Whether you sell on Poshmark, Amazon or your own site it’s mandatory to always have a backup plan and today I’m going to tell you how to do this.

The harsh reality is that when you sell on someone elses platform (eBay, Amazon, etc), you are forever at their mercy. Your listings can be removed, your account can be suspended or even terminated, A.I. can incorrectly flag your products for policy violations, competitors can sabotage… and you have absolutely no control over it.

If you sell on your own site you have a lot more control but you also have to invest a solid decade into building your business. It’s far more work and much more expensive in the short term, which is exactly what pushes people toward marketplaces.

Regardless of where you sell you still want to protect your business so you will want to take the following actions at LEAST once a month:

THE BASICS: SHORT AND LONG TERM

Export Your Listings!!!! If your account is terminated, closed by a hacker, suspended due to a diabolical competitor, etc you want to have access to your inventory so, HOPEFULLY, you can make a new account elsewhere and upload the database. Although you will have some downtime you will be up-and-running again 95% faster than if you are starting over with nothing.

Save and Store your Images! If your account is deleted you don’t want to have to retake every single image / video because this will greatly increase your downtime, especially if you carry a large inventory. The simplest solution is to be sure to backup everything. If you keep up on this daily you never have to worry about it. Photos can be backed up to sites like Google Drive, Microsoft Cloud, etc.

Important info: Yes, you CAN save the images on your computer however when your computer dies all of your images and files die along with it. I learned this the hard way.

TIP: When you do your listings, make the name of the photo match the item's SKU number. This makes it super simply to quickly locate an image in your backup folder. It may sound tedious but once you get in the habit you will actually fly through it and you’ll love how easy it is to find what you need.

Export Customer Records: If you have access to mailing lists, customer information and so on, be sure to also back this up because you may have to contact these people to tell them you have moved platforms. This is especially important if you have a large quantity of repeat buyers.

Download Templates: If you have customized templates for your listings or site, be sure to save these too. If you can’t download them but you can access the html / CSS, simply copy and paste it into a Google Document (Docs.Google.com) or similar.

LONG TERM BACKUP PLAN

The worst thing you can do is keep all of your eggs in one basket, especially when you don’t own the basket. With that being said, even if your eBay profile is super successful today you should still have a backup selling site or at least a backup selling profile.

OTHER STUFF

There’s a handful of supplies you should always keep on hand just in case:

Battery Powered Lantern(s) and Batteries: If the power goes out and you have to ship you need to be able to turn on your lanterns, pull your orders and get to the post office to get them in transit.

You can take it one step further, as we have, and pick up a generator that can power your computer and printer.

If you are storing inventory in your basement there is always a chance of a flood. Investing in some cheap Rubbermaid type bins will keep your inventory safe.

And lastly, you want to make sure you are able to plan ahead to get over a sickness in record time because there’s no way you can lay in bed and sleep for 5 days. Personally I always have:

Zinc

Vitamin C

Vitamin D3 Drops (I’m from Michigan so we don’t get any sun from December - March. If you live in FL, TX or CA you probably don’t need this)

Super Green / Balance of Nature Super Foods.  If you are like most of us who don't get enough fruits and veggies a day in your diet, I swear these will make you feel AMAZING in approximately 5 days. You can buy this stuff as powder that you mix into water (personally I think this is too much work) or you can get it in pill form, which is what I prefer.  Balance of Nature genuinely is the best but it's really expensive.  Personally I purchase N1N Premium Organic Super Green Fruit and Vegetable Tablets.