I am sure most of you have no clue what PEBKAC404.com is. This was my first blog from many years ago. Well, something happened last year, and the software running things was damaged. While the data was left intact, I just never had the time to fix it.
#7 on this weekend's To-Do list was to finally fix it. Well, shit, what is it?
WAY back in the day, I worked with a complete moron of an employee. Every day when I thought should could not possibly come up with anything stupider to say or do... she did. While sitting around making fun of her, we came up with PEBCAK404 which means Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair - Error Page 404. So, I started the website originally posting all the stupid stuff she ever said. Over the years, it just migrated into all the stupid things I came across in my day to day life.
I have been saving up dumb things over the past year, so I have new content to post, however I will wait a little while, letting you go back and enjoy the stupidity that was my life.
Enjoy.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Question
This was brought up to me during that phone call, and it is also #2 on my list of things to do, so I will put this out there:
I keep inventory that I use to sell locally. I advertise on CraigsList. People call me up, ask a few questions, and if they sound like real prospects, I set up a meeting with them to show them what I have, that meets their needs. I also sell to local stores and other local salesmen of mine. I also make sales off the website. So, basically, I have several established avenues of sales.
I am looking for anyone that a few extra dollars, looking for their own stream of passive income, that generates 10-20% profit every few weeks. It works like this: Lets say you invest $500 in my company of selling cell phones. I would buy 5 phones for $100 each, sell them on the street for $160, and I give you $20. If I sell it for $150, I would still give you $20. Thees 5 phones I bought with your money, are predetermined up front, so when they sell, they sell. I know my market, and do not buy items that people don;t want, or are over priced.
This gives me the opportunity to carry a wider variety of products locally, thus making me more money. I usually carry 10-20 different phones with me on a busy day. As long as the price is right, which I know up front, these items usually only stay around for a few weeks to 2 months. Like, Blackberries, only last 5 minutes. Generic Nokia and Samsung items take a little longer, but they all have a market.
So, I'm just putting it out there, if anyone is interested. I've been doing this for several months now, and everybody is happy. I rotate the products around so that everyone gets a chance to make a quick buck. If your interested, reply, email, or call. the number is on one of the other retail websites.
I keep inventory that I use to sell locally. I advertise on CraigsList. People call me up, ask a few questions, and if they sound like real prospects, I set up a meeting with them to show them what I have, that meets their needs. I also sell to local stores and other local salesmen of mine. I also make sales off the website. So, basically, I have several established avenues of sales.
I am looking for anyone that a few extra dollars, looking for their own stream of passive income, that generates 10-20% profit every few weeks. It works like this: Lets say you invest $500 in my company of selling cell phones. I would buy 5 phones for $100 each, sell them on the street for $160, and I give you $20. If I sell it for $150, I would still give you $20. Thees 5 phones I bought with your money, are predetermined up front, so when they sell, they sell. I know my market, and do not buy items that people don;t want, or are over priced.
This gives me the opportunity to carry a wider variety of products locally, thus making me more money. I usually carry 10-20 different phones with me on a busy day. As long as the price is right, which I know up front, these items usually only stay around for a few weeks to 2 months. Like, Blackberries, only last 5 minutes. Generic Nokia and Samsung items take a little longer, but they all have a market.
So, I'm just putting it out there, if anyone is interested. I've been doing this for several months now, and everybody is happy. I rotate the products around so that everyone gets a chance to make a quick buck. If your interested, reply, email, or call. the number is on one of the other retail websites.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Top of the Google Search
On Saturday, I released the first of my new keyword's and marketing. By Wednesday I was in the top 10 (If not top 5) of Google Base's (Froogle) search engine for ALL 600+ of my items! This also means that many of my items are in the top 5 of regular Google as well. My website traffic is higher than it has ever been. Like, a single day now would have taken me several weeks before. Sweet.
Of course, it has also turned into sales. Nothing staggering, but of course, I am about to hit week 2, so i will take anything I can get. Oh another thing that seemed to have surprised me, is that if you search for my company name a week ago in Google, you would never have found me. Even though I own www.Portable-Fun.com I was no where to be found. Today, search for Portable Fun and I jumped to #1 and #2 out of 48 Million other pages. Not bad for 1 week.
Of course, it has also turned into sales. Nothing staggering, but of course, I am about to hit week 2, so i will take anything I can get. Oh another thing that seemed to have surprised me, is that if you search for my company name a week ago in Google, you would never have found me. Even though I own www.Portable-Fun.com I was no where to be found. Today, search for Portable Fun and I jumped to #1 and #2 out of 48 Million other pages. Not bad for 1 week.
How...Odd...
Whenever I don't post on here for awhile, feeling like nobody actually reads this stuff, someone always comes along telling me how much they enjoy it. So, thanks for the completely unexpected phone call Tarik. I officially have my own stalker now.
Ah, I'm just fucking with ya.
Tarik called me looking for ideas on how to make money. I thought I offered him an idea that would make him several thousands, but he missed the road signs in big neon letters. You see, he thought I was offering a way to make $20 a clip from the trunk of his car. He missed the making hundreds and thousands part by getting OTHER people to sell at $30 a clip from the trunk of THEIR car.
Now, sure, I could be more specific right now, but that's just not as fun. So, why don't you think about it for a little while, and get back to me. And for crying out loud, stop thinking INSIDE the box.
PS - While I'm not referring to porn, I'm telling ya, porn is totally the way to go! Cell phones and porn.....
Ah, I'm just fucking with ya.
Tarik called me looking for ideas on how to make money. I thought I offered him an idea that would make him several thousands, but he missed the road signs in big neon letters. You see, he thought I was offering a way to make $20 a clip from the trunk of his car. He missed the making hundreds and thousands part by getting OTHER people to sell at $30 a clip from the trunk of THEIR car.
Now, sure, I could be more specific right now, but that's just not as fun. So, why don't you think about it for a little while, and get back to me. And for crying out loud, stop thinking INSIDE the box.
PS - While I'm not referring to porn, I'm telling ya, porn is totally the way to go! Cell phones and porn.....
Monday, August 10, 2009
Traffic Geyser
I am new at it, but spent much time reading and studying before submitting anything. After about a week, my rankings and traffic were poor, so I started going out to all the different links that TG said were successful. More than half of the successful uploads, apparently, are no where to be found. Even, simple, no password sites seem to have no clue about me.
There are the sites that seem to be not functioning properly like odeo.com that say my feed is already submitted, but it's nowhere to be found. Then, when I add in the fact that many sites don't want my videos, like Spike.com and Revver.com I am left to wonder what service I would actually be paying $99 for? Never mind the $250 Platinum service.
While I think the concept of this site is fine, it seems that I would be spending as much of my time troubleshooting new problems, and checking to see if it even worked. At that point, I may as well just shoot the videos and pay the virtual assistant to upload the links manually. When I consider the VA cost, and TG cost, I think the VA would be cheaper and more reliable.
But again, the idea is great. Post videos on video and podcast sites. Add the text of the videos onto article and blog sites. Post links to the videos, articles and blogs on social networking sites. If the TG service worked as advertised, it would be worth the $99/mo to make life easier. However, with all the hundreds of glitches, it seems to be more work than help.
There are the sites that seem to be not functioning properly like odeo.com that say my feed is already submitted, but it's nowhere to be found. Then, when I add in the fact that many sites don't want my videos, like Spike.com and Revver.com I am left to wonder what service I would actually be paying $99 for? Never mind the $250 Platinum service.
While I think the concept of this site is fine, it seems that I would be spending as much of my time troubleshooting new problems, and checking to see if it even worked. At that point, I may as well just shoot the videos and pay the virtual assistant to upload the links manually. When I consider the VA cost, and TG cost, I think the VA would be cheaper and more reliable.
But again, the idea is great. Post videos on video and podcast sites. Add the text of the videos onto article and blog sites. Post links to the videos, articles and blogs on social networking sites. If the TG service worked as advertised, it would be worth the $99/mo to make life easier. However, with all the hundreds of glitches, it seems to be more work than help.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Marketing
Now we are talking.
http://www.trafficgeyser.com/fk/ - The website's marketing front end comes off as total bullshit, and I would never have signed up with them without a referral. But, i gotta tell ya, it makes perfect sense. After I signed up ($1), many people said it works wonders. I have watched many of the tutorial videos, and I am going to pay the VA (Virtual Assistant) people in China to set things up for me. I am hopeful that this will change everything. They are not cheap. However, best money I ever spent was $300 to http://onesource.com (If I did not spend it, I would have been dying in this economy) so I expect this to be worth it too.
http://www.noblesamurai.com - This company does focused keyword searches. Awesome. Spend some time with these guys, I plan on buying the software. If you read the forums, you will see many satisfied customers.
http://www.otogoldmine.com - This website is also complete bullshit, but I think the concept behind it will work. Basically, these guys let you pick from hundreds of e-books. As the site owner, I select the ones thqat match my customers needs. Then, at the end of the sale, offer these to them. Supposedly 30% actually buy. Even If I choose not to use this particular service, the concept is something I am thinking heavily about.
http://www.trafficgeyser.com/fk/ - The website's marketing front end comes off as total bullshit, and I would never have signed up with them without a referral. But, i gotta tell ya, it makes perfect sense. After I signed up ($1), many people said it works wonders. I have watched many of the tutorial videos, and I am going to pay the VA (Virtual Assistant) people in China to set things up for me. I am hopeful that this will change everything. They are not cheap. However, best money I ever spent was $300 to http://onesource.com (If I did not spend it, I would have been dying in this economy) so I expect this to be worth it too.
http://www.noblesamurai.com - This company does focused keyword searches. Awesome. Spend some time with these guys, I plan on buying the software. If you read the forums, you will see many satisfied customers.
http://www.otogoldmine.com - This website is also complete bullshit, but I think the concept behind it will work. Basically, these guys let you pick from hundreds of e-books. As the site owner, I select the ones thqat match my customers needs. Then, at the end of the sale, offer these to them. Supposedly 30% actually buy. Even If I choose not to use this particular service, the concept is something I am thinking heavily about.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Marketing Advice
Another amazing place I can send you to is http://helpmybusiness.com/archive/ and he will send you all over the internet with tools, tricks and amazing advice. His focus is on marketing to get customers in, and doing things right to gain repeat customers.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
80/20
I am fighting my way through a book called The 80-20 Principle by Richard Koch. Not fighting as in bad, just LONG. This has to be the longest book about business ever! WTF?!? Anyway, I suggest getting the concept of the beginning, then skipping ahead several chapters when he actually starts talking about something useful. The further in you go, the better it gets. Mainly because i find he drifts off topic giving useful info. Too bad be says the words eighty twenty like a bajillion times. But otherwise, a good followup to the 4 hour work week.
Could somebody PLEASE tell me what the FUCK is the point to Twitter? I mean, who CARES?!?! I am busy trying to actually limit my time spent on nonsense, and Twitter comes along wasting everyone's time.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Salesmen
This is definately a step in the right direction. Getting other people to sell for me. Funny story: Two cell phone stores I sell to, fired 2 employees. A few days later, I get a phone call from both of them asking to sell my products on the street. Perfect! I have another who is reselling into Jamaica, and another reselling into Haiti. My products are in Suriname too. And of course, I get calls regularly from people who were given my business card or found me on Craigslist.
I have a few thousand that I put into buying regular inventory that sells out weekly (need more money) of the hottest inventory items. I have found that while I am making more sales, giving discounts to salesmen is cutting heavily into profits. The next pricing update is due to be released by me in the next week or two. At that time, my prices will need to go up, in order to compensate for unforeseen losses.
I have a few thousand that I put into buying regular inventory that sells out weekly (need more money) of the hottest inventory items. I have found that while I am making more sales, giving discounts to salesmen is cutting heavily into profits. The next pricing update is due to be released by me in the next week or two. At that time, my prices will need to go up, in order to compensate for unforeseen losses.
Outsourcing
So.... outsourcing huh?.... Hmmm....
The local Advocate newspaper's front cover a few weeks ago said (Big bold letters) "Sorry, this issue has been outsourced to India". Funny.
So, yeah, let's see. The first company I went with was the only one who took it upon themselves to go to my website and put together a sample for me. I was impressed by the initiative, and hired them. How did it go? Well, 2 weeks later, the deadline had passed, and they had JUST figured out what the hell I was talking about. Was it my inability to speak clearly? Nah. Like I usually explain about China, they understand the words, not the concepts. So, I pulled allthe other possible work from them, and let them finish the task that took me so long to communicate to them. It's now 3 weeks past due, and they did about 110 out of 500 entries.
Second company I hired, I had them do some design work. The title was "2 Posters and a Bag". The agreed price was $2.50/hr. They did 10 hours and really nice, eye catching designs. I paid them the $25.00 and asked for the master files. They said to send them another $25.00 and they would send me the masters. Needless to say, I do not respond well to extortion. I will have another company just redesign it for a fraction of that cost. Besides, it's the principal.
At this point I was frustrated, as I put in about 20 hours of MY time explaining all these projects. The worst was that India was 9.5 hours off from me, so their 9am was my 11:30pm so this created many late nights for me. Point was defeated on making my life easier.
I reposted all my jobs again, this time I broke them apart into different tasks and categories. Then I found my guy. He is Canadian, speaks English as a first language, moved to China, and opened his own Virtual Assistant company. The results were drastically different.
China is 12 hours different from me, so he logs into chat at 8-9pm, perfect for me. He understands my comments (and my jokes). He can follow even the most complex things I throw at him (still testing, but he has been fine so far). While not perfect for all my tasks, he meets most of my needs. His price is $3.00/hr.
There are some tasks I will find others for, like PHP Web coding, but then I will get specialists.
Overall, I found it hit or miss. Even with Feedback, I found I had troubles. The people I liked most were over $9/hr and at that point, I can hire locally. But, my bigger goal is not one-off tasks. I plan on training, then they can do the repetative work daily (like posting on Craigslist) and I can just oversee.
The local Advocate newspaper's front cover a few weeks ago said (Big bold letters) "Sorry, this issue has been outsourced to India". Funny.
So, yeah, let's see. The first company I went with was the only one who took it upon themselves to go to my website and put together a sample for me. I was impressed by the initiative, and hired them. How did it go? Well, 2 weeks later, the deadline had passed, and they had JUST figured out what the hell I was talking about. Was it my inability to speak clearly? Nah. Like I usually explain about China, they understand the words, not the concepts. So, I pulled allthe other possible work from them, and let them finish the task that took me so long to communicate to them. It's now 3 weeks past due, and they did about 110 out of 500 entries.
Second company I hired, I had them do some design work. The title was "2 Posters and a Bag". The agreed price was $2.50/hr. They did 10 hours and really nice, eye catching designs. I paid them the $25.00 and asked for the master files. They said to send them another $25.00 and they would send me the masters. Needless to say, I do not respond well to extortion. I will have another company just redesign it for a fraction of that cost. Besides, it's the principal.
At this point I was frustrated, as I put in about 20 hours of MY time explaining all these projects. The worst was that India was 9.5 hours off from me, so their 9am was my 11:30pm so this created many late nights for me. Point was defeated on making my life easier.
I reposted all my jobs again, this time I broke them apart into different tasks and categories. Then I found my guy. He is Canadian, speaks English as a first language, moved to China, and opened his own Virtual Assistant company. The results were drastically different.
China is 12 hours different from me, so he logs into chat at 8-9pm, perfect for me. He understands my comments (and my jokes). He can follow even the most complex things I throw at him (still testing, but he has been fine so far). While not perfect for all my tasks, he meets most of my needs. His price is $3.00/hr.
There are some tasks I will find others for, like PHP Web coding, but then I will get specialists.
Overall, I found it hit or miss. Even with Feedback, I found I had troubles. The people I liked most were over $9/hr and at that point, I can hire locally. But, my bigger goal is not one-off tasks. I plan on training, then they can do the repetative work daily (like posting on Craigslist) and I can just oversee.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Lawyers
I have 2 lawyers on my ass. One is because I refused to pay back tenants their deposit after they broke the lease within 6 months. The other is because I refused to pay the oil company after making payments, I owed them significantly more than what started with because of bullshit late fees and cancellation fees. They can both blow me.
What I learned is this: After my last small claims case, my tenant was ordered to pay me $35 per week for the next 12 years. So, I am not exactly scared. If I loose any case, I will pay the fuckers in pennies. Simply because they pissed me off. However, I may not, you never know.
What I learned is this: After my last small claims case, my tenant was ordered to pay me $35 per week for the next 12 years. So, I am not exactly scared. If I loose any case, I will pay the fuckers in pennies. Simply because they pissed me off. However, I may not, you never know.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The New Business
Wow, so much has changed for the better since I read "The 4-Day Workweek" and "Think and Grow Rich". Really great stuff.
"The 4-Day Workweek" got me to outsource the backend of my company to India saving me an incredible amount of time. Since then, I have been working on all kinds of other projects, like dealing with a UPS mess, and the old tenants who want to sue me (good luck with that). It has also given me much more free time with my wife, who not surprisingly, is taking full advantage of the situation.
The other goal of this book is to focus on 20% of the work that generates 80% of the revenue. So, I made a business decision to actually stop selling to the various local stores because the profit margin is smaller, and I then need to stand around waiting for the owner to turn his attention to me. There is also the constant driving to and from, repairs, blah blah,blah.... When I laid it all out on a table, it was an obvious waste of my time for what little revenue it generated. Instead, I made an offer to me best store customer. More on that another day. I am going to focus on Craigslist and rebuild the website. Both of these topics are falling under the India heading.
It has also freed up my time to focus on the advice of "Think and Grow Rich". The book itself was published in 1937 after the great depression. Don't let that stop you though, quite an amazing work of literature. The aim of this book is saying to visualize your specific goal, and focus by taking advantage of any situation that meets your criteria.
In my case, I said I wanted to have $20,000 in the bank, one year from now. I would achieve it by selling phones. I then remind myself of it several times a day. While it sounds like bullshit, I have already seen an improvement in my business personality. I am calling back more possible customers who leave messages. I am following up with old contacts that have fallen by the side of the road. It has also gotten me to call up older "salesmen" I was working with, and trying to get them back involved.
Basically, since my time isn't being dominated by back-end nonsense anymore, I am looking into more sales avenues, that involve the least amount of work for me. For example, I had met a guy who is a "street hussler" about 2 weeks ago. Since then, he sold 2 phones, and has 2 more pending. I met him tonight and gave him one of the phones. Same night, I met another guy, same situation. He called me tonight about 2 possible sales. These types of situations are great, because they make money, I make money, and I don't even need to do anything but hand off inventory to people I already know. This is a much better situation than the one that involves meeting strange people in random parking lots. Let them do that, I'll be watching TV or something.
"The 4-Day Workweek" got me to outsource the backend of my company to India saving me an incredible amount of time. Since then, I have been working on all kinds of other projects, like dealing with a UPS mess, and the old tenants who want to sue me (good luck with that). It has also given me much more free time with my wife, who not surprisingly, is taking full advantage of the situation.
The other goal of this book is to focus on 20% of the work that generates 80% of the revenue. So, I made a business decision to actually stop selling to the various local stores because the profit margin is smaller, and I then need to stand around waiting for the owner to turn his attention to me. There is also the constant driving to and from, repairs, blah blah,blah.... When I laid it all out on a table, it was an obvious waste of my time for what little revenue it generated. Instead, I made an offer to me best store customer. More on that another day. I am going to focus on Craigslist and rebuild the website. Both of these topics are falling under the India heading.
It has also freed up my time to focus on the advice of "Think and Grow Rich". The book itself was published in 1937 after the great depression. Don't let that stop you though, quite an amazing work of literature. The aim of this book is saying to visualize your specific goal, and focus by taking advantage of any situation that meets your criteria.
In my case, I said I wanted to have $20,000 in the bank, one year from now. I would achieve it by selling phones. I then remind myself of it several times a day. While it sounds like bullshit, I have already seen an improvement in my business personality. I am calling back more possible customers who leave messages. I am following up with old contacts that have fallen by the side of the road. It has also gotten me to call up older "salesmen" I was working with, and trying to get them back involved.
Basically, since my time isn't being dominated by back-end nonsense anymore, I am looking into more sales avenues, that involve the least amount of work for me. For example, I had met a guy who is a "street hussler" about 2 weeks ago. Since then, he sold 2 phones, and has 2 more pending. I met him tonight and gave him one of the phones. Same night, I met another guy, same situation. He called me tonight about 2 possible sales. These types of situations are great, because they make money, I make money, and I don't even need to do anything but hand off inventory to people I already know. This is a much better situation than the one that involves meeting strange people in random parking lots. Let them do that, I'll be watching TV or something.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
I have seen the light
Are you ready?
Ready the book: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris
The is one of the best I have come across in a very long time. I was told about it 2 years ago, but I thought it was just another self-help book. Boy, was I wrong. It was more in the lines of Life Changing. Seriously.
Based on his advise, I have now outsourced my entire company to India. Seriously. My old assistant emailed me about some nonsense, and I replied: "I have outsourced your old job to India for $2.50 per hour. Have a nice day."
Can you image? It was SO easy. Just go to http://elance.com and sign up. I did that before bed. the next morning, I had 10 offers, the average price was a whopping $2.50 per hour. Crazy.
After some interviewing, I chose a company that went above and beyond the competition. I gave them 10 tasks, with 10 different skill sets, and they assembled a team just for me. this ranges from design, to bookkeeping.
Oh yeah, I should email that worthless bookkeeper and let her know I have outsourced her job too.
I spend about 7-8 hours assembling everything I could possibly think of for them. I emailed it, and now I just sit back, and wait for the work to be completed. I will have an updated website, updated inventory, sales added to PeachTree. And all at $2.50/hr. It does not get any better than that.
Sure, it will cost several hundred to get up and running the way I want it, but then it will be all down hill. The best part? I wont have to do a damn thing.
The basic point of the book, 4-hour workweek is to take yourself completely out of the equation. Once I get them to understand where I get my inventory list from, and they know that they need to check on this bi-weekly, then i will have eliminated a huge amount of time I waste week after week. And at only.... $2.50 an hour.
I can have my life back. Yeah!
Ready the book: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris
The is one of the best I have come across in a very long time. I was told about it 2 years ago, but I thought it was just another self-help book. Boy, was I wrong. It was more in the lines of Life Changing. Seriously.
Based on his advise, I have now outsourced my entire company to India. Seriously. My old assistant emailed me about some nonsense, and I replied: "I have outsourced your old job to India for $2.50 per hour. Have a nice day."
Can you image? It was SO easy. Just go to http://elance.com and sign up. I did that before bed. the next morning, I had 10 offers, the average price was a whopping $2.50 per hour. Crazy.
After some interviewing, I chose a company that went above and beyond the competition. I gave them 10 tasks, with 10 different skill sets, and they assembled a team just for me. this ranges from design, to bookkeeping.
Oh yeah, I should email that worthless bookkeeper and let her know I have outsourced her job too.
I spend about 7-8 hours assembling everything I could possibly think of for them. I emailed it, and now I just sit back, and wait for the work to be completed. I will have an updated website, updated inventory, sales added to PeachTree. And all at $2.50/hr. It does not get any better than that.
Sure, it will cost several hundred to get up and running the way I want it, but then it will be all down hill. The best part? I wont have to do a damn thing.
The basic point of the book, 4-hour workweek is to take yourself completely out of the equation. Once I get them to understand where I get my inventory list from, and they know that they need to check on this bi-weekly, then i will have eliminated a huge amount of time I waste week after week. And at only.... $2.50 an hour.
I can have my life back. Yeah!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Two posts in 2 days?
Two posts in 2 days. The hell is wrong with me? Like I said, I need break time. I have been down here in my office for the past 5 hours now and I am feeling a little burnt.
Today, I went to the bookstore and bought a book about getting government grants. Not quite sure where that topic will lead me, but it had other stuff in it that helped point out things to me. Like, what to say to investors, how to say it. It explained how to put together a proposal for an investor and stuff like that. Most of it I am sure I know, but I would still like to have it spoon feed to me.
One problem I have in life is that I do not have a mentor. 100% of the business decisions I make are based on my own experiences. Since I have a long history of advertising, and watching others succeed and fail, I feel confident in my choices, but it would still be nice to have a guide.
This is a lead-in to a plug for a TV show that you should definitely watch. I mean, If you are reading a blog about building your own business from scratch, which you are, then yeah, you should watch it. It's called "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" and it really is amazing stuff I would never have expected on "free" TV. If anyone knows where I can find all the past episodes, I would love to hear about it. Torrents didn't come back with anything. You can checkout a few episodes here: http://www.fancast.com/tv/The-Big-Idea-with-Donny-Deutsch/97338/full-episodes
There is an Audio book of his that came out that is 50% off at Barnes and Noble so it's only like $9.00. Less if you have a Membership. I will buy it tomorrow.
When I work these long hours, there are 2 things that get me through them. Alcohol and music.
Yeah, by definition, I am an alcoholic. But, I do it to clear my mind. It helps me focus on the task at hand. It's kind of like Ritalin or something. For me anyway. I have this mixture I created for myself. It's mostly powdered ice tea, but I throw in the rest of the ingredients of a Long Island Iced Tea. So, it's got Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, etc.... The mixture is designed to get me drunk, but not cost a fortune, since it is mostly flavored water. The thing is, for me, it puts my physically into a happy place, but my mind has never been affected by alcohol. So I think as clearly as ever, if not a bit more creative. So, in case your wondering, it's a long Saturday night, so yeah, I'm pretty plastered right now. Since I drink alone daily, I am categorized as a drunk. However, Since my thoughts are fairly coherent, anyone with a problem can kiss my ass. My liver, however, is another story.
So, the music. Ok, I have unintentionally collected 27 songs that are my favorites that play when I want some music while I work. The unintentional part is that they are mostly inspirational music. As I type this, it sounds silly, but much of the music gives me confidence in what I am doing, when I am the only one spending hours, days, weeks and months on this stuff.
They seem to start off pretty dark with songs like:
"Nine Inch Nails - Hurt" "I hurt myself today, To see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, The only thing that's real"
Then "Smashing Pumpkins - Galapagos" "Too late to turn back now, I'm running out of time and I am changing, changing"
This then drifts into songs like:
"Bob Segar - Like a Rock" "My hands were steady, My eyes were clear and bright,
My walk had purpose, My steps were quick and light, And I held firmly to what I felt was right, like a rock"
and "Battlestar Galactica Theme" Which is a Hindu prayer for guidance. "May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction."
and "David Gilmour - Coming Back to Life" "I knew the moment had arrived, For killing the past and coming back to life"
And then the songs end with:
Guns N' Roses - Breakdown" "Funny how everything was roses, When we held on to the guns"
and then the climax with "Pink Floyd - Fearless" "You say the hill's too steep to climb, You say you'd like to see me try, You pick the place and I'll choose the time, And I'll climb The hill in my own way"
Gawd, that all sounded so cheesy. But, I guess the point is there, that I do what it takes to motivate myself night after night, and get through this garbage. And yes, it's hard. Last year at this time, I was the only person who saw my vision. And now? Now my whole family believes I can do it. I mean, shit, I've been selling phones for the past year, and making money. I have been building a very strong business. I have many regular customers. And I can fill out those grants (and other loans) to say: "I have been in business for more than a year. Here is a list of my contacts for customers, suppliers, and other investors."
At this point, I have drifted past the point of "Kinda drunk", and right into the "we need to go to bed now" drunk. But, are these just ramblings? Naw, I've been wanting to mention these things for quite some time. I hope they give you some direction in your "quiet time", and help you through those hours of wondering if it is all worth it. Is it? Oh, I don't know. I guess it boils down to how you handle it. To me, my son comes first (even though it gets a little forced on me), and then my business, then my wife.
How does she feel about being in last place? Well, she gets every Friday night. No matter what, I do not work on Friday nights, I spend them exclusively with her. Overall, she understands the nature of what I do. When a customer calls, she knows that if I don't drop what I am doing, they will likely not call back later, and I will loose the sale. But, that is a whole other topic. If they take the time to call me at 5pm, why won't they call back at 6pm? Who the hell knows. Stupid customers.
Today, I went to the bookstore and bought a book about getting government grants. Not quite sure where that topic will lead me, but it had other stuff in it that helped point out things to me. Like, what to say to investors, how to say it. It explained how to put together a proposal for an investor and stuff like that. Most of it I am sure I know, but I would still like to have it spoon feed to me.
One problem I have in life is that I do not have a mentor. 100% of the business decisions I make are based on my own experiences. Since I have a long history of advertising, and watching others succeed and fail, I feel confident in my choices, but it would still be nice to have a guide.
This is a lead-in to a plug for a TV show that you should definitely watch. I mean, If you are reading a blog about building your own business from scratch, which you are, then yeah, you should watch it. It's called "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" and it really is amazing stuff I would never have expected on "free" TV. If anyone knows where I can find all the past episodes, I would love to hear about it. Torrents didn't come back with anything. You can checkout a few episodes here: http://www.fancast.com/tv/The-Big-Idea-with-Donny-Deutsch/97338/full-episodes
There is an Audio book of his that came out that is 50% off at Barnes and Noble so it's only like $9.00. Less if you have a Membership. I will buy it tomorrow.
When I work these long hours, there are 2 things that get me through them. Alcohol and music.
Yeah, by definition, I am an alcoholic. But, I do it to clear my mind. It helps me focus on the task at hand. It's kind of like Ritalin or something. For me anyway. I have this mixture I created for myself. It's mostly powdered ice tea, but I throw in the rest of the ingredients of a Long Island Iced Tea. So, it's got Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, etc.... The mixture is designed to get me drunk, but not cost a fortune, since it is mostly flavored water. The thing is, for me, it puts my physically into a happy place, but my mind has never been affected by alcohol. So I think as clearly as ever, if not a bit more creative. So, in case your wondering, it's a long Saturday night, so yeah, I'm pretty plastered right now. Since I drink alone daily, I am categorized as a drunk. However, Since my thoughts are fairly coherent, anyone with a problem can kiss my ass. My liver, however, is another story.
So, the music. Ok, I have unintentionally collected 27 songs that are my favorites that play when I want some music while I work. The unintentional part is that they are mostly inspirational music. As I type this, it sounds silly, but much of the music gives me confidence in what I am doing, when I am the only one spending hours, days, weeks and months on this stuff.
They seem to start off pretty dark with songs like:
"Nine Inch Nails - Hurt" "I hurt myself today, To see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, The only thing that's real"
Then "Smashing Pumpkins - Galapagos" "Too late to turn back now, I'm running out of time and I am changing, changing"
This then drifts into songs like:
"Bob Segar - Like a Rock" "My hands were steady, My eyes were clear and bright,
My walk had purpose, My steps were quick and light, And I held firmly to what I felt was right, like a rock"
and "Battlestar Galactica Theme" Which is a Hindu prayer for guidance. "May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction."
and "David Gilmour - Coming Back to Life" "I knew the moment had arrived, For killing the past and coming back to life"
And then the songs end with:
Guns N' Roses - Breakdown" "Funny how everything was roses, When we held on to the guns"
and then the climax with "Pink Floyd - Fearless" "You say the hill's too steep to climb, You say you'd like to see me try, You pick the place and I'll choose the time, And I'll climb The hill in my own way"
Gawd, that all sounded so cheesy. But, I guess the point is there, that I do what it takes to motivate myself night after night, and get through this garbage. And yes, it's hard. Last year at this time, I was the only person who saw my vision. And now? Now my whole family believes I can do it. I mean, shit, I've been selling phones for the past year, and making money. I have been building a very strong business. I have many regular customers. And I can fill out those grants (and other loans) to say: "I have been in business for more than a year. Here is a list of my contacts for customers, suppliers, and other investors."
At this point, I have drifted past the point of "Kinda drunk", and right into the "we need to go to bed now" drunk. But, are these just ramblings? Naw, I've been wanting to mention these things for quite some time. I hope they give you some direction in your "quiet time", and help you through those hours of wondering if it is all worth it. Is it? Oh, I don't know. I guess it boils down to how you handle it. To me, my son comes first (even though it gets a little forced on me), and then my business, then my wife.
How does she feel about being in last place? Well, she gets every Friday night. No matter what, I do not work on Friday nights, I spend them exclusively with her. Overall, she understands the nature of what I do. When a customer calls, she knows that if I don't drop what I am doing, they will likely not call back later, and I will loose the sale. But, that is a whole other topic. If they take the time to call me at 5pm, why won't they call back at 6pm? Who the hell knows. Stupid customers.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Update
I have lots going on, and no time to blog. But, I took the 20 minutes to give you an update. Little distraction for me, from all the busy work.
Someone asked what happened with my Amazon.com account. Well, they shut down both my accounts and held the money for 3 months. When I got my money back, i said good riddance. I have since considered going back (briefly) because the money was so good. But, since I now deal with cell phones, that is some serious inventory and money i would be dealing with. Even if I had the money, and was willing to take the completely pointless risk, there are always the ass-sucking degenerates who would give me a 1 star because the phone sucked. Like that's is my fault? Crap like that would get me kicked off again in like 5 minutes.
Anyway, February and March were killer for business. I was like, "wow, this is what a real business is supposed to be like in a good economy." But, like all good things, the tax checks ran out, and so did my sales. I think i sold like 6 phones for April, which totally blows.
But, good things came out of that rush of sales. One was that I hired an assistant, who lasted all of 3 weeks. At first I was upset, but them this past month I would have had to fire him anyway without any money coming in to pay for him.
I also hired a bookkeeper who totally sucked. I'm not sure what her problem was, really, but after she put 25 hours into building the company in peachtree, she realized she did it wrong, and wanted more money. I told her she should have picked up the phone and asked, I wasnt paying her more, so she quit and deleted the database. I didn't pay her, so whatever. what I did do, was hire another bookkeeper to teach me a bit about peachtree, and I figured I could just build it myself. It's not that hard to learn, took about 2.5 hours, and I paid him $50 for his time.
In case your wondering why peachtree instead of Quickbooks, the main reason is that Quickbooks does not track serial numbers. I wanted to track sales from original purhcase, through repairs. In total, it means keeping track of a single items for over 1 month if needed.
Next week I am going to be displaying my company at a local bank. I signed upo for it a few months ago and now it's finally here. Basically, it is a bank that is located in the major grocery store. So, for 2 weeks, everyone walking by will see my phone business. If anyone really cares, I will also have business cards for my computer repair business, and menu's for my wifes catering business.
To draw more attention, I thought I would take a small financial hit, and give away a Blackberry phone for peoples email addresses. I wanted to start emailing specials to people, and keep in their mind for when they need a new phone. Since I paid about $80 for the phone, I think a trade of hundreds of email addresses for local people will all need a phone sooner or later, is worth it. I wasnt sure at first, but I think it is. It's all about the advertising. Next to the supermarket, I used to have a computer repair location, and I had machines to fix all the time (rent sucked though). So, I know business can be good if I can just get my name out there. If this works, I will reach out to all the different branches in the area (they have dozens of banks around here) and have them diaplay my business. Why not right? It's all free advertising. Well, except that $80 phone... but that is just a 'try it, and see what it does' kind of idea.
Someone asked what happened with my Amazon.com account. Well, they shut down both my accounts and held the money for 3 months. When I got my money back, i said good riddance. I have since considered going back (briefly) because the money was so good. But, since I now deal with cell phones, that is some serious inventory and money i would be dealing with. Even if I had the money, and was willing to take the completely pointless risk, there are always the ass-sucking degenerates who would give me a 1 star because the phone sucked. Like that's is my fault? Crap like that would get me kicked off again in like 5 minutes.
Anyway, February and March were killer for business. I was like, "wow, this is what a real business is supposed to be like in a good economy." But, like all good things, the tax checks ran out, and so did my sales. I think i sold like 6 phones for April, which totally blows.
But, good things came out of that rush of sales. One was that I hired an assistant, who lasted all of 3 weeks. At first I was upset, but them this past month I would have had to fire him anyway without any money coming in to pay for him.
I also hired a bookkeeper who totally sucked. I'm not sure what her problem was, really, but after she put 25 hours into building the company in peachtree, she realized she did it wrong, and wanted more money. I told her she should have picked up the phone and asked, I wasnt paying her more, so she quit and deleted the database. I didn't pay her, so whatever. what I did do, was hire another bookkeeper to teach me a bit about peachtree, and I figured I could just build it myself. It's not that hard to learn, took about 2.5 hours, and I paid him $50 for his time.
In case your wondering why peachtree instead of Quickbooks, the main reason is that Quickbooks does not track serial numbers. I wanted to track sales from original purhcase, through repairs. In total, it means keeping track of a single items for over 1 month if needed.
Next week I am going to be displaying my company at a local bank. I signed upo for it a few months ago and now it's finally here. Basically, it is a bank that is located in the major grocery store. So, for 2 weeks, everyone walking by will see my phone business. If anyone really cares, I will also have business cards for my computer repair business, and menu's for my wifes catering business.
To draw more attention, I thought I would take a small financial hit, and give away a Blackberry phone for peoples email addresses. I wanted to start emailing specials to people, and keep in their mind for when they need a new phone. Since I paid about $80 for the phone, I think a trade of hundreds of email addresses for local people will all need a phone sooner or later, is worth it. I wasnt sure at first, but I think it is. It's all about the advertising. Next to the supermarket, I used to have a computer repair location, and I had machines to fix all the time (rent sucked though). So, I know business can be good if I can just get my name out there. If this works, I will reach out to all the different branches in the area (they have dozens of banks around here) and have them diaplay my business. Why not right? It's all free advertising. Well, except that $80 phone... but that is just a 'try it, and see what it does' kind of idea.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Oh wait, I still HAVE a blog?
Oh, Crap,I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone really gave a shit about what was going on in my life or my business. Ok, Ok, I'll give a recap on how things turned out.
October:
I won my court case against the tenants from the previous year for $5000. The court ruled it as a no-contest and just gave me what I wanted.
The current Tenants broke the lease and moved out on the 31st. At the time, I told them no hard feelings, and I would forward on their security in 30 days.
November:
Since the house was still messed up from the first tenants, and now more (medium) damage from the last tenants, I had decided to keep the place vacant for the month, and remodel the place once again. I fixed all the things that were driving me nuts.
My phone business was suffering because I spent all my time at the house fixing it back up. By the end of the month, my sales had plummeted because I could not spend any time at it.
The first tenant and I settled for $2000 cash to drop the whole thing and move on. We parted peacefully, and apologized for really messing up each others year with this nonsense.
I opened up a Home Depot Credit Card to try and bury some of this remodeling cost.
By the end of the month, the cost was about $1500-$2000 in materials to fix it back up to it's original glory, and then some.
I found a tenant who signed a lease and wrote a deposit check to move in on December 1st. As it turned out, the check bounced. Needless to say, I did not let them in.
Because of tight money, I did not pay the insurance payment.
I used the $2000 from the lawsuit to pay for some repairs, and the rest went to pay for the month's mortgage.
December:
The house stayed vacant and I could not find anyone to rent the place no matter what I tried. The insurance company dropped me since I did not pay them. Later in the month I signed with another insurance company.
I stabilized my phone business, and was ready for my board game sales to skyrocket with the holiday season. That never happened. Lots of traffic, but sales were terrible.
I had another couple who signed a lease for January 1st. A little digging revealed that they were evicted earlier in the year and did not pay the landlord. Once again, I canceled the lease.
I opened a Credit Card with a $1000 limit, and used the money to buy inventory, and float credit card purchases for customers, since deposits took 3-4 business days.
I did not have enough money to pay the mortgage. This started my credit spiral into oblivion.
January:
On January 18th, I found a tenant, and signed a lease.
On January 20th, some nosey person from Craigslist went to my property, looked in the window, and saw that my basement was flooded. They called the fire department, who broke in, shut everything off, cleaned it out and left a note. A few days later, I went to get the last of my stuff out of house, and discovered that I had a flooded basement earlier in the week.
I decided to make an insurance claim, and quite surprisingly, they accepted it, and paid for everything. The downside was that quite a lot of work that was just completed, now needed to be redone. Drywall, Tile, doors, sink, tub... all of it was ripped out because of the moisture. My real motivation for doing this was because earlier in the year I had another flood from the same location (different pipe) that had left much mildew growing since I ignored it the first time.
Still did not pay mortgage, but had started a workout with them. Credit continued to tank.
February:
To make this quick, I submitted a quote for $7500 and had the work done for $3000. So, when it all ended, I walked away with over $5,000.00 cash. I used this money to pay off most of the companies begging me for money all year long. I also invested a bit into my phone business on office supplies, new computer equipment, etc. Still had some left over as a financial cushion.
Tenants are settled and happy. They pay rent early.
My Phone business went through the roof. I guess income taxes started coming in, because I went from 10-20 phones in January to over 100 in February. I became completely overwhelmed and my under-structure of the business/office/tracking completely fell apart. I was lost under a sea of money in/out/returns/repairs. I realized that if I wanted to succeed, I needed to rebuild my inventory tracking and billing procedures from the ground up. This is what it was like to run a real business.
The bank gave me a really shitty workout that only fixed their best interest, and did nothing to fix my real problems. I sat on the paperwork for the next month trying to figure things out.
March:
I hired a bookkeeper who is building my company inside of PeachTree. The bottom line reason for PeachTree as opposed to Quickbooks was because of inventory tracking. I wanted to track the serial numbers on the phones to ensure that any returns were really my phones. As I have started selling more and more brand name phones, it would otherwise be easy to have me fix someone elses broken stuff. The bookkeeper will likely cost several hundred dollars just to get this up and running, but it will be a benefit in the long run. As I said, the way I was doing business before was collapsing under it's own weight.
I hired an assistant. My wife wants to know where I am getting money to pay for him. I explained that as long as I continue to give him money generating work, he will make his own salery. As an example, I have been having him build CraigsList ads for the items I have in stock. Once they are built, they can just be relisted every few days and a regular customer generator. It has worked out as I expected, if not better.
Basically, if I sell a phone from CraigsList, that is a local customer. They are then showing it around to friends. My referrals in the past 30 days has started snowballing and I am getting more cold calling with no extra effort.
The assistant actually offered to take less pay, if I teach him how I am running my online business. He has tried to get his own stuff off the ground, but was not successful. So, I get cheap help.
I also found another go-getter who is out trying to make sales. He knows my price, so he can mark it up whatever he wants, and make the sale. Once again, someone else does the work, and I collect the money. I like this idea.
The insurance company dropped me (No big surprise). The new company cost $50 more per month, but since I walked away with $5000, I think I made out quite well.
I signed the workout and sent it in. Basically they are taking out a 2nd loan for $40/mo to payback the missed payments. This means I need to deal with the house taxes separately. Oh, did I mention I did not pay taxes all year long and now they put a lien on it? Yeah, I need to have the bank open an escrow account to pay that off. So, that means the monthly cost is going to skyrocket. with these 2 extra payments.
The tenants want to buy the house, so I am going work out something from that angle. I will be quite happy to just be done with that money pit, and buy something else at a better deal. It cost me way too much per month to keep that property. I think it has paid me back quite nicely over the years, despite the headaches.
October:
I won my court case against the tenants from the previous year for $5000. The court ruled it as a no-contest and just gave me what I wanted.
The current Tenants broke the lease and moved out on the 31st. At the time, I told them no hard feelings, and I would forward on their security in 30 days.
November:
Since the house was still messed up from the first tenants, and now more (medium) damage from the last tenants, I had decided to keep the place vacant for the month, and remodel the place once again. I fixed all the things that were driving me nuts.
My phone business was suffering because I spent all my time at the house fixing it back up. By the end of the month, my sales had plummeted because I could not spend any time at it.
The first tenant and I settled for $2000 cash to drop the whole thing and move on. We parted peacefully, and apologized for really messing up each others year with this nonsense.
I opened up a Home Depot Credit Card to try and bury some of this remodeling cost.
By the end of the month, the cost was about $1500-$2000 in materials to fix it back up to it's original glory, and then some.
I found a tenant who signed a lease and wrote a deposit check to move in on December 1st. As it turned out, the check bounced. Needless to say, I did not let them in.
Because of tight money, I did not pay the insurance payment.
I used the $2000 from the lawsuit to pay for some repairs, and the rest went to pay for the month's mortgage.
December:
The house stayed vacant and I could not find anyone to rent the place no matter what I tried. The insurance company dropped me since I did not pay them. Later in the month I signed with another insurance company.
I stabilized my phone business, and was ready for my board game sales to skyrocket with the holiday season. That never happened. Lots of traffic, but sales were terrible.
I had another couple who signed a lease for January 1st. A little digging revealed that they were evicted earlier in the year and did not pay the landlord. Once again, I canceled the lease.
I opened a Credit Card with a $1000 limit, and used the money to buy inventory, and float credit card purchases for customers, since deposits took 3-4 business days.
I did not have enough money to pay the mortgage. This started my credit spiral into oblivion.
January:
On January 18th, I found a tenant, and signed a lease.
On January 20th, some nosey person from Craigslist went to my property, looked in the window, and saw that my basement was flooded. They called the fire department, who broke in, shut everything off, cleaned it out and left a note. A few days later, I went to get the last of my stuff out of house, and discovered that I had a flooded basement earlier in the week.
I decided to make an insurance claim, and quite surprisingly, they accepted it, and paid for everything. The downside was that quite a lot of work that was just completed, now needed to be redone. Drywall, Tile, doors, sink, tub... all of it was ripped out because of the moisture. My real motivation for doing this was because earlier in the year I had another flood from the same location (different pipe) that had left much mildew growing since I ignored it the first time.
Still did not pay mortgage, but had started a workout with them. Credit continued to tank.
February:
To make this quick, I submitted a quote for $7500 and had the work done for $3000. So, when it all ended, I walked away with over $5,000.00 cash. I used this money to pay off most of the companies begging me for money all year long. I also invested a bit into my phone business on office supplies, new computer equipment, etc. Still had some left over as a financial cushion.
Tenants are settled and happy. They pay rent early.
My Phone business went through the roof. I guess income taxes started coming in, because I went from 10-20 phones in January to over 100 in February. I became completely overwhelmed and my under-structure of the business/office/tracking completely fell apart. I was lost under a sea of money in/out/returns/repairs. I realized that if I wanted to succeed, I needed to rebuild my inventory tracking and billing procedures from the ground up. This is what it was like to run a real business.
The bank gave me a really shitty workout that only fixed their best interest, and did nothing to fix my real problems. I sat on the paperwork for the next month trying to figure things out.
March:
I hired a bookkeeper who is building my company inside of PeachTree. The bottom line reason for PeachTree as opposed to Quickbooks was because of inventory tracking. I wanted to track the serial numbers on the phones to ensure that any returns were really my phones. As I have started selling more and more brand name phones, it would otherwise be easy to have me fix someone elses broken stuff. The bookkeeper will likely cost several hundred dollars just to get this up and running, but it will be a benefit in the long run. As I said, the way I was doing business before was collapsing under it's own weight.
I hired an assistant. My wife wants to know where I am getting money to pay for him. I explained that as long as I continue to give him money generating work, he will make his own salery. As an example, I have been having him build CraigsList ads for the items I have in stock. Once they are built, they can just be relisted every few days and a regular customer generator. It has worked out as I expected, if not better.
Basically, if I sell a phone from CraigsList, that is a local customer. They are then showing it around to friends. My referrals in the past 30 days has started snowballing and I am getting more cold calling with no extra effort.
The assistant actually offered to take less pay, if I teach him how I am running my online business. He has tried to get his own stuff off the ground, but was not successful. So, I get cheap help.
I also found another go-getter who is out trying to make sales. He knows my price, so he can mark it up whatever he wants, and make the sale. Once again, someone else does the work, and I collect the money. I like this idea.
The insurance company dropped me (No big surprise). The new company cost $50 more per month, but since I walked away with $5000, I think I made out quite well.
I signed the workout and sent it in. Basically they are taking out a 2nd loan for $40/mo to payback the missed payments. This means I need to deal with the house taxes separately. Oh, did I mention I did not pay taxes all year long and now they put a lien on it? Yeah, I need to have the bank open an escrow account to pay that off. So, that means the monthly cost is going to skyrocket. with these 2 extra payments.
The tenants want to buy the house, so I am going work out something from that angle. I will be quite happy to just be done with that money pit, and buy something else at a better deal. It cost me way too much per month to keep that property. I think it has paid me back quite nicely over the years, despite the headaches.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Last Tenants
My last tenants were only in there for six months before they wanted to leave. Most likely cause is that the rest cost too much for them. So, instead of simply asking to break it, they went right for the Fire Marshall and Building Inspector. What bullshit.
Now that they are out, I am doing many of the much needed repairs before putting new tenants in there. Sure, it is costing me more than $100 per day in lost income, but the property desperately needs some TLC. Additionally, after the last 2 tenants sucked, I want to try any find someone worth while this time.
Now that they are out, I am doing many of the much needed repairs before putting new tenants in there. Sure, it is costing me more than $100 per day in lost income, but the property desperately needs some TLC. Additionally, after the last 2 tenants sucked, I want to try any find someone worth while this time.
My Day in Court
7 months ago, tenants of mine moved out, leaving behind approximately $12,000 worth of damage. I easily kept the $3,500 security. Soon, I realized it was not enough.
6 months ago I filed a small claims for $5,000 in damages to my property.
Last week I had my day at the court house.
This week I received a judgment for the full $5,000 in damages.
The down side is that the court order is for $35 per week for the next 12 years. I sounds silly, but it is $170 per month. Likely, she won't even bother to pay it, so then I can go after the full amount.
If you read back to my older posts, you will see that we also won a court case against an employer for wrongful dismissal. I also got eBay to leave me alone when they tried to file a collection on me.
6 months ago I filed a small claims for $5,000 in damages to my property.
Last week I had my day at the court house.
This week I received a judgment for the full $5,000 in damages.
The down side is that the court order is for $35 per week for the next 12 years. I sounds silly, but it is $170 per month. Likely, she won't even bother to pay it, so then I can go after the full amount.
If you read back to my older posts, you will see that we also won a court case against an employer for wrongful dismissal. I also got eBay to leave me alone when they tried to file a collection on me.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Yahoo's Pay Per Click
I got this in my email today:
From November 3, 2008, until December 31, 2008, Yahoo! will be making a seasonal rate adjustment by increasing the cost per click (CPC) by 25% in all categories.
Hey Yahoo, take your shitty Pay-Per-Click scam and shove it up your seasonal ass.
If there are any readers thinking about doing pay-per-click, consider this: Last Christmas, I made approximately $25 profit for every $300 I spent. Your time is better spent setting up the free Google-Base. Not as much traffic, but again, it's free. So is http://shopmania.com... for what it's worth. Also, drive ebay traffic to your website. When they ask you a question in email, be sure to respond off-system with all your website information... and tell them it's cheaper too.
From November 3, 2008, until December 31, 2008, Yahoo! will be making a seasonal rate adjustment by increasing the cost per click (CPC) by 25% in all categories.
Hey Yahoo, take your shitty Pay-Per-Click scam and shove it up your seasonal ass.
If there are any readers thinking about doing pay-per-click, consider this: Last Christmas, I made approximately $25 profit for every $300 I spent. Your time is better spent setting up the free Google-Base. Not as much traffic, but again, it's free. So is http://shopmania.com... for what it's worth. Also, drive ebay traffic to your website. When they ask you a question in email, be sure to respond off-system with all your website information... and tell them it's cheaper too.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Cell Phone Sales
My business has really taken of. I keep getting many one-off sales, and then I get the 5+ phone orders. I always look at the bills and wonder how in the world I can pay them, but then I get a phone call out o the blue ordering 8 phones. It's pretty cool. I made a generic craigslist ad for a phone and I have been getting many emails about it. Today, someone called me on it, I met him and sold him a phone in a gas station parking lot. he then informs me he likes the phone so much, he wants to get them for his salesmen! Not sure how it will turn out, but so far all my big orders have followed though.
I have hired a data entry person, and a designer for various projects that have come my way. Last year, i never would have guessed I have more work, than I have time. I am really happy about what I have accomplished in this past year. All my businesses are doing well for themselves. Each one is enough to keep me busy. All Together, I need to hire help. Crazy.
I have hired a data entry person, and a designer for various projects that have come my way. Last year, i never would have guessed I have more work, than I have time. I am really happy about what I have accomplished in this past year. All my businesses are doing well for themselves. Each one is enough to keep me busy. All Together, I need to hire help. Crazy.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Final Customs Information
I don't remember everything I said about that customs mess over the past few months. But I will recap, now that I have 20/20 vision about the whole thing.
1. Customs were, by and large, very helpful and friendly people.
2. DHL was, by and large, fucking idiots who made the whole experience 20x harder than it needed to be.
3. Shipping by EMS is fairly safe. Shipping by FedEx and UPS can be risky. Shipping by DHL is suicide.
4. If you call customs, and are put on hold, you get an ad for DHL. That says something.
5. If your declaration is 20 Communication Devices, you may be OK. If it says 1 Bluetooth, your screwed.
6. My package sat at customs because DHL would not provide the proper paperwork.
7. DHL kept asking me for documents and licenses that did not exist. Mainly because they did not know what the hell they were talking about.
8. I authorized DHL to remove ONE Bluetooth device from the box. They removed 13+... and left several behind.
9. Even though there were technically several violations in the box, customs did not care. 100% of this mess was because of DHL.
10. Because the declaration said "Bluetooth", DHL wanted me to provide an "Authorization License" because BlueTooth is copyrighted and Trademarked... both the name, and the logo. The problem was, they would not say that. They just kept saying "License to Import" without telling what License they actually wanted.
11. After I lost all those phones, I finally found the link (a little buried) on the Bluetooth website that I could sign my company up as an Authorized Bluetooth Reseller. I have since signed my company up, and I also requested signed documentation via mail. This is all anybody wanted. It was quick and easy.
13. It is OK to call up various customs offices and ask for help and information. They were so willing to help. Unfortunately, no one could actually do anything to really help. However, I did receive more help from customs than DHL.
14. Never put more in one shipment than I am willing to loose. So, if my safe number is $500, then anything more than that, I will put into another box and ship seprately. This obviously cost more, but I feel that 5 boxes at an extra $68 is worth more to me, than 1 box, save $68, but risk getting $3000 stopped for 2 months.
Ok, I have droned on about this topic more than enough for the past 2 months. It is time to move on.
1. Customs were, by and large, very helpful and friendly people.
2. DHL was, by and large, fucking idiots who made the whole experience 20x harder than it needed to be.
3. Shipping by EMS is fairly safe. Shipping by FedEx and UPS can be risky. Shipping by DHL is suicide.
4. If you call customs, and are put on hold, you get an ad for DHL. That says something.
5. If your declaration is 20 Communication Devices, you may be OK. If it says 1 Bluetooth, your screwed.
6. My package sat at customs because DHL would not provide the proper paperwork.
7. DHL kept asking me for documents and licenses that did not exist. Mainly because they did not know what the hell they were talking about.
8. I authorized DHL to remove ONE Bluetooth device from the box. They removed 13+... and left several behind.
9. Even though there were technically several violations in the box, customs did not care. 100% of this mess was because of DHL.
10. Because the declaration said "Bluetooth", DHL wanted me to provide an "Authorization License" because BlueTooth is copyrighted and Trademarked... both the name, and the logo. The problem was, they would not say that. They just kept saying "License to Import" without telling what License they actually wanted.
11. After I lost all those phones, I finally found the link (a little buried) on the Bluetooth website that I could sign my company up as an Authorized Bluetooth Reseller. I have since signed my company up, and I also requested signed documentation via mail. This is all anybody wanted. It was quick and easy.
13. It is OK to call up various customs offices and ask for help and information. They were so willing to help. Unfortunately, no one could actually do anything to really help. However, I did receive more help from customs than DHL.
14. Never put more in one shipment than I am willing to loose. So, if my safe number is $500, then anything more than that, I will put into another box and ship seprately. This obviously cost more, but I feel that 5 boxes at an extra $68 is worth more to me, than 1 box, save $68, but risk getting $3000 stopped for 2 months.
Ok, I have droned on about this topic more than enough for the past 2 months. It is time to move on.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Customs Release
After about 1.5 months, Customs finally inspected and released my shipment. Of course, they had to rape and pillage it first. 20 Phones were shipped, 8 arrived. Interestingly enough, they gave me all the iphone copies, but confiscated all the TV Phones. That made no sense to me. So, I emailed several people asking them to see if they could find a formal document that explained why they took what they did. Not that it matters, I just want to know what the violations were.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Small Claims Court
I mentioned ages ago that I was taking my old tenant to court because of the extensive damages they did to my house. Since then the running joke has been that I should take them to the Peoples Court.
Well, today I received a letter in the mail from the Peoples Court asking if I wanted to be on the show. Kinda funny, really. At first I was kinda upset because my first reaction was that I did not a TV spectacle about it, I just wanted the money I was owed. Once of the things they promised was that if I won, I would be paid, guaranteed. This was enticing because one of the issues that I was worried about was whether or not this person would even pay me after I won. These people are from the hood, so it's not like they have $5,000 kicking around.
I had a brief talk about it with my family, and we decided to do it, for that reason alone. I will keep you updated.
Well, today I received a letter in the mail from the Peoples Court asking if I wanted to be on the show. Kinda funny, really. At first I was kinda upset because my first reaction was that I did not a TV spectacle about it, I just wanted the money I was owed. Once of the things they promised was that if I won, I would be paid, guaranteed. This was enticing because one of the issues that I was worried about was whether or not this person would even pay me after I won. These people are from the hood, so it's not like they have $5,000 kicking around.
I had a brief talk about it with my family, and we decided to do it, for that reason alone. I will keep you updated.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Crazies Out There
It does amaze me that with all the crazy people out there who randomly shoot people, no one bothers to take a plane flight out to one of Amazon's warehouses, or eBay/Paypal, and blow them to pieces.
It also amazes me that with all the suicides that happen each day, not one of those people actually tries to rob a bank or something first. If your going to die, why not try and get away with it? I mean, what the hell, right?
It also amazes me that with all the suicides that happen each day, not one of those people actually tries to rob a bank or something first. If your going to die, why not try and get away with it? I mean, what the hell, right?
Importing From China
Random experiences Importing from China:
1. The customer service should be easily accessible, and speak English fairly well. The companies I deal with have live chat available, usually through MSN Live Messenger. If they do not, I don't deal with them.
2. Even if you have larger shipments available, you should break them up into smaller shipments, into total amounts you are comfortable with losing. For example, if you place a $4,000 order, and customs gets involved, are you OK with that? If not, make smaller shipments of only $1,000 or $2,000 each. It cost a few dollars more to ship, but if customs decides to inspect, or confiscate the package, you are not out the full order.
3. Never.... EVER.... under ANY circumstances... ship with DHL.
4. Never.... EVER.... under ANY circumstances... ship with DHL.
5. Oh wait... I said that already.... the point is this: If you happen to call customs, and get put on hold, did you know that you will hear an advertisement for DHL? This should tell you something. Every vendor I have asked, has told me the same thing... DHL gets more packages opened than EMS and UPS combined.
6. If customs ever decides to put one of your packages on hold, consider it lost. Accept the fact that you need to repurchase the merchandise, and move on. Maybe you can get the shipment released someday in the future, but do not wait on it. The process of Customs will take weeks and weeks to show any forward progress.
6a. Let us say that you are an aggressive person and want to take control of the situation. Don't waste your time. Personally, I spent an entire business day circumventing the system until I had the name and number of the Officer who personally stopped my package. The end result was that once it was randomly stopped (for no particular reason), it was sent to the lab for inspection. This is three weeks minimum, and nothing can be done, not even by the Officer (unless you are related or something, I figure). I accepted the $2,500 loss, and moved on.
7. If you are paying with Western Union, you can ask if the person you are paying has any fraud reported against them. However, I should mention to take this with a grain of salt. Two of my vendors have 0 this year, and that is great. One of them has 16 complaints against them. At first, I thought I was screwed. As it turns out, they have bent over backwards for me, and given me whatever I needed. Since you are only saying the person's name, located in China, this could be anybody. It's like sending money to John Doe in the USA... you would expect more than one person to have the same name.
8. Before doing business with a company, do an extensive google search about the company. Once, I found a company that swore to my (email) face that they sold genuine brand name products at great prices. After a search, they turned out to be liars and thieves.
9. You can use Alibaba.com and DIY.com to find products, and vendors. For me, i use it to see how long they have been in business, and stuff like that. The company I found in #8 was found here, so again, buyer beware.
10. There is no number 10... or number 4 for that matter.
1. The customer service should be easily accessible, and speak English fairly well. The companies I deal with have live chat available, usually through MSN Live Messenger. If they do not, I don't deal with them.
2. Even if you have larger shipments available, you should break them up into smaller shipments, into total amounts you are comfortable with losing. For example, if you place a $4,000 order, and customs gets involved, are you OK with that? If not, make smaller shipments of only $1,000 or $2,000 each. It cost a few dollars more to ship, but if customs decides to inspect, or confiscate the package, you are not out the full order.
3. Never.... EVER.... under ANY circumstances... ship with DHL.
4. Never.... EVER.... under ANY circumstances... ship with DHL.
5. Oh wait... I said that already.... the point is this: If you happen to call customs, and get put on hold, did you know that you will hear an advertisement for DHL? This should tell you something. Every vendor I have asked, has told me the same thing... DHL gets more packages opened than EMS and UPS combined.
6. If customs ever decides to put one of your packages on hold, consider it lost. Accept the fact that you need to repurchase the merchandise, and move on. Maybe you can get the shipment released someday in the future, but do not wait on it. The process of Customs will take weeks and weeks to show any forward progress.
6a. Let us say that you are an aggressive person and want to take control of the situation. Don't waste your time. Personally, I spent an entire business day circumventing the system until I had the name and number of the Officer who personally stopped my package. The end result was that once it was randomly stopped (for no particular reason), it was sent to the lab for inspection. This is three weeks minimum, and nothing can be done, not even by the Officer (unless you are related or something, I figure). I accepted the $2,500 loss, and moved on.
7. If you are paying with Western Union, you can ask if the person you are paying has any fraud reported against them. However, I should mention to take this with a grain of salt. Two of my vendors have 0 this year, and that is great. One of them has 16 complaints against them. At first, I thought I was screwed. As it turns out, they have bent over backwards for me, and given me whatever I needed. Since you are only saying the person's name, located in China, this could be anybody. It's like sending money to John Doe in the USA... you would expect more than one person to have the same name.
8. Before doing business with a company, do an extensive google search about the company. Once, I found a company that swore to my (email) face that they sold genuine brand name products at great prices. After a search, they turned out to be liars and thieves.
9. You can use Alibaba.com and DIY.com to find products, and vendors. For me, i use it to see how long they have been in business, and stuff like that. The company I found in #8 was found here, so again, buyer beware.
10. There is no number 10... or number 4 for that matter.
Monday, August 4, 2008
2 eBay Accounts
Someone asked this about a month ago. I suck at responding, so I will mention it now. I had an eBay account that was shut down. I started it back up a week later. I did nothing new or fancy, not really. I opened a bank account in my wifes name, and listed the address as my 2nd house (rental property). I attached Paypal to the bank account, and ebay to the paypal account. A few weeks later, paypal wanted some proof I was really selling products. I took some pictures of the merchandise, and sent them some invoices. All was real, but I doubt it would have mattered. They reinstated my account, and I have been selling on there for 6 months now, and still with 65+ 100% positive feedback. The real trick was getting enough feedback to open a store. Once I did that, i stopped listing on auction, and only manage a store. It still draws traffic. Not as much, but it keep a low profile.
Now, I would add that you should change your ip address. For those on cable, you should change your router MAC address, which will force your modem to get a new ip address. Lastly, remove all Flash Cookies as well.
If you old Paypal account is still in good standing, you can use them both freely. I log into both back to back, and send myself money as I test my web store.
PayPal only knows the Account Number and Routing number. They may ask for the name of account owner, but they have no clue who it is, or what address the account is tied to behind the scenes.
Basically, they are not as scary and all powerful as people make them out to be.
Now, I would add that you should change your ip address. For those on cable, you should change your router MAC address, which will force your modem to get a new ip address. Lastly, remove all Flash Cookies as well.
If you old Paypal account is still in good standing, you can use them both freely. I log into both back to back, and send myself money as I test my web store.
PayPal only knows the Account Number and Routing number. They may ask for the name of account owner, but they have no clue who it is, or what address the account is tied to behind the scenes.
Basically, they are not as scary and all powerful as people make them out to be.
My Legal Cases
eBay shut down my account then came after several hundred in fees. They sent numerous emails. I ignored them all. At some point, they stopped the emails, but sent a collection agency after me. I followed the advice of this website: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml and after that, ebay went back to the emails. I haven't heard from that collection agency again, and it's been a few months. According to that site, they can not bother me about it again. So, I guess I won.
Additionally, my wife was fired from her job on day 8. We took the case to the workers compensation and brought it before a judge. The company, while having every right to fire her, cowered under my complete disregard for their less than stunning lawyer. They settled for $1500.00 in back wages, just to make us go away.
Lastly, I had tenants who left my house with approximately $11,000 worth of damage. I am still waiting on the court to coordinate anything. At the very least, I have become a thorn in the tenant's side.
The moral of the story? Don't be a pussy and let people and companies walk all over you. File a motion, and watch them back off.
Additionally, my wife was fired from her job on day 8. We took the case to the workers compensation and brought it before a judge. The company, while having every right to fire her, cowered under my complete disregard for their less than stunning lawyer. They settled for $1500.00 in back wages, just to make us go away.
Lastly, I had tenants who left my house with approximately $11,000 worth of damage. I am still waiting on the court to coordinate anything. At the very least, I have become a thorn in the tenant's side.
The moral of the story? Don't be a pussy and let people and companies walk all over you. File a motion, and watch them back off.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
China Imports
I tried a new company (for me) in China. I bought 2 phones, and they arrived on tme without a problem. A week or so later, I bought 5 phones. They also arrived without a problem. So, a week later, I place an order for 9 phones. While paying with Western Union, the woman advises me not to send the $1400.00 to them. I asked why, and she would not say. Only that she strongly suggested I do not send the money.
So I go looking on the internet for information about the company. I did not find any complaints, warnings or anything else. I emailed the company, and asked them to comment. I also said that I wanted to change the order to only 3 phones.
I called back Western Union, and pushed the issue. She finally told me that there have been 16 complaints of fraud this year.
I thought about things that could have caused 16 complaints. Of course, nothing is said about how many hundreds or thousands of orders that may have been completed without issue. Since the money was going to be held up by the bank for 3 business days, and I was still going to be charged by Western union, I decided to keep the order going and hope for the best.
From my point of view, the first 2 orders were correct. I even made a blatant error that I discovered 5 days later. They, however, knew what I had wanted, and simply did it. The service is also quick to respond to my emails. So, I really had to conclude that as a seller, things go bad with orders, and you can't make everyone happy.
They just responded to my email about everything. Know what it said? It said that my order was being packaged up, and will be shipping out tonight. She also gave me an invoice for my new order....... what new order?!? Sure as shit, she thought I was ordering 3 more phones. She had no clue what the hell I was talking about.
My point is this, communication between USA and China is difficult at best. When you stick to easy questions using keywords for their business, they can tell you what you want to know. Once you start talking about this or that, they have no clue.
Most likely, those 16 people had a communication breakdown. Instead of resolving it, they just went and complained. However, I am just guessing by what I have seen today.
Not all are good vendors in China though, and you need to check them out before hand. I had one that swore it was Genuine Apple products they were selling. A quick Google search revealed an army of pissed of customers that now had cheap Chinese crap. There really isn't anything wrong with it, if you know that is what you are buying. It's the deceiving that is the problem.
You can stop by www.pebkac404.com for my recent entry about this communication problem. Anyway, thanks for reading.
So I go looking on the internet for information about the company. I did not find any complaints, warnings or anything else. I emailed the company, and asked them to comment. I also said that I wanted to change the order to only 3 phones.
I called back Western Union, and pushed the issue. She finally told me that there have been 16 complaints of fraud this year.
I thought about things that could have caused 16 complaints. Of course, nothing is said about how many hundreds or thousands of orders that may have been completed without issue. Since the money was going to be held up by the bank for 3 business days, and I was still going to be charged by Western union, I decided to keep the order going and hope for the best.
From my point of view, the first 2 orders were correct. I even made a blatant error that I discovered 5 days later. They, however, knew what I had wanted, and simply did it. The service is also quick to respond to my emails. So, I really had to conclude that as a seller, things go bad with orders, and you can't make everyone happy.
They just responded to my email about everything. Know what it said? It said that my order was being packaged up, and will be shipping out tonight. She also gave me an invoice for my new order....... what new order?!? Sure as shit, she thought I was ordering 3 more phones. She had no clue what the hell I was talking about.
My point is this, communication between USA and China is difficult at best. When you stick to easy questions using keywords for their business, they can tell you what you want to know. Once you start talking about this or that, they have no clue.
Most likely, those 16 people had a communication breakdown. Instead of resolving it, they just went and complained. However, I am just guessing by what I have seen today.
Not all are good vendors in China though, and you need to check them out before hand. I had one that swore it was Genuine Apple products they were selling. A quick Google search revealed an army of pissed of customers that now had cheap Chinese crap. There really isn't anything wrong with it, if you know that is what you are buying. It's the deceiving that is the problem.
You can stop by www.pebkac404.com for my recent entry about this communication problem. Anyway, thanks for reading.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
My Websites
I have created a little spiderweb of websites that all cross link to each other. This wasn't really intentional, but it seems to work pretty well. I get people that wander around and see what I am up to.
I have a website that sells board games. It gets little traffic that my other sites drive to it. However, I also have a cell phone site that Google simply loves. I'm not quite sure what that's all about, but if you search for one of the products that I sell on there, there is a good chance google throws it up at the top of the list. This drives all kinds of traffic to my store.
Mostly, i made the site for my own needs, but since I get traffic, I modified it to accept orders from anyone. It has made a few sales. One of them landed me a whopping $3500.00 cell phone order. I made a very handsome payday from that order since he did not nickel and dime me like other customers I have. I just hope the sale follows through without incident. He said he sent a check, that I will have in 2 days. If it does not bounce, I hope to have found another good customer. It better not bouce, cause I really need that money.
I also listed a bunch of the phones on my eBay store. Maybe I can make another sale or two on there. Nothing crazy, no brand names, no auction listings. Just if someone finds it and wants it. I prefer to keep my head down and stay out of trouble over there.
After a few months of trying OLA.com I finally canceled the account. No one was even looking at my stuff. I'll save the $8.00 a month. Besides, I started reading about what sucky owners ran the place, and I lost interest.
eCrater has not done shit for me. But, it cost nothing to leave it there. Kinda funny though, how my products get double listed on Google Base. Once for my website and once for my ecrater site. Different prices. I'm competing with myself, I think.
iOffer amazingly sent me TWO sales. Be still my aching heart.
I have a website that sells board games. It gets little traffic that my other sites drive to it. However, I also have a cell phone site that Google simply loves. I'm not quite sure what that's all about, but if you search for one of the products that I sell on there, there is a good chance google throws it up at the top of the list. This drives all kinds of traffic to my store.
Mostly, i made the site for my own needs, but since I get traffic, I modified it to accept orders from anyone. It has made a few sales. One of them landed me a whopping $3500.00 cell phone order. I made a very handsome payday from that order since he did not nickel and dime me like other customers I have. I just hope the sale follows through without incident. He said he sent a check, that I will have in 2 days. If it does not bounce, I hope to have found another good customer. It better not bouce, cause I really need that money.
I also listed a bunch of the phones on my eBay store. Maybe I can make another sale or two on there. Nothing crazy, no brand names, no auction listings. Just if someone finds it and wants it. I prefer to keep my head down and stay out of trouble over there.
After a few months of trying OLA.com I finally canceled the account. No one was even looking at my stuff. I'll save the $8.00 a month. Besides, I started reading about what sucky owners ran the place, and I lost interest.
eCrater has not done shit for me. But, it cost nothing to leave it there. Kinda funny though, how my products get double listed on Google Base. Once for my website and once for my ecrater site. Different prices. I'm competing with myself, I think.
iOffer amazingly sent me TWO sales. Be still my aching heart.
What I Am Doing Now
Funny thing, how one week everything looks like doom and gloom, the next week it's all sunshine. Last week, I was thousands in the hole, unemployment running out, no job prospects, CountryWide ARM had expired, and I was is dire straights. On Friday, my website brought in a $3500.00 order. CountryWide called and said they would modify my loan into a fixed rate. I had several more sales over the weekend. Sunday night at 10pm I was juggling 3 different customers. On Monday morning I was offered a full time that I actually (god help me) turned down. Monday afternoon I went to pick up money from a sale. Got a letter (just a notice, nothing important) from the Courthouse about the tenant I am suing. Made a few sales since then, and tomorrow I am going off to my Part Time Photography job I was lucky to get last month.
Whew. Crazy.
Whew. Crazy.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Online Sales
eBay has ruined any real business that used to be there. I'm afraid of listing items, and actually drawing attention to myself. Not to mention the fees. I can list 10 items, sell only 1, and break even. So how is that worth it? With the new rating system, some day I am "Lowered" and the next I am "Raised". There does not seem to be any sense of order with that thing.
I still haven't been paid by Amazon for over 2 months. They better pay up in the next few weeks. I have bills long since behind.
For my own local customers, I setup http://Portable-Fun.com as an easy checkout system. It also helps me on the phone taking orders, I can quickly enter the order in, and it gives the price with discounts and stuff. The funny thing is, it gets sent to Google Base, and that has been sending traffic to it. So I get people looking at my stuff, and I wasn't even trying. No actual online sales yet, but if anyone does come through, and place an order, I will be ready.
All in all, it's a part time thing that now makes me money without any real effort. This is more of what I planned on doing 6 months ago.
Now I am going to start looking into other products like pets or kids or something else that should bring in more revenue.
I still haven't been paid by Amazon for over 2 months. They better pay up in the next few weeks. I have bills long since behind.
For my own local customers, I setup http://Portable-Fun.com as an easy checkout system. It also helps me on the phone taking orders, I can quickly enter the order in, and it gives the price with discounts and stuff. The funny thing is, it gets sent to Google Base, and that has been sending traffic to it. So I get people looking at my stuff, and I wasn't even trying. No actual online sales yet, but if anyone does come through, and place an order, I will be ready.
All in all, it's a part time thing that now makes me money without any real effort. This is more of what I planned on doing 6 months ago.
Now I am going to start looking into other products like pets or kids or something else that should bring in more revenue.
Local Sales
So, I have now been to all the local Cell Phone shops to pitch my products. One owner is never around, but I did meet with 5 other store owners. Three are selling my products, and two were interested, but not so much. Guess I will have to be more persistent with the three stragglers.
Most of the stores these days are brand name only (Sprint, ATT, TMobile) so that makes it so much harder to do this. There are some more around, but they are in scattered, opposite directions. May not be worth the trouble.
Most of the stores these days are brand name only (Sprint, ATT, TMobile) so that makes it so much harder to do this. There are some more around, but they are in scattered, opposite directions. May not be worth the trouble.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wrong Pricing
I had put together a price book, and entered all items into a website store. I accidentally listed a $600.00 item $500.00. I will honor the price, but it cost a hundred bucks.
Bands
I had an order for a phone. One company said it was DualBand, another said TriBand. I had the DualBand company recheck, and ordered from the TriBand. A day later, the DualBand confirmed it was TriBand, and the TriBand said they made a mistake, it was DualBand. Then, the first company said it was DualBand, again.
WTF?!? This is a waste of my time and energy.
WTF?!? This is a waste of my time and energy.
Names on Checks
I have a customer that writes checks out to "Company Name - My Name" and I've cashed this before. Today it was a problem. She insisted on a Business Account to use the check. I completely blew up right at the window, threw the pen at her and ripped up the check. I didnt mean to, but it cost me time, money and gas to get that stupid check the first time, now I have to go get another one. The business is about 30 minutes away on a good day, each way. What a waste. It had my damn name on it, who cares?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Half Year Update
In November I started selling Apple iPods on eBay. In December my wife quit her day job to stay home with our son. I started importing generic MP3 players from China. In January, I was laid off and simply turned my part time business into full time.
The next few months were spent going in circles while I tried to find direction. I knew my end goal, but I did not know quite how to get there. eBay had a new CEO and turned evil, putting many big and small sellers like me out of business. Amazon was no better, and they have been holding over $2000 of my earnings hostage for 47 days, with 43 more to go. After chasing my tail, I came up with the idea that I could import Cell Phones, and sell them to local small stores in the Bridgeport and New Haven areas.
My wife had started a new job, cut herself, and was fired. A simple accident had turned into a corporate railroading. So, I filed a claim for Workman's Compensation and Unemployment. I don't know if we will get anywhere, but I do feel better knowing that the woman who started this is now in the hot seat by her own bosses for this mess. My wife did get a pleasant temporary job that will be ending at the end of July.
As you know I have my own businesses, where I sell Board Games, MP3 Players, and Cell Phones. If you wanted to see what I have been working on for the past few months, you can visit www.The-Game-Store.com and www.Portable-Fun.com The games I sell on eBay, but the Phones I sell locally to small stores, acting as a distributor. So far it has been going well. On Saturday I met with four owners, that own seven stores between them. They were as interested as my other customers are, so I hope this will be worth all the trouble. While this is a new thing for me, once I had the idea, and started putting the pieces together, I really felt this was a very good idea.
The next few months were spent going in circles while I tried to find direction. I knew my end goal, but I did not know quite how to get there. eBay had a new CEO and turned evil, putting many big and small sellers like me out of business. Amazon was no better, and they have been holding over $2000 of my earnings hostage for 47 days, with 43 more to go. After chasing my tail, I came up with the idea that I could import Cell Phones, and sell them to local small stores in the Bridgeport and New Haven areas.
My wife had started a new job, cut herself, and was fired. A simple accident had turned into a corporate railroading. So, I filed a claim for Workman's Compensation and Unemployment. I don't know if we will get anywhere, but I do feel better knowing that the woman who started this is now in the hot seat by her own bosses for this mess. My wife did get a pleasant temporary job that will be ending at the end of July.
As you know I have my own businesses, where I sell Board Games, MP3 Players, and Cell Phones. If you wanted to see what I have been working on for the past few months, you can visit www.The-Game-Store.com and www.Portable-Fun.com The games I sell on eBay, but the Phones I sell locally to small stores, acting as a distributor. So far it has been going well. On Saturday I met with four owners, that own seven stores between them. They were as interested as my other customers are, so I hope this will be worth all the trouble. While this is a new thing for me, once I had the idea, and started putting the pieces together, I really felt this was a very good idea.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Repxchange.com
This place is great. They have collected an eBay Blacklist from thousands of sellers. Once you join (free) you can download a customized list of troublesome eBuyers. With the current state of dysfunction eBay is in these days, extortion has run rampant. This is an excellent first defense to stop buyers what have caused undue burden on us, the sellers.
A link to this most awesome (did I mention Free?!?!) website is http://repxchange.com So please stop by, give your support, and help may eBay safe again.
A link to this most awesome (did I mention Free?!?!) website is http://repxchange.com So please stop by, give your support, and help may eBay safe again.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Bulk Listings
The good news is, I came up with a way to have my master Excel database merge with an HTML Template so i can bulk upload to eBay without any extra fees. The bad news is, I included code that is now off limits on ebay, so I have to fix them all either by hand one at a time, or pay about $8.00 in fees to re-list them all at once on my store. eBay blows.
OLA.com doesn't support bulk uploads. That was a waste of my $8.00 for the month. I really do need to cancel that account before I am charged again.
eCrater.com does bulk uploads... by hand! It takes them several days to process my upload. Then, it fails and I have to do it again. The sample file and the help docs directly conflict information, and neither way worked. I emailed them a few days ago, but haven't heard back. I'm not too thrilled by these people either.
iOffer.com has a bulk upload system that works great. The bad news is, I haven't made a sale in.. well, ever.
The-Game-Store.com gets a few visitors now an again from Google Base. I make like one sale a month. Boy, was that worth the effort.
Portable-Fun.com is pointing to eBay, but will soon being going to it's own store that I will host here. Yes, here. I have one machine that is a file server, email server, ebay image host, store server, bootleg software downloader, etc... if that machine ever dies, I am so screwed.
OLA.com doesn't support bulk uploads. That was a waste of my $8.00 for the month. I really do need to cancel that account before I am charged again.
eCrater.com does bulk uploads... by hand! It takes them several days to process my upload. Then, it fails and I have to do it again. The sample file and the help docs directly conflict information, and neither way worked. I emailed them a few days ago, but haven't heard back. I'm not too thrilled by these people either.
iOffer.com has a bulk upload system that works great. The bad news is, I haven't made a sale in.. well, ever.
The-Game-Store.com gets a few visitors now an again from Google Base. I make like one sale a month. Boy, was that worth the effort.
Portable-Fun.com is pointing to eBay, but will soon being going to it's own store that I will host here. Yes, here. I have one machine that is a file server, email server, ebay image host, store server, bootleg software downloader, etc... if that machine ever dies, I am so screwed.
Just an Update
A big shout out to Kyle!
I came here to specifically give you a shout out and surprise you. But since you decided to request the shout out in the previous post, that kind of ruins the surprise.
I used to have so much to say on here, but I have just been so damned busy trying to make a friggin' sale. It's horrible out there. eBay and Amazon really ruined a good thing.
So, I have most of that brochure finished. It has evolved though and turned into a major undertaking. Originally, it was two pieces of paper stapled together. Really simple. But long story short, it turned into a 3 ring binder that has about a dozen double sided pages in it.
The goal is to supply 2 or 3 of them to the local cell phone stores. One with prices, the rest without. Then, they can leave it on the counter for customers to look at while they wait. This will get ALL the products I carry into everybody's hands. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense.
Just so we are clear, I didn't know a damned thing about cell phones when I started. I was trying to sell MP3 players to a cell phone store back then. It just just sort of made more sense to change my focus to what my customers would want. This goes back to one of my earliest posts on here. It doesn't matter what you sell, as long as it does sell at a profit.
One of the things I learned was that I was not charging enough. I was really trying to walk away with a dirt cheap price and look better than whoever they regularly buy from. But it took me a few orders of not making what I wanted before I realized I had to double what I originally thought. Between shipping, payments (Western Union), returns and haggling, I was just hurting myself. Not to even mention the time and gas driving around (Damn, I just mentioned it anyway).
In the end, I just came to realize that they were just as happy to have another place to buy from, even if I wasn't their number one.
OK, so that's where I am these days. Working on that book and making my one or two sales a day from my eBay store. Which is sad since I used to sell like 8 MP3 players a day until that "Best Match" garbage started. Now, I don't even bother listing auctions anymore, no one sees them anyway.
I came here to specifically give you a shout out and surprise you. But since you decided to request the shout out in the previous post, that kind of ruins the surprise.
I used to have so much to say on here, but I have just been so damned busy trying to make a friggin' sale. It's horrible out there. eBay and Amazon really ruined a good thing.
So, I have most of that brochure finished. It has evolved though and turned into a major undertaking. Originally, it was two pieces of paper stapled together. Really simple. But long story short, it turned into a 3 ring binder that has about a dozen double sided pages in it.
The goal is to supply 2 or 3 of them to the local cell phone stores. One with prices, the rest without. Then, they can leave it on the counter for customers to look at while they wait. This will get ALL the products I carry into everybody's hands. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense.
Just so we are clear, I didn't know a damned thing about cell phones when I started. I was trying to sell MP3 players to a cell phone store back then. It just just sort of made more sense to change my focus to what my customers would want. This goes back to one of my earliest posts on here. It doesn't matter what you sell, as long as it does sell at a profit.
One of the things I learned was that I was not charging enough. I was really trying to walk away with a dirt cheap price and look better than whoever they regularly buy from. But it took me a few orders of not making what I wanted before I realized I had to double what I originally thought. Between shipping, payments (Western Union), returns and haggling, I was just hurting myself. Not to even mention the time and gas driving around (Damn, I just mentioned it anyway).
In the end, I just came to realize that they were just as happy to have another place to buy from, even if I wasn't their number one.
OK, so that's where I am these days. Working on that book and making my one or two sales a day from my eBay store. Which is sad since I used to sell like 8 MP3 players a day until that "Best Match" garbage started. Now, I don't even bother listing auctions anymore, no one sees them anyway.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Brochure
I have been working quite a bit on putting together a catalog for my Local Cell Phone Store customers (that I dont have yet). I put together an 8 page brochure, then decided if i made a flip book without prices inside a vinyl 3 ring binder, It could be left on the counter for customers to look at while they wait to be helped. My one local store liked this idea a lot. So i am going to finish the catalog, set up the website, then go out and try to sell my products to local cell phone shops. From the response I have had, this could work. At least this way i wont get negative feedback!
eBay's New Ratings System
Yesterday I received 2 5-star Positive Feedbacks, and my ratings actually went DOWN. This just proves they are screwing with the numbers. Because of their screwed up system of "Best Match", me, and many other sellers, have watched out sales plummet. Good job eBay, Good Job.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Changing Your IP Address
Once they shut down your account, you need to do the obvious, like empty out all your cookies, maybe even changing browsers. With IE 7, you can restore to factory defaults, and clear all private data in one shot. The big way they get you is your IP Address. So, you will need to forcibly change your IP Address through your Modem and/or Router.
Direct To Modem
1) Go to the start menu, click on run and type CMD
2) Type in IPCONFIG
3) That is the current IP address (assuming you dont have a routed hooked up)
4) Now you are going to type IPCONFIG/RELEASE
5) You will be disconnected from the internet --- Go to Start menu, My Network Places, Click on Network Connections in the left menu, Right click on your internet connection (It may be Local Area Connection, something to that affect)...anyways, right click and select properties
6) Now select Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and select properties
7) Choose Use the following IP address and type in the following:
IP ADDRESS: 192.168.11.100
Then just click on the Subnet Mask and it will fill it in
8) Next Click OK to close that window and then OK on the other window
9) It will take a couple seconds and then once you are able to, click back on properties for the Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and select Obtain An IP Address Automatically
10) Click OK and OK to close those windows and now go back to the CMD prompt and type in ipconfig/all
11) As you will see, the IP has changed!!!
12) Now this is the COOL part, you can copy that information (you will need IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and the DNS Servers) and mark it down for one of your eBay accounts.....When you want to go back to that IP, you just go back to the properties section of the Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and type in all of that information that you wrote down...BOOM....you are at that IP again (dont believe me, then go to Find My IP Address - Lookup)
13)You can easliy switch between IPs this way and you dont even have to unplug the modem.
Through a Router
What you need to do is change the MAC ID for the ROUTER ONLY. The reason why people still get the same IP is because of this. The original MAC ID is located on the bottom of the router so there is no need to copy or write it down if you ever want to revert back to it later.
The first step is to connect your Ethernet cable from your computer to the router so they can communicate and adjust settings. You do not need to do anything with the cable modem at this time. It will be towards the end.
Open up IE (internet explorer) or Firefox and type in your router address, mine is 192.168.0.1 if you don't know it then look in your router manual or cd that came with your router. Or goto the Run command and type in "cmd" and the ipconfig/all and you will see you router address.
Enter your login name/password if you have it set, mine is "admin" which is default. Now the menus is different for each router company. Just find the option that says MAC ADDRESS and click on it or click on manual settings and you should see your MAC ADDRESS. It looks like 6 boxes with 12 numbers and letters in sets. For example 01-5d-b2-42-f1-65
Now you want to change the MAC ADDRESS by doing the following.
Leave the first box the same. You only have to change the other boxes with numbers from 0-9 and letters from a-f but keeping the letters and numbers in the same position and only changing the value for example 01-4b-c5-31-a3-45
After you have replace them click on save settings or apply settings.
You will lose internet connection at this time. Now the final step is to unplug your router and your cable modem for about a minute or so and plug it back in. give it couple minutes to initialize and check your ip at ipchicken.com
You now have a new IP address. Repeat the process to get a new IP address through your router.
Direct To Modem
1) Go to the start menu, click on run and type CMD
2) Type in IPCONFIG
3) That is the current IP address (assuming you dont have a routed hooked up)
4) Now you are going to type IPCONFIG/RELEASE
5) You will be disconnected from the internet --- Go to Start menu, My Network Places, Click on Network Connections in the left menu, Right click on your internet connection (It may be Local Area Connection, something to that affect)...anyways, right click and select properties
6) Now select Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and select properties
7) Choose Use the following IP address and type in the following:
IP ADDRESS: 192.168.11.100
Then just click on the Subnet Mask and it will fill it in
8) Next Click OK to close that window and then OK on the other window
9) It will take a couple seconds and then once you are able to, click back on properties for the Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and select Obtain An IP Address Automatically
10) Click OK and OK to close those windows and now go back to the CMD prompt and type in ipconfig/all
11) As you will see, the IP has changed!!!
12) Now this is the COOL part, you can copy that information (you will need IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and the DNS Servers) and mark it down for one of your eBay accounts.....When you want to go back to that IP, you just go back to the properties section of the Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) and type in all of that information that you wrote down...BOOM....you are at that IP again (dont believe me, then go to Find My IP Address - Lookup)
13)You can easliy switch between IPs this way and you dont even have to unplug the modem.
Through a Router
What you need to do is change the MAC ID for the ROUTER ONLY. The reason why people still get the same IP is because of this. The original MAC ID is located on the bottom of the router so there is no need to copy or write it down if you ever want to revert back to it later.
The first step is to connect your Ethernet cable from your computer to the router so they can communicate and adjust settings. You do not need to do anything with the cable modem at this time. It will be towards the end.
Open up IE (internet explorer) or Firefox and type in your router address, mine is 192.168.0.1 if you don't know it then look in your router manual or cd that came with your router. Or goto the Run command and type in "cmd" and the ipconfig/all and you will see you router address.
Enter your login name/password if you have it set, mine is "admin" which is default. Now the menus is different for each router company. Just find the option that says MAC ADDRESS and click on it or click on manual settings and you should see your MAC ADDRESS. It looks like 6 boxes with 12 numbers and letters in sets. For example 01-5d-b2-42-f1-65
Now you want to change the MAC ADDRESS by doing the following.
Leave the first box the same. You only have to change the other boxes with numbers from 0-9 and letters from a-f but keeping the letters and numbers in the same position and only changing the value for example 01-4b-c5-31-a3-45
After you have replace them click on save settings or apply settings.
You will lose internet connection at this time. Now the final step is to unplug your router and your cable modem for about a minute or so and plug it back in. give it couple minutes to initialize and check your ip at ipchicken.com
You now have a new IP address. Repeat the process to get a new IP address through your router.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
How I Became Fucked
I really should change the name of this site "How I Became Fucked". Amazon shut down my first account last week, so I started using a Random Proxy to Mask my IP Address. Well, yesterday a program I was using stopped working, and while I was on Amazon, they got my real address, and shut down my money making account. They are now holding over $2500 for *90* days. This is outright theft in my opinion, and why I never wanted to sell on there in the first place. I have since figured out how to do it manually myself, but what the hell?
This whole online selling has been a miserable experience. Now, I simply can not pay my bills because they are holding money that is rightfully mine, and now I can't even unload the inventory I have here. Sure, I have an eBay account, but with that mess over there, it's only a matter of time before that gets shut down as well.
This whole online selling has been a miserable experience. Now, I simply can not pay my bills because they are holding money that is rightfully mine, and now I can't even unload the inventory I have here. Sure, I have an eBay account, but with that mess over there, it's only a matter of time before that gets shut down as well.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
eBay Alternatives
Here is a list of FeeBay alternatives for all your buying and selling needs.
http://www.UseBid.com
http://www.eCrater.com
http://www.HiBidder.com
http://www.OldandSold.com
http://www.PlunderHere.com
http://www.Bidville.com
http://www.iOffer.com
http://www.fididel.com
http://www.blujay.com
http://www.tazbar.com
http://www.overstock.com
http://www.Amazon.com
http://www.mildbid.com
http://www.mommyacutions.com
http://www.specialistauctions.com
http://www.payifsell.com/
http://www.wagglepop.com/
http://www.onlineauction.com/
http://www.etsy.com/
http://www.flugpo.com/
http://www.kananabid.com/
http://www.zlio.com/
http://www.auctionquests.com/
http://www.neoloch.com
http://www.zipidee.com
http://www.tias.com
http://www.ziing.com
http://www.yourhighbid.com
http://www.yardsalepirate.com
http://www.wensy.com
http://www.usiff.com
http://www.ubid.com
http://www.ubidright.com
http://www.specialistauctions.com
http://www.qxl.com
http://www.quty.com
http://www.payifsell.com
http://www.overnightauctions.com
http://www.oldandsold.com
http://www.northwestblvd.com
http://www.loudfrog.com
http://www.bestbay4u.com
http://www.jaxbids.com
http://www.biddersnsellers.com
http://www.kagoo.com
http://www.miniaturesonly.com
http://www.sellmylens.com
http://www.usold.net
http://www.UseBid.com
http://www.eCrater.com
http://www.HiBidder.com
http://www.OldandSold.com
http://www.PlunderHere.com
http://www.Bidville.com
http://www.iOffer.com
http://www.fididel.com
http://www.blujay.com
http://www.tazbar.com
http://www.overstock.com
http://www.Amazon.com
http://www.mildbid.com
http://www.mommyacutions.com
http://www.specialistauctions.com
http://www.payifsell.com/
http://www.wagglepop.com/
http://www.onlineauction.com/
http://www.etsy.com/
http://www.flugpo.com/
http://www.kananabid.com/
http://www.zlio.com/
http://www.auctionquests.com/
http://www.neoloch.com
http://www.zipidee.com
http://www.tias.com
http://www.ziing.com
http://www.yourhighbid.com
http://www.yardsalepirate.com
http://www.wensy.com
http://www.usiff.com
http://www.ubid.com
http://www.ubidright.com
http://www.specialistauctions.com
http://www.qxl.com
http://www.quty.com
http://www.payifsell.com
http://www.overnightauctions.com
http://www.oldandsold.com
http://www.northwestblvd.com
http://www.loudfrog.com
http://www.bestbay4u.com
http://www.jaxbids.com
http://www.biddersnsellers.com
http://www.kagoo.com
http://www.miniaturesonly.com
http://www.sellmylens.com
http://www.usold.net
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Search Engine Code to Text Ratio
This was interesting:
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/code-to-text-ratio/
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/code-to-text-ratio/
To anyone who Cares
I had sent the following email, of sorts, to Amazon after I was kicked off for being the worst seller EVER! Of course, all I got back was a canned response about how I will never be allowed back on, even if I try to sneak in. It's just wrong. Seriously.
To Amazon:
I was really hoping that Amazon would care more for the sellers than eBay. I guess not. I say this because all you did was look at some blanket numbers, and not a situation. I am an excellent seller. You could easily see that my Positive Feedback isn't just 5 stars each, it is people actually thanking me for the good solid customer service I provide. If this email is not read, and my case is not reviewed by someone who is willing to look at my sales as a whole, then your entire system is flawed, and you are doing your sellers, and customers, an injustice.
I just logged in and saw two more people left bad feedback without contacting me first! While I can clearly see why you needed to do something, this just shows several flaws with the system.
1) Being permanently banned without ever having a chance to rectify the situation with my customer. As I am selling the same exact item as other vendors, it was just luck of the draw I got sellers who did not like the product.
2) I was selling almost two thousand different items. All I had to do was stop selling the items in question. Ban the item, not the seller.
3) My competition has over 1000 feedback. He can afford bad feedback all day long. I have no idea why I could only get 10% of my customers to rate me. I tried with every sale.
4) To add insult to injury, today was my payday, and you are holding all my money. This, of course, means I can't pay any of my bills. But hey, you know, whatever.
Yeah, I know. I'm just wasting my time. Your policies are law, and no one is going to help me. I don't know why I ever thought I could do this as a full time job. This was worse than a day job. One day i wake up, and three people I've never spoken to before just say whatever they want, and I'm out of business.
----
Hello from Amazon.com.
Thank you for writing. We have considered your request for
reinstatement. Upon careful consideration, we have decided your
account will remain blocked.
While we appreciate your interest, please understand that the
closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts
that are opened will be closed as well. Thank you for your
understanding with our decision.
Best regards,
Seller Performance Team
To Amazon:
I was really hoping that Amazon would care more for the sellers than eBay. I guess not. I say this because all you did was look at some blanket numbers, and not a situation. I am an excellent seller. You could easily see that my Positive Feedback isn't just 5 stars each, it is people actually thanking me for the good solid customer service I provide. If this email is not read, and my case is not reviewed by someone who is willing to look at my sales as a whole, then your entire system is flawed, and you are doing your sellers, and customers, an injustice.
I just logged in and saw two more people left bad feedback without contacting me first! While I can clearly see why you needed to do something, this just shows several flaws with the system.
1) Being permanently banned without ever having a chance to rectify the situation with my customer. As I am selling the same exact item as other vendors, it was just luck of the draw I got sellers who did not like the product.
2) I was selling almost two thousand different items. All I had to do was stop selling the items in question. Ban the item, not the seller.
3) My competition has over 1000 feedback. He can afford bad feedback all day long. I have no idea why I could only get 10% of my customers to rate me. I tried with every sale.
4) To add insult to injury, today was my payday, and you are holding all my money. This, of course, means I can't pay any of my bills. But hey, you know, whatever.
Yeah, I know. I'm just wasting my time. Your policies are law, and no one is going to help me. I don't know why I ever thought I could do this as a full time job. This was worse than a day job. One day i wake up, and three people I've never spoken to before just say whatever they want, and I'm out of business.
----
Hello from Amazon.com.
Thank you for writing. We have considered your request for
reinstatement. Upon careful consideration, we have decided your
account will remain blocked.
While we appreciate your interest, please understand that the
closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts
that are opened will be closed as well. Thank you for your
understanding with our decision.
Best regards,
Seller Performance Team
Kicked off Amazon
After 3 months of selling on Amazon, yesterday one person did an A-Z claim, one gave a neutral feedback, and another gave negative. By 7pm I was kick off their system and told I could never sell on there again. Before I went to bed, I sold another 5 MP3 players. Even though it seemed silly at the time, I have been running two Amazon accounts for about a month with different names, banks, and addresses. So, it doesn't seem so silly now, does it?
I needed to flush all cookies and stuff from both my computers. I downloaded an IP Address anonymizer so that Amazon would now see me as from a different address. I also used a completely different web browser. I needed to do all this because they can track my IP address and shut down this second account as "Guilt by Association". I have been going on Amazon as the second account a few times now, and so far so good.
But now i am living my life paranoid again, just waiting for Amazon or eBay to kick me off again for no good reason. They kill your business, ask questions later, then expect you to be nice and honorable to the customers that just screwed you over. I genuinely feel this is a stupid way to make a living. I don't have one stupid boss, now every single customer becomes a problem. They don't bother to leave positive feedback, but they go out of their way to leave negative before contacting me first.
I needed to flush all cookies and stuff from both my computers. I downloaded an IP Address anonymizer so that Amazon would now see me as from a different address. I also used a completely different web browser. I needed to do all this because they can track my IP address and shut down this second account as "Guilt by Association". I have been going on Amazon as the second account a few times now, and so far so good.
But now i am living my life paranoid again, just waiting for Amazon or eBay to kick me off again for no good reason. They kill your business, ask questions later, then expect you to be nice and honorable to the customers that just screwed you over. I genuinely feel this is a stupid way to make a living. I don't have one stupid boss, now every single customer becomes a problem. They don't bother to leave positive feedback, but they go out of their way to leave negative before contacting me first.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
No more Selling on Ebay
Previously, I knew the changes sucked, and I knew that sellers were leaving eBay because of it. I, too, have decided that selling on eBay is more trouble than it is worth. It is clear their intention is to remove all the small sellers, and keep only the biggest sellers. I am letting my listings expire, then calling it quits.
If you read back, or have followed this blog, you would know that as of February 5th, I have had nothing but problems and run ins with eBay and Paypal. I am an AWESOME seller. I totally, and completely RESENT how they are treating me as a seller. Amazon may not be perfect, but after several months, they have kept their nose out of my business.
www.HotAndVintage.blogspot.com wrote a condensed version of the new eBay policies that have started May 1st, 2008. Below is a copy of it:
1. Feedback Changes
A. Buyers will only be able to receive positive feedback effective May 2008.
B. Feedback older than 12 months will no longer be applied towards your
feedback percentage.
C. Neutral Feedback will now be considered as negative to determine buyer
dissatisfaction rate and seller account restrictions
2. DSR'S (Detailed Seller Ratings)
A. eBay allows buyers to think that a 4.0 (on a scale of 1-5) denotes good
business practices by the seller regarding item as described, communication,
shipping time and shipping and handling charges, while sellers are subjected to
various penalties for that same score.
B. DSR's are rated on a curve. Results of this curve may make even a rating of a 4.8
the median in a given rating category.
C. DSR'S will now be intertwined with "Best Match" search positioning.
D. eBay is unjustly red-flagging "good" sellers as well as "bad" sellers by stating
sellers with a 4.5 rating (On a scale of 1-5) now have a "low" rating, thereby
implying they are in the category of "bad sellers".
E. "Bad" Sellers will be kept because of their monetary value.
3. Minimum 21 Day PayPal Hold For Risky Sellers And Risky Categories
A. Sellers whose total feedback score is not more than 100 will have payments held
for up to 21 days.
B. Risky category sellers will be subjected to a 21 day hold, even well established
sellers.
C. Sellers with 5% or greater negatives in a 30 day period will be subject to the 21
day hold regardless of the circumstances.
4. Unreasonable Fee Increases
A. Promoted to the Ebay community as decreases, only the insertion fees were
decreased. Insertion fees decreased by $.05 with the gallery picture given free
($.35 savings) yet FVF (final value fees) raised by as much as 66%
B. Reserve fees increased from $1.00 to $2.00 and will no longer be refunded if
the item sells.
C. Store FVF's (final value fees) increased to 12% above and beyond monthly and
listing fees.
5. Miscellaneous
A. The universal anonymous bidder policy promotes additional
unsafe buyer practices and has led to buyers losing trust in the system.
B. The majority of Power Sellers will not qualify for newly stated discounts
C. The note "This item is not covered by buyer protection on eBay," which is
placed in two areas of the listings of sellers who do not offer PayPal, causes
harm to the good sellers' reputations and intimidates buyers.
D. eBay sellers are red-flagged on their listing page if their rating is 4.2 and below.(per the beta test)
E. When sellers are red-flagged, eBay also lists other sellers' items on said sellers' listings. (per the Beta Test for eBay Express items)
If you read back, or have followed this blog, you would know that as of February 5th, I have had nothing but problems and run ins with eBay and Paypal. I am an AWESOME seller. I totally, and completely RESENT how they are treating me as a seller. Amazon may not be perfect, but after several months, they have kept their nose out of my business.
www.HotAndVintage.blogspot.com wrote a condensed version of the new eBay policies that have started May 1st, 2008. Below is a copy of it:
1. Feedback Changes
A. Buyers will only be able to receive positive feedback effective May 2008.
B. Feedback older than 12 months will no longer be applied towards your
feedback percentage.
C. Neutral Feedback will now be considered as negative to determine buyer
dissatisfaction rate and seller account restrictions
2. DSR'S (Detailed Seller Ratings)
A. eBay allows buyers to think that a 4.0 (on a scale of 1-5) denotes good
business practices by the seller regarding item as described, communication,
shipping time and shipping and handling charges, while sellers are subjected to
various penalties for that same score.
B. DSR's are rated on a curve. Results of this curve may make even a rating of a 4.8
the median in a given rating category.
C. DSR'S will now be intertwined with "Best Match" search positioning.
D. eBay is unjustly red-flagging "good" sellers as well as "bad" sellers by stating
sellers with a 4.5 rating (On a scale of 1-5) now have a "low" rating, thereby
implying they are in the category of "bad sellers".
E. "Bad" Sellers will be kept because of their monetary value.
3. Minimum 21 Day PayPal Hold For Risky Sellers And Risky Categories
A. Sellers whose total feedback score is not more than 100 will have payments held
for up to 21 days.
B. Risky category sellers will be subjected to a 21 day hold, even well established
sellers.
C. Sellers with 5% or greater negatives in a 30 day period will be subject to the 21
day hold regardless of the circumstances.
4. Unreasonable Fee Increases
A. Promoted to the Ebay community as decreases, only the insertion fees were
decreased. Insertion fees decreased by $.05 with the gallery picture given free
($.35 savings) yet FVF (final value fees) raised by as much as 66%
B. Reserve fees increased from $1.00 to $2.00 and will no longer be refunded if
the item sells.
C. Store FVF's (final value fees) increased to 12% above and beyond monthly and
listing fees.
5. Miscellaneous
A. The universal anonymous bidder policy promotes additional
unsafe buyer practices and has led to buyers losing trust in the system.
B. The majority of Power Sellers will not qualify for newly stated discounts
C. The note "This item is not covered by buyer protection on eBay," which is
placed in two areas of the listings of sellers who do not offer PayPal, causes
harm to the good sellers' reputations and intimidates buyers.
D. eBay sellers are red-flagged on their listing page if their rating is 4.2 and below.(per the beta test)
E. When sellers are red-flagged, eBay also lists other sellers' items on said sellers' listings. (per the Beta Test for eBay Express items)
Friday, April 25, 2008
EMS Shipping
EMS shipping is the local Post Office's Express International. The minimum cost is $25.00 whether you use an envelope or bag. When you go over 1 pound, the price on the bag goes up. If you can still get it into the fixed price envelope, do it.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
International Payments
When selecting banks, and checking accounts, ask about how much it cost to transfer internationally. One bank may charge $40, and another may charge $25. Getting this out of the way now, may save an added hassle later.
Generally, you have three payment methods: T/T, Western Union, and Paypal.
Paypal - If they take paypal, they are likely places you should not be dealing with. Is this a blanket statement? Yes. But once you get into it you will start to see the difference between a manufacturer, a distributor, and a middle man. Middle men take paypal, manufacturers do not.
Western Union By Phone- I sent about 10 transfers in three months. Each and every one of them became longer on the phone, more hassles, and more garbage. They would not allow me to set up a business account, without a monthly transfer cap. Currently, it is something like $3000 per month on the website, and $5000 per month on the phone. Once you start doing serious business, these caps are a joke. Not to mention they do customer security to the point of agony. On my last dealings with them, They would not accept the transfer, but they wouldn't tell me why either. I strongly recommend not using them if it can be avoided, even if it means a slightly higher transfer cost. My average time on the phone was 45 minutes, plus call back verification.
Western Union At Location - If you walk up with cash it's pretty easy. Bring two forms of ID to avoid hassles. Takes about 10 minutes, and the money is available anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour later. Don't forget to email the recipient the tracking number, or else they won't get paid. The downside is that you have to wait until the next business day for China to process your order. Over the phone you could have gotten the price, and sent the money and been done inside an hour. Oh well.
T/T - This is a standard bank wire transfer. Get the manufacturer's bank info, go into your local bank, and give them the information. You can be in and out in about 15 minutes. Transfers should be available in about 4 days. This is where Western Union get's you.
Generally, you have three payment methods: T/T, Western Union, and Paypal.
Paypal - If they take paypal, they are likely places you should not be dealing with. Is this a blanket statement? Yes. But once you get into it you will start to see the difference between a manufacturer, a distributor, and a middle man. Middle men take paypal, manufacturers do not.
Western Union By Phone- I sent about 10 transfers in three months. Each and every one of them became longer on the phone, more hassles, and more garbage. They would not allow me to set up a business account, without a monthly transfer cap. Currently, it is something like $3000 per month on the website, and $5000 per month on the phone. Once you start doing serious business, these caps are a joke. Not to mention they do customer security to the point of agony. On my last dealings with them, They would not accept the transfer, but they wouldn't tell me why either. I strongly recommend not using them if it can be avoided, even if it means a slightly higher transfer cost. My average time on the phone was 45 minutes, plus call back verification.
Western Union At Location - If you walk up with cash it's pretty easy. Bring two forms of ID to avoid hassles. Takes about 10 minutes, and the money is available anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour later. Don't forget to email the recipient the tracking number, or else they won't get paid. The downside is that you have to wait until the next business day for China to process your order. Over the phone you could have gotten the price, and sent the money and been done inside an hour. Oh well.
T/T - This is a standard bank wire transfer. Get the manufacturer's bank info, go into your local bank, and give them the information. You can be in and out in about 15 minutes. Transfers should be available in about 4 days. This is where Western Union get's you.
Multiple Accounts
I have found that having multiple accounts on Amazon to be a huge help to my business. Despite the extra $40.00/mo for a second account and extra steps in processing orders from the different accounts, it is paid back in several ways. One is that by staggering the pay day, I can get paid weekly instead of bi-weekly (major Amazon drawback). It also means that I can compete with myself. That sounds silly, but it gives the customers the illusion of choice, and I get the benefit of double the chance they would select me, instead of my competition. You would think that it would not matter, however my sales doubled, so go figure on that for a while. Another huge benefit is if one account gets negative feedback or other hardship, the other account can still stand strong while I try to fix whatever happened.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Starting Up
Getting started requires more than one product, or even one company to do business with. For a fully successful end of the day sales, you need to carry many items, from many different distributors. You need to take their disorganized mess of products and updates, and convert them over to a master list in excel so that it can be uploaded to your store in one batch. Additionally, for maximum sales, you need to sell anywhere you can find. This means selling on eBay and Amazon. Ideally, you should have multiple accounts on each (in case one gets negative feedback, suspended, etc).
This means that you need a master list in a format your own website understands, one that Amazon understands, and eBay understands. It requires quite a bit of data entry to get all the various systems to have the same items. Then it requires daily updates with discontinued and out of stock items. All this is on top of orders, returns, and daily headaches. Properly selling on the internet is definitely not for the faint of heart. It takes many long hours.
This means that you need a master list in a format your own website understands, one that Amazon understands, and eBay understands. It requires quite a bit of data entry to get all the various systems to have the same items. Then it requires daily updates with discontinued and out of stock items. All this is on top of orders, returns, and daily headaches. Properly selling on the internet is definitely not for the faint of heart. It takes many long hours.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Shipping to Canada
If you use PayPal to ship to Canada,your options are fairly limited, and all expensive. If you go into a Post Office and do it there, it could be less than half of your online price. Personally, I started by paying $15 each package. Then I figured out how to do it for $9. Now I can do it for under $4. Always ask, and investigate your options. No one way, seems to be the right way.
Friday, April 11, 2008
My Life
I gotta tell you , I really like my new life. Sure, I have spent the day in front of my computer building my business, but it was from my own office, in my sweat pants, drinking beer, and popping Percasetts (a whole other story). A few weeks ago I interviewed a BookKeeper while I was in my slippers. I felt so decadent. Yesterday, I sold two Paddles and Balls (you know, connected by a rubber band) where it cost me a grand total of $9 to buy and ship it, and I pocketed a profit of $22.65. I just sold some "10 in 1 Game Set" for a profit of about $25.00.
The key here, I am not actually doing anything. An email comes in from Amazon, I forward it on to the warehouse, I keep the markup in between. They do the shipping. Additionally, I only have about 1000 items listed. I have thousands more where that came from, just waiting to be listed. I am trying to figure out why people work so hard.
If anything, this will be an amazing second income once it's all set up. My wife won't ever have to work again. I need to watch inventory levels every few days, but this is nothing terribly difficult.
The key here, I am not actually doing anything. An email comes in from Amazon, I forward it on to the warehouse, I keep the markup in between. They do the shipping. Additionally, I only have about 1000 items listed. I have thousands more where that came from, just waiting to be listed. I am trying to figure out why people work so hard.
If anything, this will be an amazing second income once it's all set up. My wife won't ever have to work again. I need to watch inventory levels every few days, but this is nothing terribly difficult.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Google Checkout
For the first time, I found a warning, before I had the problem. I found this text which came from a Google Checkout representative. It is about how and where the Google Logo should be in order to be in compliance. Once again, I think they are another company throwing their weight around. I am posting it here because, if you are going to do Google Checkout, it is good information:
During our recent review of your website http://www.DOMAIN.com, we found that your website doesn't appear to display Google Checkout buttons or logos in accordance with the following policies:
- To inform prospective buyers that you accept Google Checkout, you may only display a Google Checkout acceptance logo on your website as specified here:
https://checkout.google.com/seller/acceptance_logos.html.
You may not alter the size, shape, color, or any other aspect of the acceptance logos provided by Google. Any use of the Google Checkout product name, logo, buttons, or associated imagery not explicitly authorized is strictly prohibited.
- Ensure 1:1 and adjacent button placement You must place a Google checkout button or Buy Now button immediately beside, above, or below every existing checkout button or link on your website. (Because users tend to read horizontally, we recommend placing the Google button beside your existing buttons and links.)
You must separate the Google checkout process from your existing checkout process.
If a buyer initiates your existing checkout process, they must not see a Google Checkout button.
If you're using Buy Now buttons, you must display a Buy Now button in a visible and appropriate location for each item you'd like to sell using Google Checkout.
- Place Google Checkout buttons before your login pages Buyers should only have to provide their purchasing information once. If you require users to register or sign in to your site, you must ensure Google Checkout and Buy Now buttons are available before the login process so buyers are able to check out with Google Checkout without having to log in. (You may still track visits and personalize pages using cookies.)
- Direct buyers quickly to Google
If you're using Google Checkout buttons, you must ensure that buyers who click the Google Checkout button on your site see the Google Checkout confirmation page within one second, and without seeing any intermediate pages. This will help you avoid shopping cart abandonment. We recommend you consider pre-computing shopping carts, leveraging server to server posting, and other tips in our Developer's Guide.
- Do not disable the browser's 'Back' button Buyers who click their browser's 'Back' button should be brought from the Google confirmation page directly back to your site without seeing any intermediate pages. (Learn about server-to-server posting and other best practices in our Developer's Guide.)
- Identify unsupported purchases
If you're using Google Checkout buttons, you must display the Google-hosted 'not available' button for orders not adhering to our content policies (https://checkout.google.com/seller/content_policies.html).
- Google Checkout must be available as a checkout option at least 95% of the time Google Checkout may be unsupported no more than 5% of the time, in which case you are required to display the 'not available' button. At least 95% of the time, Google Checkout must be offered as a checkout option, with the standard Google Checkout button prominently displayed.
- Direct your 'checkout' links and buttons to the checkout process Buttons or links containing the word 'checkout' should initiate a checkout process, not a 'view cart' page. The latter may confuse buyers and disrupt the purchase flow.
Because it appears your website doesn't meet one or more policy requirements, your AdWords ads aren't eligible to display Google Checkout badges at this time. (Your account is still active, however, and you may continue to process transactions.)
If you'd like to display badges again, please make the appropriate changes to your website, then respond to this message so we can confirm the changes.
For more information about Google Checkout button and Buy Now button requirements, please visit https://checkout.google.com/seller/policies.html.
For information about Google Checkout badges, please visit http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bi...py?answer=37897.
During our recent review of your website http://www.DOMAIN.com, we found that your website doesn't appear to display Google Checkout buttons or logos in accordance with the following policies:
- To inform prospective buyers that you accept Google Checkout, you may only display a Google Checkout acceptance logo on your website as specified here:
https://checkout.google.com/seller/acceptance_logos.html.
You may not alter the size, shape, color, or any other aspect of the acceptance logos provided by Google. Any use of the Google Checkout product name, logo, buttons, or associated imagery not explicitly authorized is strictly prohibited.
- Ensure 1:1 and adjacent button placement You must place a Google checkout button or Buy Now button immediately beside, above, or below every existing checkout button or link on your website. (Because users tend to read horizontally, we recommend placing the Google button beside your existing buttons and links.)
You must separate the Google checkout process from your existing checkout process.
If a buyer initiates your existing checkout process, they must not see a Google Checkout button.
If you're using Buy Now buttons, you must display a Buy Now button in a visible and appropriate location for each item you'd like to sell using Google Checkout.
- Place Google Checkout buttons before your login pages Buyers should only have to provide their purchasing information once. If you require users to register or sign in to your site, you must ensure Google Checkout and Buy Now buttons are available before the login process so buyers are able to check out with Google Checkout without having to log in. (You may still track visits and personalize pages using cookies.)
- Direct buyers quickly to Google
If you're using Google Checkout buttons, you must ensure that buyers who click the Google Checkout button on your site see the Google Checkout confirmation page within one second, and without seeing any intermediate pages. This will help you avoid shopping cart abandonment. We recommend you consider pre-computing shopping carts, leveraging server to server posting, and other tips in our Developer's Guide.
- Do not disable the browser's 'Back' button Buyers who click their browser's 'Back' button should be brought from the Google confirmation page directly back to your site without seeing any intermediate pages. (Learn about server-to-server posting and other best practices in our Developer's Guide.)
- Identify unsupported purchases
If you're using Google Checkout buttons, you must display the Google-hosted 'not available' button for orders not adhering to our content policies (https://checkout.google.com/seller/content_policies.html).
- Google Checkout must be available as a checkout option at least 95% of the time Google Checkout may be unsupported no more than 5% of the time, in which case you are required to display the 'not available' button. At least 95% of the time, Google Checkout must be offered as a checkout option, with the standard Google Checkout button prominently displayed.
- Direct your 'checkout' links and buttons to the checkout process Buttons or links containing the word 'checkout' should initiate a checkout process, not a 'view cart' page. The latter may confuse buyers and disrupt the purchase flow.
Because it appears your website doesn't meet one or more policy requirements, your AdWords ads aren't eligible to display Google Checkout badges at this time. (Your account is still active, however, and you may continue to process transactions.)
If you'd like to display badges again, please make the appropriate changes to your website, then respond to this message so we can confirm the changes.
For more information about Google Checkout button and Buy Now button requirements, please visit https://checkout.google.com/seller/policies.html.
For information about Google Checkout badges, please visit http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bi...py?answer=37897.
SSL Secure Seal
The more I get into this website integration with other sites like Google Checkout, LinkPoint and Paypal, i find that an SSL Seal is very important to be compliant across the board. I got mine for $15.00 at GoDaddy.com and I have not found any browser issues yet (If you read about it, people will say a cheap one may give problems, but I haven't had any).
Yahoo Product Search
In Search Ads, Google won't allow the word Casino, but Yahoo Search would. I've mentioned this kind of nonsense before.
Now, I've got Yahoo Products bitching about Privacy and Return Policies not being posed on my site, meanwhile Google didn't give a shit.
Setting up a SIMPLE home made website has turned into the most complex project I have ever encountered. And I've done tons of overly complicated stuff... like buying, fixing, and selling a house within 3 months. Building a Web Server and other tencho garbage. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. It's crazy hard... and time consuming. I don't feel like I've spent much time with my family because of all this. It's just too much sometimes.
Now, I've got Yahoo Products bitching about Privacy and Return Policies not being posed on my site, meanwhile Google didn't give a shit.
Setting up a SIMPLE home made website has turned into the most complex project I have ever encountered. And I've done tons of overly complicated stuff... like buying, fixing, and selling a house within 3 months. Building a Web Server and other tencho garbage. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. It's crazy hard... and time consuming. I don't feel like I've spent much time with my family because of all this. It's just too much sometimes.
Google Checkout
I am adding Google Checkout now to my website. I already added PayPal and regular Credit Cards. Hopefully, this will attract people with various paying habits.
Yahoo Product Search
This is another Pay Per Click system, cost $50 to start (worth of clicks). Since these cost $.25 each click and up, that $50 can go damn fast. Unlike other systems though, it isn't a random ad being placed, it is for a specific product (uploaded via a datafeed just like google base and bidhopper). The hope is that they already did the looking, they see the price, and only go to you once they have decided... in theory. I'll try it out, and get back to you.
ShopMania
The people suck, avoid them. They want your usual full information, including a credit card (because they are pay per click). Then, they balls it up with wanting a link back to them on every single page of yours (For Google Search Boosting). Then they top it off with NO SSL support. This means your credit card and other info is not protected. Additionally, if you DO link back to them, and you have SSL yourself, it will error for your customers, making it look bad for you.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
After several months of testing on Yahoo I have come to a single conclusion: Pay-Per-Click Advertising Does NOT Work for anyone but the search engine. I have tried all kinds of ways to make it work, paying alot per click, paying very little, serious ads, humorous ads, different keywords... anything I could think of.
The simple truth seems to be, that it drives traffic, not sales. People are just wandering around aimlessly. Don't blame my website, It has thousands of products, it's easy to navigate, and has a simple checkout system.
I have begun trying various other systems like Google Base (Froogle), ShopMania, and Bidhopper. Sadly, others like Shopping.com and Bizrate.com have been eaten up by the eBay juggernaut. And we all know how I feel about them.
The simple truth seems to be, that it drives traffic, not sales. People are just wandering around aimlessly. Don't blame my website, It has thousands of products, it's easy to navigate, and has a simple checkout system.
I have begun trying various other systems like Google Base (Froogle), ShopMania, and Bidhopper. Sadly, others like Shopping.com and Bizrate.com have been eaten up by the eBay juggernaut. And we all know how I feel about them.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Free Faxes
You can Fax a Word or PDF Document for Free at www.faxzero.com with no signup, hassles or issues.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
I Like Cheating
I have posted a bunch of GPS, camera and printers on Amazon, but I can't seem to compete with these guys. There is like $5 profit margin and not even worth it. If it wasn;t free to have them listed, I would have just pulled them down by now.
However, I have a secret little trick up my sleeve. With all this Wholesaling I was getting into I came across a toy company. What makes this company so special to me is that they are about 15 minutes away from my house! While they are a regular Drop Ship company, I can just swing by and pick up whatever I need off the shelf.
This means that all the sellers on Amazon (not even many of them, either) have to include that $5 drop ship price on top of the profit and shipping. Me? I logged on and low-balled everybody. I didn't even compare prices, just knocked a buck or two off the lowest seller. It was glorious. No one can even touch my prices, and most haven't even tried.
While I need to build some momentum, I expect that worst case, this will be awesome starting on Black Friday.
However, I have a secret little trick up my sleeve. With all this Wholesaling I was getting into I came across a toy company. What makes this company so special to me is that they are about 15 minutes away from my house! While they are a regular Drop Ship company, I can just swing by and pick up whatever I need off the shelf.
This means that all the sellers on Amazon (not even many of them, either) have to include that $5 drop ship price on top of the profit and shipping. Me? I logged on and low-balled everybody. I didn't even compare prices, just knocked a buck or two off the lowest seller. It was glorious. No one can even touch my prices, and most haven't even tried.
While I need to build some momentum, I expect that worst case, this will be awesome starting on Black Friday.
Amazon Sales
Wow.. after 3 WEEKS of no Amazon sales, I finally got two sales today. I have added several GPS, Priner, and Camera items, but also my MP3 players and about 150 toys. I hope to get some feedback so I can loose this "Just Launched" garbage from my name.
Credit Card Gateways
There are many, many and more many Credit Card Gateways out there that let retailers accept credit cards. They are all terribly expensive. Signup fees, closing fees, monthly fees, per sale fees... it's brutal. A popular one is 2checkout.com because they have a $50 setup, then 5.5% per sale there-after. This means that once you fork over the $50, your good to go for years to come. However, that 5,5% is a real killer.
Personally, I signed with LinkPoint.com because they had no extraneous fees. While It has a $25/mo fee, the 2.3% per sale is quite nice compared to what else I saw out there. Customer Service was smart and knew their stuff, but were foreign, and didn't want to be bothered with me, it seemed. Two calls, both pointed me to the help docs.
The break between these two seems to be, that if you plan to sell 1-5 things a month, go with 2checkout.com. But if you expect to do 2+ sales a week, go with LinkPoint.com and if you missed everything else I have been complaining about for the past month, don't EVER use PayPal.
Personally, I signed with LinkPoint.com because they had no extraneous fees. While It has a $25/mo fee, the 2.3% per sale is quite nice compared to what else I saw out there. Customer Service was smart and knew their stuff, but were foreign, and didn't want to be bothered with me, it seemed. Two calls, both pointed me to the help docs.
The break between these two seems to be, that if you plan to sell 1-5 things a month, go with 2checkout.com. But if you expect to do 2+ sales a week, go with LinkPoint.com and if you missed everything else I have been complaining about for the past month, don't EVER use PayPal.
More People That Suck
I wanted to mention that I had started buying from a vendor named PSOEXPIMP that I had found on eBay. I was doing business with him for all of three weeks during the Chinese new year because he was in Pennsylvania. He was wicked expensive, but again, he was local so it was quick and convenient. So I gave him $6000 in business and he was all over my orders. I ask him for ONE invoice because of this PayPal mess, and he is nowhere to be found for days. People fucking suck. That with a few other issues and now he gets no more business from me..... meanwhile I ordered another $2000 worth of MP3 players from China...
Avoid Fraud
In an attempt to get away from all the petty complaining I have been doing lately (with good reason!) I wanted to post about www.customers2avoid.com who have a blacklist of suspected fraud perpetrators. It is only for merchants, and needs to be manually verified. Not that big of a deal though.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Lazy Americans
When we started this country, settlers were crazy, and ambitious. They didn't like the tax, so they got up off their collective asses and threw tea in the harbor and rebelled against England.
During the Vietnam war, people young and old got up off their lazy asses and protested against the war. They didn't fix the problem, but they at least tried.
Ebay, Paypal, Bank fees, Credit Card fees, high interest rates, mortgages, house taxes, income taxes, cigarette taxes, Sprint, Microsoft, gasoline ... the list goes FUCKING ON! Why doesn't ANYBODY do ANYTHING anymore to stop this insanity?!?!?!? Are we all just sheep programed to do what we are told? Is there something in the water we ACTUALLY FUCKING PAY FOR?
Me? Naw, I'm not going to fight the system anymore. I'm too old and too tired. I'm just a voice in the crowd. We need some of those young kids to make a change.
Ebay wants $450 from me in services NOT rendered.
Paypal Stole $450 from me because I was "High Risk"
Fucking Assholes.
During the Vietnam war, people young and old got up off their lazy asses and protested against the war. They didn't fix the problem, but they at least tried.
Ebay, Paypal, Bank fees, Credit Card fees, high interest rates, mortgages, house taxes, income taxes, cigarette taxes, Sprint, Microsoft, gasoline ... the list goes FUCKING ON! Why doesn't ANYBODY do ANYTHING anymore to stop this insanity?!?!?!? Are we all just sheep programed to do what we are told? Is there something in the water we ACTUALLY FUCKING PAY FOR?
Me? Naw, I'm not going to fight the system anymore. I'm too old and too tired. I'm just a voice in the crowd. We need some of those young kids to make a change.
Ebay wants $450 from me in services NOT rendered.
Paypal Stole $450 from me because I was "High Risk"
Fucking Assholes.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
ebay and PayPal SUCK
I won't bore you with the details, but both these ass-suck companies shut me down THREE times this month. I thought I left my job to become my own boss, but these asshole companies are evil, and have made it damn near impossible for me to run my own business the way I want.
What i found is this: They are a membership, and they can do whatever the hell they want to it's members, and no one can stop them.
The first time I was shut down for using the word "Ipod" in my listings. Despite the fact that MANY shady people mislead the listings, mine was quite clear. Regardless, i get the point, and I wont do it again. Will they let me back in? yeah, in 12 MONTHS. So, basically, I gained all this momentum, and they shut me down.
I then used another account I had to startup again, but they easily made the connection and shut down that account too.
Then, i start a new one with another persons name, at a diferent address, and a diferent PayPal account and start at 0 feedback. That sucked, but I did it. Within 2 weeks, I built up my feedback a bit, and made $2000.... so ExtortionPal locked my accounts because they felt that i was "High Risk" and now they want invoices to prove I actually own the merchandise. Luckily, I didn't trust these fuckers anymore, and pulled my money out everyday and sent it to my bank account, which I setup only to Launder the money through, which i then pulled out of the ATM every day. if I didnt do these steps, PayPal would have held onto that $2000 just because they can.
I have moved into Amazon, but I read about how bad they are to deal with too, and they hold your money for 2 weeks, plus 1 week to deliver a check. I dont like it, but I need to diversify so that if one gets closed down, I have other avenues of capital.
If you are looking to see what i am up to, you can go to http://www.portable-fun.com and also http://www.the-game-store.com
What i found is this: They are a membership, and they can do whatever the hell they want to it's members, and no one can stop them.
The first time I was shut down for using the word "Ipod" in my listings. Despite the fact that MANY shady people mislead the listings, mine was quite clear. Regardless, i get the point, and I wont do it again. Will they let me back in? yeah, in 12 MONTHS. So, basically, I gained all this momentum, and they shut me down.
I then used another account I had to startup again, but they easily made the connection and shut down that account too.
Then, i start a new one with another persons name, at a diferent address, and a diferent PayPal account and start at 0 feedback. That sucked, but I did it. Within 2 weeks, I built up my feedback a bit, and made $2000.... so ExtortionPal locked my accounts because they felt that i was "High Risk" and now they want invoices to prove I actually own the merchandise. Luckily, I didn't trust these fuckers anymore, and pulled my money out everyday and sent it to my bank account, which I setup only to Launder the money through, which i then pulled out of the ATM every day. if I didnt do these steps, PayPal would have held onto that $2000 just because they can.
I have moved into Amazon, but I read about how bad they are to deal with too, and they hold your money for 2 weeks, plus 1 week to deliver a check. I dont like it, but I need to diversify so that if one gets closed down, I have other avenues of capital.
If you are looking to see what i am up to, you can go to http://www.portable-fun.com and also http://www.the-game-store.com
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
How Things are Going
It's been what, 3 weeks since I was shit-canned? Bah, whatever. I was hoping to retire from the printing industry within 6 months anyway. Since I got in 2 months before another 6 months of unemployment, I should be OK... I hope. It's a little scary doing this whole "no day job" thing, but I am being kept very busy with my eBay business. I am a few days away from becoming a Silver PowerSeller ($5,000 in sales for 3 months), and that as part time. My real goal is to get Gold Status ($10,000) so that I can get my own customer service representative at ebay and stop dealing with all these lunk heads in India.
Heh, funny story. I was in the middle of listing 300 auctions (thats a fucking lot!) and ebay red flagged my account. Someone down there dug into my account history and realized that I had owed eBay $19.00 for *4* years now. So they stopped my listings and said my account was suspended. Of course, I had no clue, they just "did" it. It told them 3 days to respond, took me 5 minutes to fix it, then another 2 days for them to respond back. I went off on them about how I give them over $1000/mo in fees, and they are pissing about $19.00. Oh yeah, so my point was, with a Rep, I could just call him up and have him fix it. I get crap like that all the time with eBay.
While I am very good at running my own business, it is clear that I suck huge nuts at Accounting. I have no clue how much money I am making, or who I owe. I thought I did, but I was mistaken. I am pretty sure I make enough money to supplimanet my income, I just can't prove it. Too much money is coming in, in small chunks, and going out in big chunks.
I have started using a distributor in the USA who I have been getting my inventory from while China has been closed. While i pay him extra, he does what I need, hasn't screwed up any of my orders yet (ok, he did, but it was minor). But mostly, I like the fact that I don't have to spend $2000 in china, wait 2 weeks to get it, then another week to sell it, before I have to do it again. With him, I give him the $2000, but I have merchandise in hand 3 days later. He is also in a position to drop ship for me,if needed, as he has done before.
I've set up a descent account to sell GPS units as well. I can have the drop shipped, and I love that since I don't need to financially fund that project. I will also sell paper. Sounds odd, but it's another idea I had years and years ago. I had found a wholesaler who gives awesome prices about 2 years back. I called him up tonight and pitched my idea to him. He was another person who thinks I'm crazy. Guess he doesn't realize that photographers need special types of paper in special sizes that would otherwise sell for 3 times as much on Epson and Canon's Store. I can double the price, and he can drop ship it. Nice.
I know this is entitled "How I Became Rich". I really should have started smaller. Named it something like "How I Told My Master To Go Fuck Himself After I started My Own Business and Managed To Support My Family On a Fraction of the Cost". Ok... maybe not.
It's true though. My gas usage has dropped from about $180/mo to about $40/mo. All I really do is go to the post office once a day, and stop at the local shops if I need anything on my way back. Likely, my electric is going sky high now though.
Heh, funny story. I was in the middle of listing 300 auctions (thats a fucking lot!) and ebay red flagged my account. Someone down there dug into my account history and realized that I had owed eBay $19.00 for *4* years now. So they stopped my listings and said my account was suspended. Of course, I had no clue, they just "did" it. It told them 3 days to respond, took me 5 minutes to fix it, then another 2 days for them to respond back. I went off on them about how I give them over $1000/mo in fees, and they are pissing about $19.00. Oh yeah, so my point was, with a Rep, I could just call him up and have him fix it. I get crap like that all the time with eBay.
While I am very good at running my own business, it is clear that I suck huge nuts at Accounting. I have no clue how much money I am making, or who I owe. I thought I did, but I was mistaken. I am pretty sure I make enough money to supplimanet my income, I just can't prove it. Too much money is coming in, in small chunks, and going out in big chunks.
I have started using a distributor in the USA who I have been getting my inventory from while China has been closed. While i pay him extra, he does what I need, hasn't screwed up any of my orders yet (ok, he did, but it was minor). But mostly, I like the fact that I don't have to spend $2000 in china, wait 2 weeks to get it, then another week to sell it, before I have to do it again. With him, I give him the $2000, but I have merchandise in hand 3 days later. He is also in a position to drop ship for me,if needed, as he has done before.
I've set up a descent account to sell GPS units as well. I can have the drop shipped, and I love that since I don't need to financially fund that project. I will also sell paper. Sounds odd, but it's another idea I had years and years ago. I had found a wholesaler who gives awesome prices about 2 years back. I called him up tonight and pitched my idea to him. He was another person who thinks I'm crazy. Guess he doesn't realize that photographers need special types of paper in special sizes that would otherwise sell for 3 times as much on Epson and Canon's Store. I can double the price, and he can drop ship it. Nice.
I know this is entitled "How I Became Rich". I really should have started smaller. Named it something like "How I Told My Master To Go Fuck Himself After I started My Own Business and Managed To Support My Family On a Fraction of the Cost". Ok... maybe not.
It's true though. My gas usage has dropped from about $180/mo to about $40/mo. All I really do is go to the post office once a day, and stop at the local shops if I need anything on my way back. Likely, my electric is going sky high now though.
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