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Designing a Car Trash Can and Making $15k/month
- jonathandz 8y agoWhy create a Kickstarter for 1.7 k if you make 15k a month. I call bs.
- guildenstern 8y agoThe creator doesn’t mention that one of his marketing strategies is email spam (his mailchimp account was suspended following abuse reports).
- antsar 8y agoSource? I don't doubt your claim; just curious how you know this.
- guildenstern 8y agoI received their spam, reported it to mailchimp (their provider) and was told that they were suspended.
- weaksauce 8y agowas it out of the blue or did you sign up for something at some point?
- guildenstern 8y agoOut of the blue. I am very careful about what I sign up for, I don’t have a car nor can I find any previous emails from the person involved (going back ten years). There’s no chance I signed up to a mailing list for a car accessory — and just in case I had somehow subscribed (maybe through another product they offer) I asked how they got my email address and they didn’t respond which is a tell tale sign of a spammer. My email address was included in a database leak from Kickstarter in 2014, so I am almost certain they have been spamming everybody from the Kickstarter database leak.
- weaksauce 8y agothe kickstarter leak makes sense. that's very unethical behavior that should not be rewarded.
- sandofsky 8y agoI received the same spam.
- singularity2001 8y agoYou know what else looks fishy: €1,060 pledged of €1,708 goal on Kickstarter. $15k/month?? My bet is he tries to fake it till … he fades.
- patwalls 8y agoThat is the new Kickstarter for the updated version. Original Kickstarter ($17k raised): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1437516755/carbage-cantm-topple-proof-slim-trash-can https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1437516755/carbage-cant...
- flatfilefan 8y agoOK, that thing with the Kickstarter is cleared out in another reply, but I feel like fake it till ... has some truth to it. Some cheap rhetorics to my taste: "Ordering from China, I’d see my product in 90 days. Now that it’s made in the USA, lead time is only 3 weeks!" Err, 3 weeks = 24 days. "If you don't treat the flu with our drug you are seek for 14 days, if you do - only 2 weeks." Haha. "They are producing them at the same price as the Chinese were quoting me! You can imagine the amount that I am saving on shipping car trash cans with producing them here." - Not sure why Chinese quote an experienced procurer same as in US, he should be able to get a discount at least for the shipping costs, shouldn't he? - And anyway, no, I can not imagine shipping costs, must be low, shouldn't they?
- Justin_K 8y agoI don't believe he is selling 750 pieces per month and has that few reviews.
- giarc 8y agoKeep in mind $15k is the top month, not the median or average. As well, although debatable, there are some that say 50% of Amazon reviews are fake/paid for. So perhaps he hasn't gone this route and therefore doesn't have what is the artificially high level of expected reviews.
- overcast 8y agohttps://www.fakespot.com/product/carbage-can https://www.fakespot.com/product/carbage-can gives it a B, so looks like relatively low fake nonsense going on review wise.
- overcast 8y agoSorry, but a garbage can for your car? Bravo for the success, but this HAS to be only for people who buy all of the "As Seen on TV" garbage.
- notfromhere 8y agoor you're someone that works out of their car/van, like a tradesperson
- dsr_ 8y agoMost of them get a 5 gallon bucket, put a trash bag in it, and store some extra clean bags in the bottom (under the bag) for replacements.
- giarc 8y agoThe small improvement of a clip to keep it secured to the floor mat is probably enough for some people to buy this over having a 5 gallon bucket in their car.
- codegeek 8y agonot necessarily. If you have kids in the car, a trash can will be handy. I could certainly use one.
- overcast 8y agoSo bring a trash bag or take it with you like everyone else does already?
- CompelTechnic 8y agoThat has its tradeoffs. The product has value, and solves the problem at hand in a unique way.
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- teh_klev 8y agoI wonder how long before he's put out of business by Amazon sold Chinese counterfeits undercutting him: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12061288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12061288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16498013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16498013
- rootusrootus 8y agoThey may forget the floot mat clips, though.
- pavel_lishin 8y agoAnd as a result, there's a nonzero chance of an unhappy knock-off purchaser accidentally leaving a bad review on the original, bonafide product page.
- dice 8y ago"floot mat clips" Needs a copywriter...
- symlinkk 8y ago$15k a month for a trash can with clips on the bottom. I need to put some of my ideas on Kickstarter, I had no clue the bar was this low.
- HeyLaughingBoy 8y agoThe bar, my friend, is far lower. At least this product is somewhat useful.
- pavel_lishin 8y agoThis is the new "my kid could draw that".
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- fencepost 8y agoAt $20 it's a relatively cheap option, probably better than a plastic grocery bag (probably with a hole), and nicer than some of the pouches, etc that I've seen that attach to the back of a seat using a strap around the headrest. The fact that it's waterproof is a plus if you have drink containers. Worth $20? Maybe. Making $15k/month on it? Not sure I see that being sustainable. I put this in the same category as the Totasak.
- barbegal 8y agoBased on the category ranking on Amazon of the Carbage Can it looks like he sells ~250 a month which at $20 equates to $5k a month in sales. This could easily equate to the $15k he claims in November/December. Total yearly sales could be around the $80k mark. Assuming he makes $8, 40% margin, on each unit then that's $32k of profit each year. Capital costs for manufacturing are around $20k. Assuming the capital costs are amortised over 3 years, that's $25k of income each year which isn't great but you can live off it. If you were designing a new product like this every year, then it could make a healthy business.
- jfim 8y ago> To give an idea on the profit for Carbage Can, we’ll keep it simple: > To manufacture, $2.50. > Amazon FBA fee 6.90. > And we’ll throw in 1.00 for Marketing PPC. > That’s 10.40 per unit. > I sell for 16.95. Interesting that the Amazon cut is 40% of the retail price, while the manufacturing cost is less than 15%.
- fipple 8y agoThe Amazon FBA fee includes shipping cost which is greater than manufacturing cost for zillions of products.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- weaksauce 8y agoFBA is a few different things. You pay for the on site storage, boxing and 2day prime(if they have it) shipping from that fee. Selling it for 10-12 bucks + shipping and handling would be more accurate comparison and more work for you.
- fencepost 8y agoAnd that right there is why a lot of things are actually cheaper in local B&M stores if you're in an area where there's a good concentration. This strikes me as the kind of thing that he might get into some hardware or auto parts stores as a holiday sales item.
- colecut 8y agoYou wouldn't believe the amount of supplements sold on facebook that cost $2 to manufacture but can earn a facebook affiliate $40-$50 for a single conversion (assuming subscription model)