8 Eyewear: From Idea, to Launch, to Growth (And Quitting the Job)

[Vick]

So ya i need some help.
One of my sellers on Amazon has found some sellers that have not been approved by our company, she is saying they are selling our shades at a very low dollar ammount, anyway she took a screen shot of the sellers.
I've been searching all morning but can't seem to find the sellers. I have no idea how see found them.
Not sure what is going on, but maybe some of my American friends who have Amazon experience can help me find them. Please see the attached image of the screenshot she sent me.
ANY HELP WOULD BE AWESOME!
Thanks

 

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[mikey3times]

So ya i need some help

I'm not an expert, but these came up in a search on my phone from the US.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FL0WPWY/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Good luck!

 

[Vick]

yup just did another search now this new seller WPMY is popping up. i have no idea WTF is going on.

I'm not an expert, but these came up in a search on my phone from the US.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FL0WPWY/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Good luck!

 

[mikey3times]

yup just did another search now this new seller WPMY is popping up. i have no idea WTF is going on.

So I looked up Swimminglala on marketplacepulse.com, which linked back to Amazon and it seems they've removed all of their products. (Edit: or Amazon removed them...)
swimminglala just launched on Amazon USA
swimminglala @ Amazon.com:

Same for TeSung.
TeSung just launched on Amazon USA
TeSung @ Amazon.com:

No hits for Surprised Gifts.

 

[Vick]

ya i noticed that too. its weird. its like they pop up and then there gone.

So I looked up Swimminglala on marketplacepulse.com, which linked back to Amazon and it seems they've removed all of their products. (Edit: or Amazon removed them...)
swimminglala just launched on Amazon USA
swimminglala @ Amazon.com:

Same for TeSung.
TeSung just launched on Amazon USA
TeSung @ Amazon.com:

No hits for Surprised Gifts.

 

[Denim Chicken]

I just dealt with this on my listing. So this is a big problem with Amazon right now. These are Chinese sellers that launch and then don't ship anything with a fake tracking # or they ship a shitty counterfeit. They leech onto your listings (or make a new one as shown) and try to sell under your brand. They're scum. You're having success, they want a part of it.

This ruins your brand as well as the product page gets bad reviews because a lot of people on Amazon do not know the difference between seller performance rating and Product rating.

The way to have this removed is to email seller performance and call them. They will ask for either trademark info or IP info. If you have your patents and trademark registered, you send that over and they will most likely remove it. I have heard of situations where Amazon does not remove it but in my case, they removed it after I contact a few times and wrote out a detailed email. I didn't even have a trademark, but I had all my sketches, the photo and product insert was my artwork so I said it was copyright infringement.

You can first try to send the hijackers a firm but courteous message like below first. I have heard some of them will remove it willfully. Mine did not and brazenly lowered the price and tried to take the buy box from me by pricing at $15 for a $25 product.

Hi Seller Name,

I noticed you are selling a X product as New. However, this product has never been resold to any wholesalers or resellers and we are direct to consumer through Amazon.
I own the brand, and have not authorized you or anyone else, to sell X on Amazon.

If you are selling a different brand, while posturing as X, then the product is counterfeit, which is something that Amazon takes very seriously and will shut down your account without warning.

If you do not remove your product from the X listing within 24 hours, I will have to contact Amazon and issue a formal Cease and Desist letter.

This isn't the ideal situation for either of us, so I hope that you take heed to this note and remove your product from X listing immediately.

Thank you for your prompt attention.

Your name.​

For your listing you need to continually check "Other sellers" to see if anyone that you have not authorized is selling.

Amazon doesn't seem to give a shit about these sellers even though they ship nothing, cash out and then get banned.

Another way to prove this is to place a test order and show Amazon it's counterfeit. But seeing the estimated shipping date, I doubt they will ship anything and send out a fake China post tracking like mine.

I heard of other techniques where you just order all their stock and they get scared and cancel the order and remove themselves, or it's a temporary measure to stop bleeding on your listing and then you A-to-Z Refund it all later.

Lastly, it is possible they are selling a real version of your product somehow. So you might need to check but it gets annoying having to wait a month and they ship nothing.

 

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[Vick]

@Denim Chicken The seller account on amazon.com is not me, its one of our retailers in the states.
If I tell our retailer to remove the listing from Amazon completely, will this stop??? seeing as there wont be anything to highjack.
Kinda dont want our stuff on there anyway.

I just dealt with this on my listing. So this is a big problem with Amazon right now. These are Chinese sellers that launch and then don't ship anything with a fake tracking # or they ship a shitty counterfeit. They leech onto your listings (or make a new one as shown) and try to sell under your brand. They're scum. You're having success, they want a part of it.

This ruins your brand as well as the product page gets bad reviews because a lot of people on Amazon do not know the difference between seller performance rating and Product rating.

The way to have this removed is to email seller performance and call them. They will ask for either trademark info or IP info. If you have your patents and trademark registered, you send that over and they will most likely remove it. I have heard of situations where Amazon does not remove it but in my case, they removed it after I contact a few times and wrote out a detailed email. I didn't even have a trademark, but I had all my sketches, the photo and product insert was my artwork so I said it was copyright infringement.

You can first try to send the hijackers a firm but courteous message like below first. I have heard some of them will remove it willfully. Mine did not and brazenly lowered the price and tried to take the buy box from me by pricing at $15 for a $25 product.

Hi Seller Name,

I noticed you are selling a X product as New. However, this product has never been resold to any wholesalers or resellers and we are direct to consumer through Amazon.
I own the brand, and have not authorized you or anyone else, to sell X on Amazon.

If you are selling a different brand, while posturing as X, then the product is counterfeit, which is something that Amazon takes very seriously and will shut down your account without warning.

If you do not remove your product from the X listing within 24 hours, I will have to contact Amazon and issue a formal Cease and Desist letter.

This isn't the ideal situation for either of us, so I hope that you take heed to this note and remove your product from X listing immediately.

Thank you for your prompt attention.

Your name.​

In your case you have a lot of them. I assume it's been going on for some time. For your listing you need to continually check "Other sellers" to see if anyone that you have not authorized is selling.

Amazon doesn't seem to give a shit about these sellers even though they ship nothing, cash out and then get banned.

Another way to prove this is to place a test order and show Amazon it's counterfeit. But seeing the estimated shipping date, I doubt they will ship anything and send out a fake China post tracking like mine.

I heard of other techniques where you just order all their stock and they get scared and cancel the order and remove themselves, or it's a temporary measure to stop bleeding on your listing and then you A-to-Z Refund it all later.

Lastly, it is possible they are selling a real version of your product somehow. So you might need to check but it gets annoying having to wait a month and they ship nothing.

 

[Denim Chicken]

The seller account on amazon.com is not me, its one of our retailers in the states.
If I tell our retailer to remove the listing from Amazon completely, will this stop? seeing as there wont be anything to highjack.
Kinda dont want our stuff on there anyway.

Hmm I'm not sure about that. I think you can delete the listing entirely but it may be possible for someone to make their own listing of your product as screenshotted above. It's a really annoying situation nonetheless but perhaps your retailers can do this and have them removed off the listing, sending the C&D letter alone works sometimes.

Are you sure you want to remove yourself from selling on Amazon entirely because of the hijacker? It's bound to happen, it happens if they see you're selling a bit.
Also a lot of times buyers don't see the option since they don't have the buy box and when they do, they see that they have no seller feedback and the price seems sketchy so they don't order from them anyway. It's annoying but can be dealt with so no need to avoid Amazon as a whole if you're getting sales from there.

 

[Vick]

to be honest i never wanted to be on there.
our retailer did it, without asking, but they are moving product. but nothing substantial. they are getting sales because of my advertising on facebook, if there wasnt an Amazon listing, all the people who ordered on Amazon wouldve just ordered directly from us.

I dont see how someone could highjack a listing if there isnt a listing. Either way this is killing my brand.

I want our products off there asap

Hmm I'm not sure about that. I think you can delete the listing entirely but it may be possible for someone to make their own listing of your product as screenshotted above. It's a really annoying situation nonetheless but perhaps your retailers can do this and have them removed off the listing, sending the C&D letter alone works sometimes.

Are you sure you want to remove yourself from selling on Amazon entirely because of the hijacker? It's bound to happen, it happens if they see you're selling a bit.
Also a lot of times buyers don't see the option since they don't have the buy box and when they do, they see that they have no seller feedback and the price seems sketchy so they don't order from them anyway. It's annoying but can be dealt with so no need to avoid Amazon as a whole if you're getting sales from there.

 

[Denim Chicken]

to be honest i never wanted to be on there.
our retailer did it, without asking, but they are moving product. but nothing substantial. they are getting sales because of my advertising on facebook, if there wasnt an Amazon listing, all the people who ordered on Amazon wouldve just ordered directly from us.

I dont see how someone could highjack a listing if there isnt a listing. Either way this is killing my brand.

I want our products off there asap

That makes sense. I think if you delete the listing you should be fine unless someone decides to blatantly steal your images and descriptions and post one as yourself.

 

[V8Bill]

LOVE the Vaitor frames but I can't wear polarized lenses. Any chance of a non polarised lens in the future? I can always have my own lenses made at an optometrist but they won't be as tough as yours (I'm guessing).

P.S. (added)...did you know there's an optical illusion on your main hero image on the front page? At first I thought I was looking at the outside of your glasses. Then realised after a few return visits that I was looking at the inside...lol funny.

 

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[amp0193]

I dont see how someone could highjack a listing if there isnt a listing. Either way this is killing my brand.

You're misunderstanding how Amazon works.

It's not "your" listing. Once that listing is created, and in Amazon, it's part of Amazon's catalog.

Just because your retailer set their inventory to 0 and removed it from their seller account, doesn't mean the listing went away. It's still there.

Now, it currently shows as "unavailable" because there are no sellers on it. And because it's unavailable, it won't show up in search, and for scammers/poachers looking for products to jump on, they aren't going to find it.

Unless they specifically have the objective to sell knock off eight eyewear shades, then when they go to add a product, it will probably come up as a product page they can list on.


My suggestion is to reach out to Amazon, get ahold of the catalog team, say you're the brand owner, and have them permanently delete the product listing. Not sure if that'll work, but it'll be the only way to get it done.



For some reason I haven't gotten a notification on your thread in months., I've followed since the beginning.

Glad to see your still killing it.

 

[JAJT]

My suggestion is to reach out to Amazon, get ahold of the catalog team, say you're the brand owner, and have them permanently delete the product listing. Not sure if that'll work, but it'll be the only way to get it done.

Or take over the listing through the brand registry, take control of the listing, and fulfill the product by merchant instead of FBA.

When someone buys from you on Amazon, just ship it from wherever you currently ship it. You can even technically qualify for Prime as long as you meet certain metrics.

You'd control the listing, get additional sales, and not have to change your current shipping methods.

Just an idea.

 

[Greg R]

Update?

 

[scottmsul]

I spent the better part of my Saturday reading this thread end-to-end. So much value! I can't believe how long it took, how many setbacks you overcame, and how you finally left your job and found your freedom. Congrats on the epic multi-year journey!

Seriously, if this thread was copied/pasted into a book verbatim with no editing or formatting, it would have more value than most business books lol.

 

[Greg R]

I spent the better part of my Saturday reading this thread end-to-end. So much value! I can't believe how long it took, how many setbacks you overcame, and how you finally left your job and found your freedom. Congrats on the epic multi-year journey!

Seriously, if this thread was copied/pasted into a book verbatim with no editing or formatting, it would have more value than most business books lol.

Business books? Try business school!

 

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[Laughingman21]

Update.
On another note. I have to admit. Life is good. We barely work now. Income keeps pouring in. I'm free to do whatever I want. Hit the gym everyday. Go running. Play games. Spend time with the wife and kid. Drive the R8. Etc.

I've just read through this thread and I'm blown away by the amount of work that went into getting your brand going and how resilient you've been in getting your product to market.

My favourite post of them all though was the one above. Hearing someone talk about achieving their dream (especially one so similar to mine) is inspirational. It'll definitely be something I keep in mind when I'm stuck in the Desert of Dessertion.

Thanks @Vick for sharing your FULL story - both the ups and downs - it's great proof of the Process vs Event MJ is always talking about.

 

[Vick]

Update?

Sorry my friends. I know I've been away for awhile. I've had a rough 2017, I prefer not to discuss, but it's not really business related. Although it has affected my business "hustle" which in turn has been a somewhat bad year. We did however make more this year then last, just not what I was expecting, mainly due to my "rough" year.

Anyway, things are getting better now.

Hopefully 2018 will be different.

You'll see more of me on the forum now.

I have some new products coming out within 3 months or so. A Wayfarer frame and Aviator. Maybe 2 of each, not sure yet.

I'm also working on a new frame, with a new material. It will be much stronger and more durable then our current material. But this will take probably 8-10 months to finish.

Also working on a clothing line for EIGHT. Trying to go a modern/futuristic route, but very subtle. Anyway, we'll see how that does. Obviously like always, I'll be testing the products before dumping a ton of cash.

And Snowboard/Ski googles. We should have those for next season, packaged and ready to go.

Amazon crap is being dealt with. So that shouldn't be a problem soon.

As for Facebook ads. Please tell me I'm not the only one who has seen a dramatic drop in conversions, been struggling with it all F*cking year. It seems as though the more you spend, the better your ads do... Surprise surprise.

Anyway, uhhh not sure what else to say. Ohh I did buy a new car last April. Decided my love of cars is too strong lol. So ya, I picked up a Porsche Cayman GT4. I was gonna get a Gallardo, but in my opinion there too old, didnt wanna fix it all the time. Wanted something more reliable. Anyway, glad I grabbed it. It's an amazing car.

All for now.

Cheers my friends.

Good to be back!

 

[jon.a]

It's good to see you back.

Sorry my friends. I know I've been away for awhile. I've had a rough 2017, I prefer not to discuss, but it's not really business related. Although it has affected my business "hustle" which in turn has been a somewhat bad year. We did however make more this year then last, just not what I was expecting, mainly due to my "rough" year.

Anyway, things are getting better now.

Hopefully 2018 will be different.

You'll see more of me on the forum now.

I have some new products coming out within 3 months or so. A Wayfarer frame and Aviator. Maybe 2 of each, not sure yet.

I'm also working on a new frame, with a new material. It will be much stronger and more durable then our current material. But this will take probably 8-10 months to finish.

Also working on a clothing line for EIGHT. Trying to go a modern/futuristic route, but very subtle. Anyway, we'll see how that does. Obviously like always, I'll be testing the products before dumping a ton of cash.

And Snowboard/Ski googles. We should have those for next season, packaged and ready to go.

Amazon crap is being dealt with. So that shouldn't be a problem soon.

As for Facebook ads. Please tell me I'm not the only one who has seen a dramatic drop in conversions, been struggling with it all F*cking year. It seems as though the more you spend, the better your ads do... Surprise surprise.

Anyway, uhhh not sure what else to say. Ohh I did buy a new car last April. Decided my love of cars is too strong lol. So ya, I picked up a Porsche Cayman GT4. I was gonna get a Gallardo, but in my opinion there too old, didnt wanna fix it all the time. Wanted something more reliable. Anyway, glad I grabbed it. It's an amazing car.

All for now.

Cheers my friends.

Good to be back!

 

[Eskil]

Nice to see an update from you man. I'm curious to see where you take the clothing line and especially the goggles. I would think you could do something with athletic / cycling goggles as well since they would require rigidity and strength?

 

[Vick]

VLUX frame renders. 1 of 5 new frames for this spring. It's a unisex frame, I'll have male renders later.

this frame has multiple lens variations, these are just prototype designs, things will change slightly among them. just examples.

Oh and I am aware of the geo intersections, still gotta work the hair a bit. just rough examples.



cheers

 

[Eskil]

VLUX frame renders. 1 of 5 new frames for this spring. It's a unisex frame, I'll have male renders later.

this frame has multiple lens variations, these are just prototype designs, things will change slightly among them. just examples.

Oh and I am aware of the geo intersections, still gotta work the hair a bit. just rough examples.

I already told you how amazing I think these look but I'm also curious from a production perspective - these will require some new molds, right?

 

[JAJT]

Awesome update. Glad to see you back

New renders look fantastic.

I still think this thread is one of the best (or at least one of my favorite) progress threads on the forum. It's one of the best examples of "process" I can think of.

Best of luck in 2018!

 

[Vick]

car renders. for another project im working on, but hey, maybe i can use these for marketing 8

Work in Progress stuff.

 

[Greg R]

I still think this thread is one of the best (or at least one of my favorite) progress threads on the forum. It's one of the best examples of "process" I can think of.

Couldn't agree more...

I binge read this thread a while back it. I was so hooked, I could barely eat and sleep.

Bookmarking specific posts was useless because it would have been 80% of the posts.

I'm still on the fence about complete transparency in progress threads, but it almost seems like you get more out of it because of other forum members.. Could be part of the reason why @Vick had so much success, but I have a feeling he would have achieved it all the same.

~Congrats.

 

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[amp0193]

I'm still on the fence about complete transparency in progress threads, but it almost seems like you get more out of it because of other forum members..

It totally depends on how big the Entry is for your business.

Several forum members have been burned by other forum members completely copying, and ripping of their business. I think @JasonR was one.

In @Vick 's case... completely custom designing sunglasses down to the mold... the Entry is pretty damn high.


But you're right, the support from the forum will be greater, the more transparent you are.

 

[Xeon]

Leaving my mark here after reading 68 pages of journey over a period of 4 to 5 days or more.

The V1s look sleek, but what really attracted me was the VOXI and the VERD (the flashy orange one). It's like the flashier and more flamboyant it looks, the more exciting it feels for a luxury brand.

Not sure if I missed this out, but how old were you when you start your first hustle (the pixel print one).

 

[Vick]

Leaving my mark here after reading 68 pages of journey over a period of 4 to 5 days or more.

The V1s look sleek, but what really attracted me was the VOXI and the VERD (the flashy orange one). It's like the flashier and more flamboyant it looks, the more exciting it feels for a luxury brand.

Not sure if I missed this out, but how old were you when you start your first hustle (the pixel print one).

It was 2011 I believe. I was 31 years old. And thanks bud.

 

[Laughingman21]

It totally depends on how big the Entry is for your business.

Several forum members have been burned by other forum members completely copying, and ripping of their business. I think @JasonR was one.

In @Vick 's case... completely custom designing sunglasses down to the mold... the Entry is pretty damn high.


But you're right, the support from the forum will be greater, the more transparent you are.

It's been a while since I read through this thread, but I thought there was someone that tried to copy @Vick idea and sell some Alibaba/China import sunglasses. From memory, it didn't go to well for them and they got banned pretty damned quick.

It's a shame that people copy/steal others ideas and completely rip them off. It ruins the forum for everyone as people will always be tempted to hold back. I know in my progress thread that I'd love to ask more questions, but in doing so, I'll give away my product and market (which have low barriers to entry) and risk copycats saturating the market with low priced, low imagination products.