I am still amazed at the number of sites that make it difficult ( some really, really difficult) for you to buy something from them.

Are your buyers falling at the first hurdle?

If so, the answer's simple. Remove the hurdle! There are all sorts of barriers to buying, outside of price and availability. Here are a few that you can easily fix on your site:

• Shipping and delivery information - make it easy to find from every page on your site. Even if  it needs to be calculated at the end then calculate it in the cart BEFORE a person has to log in and give all their details. The coding isn't rocket science; many sites allow you to add your country or postcode so they can calculate the costs prior to you parting with all your details.
• Clear, easy-to-read, persuasive product descriptions. Not everyone who comes to look at a product knows why your product is better than a competitor's. They want to be sold and this is your chance to do it. You've got a qualified lead in front of you, sell it to them!
• More than just thumbnails. When people buy on the web, unless they're very familiar with the product, they want to see an image of it. That means a reasonable sized image where they can see all the relevant angles. After all you're asking them to buy it without having it in front of them. They can't pick it up, see how big it is etc., etc. Help them. Make it easy for them to make the decision to buy from you.
• Contact details. If there is no phone number on the site - and many sites these don't have phone numbers - and I'm buying a physical product that I may want to return then I won't buy. (Cyber products like software etc., are different because they have support channels.)

If you follow these three points you'll tear down three major barriers to buying online. Good Luck!