[Fender_Bender]

I just recently (last week) have come up with a side business idea that I know will sell for $10-15 each, is small and weighs almost nothing, is cheap to manufacture through 3rd party, high profit margin, and is custom. I have some excess cash from betting on Trump I plan to invest here. I have already spoken to a supplier that can create the product for me and running the rough numbers it seems like a no brainer. Only issue is I'm in a rush to do this before Christmas to maximize sales and I've never done anything like this before. Totally green to selling anything online other than random shit on Craigslist.

I am very confident it will be successful as long as I have a good system in place to get orders processed and shipped out. Originally I was thinking the standard route of ordering product->ship to me->sell through Etsy connected to a new bank account created for this product (fees are pretty low and buying/selling handled easily)->fulfill orders myself. To give you an idea my initial order will be 500 units with hopes of ordering additional if these sell very well. I think they will be popular among individuals and small retailers (who hopefully will buy largish quantities)

Is there a service or method of doing this that's more efficient, easier, faster and/or cheaper than what I've described? I know my roommate and I could crank out shipment envelopes very quickly in dedicated sessions but if anyone can provide advice on the fulfillment process or financial side I'd appreciate it.

I wish I knew better what to search for to try to find info on this here on the forum or elsewhere immediately but like I mentioned I'm in a real time crunch trying to get this going ASAP since the supplier will need 7-10 days after I approve their proof. Need to figure this shit out. Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks

[SlickyBoy]

Quote:

I just recently (last week) have come up with a side business idea that I know will sell for $10-15 each, is small and weighs almost nothing, is cheap to manufacture through 3rd party, high profit margin, and is custom.

...the idea will sell for $10-$15 each? You provide no information as to what the product or the market for whatever this item is - hard to give any kind of helpful advice here.

Does it involve different sizes like clothes? Do you have any idea what kind of inventory you will need to keep on hand or are you just guessing? Can they ship from wherever it's made? What, realistically, is your margin? Lots if details needed.

[Suits]

If you have a product that you are personally capable of marketing to the degree that it will sell in large quantities that can be manufactured for cheap, sell for $15, is lightweight, you probably don't need advice from anyone here.

You should be giving the advice.

[John_Galt]

First: Don't invest large amounts of money in tools/packing materials until you have the product in hand and ready to ship.

Second: Don't bother trying to get your stuff in before Christmas. Creating a custom product and waiting for delivery, then testing the product to insure it meets your design/specifications will take at least a month.

Third: Etsy is for artsy crap. If this is a utilitarian item, I'd recommend selling on eBay. Far more traffic and better overall. You need to create a PayPal account as well.

Fourth: Fulfilling orders is an incredibly simple task. If you have a basic printer, you'll be able to do it no problem. You'll want to get shipping labels, I buy mine from eBay. Get 500 to start. They are sheets of regular sized paper but there are two stickers divided in the middle instead.

Fifth: Again, forget selling prior to Christmas. Remember Murpheys law. Fail to heed this advice and I promise you, you will regret it.

Sixth: Spend a lot of time developing a great listing on eBay. High quality, professional looking photos and a well-written description go a long way. Trust me.

Seventh: Make sure you "brand" your product. Even if it's a stupid, generic item---give it a name and brand. I don't care if it's a plastic case to store condoms, just put a brand name on it. Call it "Bender" or something. It doesn't matter the brand name, this is just to deter immediate copies of the product.

Eighth: Be aware that if your product is successful, you'll have copycat versions within 6 months, likely made by the supplier you have creating your first batch. This is unavoidable, however, adding a brand and making the customer feel like yours is of superior quality, i.e. the "name brand" helps keep your sales high.

That about covers all you need to know at this stage. I can assist further once you actually have the product in hand.

[Fender_Bender]

Thank you for the helpful replies guys. SlickyBoy I know I was incredibly vague in the first post - I'm generally afraid of someone else running with my idea if I explain too much, but I will provide some more details. The product will come in sheet form similar to paper (2 per unit) roughly 6.5x5" packaged in plastic bags by the manufacturer, and while the product itself is custom designed, all units will be the exact same content and size wise. Running rough numbers I'm looking at making ~$7-8 profit each if selling for $12 (not including shipping which can easily be accomplished in small envelopes), and it won't be a poorly made piece of shit from the look of things researching the manufacturer.

The "theme" of the product is lighthearted, running along with the rise of Trump and anti-PC etc. I can see it being very popular with Trump voters and fans, and even appealing to some people towards the center or left as a gag. The initial order would be for 500 units and would cost me just over $1300. I don't see other overhead besides order fulfillment which I imagine I can add onto the theoretical $12 for a few bucks on each unit. I would likely have to spend money to market it though. I'd have to sell about 1/3 of the 500 units to break even with my preliminary numbers.

I have thought about how I could market it through social media and ads. As long as I had a quality listing and/or website to go with it I don't think it would be too difficult as I hope it would spread fairly organically. That's my optimistic rookie ass talking though...(although I tend to be somewhat overanalytical/pessimistic at times so the potential of this idea has me very excited in a rare way) So bring me down to earth as needed. (Suits)

Thanks for all the advice John_Galt particularly on Ebay vs. Etsy, and for explaining not to expect to have my shit together by Christmas...it would be great but at this point I do need to have my logistics locked the hell down if I wanted to make that happen. I already have my plate pretty full this time of year at my main employment so thanks for the reality check.

Good news is that I already have what I think is a GREAT brand name to set me apart from any copycats and could easily design a logo to go right on the product itself.

The idea of taking the money I made from betting on Trump's victory and turning it into more money with a Trump related product via my first entrepreneurial venture makes me all warm and fuzzy inside so I hope I can make it happen.

EDIT: I forgot to tag my thread with Business and can't edit the original now- if a mod could make that happen, great.

[SlickyBoy]

(12-01-2016 03:23 AM)Fender_Bender Wrote:  

Thank you for the helpful replies guys. SlickyBoy I know I was incredibly vague in the first post - I'm generally afraid of someone else running with my idea if I explain too much, but I will provide some more details. The product will come in sheet form similar to paper (2 per unit) roughly 6.5x5" packaged in plastic bags by the manufacturer, and while the product itself is custom designed, all units will be the exact same content and size wise. Running rough numbers I'm looking at making ~$7-8 profit each if selling for $12 (not including shipping which can easily be accomplished in small envelopes), and it won't be a poorly made piece of shit from the look of things researching the manufacturer.

The "theme" of the product is lighthearted, running along with the rise of Trump and anti-PC etc. I can see it being very popular with Trump voters and fans, and even appealing to some people towards the center or left as a gag. The initial order would be for 500 units and would cost me just over $1300. I don't see other overhead besides order fulfillment which I imagine I can add onto the theoretical $12 for a few bucks on each unit. I would likely have to spend money to market it though. I'd have to sell about 1/3 of the 500 units to break even with my preliminary numbers.

I have thought about how I could market it through social media and ads. As long as I had a quality listing and/or website to go with it I don't think it would be too difficult as I hope it would spread fairly organically. That's my optimistic rookie ass talking though...(although I tend to be somewhat overanalytical/pessimistic at times so the potential of this idea has me very excited in a rare way) So bring me down to earth as needed. (Suits)

Thanks for all the advice John_Galt particularly on Ebay vs. Etsy, and for explaining not to expect to have my shit together by Christmas...it would be great but at this point I do need to have my logistics locked the hell down if I wanted to make that happen. I already have my plate pretty full this time of year at my main employment so thanks for the reality check.

Good news is that I already have what I think is a GREAT brand name to set me apart from any copycats and could easily design a logo to go right on the product itself.

The idea of taking the money I made from betting on Trump's victory and turning it into more money with a Trump related product via my first entrepreneurial venture makes me all warm and fuzzy inside so I hope I can make it happen.

EDIT: I forgot to tag my thread with Business and can't edit the original now- if a mod could make that happen, great.

Sounds like a gazillion things for sale on cafepress.com. Not sure how much you would really make from that but give them a look to see if it fits your concept. Good luck.

[jamaicabound]

At this point highly doubtful your going to have anything in time for Christmas. Any shipping service that will arrive in time will add a ton to your products cost, while there are cheaper air options its going to take 2-3 weeks and if you go by sea over a month. That's not even including time for you to get samples, design the product, manufacturing i t will take at least a week once you approve a design and this is assuming your not going to get samples which probably isn't wise to do.

In terms of your price point, not saying you can't sell for $15 but what are you basing that on? is there anything similar which you have found that price to be good for on either Terapeak/JungleScout/Unicorn Smasher? Any estimates of sales and earnings on your or similar products.

I'd also second whomever suggested creating a private label. This will create a barrier to entry, keep a barrier to entry and if selling on Amazon keep people from piggybacking on your listing.

I wouldn't rush on trying to get this out for Christmas, I don't even think its possible and most likely things will get messed up.

[John_Galt]

If what you're selling is related to something that is highly searched anyways (Example: "Trump T-shirts", or "Trump Gag Gift") you shouldn't need to worry too much about advertising. eBay allows 80 characters for their title (words in the title are what eBay picks up when users search the site) which is a LOT of keywords. So if it's Trump related, I guarantee you'll have a lot of "organic" traffic with the correct keywords.

As I said, once you have the product in hand, just post here again and I can help direct you to the next steps. If you want, you can just PM me with more detail if it's sensitive info. You shouldn't need to say anything specific though, general info should be enough to give you proper advice.

Bottom line: Once the product is designed and tested, the next most important thing is the listing you create. THAT will be what makes or breaks your sales.

I'd go ahead and create an eBay account now, and if this is the only thing you'll be selling, name it after your product. Example, say you are selling Trump Bumper Stickers. Call your eBay account trumpbumpersticker or something like that. This is another way to let people know you are the original "name brand".

[jamaicabound]

(12-01-2016 03:35 PM)John_Galt Wrote:  

If what you're selling is related to something that is highly searched anyways (Example: "Trump T-shirts", or "Trump Gag Gift") you shouldn't need to worry too much about advertising. eBay allows 80 characters for their title (words in the title are what eBay picks up when users search the site) which is a LOT of keywords. So if it's Trump related, I guarantee you'll have a lot of "organic" traffic with the correct keywords.

As I said, once you have the product in hand, just post here again and I can help direct you to the next steps. If you want, you can just PM me with more detail if it's sensitive info. You shouldn't need to say anything specific though, general info should be enough to give you proper advice.

Bottom line: Once the product is designed and tested, the next most important thing is the listing you create. THAT will be what makes or breaks your sales.

I'd go ahead and create an eBay account now, and if this is the only thing you'll be selling, name it after your product. Example, say you are selling Trump Bumper Stickers. Call your eBay account trumpbumpersticker or something like that. This is another way to let people know you are the original "name brand".

Another thing if you're going to be selling on eBay use Terapeak. They offer a 7 day free trial so signup, pull all your stats and save reports and the data isn't really going to change much.

Personally I like using Terapeak for Amazon as well. Though the data is specifically from eBay numbers most consumer type data ie times people buy, price points pretty much stays the same across both platforms.

The types of data it gives you is real time eBay data, they are actually a partner so it's accurate data unlike Jungle Scout AMazon Data. It will tell you the time of day and day of the week your item sells the most so end your listings at that time as you tend ot get a bump in search at that time.


It will also tell you the best keywords to use that buyers are searching for, the price point you want to be at where it sells best, how your product is trending over 90 days in terms of number of sellers as well as price of the item, how it sells internationally and a bunch more. I'll attach some sample reports on ugly Christmas sweaters to show you.

http://imgur.com/a/mYLai

http://imgur.com/a/zfuS5

http://imgur.com/a/NY62w

http://imgur.com/a/A0kIP

[John_Galt]

Doesn't Terapeak have an Amazon search feature as well?

[jamaicabound]

(12-01-2016 07:09 PM)John_Galt Wrote:  

Doesn't Terapeak have an Amazon search feature as well?

They used to and they still talk about it in their marketing but it's nowhere on my Dashboard and I have a professional subscription as well as the SEO and all the additions as well.

Even back when Terapeak had the Amazon feature it was never really that accurate or good.

Personally speaking I use Terapeak stats for Amazon as well. Sure it's pulling eBay stats and not Amazon stats but even sites like Jungle Scout are not really that accurate as Amazon doesn't allow partners or third parties access to their data so it's really only estimates.

I find most data from Terapeak is general consumer behavior for a niche like what time do people buy? I notice gamers shop at like 3am on Friday and Saturday nights. Moms tend to shop late mornings on weekdays I'm guessing when they put the kid down for a nap or have the kid at swim lessons or something. That type of data is pretty much going to be the same across all sales platforms so I find Terapeak works fine for AMazon.

If you want free sales states for amazon searches there's a great chrome browser addon called UnicornSmasher. Basically pull an amazon search, click the unicorn smasher button and it will show you the top 20 selling items, how many reviews they have, how many sellers are on teh listing, etc.