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For $10 I could register and build a website and start selling stuff, using Paypal as my shopping cart. The gullibility of some people is astounding.
Your model works for some and it is called eBay.
My daughter has her own site with two products, one a handcrafted artisan collectible, the other an everyday item she makes herself and sells online. She is doing nicely. She pays for the hosting, cataloging and card transactions, of course.
HOWEVER, Paypal is not a shopping cart, it is a payment transfer system. A shopping cart (which includes a catalog function) is a particular web site capability and even if you do use just Paypal, it is going to take some maintenance. Using just paypal isolates you from some customers. You don't get that website for $10. You need one that includes a catalog system and a credit card transaction vendor. Collecting Paypal payments will cost fees that are much larger than credit card companies get for processing, so your approach will reduce your profit. But hay, it could work. Go for it, demonstrate your insight.
What are _you_ going to sell, however? We have about 3500 line items in the Market America Store, and we are partnered with 2500 other companies that sell online such as Walmart, Target, The Gap, Wrangler, TigerDirect, and on and on. We get a kicker from them when people buy stuff going through our portal. That works out to be about 1%, an nice bonus when all you have done is provide access to a couple of thousand stores.
Oh, did I mention, we are going to be able to provide 2% cash back to our customers.
So what was your business plan again?
(I wonder if they are having this much fun over at the Amway thread? Probably not!)
Last edited by Crashj007; 10-02-2009 at 03:59 PM..
Reason: add question
Your model works for some and it is called eBay.
My daughter has her own site with two products, one a handcrafted artisan collectible, the other an everyday item she makes herself and sells online. She is doing nicely. She pays for the hosting, cataloging and card transactions, of course.
HOWEVER, Paypal is not a shopping cart, it is a payment transfer system. A shopping cart (which includes a catalog function) is a particular web site capability and even if you do use just Paypal, it is going to take some maintenance. Using just paypal isolates you from some customers. You don't get that website for $10. You need one that includes a catalog system and a credit card transaction vendor. Collecting Paypal payments will cost fees that are much larger than credit card companies get for processing, so your approach will reduce your profit. But hay, it could work. Go for it, demonstrate your insight.
Well then you obviously know nothing about PayPal, because they do offer an integratable cart feature. And PayPal does accept credit card payments, and if you have a professional account, the fees are in line with what you'd pay any credit card processing center/bank--sometimes less depending on your sales volume and if the business is seasonally cyclical.
Quote:
What are _you_ going to sell, however? We have about 3500 line items in the Market America Store, and we are partnered with 2500 other companies that sell online such as Walmart, Target, The Gap, Wrangler, TigerDirect, and on and on. We get a kicker from them when people buy stuff going through our portal. That works out to be about 1%, an nice bonus when all you have done is provide access to a couple of thousand stores.
Oh, did I mention, we are going to be able to provide 2% cash back to our customers.
So what was your business plan again?
(I wonder if they are having this much fun over at the Amway thread? Probably not!)
You don't need to spend $200 to be a referral agent to those national brands, anyone with a web site can do it and make the commission. You obviously didn't look at the other options. You are so off base that it's becoming quite humorous. And for the record, up until about four years ago I worked on e-commerce web applications for a Fortune 100 company. Now I manage the web site for the company I work for, and on the side build e-commerce sites for samll businesses. So what were you saying?
Well then you obviously know nothing about PayPal, because they do offer an integratable cart feature.
You don't need to spend $200 to be a referral agent to those national brands
You are so off base that it's becoming quite humorous. And for the record, up until about four years ago I worked on e-commerce web applications for a Fortune 100 company. Now I manage the web site for the company I work for, and on the side build e-commerce sites for samll businesses. So what were you saying?
If I'm off base, maybe that just means I have a long lead . . .
I would not say I know "nothing" about Paypal, since I use it because it seems secure. Is it? I did not know they have the catalog/shopping cart capability; I'll take your word for it. Just shows that dynamic businesses will always seek to fill unmet needs.
The referral tip is very interesting. For my $200 I get access to 3000 partners all at once. How long would it take an individual to set this up? Too long, I'd say? Plus our shopping cart can be one stop for many stores instead of paying out at each one. Oh, and we can comparison shop between vendors. Maybe not much unique here, but it is all in one place.
You post like a dynamic individual with great ideas. You even show an entrepreneurial bent in expanding your skills into a sideline business. You, I can't help. Many people have the desire to become business owners but do not have the skills/talent/education/experience to do that the way you have. The Market America system exists partly to help them, as well as for ambitious people who recognize an existing business plan that can get them up and running faster than they could on their own.
Given your individuality, I can see why you would be skeptical of Market America for yourself. For others it may be a leg up on a business of their own.
"If I could show you how . . ."
Of those 3000 partners, 95% of the business you will ever get will come from 10-15 of them, and another 4% will come from another five or so. It's a matter of spending 10 minutes pointing and clicking during your coffee break to get signed up as an affiliate with 1-2 each day, hardly something you need to spend $200 on. The integration into your web site that you've paid $10 to register and host for a year is simple, anyone with a decent WYSIWIG tool or basic html knowledge can set it up in under five minutes--including FTP time. Did you know that Amazon pays up to 15% for affiliates? Not the measely 1% that Market America is funneling back down to you, after you've paid them to do so.
I'll take 15% off the top 10 sites that costs me $10 a year to realize over paying someone $200 to get a 1% return on 3000 sites, when you'll never earn a dime from 99% of them.
<> I'll take 15% off the top 10 sites that costs me $10 a year to realize over paying someone $200 to get a 1% return on 3000 sites, when you'll never earn a dime from 99% of them.
Good, you do understand how a business model can fit the real world. The thing is, it is tricky to predict which will be profitable or popular over time. Retailers come and go - just look at the empty stores in the malls. So a good strategy might be to pick the top of the prospects to work on.
Maybe you are beginning to see the possibilities. You can set this up for yourself and profit from your knowledge. Once you have a proven system, you could coach others to be successful, too, if you are the type who likes to help others.
Last edited by Crashj007; 10-02-2009 at 08:01 PM..
Reason: add first sentences
Good, you do understand how a business model can fit the real world. The thing is, it is tricky to predict which will be profitable or popular over time. Retailers come and go - just look at the empty stores in the malls. So a good strategy might be to pick the top of the prospects to work on.
Maybe you are beginning to see the possibilities. You can set this up for yourself and profit from your knowledge. Once you have a proven system, you could coach others to be successful, too, if you are the type who likes to help others.
Not interested in your pitch. I don't need to pay a MLM company, I'm a lot smater than that. And I guarantee I'd make a hell of a lot more without them taking their cut. Don't insult my intelligence.
Not interested in your pitch. I don't need to pay a MLM company, I'm a lot smater than that. And I guarantee I'd make a hell of a lot more without them taking their cut. Don't insult my intelligence.
If you think I am pitching you, you really are missing the point. You seem to be set in your system. What we are doing is discussing, in public, the business model in order to answer the original question, "Market America - Does it work for you?". You have said that you can duplicate many of the pieces of the Market America online website and earn income from an on line business you have created and also partner with a few companies to provide a portal to their on line shopping web sites. I agree, you could do that and earn some money. Go forth and do that - become full time and work that job and make some money for yourself. Go ahead, prove us both right. You can build a customer base and generate income with an online business.
Of course, you will be on your own. Live long and prosper, eh? If you are a one man band, the you have to play all the instruments. No vacations for you since somebody has to be able to ship your online product any time. You could farm that out but you would have to share the wealth.
Missing in your plan is the infrastructure and the network. I think you regard that as a positive for yourself. With Market America the business owners have the support and encouragement of those around them who share the enthusiasm for what they do. They also share the income and do it on a part time basis. The compensation plan rewards them for building the system and providing more access to internet shopping. Online sellers are willing to share some income in order to attract traffic to their sites. It is as simple as that.
If you think I am pitching you, you really are missing the point. You seem to be set in your system. What we are doing is discussing, in public, the business model in order to answer the original question, "Market America - Does it work for you?". You have said that you can duplicate many of the pieces of the Market America online website and earn income from an on line business you have created and also partner with a few companies to provide a portal to their on line shopping web sites. I agree, you could do that and earn some money. Go forth and do that - become full time and work that job and make some money for yourself. Go ahead, prove us both right. You can build a customer base and generate income with an online business.
Of course, you will be on your own. Live long and prosper, eh? If you are a one man band, the you have to play all the instruments. No vacations for you since somebody has to be able to ship your online product any time. You could farm that out but you would have to share the wealth.
Missing in your plan is the infrastructure and the network. I think you regard that as a positive for yourself. With Market America the business owners have the support and encouragement of those around them who share the enthusiasm for what they do. They also share the income and do it on a part time basis. The compensation plan rewards them for building the system and providing more access to internet shopping. Online sellers are willing to share some income in order to attract traffic to their sites. It is as simple as that.
Frankly I make a lot more money as a freelancer buiding e-commerce web sites, writing for a couple of publications and a photography business on the side than any MLM will ever pay me. And I don't **** off my friends in the process.
And why would I need to ship anything? I could in three hours register a domain and pay for hosting for a year ($10) build a web portal with affiiliate links to major retailers, register with the major search engines, and be in business.
You are the one that seems to be missing the point. You don't need to pay anyone $200 to set up the same business model and earn 15% on all affiliate sales, without ever touching a bit of inventory. It's all transparant, and all I'd need to do was build a simple little web site. Hmmm, maybe I'll do that this afternoon.
Well then you obviously know nothing about PayPal, because they do offer an integratable cart feature.
I know enough about PayPal to buy and sell with it and find the website, so I reviewed their shopping cart system. "The PayPal Shopping Cart is a low-cost way for you to accept credit card and bank account payments, and can be fully integrated with your website in a few easy steps." Here are the "easy steps", paraphrased from their site:
-Create an Add To Cart Button (actually just select the one they designed)
-Enter the item information - name, cost, description, shipping fees, and a picture.
-Setup your store info on PayPal by including your logo, etc., for the checkout page
-"PayPal uses the information you enter for this item to create the HTML code for your "Add to Cart" button. Copy this HTML code and go to your website."
-"Paste this code into your website's HTML code"
-"PayPal also creates HTML code for a "View Cart" button" ;copy this too.
- Paste that code into your website's HTML code like you did the 'add to cart' button for each item. Repeat for every item in your inventory, in this case some 3500 items. Also maintain pricing, shipping, and descriptions on all these.
BTW, Market America product descriptions include much more detail than one picture and one paragraph. You will have to do all the writing, of course. They have, for instance, collected scientific research for each nutritional supplement.
Since you are a programmer, I can see why this would seem easy to you. As a practical business/programming matter, isn't this a difficult inventory system? I realize >you< could probably code all this from an inventory database, but with PayPal you have to maintain your product line inside the HTML code, right? PayPal has an inventory management system to watch for low levels, but it does not look like it integrates with the item information. Maybe it does, it certainly should.
Oh, one last quote, "The payment will be sent directly to your PayPal account. You will receive payment confirmation via email, and a record of the transaction will appear in your Account History. Just ship the items and you're done! It's that easy."
Market America does all of that for you for the initial $199.95 fee and a $99.95 annual renewal, including pulling inventory, boxing, labeling, etc. Actual shipping fees are added for each delivery as usual. Partner stores ship their own products. Premier Partners often provide free shipping.
Market America continually search out new products and new partners. They have exciting products - not just the nutritional supplements we have targeted on in this thread. They have a professional product development team and hundreds of programmers.
PayPal does not do any of that for you.
Oh, what about your search engine for your product database? Is it Fast?
Did anyone mention Sales Tax? Insurance? Returns? Product Liability?
Now all this programming seems simple to you, I know. Most of us don't have the computer skills you do and would not be able develop and market a product line at the same time they build the selling system. Sharing the profits with Market America is a very practical approach for the rest of us.
Heck, if you can duplicate this and offer a broad product line and a distributor bonus better that 42% of wholesale, I will sign up with you.
My neighbor just got suckered in to one of these MLM schemes. I feel kind of bad for her since she's almost like a "zombie" about it all, and hopes she can quit her full-time job with excellent benefits to do it all full-time. I warned her about it after researching it online, but she's a big girl and can make her own decisions on things - good or bad...
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I don't need to pay a MLM company, I'm a lot smater than that. And I guarantee I'd make a hell of a lot more without them taking their cut. Don't insult my intelligence.
How to use PayPal Shopping Cart
