Selling a physical product has a ton of advantages over selling digital ones. While digital products have their benefits and have their place, nothing quite beats the broad appeal of selling something tangible that people can actually hold in their hands and use.

The problem is that selling a physical product often requires a little more thought than going digital. So, in this post, we’ll take a look at some surprisingly easy ways to start a business selling something physical.

Let’s get physical!

Selling Crafts

One option is to sell crafts. If you have the ability to paint, to make jewellery, or to sculpt with clay, then you can turn that hobby into a money making venture – and if you’ve seen the Penny Blossom episode of Big Bang Theory then you’ll already know how this works.

Simply create your product, take some photos for eBay or Etsy, and then sell them! It really is that easy – but make sure that the product you choose is something you can easily make in volume, and that doesn’t have high CoGS (Cost of Goods Sold).

To calculate the Cost of Goods Sold, include the following:

Cost of raw materials of the product plus cost of shipping and freight to you

Cost of labour to make the product

Cost of storage of the product

So, now you can paid for doing the hobby you love doing!

Reselling

Reselling is the oldest business model in the book. All you’re doing here is buying large volumes of something at a relatively low price (this is called the wholesale price) and then selling those items off individually at a profit. Reselling is a very effective way to make money but involves a small amount of risk because you have to buy inventory. If you start small though, you can reinvest your profit and thereby create a fairly reliable business model.

Affiliate Marketing

Yes, you can sell physical products as an affiliate. And most people reading this will already know that that means getting commission on sales. The best place to find physical products to sell this way is to go to Amazon, where you can sell pretty much anything you can think of – and through a site that most shoppers will already trust. You can also sell physical products as an affiliate on Clickbank which not many people are aware of.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is what many people consider to be the ‘ideal’ business model. This basically means you’re buying through wholesalers but you don’t have to put in bulk orders. Better yet, you don’t need to worry about fulfillment because the company will do that for you! All you need to do is to sell the products and then pass the details onto the wholesaler and they’ll ship the product to the customer. Best of all, some companies will even stay quiet and allow you to take credit for the manufacturing!

Selling Your Own Product

Finally, you can sell your own mass-produced product. For most people, this will mean coming up with an idea, creating a 3D model and then going to manufacturers in order to get it made.

There are different options today though. For example, how about creating your own book with POD (Print On Demand) publishing? Or you could use a 3D printer and print out simple plastic items this way. 3D printing is becoming cheaper and cheaper and is also getting easier to do too. If you can draw it, you can 3D print it.

Did You Know?

3D printers can print anything that change states from a solid to a liquid and back to a solid again. This includes plastics, metal and even chocolate!

Today, it’s easier than ever to sell your own physical products. So what are you waiting for?

Look out for blogs on these methods in the coming days.

Further Reading: