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sWALK90

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Hello, been on the forums since i turned 25 last October ...it is now Tuesday, March 8th 2016

I have been reading and thinking about doing this and doing that but my excuse was that i wanted to wait until we finished building my house so i would have room for inventory. So i have a bunch of ideas in my head. Well we closed on it last month and moved in. I took a trip to the Bahama's to finally propose to my girlfriend of several years(valentines proposal lol). On the trip I found something that is sold in the states but not this "edition" so i bought a bunch of it.(dirt cheap) I told a few people about it and everyone was trying to buy them in person but I just wrote their name down.

I started reading and thinking of which ecomm platform to start building my site on and 2 weeks later I started to think to myself, damn im wasting a lot of time thinking!!!! I need execution!!!! I haven't made any money on anything...I was actually reaching out to other people and helping them out, teaching them what i learned and they were doubling on sales!..

I still haven't figured out what site to host my personal ecomm site on, im thinking shopify ,but i do have a list of people that want to buy at $100+ per item so i figured lets start making money.......

So last weekend I posted the item on Amazon. Woke up Monday and someone had purchased 2 for $204..it only took 20 mins to post it.. ...wow that was easy...Then i called two people from the list, bam another $204..they picked it up from me at work ...then by the time i got home i sold another on amazon. Total of $518 in one day and i only did a couple of hours of work.

upload_2016-3-8_11-7-15.png



So of course as i said i stumbled on this product so i wasn't really planning on going into business with it because i don't have to much of it ,but i could easily pick up some more on my next trip which will probably be Cozumel or somewhere around there.

I spent countless hours going through Alibaba and aliexpress looking for products to sell and decided to go with something i know very well and in fact use it at my job everyday. I was ordering a bulk order but decided to cancel it and order a bunch of samples from different places so i could test it out before i actually try to brand and sell it online. This market is very saturated ,but i think i may have a strong point in ways to sell and market it..along with up-sales..(read my AMA thread in my sig and you will understand). So i have ordered a few samples of 5 products with a couple of bulk orders that i could upsale last week.

While waiting on those i will start 6 Instagram pages, different niches that i could advertise to and hopefully convert to future sales...this week i will also try affiliate marketing out and see how well i do....im a web developer at my slow lane job and really think that would help out because i have a lot of freetime here...


Not to sure what im doing but at least im doing something instead of just thinking and talking about it!...
I will try to post progress updates and respond to questions as soon as possible. Feel free to offer any advice you have also :)


Take action today! Get out there and execute!
 
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sWALK90

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Was getting kind of worried because i haven't heard from my supplier ,but i woke up to a tracking number from her so...looks like everything was fine...

We used Paypal btw, and i covered the fees..

upload_2016-3-10_9-19-11.png


As far as my other item,it is still selling, at least one or two a day, i think im around $700 going on day 4 and i haven't done any advertising or marketing. All i do is ship the item so its only taking 20 mins out of my day..still looking for more porducts to add
 

sWALK90

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March 15 -Week 2 -Day 10

I received my first samples and eh they were okay...i will prob order bulk of 8 of the 16 items.

So i stumbled across another product and decided to test the market to see if there was a need.
So I listed it for sale and ..well it sold... $600 in 10 hours..with no marketing....while my other item is selling one a day...

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 11.08.34 PM.png

The price for this product is in the single digits each so i ordered 100.. and contacted each customer and let them know that we were sold out and i will get it to them ASAP. I can ship overnight for free so it will be no problem...

10 days in with no marketing or site im at $1420.95

Tomorrow i will add different variations of this product and see how well they do...im excited!
Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 11.24.13 PM.png
 

DrkSide

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and contacted each customer and let them know that we were sold out and i will get it to them ASAP
I assume that you mean you sold inventory on Amazon that you didn't actually have. Be very, very careful with this as it will hurt your metrics if you ship past the date that you are supposed to.

Good progress so far, keep it up.
 
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DrkSide

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@sWALK90 You may want to look over the Amazon shipping policies.
Will this impact my selling privileges?

We ask sellers to maintain their late shipments below a target rate of 4%. Failure to meet this target may result in the removal of your selling privileges.

The issue that you have is a relatively new account with few sales. Late shipments are going to ding you and if you cancel the orders it will also ding you.
 

DrkSide

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View attachment 11790

So long as they get it by the 24th theres no issue correct?
The way that the policy reads they need to be shipped confirmed by the expected ship date. But if you purchase shipping more than a day in advance and the tracking says it hasn't been shipped yet you can also get dinged.
Late shipment rate: This is the number of orders with shipments that are not confirmed by the expected ship date divided by the number of orders in the time period of interest. Orders that are ship-confirmed late may lead to increased customer contacts and negatively impact customer experience.
 

biophase

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As I was reading this, I was thinking that there is an account banning coming very soon.

If you don't enter shipping tracking numbers by the ship date you may be in trouble.
 

biophase

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Also if any of those customers lets Amazon know that you sold products you did not have you may be in trouble.

All it takes is a customer to forward your email to Amazon.
 
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Envision

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I like the action and I like the progress but Drkside and Biophase both know Amazon in depth and i can only echo what they've said.

Be very careful in ensuring your metrics are perfect especially when you are starting out.
 

sWALK90

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Thanks, i will find a way to get it done...not sure how but i will...thanks for the feedback. I wont send the messages...
I been at my slow lane all day and didnt notice that its still been selling lol... 17 SOLD TODAY :headbanger:..i will fix this somehow
...beginner mistake!

Lesson learned



Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 11.00.36 PM.png
Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 10.55.19 PM.png
 

Pikaczu

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Wow, that's the kind of problems that I'd love to have starting out!
Great thread, pure action taking, very inspiring.
Keep it up!
 
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biophase

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Anyone know of any inventory systems to use outside of amazon?

Im now at 40 unshipped lol...

Been looking where to put the actual website....im thinking shopify...


Don't tell me you are still selling after learning the consequences? :wideyed:
 

JordanS

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I would really pause your products until you get some inventory in. You now know it will sell, deal with the current orders and scale it up.

If not you'll end up getting banned pretty soon.
 
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sWALK90

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Don't tell me you are still selling after learning the consequences? :wideyed:

I bumped the price up..which is way higher than the competitor ....thinking eh ...noone will buy.and they are still buying for some reason lol..
 

biophase

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I bumped the price up..which is way higher than the competitor ....thinking eh ...noone will buy.and they are still buying for some reason lol..

So you are risking getting banned from Amazon for a few extra dollars? Please tell us what happens when your account gets banned next week. At the rate you are going, two complaints will flag/ban your account out of those 40 unshipped.

Well that makes no sense at all.
 

sWALK90

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So you are risking getting banned from Amazon for a few extra dollars? Please tell us what happens when your account gets banned next week. At the rate you are going, two complaints will flag/ban your account out of those 40 unshipped.

Well that makes no sense at all.


I thought were supposed to take risk? lol
 
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sWALK90

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Growing pretty steady even though i bumped all the prices up:bored:..currently at 60 ( ending week 2 in a couple of days..)
upload_2016-3-18_15-30-51.png

I wonder whats making everyone buy and its not the lowest or highest price...

Tried using fiverr to help come up with a name but they all sucked so im back to the drawing board...:banghead: and still playing with shopify under a trial account
 

sWALK90

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Well i took the risk and trusted a person in China who barely spoke English ...to have stuff shipped to me by Friday. ...products i sold that i didnt have...


















And he came through. ..[emoji16] [emoji16] [emoji16] [emoji16] [emoji41] [emoji41] [emoji41]

uploadfromtaptalk1458350471482.jpg

EDIT. - Finally hit 1,000...whoohoo ..not like it matters lol
Screen Shot 2016-03-18 at 11.36.44 PM.png


Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
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MrOrigon

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This thread is amazing! As someone who just ordered samples for my future Amazon product, reading your progress has been very exciting!

That being said, I really hope that you don't make the same mistake as you did in the future - make sure that you have the physical product in inventory, I'd hate to hear your amazon account was shut down due to a beginner mistake! Although I'm glad you made it, because now I've learned from it ;)

Good luck to you, I'm keeping myself posted! Please keep us updated!
 

sWALK90

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This thread is amazing! As someone who just ordered samples for my future Amazon product, reading your progress has been very exciting!

That being said, I really hope that you don't make the same mistake as you did in the future - make sure that you have the physical product in inventory, I'd hate to hear your amazon account was shut down due to a beginner mistake! Although I'm glad you made it, because now I've learned from it ;)

Good luck to you, I'm keeping myself posted! Please keep us updated!

look into selling on more than just amazon...
 
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sWALK90

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So end of week 2-14 days in ...i hiked the price up even higher than the manufacture.... still selling ...but slower.. that way i can acutally get a count of inventory and figure out a better system..

Screen Shot 2016-03-20 at 11.38.20 PM.png

I ordered a big order overseas which should be delivered on the 30th with 5 variations of the product im selling..also i will be introducing 1 other product in 5 different forms....in the mean time i will be working on the name and logo ..as well as getting these other items shipped... 2 5 stars on reviews... really makes me look good.
 
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sWALK90

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Now this is getting funnnnnn!!!!:hurray: ...thanks @biophase

So on day 15, start of week 3 i stopped all sales around 3k..dropped all inventory to 0...

I was confused as to how many was coming in and going out...I was simply all over the place and having problems shipping all this stuff lol.
So my account status has been good all this time so i wasn't thinking there were any problems.
Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 10.17.49 PM.png

Screen Shot 2016-03-23 at 10.35.59 PM.png

LOL amazon suspended my account on the actual payout day(holding my 3k for 90 days)...how convenient(it happens alot-google it).....oh well ,wont waste time on spilled milk...

Now i see why its important to have diversified income.

lets bleed the next platform...ill get in reinstated some how in the future..(or switch my ip and computer mac address to run another one )

TEST RUN OVER....now its time to really get to work..wont let my first roadblock slow me down.
 

Mikkel

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Are you looking to make this new Amazon account into one that ships out orders immediately to keep yourself in good standings?

Also, did Amazon block you because you didn't diversity your income, or is this due to your shipments taking a good period of time to ship?
 

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