---
created_at: '2009-04-07T19:13:34.000Z'
title: 'Paul Graham: The 10 Secrets of Selling Online (1997)'
url: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925/store.yahoo.com/secrets.html
author: jackchristopher
points: 82
story_text: ''
comment_text: 
num_comments: 51
story_id: 
story_title: 
story_url: 
parent_id: 
created_at_i: 1239131614
_tags:
- story
- author_jackchristopher
- story_551475
objectID: '551475'

---
[Source](http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925/store.yahoo.com/secrets.html "Permalink to The 10 Secrets of Selling Online")

# The 10 Secrets of Selling Online

![Wayback Machine][1]

success

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|  [**Aug**][4] |  JUN |  [**Aug**][5] |  
|  ![Previous capture][6] |  12 |  ![Next capture][7] |   | | 
|  [**2000**][8] |  2001 |  [**2002**][9] | 

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[147 captures][10]

09 Feb 1999 - 15 Feb 2017

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][11]  | 

[ About this capture][12]

COLLECTED BY

Organization: [Alexa Crawls][13]

Starting in 1996, [Alexa Internet][14] has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the [Wayback Machine][15] after an embargo period. 

Collection: [Alexa Crawls DF][16]

Crawl data donated by Alexa Internet. This data is currently not publicly accessible 

TIMESTAMPS

![loading][17]

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| ![Yahoo! Store][18] | 

|  [Yahoo!][19] \- [Site][20] \- [Shopping][21] \- [Help][22]  | 
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| **Welcome, Guest** | [Sign In][23] | 

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| **Yahoo! Store** | 

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| 

| **Related Links** | 
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|    

**** [What's New][24]  
**** [Advice for Selling Online][25]  
**** [Merchant Newsletter][26]  
**** [Designers Referrals][27]  
**** [Helpful Links][28]  
**** [Y! Store User Guide][29]  
  
**** [Contact Us][30]  
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| **Search Yahoo! Store** | 
| Search for:   | 

  
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| **The 10 Secrets of Selling Online** | 
| by Paul Graham  
  
We're often asked, what is the secret of selling online? We're happy to tell you. We make tools that help you sell online. So we don't want these secrets to stay secret. We want you to succeed.  
  
We've been working on Internet commerce since July 1995, so we have seen almost the entire history of this industry. We have seen what [works][31], and what doesn't. This page is a brief guide to what works.  
  
As examples, I am going to include links to good and bad Web sites. So note that the opinions expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of Yahoo!.  
  
  

| ![pad][32] |  |

| ![][33][**1\. Work Works][34]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
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| ![][33][**2\. Choose the Right Niche][35]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
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| ![][33][**3\. High Production Values][36]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
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| ![][33][**4\. Make Your Site Easy][37]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
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| ![][33][**5\. Be Real][38]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
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| ![][33][**6\. Emphasize Service][39]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
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| ![][33][**7\. Promote Your Site][40]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
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| ![][33][**8\. Lower Your Prices][41]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
| ![pad][32] | 
| ![][33][**9\. Change Your Site][42]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 
| ![pad][32] | 
| ![][33][**10\. Patience][43]**![pad][32]  
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| ![pad][32] | 

  
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Text copyright 1999 Paul Graham. Feel free to reproduce any of this text on your own Web site, so long as you reproduce it verbatim, and include this message. For any other use, please contact the author. Yahoo! and Yahoo! Store are trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

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|  Have a question or comment? [Contact us!][30]  | 

 | 

[1]: http://web.archive.org/static/images/toolbar/wayback-toolbar-logo.png
[2]: http://web.archive.org# "Share via My Web Archive"
[3]: https://archive.org/account/login.php "Sign In"
[4]: http://web.archive.org/web/20000819011052/http://www.store.yahoo.com:80/secrets.html "19 Aug 2000"
[5]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010805105424/http://store.yahoo.com:80/secrets.html "05 Aug 2001"
[6]: http://web.archive.org/static/images/toolbar/wm_tb_prv_on.png
[7]: http://web.archive.org/static/images/toolbar/wm_tb_nxt_on.png
[8]: http://web.archive.org/web/20000606032703/http://store.yahoo.com:80/secrets.html "06 Jun 2000"
[9]: http://web.archive.org/web/20021002073335/http://store.yahoo.com:80/secrets.html "02 Oct 2002"
[10]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925*/store.yahoo.com/secrets.html "See a list of every capture for this URL"
[11]: 
[12]: http://web.archive.org#expand
[13]: https://archive.org/details/alexacrawls
[14]: http://www.alexa.com/
[15]: http://web.archive.org/
[16]: https://archive.org/details/alexa_df
[17]: http://web.archive.org/static/images/loading.gif
[18]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925im_/http://us.yimg.com/i/st/strmh.gif
[19]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925/http://www.yahoo.com/
[20]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925/http://site.yahoo.com/
[21]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925/http://shopping.yahoo.com/
[22]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925/http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/store
[23]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925/http://edit.yahoo.com/config/login?.src=sto&lg=us&.intl=us&.last=http://store.yahoo.com/secrets.html&.done=http://store.yahoo.com/secrets.html
[24]: http://web.archive.org/whatsnew.html
[25]: http://web.archive.org/howtoselonwe.html
[26]: http://web.archive.org/newsletter.html
[27]: http://web.archive.org/partdir.html
[28]: http://web.archive.org/links.html
[29]: http://web.archive.org/man.html
[30]: http://web.archive.org/econtact.html
[31]: http://web.archive.org/winners.html
[32]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925im_/http://us.st1.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/Img/trans_1x1.gif
[33]: http://web.archive.org/web/20010612215925im_/http://store1.yimg.com/I/vw_1637_34502
[34]: http://web.archive.org/work.html
[35]: http://web.archive.org/niche.html
[36]: http://web.archive.org/values.html
[37]: http://web.archive.org/easy.html
[38]: http://web.archive.org/real.html
[39]: http://web.archive.org/service.html
[40]: http://web.archive.org/promote.html
[41]: http://web.archive.org/lowprice.html
[42]: http://web.archive.org/change.html
[43]: http://web.archive.org/patience.html

