I'm done? Far from it!

[rainingbitcoins]

For the record I marked cards up 10% -.- a $5 card marked up is $7. Do some math yeesh.

Maybe your business failed because you have the math skills of a fourth grader who was left back a couple of times.

10% of $5 is $0.50. A 10% markup would make the card $5.50.

40% of $5 is $2. A 40% markup makes it $7.

Jesus Christ.

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[Ayo_4_Yayo]

Bitcoin doesn't sound like its based on sound math, maybe that's why its so sensitive to hacks and trolls!

[logansryche]

Well fuck me backwards, I only have a Gray Davis Californian education.
So that leaves $1.50 chalked up to shipping/handling charges but wait... if I tossed it into a bubble envelope instead of a crappy one that would get damaged, it woulda costed MORE then $1.50 shipping. I guess my education's to blame for that too huh...
The trading cards were priced at face value in case anyone was wondering, especially those Derek Jeter cards.

EDIT: and besides, even if I did drop prices now, I betcha no one would still buy em.

[P4man]

EDIT: and besides, even if I did drop prices now, I betcha no one would still buy em.

Just because we hate you? Or because you're selling something nearly no one wants?
Its not because you slap bitcoin prices on something that its gonna work.

[logansryche]

It did in the begining.. amazing how many people will stand here and oust me now, but backed me up 6 months ago. One more reason why I'm done with bitcoin.

[Richard Rahl]

Well fuck me backwards, I only have a Gray Davis Californian education.
So that leaves $1.50 chalked up to shipping/handling charges but wait...

... you still thought people were going to buy items for more than they were worth.

Why would I buy from your site, when I can just go to Walmart and buy those cards and have them instantly in my hand for the same price you bought them for? People keep saying these things and other helpful things, but you're still pissed and you're still not listening. I mean hell, it's not even like you were trying to do a BitCoin laundering type deal, as I've said and others have said, there is nothing on your site that says anything about BitCoins. The entire site is in USD.

Everyone makes mistakes in life. But, if you can't learn from your mistakes, take advice on how to do it better, then use that to help prevail in your next adventures, then your life is really nothing more than one mistake after another.

It did in the begining.. amazing how many people will stand here and oust me now, but backed me up 6 months ago. One more reason why I'm done with bitcoin.

For every troll, there have been 3 people who feel sorry for you and have offered advice. Good luck finding that in many places in life.

[Ayo_4_Yayo]

It did in the begining.. amazing how many people will stand here and oust me now, but backed me up 6 months ago. One more reason why I'm done with bitcoin.

You're a few years late to the Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh party, who cares about those cards?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Most everyone that has commented on this thread, has done so in a helpful manner related to your current situation. Even the snide posts offer up a nugget of valuable information.

That said, I'm offering you this link (and there's many more like it), for I feel that your problem may lie here: http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/5501/1/Learn-How-You-Can-Beat-The-quotDefeatismquot-Attitude.html

I, too, have failed in the past--many times. Each time I did, I blame no one but myself. Why? Because a wise man once told me... Hell! Allow me to express it with an image. If you don't get it, then I feel your problem is much deeper.



Today, I'm making a 10K gamble/decision that may not pay off. I'm not 100% certain that it will pan out, but I do know 100% that I will learn from it if it doesn't. I'm excited to see the results either way--success or failure. The worse part of this endeavor is that if it does fail, I'll have to cancel my beloved fishing trip. But I'm prepared for that also. The resort will keep the deposit, if I cancel. No bitterness on my part what-so-ever.

I hope this post helps you in some way.

Your friend, Bruno.

[P4man]

It did in the begining.. amazing how many people will stand here and oust me now, but backed me up 6 months ago. One more reason why I'm done with bitcoin.

Look, I dont know you, or your history here, I dont even understand this gift card business (thats a US thing I assume), but its pretty clear you got it wrong when you thought any business would fly just because you take bitcoins. Asking people on a bitcoin forum if some sort of bitcoin business is a good idea, is by itself a bad idea. Of course most people will say "yes", they want bitcoins to take off. Thats no substitute for market research or common sense.

A business concept thats gonna fail in dollar is gonna fail in bitcoin. Exceptions might be specific bitcoin related services (exchange, bitcoin banking etc), but any real world trade in bitcoin is going to have to compete with the very same real world trade done in dollars. You might get small bonus from people here who are sympathetic to the idea and want to support bitcoin, if they are going to buy something they would buy anyway, they might prefer buying it with bitcoins so you might get away with tiny higher margins, but do you really think your store could possibly have worked if you sold in dollars? If not, you could have predicted the outcome.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

It did in the begining.. amazing how many people will stand here and oust me now, but backed me up 6 months ago. One more reason why I'm done with bitcoin.

You're a few years late to the Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh party, who cares about those cards?

See! A somewhat snide remark. The nugget: Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh cards are no longer in vogue. Question: What cards are a fad now? Jump on that bandwagon. Be the first to offer new cards when they come out before others do. http://www.tradecardsonline.com/

[Phinnaeus Gage]

It did in the begining.. amazing how many people will stand here and oust me now, but backed me up 6 months ago. One more reason why I'm done with bitcoin.

Look, I dont know you, or your history here, I dont even understand this gift card business (thats a US thing I assume), but its pretty clear you got it wrong when you thought any business would fly just because you take bitcoins. Asking people on a bitcoin forum if some sort of bitcoin business is a good idea, is by itself a bad idea. Of course most people will say "yes", they want bitcoins to take off. Thats no substitute for market research or common sense.

A business concept thats gonna fail in dollar is gonna fail in bitcoin. Exceptions might be specific bitcoin related services (exchange, bitcoin banking etc), but any real world trade in bitcoin is going to have to compete with the very same real world trade done in dollars. You might get small bonus from people here who are sympathetic to the idea and want to support bitcoin, if they are going to buy something they would buy anyway, they might prefer buying it with bitcoins so you might get away with tiny higher margins, but do you really think your store could possibly have worked if you sold in dollars? If not, you could have predicted the outcome.

There's even a business model of selling every day stuff for Bitcoin, provided the model is sound. A sound model only needs a tad marketing, whereas a poor business model can not be helped with any  marketing.

Brain fart alert: Used Alpaca Socks ~ With a tad bit of marketing coupled with a decent price point (or versa visa), this idea can has legs.

[Elwar]

You should do like every other successful American company and buy Chinese goods and sell them at a mark-up.

I have done a small amount of selling of chinese gadgets dipping my toes in the water through drop shipping. Drop shipping allows you to offer products at a marked up price without even buying the product or needing to store them.

Here is one item I used to sell:
http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/spy-pen-pinhole-video-camera-motion-detection-micro-sd/

A Spy Pen with a video camera. The thing costs $28 wholesale, plus probably around $12 shipping from China. You charge $45 for it and get a $5 profit. The work you put into it is putting it on your page and then when the purchase comes through you fill out the form and address of where it is shipped.

Here is someone selling this thing on ebay for $46:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Spy-Pen-Pinhole-Video-Camera-Motion-Detection-Micro-Sd-/180534553293?pt=Camcorders_Professional_Video_Cameras&hash=item2a08b2aacd#ht_5167wt_1396

The downside to it is that the products are Chinese made which makes them fairly susceptible to being dead on arrival or of low quality. Plus the shipping can take up to a month, you need to let people know that the product will take 3-4 weeks to arrive. Also, you are in competition with many other people who have access to the same product (if they are more successful, buying a lot of product the wholesaler gives them a lower price and they can offer the product cheaper).

The upside is you make money with little overhead and no upfront cost.

[Noviz]

No offence to you but its called business. This type of thing happens all the time so you cant be mad at the consumer for going for the cheaper product.
Plus your site wasn't professional looking despite what you say. You left default Zen cart messages in and never create a nice design. I realise you said you are not a PHP coder but you could have atleast put that you also accepted bitcoins on the homepage. From what you have described it seems the ONLY way to know that that site accepted bitcoins was to actually get to the checkout which is just simply awful design. I expect if you had asked someone here they could have set it all up for you for free.

Secondly it sounds like you put everything you had into making bitcoins your main source of income... for starters that was kind of a stupid idea... Bitcoins are a rather big gamble in the business side at the moment so you should never put in more than you can afford when gambling.

Also you don't sound like a stupid person... why don't you go to college and get some good qualifications to get a good job instead of your minimum wage one. You can't whine your way through life, you have to improve yourself... you can't expect everything to be spoon fed to you. I feel like this is the problem with society these days; everyone thinks they deserve a huge house and loads of money just because they exist. So go to college and do a good course with actual job prospects at the end of it... not some stupid mickey mouse one. It looks like you have to take a good look in the mirror and stop blaming other people for your misfortunes.

Don't get me wrong I do feel bad for you, but it looks like you have just had a crash course in business and failed miserably lol. As someone else said, people were probably under cutting you because they bought in bulk... thats how business is done. Cards are also a very niche market... and I doubt most of the bitcoin users would want to buy them. And no one in their right mind is going to buy a voucher for more than than its worth... or atleast at the price you were selling them for.


*EDIT*

Well fuck me backwards, I only have a Gray Davis Californian education.
So that leaves $1.50 chalked up to shipping/handling charges but wait... if I tossed it into a bubble envelope instead of a crappy one that would get damaged, it woulda costed MORE then $1.50 shipping. I guess my education's to blame for that too huh...
The trading cards were priced at face value in case anyone was wondering, especially those Derek Jeter cards.

Thats why you buy in bulk. Selling stuff on the internet generally has fine profit margins, especially for cheap products, because the postage is so expensive. Your business model was totally screwed from the outset I'm afraid because it wasn't sustainable.

It did in the begining.. amazing how many people will stand here and oust me now, but backed me up 6 months ago. One more reason why I'm done with bitcoin.

Just because people say they like the idea of your site it doesn't mean they'll actually BUY anything off it.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Brain Fart II: http://www.ehow.com/how_5566363_engrave-rock.html  How hard could it be to engrave the Bitcoin symbol on a rock? I can sit here all day (but not today, for I'm putting myself in position to fail) and come up a 1,000 ideas like this one. That is not an exaggeration!

[Ayo_4_Yayo]

Sorry man but I don't want to get involved in the trading Magic and Pokemon cards business because it's not now or ever going to generate a good cashflow. It's fun as a side business or a hobby, but don't expect you'll be able to live off of selling cards. Very few people are lucky enough to pull that off. How are you planning to make a profit? Website hosting costs money, buy new stock, you must sell your merchandise, you must ship it (postage fees), shipping materials... I don't see the big breadwinner hog in all this. Sorry!

[Noviz]

Brain Fart II: http://www.ehow.com/how_5566363_engrave-rock.html  How hard could it be to engrave the Bitcoin symbol on a rock? I can sit here all day (but not today, for I'm putting myself in position to fail) and come up a 1,000 ideas like this one. That is not an exaggeration!

Ha thats an awesome idea

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Brain Fart II: http://www.ehow.com/how_5566363_engrave-rock.html  How hard could it be to engrave the Bitcoin symbol on a rock? I can sit here all day (but not today, for I'm putting myself in position to fail) and come up a 1,000 ideas like this one. That is not an exaggeration!

Ha thats an awesome idea

Yea, it is!



Proof-of-work: No two stones alike or weigh exactly the same. They never lose their value.

Hedge your Bitcoin! Wait! That's what I'll call it: StoneHedge

[P4man]

Brain fart alert: Used Alpaca Socks ~ With a tad bit of marketing coupled with a decent price point (or versa visa), this idea can has legs.

Thats mostly because its funny I think. It has potential to become a short lived hype, which is great if they pull it off, but it has no long term future IMO.  Or not more than alpaca socks sold in dollar; perhaps Im underestimating that market I got no clue lol.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Brain fart alert: Used Alpaca Socks ~ With a tad bit of marketing coupled with a decent price point (or versa visa), this idea can has legs.

Thats mostly because its funny I think. It has potential to become a short lived hype, which is great if they pull it off, but it has no long term future IMO.  Or not more than alpaca socks sold in dollar; perhaps Im underestimating that market I got no clue lol.

It was just an off the cuff example after I wrote the beginning of that post. I'm now onto rocks. Try to stay up with me. 

[petercyr]

Sorry to hear it didn't work out.

If one thing, this thread has given me some hope. Not because of your failure but because of how much positive response there was to it. How many serious threads have you seen lately where the replies outweighs the trolling? Even more, understand and empathetic replies with valid feedback.

And with regards to your site, there's so many things to take into consideration. The hoarding might not help things but cards are a small market, bitcoin is a small market, repeat buyers who will keep you afloat by themselves is probably even smaller. The more precise you get within an already relatively small market, the smaller your share of it will be. I don't see how it would have even been possible for that store to be a success based on how specific it it is, unless you had access to some really rare stuff, had competitive prices within that limited market, were able to advertise to a broad enough audience and stay open long enough for the word to get around...

Every failure is a lesson which will get you closer to success. You don't just "succeed". You learn to succeed. Every failure is just a sign that you're getting closer, as long as you're willing to learn from it and accept some criticism.

I hope for you that you're able to take a step back, look at the big picture and extract what you needed to learn from this. Leave the bitterness behind and translate that to enthusiasm thinking that next time around, you'll do X and Y differently and can't wait to see what the results will be, hopefully better than the first and lead to an even more successful third attempt.

I'm currently working on a site to help promote bitcoin and merchants that accept coins. Hopefully it wont be a total failure but regardless of how much it cost me and how much dev time I spend on it, I'm learning while doing it and knowledge is priceless.