How to sell online: a step-by-step guide for beginners

Want to start selling online? You can do it this week. Pick one product, figure out who it's for and where to sell it, set a price that covers your costs, and give people a way to pay.

The bigger catalog, the ads and the email list can wait until you’ve packed your first few orders.

This guide covers selling physical and digital products, from choosing what to sell to getting your first customers. If you sell services like coaching or design work, read how to sell services online instead.

Quick answer: how to sell online in 9 steps

1. Choose a product and check that people want it.
2. Know your target audience.
3. Work out your price, costs and margin.
4. Pick where to sell: a marketplace, social media, your own site, or a mix.
5. Set up your online store.
6. Set up payments.
7. Plan shipping or digital delivery.
8. Take care of the legal and tax basics.
9. Market your products and get your first sales.

Selling a few things vs. starting a store

Clearing out a closet? Skip most of this guide.

All you need is to list your items on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Poshmark or a local app, take good photos, and price a little below similar listings.

But if you want to sell the same kind of product again and again, then you're starting a small business. Even if it doesn't feel like it yet.

That's what the steps below are for.

Step 1: Choose a product and check demand

Start with something you can explain in one sentence and get more of. It can be:

• Something you make (Like candles, jewelry, art prints, baked goods, or clothing)
• Something you source (Products bought wholesale or from a manufacturer, including private label products made with your brand on them.)
• Dropshipping (A supplier ships orders for you, so you hold no stock. Margins are thinner and you control less of the experience.)
• Print on demand (You upload designs and a print partner makes and ships each order. Good for shirts, mugs and posters, with no inventory to store.)
• Digital products (Like templates, presets, ebooks, courses, and printables. No shipping or inventory, and every extra sale costs you almost nothing.)

Before you spend money on inventory, check that people already pay for something like it. Search the product on Etsy or Amazon and look at reviews and sales counts.

Look it up in Google Trends to see if interest is growing or fading. Then ask 10 people in your target group whether they'd buy it, and at what price. One catch: friends tend to be polite. So a few pre-orders tell you more than any survey.

This quick market research also shows you how to stand out. Read the one- and two-star reviews on products like yours. The complaints are a to-do list of everything buyers want someone to fix.

Step 2: Know your target audience

"Everyone" is too broad to market to. Write down who your first 100 customers are likely to be: their age range, what they care about, where they spend time online, and what they buy.

Two candlemakers can sell almost the same jar, but have different marketing strategies. One can sell to people who love cozy home décor and the other can sell scent-free candles for people with allergies.

This answer decides your photos, your wording, your price and where you spend time promoting.

Once you know who you're selling to, write your unique selling proposition in one line: why someone should buy from you instead of the other online sellers in your category.

A line like "small-batch soy candles that burn clean for 60 hours" gives potential customers a specific reason to pick you.

Step 3: Work out your price, costs and margin

Add up what one sale really costs you:

• Materials or wholesale cost
• Packaging
• Shipping (or what you'll subsidize if you offer free shipping)
• Platform and payment fees
• Your time, if you make it yourself

A common starting point for physical products is pricing at two to three times your cost, then checking that against what similar products sell for. You can run these numbers before buy any stock, using supplier quotes, or a single sample. If you can't make money at the price people expect, change the product, the packaging, or the supplier before you launch.

It's best to start small. A first batch of 10 to 20 units is enough to see what sells and at what price.

Step 4: Pick where to sell

You have three main options, and most sellers end up using more than one.

Online marketplaces

Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and TikTok Shop already have shoppers. You list your product and they bring the traffic.

The tradeoff: fees on every sale, strict rules, and lots of competition. Plus, customers belong to the marketplace, so you usually can't email them later to get them to buy from you again.

• Etsy: handmade, vintage, and craft supplies
• Amazon: everyday products with high search demand. You choose an Individual plan (a fee per item sold) or a Professional selling plan (a monthly fee), depending on how much you sell, plus a referral fee on each sale.
• eBay: used, collectible and hard-to-find items

Social media

Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook are where a lot of people discover products. You can sell through built-in shops or send people to your own site. It works well if you're comfortable making photos and short videos on a regular schedule.

Your own website

Your own online store gives you your brand, your prices and your customer list. You pay a monthly plan and payment processing, and no marketplace takes a cut. The catch is that nobody shows up automatically. You have to bring visitors through social media, search, email or word of mouth.

If you already have a physical store

Selling online gives local customers another way to buy from you and reaches people outside your area. Let shoppers buy online or pick up in your store. Just keep stock counts in one place so the shelf and the website don't sell the same item twice.

Which should you start with?

Here's a simple plan many sellers follow: test on a marketplace or social media, then make your own site the center of your sales channels once you know what sells. Link to it from every profile and package insert so repeat customers buy from you directly.

Step 5: Set up your online store

Whatever you build on, your store needs:

• A homepage that says what you sell and who it's for
• Product pages with clear photos, sizes or variants, price and shipping info
• A cart and checkout that works well on phones
• About, contact, shipping and returns pages
• Your own domain name

Product pages do most of the selling. Use high-quality images from a few angles and show the product in use, as shoppers can't hold your product.

Write detailed descriptions that answer the questions people would ask in person: What's it made of? How big is it? How long does it last? How fast will it arrive?

Choose the right ecommerce platform

Most ecommerce platforms cover the basics, so compare the parts you'll use every day:

• How easy it is to add and edit products
• Inventory management, so you don't sell what you don't have
• Built-in tools for payments, discounts, shipping rates, and sales tax
• How the store looks and works on phones, where most people shop
• Monthly cost and transaction fees as your online sales grow

How to build your store with B12

With B12, you describe your store to the AI Agent and it builds the pages, product listings and checkout for you. Once your first draft is ready, attach your product photos or import a CSV of your products in the editor, and the Agent adds them to your store. Keep editing the same way, by chatting.

B12 Commerce works best for simple stores in the US. If you need shipping rates or inventory tracking across hundreds of products, a dedicated store like Shopify is a better fit.

A few things you could type:

• "Build an online store for Juniper Wax Co., hand-poured soy candles in Portland. Add a shop page, an about page and a shipping and returns page."
• "Turn this CSV into product pages with prices and scent options."
• "Add a bundle section with a 3-candle set at a lower price."
• "After checkout, send buyers an email with a download link for the PDF."

That's it. You can start for free on a b12sites.com address, then move to the Website plan when you want your own domain. Your domain is free for the first year. Want a starting point? Browse ecommerce website templates.

Step 6: Set up payments

Buyers expect to pay with a card and a digital wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay. Most stores use a payment processor like Stripe, Square or PayPal, which charges a small percentage plus a fixed fee on each sale. Check your processor's current rates (on B12, card payments are 2.9% + 30¢) and add them to your costs from Step 3.

For bigger purchases, buy now, pay later options like Klarna or Afterpay can help. In general, more ways to pay means fewer people leave at checkout.

Keep checkout short. Every extra field or surprise fee at the last step costs you orders. Show shipping costs early and offer guest checkout.

Step 7: Plan shipping or digital delivery

Physical products

• Decide how to handle shipping costs: flat-rate, real-time carrier rates, or free shipping (built into your price or above a minimum order).
• Compare carriers like USPS, UPS, and FedEx for your typical package size.
• Buy mailers and boxes that fit your products well, so you don't pay to ship air.
• Set a processing time you can actually meet, and send tracking numbers.
• Write a clear returns policy before your first order.
• If you ship abroad, check customs rules and duties, and tell buyers about delivery times up front. Many sellers start domestic and add international shipping later.

Digital products

If you're figuring out how to sell digital products, delivery is the easiest part. Just send files automatically after payment, either by email or through a download page.

Decide how many downloads a buyer gets and whether you offer refunds. For courses or member content, use a login so only paying customers get access.

Step 8: Take care of legal and tax basics

Rules depend on where you live and sell, so check with your city, state and an accountant. In the US, most new sellers should:

• Register a business name if you're selling under a brand, and get any local business license your city or county requires.
• Pick a business structure. Many start as a sole proprietor, and some form an LLC for liability protection.
• Get an EIN from the IRS. It's free, and while many sole proprietors don't need one, it keeps your Social Security number off business forms. Then open a separate bank account.
• Find out where you need to collect sales tax. Marketplaces often collect it for you. On your own site, you're usually responsible, and most states require a seller's permit before you start collecting it.
• Check product rules for your category, like labeling for cosmetics, food, or kids' products.
• Add a privacy policy and terms to your site.

Step 9: Market your products and get your first sales

Your first sales almost always come from people who already know you. Tell friends, family and followers, and ask your first buyers for a review and a photo.

Then build steady channels to reach more customers:

Social media marketing

Post the product in use, behind-the-scenes clips and customer photos. Short, casual videos shot on phone usually reach more people than polished ads.

Search

Write product titles and descriptions using the words people search for, like "lavender soy candle" rather than "Evening No. 3."

Email

Offer a small discount for signing up, then send new products and restocks. It's the one channel you fully own.

Partnerships

Send products to creators your customers follow, or sell through a local shop or market.

Paid advertising

Wait until you know which product sells and what a customer is worth to you. Then start with a small daily budget.

Track sales and adjust

Look at your numbers every week: visitors, conversion rate, average order size, and where buyers came from. Do more of what's bringing in sales and cut what isn't.

Keep customers coming back

Getting new customers costs more than keeping existing customers, so the experience after the sale matters.

• Answer fast. Reply to questions within a day, and make it easy to reach you by email or chat.
• Follow up. Send a thank-you note and a quick check-in after delivery.
• Ask for customer feedback. A short survey or review request shows you what to fix and what to make more of.
• Reward repeat business. A simple loyalty program, like a discount on the third order, gives people a reason to come back.

Excellent customer service is one of the easiest ways for a small shop to stand out from big online sellers. Even something small, like a handwritten thank-you note in the box, goes further than you'd expect.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Buying too much inventory before testing. Start with a small batch or pre-orders.
• Forgetting fees and shipping in your price. They add up fast on small orders.
• Relying on one marketplace. A policy or fee change can wipe out your sales overnight. Your own site and email list protect you.
• Weak photos. Shoppers can't touch your product, so the photos have to do that job.
• Launching and waiting. A new store needs you to bring the first visitors.

Start selling

Pick your product, test it with a small group, and get a simple store live. You'll learn more from your first 10 orders than from weeks of planning. When you're ready for your own store, build it by chatting with B12.

Start with one product and one channel. A marketplace like Etsy or a social shop is the fastest way to test demand. Once you have steady sales, add your own website so you keep more of each sale and own your customer list.

Yes. You can sell on marketplaces and social media if you don't have one. Most growing sellers add a website later, because it lowers fees, brings back repeat customers, and gives every channel a place to point to.

Products that are easy to ship, have repeat demand, and are hard to find locally tend to do well. Examples include specialty foods, beauty products, home goods, clothing, and digital downloads. The best product for you is one you can source reliably and sell at a healthy margin.

Often, yes. Many cities and states require a general business license, even if you only sell online. Check with your local government before your first sale.

Create the file or course, set up a store with a checkout, and deliver the file automatically after payment by email or a download link. For courses or member content, add a login so only buyers can access it.

Yes. Most online businesses start at a kitchen table. Check your city's rules for home-based businesses, and look into extra rules if you make food or cosmetics.

Find the product and channel bringing in most of your sales and do more of it. Add products your existing customers ask for. Collect emails at checkout so you can reach out to buyers again, and try one new sales channel at a time.

Digital products can cost almost nothing to start. Physical products usually need a few hundred dollars for a first batch, packaging and photos. A store on your own domain adds a monthly plan. Plus, every sale has payment processing fees, usually around 3% plus a few cents per order.