Can Shopify rip me off?

[JAJT]

This is literally the hottest "passive income" trend right now.
And like all passive income trends, it's a lot of damn work.

Dropshipping went out of favor a while ago when Amazon private labeling got all hot and exciting. The trend has come back around to dropshipping again but in a lot more "tech savvy" way.

I'm in a few facebook shopify groups and I'd say that 80-90% of the folks in those groups are drop shipping. We're talking hundreds to thousands of people, just in a few groups.

You shouldn't be worried of Shopify stealing your idea. You should be worried that you are about 15 months behind the curve on this idea.

My goal is to not do anything.

So, since I'm "out of the picture" so much

I hope you only mean regarding the shipping - because your idea isn't even remotely passive.

What you are describing is starting an online marketing company based around physical product sales.

If you think it's as easy as turning on some ads, running some social media traffic and sitting back to watch 300k orders come in - you are dead wrong. You need to understand how to run traffic and optimize conversions at a well above average level and keep a hawk's eye on those numbers to make sure you remain profitable when platforms change their algorithms or when your ad has hit every eyeball that it can and stops being effective.

 

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[biophase]

So the end result is - the customer enters the order and pays for it - Shopify diverts and completes the order. The customer gets their product, and everyone gets paid. Except me. Since it is their system that everything takes place on, why is this so hard to understand how it could be hijacked by them? Hill, they don't even have to hack into anything - it's in their control already. And how could I find out about it happening? Well, if no records exist in "my" side of the equation, then no crime has been committed. So, I guess I can't know.

Ok let's put an end to this...

Suppose Shopify does exactly what you say... they divert your order and fulfill it themselves. How are they going to fulfill it? Are they going to suddenly manufacturer the product and ship it? I thought you were going to be first to market with this unique product and you would be the only one selling it?

Or wait, somebody else has all the inventory and is dropshipping or fulfilling for you right? So you're weakest link in your paranoia should be your supplier.

So let's say you launch and suddenly get alot of buzz and traffic. You know what your biggest worry should be? It will be the internet marketer who is sitting at home waiting for the next fidget spinner. He sees your stuff trending and calls your supplier and says look, I'll buy all your inventory today. Send it to my warehouse. Then he throws up 10 landing pages and blitzes Facebook with $100k spend per day. Your supplier will call you to say that he's out of stock. End of business.

I've bought all my dropshipper's inventory right before Xmas before so all my competitors went out of stock and I was the only store that had it in stock for the month of December.

 

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[Vigilante]

Yes, you are right. I'm looking to automate this and not work hard. Right now I trade hours for dollars, and I never work less than 60 hours a week. You think I want to trade more hours for dollars? Um, no.

I don't know what you consider easy, but I sure don't consider funnel pages and a drip campaign to be anywhere near hard. In fact, besides the lottery, I can't think of too many things that are easier. I guess it's the walk a mile in my shoes thing...

Let's call it the way it is? I don't need a lecture - and I am not stupid, so don't tell me this is hard. If a talented sixth grader can do it, it's not hard.

So many here can't understand one thing - and it's one of the major points MJ continually preaches: scale. Oh, but I guess when he says it, it's all good. Me, on the other hand, I'll be lucky to break even? Man, how big are the egos here anyway?

I'm going to sell a produced on demand product. No inventory. Plenty of competition, which makes me happy because that proves the market. I'm redefining the market, so I expect to do well. When I get the marketing figured out, this will scale.

I used the example of crap - er, rap - music before. Millions will buy it. Hate the product, but love their business model. That's one segment of the market I'm aiming for. If those fools have ten bucks for rap, they have money for my product. I'm not inventing anything new - I'm just doing it better.

A long time ago, I'm guessing when I was a teenager (decades ago), a guy was on Johnny Carson talking about "building a better mousetrap." He said he didn't have to, because he was selling over 10,000 a day. Every day of the year. At that young age, I knew huge success was possible. Now I have 24/7 mass marketing at my fingertips through the internet.

Because of the vast knowledge available to me, if I don't do this correctly, I'm a bonafide idiot. That's because there are more than 20 books on this type of marketing I can *download* right now. Wow - a library at my fingertips on anything I want to know - instantly. A computer I can type ANY question in, and get an answer, or it will direct me to a selection of books on any topic. Instantly.

Along with Shark Tank, a much better show is "The Profit." You want to see real world action in business, and learn a ton in the process? Watch that show. That guy can launch a powerhouse business in two weeks. And he does. Not just a website - but a business "presence" that makes millllllions. And he's an old fart from the older generation. I guess he reads a lot of books? Nobody can know everything, and I realize that about me. Why did I create this thread? To fill in the blanks of what I didn't know.

But - with that said - I admit I am new, and I admit I am not chomping at the bit to jump in and work my butt off. I've been doing that since I was ten. From ten on, I was making money. That's not the trait of a lazy person. I'm anything but lazy. Wanting to harness the power that is available to me, might be called - smart.

BTW, I'm not arguing with you, or defending myself, even. I'm just adding insight to the very narrow picture you have of me. And the ones here that "rag on me" I pay as much attention to them as they're worth; which isn't much. Every circus has its clowns. Just learn to identify them and don't waste time discussing things with them - and everything will be fine. And dandy.

PS - by work, one thing I was doing for money as a kid was shoveling snow. That was before anyone owned a snow blower. You should try shoveling two feet of heavy snow for about five hours... for money. You wouldn't do it. It's too hard, even though you're at least twice as strong as I was when I was ten. Does that make you lazy? Probably not. It makes you smart. Ah ha - now things are becoming much more clear...

While you were reading a book and mentally masturbating about your easy millions... that guy @biophase just sold his last company for the type of money you daydream about. Keep watching Shark Tank reruns and talking a big game while talking down to people that know 100x more than you. I'm sure your easy path to tens of dollars will work out great for you. He obviously should have been watching Shark Tank instead of building and selling his business.

Please come back and update this thread when you've sold your first unit. Easy peasy.

BTW in your dream of scale, I personally have sold approaching roughly $500,000,000 to retailers nationwide. Doesn't mean shit. The net margin you bank is all that matters. If you knew the true story of Shark Tank and their contestants you might spend more time listening to real entrepreneurs you had access to than you would hero worshipping a bunch of made for TV inspirational drama.

Good luck to you! Your ego is strong, and I hope your intellect catches up as that could make you unstoppable.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So many super heroes here. Ask for a little advice, and the macho drill Sargents surface, ready for hand to hand combat.

You're insufferable.

Your biggest problem won't be Shopify, it will be your ego.

I'd comment and throw a little advice your way, but I made a promise to myself that I will stop wasting my time on people who can't show a little modicum of gratitude. You sound no different than a 19 year old who knows everything, and when he hears something his ego finds bruising, out come the passive aggressive barbs and chest-pounding.

I haven't looked at every person who responded to your question, but in a 1+ pages I see a couple of guys who have had multiple businesses, multiple liquidation events of "never work again" money. One guy is responsible for half a billion in product movement. Yes, they're damn super-heroes who have decided to allocate a small amount of their precious time to YOU. But you're already a KING who is entitled to their knowledge, advice, and time.

You've heard it before but, if you're so brilliant, why aren't you rich?

We just want to see you succeed.

Indeed we do.

Success and freedom is the desired outcome, more so than the super-heroes being right. It would be a privilege to say "Damn, great job. You killed it with those fidget spinners and we were wrong."

The "super heroes" here don't have a problem being wrong, they have a problem with ingratitude, disrespect, and entitlement. The super-heroes understand that TIME is their greatest asset so they're careful who they GIFT it to. Perhaps the aforementioned advice would be better absorbed if it weren't FREE but from a $10,000 coaching program.

 

[biophase]

I like the responses, but let me make things more clear, just to be sure that I am understanding everything correctly.

I build an infrastructure of funnels, etc. selling candles. I want this to be totally automated. I want my customers to find my websites, and eventually be led to my Shopify ordering page. There they will place an order for a candle, and it will automatically to to Candles USA, which will ship the candle out.

Throughout this entire process, I will not be involved in handling an order in any way. And I'm sure not going to be shipping anything. My goal is to not do anything.

So, since I'm "out of the picture" so much, my worry is that Shopify could accept the orders somehow without me knowing about it, and "hijack" my sales. Since the order process goes through them, could they short circuit the process somehow and cut me out of the picture? I would be using the manufacturer/merchant that is already approved and set up with the Shopify system.

Maybe that makes things a bit more clear. Do I have anything to worry about?

I'm pretty sure thousands of stores already do this. They just run an app on the backend that talks to whatever system you supplier has and automatically forwards the orders.

But seriously, do you think a company trader on the NASDAQ is going to siphon a few bucks from you? Your store isn't even going to be noticed. What are they going to do, find a different candle supplier and divert sales to make hundreds of dollars a month?

What worries me more is that you want to be "out of the picture". That's not going to help grow your store.

 

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[Scot]

It's not candles, but let's say it is. Designer candles. My plan is to launch these with a lot of fanfare, and then - like crops - let em grow. I don't know what I can do day to day to help sales along. I'm going for selling 300K of these and making $3 each. This is "one is a series" of products, that I hope to have similar results with.

Of course, I fully realize that I may be missing the boat completely. If that is the case, any details would be appreciated on what I should be doing differently.



Like I said, they are not candles, but if they were, imagine they would be diamond shaped candles in different colors that are covered with sparkly glitter. Nobody has these types of candles. So, I'm not worried about competition. I just want to sell my X amount, and be done with it. If the business is even around five years from now, I won't care. I'm going for the "hit song" on the radio - make my money now, and let it run its course. I know my "song" has a market life and will fade away. I want to maximize that market in a very short time - say, 4-5 months. After that, it will slow to a trickle, or a steady pace, maybe.

Put another way, I'm going for the infomercial type of bang. They launch a product on TV - it sells like crazy for a few months, and then it fades away. I'm looking for similar results. Will it happen? I don't know. But I don't want the "grow a garden" type of business that is going to take a lot of work and grow slowly over time. I want flash in the pan results. If my product is done right, by the time the competitors get in the picture, I will have captured over half of the market. Anyway - that's the plan ~

Simple. Short. Effective. I hope ~

I’ll be that guy. Have you ever sold a product before?

Because that’s now how this works.

You don’t just launch a product with lots a fanfair to huge opening numbers in a month and then let it trickle off and die.

You open with a decent “that wasn’t bad” and you grow your customer base and tweak your advertising and message until, a year down the road you say, “wow I didn’t know I could sell this many in a day.”

Not going to touch on the flawed thinking of chasing an event.

But I’m going to point out that that’s not how the real world work. Unless you plan on spending all your profit on massive magically high converting ads.

 

[Scot]

Plus 1 to what @Joaquim said.

Shopify is in the business of building an ecommerce platform for other businesses to use.

If they started ripping off their customers, do you think their clients would continue to use them?

 

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[biophase]

1) I have researched subbing out the work to design my products. I found that the cost is way too high, and the quality is very sub-par. That throws it squarely back in my lap.

2) I have taken the position that I must create the designs of this product myself. I don't have the capabilities to do this right now, but I will within a couple of weeks. I have bought a new computer and software that will allow me to create world class results. Needless to say, I'm not taking any shortcuts. The end results will be excellent, even in the established market I am competing in. I have done things very similar to this before, but not computer based.

3) I am consuming books on the marketing methods I will need to launch this on a large national level.

4) Both the creation and the marketing are pretty intensive endeavors - but nothing that is impossible by any means. I have hired a company to help with the marketing phase of this, and may hire more people if I feel the launch will be lacking in quality or power.

5) I am highly considering a kick starter campaign, as this is a very consumer orientated product. I know I could sell a few thousand of my products there. This will serve to launch, as well as fund, my business for the first few months - not to mention the inherent marketing that will boost it for a long time.

I have several books on Kick Starter, as I am thinking this would be a no-brainer to launch it. The key is having a product that get noticed right away by being unique and stunning. With powerful marketing being behind it, I expect it to obtain orbit in less than two months. At that time, I don't want to be saddled with running the company day to day, or developing products. I'll leave that to Shopify. I want to maximize the marketing. I'm even looking at licensing deals to incorporate "legendary" brands into my product, like Harley Davidson, for one.

Marketing is the key that will unlock all the doors. One small but powerful example of that is this: Let's say I get 3,000 people to buy my product in the first month, which I consider to be conservative, but let's go with that. I now have 3,000 customers that I can send a promotion to to give them, say, 30% off our "new line" of products - but only if they order within the next six days. Bam - instant mass advertising that doesn't cost me a dime. I might not make much money on it - but I'm not losing money. I'll play that game to scale this up.

I'm keeping my profits low. Say 2-3 bucks per item. If I do 5,000 sales a month, life is good. I expect to do more than that, but those are my conservative projections. I can "expand" my lines of products to tap into my client base even further.

This is an amazing adventure. It's like I've been drugged my whole life, and now I'm off the drugs and fully awake, for the first time.

Ok this update makes absolutely no sense now. So you basically don't have your product designed yet. Yes, I understand that it may be a t-shirt or something that is made on demand, but you are sitting at the idea phase, basically step 1. You don't even have your designs yet?

You just bought a computer? Are you learning photoshop, illustrator or a CAD program? All have steep learning curves. I guess you could be proficient in 2 weeks on one of these, but highly unlikely to the level you need to be.

Then you toss in kickstarter as a means of launch. Ummm, this is not the way to launch. Do you have money to pay for your product or not? You do know that successful kickstarter campaigns take months of pre-work before the launch right? Of course you do, because you've read a bunch of kickstarter books. But then again, you didn't know that Kickstarter is the best way to get ripped off and beat to market.

"I now have 3,000 customers that I can send a promotion to to give them, say, 30% off our "new line" of products - but only if they order within the next six days. Bam - instant mass advertising that doesn't cost me a dime."

LOL, OMG, I can't laughed out loud more at this sentence. You made me scare my dog. I'm 100% sure that this will work. It does sound like you're on drugs now.

You sound like a theory and step by step person. You've read alot of books and plan to follow them into battle. This is great but if you think everything plays out like the books, you are going to unpleasantly surprised and your bank account is not going to like it either.

 

[Vigilante]

I like the responses, but let me make things more clear, just to be sure that I am understanding everything correctly.

I build an infrastructure of funnels, etc. selling candles. I want this to be totally automated. I want my customers to find my websites, and eventually be led to my Shopify ordering page. There they will place an order for a candle, and it will automatically to to Candles USA, which will ship the candle out.

Throughout this entire process, I will not be involved in handling an order in any way. And I'm sure not going to be shipping anything. My goal is to not do anything.

So, since I'm "out of the picture" so much, my worry is that Shopify could accept the orders somehow without me knowing about it, and "hijack" my sales. Since the order process goes through them, could they short circuit the process somehow and cut me out of the picture? I would be using the manufacturer/merchant that is already approved and set up with the Shopify system.

Maybe that makes things a bit more clear. Do I have anything to worry about?

No.

Competitors? Yes.

Shopify? No.

 

[biophase]

Well Bio, I just watched a couple past episodes of Shark Tank last night. One was from a guy selling sunglasses. These were not ordinary sunglasses. They were designed for computer displays.

How much hope can this poor sap possibly have of selling sunglasses? A cheap commodity product.

Everyone said he was nuts, except Laurie, who did eventually make a deal with him. The take away from that episode was that Laurie had previously sold 30 million worth of sunglasses before. 30 mill. That kind of insight makes me spit out my rum and coke! Did she just say 30 mill? Yes, and without even blinking an eye.

I'm not going for one or two hundred. I'm going for a home run. And then, I have another product in the wings that will also launch and hopefully do well. Mastering the marketing is what it's all about.

Now if I had come on here promoting something as simple as sunglasses, I could understand the doubt. If I was sane, I should doubt it too.

With the right marketing and structure in place - which is the point of this thread to start with - I expect to hit sales targets that maybe nobody here has ever done. The "tone" I get from a lot of people is set this lemonade stand up and start making money! Um, no - I want to be on the shelves of every grocery store in the land, instead of starting tomorrow with my own cute little lemonade stand.

Just thought you might like to know another side to the story. I am in the learning/building stage at the moment, and am in no hurry to launch this until it is fully ready.

If you watch Shark Tank, I think you'll be inspired. Simple products make millions there. It takes a simple mind of sorts, to grasp that dream. I think it can be done. Your advice has given me things to carefully consider, and I thank you for that. I am here to learn from the experience of the wisest of the wise, and your posts are certainly in that category.

I don't understand your post. So Laurie on Shark Tank has sold 30 million pairs of sunglasses. Yes, we all know that. But what does this have to do with you? Simple products make millions. So why did the sunglasses guy want Lorie's help? Why did he come on Shark Tank? Selling 30 million pieces is not about the product, it's about the PERSON!!! Read that again, it's not the product that sells, it's the PERSON selling it!

It didn't matter what you were selling, you never said that you weren't selling sunglasses or were selling paint brush covers. If you really want to know why people are ragging on you, it is because you are inexperienced and naive. But being naive isn't bad because sometimes you do unorthodox things because you don't know better and it actually succeeds.

The "tone" that you are portraying is that you aren't a hard worker.

"First, if this goes as planned, it will be on auto-pilot, and it will be one of my baby business ventures that I don't have to tend to - which is my plan"

"My plan is to launch these with a lot of fanfare, and then - like crops - let em grow."

The "tone" that you are portraying is that you are a newbie who has never even tried to do this before.

"I don't know what I can do day to day to help sales along."

The "tone" that you are portraying is that you are ignorant of how much hard work is required.

"I am naive... but the funnels, landing pages, facebook buzz, et al, look so extremely easy to me."

Seriously, if you think funnels, landing pages, facebook ads are easy, you are in for a hard lesson once you start spending your money. I'll say, holy F*ck, funnels are hard and holy F*ck, landing pages are hard and holy F*ck, facebook ads are even harder. I'd love to see if you can even come close to breaking even on your first try.

 

[Scot]

If he can sell 300,000 unit’s this quick with minimal effort, I want to hire him immediately as my marketing director.

 

[ZCP]

There. Happy now?

No. Will be happy when you sell one. We just want to see you succeed. Now quit posting and get to work selling. Start a progress thread. Link it here. We can come over and help.

 

[biophase]

I want flash in the pan results. If my product is done right, by the time the competitors get in the picture, I will have captured over half of the market. Anyway - that's the plan ~

Simple. Short. Effective. I hope ~

Good luck. You want a Snuggie but without any customer service or social media or marketing campaign You don’t know how to drive sales day to day to help it along?

I see zero percent chance that it’s going to go the way you think.

This is more realistic. You are going to launch and sell 50 of them in a day and then maybe 20 the next day, then a trickle of 1-3 sales a day and then nothing in week 3.

 

[Joaquim]

The only business of Shopify is selling their platform, nothing else.

Your plan should work perfectly.

 

[Xeon]

 

[RobD88]

If you think it's as easy as turning on some ads, running some social media traffic and sitting back to watch 300k orders come in - you are dead wrong. You need to understand how to run traffic and optimize conversions at a well above average level and keep a hawk's eye on those numbers to make sure you remain profitable when platforms change their algorithms or when your ad has hit every eyeball that it can and stops being effective.

^^^^ And what he said ^^^^

 

[Vigilante]

Good luck. You want a Snuggie but without any customer service or social media or marketing campaign You don’t know how to drive sales day to day to help it along?

I see zero percent chance that it’s going to go the way you think.

This is more realistic. You are going to launch and sell 50 of them in a day and then maybe 20 the next day, then a trickle of 1-3 sales a day and then nothing in week 3.

While worrying that the concept is so hot that even a service provider will want to switch business models specifically to knock it off.

 

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[biophase]

Yes, you are right. I'm looking to automate this and not work hard. Right now I trade hours for dollars, and I never work less than 60 hours a week. You think I want to trade more hours for dollars? Um, no.

I don't know what you consider easy, but I sure don't consider funnel pages and a drip campaign to be anywhere near hard. In fact, besides the lottery, I can't think of too many things that are easier. I guess it's the walk a mile in my shoes thing...

Let's call it the way it is? I don't need a lecture - and I am not stupid, so don't tell me this is hard. If a talented sixth grader can do it, it's not hard.

So many here can't understand one thing - and it's one of the major points MJ continually preaches: scale. Oh, but I guess when he says it, it's all good. Me, on the other hand, I'll be lucky to break even? Man, how big are the egos here anyway?

I'm going to sell a produced on demand product. No inventory. Plenty of competition, which makes me happy because that proves the market. I'm redefining the market, so I expect to do well. When I get the marketing figured out, this will scale.

I used the example of crap - er, rap - music before. Millions will buy it. Hate the product, but love their business model. That's one segment of the market I'm aiming for. If those fools have ten bucks for rap, they have money for my product. I'm not inventing anything new - I'm just doing it better.

A long time ago, I'm guessing when I was a teenager (decades ago), a guy was on Johnny Carson talking about "building a better mousetrap." He said he didn't have to, because he was selling over 10,000 a day. Every day of the year. At that young age, I knew huge success was possible. Now I have 24/7 mass marketing at my fingertips through the internet.

Because of the vast knowledge available to me, if I don't do this correctly, I'm a bonafide idiot. That's because there are more than 20 books on this type of marketing I can *download* right now. Wow - a library at my fingertips on anything I want to know - instantly. A computer I can type ANY question in, and get an answer, or it will direct me to a selection of books on any topic. Instantly.

Along with Shark Tank, a much better show is "The Profit." You want to see real world action in business, and learn a ton in the process? Watch that show. That guy can launch a powerhouse business in two weeks. And he does. Not just a website - but a business "presence" that makes millllllions. And he's an old fart from the older generation. I guess he reads a lot of books? Nobody can know everything, and I realize that about me. Why did I create this thread? To fill in the blanks of what I didn't know.

But - with that said - I admit I am new, and I admit I am not chomping at the bit to jump in and work my butt off. I've been doing that since I was ten. From ten on, I was making money. That's not the trait of a lazy person. I'm anything but lazy. Wanting to harness the power that is available to me, might be called - smart.

BTW, I'm not arguing with you, or defending myself, even. I'm just adding insight to the very narrow picture you have of me. And the ones here that "rag on me" I pay as much attention to them as they're worth; which isn't much. Every circus has its clowns. Just learn to identify them and don't waste time discussing things with them - and everything will be fine. And dandy.

PS - by work, one thing I was doing for money as a kid was shoveling snow. That was before anyone owned a snow blower. You should try shoveling two feet of heavy snow for about five hours... for money. You wouldn't do it. It's too hard, even though you're at least twice as strong as I was when I was ten. Does that make you lazy? Probably not. It makes you smart. Ah ha - now things are becoming much more clear...

I really hope you do well. The way you talk just reminds me of so many others that are just naive.

Please come back and let us know how it goes. I like that you think this is easy. In fact, i do too. The only difference is that I know the work ahead of me.

Getting six pack abs is easy. Everyone knows how to do it, it’s a pretty simple step by step process. But not everyone will do the work it takes to get them.

Business is actually 100% opposite. You can follow a step by step process and fail because nothing is step by step. Nothing goes smoothly. Everything costs 3x more and takes 2x longer than you think.

Btw, I’ve seen every shark tank and profit episode. I’ve also shoveled snow when I was little and got paid $.50 by an old lady. Lesson learned, set your price before you start! But Who cares about that?

 

[Real Deal Denver]

I have no ego to bruise, so I deeply appreciate the comments here.

What I know is what I have learned from the short reads on Amazon, i.e. how to sell a million products in a week. I don't know how to do this, and I have not done it. But I know other people have, and I'm planning on following in their footsteps.

I may be naive, ok - I'll rephrase that - I am naive... but the funnels, landing pages, facebook buzz, et al, look so extremely easy to me. Maybe that's because I'm from the old school where *nothing* happened automatically. Every sale, every contact, every client, had to be led by the hand. Now - we have this thing called "going viral" which I think I can tap in to.

If you think it's as easy as turning on some ads, running some social media traffic and sitting back to watch 300k orders come in - you are dead wrong. You need to understand how to run traffic and optimize conversions at a well above average level and keep a hawk's eye on those numbers to make sure you remain profitable when platforms change their algorithms or when your ad has hit every eyeball that it can and stops being effective.

That is a part of my plan, but not my main focus. Let me give you a real life example which absolutely astounds me. I take it as a learning lesson. Some rapper releases a CD of the worst crap I've ever heard. It doesn't even register a ONE on a scale of 1 to 10. Next thing you know, he's in the news wearing 100 lbs of gold chain, being chauffeured in a limo. I don't just see the crap there - I am studying the sheer ability of there being so many idiots that will shell out money for his product. Let's keep this as a study in marketing example, and not make it into a lesson about tastes, or whatever. The fact is - anything will sell if you tap into the right market - the vein of gold. This proves it.

This is more realistic. You are going to launch and sell 50 of them in a day and then maybe 20 the next day, then a trickle of 1-3 sales a day and then nothing in week 3.

My product is going to be talked about. That is the core strategy that I'm hoping will propel it to super high heights. I'm banking on people that see it, to tell 5 more people. That's the simple method of going viral. 5 people from each person, repeated for 10 days is a cumulative total of over 12 million people. I am shooting for 2 million being customers. As astronomical as this sounds, that is the power of numbers, and I think I'm being very conservative in my sales estimate. My product is 100 times better than the rap that is making millions. Hate their product, but I sure like their sales numbers!

If he can sell 300,000 unit’s this quick with minimal effort, I want to hire him immediately as my marketing director.

Love your posts Scot. I'd jump at the chance for us to work together.

With that said, I know for a fact that nothing is impossible. I've been doing nothing for years! LOL.

I know I'm in that insane group of dreamers that really doesn't know any better of what to expect realistically. But, enough of those insane people do make it big, so the rest of us are excited enough to believe we can do it too...

But I am not totally lost in dreaming. That's why I read every word here. Twice. I know great advice when I hear it, and I want to say that I appreciate it tremendously!

 

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[minivanman]

I didn't read all the responses but here is what I think is the perfect plan. Send me a message with your idea. I'll put it on Shopify myself. In 3 years I'll let you know if I think Shopify ripped me off or not and I will send you a report of how well I did or didn't do. That way it is 100% safe for you. No risk at all. I will be waiting on the message

 

[biophase]

How about you just check your inventory at the end of the week and see if it matches up with your orders?

 

[Scot]

OP’s profile says he’s 63.

Some of his comments make me believe that. Talking about selling stuff to stupid people who like rap. You sound like my grandfather.

But your complete inability to realize you’re being naive, you sound like a 17 year old. You’re throwing temper tantrums like one too.

But what do I know?

 

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[Xeon]

I have not been able to find out the details, but I heard that the guy that invented the fishline weed trimmer did not make any money. He had his invention engineered around his design. It was stolen from him.

That's one reason I research things. There are hundreds more.

For that bit of knowledge, you're welcome.

I thought I'm the biggest worrywart and most paranoid guy among everyone I've known, but I guessed you dethroned me lol

Let's say you're scared of Shopify stealing your idea. How will you sell online then?

Amazon? Amazon employees might steal your ideas if they see you selling 5,000 items per day. Heck, even Jeff Bezos with a net worth of 128.7 billion USD might do it!

Sell on your own website? Hosted on GoDaddy? They might steal it too!

Maybe the only way to prevent all these is to setup your own servers and infrastructure/data center, and host your website on that.......

 

[GSF]

Let me explain. Shopify will be THE portal which takes the order. The sale will be completed using their software. They will have the customer name, the credit card number. The order. That puts them in a unique position to cut ME out of the picture. Can an employee of Amazon cut me out of the picture AND keep the sale? No. But if Shopify does it, I could be completely in the dark about it. The sale is entered into THEIR system - not mine. They could do an end run and complete the sale with the fulfillment center. Could it happen? Yes. Would it? I don't know.

So the end result is - the customer enters the order and pays for it - Shopify diverts and completes the order. The customer gets their product, and everyone gets paid. Except me. Since it is their system that everything takes place on, why is this so hard to understand how it could be hijacked by them? Hill, they don't even have to hack into anything - it's in their control already. And how could I find out about it happening? Well, if no records exist in "my" side of the equation, then no crime has been committed. So, I guess I can't know.

It's kind of like a cash transaction in a restaurant/bar/show/Uber that never makes it to the cash register. How can you know it happened? I know of several Uber drivers that have the contact info for some regular clients. Can they bypass Uber? Child's play. I watched a show on how a bar was losing money (Bar Rescue). They had investigators stake it out for weeks. EVERY sale was punched into the system and accounted for. Where was the money going? It was only when the investigators said that they personally watched EVERY sale being rung up and collected on all three cash registers, that the owner said "three?" I only have TWO cash registers.

If you want to not be ripped off, you have to think like a crook. That's just due diligence. If you want 100+ more stories, I have them.



For efficiency of scale, I don't want to handle the ordering process. I don't want to handle the order fulfillment either. BUT I do want to know how I can NOT be cut out of the picture.

I find your comments about worrying about my idea/sale being stolen kind of funny. You're from Singapore? I am not involved in any business relationships abroad, but I do remember knock offs of many products coming from that part of the world. I've read articles that it's an accepted part of their culture, even. Some parts of the world don't believe they have to pay a price to a software company, or a movie company, for the costs of "developing" their products. So they think bootlegging or knocking off a product is perfectly justified. These articles astounded me, but they're true. They're all over the internet too - this is anything but a secret.

And you, coming from Singapore even, think I'm paranoid?

So what, shopify takes ownership of your store, swaps your payment account details with theirs and cuts you out. That's not gonna happen, as far as I know has never happened and you should not even be worrying about. You haven't even had a sale yet, in the time that you've been worrying about this you could have started the store and actually made a sale and proved the concept!

 

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[GSF]

Hey @Real Deal Denver, wow that post was long, must have taken some time and energy.

Anyway, while you were busy ego typing, I was asleep, and my shopify app was pinging with sales notifications! a truly great feeling that I hope one day you can experience too. Also since you started this thread, I've started yet another shopify store! And I can report, I have checked....shopify have never stolen a single sale....I double checked just for you!

My cheekiness aside, I really do hope you get sales too and I wish you all the best!

P.s. I forgive you for the UK remark, I actually agree on point 1 being cheeky, point 2 being full of ourselves, but point 3 we would have to have a further discussion about, that's if it wasn't too much a waste of your time.

P.p.s. It's ok, my opinion of men your age from Denver, their ability to start a shopify store and how they conduct themselves has not been effected based on my reading of your posts.

 

[GSF]

I don't know why, but everyone I've ever encountered from UK has been cheeky. A bit full of themselves. And kind of a waste of time.

 

[drumworx]

Well Bio, I just watched a couple past episodes of Shark Tank last night. One was from a guy selling sunglasses. These were not ordinary sunglasses. They were designed for computer displays.

How much hope can this poor sap possibly have of selling sunglasses? A cheap commodity product.

Everyone said he was nuts, except Laurie, who did eventually make a deal with him. The take away from that episode was that Laurie had previously sold 30 million worth of sunglasses before. 30 mill. That kind of insight makes me spit out my rum and coke! Did she just say 30 mill? Yes, and without even blinking an eye.

I'm not going for one or two hundred. I'm going for a home run. And then, I have another product in the wings that will also launch and hopefully do well. Mastering the marketing is what it's all about.

Now if I had come on here promoting something as simple as sunglasses, I could understand the doubt. If I was sane, I should doubt it too.

With the right marketing and structure in place - which is the point of this thread to start with - I expect to hit sales targets that maybe nobody here has ever done. The "tone" I get from a lot of people is set this lemonade stand up and start making money! Um, no - I want to be on the shelves of every grocery store in the land, instead of starting tomorrow with my own cute little lemonade stand.

Just thought you might like to know another side to the story. I am in the learning/building stage at the moment, and am in no hurry to launch this until it is fully ready.

If you watch Shark Tank, I think you'll be inspired. Simple products make millions there. It takes a simple mind of sorts, to grasp that dream. I think it can be done. Your advice has given me things to carefully consider, and I thank you for that. I am here to learn from the experience of the wisest of the wise, and your posts are certainly in that category.

Just check the ego mate and you're gonna do fantastic!

 

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[ZCP]

How many have you sold?

 

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[Xeon]

Can an employee of Amazon cut me out of the picture AND keep the sale? No. But if Shopify does it, I could be completely in the dark about it.

Amazon is selling/hijacking our product without authorization. Please HELP

Amazon has similar issues. Also, can't remember where I read this from, it was from some thread somewhere in this forum, which theorizes there's a possiblity Amazon is using sellers to see which products sell most, and then they come up with their own same products to sell. Amazon has YOUR DATA and movements, and also your customers' data, which you don't have full access to. With a Shopify store, you've full access to your customers' data which you can then use to contact for email newsletters for promotions and sales.

If you want to not be ripped off, you have to think like a crook. That's just due diligence. If you want 100+ more stories, I have them.

Sounds badass, I love stories. Do tell. Sometimes I get tired of watching youtube 20 mins before I sleep, and your stories can inspire me.

One more thing you should worry about.
If your manufacturer, the one who produces your on-demand products, sees that you're selling hundreds of thousands of units, what makes you think they won't start selling direct to consumers instead?! From reading the threads here, it has happened and it will happen.

Also, you're dropshipping right? That manufacturer also has your customers data and everything, which in future, they might then start marketing towards.

The probability of all that happening (read: YOUR MANU RIPPING YOU OFF), IS WAY higher than Shopify ripping you off.
That manufacturer of yours is probably worth a couple million or less, Shopify is worth billions.

You're from Singapore? I am not involved in any business relationships abroad, but I do remember knock offs of many products coming from that part of the world. I've read articles that it's an accepted part of their culture, even.

Keep calm and don't insult countries, and don't lump all countries from the East together. Not every asian culture is the same.
That's like saying the US and Haiti are both equally rich and mighty superpower countries just because they belong to the West?

Some parts of the world don't believe they have to pay a price to a software company, or a movie company, for the costs of "developing" their products. So they think bootlegging or knocking off a product is perfectly justified.

This happens in almost every country. You seem to be extremely biased against "some parts of the world".
Here's the thing, look around your home and neighborhood. Are they all 100% Made-In-America, including the materials and packaging, or do they come from "some parts of the world", in one way or another?

Not sure how old you are but you need to read more, observe more, be more humble and travel out to other parts of the world if you can.

Yes, you are right. I'm looking to automate this and not work hard. Right now I trade hours for dollars, and I never work less than 60 hours a week. You think I want to trade more hours for dollars?

You're missing some important parts of the book, it seems.
The idea in the book is to build a business based on CENTS principles, and get that off the ground running in the shortest time possible, so you don't have to grind for another 35 more years, working 12 hours per day earning US$5,000 per month.

During those early years when the business starts up, you need to grind and put in tons of hours.
You're missing out all these parts. Even MJ had to grind initially when he started his Limos website!

I sure don't consider funnel pages and a drip campaign to be anywhere near hard. In fact, besides the lottery, I can't think of too many things that are easier.

Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, redeem my soul and sins, let me be with You, in the Garden of the Most High Lord.

I'm going to sell a produced on demand product. No inventory. Plenty of competition, which makes me happy because that proves the market.

Is it those print on demand merchandise thing? Cafepress, Zazzle, Spreadshirt, RedBubble, Threadless and Teespring?

That guy can launch a powerhouse business in two weeks. And he does. Not just a website - but a business "presence" that makes millllllions.

What is his background? Did he have any experience or successful businesses before that? Or is he just a complete noob who went from burger flipper to powerhouse launcher in 2 weeks?
I can bet Mark Cuban can lose all his billions today and he can start a business next week and make it profit within a month or less.

And he's an old fart from the older generation.

Arrogance. You were the one who started that thread asking people how to convince and get your 67-year old father to embrace and switch to the Fastlane. Old fart?! My God.

Btw, I can't believe you replied that way to Biophase. WTF, have you even READ his progress thread???!!!
And that part where you mentioned "sixth graders can do what most people here do"......

I'm done, I need to take my dinner now.

While you were reading a book and mentally masturbating about your easy millions... that guy @biophase just sold his last company for the type of money you daydream about. Keep watching Shark Tank reruns and talking a big game while talking down to people that know 100x more than you. I'm sure your easy path to tens of dollars will work out great for you. He obviously should have been watching Shark Tank instead of building and selling his business.

Please come back and update this thread when you've sold your first unit. Easy peasy.

BTW in your dream of scale, I personally have sold approaching roughly $500,000,000 to retailers nationwide. Doesn't mean sh*t. The net margin you bank is all that matters. If you knew the true story of Shark Tank and their contestants you might spend more time listening to real entrepreneurs you had access to than you would hero worshipping a bunch of made for TV inspirational drama.

Good luck to you! Your ego is strong, and I hope your intellect catches up as that could make you unstoppable.

First time reading a wall of text post by Vigilante. Almost all his posts were witty one-liners

 

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[biophase]

Can you elaborate on that Bio?

Sure, if you sell 50 in a week, call your supplier and ask them how many they shipped out. If they shipped out 80 then you will know shopify stole 30 orders from you.