Selling of vapes products are big business in the US, UK, Canada, and nothing stands in the way of becoming successful online vape seller. You can start this business in the comfort of your home.
However, because it is understood that vape is considered to be a tobacco-adjacent product, even if the products you sell don’t contain tobacco, it important you understand that to start selling vapes in your online store, you’ll need to make sure your online store complies with all state and federal laws for this highly regulated product.
Remember, that you’ll need to process all sales through a high-risk payment processor, whether or not your vape products contain tobacco or other regulated substances.
The legal right revolving vapes online business is complicated than other types of online selling, it’s important that you have a solid business plan in place before you start selling vape in your online store.
That means you’ll need a well-researched business plan to help you stay on track. For the best chance of succeeding in the crowded and somewhat complicated world of online vape sales, it a good idea to establish a business budget.
Read to learn what you need and how to start selling vape in your online store;
How to Start Selling Vapes In Your Online Store
You can start selling vape in your online store from home, but it is important to know that you’ll need to comply with some special legal requirements in order to sell e-liquids online, including age verification. You’ll also need to pay special attention to rules limiting shipping options for vape products because vape products are considered tobacco products whether they contain tobacco or not.
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Know the legal requirements
Most vapes devices contain nicotine, and that means you’ll have to comply with certain laws in order to sell them online. You can’t just set up a website and start shipping vapes to customers like you can with many other types of products.
In the US for instance, starting an online vape shop from home is just about impossible unless you have a large budget due to the requirements imposed by the law.
The US laws regulate the use of electronic cigarettes, also known as “vaping”, vary across the United States. Some states and municipalities prohibit vaping in every location where smoking is prohibited, while others contain more permissive laws or no laws at all regarding vaping.
Retailers cannot sell cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, powdered tobacco, shisha or other tobacco products, herbal cigarettes, liquid nicotine, electronic cigarettes, rolling papers, or smoking paraphernalia to people under 21 years of age.
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Decide where to get your vape products
Another tip to start selling vape in your online store from home is to decide where to get your vape products. You can buy the products and store them at home or in your own warehouse, or you can partner with a drop shipper.
When you work with a drop shipper, you don’t have to purchase or store your own inventory.
You don’t even need to worry about shipping products to customers, because the drop shipper handles that for you as well.
Your website simply passes the order information to the drop shipper, and they handle the rest. Since there’s no inventory to buy, the startup costs can be extremely low when you work with a drop shipper.
However, the drop shipper will take a portion of the proceeds from each order, and that will cut into your profits.
If you stock and ship your own products, you’ll keep a greater portion of each sale.
That can make your vape store more profitable, and it can also potentially enable you to price your products more competitively and make more sales as a result.
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Know the best place to sell vape
While the easiest place to sell vape may be in person, you have some good options for selling vape online. You can set up your online vape shop using software from Lightspeed, Shift4Shop, BigCommerce, and Franpos, for example. These platforms welcome vape sellers and offer tools to support you in your business.
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Propagate your marketing plan
Once you’ve decided what you’re going to sell and where you’ll be getting your products from, the final step before you can launch your online vape shop is to propagate your digital marketing plan. Online marketing is a topic that really requires its own separate article, but here are a few tips that can increase your probability of success.
- Formulate a plan for getting the word out about your business, such as by writing informative content and publishing it in your blog. Remember that traditional pay-per-click advertising on websites like Google isn’t available for businesses in the vaping industry, so getting your site ranked for competitive search terms won’t be easy.
- Brainstorm several potential business names before you go to register your domain. It’s a good idea to have several names in mind before you visit a domain registrar because you’re probably going to find that some of the domains you’re considering are already taken. The ideal domain name is one that’s short, catchy, memorable, and easy to type.
- Budget a little money for the development of your website. Even if you use an off-the-shelf e-commerce solution like Shopify, you may still need some expert assistance with getting your website set up unless you’ve run an e-commerce site before. You also want a website with a unique appearance and brand identity. Otherwise, it won’t stand out. Remember – competition in the vaping industry is intense.
