4 ms·
It's very cool to see someone trying this out. Any predictions on the outcomes? (1) I sold a bunch of product and made money (2) I sold a bunch of product an
by mherdeg 8y ago
It's very cool to see someone trying this out.
Any predictions on the outcomes?
(1) I sold a bunch of product and made money
(2) I sold a bunch of product and lost money
(3) No one wanted my product and I lost money
(4) I sold a bunch of product then Amazon started selling it for less and I lost money ?
Separately, I have been following the Keyboard.io backer updates for years now ( https://shop.keyboard.io/ https://shop.keyboard.io/ ) which provide fairly thorough slice-of-life pictures of every step involved in creating a consumer electronic product from scratch in collaboration with manufacturers in China. It's not an exhaustive guide to the process but every step of the logistics we do get to read is fascinating. Lately I've been feeling like they could make more money teaching hardware startups to navigate this landscape than they could by selling the keyboards.
Also separately, I used to log 100k+ miles per year butt in seat flying for work and recreation, flying with carryons only but with a 3x 70lb baggage allotment and a modest duty-free allowance I never used, and I always wished I understood how to buy off-the-shelf consumer products that are cheap in one country then resell them in another. It seemed like it would be low risk because consumers can usually return unused merchandise. I figured there must be some way to buy iPads and sell them on Gumtree, meet up in Covent Garden and trade them for cash, then return any iPads I couldn't sell at a profit. I never found good docs of anyone doing this and always wondered whether it was logistically very hard (i.e. issues with customs or reliable resale) or whether it was just an area where people were quietly individually making a killing and didn't want competition. Ended up pretty much only using the free 3x 70 lbs to help move house when we moved overseas & came back.
- sct202 8y agoI'm going to go with 3. He only has a $7 margin not including ads/promos and his pricing is already on the higher end of FBA bags on Amazon. Like he's going to need to get early reviews and that is not free.
- jklinger410 8y agoSolid 3. The absolute arrogance of walking into a market as a complete amateur with low margins, admitting that he will "learn about marketing" while the product gets set up in the store is honestly laughable. There are hundreds of thousands of people thinking about what the next niche to attack in online sales is. The work is on that end, not this silly, already done, repeatable, novel process of drop shipping.
- todd3834 8y agoSome people learn by preparing and some people learn by doing. It might be expensive but I bet this person will learn a ton for the next iteration. This guy is a hacker in my mind and I appreciate his approach.
- ravedave5 8y agoEven if they come out below even then they have learned and can do better next time. It's better to try and fail then sit on the couch and wistfully dream.
- ziont 8y ago#3 most likely, the challenge was never about getting it to Amazon, its how you generate fake 5 star reviews without getting busted.
- smudgymcscmudge 8y agoI'll go against the other replies and suggest #2. This guy seems determined. I think once he realizes these purses won't fly out of the warehouse he will either buy enough ads to get them sold, drastically lower the price, or both. Probably both.
- binarysolo 8y ago#3, followed by #2 (which he'll liquidate at a loss to not deal with returns in a year). No chance of #4, and if #1 happens we won't hear about it -- for what it's worth, most everyone I know in #1 are keeping it entirely on the down low. :)