Being an advertiser (my experience)

[HerbalGerbil]

Question - are you stuck with a warehouse full of product given the decline in the RezV traffic? If so, what the hell do you do with it?

They don't expire for three years. I'm anticipating that things will pick back up.

About the amount of work it takes, I get that setting up everything so that it's working and running right is a lot of work but... Does this kind of business not lend itself to automation when you hire a few people for customer service and grunt work?

You're essentially creating a supply chain. When it breaks down you have to fix it. The problem is that when breaks do occur they can take days to fix so that will screw up your entire operation. At times, things feel very automated, but when there's a blip, it really sucks.

Happy to know I'm producing helping threads now.

HerbalGerbil, quick question. With your dropshipper, did you ever run into severe problems? Would you recommend actually holding on to the stock yourself, or simply have a consignment like you had.

Never ran into any problems at all. They've been extremely reliable thus far. I use Private Label Nutraceuticals - Products

 

[yoyomo]

Great post, interesting read.

Have you had any trouble making a page that converts well enough to compete with all the other Resv offers out there? I'm guessing you would need a pretty experienced and well versed inhouse designer and a lot of split testing.

 

[HerbalGerbil]

Great post, interesting read.

Have you had any trouble making a page that converts well enough to compete with all the other Resv offers out there? I'm guessing you would need a pretty experienced and well versed inhouse designer and a lot of split testing.

I do have an inhouse designer. Split testing is necessary, and we definitely have not done enough of it. It can get a little tricky when utilizing network traffic though.

 

[coolplay]

Def the best info about being advertiser. +rep!

 

[mr doodles70]

Could you not just use PayPal or Google Checkout if you're going to be selling on the Internet? Or is that a silly question? I don't understand the need for multiple merchants if the point of a merchant is to just let you accept credit cards. From what I understand, PayPal and Google Checkout don't require you to actually go to your bank and set up a merchant account either.

 

[mr doodles70]

Do you feel you need to have an 800 number for your product? I mean, how many people actually buy using 800 numbers, and how many people need to ask questions if all your info is laid out?

 

[mx=headroom]

Great post Herbal. Did you ever think about the fact that you failed as an affiliate but succeeded as an advertiser due to the people you had surrounding you and the advice given to you as an advertiser?

Knowledge is power and any good business man should be able to turn knowledge into $$$.

 

[jalfred]

great post thanks for the share

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

Could you not just use PayPal or Google Checkout if you're going to be selling on the Internet? Or is that a silly question? I don't understand the need for multiple merchants if the point of a merchant is to just let you accept credit cards. From what I understand, PayPal and Google Checkout don't require you to actually go to your bank and set up a merchant account either.

Depends on what you're selling. If you're doing negative option rebills, you have to worry about merchant accounts getting frozen due to high chargeback rates that you generally wouldn't have with a more traditional product. I'm not currently an advertiser, but my understanding is that depending on the merchant account (and whether it's domestic or intl), anything above 1% - 2% chargebacks will kill your account, thus the need to have multiple accounts.

 

[megatabbers]

Thanks for posting this... Quick question for you: do you have product liability insurance? If so, who are you using?

 

[awesometbn]

Honestly we more posts and threads like this. Good info and great resources to check out. I might not do anything with acai but you've given me some ideas to research. Thanks!

 

[gdubs12345]

Thanks for posting this... Quick question for you: do you have product liability insurance? If so, who are you using?

also wondering this. seems like with any type of product you ingest would have a high risk of lawsuits.

i know someone who go sued when he was selling b vitamin pills.

 

[mr doodles70]

Depends on what you're selling. If you're doing negative option rebills, you have to worry about merchant accounts getting frozen due to high chargeback rates that you generally wouldn't have with a more traditional product. I'm not currently an advertiser, but my understanding is that depending on the merchant account (and whether it's domestic or intl), anything above 1% - 2% chargebacks will kill your account, thus the need to have multiple accounts.

What if you're just selling a single product and don't rebill and don't offer refunds?

 

[Rajuthan]

How many bottles were returned back to the distribution center?
Approximately how many angry letters as well lol

 

[mGrunin]

Never ran into any problems at all. They've been extremely reliable thus far. I use Private Label Nutraceuticals - Products

Sweet, thanks for the answer. One other question, did you fight the chargebacks you received, and if you did, what % of them did you win?

 

[HerbalGerbil]

I win maybe 50% of chargebacks. Poduct liablity is normally covered by the manuacturer.

Being an advertiser is a lot easier said than done guys. You can't just launch something with google checkout or paypal, that's how you get screwed. You need to have a large amount of liquid assets in order to do anything. You're creating a business, not a lemonade stand.

 

[jeanpaul1979]

You can't just launch something with google checkout or paypal, that's how you get screwed.

Why do you get screwed if you use those? Could you elaborate?

Also, could you elaborate about you experience? I.E. what are the mistakes you've made that others can learn from? And what are the most important core systems that you need to have in place in order to run a smooth operation?

My supplement business in Europe is now running at break even. I'm doing sale only to start, no trail yet. A few tweaks though and the current model should start returning a profit.

 

[ricdes]

Why do you get screwed if you use those? Could you elaborate?

Also, could you elaborate about you experience? I.E. what are the mistakes you've made that others can learn from? And what are the most important core systems that you need to have in place in order to run a smooth operation?

My supplement business in Europe is now running at break even. I'm doing sale only to start, no trail yet. A few tweaks though and the current model should start returning a profit.

it has already been discussed in here. if you're doing rebill, you need someone that can handle the risk. try to screw over people with paypal /Gcheckout and you'll be the one screwed - with a frozen account.

 

[johnmatrix]

Interesting read. I've been running a proper online store for about a year now selling actual products that I import myself, not this rebill shit... numbers might be smaller but I only work about 10 minutes a day mailing stuff out.

 

[productionhead]

it has already been discussed in here. if you're doing rebill, you need someone that can handle the risk. try to screw over people with paypal /Gcheckout and you'll be the one screwed - with a frozen account.

Most of the "rebill" businesses we're talking about operate on deception - the real reason why Paypal/GCheckout cannot be used is because the pricing is prominent throughout the process, the user knows exactly how much she is paying.