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Ever fake it till you make it with your website?

Marketing, social media, advertising

Flybye

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Ever fake it till you make it with the number of products sold on your website?

Say you are planning to sell about 4 or 5 products (until you expand), but you are only going to be able to start with 1 or 2. Personally, I feel the site only showing 1 or 2 products is going to look weak. But having them posted with their details and 10+ pics is better than nothing. What if I also showed maybe 3-5 products I never had with a "Sold" tag to not make it seam as if I just started out with a lower than expected amount of stock? So as I see it my options are:

1) Dont even bother having a site until I have more product. (not really my preferred choice)
2) Have the site with just 1 or 2 products for now.
3) Have the site with the current 1 or 2 products and 3-5 mythical products I never carried but marked as sold.
 
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Stargazer

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Hopefully it was just a rhetorical question, yes? :smile2:

Option two and get yourself some more products to sell legitimately in the meantime of it. It can't take that long to sign up suppliers.

If you sell car batteries for example, somewhere along the line you want to be emphasizing that you have sourced the best car battery on the market with the best customer service to match.

No need to pretend you have sold out of others. The problem is in your head not mine as a buyer.

Besides, the manufacturer of the products you purport to have sold out of may take umbrage that you are falsely claiming to sell their product.

Dan
 

amp0193

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Ever fake it till you make it with the number of products sold on your website?

Say you are planning to sell about 4 or 5 products (until you expand), but you are only going to be able to start with 1 or 2. Personally, I feel the site only showing 1 or 2 products is going to look weak. But having them posted with their details and 10+ pics is better than nothing. What if I also showed maybe 3-5 products I never had with a "Sold" tag to not make it seam as if I just started out with a lower than expected amount of stock? So as I see it my options are:

1) Dont even bother having a site until I have more product. (not really my preferred choice)
2) Have the site with just 1 or 2 products for now.
3) Have the site with the current 1 or 2 products and 3-5 mythical products I never carried but marked as sold.


Why not just take pre-orders for the ones you don't have ready yet?

Or, just an email collector... enter your email and we'll let you know when they're available.
 
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LittleWolfie

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Holbeach Hurn
Ever fake it till you make it with the number of products sold on your website?

Say you are planning to sell about 4 or 5 products (until you expand), but you are only going to be able to start with 1 or 2. Personally, I feel the site only showing 1 or 2 products is going to look weak. But having them posted with their details and 10+ pics is better than nothing. What if I also showed maybe 3-5 products I never had with a "Sold" tag to not make it seam as if I just started out with a lower than expected amount of stock? So as I see it my options are:

1) Dont even bother having a site until I have more product. (not really my preferred choice)
2) Have the site with just 1 or 2 products for now.
3) Have the site with the current 1 or 2 products and 3-5 mythical products I never carried but marked as sold.
No that's, fraud. It's an offence to undertake deceptive advertising practices like that. May vary by region, and Americans seem to have a more cavilar attuide to the law. Then again most commit a few felonies a day, and they don't get arrested, that's not the same elsewhere.
 

KLaw

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If im online looking for a product to purchase, I simply Google search for that product. Click on the link that most appeals to me as it pertains to the product im looking for. I could care less how many different other products the company has. Maybe im an exception though.
 

Flybye

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Thankfully, I was able to get a few items on consignment to get things started, and I have additional funds coming in. So no, I didnt have to fake it till I make it on the website. :smile2: Its not something I would have preferred to do, though. But sometimes perception is important. I knew it was one of those dark side gray areas which is why I'm glad I asked. Ive never been the type to just assume things and move on. Ill always research and ask if necessary.
 
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IGP

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No that's, fraud. It's an offence to undertake deceptive advertising practices like that. May vary by region, and Americans seem to have a more cavilar attuide to the law. Then again most commit a few felonies a day, and they don't get arrested, that's not the same elsewhere.

LOL - It's not fraud to list items on your site that say "Sold Out" or "Out of Stock"

If you plan on selling them and you don't have stock what else would you say?

There is no issue with doing this, but I would do what @amp0193 said and put a box, to capture emails at the least. I know my shopify theme does this automatically.
 

LittleWolfie

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Holbeach Hurn
I knew it was one of those dark side gray areas which is why I'm glad I asked. Ive never been the type to just assume things and move on. Ill always research and ask if necessary.
I guess dark side depends on your country? It's black not grey, if it is outright illegal. Grey might be violating the terms of service, spamming forum boards etc. This is on the level of violating CAN SPAM act or tax evasion.
 

IGP

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I guess dark side depends on your country? It's black not grey, if it is outright illegal. Grey might be violating the terms of service, spamming forum boards etc. This is on the level of violating CAN SPAM act or tax evasion.

You've lost your mind.

If you don't have stock, there is nothing illegal about putting "Out of Stock" on your website.
 
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LittleWolfie

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Holbeach Hurn
LOL - It's not fraud to list items on your site that say "Sold Out" or "Out of Stock"

If you plan on selling them and you don't have stock what else would you say?

There is no issue with doing this, but I would do what @amp0193 said and put a box, to capture emails at the least. I know my shopify theme does this automatically.

That might be okay, but he didn't say that he mentioned showing number of sold copies
[You must describe your product accurately. This means if you make a claim about your product, you must be able to prove what you say.
so if he says he sold 5 copies of his cd, if he does not have the 5 sales receipts it is untruthful, fraudulent and illegal. IANL, but I got one for my situation yours may differ

The grey area would be those 5 sales are to your parents,your brother and your best mate..purchased with money you leant them.
 

LittleWolfie

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Holbeach Hurn
It's the mythical product marked as sold That's the problem,he has not sold it.out of stock is pushing it. You could say upcoming products or planned lines or coming soon instead of out of stock.

Remember, I'm not in the USA, so my laws may not apply to you. On the flip side nothing illegal about selling Alcohol to 18 year olds. Imagine If that was what I was suggesting to an American entrapuner lol.
 

Flybye

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Yeah advertising Product B as in stock when its not is completly different than someone seeing a picture of Product A that you may have sold in the past. The only reason to have pictures of things you may have sold in the past is to give the perception that you have some history being in business vs someone seeing you with just one current product. I think of it in terms of an eBay seller. People are more inclined to buy an expensive item from a seller with thousands of positive feedback vs buying the same item from a seller that just opened up their account and have zero feedback.
 
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LittleWolfie

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Holbeach Hurn
Yeah advertising Product B as in stock when its not is completly different than someone seeing a picture of Product A that you may have sold in the past. The only reason to have pictures of things you may have sold in the past is to give the perception that you have some history being in business vs someone seeing you with just one current product. I think of it in terms of an eBay seller. People are more inclined to buy an expensive item from a seller with thousands of positive feedback vs buying the same item from a seller that just opened up their account and have zero feedback.


This is why it want friends to buy my product when I put it on eBay, it's more grey, but it is not black, they really did buy it, and leave a review.
 

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