jhillman87
Registered Member
- Mar 5, 2014
- 57
- 6
So, my first stealth account has been running smoothly for the past 3 months -
I sold only low-risk items for the first month/two (and still continue to sell) - then added on some niche products, which were what I would consider medium-risk (IE. not huge brands, niche but brands nonetheless).
For the month of April, I hit around $2200 net with 200 sales which i assume triggered the paypal 200item/$20000 request for EIN/TaxID (since at that rate, $2200 x 12 = $26k+)
Haven't done anything yet, but from what I read, as long as I don't hit the 20,000/year (and stay around <18k) i should be fine. Worst case I can apply for an EIN, shouldn't be too difficult right?
Anyway, around the same time, I received an MC999 notice telling me one of my items was taken down due to copyright/etc issues. MOST LIKELY i believe my product to be rather under-the-rader, and was likely picked up due to competition reporting it.
Now, this specific item generates very good revenue, which is likely why my competition got annoyed and reported it. It's very niche, with only around 100-150 items up online at a time. There are only 3/4 main "powerselling" competitors, which is why they probably got annoyed at the "new guy" on the block taking their sales.
Obviously the common option at this point would be to move on to other stealths - but I am still building up feedback on my 2nd and 3rd accounts (somewhat new to stealth.)
The feedback on my first and this particular account is 100% at 60+ positives, which took me about 2 months to build up.
I am considering my options:
1) Stop sales of this item, move them to another stealth account when they are "nurtured" enough in feedback to sell. Use this account only to sell legit / test new products.
2) Continue selling said item on this account but as USED or "Like New / Open Box?" - I would incur about a 20-25% decrease in price per piece selling them used, but my margin is around 200% so i'd still be profiting a sizeable amount per sale. Question is, would selling USED get me around MC999 / Vero issues and whatnot?
3) Continue selling this item, but reduce frequency (Like one or two a week, instead of 2-3 a day).
4) Somehow purchase this item, from an authorized dealer, at full price - and once I obtain invoicing/receipts and whatnot, sell them online so I can "prove" they are legit items.
Would #4 even work?
Has anybody tried a similar strategy, such as buying #XX of item from the authorized dealer, so you have proper invoicing/paperwork, sell the ones you buy online at break-even or even at a loss, then start throwing your products online?
Appreciate any other suggestions or feedback.
Thanks!
I sold only low-risk items for the first month/two (and still continue to sell) - then added on some niche products, which were what I would consider medium-risk (IE. not huge brands, niche but brands nonetheless).
For the month of April, I hit around $2200 net with 200 sales which i assume triggered the paypal 200item/$20000 request for EIN/TaxID (since at that rate, $2200 x 12 = $26k+)
Haven't done anything yet, but from what I read, as long as I don't hit the 20,000/year (and stay around <18k) i should be fine. Worst case I can apply for an EIN, shouldn't be too difficult right?
Anyway, around the same time, I received an MC999 notice telling me one of my items was taken down due to copyright/etc issues. MOST LIKELY i believe my product to be rather under-the-rader, and was likely picked up due to competition reporting it.
Now, this specific item generates very good revenue, which is likely why my competition got annoyed and reported it. It's very niche, with only around 100-150 items up online at a time. There are only 3/4 main "powerselling" competitors, which is why they probably got annoyed at the "new guy" on the block taking their sales.
Obviously the common option at this point would be to move on to other stealths - but I am still building up feedback on my 2nd and 3rd accounts (somewhat new to stealth.)
The feedback on my first and this particular account is 100% at 60+ positives, which took me about 2 months to build up.
I am considering my options:
1) Stop sales of this item, move them to another stealth account when they are "nurtured" enough in feedback to sell. Use this account only to sell legit / test new products.
2) Continue selling said item on this account but as USED or "Like New / Open Box?" - I would incur about a 20-25% decrease in price per piece selling them used, but my margin is around 200% so i'd still be profiting a sizeable amount per sale. Question is, would selling USED get me around MC999 / Vero issues and whatnot?
3) Continue selling this item, but reduce frequency (Like one or two a week, instead of 2-3 a day).
4) Somehow purchase this item, from an authorized dealer, at full price - and once I obtain invoicing/receipts and whatnot, sell them online so I can "prove" they are legit items.
Would #4 even work?
Has anybody tried a similar strategy, such as buying #XX of item from the authorized dealer, so you have proper invoicing/paperwork, sell the ones you buy online at break-even or even at a loss, then start throwing your products online?
Appreciate any other suggestions or feedback.
Thanks!
