to building a social network it could potentially be very very lucrative. However, the likelihood of it being lucrative or ever even making money for that matter is a lot smaller than if I devote my time to ecommerce. This makes me think ecommmerce is a "surer" way of working(less risk).

smartwater2• 13 years ago

The only way I know of speeding up the process is to get into a shady industry or take advantage of a loophole. Years ago there were websites making a lot of money simply by providing links to streaming movies & TV shows hosted on other websites.

I know a guy who made a million dollars from it. A year after he got out, all his competitors were getting sued and shutdown. But he was off the radar, got to keep everything and never got in trouble. He found the niche, created the website in a few days, made money for a year or two, and shut it down with precision timing to maximize profits and minimize risk.

dylanhassinger3• 13 years ago

Information marketing is easier than e-commerce. No physical products to ship

kevbam5• 13 years ago

Is the web not saturated with ebooks about how to train your dog etc. Are there other information products to sell?

joeytom• 13 years ago

Yes, I always think of information products as scams.Who really buys ebooks about niche X or Y?

dylanhassinger3• 13 years ago

there is an infinite amount of information products to sell.

salahxanadu• 13 years ago

Speaking from experience, there is very little margin in drop-shipping so you need to do a lot of volume. To do a lot of volume you really need to be spending on ppc ads. If you pour your heart into this and do about 1mm in sales a year you can expect to clear 80-120K. Just to warn you, to get to this level it might take 3 or 4 people working fulltime.

Making something and then selling it would be a better bet, but therein lies the rub. Once you buy product you need to house it and eventually ship it.

kevbam5• 13 years ago

Thank you very much for this.

I have been reading ecommercefuel.com and Andrew(webmaster) says you can get around the low margin by choosing a niche that requires a lot of additional information,e.g something technical and then pricing yourself higher than competitors. He argues customers will pay for the additional information and good customer service. E.g. help installing etc.

As someone who has been there and done that, would you agree with this?

Ask HN: Is e-commerce the easiest way to make money online?

Related Stories