Hello E.Qi.Librium,
I agree with you about dropshipping!
Hello baba-studio,
It seems to me, Amazon, and some others “Giants” websites, follows e-Bay, together those “Giants” are playing soft game with small businesses, especially with the ability to open his/her own “private shop”.
Why?
Did you read statistics about these “private shops”?
Who is THE big winner? 
Remember the whole beginning of “Giants” in brick-and-mortar commerce…
Does the new Internet “Giants” play the same game as 50 years ago the brick and mortar “Giants” played with the local shops?
“We are there to bring you more customers… Sleep well… We take care of everything!”
Beware of the alarm clock, your wake-up can be brutal…
Lee Li Pop
[quote name=‘Lee Li Pop’]
Hello baba-studio,
It seems to me, Amazon, and some others “Giants” websites, follows e-Bay, together those “Giants” are playing soft game with small businesses, especially with the ability to open his/her own “private shop”.
Why?
Did you read statistics about these “private shops”?
Who is THE big winner?
Remember the whole beginning of “Giants” in brick-and-mortar commerce…
Does the new Internet “Giants” play the same game as 50 years ago the brick and mortar “Giants” played with the local shops?
“We are there to bring you more customers… Sleep well… We take care of everything!”
Beware of the alarm clock, your wake-up can be brutal…
Lee Li Pop[/QUOTE]
Of course I did my research. We don’t have a “private shop” on Amazon - we do Amazon Fulfillment and it works very well for us. Amazon doesn’t say “Sleep well… We take care of everything!” - that’s a parody. We need to market and brand our own stuff - as always and wherever it’s being sold. That’s just 101 of marketing.
I know large corporates well. I’ve done consultancy for many, many Blue Chips. Corporates aren’t angels, nor are they demons.
Your question was how many people do this full time? We do and we make a good living. Simple question, simple answer
A very interesting thread.
Our business is full time with a small staff helping us.
The shopping cart and internet is just part of our marketing plan.
I think that having a niche is a fantastic business plan and protects you from the large corporations.
Actually one of the few things I remember from business school is that having a niche is a great idea for small businesses.
Large companies typically cannot compete with small businesses that fill a true niche in the market.
In our case we have a hand made product that is very labor intensive and made very slowly - add in very friendly service and you are all set.
Hello Traveler,
Do you sell through “Giants” Internet as Amazon, e-Bay, etc… ?
If not, do you plan to sell through “Giants” sites?
Why?
Lee Li Pop
[quote name=‘Lee Li Pop’]Hello Traveler,
Do you sell through “Giants” Internet as Amazon, e-Bay, etc… ?
If not, do you plan to sell through “Giants” sites?
Why?
Lee Li Pop[/quote]
Lee Li Pop,
We do not sell through any of those websites and we will not do so in the future.
You could say that we are a luxury “craft” business custom making products. So we are typically unable to keep up with sales.
Our company challenge is finding good craftpeople not sales.
I read your two posts in this thread about the difficulties of small businesses and I do not agree.
In my experience which is primarily in America small businesses that have a good business plan do very well.
Typically if you have a unique niche product or brand or service you are safe from competition.
Large companies are not set up to compete very well in those areas.
If you were to walk into a luxury store in Paris or New York you could find some similar products to ours but our quality is better - because we work slowly no big company accounting department watching us; We are lower in price; - again no big company overhead; and service is better - we are small and friendly and remember our customers and treat them like Kings; and from a marketing point of view we can move much faster and bring new products to market in a very short time.
In short unless you are selling generic type products it is much better to be a small business.
This has been the personal experience of myself and everyone I know as well as what I learned a long time ago in business school.
Of course you need a good business plan and if you are simply rebranding a product that the big guys are also selling you better have something special to offer like perhaps personal service…
In summary the internet is a great tool for small businesses and helps extend our reach worldwide. I like CS Cart and hope/think that they will overcome their growing pains - but how soon is the question?
Traveler,
Without doing a ton of looking on the forum, what is it that you sell? What is your website address?
You have just peaked my curiosity.
Brandon
Hi Brandon,
I prefer to be private on this forum - actually we do not advertise at all.
Hello Traveller,
Your post is the best of this whole thread. Very helpful:
[url]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showthread.php?p=65501#post65501[/url]
Read it and reread it, it’s the best advice I can give to each reader!
Thank you Traveller,
Lee Li Pop
I’ve been in business for 7 years selling aftermarket automotive parts. Its a competitive industry and selling “brand name” products leaves you with no profit margin. I’ve had my best luck selling mom and pop shop products as well as having my own products made.
I work a full time job and handle the business when I need to. I receive text messages when I get new orders to process and I can answer all emails from my phone. The biggest perk to my business is using a rewards credit card to make all of my purchases. This has paid for numerous vacations over the years
Hello racingsolution,
You’re right. Selling “brand names” is a big deal, however, your margin is thin… You work for those “brand names”…
Who is THE big winner: You or “Brand Names”?
I think be a small business AND selling “brand names” is absolutly purely madness in e-commerce, because you direct compete with “Giants” websites.
Lee Li Pop
To be creative sometimes you can sell a brand name and be small and do well if you offer extra service.
Example - You pack very beautifully, include a handwritten card, answer your phone within 3 rings or email within a minute and so on…
Or you are willing to give extensive advice to a customer and you have years of experience in your field.
Customers will become loyal and sometimes you can charge higher prices than the large customers.
I sell brand name as a convenience to my customers however I make my money on my custom parts
Just started my firm for about 1 month ago, i have school from 8 to 14 and monday and wed i have work from 16 to 20.
And thats make me kinda very busy as it is right now. but the most of my school time i use on this. and the rest of the day i use on this. so kinda only the 4x2 hours i don’t use on this
Hello Cassim,
Are you teacher or student?
Lee Li Pop
i am a student
very interesting thread…
i do this as a two-fold entity
the back issues store is an extension of my hobby, and it could probably stand on its own if I really promoted it. (A Very small micro-niche of customers)
secondly, I do it to gather traffic in the adult arena, and it has been moderately successful in that aspect. I then sell the traffic that is not looking for a physical product. (to live cams, etc…)
[quote name=‘MikeFold’]very interesting thread…
i do this as a two-fold entity
the back issues store is an extension of my hobby, and it could probably stand on its own if I really promoted it. (A Very small micro-niche of customers)
secondly, I do it to gather traffic in the adult arena, and it has been moderately successful in that aspect. I then sell the traffic that is not looking for a physical product. (to live cams, etc…)[/QUOTE]
It’s Mike, long time no speak. Hope you are well, the forum misses you!!! 
Hi Barry,
Been a bit busy, my ‘old’ 135sp4 is working flawlessly
haven’t bothered to update
(not because i don’t think its a good upgrade, but i have done too many mods and its working just fine)
i should stop in here a bit more though
actually i stopped by to check on the unsubscribe syntax for the newsletter. (make sure i had it right)
hahaha
Hello Traveler,
[quote name=‘Traveler’]To be creative sometimes you can sell a brand name and be small and do well if you offer extra service.
Example - You pack very beautifully, include a handwritten card, answer your phone within 3 rings or email within a minute and so on…
Or you are willing to give extensive advice to a customer and you have years of experience in your field.
Customers will become loyal and sometimes you can charge higher prices than the large customers.[/quote]
Thank you for sharing your experience!
In fact, I read every word of your wise advices, and I think to myself “it’s a good way to do business in e-commerce for small business”.
If you have another advice, write it down, I will read them and I will try to implement them, because I’m like you in small niches.
Thanks again Traveler,
Lee Li Pop
Actually, it is all basic business nothing special.
In the end it is all about small details.