If you look in newspapers, magazines, on the internet you will find that often single products are advertised.  May be the product is just one style of men’s trousers.  Now these advertisements are quite large so it stands to reason that the company behind them knows that they are going to sell a very big quantity in order to pay for them.  Think about it, how many pairs of wide fitting shoes need to be sold to pay for that size of advertisement?  That is before any profit is going to be made.

So even from this very rudimentary piece of research we know that mail order works.  What we need to do is find a product which will do the same for us.

If we look once more at the adverts for trousers or shoes we will immediately notice that each is for one product and one product only.  Now this is a very big lesson.  Choose one product to start your business. There are various advantages to this:

• The advertisement will hit home with no clutter
• Pricing can be shown large as a draw
• You will obtain the product from one manufacturer/wholesaler
• Easy for packing and you will come to do it automatically
• You will know the cost of postage and packing
• You can offer deals on buying two items instead of one

Whatever you do keep your business simple. It’s amazing how many things you cannot buy in the stores.  Items that you think everybody needs but are not sold in the way that is easy for people to obtain. Something like larger clothes, educational toys, some special tool for the car, a basic must have for the gardener. When you come up with an idea just go with the one product, locate a manufacturer or wholesaler who will sell to you at reasonable prices and who can keep up a steady supply.

You will notice from the advertisements that we have been looking at in the newspapers that delivery time is quoted as within 28 days.  You probably think why so long? Well if the advertiser gets more orders than he has stock for then he has organised his supply to come from the producer.  This means that there will be plenty of time to fulfil all orders in the quoted time frame.  Obviously orders will be sent out as soon as they are received.  So everybody is kept happy.

It is part of your new mail order business to make sure that you can set up this sort of delivery – whether or not you actually have enough in stock. DO NOT LET YOUR CUSTOMERS DOWN. People will not come to you again if you do not live up to expectations.

A Mail Order Business enables you to sell very specialised products or services. Let’s think about this.  If you open a shop you can sell to everyone in your community who is looking to buy something that you sell.  If you advertise your wares in a national newspaper you can sell to people throughout your country.  If you go online you can sell all over the world.  So what does this mean for you?  Well people who need what you are selling can be few and far between in small communities but their can be quite a sizeable market throughout the country or globally.

Some specialist items:

• Old vinyl records
• Postage stamps
• Old video films
• Out of print books
• Old picture postcards
• Memorabilia attached to some famous person or event
• Posters, jewelry, clothing inspired by books/films
• A particular line of collectibles such as figurines.
• Range of goods for dogs or cats – other pets
• Hobby supplies
• Art supplies
• Games and toys
• Products related to religion
• Gifts, gift baskets
• Special events products for new babies, weddings, coming of age

Everything on this list has related books, dvd’s and so on.  You can also produce your own information products in your specialist areas if you know enough or have it written for you. You can produce stand alone information products such as

• Camping guides – how to go about camping plus a list of good sites
• Newsletters in specific areas of interest – if you feel you can produce such things regularly.  They only need to be two to a dozen pages each issue.  This produces regular income from each subscriber.
• Home study courses – on subjects where you have in depth knowledge.
• How to / DIY information

As you can see the question Mail Order – What to Sell is wide open.  What you sell is only limited by your imagination.  You have a very good chance of offering something that many people would like to buy so get your research underway.