First shopify project

swon said:

Aaaactually... I've revived this project in the last 4 days, I posted 6 products (pictures),172 visits from Instagram via the link in my bio. And I've had 4 purchases. I'm taking the time to manually follow people; I quickly check each profile I follow to see if the user fits the criteria I am targeting. Takes 5-10 seconds to quickly look at the profile, or if it's a private profile sometimes just look at the profile picture and read the bio.

4 sales is not huge, I know. But what matters to me is that it proves to me that this niche works, and I can make a buck. Now i need to look at which products have the most engagement, cut prices if necessary, or add more variations of those products. A couple more sales then I will test Facebook Ads and automate Instagram follows. - Then scale into other niches.

I'm happy to say: yes people on instagram do buy, and you can make a sale using Instagram.

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Good to hear! Best of luck with your project.

Do you plan to do paid adverts too or just free social media traffic?

MySideHustle said:

Good to hear! Best of luck with your project.

Do you plan to do paid adverts too or just free social media traffic?

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I'm certainly will, but i need to research on what is a reasonable price for shoutouts and how to know legit pages from others. Good luck to you too.

swon said:

Aaaactually... I've revived this project in the last 4 days, I posted 6 products (pictures),172 visits from Instagram via the link in my bio. And I've had 4 purchases. I'm taking the time to manually follow people; I quickly check each profile I follow to see if the user fits the criteria I am targeting. Takes 5-10 seconds to quickly look at the profile, or if it's a private profile sometimes just look at the profile picture and read the bio.

4 sales is not huge, I know. But what matters to me is that it proves to me that this niche works, and I can make a buck. Now i need to look at which products have the most engagement, cut prices if necessary, or add more variations of those products. A couple more sales then I will test Facebook Ads and automate Instagram follows. - Then scale into other niches.

I'm happy to say: yes people on instagram do buy, and you can make a sale using Instagram.

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Good job !

swon said:

what do you mean by "psychologically force"?

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the add on/plug-in that showing limited time, limited stock etc

does wordpress provides add-ons/plug-ins as specific as shopify?

arkelRMCF said:

the add on/plug-in that showing limited time, limited stock etc

does wordpress provides add-ons/plug-ins as specific as shopify?

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I havent used any on wordpress but i'm sure you can find some. Wordpress has a lot more plugins for almost anything you can think of.

Does Oberlo also buy from Aliexpress?

How does it do it? Does it have access to your paypal ?..

I want to get into ecommerce and paid ads are risky for me because I have no clue what to do with them. You actually got sales, maybe I should reconsider opening my own store.
Do you have any good guide on how to choose great products to sell?

Couple questions @swon

1. What was your Investments (estimates) after you launched the project. I'm thinking bout Starting Ecommerce Shopify Project.
2. How long did it take to build your Insta following? Follows/Unfollows per day I just saw you can get shadow banned.
3. Stupid question but when you say you bought a domain does it change this to this
http://nfrealmusic.myshopify.com/ -------> http:// (The Domain You Bought)
4. Are you Using any other form of Advertising then Social?

Thanks -Nova

osberht said:

I want to get into ecommerce and paid ads are risky for me because I have no clue what to do with them. You actually got sales, maybe I should reconsider opening my own store.
Do you have any good guide on how to choose great products to sell?

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You don't have to opt for paid ads to start-off. Social media traffic works. Build an authoritative IG account and link your store. Warm it up, manually. Follow people specific to your Shopify products niche. IG Hashtags should help you to figure that out. Regarding selecting right products, watch out for trending products. Cheers!

transitarea said:

Does Oberlo also buy from Aliexpress?

How does it do it? Does it have access to your paypal ?..

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I think it would save us time and a lot more questions and answers if you youtube "shopify oberlo aliexpress" there are plenty of 2 minute videos that can answer far better than I can explain.

swon said:

I think it would save us time and a lot more questions and answers if you youtube "shopify oberlo aliexpress" there are plenty of 2 minute videos that can answer far better than I can explain.

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I can't see why you would want to dropship with such an unreliable service. Fair enough buy in bulk and sell it on, but the amount of "lost" items I have had from these sneaky Chinese business men... i would not want to risk it, and we are talking about large shipments here. Paying with credit cards always helps. Plus waiting times on post is quite a long wait. If I was a customer id want it in a few days 5 days max not 25+. I guess you have to really check the background of your suppliers if your buying 1 offs.

Good luck though

osberht said:

Do you have any good guide on how to choose great products to sell?

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NovaFusion said:

Couple questions @swon
1. ...
Thanks -Nova

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As to online facebook ads: it really didn't work our for me too well. I spent 25$ in 4 days and all I got was about 12 clicks and no conversions. You probably could do better research and get better results for me, but I decided to concentrate on what was working well for me, which was Instagram.

I posted this on another thread a few weeks ago -

Sorry for this long post. The following is a list of things that is working really well for my Shopify store.

Note: I only sell to US customers.
This is my personal list of rules for picking products and dropshipping with aliexpress:
1) AliExpress seller must have a 96+% rating and should be in business for more than 2 years.
2) The product I am interested in should be eligible for ePacket shipping. I don't mind if it cost an extra 1-2$ for ePacket).
3) Seller processing time should be no more than 5 days.
3) The product should have some customer feedback, and hopefully, customers have attached product images.
4) If it is/has a blade/knife then it must be no longer than 4 inches. (Recommended by Shopify).
5) I do not bother with knockoffs.
6) On the product page under the "add to cart" and on the cart page under "check out with PayPal" button I have clearly mentioned, "Shipping time 2-5 weeks". - I thought this would scare away customers but actually, it hasn't affected my sales much, if any.

How I avoid complaints about shipping time:
I don't charge for shipping, I provide FREE shipping on all items. I have mentioned the shipping time on several pages as stated above. Also on the FAQ page, I have mentioned something like "Shipping is 2-5 weeks, however, most of our customers tend to receive their orders WITHIN 2-3 weeks."

My refund policy:
Any orders not received in 5 weeks I give a FULL refund immediately and I tell the customer to keep the item if they receive it in the future. Then I talk to my supplier, usually, they are more than happy to refund me and I will still be at a loss. Because (for example) I sold the product for 10$, and I paid the supplier 3$. Then I refunded 10$ and supplier refunded me 3$, I lost 7$ - the cost of doing business.

When/if a customer complains about the product they have received and the customer has paid less than 14$ for the item, I apologize for the "mistake" and I tell them to keep the product and I will give a full refund. This is just to keep customers happy, you do not want to argue with your customers, they might just complain to PayPal and PayPal will limit your account.

For items that were sold for more than 15$, I tell the customer I am "sorry" for the inconvenience, and to mail the item with a tracking number to my P.O. box, and I am more than happy to give a full refund. (You must mention in your TOS or FAQ or somewhere that customers are responsible for shipping expenses (with tracking) when returning an item). Most customers can't be bothered with the process of shipping so they just keep it.

Other info:
When setting a price, I calculate (product price + ePacket + PayPal) x 2. (ATLEAST x2)
For example product + ePacket + PayPal fee = 4$, I will set the price of this product to 8$ or 9$ (depending on the product). I always double the cost just to minimize losses like when I refund a customer the profit from the next customer's sale will cover this loss. Yes, I won't be make anything from the next customer also, but at least I am breaking even.

Try to have at least 50$ saved up for unhappy customers at all times. Avoid problems with PayPal at all costs.

I hope this post helps some Shopify + Aliexpress starters.



@NovaFusion
- My investments were just a domain, and yes a domain name turns your lon name.myshopify.com into name.com, and I made enough sales during the free shopify trial period to pay for the monthly plan.
- I used an old instagram account I had created (I always create an account or two every month and keep it aging as backup. I followed 500-600 people a day. I got shadow banned for changing the url twice in a few hours time, both times using goo.gl url shortener. So i had to start a new instagram page which is doing awesome. I don't follow anyone on that one, I just search for the top trending hashtags and use them(google).
- I have attempted at facebook ads, but didn't get any good results. I didn't do much research, I'm sure you can do better than me. I only use instagram, and I have them linked to dedicated facebook pages which I have created.

Expexting a sale after Spending 25$ on FB is pure luck. Ive spend 200$ on 5 days without earning, almost making me pull out everything. But after watching some good content on youtube patience is the key, so ive waited for a few more days before i got some result.

Just like most guys in youtube says your not paying fb to show ur ads your paying them for data & info. So use it very well and you will see some reault. Goodluck on your shop bro.

What were your criteria for choosing a niche?
With regard to shoutouts, look for accounts that have 20k+ followers, and research their activity. If they already post someone else's advertisements, do your best to differentiate: mind your posts' style (the picture/video style and design, logo, text description, etc.)

Any updates on the store OP ?