Topic Wiki

https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/

https://www.mixcloud.com/zev-brenner/talkline-with-zev-brenner-on-credit-card-scams-affecting-the-orthodox-jewish-community/

http://podcast.headlinesbook.com/e/31616-credit-card-miles-and-points-swiping-for-rewards-buying-and-selling-miles-is-it-assur-and-a-chillul-hashem-or-a-great-way-for-a-side-parnassah/



BEFORE SWIPING FOR SOMEONE READ THIS: (first hand story)

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=36812.msg2062371#msg2062371
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/#comment-1399884


Dan's warning to DDF:
I hope people realize that any buying group or anyone else that gets merchandise in advance of payment can go south at any time. That's even if you get a check at the time of delivery.
X-posting as I don't want anyone to say that I never put a warning here.

A story that ended up in court - https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=iRcRHuyZUdOIx69D00a5XQ==&display=all&courtType=Kings%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1


I am one of the biggest buyers for buying groups, I have done millions in transactions and have sent to every group there is over the past 3 years. Most buying groups are okay, some scan in slower than others, some pay slower than others - most will lose a few packages over the year. You can research and find which are better for you.

However there is a bigger problem now with Amazon itself.  Amazon in the past has been great with any problems always ready with a refund for lost packages even if it was thousands of dollars. Lately Amazon has clamped down and has tagged these buying groups addresses  in their systems as "freight forwarder" and now no longer will fix any problem you have whatsoever. Doesn't matter what the problem is, even if it shows the package was never delivered, amazon will not help you in any way. Their copy and paste response will always be "this item was sent to a freight forwarder and we're unable to replace or refund the item. We recommend contacting your freight forwarder for more details, as we don't have any more insight or information regarding this matter, For more information about sending items via freight forwarders, please visit our Help Pages: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201117950." As well the amazon drivers either must know this or have been increasingly bad at delivering packages because the numbers of packages missing has gone up astronomically. Previously you would have very few packages missing, now the past 3 months I have had 59 "lost" packages. I now have over $15,000 of loses and some guy in Delaware is probably living the life with all the stuff he stole from me. I will survive, I have made a lot more than $15,000 over the years however just a warning to others here that things are not as they used to be and it really is no longer worth doing buring groups with all the loses piling up

« Last edited by Yo ssi on July 24, 2023, 06:47:26 PM »

Author Topic: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others  (Read 1183477 times)

Offline rileywiles23

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1620 on: January 22, 2019, 10:25:43 PM »

The whole goddamn Lakewood Monsey BP to start with.
So you have an agenda here....

In actuality alot of people from G**Damn Lakewood, Monsey, and BP have done very well in the E-commerce world and continue to do so
Life is as good as you make it...

Offline rileywiles23

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1621 on: January 22, 2019, 10:31:44 PM »
(Chareidim just don't seem to get the difference between Gross Margin and Net Income)
Now we're just going to hate on religious Jews?
Life is as good as you make it...

Offline YesThatsMe

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1622 on: January 22, 2019, 10:37:38 PM »
So you have an agenda here....

In actuality alot of people from G**Damn Lakewood, Monsey, and BP have done very well in the E-commerce world and continue to do so
כל הכבוד

I just don't know any of them. Have a few acquaintances in the line and they all complain, bitterly.

Offline YesThatsMe

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1623 on: January 22, 2019, 10:39:38 PM »
Now we're just going to hate on religious Jews?

No No No you read me wrong. A lot of guys who want to do "dealmaking" just don't know the basics, and especially in this נקודה.

What it's like out there I can't tell you, בתוך עמי אני יושבת.

Offline Mordyk

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1624 on: January 22, 2019, 10:42:35 PM »

Name me 10 guys who have made it in e-commerce, non PL, without owing the whole world money.


I did tax returns for Amazon guys. $10MM in sales with 1% margins is considered good.
I have seen 15% net profit.  But obviously there are those that make it and some that dont
#TYH

Offline YesThatsMe

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1625 on: January 22, 2019, 10:45:35 PM »
I have seen 15% net profit.  But obviously there are those that make it and some that dont

That's good. But how much revolving inventory? DIO?

Before investor pref's and splits?

Suddenly 15% becomes 2% or less.

Are we really in business for that? Is growth sustainable?

Unless your money has no cost, NO!

Offline aygart

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1626 on: January 22, 2019, 11:28:48 PM »
No, they saw cards as an alternate funding source.

Simply couldn't do basic accounting.
How does that mean it is not a ponzi scheme. They were borrowing from one to pay the other their returns. That is a classic ponzi scheme no matter what they thought the underlying business was or how profitable they felt it would be. Similar things can be said about most ponzi schemes.
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline rileywiles23

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1627 on: January 23, 2019, 12:00:23 AM »


כל הכבוד

I just don't know any of them.

Maybe your actually the one living in lala land
Life is as good as you make it...

Offline Yammer

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1628 on: January 23, 2019, 12:13:37 AM »
STAY AWAY FROM E-COMMERCE, THE MARGINS ARE JUST NOT THERE!!!!
You are so wrong...
+
How does that mean it is not a ponzi scheme. They were borrowing from one to pay the other their returns. That is a classic ponzi scheme no matter what they thought the underlying business was or how profitable they felt it would be. Similar things can be said about most ponzi schemes.
While I'm not familiar with the details here, He clearly wrote in the email "email" that it was first to pay off bad investments and then later to repay itself...

Offline chevron

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1629 on: January 23, 2019, 08:38:22 AM »
That's good. But how much revolving inventory? DIO?

Before investor pref's and splits?

Suddenly 15% becomes 2% or less.

Are we really in business for that? Is growth sustainable?

Unless your money has no cost, NO!

Come to my dinner tonight, we should talk.

In my early ecom years when it was all drop ship, I was happy with huge volume and slim margins.

When i started in house, I had no idea the huge overhead costs, lack of basic p&l etc over the years you learn how critical it is to know exactly how much cash is on hand, how much stock is on hand, how much you owe and how much is owed to you.

Suppliers always come first, you better have a good business plan. That's not saying you don't owe money or be owed.. but it's not sustainable to operate on razor thin margins.



Offline chevron

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1630 on: January 23, 2019, 08:42:17 AM »
There is great money in ecom, but revenue is not profits. 10MM in sales just let's you spend, credit card points fund nice vacations but are not income.

The first focus has to be on profits, is it profitable? Unless you're making what it takes to pay your business and personal expenses, it's just draying around.

Offline chevron

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1631 on: January 23, 2019, 08:46:43 AM »
No No No you read me wrong. A lot of guys who want to do "dealmaking" just don't know the basics, and especially in this נקודה.

What it's like out there I can't tell you, בתוך עמי אני יושבת.

Lots of experience in problem flipping cellular related products, got burned a lot.

Also it's a far cry from flipping stock or brokering deals than actual e-commerce.

Losses from returns add up, it's one reason I changed my business model.

If you make 5$ an item and sell 100, you did not make 500. On 10% return rate, depending on cost of the item and how you resell it, you can have broken even or lost on the other 95 sold

Offline S209

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1632 on: January 23, 2019, 11:20:40 AM »
I have friends making very good money with retail arbitrage, with great net margins. There are people who suck at every business, @YesThatsMe it seems you know a few too many.
Duh. There are dozens of people that I know making massive profits in PL. Some just make a living, some make millions.
So eccomerce is more alive then ever.

it's fine to say "stay away from retail arbitrage".
Or even better, generally don't sell retail with not enough gross margins to cover basic overhead or even direct costs.. but only morons do that anyway... I agree there are way too many morons with asinine business plans. It frustrates me to no end..

But I would not steer people away from eccom. It is an industry that litterally finances and supports huge segments of our community. It has a very low bar for entry, doesn't require formal training, and can scale up rapidly. Many succeed.


+1
Quote from: YitzyS
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Offline churnbabychurn

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1633 on: January 23, 2019, 11:41:16 AM »
I have friends making very good money with retail arbitrage, with great net margins. There are people who suck at every business, @YesThatsMe it seems you know a few too many.+1
Not buying group people?

Offline YesThatsMe

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1634 on: January 23, 2019, 11:59:01 AM »
I have friends making very good money with retail arbitrage, with great net margins. There are people who suck at every business, @YesThatsMe it seems you know a few too many.+1

Or we have different definitions of "good money" when it comes to risk vs reward.

Try running a forward IRR and NPV on any of your friends e-comm biz and you'll see.

Offline whYME

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1635 on: January 23, 2019, 12:39:22 PM »
PL
PL

So after a quick search I think you guys are talking about either Private Label or Predatory Lending. :)

Offline chevron

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1636 on: January 23, 2019, 12:46:51 PM »
The profits exist, but you gotta do things right and the margins are tiny for rewards,

And that's when things get sloppy like them returning stuff.

Some do make great money I agree, have friends that make great $$

Offline YesThatsMe

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1637 on: January 23, 2019, 12:53:24 PM »

Maybe your actually the one living in lala land

Happily so, BH.

Offline chevron

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1638 on: January 23, 2019, 12:56:34 PM »
Are whyme and yeahthatsme related?

Offline S209

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #1639 on: January 23, 2019, 12:58:25 PM »
Are whyme and yeahthatsme related?
Yes, all part of the Me family from Taiwan, together with @yesitsme :)
« Last Edit: January 23, 2019, 01:21:08 PM by S209 »
Quote from: YitzyS
Quotes in a signature is annoying, as it comes across as an independent post.