WHAT TO SELL

With your MadBeeTech website you can sell just about anything online! You can sell tangible goods ("real" items you ship to buyers) such as collectibles, crafts, stamps, and coins. Or you can sell intangible products (electronic files available for downloading) such as ebooks, videos, digital photos, and music files. Or you can sell both tangible and intangible products. Whatever works for your type of business — it's entirely up to you.

Below you'll find many examples of both downloadable and shippable products you might choose to sell. Based on your own areas of interests or expertise, you may be able to think of other things you can sell.

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS

The administration area of your website makes it easy to add a downloadable file of any type to your site. For each file you want to sell, simply enter a name, description, and price. Then upload the file from your computer's hard drive.

There are no restrictions on the types of files you can upload and sell — as the file type icons to the left of the screen not-so-subtly reminds you.

If you write eBooks or other documents, you can sell those as Acrobat PDF files, or Microsoft Word files, or even plain text files. If you create PowerPoint presentations as your means of sharing knowledge on a topic you can sell those PowerPoint ppt files.

Do you create instructional videos? If so, you can sell them as mp4, mov, wmv files, or any other video file type.

Are you a musician? Sell your songs as mp3, aiff or any other type of audio/music format files. You can even put several of your song files in a folder and compress it (save it as a zip, or archive, file), and then sell a whole "album" as a single downloadable file.

Photographer? Sell your jpg files. Digital designer? Sell your png or jpg files — you can even sell your Photoshop psd files.

If you're technically inclined you can create Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or templates and sell those files.

So it's clear that you can sell files in any format. But what should your files be about? That depends on your hobbies, interests, or line of work. The sky's the limit, but here are several ideas for files you might consider selling as digital downloads on your website.

AUTHORS

Want to be an author? Write a pamphlet, manual, or book on a topic you know well. Save it as a Microsoft Word file (docx) or Adobe PDF file (pdf) and sell it online. What to write about? Whatever you know or do best. Write a "How To" manual about:

• Cooking
• Photography
• Sewing
• Nutrition
• Drawing
• Painting
• Woodworking
• Finance/Investing
• Exercising
• Dieting
• Self-Help
• Computer Programming

MUSICIANS

A local band with no label doesn't have many options for selling their songs. You can't sell your songs through iTunes, and producing and distributing a CD on your own is expensive. There are music-selling sites that will allow you to sell your songs online, but those sites typically keep 30% to 40% of the purchase price. Instead of giving up such a large cut of the money, record your songs in a popular music format (such as mp3), then sell the songs from your website. Sell them individually, or bundle several songs together in a zip file to sell for a higher price. You can even include lyrics (as a Microsoft Word file) and/or digital photos of the band (as jpg files) in the bundle. Don't forget that along with selling your downloadable music files you can also sell shippable products from your website, such as clothing with your band's logo silk-screened on it.

SEWING AND EMBROIDERY

If you sew or embroider, and make your own patterns on the computer, you might want to sell those files online. You can sell pattern files individually, or you can bundle any number of your related pattern files (such as holiday-themed patterns) together in one archive (zip) file and sell multiple files as a single download.

GRAPHIC ARTISTS

If you create your own electonic art, sell it as downloadable files. Just like sewing patterns or music files, you can sell files individually or you can bundle any number of your clip art or other graphic files together in one archive (zip) file.

PHOTOGRAPHERS

There are stock photography selling sites that let you upload your photos, then pay you 25 cents to one dollar per download sale. Why not upload as few or as many of your photos as you want and set the pricing to whatever you want (and keep all of that money for yourself).

TRAINERS

If you know a topic well enough to train others, then you certainly know enough about that subject to write a training manual, tutorial, or educational courseware and save it as a Microsoft Word file (docx) or Adobe PDF file (pdf). Supplement your training income by selling these files online.

EBOOK DISTRIBUTORS

The Internet offers thousands of ebooks written by other people — ebooks which you can freely or cheaply obtain the redistribution rights to. Upload as many as you want, add your profit margin to the price of each, and make money from the work of others.

RESELLERS

The Internet is a rich resource for royalty free files such as clip art and other images, website templates, and more. Gather it up, bundle it in a archive files (.zip) and sell the packages from your website. Or, visit one of several sites that provides free public domain books (such as older classic books that have lost their copyright) in plain text format and reformat some of these text files as easier-to-read Adobe PDF files.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS

Like musicians who sell their music through a music-downloading website, software developers who sell their own programs through a software-downloading website often pay that site 30% or more of the selling price of each download. Instead of paying that hefty fee, simply upload your program to your website, set the price, and keep the money customers pay to download your program.

SHIPPABLE PRODUCTS

Just like downloadable files, the administration area of your website makes it easy to add a shippable product to your site. For each product you want to sell, just add a name, description, and price. You can also optionally add any number of pictures of the product in the description area.

What kind of shippable products should you sell? You might consider your hobbies and interests. If you're into a hobby, then you're probably knowledgeable enough about that hobby to figure out how to profit from it. Here are several ideas of types of products you might sell from your site:

COLLECTABLES

• Comic books
• Trading cards
• Stamps
• Coins
• Militaria
• Movie memorbilia
• Sports memorbilia (sports cards, autographs, souvenirs)

TOYS AND GAMES

• Vintage action figures
• Antique toys
• Diecast toys
• Model trains
• Vintage board games

GEOLOGY

• Rocks
• Fossils
• Minerals
• Crystals
• Gems

ANTIQUES

• Sewing buttons
• Maps, atlases, globes
• Sterling silver bowls, pitchers, vases

POTTERY AND CHINA

• Figurines
• Art pottery
• Dinnerware

JEWELRY

• Charms and charm bracelets
• Gemstones

BOOKS

• Vintage books
• Author autographed books

SPORTING GOODS

• Fishing accessories
• Hunting accessories

CRAFTS

If you're the creative type, and involved with crafts, consider selling some of the items that you make. A few possibilites include:

• Knitted, embroidered or crocheted items
• Silk-screened shirts
• Leathercraft items
• Scrapbooking supplies
• Woodworking objects

WHOLESALE/DISCOUNT ITEMS

Through family, friends, or work you may have a source for buying something wholesale. Unlike a hobby you have, that "something" may not be of great interest to you — but if you can buy something at a savings and then sell it for a profit, why not make some money? A few examples of some items people occasionally get an opportunity to buy at a discount include the following:

• Jewelry and watches
• Makeup and skin care products
• Consumer electronics
• Nutritional supplements
• Pet supplies
• Exercise and fitness supplies