Being your own boss is becoming much easier these days, at least in the cyber world. And a growing number of urban Chinese are starting businesses on the Internet.

Lured by almost free entry into the market and the prospect of earning money while working at home, the number of online merchants is growing fast. And many don't even care if their ventures succeed.

These business owners especially women are finding their online shops in this digital age open up a world of freedom that they would not have in the normal working world. A few of them are succeeding so much so that they are faced with making a painful choice between a career in the real world and one in the virtual world.

Liu Li, who runs an online women's accessory shop, said she was encouraged by the success of one of her friends, who recently decided to quit her regular job as an accountant to become a full-time online entrepreneur.

As an accountant, Liu's friend receives a decent salary a little more than 3,000 yuan (US$370) a month. But by selling cosmetics and winter clothes online in her spare time, she earns more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,700) every month.

Liu works full time at her shop, called "True Colours," at Taobao.com. She decided to try her luck in cyberspace last May, as she was looking for a job.

She was already a veteran online shopper. She started shopping online for accessories, cosmetics and clothes in 2001.

First Liu registered her shop at www.taobao.com, one of the Chinese websites where merchants can register for free. Then she uploaded information about her goods for sale, which included photos, product descriptions and prices.

"It is of utmost importance to find sources to purchase my goods," said Liu, who found them mainly at wholesale websites such as www.alibaba.com.

In an effort to find good suppliers, online shop owners sometimes form small alliances. Liu gave a few other shop owners whom she trusts links to her suppliers, and they share theirs with her.

"One needs friends to succeed in cyberspace," she said. "One should be clever, but not selfish."

Besides finding suppliers, an online shop owner should also be skilled in pricing goods. The price has to be attractive with room for bargaining.

A potential buyer can contact the shop owner with the help of an online chatting tool supplied by the website, such as Skype.

If both sides agree on a deal, the buyer will send the money to a bank account assigned by the website, and the seller will have the goods delivered, usually by an express delivery service.

The seller obtains the money from the website only after the buyer receives the item and is satisfied with it.

After each deal, the seller's shop improves its credit rating. In the competitive online world, buyers tend to trust veteran sellers more readily than new ones.

This situation forces many new shops to set their prices low. So initially their profits are limited, but they are rapidly accumulating credit, Liu said.

Liu's 1-year-old shop has done well. "I could have done better, but I am too lazy," she said.

"I should market my shop better by posting advertisements on different online forums and send them to all the e-mail addresses I can find."

Besides profits, she says her online business has brought her a wonderful life.

"I feel so good every day," she said. "I do some housework, watch TV, play online games and have a nice talk with a potential buyer from time to time."

But Liu is aware this lifestyle is not for everyone.

"If you are an outdoors type and feel bad without access to fresh air, don't try it," she said. "People like me love to stay at home 24 hours a day and enjoy sitting for hours in front of a computer."

There seem to be a lot of people like Liu, as the number of online shops continues to grow.

At one of the online entrepreneurs' favourite websites, www.taobao.com, there are 300,000 shops selling almost everything under the sun, and more than half of them opened after January 1, 2005, according to Tao Ran, the website's public relations manager.

At www.ebay.com.cn, the Chinese subsidiary of New York-based eBay.com, the number of online shops has reached more than 60,000, which is about three times more than at the beginning of 2005, said Liu Wei, its public relations manager.

These online shop owners used to be from such major cities as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but in the past year, more and more have appeared from cities such as Tianjin, Nanjing and Chongqing, and smaller ones such as Suzhou, Liu Wei said.

About half of the owners are women, she added.

In 2005, the number of women opening shops at www.ebay.com.cn was increasing by an average of 40 per cent per month, Liu Wei said.

"The popularity of females starting online shops can be partly attributed to the fact that their working hours are flexible because they don't have to be at the office at certain times and are, therefore, able to take care of their families," she said.

"And as a woman, I believe every woman has a dream of opening a small shop of her own."

Most of these women entrepreneurs sell cosmetics, women's accessories and clothes.

Men, on the other hand, tend to sell digital products.

"When men open a shop, they have a clear goal, and that is to earn money," said Wang Hongrong, a school teacher in Yantai, East China's Shandong Province.

"But as for women, they want more than money, such as a feeling of self-fulfilment and involvement in an online community."

Wang sells baby clothes in her shop on www.ebay.com.cn. She began buying baby clothes online when she got pregnant, and began selling them as her baby began to grow older.

"I get to know so many mums while running my shop," she said. "We became good friends and meet often."

The growing number of online shop owners are attracting a booming pool of clients as well. More than 18 million people have registered at www.taobao.com, and the number is increasing by 40,000 every day, Tao said.

At www.ebay.com.cn, the number of registered clients reached 20.3 million by the end of March 2006, compared with 9.8 million at the end of 2004.

But as is the case with male and female online shop owners, there's a difference in how men and women act as clients.

Female customers tend to be loyal to a few online shops. They visit the shops often, introduce them to their friends and buy for their family members as well as themselves, Liu Wei said.

But male clients are more willing to try unfamiliar shops, and most of them buy only for themselves.

The shop owners interviewed all believe that online shopping has started to boom.

In 2005, more than 22 million Chinese made purchases on the Internet, 6 million more than in 2004, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.

The volume of e-commerce transactions, including that of online shopping, reached 740 billion yuan (US$91.4 billion), 50 per cent higher than in 2004.

The Ministry of Commerce said e-commerce can still develop further in China, where more than 110 million people have access to the Internet, and 64 million of them use broadband.

Liu Li said she is fully confident of her future in cyberspace. "There is fun and hope in the online business world."

(China Daily 05/04/2006 page1)