Tackling the import and ecommerce business

[Hambone]

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[wade1mil]

Sorry for not posting an update in a while. I've been mobile for two weeks. 2k miles in flights and another 4k in cars, playoff baseball and birthday parties. My a$$ is killing me. I get to travel from California to Montana to Texas to California next month. What's another 7,600 miles? I cant wait <- sarcasm

Here we go...

The first product I ordered had an 80% defective rate. Roughly 1,800 of the 2,000 pieces were defective and I decided to dispute the transaction after the manufacturer refused to refund or replace my order. I first contacted PayPal, but was denied because the product I ordered was "custom." Because I paid with my credit card through PayPal, I then disputed the charged through my credit card company. It was decided that I must pay to have the product shipped back to the manufacturer (which costs about $300 because they are in China). I called and spoke with three different people over the course of a couple weeks and finally got someone that 1) spoke and comprehended English good enough to understand the logic behind my dispute, and 2) cared enough about their customer that they hear me out. It ended up being an email from the manufacturer stating that the quality was low because they had to make the product by hand due to the small quantity rather than machine that won me the dispute. My credit card company contacted PayPal and the dispute was ruled in my favor. On top of that, I did not have to ship the product back to the manufacturer. When I asked my credit card company what they wanted me to do with the product he said, "I don't care what you do with it."

The goods. I was refunded the entire purchase amount of the large order (minus shipping). I basically have 200 units of the products that I can sell at retail and about 1,800 that I can sell as "factory seconds" at extreme discounts. I have learned a ton of information regarding disputes specifically through PayPal and the "double protection" you get when paying with your credit card through PayPal (as a buyer). I have a chance to market the product for free and I don't feel even the slightest bit guilty about it because I am still in the hole in terms of money invested.

The bads. I have a very limited amount of inventory and no manufacturer to reorder from. This can easily be solved by simply finding another manufacturer, but I feel as if I am playing with the house's money and will exhaust the inventory I have before determining whether this product has enough demand to scale. I spent a lot of time disputing, complaining, negotiating, etc. This is not exactly how I want to spend my time, but I really wanted to "win" on top of getting refunded.

The second product I ordered while waiting for the dispute had zero traction. I paid $26 per unit for two units plus about $100 for shipping. I figured a very comfortable price point would be around $149.99 as the majority of my competition were selling similar products for $89-$199. The major player was around $300-350. I placed them both on eBay and had no hits with a fixed price in a few weeks. I sold both of them in an eBay no reserve auction for $12 and $23 respectively. I wasn't concerned with profiting as much as I was determining the demand and it didn't work out. Oh well.

Now that I can sell the product without worrying about not getting a refund because I have sold some of the product, I've sold about a dozen of my first product on eBay and Amazon in the past ten days or so with no marketing.

 

[arcola]

Sorry for not posting an update in a while. I've been mobile for two weeks. 2k miles in flights and another 4k in cars, playoff baseball and birthday parties. My a$$ is killing me. I get to travel from California to Montana to Texas to California next month. What's another 7,600 miles? I cant wait <- sarcasm

Here we go...

The first product I ordered had an 80% defective rate. Roughly 1,800 of the 2,000 pieces were defective and I decided to dispute the transaction after the manufacturer refused to refund or replace my order. I first contacted PayPal, but was denied because the product I ordered was "custom." Because I paid with my credit card through PayPal, I then disputed the charged through my credit card company. It was decided that I must pay to have the product shipped back to the manufacturer (which costs about $300 because they are in China). I called and spoke with three different people over the course of a couple weeks and finally got someone that 1) spoke and comprehended English good enough to understand the logic behind my dispute, and 2) cared enough about their customer that they hear me out. It ended up being an email from the manufacturer stating that the quality was low because they had to make the product by hand due to the small quantity rather than machine that won me the dispute. My credit card company contacted PayPal and the dispute was ruled in my favor. On top of that, I did not have to ship the product back to the manufacturer. When I asked my credit card company what they wanted me to do with the product he said, "I don't care what you do with it."

The goods. I was refunded the entire purchase amount of the large order (minus shipping). I basically have 200 units of the products that I can sell at retail and about 1,800 that I can sell as "factory seconds" at extreme discounts. I have learned a ton of information regarding disputes specifically through PayPal and the "double protection" you get when paying with your credit card through PayPal (as a buyer). I have a chance to market the product for free and I don't feel even the slightest bit guilty about it because I am still in the hole in terms of money invested.

The bads. I have a very limited amount of inventory and no manufacturer to reorder from. This can easily be solved by simply finding another manufacturer, but I feel as if I am playing with the house's money and will exhaust the inventory I have before determining whether this product has enough demand to scale. I spent a lot of time disputing, complaining, negotiating, etc. This is not exactly how I want to spend my time, but I really wanted to "win" on top of getting refunded.

The second product I ordered while waiting for the dispute had zero traction. I paid $26 per unit for two units plus about $100 for shipping. I figured a very comfortable price point would be around $149.99 as the majority of my competition were selling similar products for $89-$199. The major player was around $300-350. I placed them both on eBay and had no hits with a fixed price in a few weeks. I sold both of them in an eBay no reserve auction for $12 and $23 respectively. I wasn't concerned with profiting as much as I was determining the demand and it didn't work out. Oh well.

Now that I can sell the product without worrying about not getting a refund because I have sold some of the product, I've sold about a dozen of my first product on eBay and Amazon in the past ten days or so with no marketing.

Any update?

 

[arcola]

Sorry for not posting an update in a while. I've been mobile for two weeks. 2k miles in flights and another 4k in cars, playoff baseball and birthday parties. My a$$ is killing me. I get to travel from California to Montana to Texas to California next month. What's another 7,600 miles? I cant wait <- sarcasm

Here we go...

The first product I ordered had an 80% defective rate. Roughly 1,800 of the 2,000 pieces were defective and I decided to dispute the transaction after the manufacturer refused to refund or replace my order. I first contacted PayPal, but was denied because the product I ordered was "custom." Because I paid with my credit card through PayPal, I then disputed the charged through my credit card company. It was decided that I must pay to have the product shipped back to the manufacturer (which costs about $300 because they are in China). I called and spoke with three different people over the course of a couple weeks and finally got someone that 1) spoke and comprehended English good enough to understand the logic behind my dispute, and 2) cared enough about their customer that they hear me out. It ended up being an email from the manufacturer stating that the quality was low because they had to make the product by hand due to the small quantity rather than machine that won me the dispute. My credit card company contacted PayPal and the dispute was ruled in my favor. On top of that, I did not have to ship the product back to the manufacturer. When I asked my credit card company what they wanted me to do with the product he said, "I don't care what you do with it."

The goods. I was refunded the entire purchase amount of the large order (minus shipping). I basically have 200 units of the products that I can sell at retail and about 1,800 that I can sell as "factory seconds" at extreme discounts. I have learned a ton of information regarding disputes specifically through PayPal and the "double protection" you get when paying with your credit card through PayPal (as a buyer). I have a chance to market the product for free and I don't feel even the slightest bit guilty about it because I am still in the hole in terms of money invested.

The bads. I have a very limited amount of inventory and no manufacturer to reorder from. This can easily be solved by simply finding another manufacturer, but I feel as if I am playing with the house's money and will exhaust the inventory I have before determining whether this product has enough demand to scale. I spent a lot of time disputing, complaining, negotiating, etc. This is not exactly how I want to spend my time, but I really wanted to "win" on top of getting refunded.

The second product I ordered while waiting for the dispute had zero traction. I paid $26 per unit for two units plus about $100 for shipping. I figured a very comfortable price point would be around $149.99 as the majority of my competition were selling similar products for $89-$199. The major player was around $300-350. I placed them both on eBay and had no hits with a fixed price in a few weeks. I sold both of them in an eBay no reserve auction for $12 and $23 respectively. I wasn't concerned with profiting as much as I was determining the demand and it didn't work out. Oh well.

Now that I can sell the product without worrying about not getting a refund because I have sold some of the product, I've sold about a dozen of my first product on eBay and Amazon in the past ten days or so with no marketing.

Any update?

 

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[nextgen]

Tabika you posted any update at 11:57 and again at 12:16 give him some time.

 

[Amail]

Wade hasn't been active on the forum since April. He may be on hiatus, so don't expect anything soon.

 

[Chazmania]

Dude - you're a beast! Nice example of just powering through and getting it done!

 

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