E.COM-Quit Procrastinating and start executing ...

[Chazmania]

Ugh! Dude it's killing me to think how many more sales you could have had by now. A small fortune! If you just would have studied up on AZ's rules first you'd still be killing it. Amazon wants everything PERFECT on every order. Oh well.... hopefully you can get reinstated or get up on a different platform soon. You were off to an excellent start, either way good luck on phase 2.

 

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[sWALK90]

Start of week 4.(Day 23) =$1681.88
averaging around $500 a week


Well i was able to pass my goal of $1500 this week but still haven't listed on amazon again yet.
This is all off ebay selling a few items in the $20-$65 range that was ordered via Alibaba.

Idk what it is but im clearly dragging my a$$ here and just kind of working on this 30 mins to a hour a day which is not bad for 500 a week ,but I have seem to been sleeping alot for some reason lol. I know if i can average this and get back the 1k a week via amazon i would be pretty set.

Currently my new house mortgage is $1500 so it feels good to know that i could cover that if i do quit my job soon(dont plan on it yet tho.) with minimum work.

This weekend i will be in Orlando and Miami for Memorial day weekend 2016 so i am not to sure what to make my goals this week.

 

[Ultras]

I loved reading your progress. Keep going and wish you all the best! By the way stop racing cars that can hurt you more than banned Amazon account

 

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[DWX]

I couldn´t agree more, I´m from Madrid and I go to Marbella every once in a while
Very inspiring place

I've been to Spain many times - it's a country I love. My grand plan is to move over there within the next few years (most likely around the Costa Del Sol / Southern region). Already learning the language.

 

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[sWALK90]

Reading a couple of articles online about e-comm and i came across this...Mistakes are made best at an early stage...EMBRACE THE STRUGGLE! lol

Small and slow is the best way to get your feet wet. If you're going to make any mistakes its best to make them at an early stage so you don't end up losing money or blemishing your vital feedback rating. We call it the magic 100 as if you have more than 100 positive feedback you get more credibility from potential bidders and ultimately more money.

 

[sWALK90]

Alright ...visitors growing by day... looks like 40-50 hits a day is landing one sale
- i did a instagram shoutout for 30 bucks on a page that has 90k followers and its still up. (511 likes\25 comments... followed them all)


I woke up this morning to another sale in the UK, took me a while to figure out the shipping stuff but i figured it out...Good thing i added a international fee because free shiping there would of cost me.
(To those starting out and planning on running internationally ...you might want to read a few articles on tarrifs and stuff.

Traffic report:



Added to cart is also going up ..purchases just at 2



Maybe those people bookmarked the site and coming back to purchase later? idk..i hope so lol...

Tomorrow is Friday and the first of the month which is normally payday... i will turn on instagram and facebook ads on tonight and run a sale for 4th of july weekend. (i still dont know what im doing on there but hey its worth a shot.)



Also its the middle of the year 2016...and since i started i have learned a lot by just getting out there and doing stuff instead of just thinking about it..


Quit procrastinating!

 

[sWALK90]

But they have a big hold on a lot of money ;( ...

I heard they do this ,and collect interest on people money LOL

 

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[biophase]

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

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

 

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[sWALK90]

No i thought about Prescription but didn't want the legal trouble lol....

Product is legal...it was simply because the shipping late rate exceed >4 which is bad seller performance as @biophase warned me about.
The products came in ,but instead of working on the first orders i kinda just worked on them at random...(thinking i would be ok if they received them by expected delivery day)



Amazon Late Shipment Rate:

On-time shipment is a promise we make to our mutual customers. Seller-fulfilled orders confirmed after the expected ship date are considered to be late.

 

[sWALK90]

-Updates-
Logo made by someone of fiverr. (50 bucks for 2 of em.)
Filled a new LLC and just received my EIN..going to grab a separate bank account hopefully today after work..
Expecting 3 or 4 shipments today of different things to sell.
Ordered a photo kit off of amazon with lights for around 80 bucks.(The thing to take pictures on white backgrounds-i just learned about it :embarrased


Still working on shopify site... keep finding things i dont like and redoing them.
Looking to open by Friday

 

[sWALK90]

midweek - april 13 2016
10PM - Just got off from my second job...

Ebay took down 2 of my listing...one because of my title lol...(dont mention like products)....2(don't grab other people pictures and use them) even if several other million people did the same thing....

my google ad was suspended ,but they said it was by accident....said my site was down when in fact it wasn't...they reinstated my account and I stopped the ad.

New amazon account made....taking pictures tonight to upload.(this time i have a mass amount of inventory.)

 

[biophase]

Well its just setup, i haven't posted anything for sell yet. I need new descriptions and everything in which i will probably start today. I need to read through the terms again and make sure i have everything to ship this time .

What I mean is how you got a new amazon account. The actual information that you put in. Hope it's not connected to you or your old account in any way.

 

[sWALK90]

Ok i took a break for a couple weeks. I live in Houston and it flooded pretty bad (life happens)
Lucky my new house sits pretty high so no issues there.

May 1 2016
Started back selling 1 item on ebay Sunday and just two sold so far ...this time i have my own descriptions and images.
177 views and 8 watchers in a couple of days, i assume thats pretty good for 2 days... anyone know of a way i can contact the watchers on ebay?


Still working on my Amazon listings since i have to be more careful with these...hopefully there up by Friday.

 

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[PTP]

Wow man talk about a roller coaster of emotions! From being banned on Amazon, to FB and Google ad bans, to floods and jail, how are you still sane?! Anyway its a great read. Keep up the good work!

 

[Tapp001]

Just have to accept the road blocks and figure a way around or through them

Thanks

I agree with @PTP. This is quite the ride, very educational and entertaining. Thank you for sharing, and I wish you and your business all the luck!

 

[sWALK90]

Man every time I get this car moving to the fastlane another part breaks. What a way to end the month.

Seems like competition felt some type of way and reported my listing...On the listing i said it was not their product or to be confused with (brand name). They can report it for having their name in the listing.

-___- .. So i lost a posting with around 70 sold and 13+ feedback ...

Well Ill take care of it when i get back... I'm going enjoy myself this weekend in Orlando & Miami. ..hopefully i can run across a few ideas for new products.

 

[Torobaro]

Thanks for the update! I'm excited to watch this grow for you.

On the other side of the Atlantic, there's a place in Spain (Marbella) and there, too, you find all the lambos, yachts, etc. A rich man's playground to say the least. Very inspiring.

I think it's important to take vacations to these areas every once in a while. It keeps the fire under your a$$ burning.

I couldn´t agree more, I´m from Madrid and I go to Marbella every once in a while
Very inspiring place

 

[sWALK90]

Sunday night- still no sales but i am starting to see traffic..



Looks like ive had 17 visitors today... 2 added items to cart and 1 went to checkout but they didnt buy ..im assuming because my shipping was set high and it jacked the price up there. I have now switched to free shipping and emailed the user to buy with free shipping now...

Instagram is now at 723 followers..im expecting 800 by the end of the night.

This has def been a journey ...eBay is making maybe 50 a week now ..i haven't been focused on it really..

Still no paid ads or shout-outs ...but i have been lining them up and getting prices for them..

 

[sWALK90]

Hey man nice progress so far!

Quick question. For your instagram page do you only post pictures of your own products? Or do you repost stuff related to your niche?

My products in action...

 

[sWALK90]

Meeting tomorrow with a old mentor.(taught my group on parties before i started[thread in sig]) He left the party scence and relocated to where i am now where he started a new busienss 4 years ago. He has made way over a million and franchised his business 8 or 9 times and still runs a few of his own spots.

He is starting a new business and wanted me to be apart of it..let see how this goes...

 

[sWALK90]

Woke up to a power seller badge this morning !

 

[sWALK90]

Looks like i will be looking to hire my first person....graduate school ...2 jobs....running eCommerce stuff is really getting hard to keep up with everything

 

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[sWALK90]

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

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




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

 

[DrkSide]

@sWALK90 You may want to look over the Amazon shipping policies.

Will this impact my selling privileges?

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

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

 

[Envision]

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

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

 

[sWALK90]

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

Im now at 40 unshipped lol...

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

 

[sWALK90]

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

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

 

[MrOrigon]

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

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

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

 

[sWALK90]

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



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

 

[sWALK90]

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

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

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




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

Now i see why its important to have diversified income.

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

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