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Free registration at the forum removes this block.Progress thread. I posted where I'm at and asked for advice. Busy work or not, it's all progress the way I see it.All I read here is a bunch of busy work done before any real action is taken.
I must have misinterpreted the purpose of this sub forum. MOD, please feel free to delete my thread.
I'd recommend you don't delete this thread,
Isn't this something you must have in order to be able to deal with legitimate distributors? On top of that you absolutely must have Certificate of Authority to collect sales tax.My biggest mistake in business was taking the risk (getting a license, registering the business, things like that) before getting a customer. I'm currently running a business without sales.
there are plenty of threads out here that mentioned nothing about sales in their initial posts, surprisingly they passed for a progress. The response that I got was, "meh so what" and no one cared to answer the two questions I had, thus I choose to remove it.
Isn't this something you must have in order to be able to deal with legitimate distributors? On top of that you absolutely must have Certificate of Authority to collect sales tax.
Just because other people are doing it "succesfully" doesn't necessarily mean you can too. There are literally millions of singers, actors, and people in MLMs not making any money for a variety of factors not limited to the ridiculously high levels of competition. Produce the first sale to make sure the idea works. If it turns out you can't really make the idea work then you can simply just cut your losses. What you're doing is ... well ... wasting a lot of time (and money) on things that aren't important. No sales, no business is the general philosopy are here. Make that first sale and people here will be excited and happy for you, but not before.The thing is, why do I need to test the ground selling an item or two, just to see if it works when there are successful businesses who already did it for me? I'm not here to build the universe from scratch, if they could do it, so can I.
Several companies didn't even want to consider talking to me until I showed them proof that my website is in development (they don't even sell to ebayers or amazon merchants), then I had to provide provide them with my resale number and a copy of my business license. What product are you going to be testing if no one will let you in B2B world without those things?Just because other people are doing it "succesfully" doesn't necessarily mean you can too. There are literally millions of singers, actors, and people in MLMs not making any money for a variety of factors not limited to the ridiculously high levels of competition. Produce the first sale to make sure the idea works. If it turns out you can't really make the idea work then you can simply just cut your losses. What you're doing is ... well ... wasting a lot of time (and money) on things that aren't important. No sales, no business is the general philosopy are here. Make that first sale and people here will be excited and happy for you, but not before.
Anyway, I spent all day yesterday researching the tax topic and the end result I guess is passable, but not ideal. My decision is to charge items shipped to NY a flat 7% sales tax fee (lowest NY rate), then calculate the difference and send the balance to the state of NY at tax time.
Wednesday, once my shipment is in my possession, I'll be working on accurate product dimensions and figuring out the best way to get shipping supplies. If anyone cares to share about their shipping technique, please, feel free to share, I'm all ears!
Sales tax is not a big deal. It should be based on your business location, just collect your city and state tax from in state buyers.
Shipping is not a big deal either. Just buy some boxes from Uline and package peanuts, get a Fedex account.
I didn't read your original post but I think I see what others are saying now. You are worried about tax and shipping where you should be concentrating on sales and your website.
Can someone explain this to me? What do you do, how do you do it? Do you buy a widget for $50 from Amazon, then sell it for $50 + the cost of shipping on eBay or Amazon and call it a test? This is a real question. Please, someone explain this to me, because I just don't see how this would work.
Without knowing your product it's hard to say. If there are other stores selling your product I guess you don't need to test the need or demand. What you probably should test is your PPC cost and maybe SEO work. What is your cost per click for your terms? Are you going to be competitively priced or more expensive than other stores?
Several companies didn't even want to consider talking to me until I showed them proof that my website is in development (they don't even sell to ebayers or amazon merchants), then I had to provide provide them with my resale number and a copy of my business license. What product are you going to be testing if no one will let you in B2B world without those things?
For starting entrepreneurs w/o concept or business validation quite yet, I always recommend a generalized structure with a generalized name -- that way, if (or when) you have to shift gears, you can do so without the hassle of changing names, registrations, tax forms, etc.
For example ... if you have all the proper licensing and tax registrations for "Diamond Enterprises, LLC" (just a name I threw off the top of my head) you can use that to shell your business activities until you find the concept/business validation you need. Diamond Enterprises could be anything! Websites. Media. Apps. Publishing. Inventing. Asset Mgmt.
There are several ways you test to see if you can sell. I'm sure others will chime in on this but you can do a PPC test. It can go something like this. Set up a landing page for one of the products or line of products you plan to sell. Include photos, the sales copy, why to purchase from you, etc on this page. You can use a freebie site like weebly or wordpress.com for this. Include a buy now button on this page. Install google analytics. Now when someone clicks the buy now button direct them to a page that explains the product is currently not available or something to that effect. Remember this is just to prove you can sell. Google analytics will show you how many actual clicks that button received - which for all intent is a "purchase". Determine ahead of time how many buy now button clicks is viable proof that you can sell. This could have been done before anything else to prove to yourself you can sell this product or line of products. Then you can move forward. A progress thread started with an explanation of how you determined there is indeed a market for your offering, how you will be different from any competitors and how you verified you can get sales would be met with a greater positive response.
This is a very interesting approach. I like it, however I read a lot about people not being able to convert clicks for months, and only later they would start making sales.There are several ways you test to see if you can sell. I'm sure others will chime in on this but you can do a PPC test. It can go something like this. Set up a landing page for one of the products or line of products you plan to sell. Include photos, the sales copy, why to purchase from you, etc on this page. You can use a freebie site like weebly or wordpress.com for this. Include a buy now button on this page. Install google analytics. Now when someone clicks the buy now button direct them to a page that explains the product is currently not available or something to that effect. Remember this is just to prove you can sell. Google analytics will show you how many actual clicks that button received - which for all intent is a "purchase". Determine ahead of time how many buy now button clicks is viable proof that you can sell. This could have been done before anything else to prove to yourself you can sell this product or line of products. Then you can move forward. A progress thread started with an explanation of how you determined there is indeed a market for your offering, how you will be different from any competitors and how you verified you can get sales would be met with a greater positive response.
Also a good point.HOW do you do that...determine how many buys are enough?
This is a very interesting approach. I like it, however I read a lot about people not being able to convert clicks for months, and only later they would start making sales.
I completely forgot about starting to draft my PPC! It will average at about $0.30
Also a good point.
This is a very interesting approach. I like it, however I read a lot about people not being able to convert clicks for months, and only later they would start making sales.
I think you determine how many "buys are enough" when you are able to sale enough of your product to past the point of breaking even, getting to the point of making a profit.
(At least this is what I would use to determine this)
I could be wrong... But if your product can not make a profit, maybe it not viable...
Unless you have the type of business where you go in anticipating a couple of years (or some other pre specified time frame) of being in the red before you establish and position yourself to turn a profit... I think Amazon or Ebay started out this way.
That's really good to hear!!!Don't panic...I just started teaching myself adwords and analytics a couple weeks ago...over the last week I'm averaging 1 "buy" a day...
Yeah, that must be it. I mean there just has to be a starting point, and it's never at the top.Most likely the reason is these people's websites got better with experience and that's why they started converting.
Yeah, but advertising is expensive. Essentially you'll be spending money on projected sales and the more you spend the higher the break-even point.I think you determine how many "buys are enough" when you are able to sale enough of your product to past the point of breaking even, getting to the point of making a profit.
HOW do you do that...determine how many buys are enough?
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