How to Start an Online Thrift Store (5 Steps)

Apply for a business license and open a business bank account. Even though this is a small business, you will still want to separate your business and personal income to make tax filing easier. It also presents you more professionally and allows you to separate your business and personal life.
Set up an online storefront. Most thrift store owners prefer to have an eBay store, since payment processing and shipping are so convenient, and they do not have to compete with eBay. You can also set up an Amazon store or your own website. Many web hosting services, such as Yahoo or GoDaddy, provide you with a professional, quality online store for a monthly fee.
Determine what types of goods to sell, and convey that to your customers. It is easier to get loyal customers if they can categorize you in their minds. Get your customers to always think of you when they look for a particular type of product they would like to buy. Specialize in Depression-era glassware, used books, children's clothes, boots and accessories, textiles, or everything under $5. This is the essence of branding.
Purchase your inventory. Search for goods that have a high likelihood of selling and that you can mark up double or triple the price. Also, consider how to build the costs of shipping and handling into your prices. It's possible that many of your goods will not sell, or that you will have to mark them down to advertise a 'sale' item, so start with a slightly higher price than you might find at Goodwill. Ensure that the goods are clean and defect-free, and be very specific about the condition of the item in your description.
Follow up with your customers. Your online reputation is even more important than your offline reputation, since customers cannot see you or the goods before they buy them. Always focus on customer service, and ensure that your customers are satisfied. If they are, ask them for testimonials or quotes that you can use in your marketing materials.
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How to Start a Website for Profit (6 Steps)

Determine your business model. Websites earn money through a variety of business models--selling physical or informational products, receiving advertising revenue or charging readers a fee to read information. All models work, but it's best to choose just one and stick to that model.
Research your niche. In order to make a profit on a website as an individual, it's best to choose a topic that is very specific. For example, for general health issues, you'll find that large authority sites, such as WebMD, dominate the search results. You don't want to compete with a site like this. If you want to create a site about health, you want to choose a specific ailment to focus on.
Purchase a domain name and hosting. Your domain name should be simple and easy to remember. Choosing a name that includes words related to your main topic can help you to rank in the search engines. To start out, a simple web hosting plan with a monthly payment is all you need. This is the company that will store your files so people can view your website on-line.
Design the website. If you don't have designing experience, you can use a WYSIWYG--'what you see is what you get'--editor. This allows you to easily create the layout, change colors and adjust text without having to understand programming languages. To make things even easier, you can use a template, which will set the basic layout for you and you simply have to add text and images.
Upload the website to your server. Use an FTP software to transfer files. Open up the FTP software and drag your files from your desktop to the software program. You'll begin to see the files uploading.
Bring traffic to your website. You won't make money with your website if you don't have any visitors. To get visitors to your site, you can pay for advertising, use search engine optimization or article and video marketing--putting your content on other websites with a link back to your site.
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