17% of Americans Make Money Online
I just read an article at the PC World Techlog Blog about the Pew Research report that says that 17% of Americans have at some point sold something online. Link: Have You Sold Something Online?
According to Pew, not only have 17% (25 million people) sold something online, but 2% of Americans are selling something online at any given moment!
Both the article and the report are interesting reads, but I think the most interesting of all are the comments after the article. So many different stories, with people selling all sorts of stuff in different ways for different reasons. And I agree with those who said this trend is only going to continue to grow as it becomes easier and safer to buy and sell goods and services online.
My personal take on this, of course, is that everybody should be selling something online. Whether it's through eBay, a classified ad site, Craigslist or your own website, it's probably not as hard as you think.
My wife and I started on eBay, first just selling off stuff that had been sitting in our garage for way too long. Then we decided to open an eBay store and sell hand-made jewelry -- gotta plug it -- TheHappyFairy eBay Store. Now we're in the process of building our own ecommerce site and selling directly.
In addition to that, I've got this website going and working on another one, and when I get that one finished, I'll probably start on one or two more -- content-based sites that will include selling as an affiliate (like the Amazon.com Associate program, selling advertising space (like Google Adsense), or both.
Hopefully within the next year or two, we'll have a half dozen sources of income from our online activities -- and so will millions of other people, and we'll all be buying from, selling to, and bartering with each other.
According to Pew, not only have 17% (25 million people) sold something online, but 2% of Americans are selling something online at any given moment!
Both the article and the report are interesting reads, but I think the most interesting of all are the comments after the article. So many different stories, with people selling all sorts of stuff in different ways for different reasons. And I agree with those who said this trend is only going to continue to grow as it becomes easier and safer to buy and sell goods and services online.
My personal take on this, of course, is that everybody should be selling something online. Whether it's through eBay, a classified ad site, Craigslist or your own website, it's probably not as hard as you think.
My wife and I started on eBay, first just selling off stuff that had been sitting in our garage for way too long. Then we decided to open an eBay store and sell hand-made jewelry -- gotta plug it -- TheHappyFairy eBay Store. Now we're in the process of building our own ecommerce site and selling directly.
In addition to that, I've got this website going and working on another one, and when I get that one finished, I'll probably start on one or two more -- content-based sites that will include selling as an affiliate (like the Amazon.com Associate program, selling advertising space (like Google Adsense), or both.
Hopefully within the next year or two, we'll have a half dozen sources of income from our online activities -- and so will millions of other people, and we'll all be buying from, selling to, and bartering with each other.
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