I just closed down all retail stores online because the sales fell to almost nothing beginning in 2008. The reasons I think caused this fall was the demise of the middle class, loss of jobs in my target market,hackers that caused problems in credit card use online, and the high fees of third party brokers like PayPal.
Ebay,Amazon,Shopzilla,Etsy,etc. sell dreams of grandeur to their potential small business sellers.Their stock is great.Shipping became a huge problem.As the use went down for first class mail, shipping costs went up.Fees, and account "maintenance" charges became unsustainable for the small online business owner.
Re-inventing yourself is the key to success.Vision into the future is a necessary tool.It is a balancing act for the entrepreneur of today to continuously change focus.
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Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/associated-press/2013-04-26/story/tax-free-internet-shopping-jeopardy#comment-710872#ixzz2Raafh1rm