DicksByMail.com-How a guy went from 12 orders a week to 2000 orders a day in 14 days

[pickeringmt]

Ok, so here is my other question -
What is the real story here? Maybe it isn't fastlane, but this guy did six figures in less than a month.
There are a lot of people here - myself included - that still have a job while trying to get a real business going, especially us bootstrappers.
I really like this story for 2 reasons:

1. The guy just DID it. We have people on this forum that have great ideas and just sit on them. This guy took a crap idea - that he copied none the less - and made 6 figures in a month. I really feel like this was a calculated thing as well, so he had something like this in mind from the beginning.
2. The guy made a (GOOD) years salary in one month. Even if he sells it on Flippa for $500 and the site does that much a month in sales from now on, the guy basically had a "viral liquidation" (did I just invent a new term?). Basically he sold his business virally to a large group of trendy customers.

It may not be fastlane. It may be stupid. But hey, the bottom line is that this guy WENT FOR IT.

 

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[Ronnie]

I'm sorry, I have to exit this convo. Just can't keep a straight face talking about Bags of Dicks

 

[RHL]

No buyers. Crai.

Currently at $100,000, but some people are saying that the mostly-new accounts on Flipa might indicate that this dude is astroturfing his own liquidation for press, which would be insane.

 

[biophase]

I wouldn't blame the guy for not being able to execute. You don't normally launch a small one product business and think that you need to stock 5000 units from day 1. He was probably doing a test and ordered 100-500 bags. He was probably printing out the labels on a regular printer and had a stack of envelopes.

When the orders rolled in, he could have easily ramped up shipping by hiring friends, getting more printers and supplies. But his supply of product was likely his downfall. If I got 1000 orders today. I know that I could fill it by just grinding and working hard and calling in friends. But if I did not have 1000 products in stock, I would be screwed too.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Currently at $100,000, but some people are saying that the mostly-new accounts on Flipa might indicate that this dude is astroturfing his own liquidation for press, which would be insane.

Looks like the bid jumped from 20k to 100k... Same bidder. Astroturfing very likely.

 

[RHL]

When the orders rolled in, he could have easily ramped up shipping by hiring friends, getting more printers and supplies. But his supply of product was likely his downfall. If I got 1000 orders today. I know that I could fill it by just grinding and working hard and calling in friends. But if I did not have 1000 products in stock, I would be screwed too.

I was sending out traditional letters yesterday, and was thinking about whether or not it would even be possible for me to hand address or use my printer to address 2000 envelopes in a single day, even if it was 20 hours long. At a 20 hour day, that's nearly two envelopes per minute, and that's just addressing, not packing and transporting to a pick-up point.

You'd have to hire out, but like you said, you can't make something from nothing, if there's no product to ship, having direct control over an army of workers won't make any difference.

I guess the reason why this guy is more at fault than he might be otherwise is that he completely engineered his success, and is very likely "engineering" more by boosting his liquidation attempt. It'd be one thing to be surprised and swamped by virality, but it's another to pull the trigger yourself and be unprepared.

 

[Ryllban]

Smart idea to "fake it" and make a reddit post about it to get traction. Only shows you to think outside the box and don't do what everyone else is doing.

 

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[csalvato]

Smart idea to "fake it" and make a reddit post about it to get traction. Only shows you to think outside the box and don't do what everyone else is doing.

IMHO he was doing what "everyone else" was doing. The same strategy was used for a poop company last year, and a glitter company just a few months ago.

I expect to see more of these in the future

 

[RHL]

The "poop company" was a Black Friday stunt by the mfgs of Cards Against Humanity, iirc. Those guys could teach anybody here a thing or two about blowing up on social media.

 

[csalvato]

The "poop company" was a Black Friday stunt by the mfgs of Cards Against Humanity, iirc. Those guys could teach anybody here a thing or two about blowing up on social media.

I wasn't referring to the CAH company.

Not sure if this was the company back in 2013, but it seems about right:

http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1icvbz/one_of_the_stores_i_manage_got_sent_a_bag_of/

 

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[Ryllban]

IMHO he was doing what "everyone else" was doing. The same strategy was used for a poop company last year, and a glitter company just a few months ago.

I expect to see more of these in the future

Yeah but that is 2 companies you mention. What about the 99% who instead of creating something like this when launching, buy google ads or write guest posts? I would still say this thing is outside of what most people do.

Anyway, don't want to argue with you about this pointless thing. Yeah I think with the internet today, the fact that a lot of people is connected and online 24/7, you can get massive traction if you just do something unusual. People chasing likes and attention on the internet more than ever (at least that's what It looks like in my eyes) and they want to be the one sharing that photo or that video to get likes/attention. So much, much more likely to go viral with stuff like these today.

 

[Alan at SE]

I forsee a lot of these to pop up left and right. But funny idea none the less. Who's going to make the "boss revenge" version now?

 

[Vigilante]

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/28599439/young-girl

 

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[DeletedUser394]

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/28599439/young-girl

Parents probably sent in to themselves so that they could call up the local fox station and get some air time.

Good publicity for the company as well.

Stupid product but eh, if someone wants to buy it..

 

[Kshatriya]

We often forget, we buy things to be apart of the story. Buy this and you do, buy the competitor and well, you become apart of no story other than reinforcing some trend hopper.

Exactly. That's what I always tell people who blindly follow some brands - like McDonald's, Cafe Coffee Day etc.. There are quite a few people who even want to buy products at a certain location (genuine and identical one, but at a much higher price), there's a trend running in at least some Metropolitan cities in India, where most of the those insist on going to multiplexes over theaters.

The shitty part is, people even try hard to send their children to convents, where almost no life-skill is taught. They even love the schools with names harder to pronounce.

They love to be consumers. Let them enjoy what they love to do. They learn someday, if they are lucky.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Stupid product but eh, if someone wants to buy it..

It is an online company specializing in pranking people by sending them packages filled with animal waste.

Lawsuit waiting to happen, and one probably with merit. Borders on assault.

 

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[Unknown]

Lawsuit waiting to happen, and one probably with merit. Borders on assault.

I would say that it is already illegal. They are sending what many would consider to be a biohazard, and I highly doubt they are using a biohazard container for it.

 

[Vigilante]

Lawsuit waiting to happen, and one probably with merit. Borders on assault.

I would sue the shit out of them.

 

[randomnumber314]

I would sue the shit out of them.

Phrasing?

 

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[Sowexly]

Wasn't sure if this would be spoken of here I felt like this was an idea that needed to be plugged forever ago, original? No way but fast very fast.

 

[Deleted28123]

I don't think it will fade as quickly as we like to think.

The proprietary thing here is being FIRST. Being the known brand, the famous one with all the news, the one that everyone's talking about.

The hook is going through the originator which carries the attachments, not dealing with any copycat that comes later. You buy the Shamwow because of Vince and his lunacy, not the knockoff because the knockoff doesn't have the story of Vince attached.

We often forget, we buy things to be apart of the story. Buy this and you do, buy the competitor and well, you become apart of no story other than reinforcing some trend hopper.

By lunacy do you mean vince and his arrest for punching a hooker?

 

[elliot]

UK Version Coming Soon.... maildicks.co.uk
Bad Idea? They don't currently ship in the UK so why not?

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Looks like the bid jumped from 20k to 100k... Same bidder. Astroturfing very likely.

Hmmm... what happened here?

 

[Vigilante]

shill bids?

 

[livegrowfree]

There was a $100k bid placed. But was retracted mysteriously. I would not be surprised if the bids to $20k are shill bids.

He's making the right call selling out now.

 

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[Vigilante]

Nothing to buy. The buzz is over, and a good google keywords campaign can do the rest. If he hasn't cashed out by now, it's over. Hope he got a check from someone. The 15 minutes of fame are done.

 

[csalvato]

Whomp Whomp....

https://flippa.com/4214937-viral-site-with-over-150-000-in-sales-and-375-000-visits-in-4-days

$20,200 listing price...unsold

 

[Vigilante]

Yeah. Crazy. Missed the window.

 

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[PureA]

UK Version Coming Soon.... maildicks.co.uk
Bad Idea? They don't currently ship in the UK so why not?

pls no

 

[Jamesdoesmith]

if a flash in the pan could set him up to live very, very comfortably and sell out still relatively on the crest of his short lived wave. He succeeded. Right?