by Alison Storm | 06/17/10

Small business owners know that starting up an operation can be expensive. Between inventory, marketing and staff, there are lots of things to spend start-up money on. But now a new website launched by Overstock.com is helping small business owners with at least some of the struggles and expense with launching a new business. Sue Campbell, a former paramedic-turned-coffee-roaster knows the challenges firsthand.  "I don't have the financial resources to really develop it," she told Inc.com. "I don't even have a shopping cart on my website. I contemplate almost monthly selling all my roasting equipment and walking away."

But now Campbell is getting help from Main Street Store, a new venture from Overstock.com. The goal of the site is to give small businesses in America access to national marketing campaigns and a strong online presence. So far they've teamed up with about 70 small business owners who are selling everything from jewelry to coffee beans. "Setting up your own technology to have a transactional website, to be able to take credit cards, to handle fraud risks and returns—all that stuff is much more expensive than people think," Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne told Inc. Inspiration for Main Street Store came after Byrne met with a group of small business owners last year. "When I met with these small business owners, it made me realize that we could really be promoting their products to customers across the country on Overstock," he told Inc. "In my view, small businesses are the creative part of our economic cycle—they create more than 65 percent of new jobs."

To qualify to be a part of Main Street Store businesses must be based in the US and have a staff of 25 or fewer employees. They must also ship their own products and give Overstock.com 20 percent of the sales revenue. Byrne hopes the new site will generate $50 million in revenue.