How to Start an Online Store

A reader sent in a question through our Consult Your Guides service asking us for advice on the best approach for starting an online store. Should he create his own website, or go open a store at eBay? With eBay's popularity on the Web, many small and home business owners face the question: why should they open a store when they can just go to eBay? In fact, this is one of the most common questions I see over at Yahoo Answers.

My stand is that this is a neither-nor situation: in fact you can do both. It will depend on your overall objectives, resources, and long term plans for your online business. Personally, I prefer doing both as your website can target your market differently while the ebay presence can be an additional sales channel. I made a list of the pros and cons of each approach to help the reader decide on the best course of action to take given his circumstances.

Read my response