sex toys and stuff?

hill

Banned 12 years ago

[DELETED]

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kjamesnv 12 years ago

I was in the niche and did VERY well. Sold my business several years ago. There is a lot of competition but the margins are big if you can get enough traffic.
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Daniel Evans

12 years ago

Originally Posted by trader909

not for me but to sell. ;0(
.

Treat yourself!

It's the weekend!

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trader909

12 years ago

so....can you share any tips/sources? etc?

thx

kjamesnv

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trader909

12 years ago

presume there's no refund on the products?

Thanks
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kjamesnv 12 years ago

I can tell you that our policy was NO RETURN accepted for sex toys. Period. I think the reasons are obvious.

Occasionally a customer would have a defective toy and we simply shipped a replacement - no questions asked.

We also sold DVDs, clothing, lubes and other products and we did accept returns on those subject to certain conditions.

A few tips:

* This field is just like any other eCommerce business. The fundamentals are exactly the same. Focus on traffic, conversions and customer service.

* If you are serious, learn about the business, the trends and the major companies. There are a few trade shows around world especially in Las Vegas. Attend these shows and get to know the vendors and products. Many of the big manufacturers are in the Los Angeles area.

* There are a couple big distributors that will do drop ships. This will squeeze your profit margins but can help when you are getting started.

* There are also companies that will provide you with your own co-branded toy site for free. You receive a commission on each sale. This is probably the cheapest and easiest way to get started. All you have to focus on is sending traffic to the site. Don't expect to get rich doing this but its a way to get your feet wet in the business with very little outlay.'
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trader909

12 years ago

I can tell you that our policy was NO RETURN accepted for sex toys. Period. I think the reasons are obvious.

yeah I guessed that.

Thanks for your advice.
if you don't mind me asking, why did you get out?

Thanks
1 reply

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Silas Hart

12 years ago

4-5 years ago I was very involved in the industry and I started my business while I worked a 9-5, I went from $400 a day to $2.7million in about 8 months by creating a distribution network and becoming the #1 seller for most sex toy related items on eBay, and most importantly by setting up a dropshipping system for affiliates in which one of them started tiavassexshop(dot)com which was related to some adult photo and video sharing site that was really popular at the time. I sold the business about 1 year after because a lot of bits and pieces of the business were diminishing (in my opinion - inflation of the RMB, ease of access from customer to Asia-based distributors, eBay changed the rules so that a person must input a credit card number to verify their account to view the category)

Theres a post I made 4 years ago:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-sex-toys.html

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4 replies

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chg

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Silas Hart

4-5 years ago I was very involved in the industry and I started my business while I worked a 9-5, I went from $400 a day to $2.7million in about 8 months by creating a distribution network and becoming the #1 seller for most sex toy related items on eBay, and most importantly by setting up a dropshipping system for affiliates in which one of them started tiavassexshop(dot)com which was related to some adult photo and video sharing site that was really popular at the time. I sold the business about 1 year after because a lot of bits and pieces of the business were diminishing (in my opinion - inflation of the RMB, ease of access from customer to Asia-based distributors, eBay changed the rules so that a person must input a credit card number to verify their account to view the category)

Theres a post I made 4 years ago:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-sex-toys.html

Great read. That's an admirable increase in sales for 8 months. Now you've piqued our interest hahah

Thanks

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skrupylia

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Silas Hart

4-5 years ago I was very involved in the industry and I started my business while I worked a 9-5, I went from $400 a day to $2.7million in about 8 months by creating a distribution network and becoming the #1 seller for most sex toy related items on eBay, and most importantly by setting up a dropshipping system for affiliates in which one of them started tiavassexshop(dot)com which was related to some adult photo and video sharing site that was really popular at the time. I sold the business about 1 year after because a lot of bits and pieces of the business were diminishing (in my opinion - inflation of the RMB, ease of access from customer to Asia-based distributors, eBay changed the rules so that a person must input a credit card number to verify their account to view the category)

Theres a post I made 4 years ago:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-sex-toys.html

Hi, Silas. Could you please send me an email, I need your advice. skrupylia@gmail.com. Thanks in advance

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skrupylia 12 years ago

Hey, Silas can you please send me an email skrupylia@gmail.com?
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GforceSage

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Silas Hart

4-5 years ago I was very involved in the industry and I started my business while I worked a 9-5, I went from $400 a day to $2.7million in about 8 months by creating a distribution network and becoming the #1 seller for most sex toy related items on eBay, and most importantly by setting up a dropshipping system for affiliates in which one of them started tiavassexshop(dot)com which was related to some adult photo and video sharing site that was really popular at the time. I sold the business about 1 year after because a lot of bits and pieces of the business were diminishing (in my opinion - inflation of the RMB, ease of access from customer to Asia-based distributors, eBay changed the rules so that a person must input a credit card number to verify their account to view the category)

Theres a post I made 4 years ago:
http://www.warriorforum.com/ma
in-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/153213-sex-toys.html

The real money is in being the Dildo supplier, not the Dildo salesman.

Thanks

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dressupdown

12 years ago

Definitely an oversaturated market, but not to say you can't/won't do well. It's really all about getting traffic/conversions and having a value proposition no one else has. Before I got started in this niche, I knew there was a lot of competition, but one thing I realized was that a majority of the stores were affiliates and had poor web design. Just find ways to make your store stand out and I'm sure you'll do okay

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CammyCash

12 years ago

I found a reasonable wholesaler online, with great margins on most of their products (or so I thought) and I began selling on eBay. After about 3-4 weeks of selling eBay cancelled all my listings because apparently you can't put "sex toys" in the "sexual wellness" category, unless you were a pre-approved seller - no idea what that means.

They told me I need to move all my listings over to the "Adult" side. So naturally my views went from 300+ a week to about 10 a month, due to the saturation of items on that side. Not to mention the price difference because of that.

Thanks
1 reply

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condra

12 years ago

One huge challenge in this niche, as has already been mentioned, is staying on the good side of Google, and your affiliate partners.

Amazon sell adult toys but are extremely strict on adult toy marketers. You could also look at Babeland or Eden Fantasys.

If you want to sell toys to women, keep things classy, tasteful, dignified, and sisterly.
Put a LOT of emphasis on the discretion of billing and packaging.

The popularity of the Hitatchi Magic Wand is vastly overstated. It's large, ugly, old fashioned and cumbersome. Modern women like the "Apple iPhone-ness" of brands like Lelo and Jimmyjane

More importantly, be clever with your keywords. Women are looking for things like "most discreet vibrator", "waterproof vibrator", etc..

Good luck. If you can stay classy, honest and make a few sales, it can be a very fun and rewarding niche.

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jessiewriter

12 years ago

Originally Posted by condra

One huge challenge in this niche, as has already been mentioned, is staying on the good side of Google, and your affiliate partners.

Amazon sell adult toys but are extremely strict on adult toy marketers. You could also look at Babeland or Eden Fantasys.

If you want to sell toys to women, keep things classy, tasteful, dignified, and sisterly.
Put a LOT of emphasis on the discretion of billing and packaging.

The popularity of the Hitatchi Magic Wand is vastly overstated. It's large, ugly, old fashioned and cumbersome. Modern women like the "Apple iPhone-ness" of brands like Lelo and Jimmyjane

More importantly, be clever with your keywords. Women are looking for things like "most discreet vibrator", "waterproof vibrator", etc..

Good luck. If you can stay classy, honest and make a few sales, it can be a very fun and rewarding niche.

Hmm, just remember that women aren't a single market (anymore than men are) and that different segments feel differently.

Of course I'm a sex toy curmudgeon that has yet to be convinced to let go of her old, ugly Hitachi. LOL...

Thanks

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~ Jessie Haynes
Erotica Author
Caffeine Headaches: Author Blog

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vedremo

Banned 12 years ago

I've not been involved in this particular market and probably wouldn't because I'm a bit of a prude. But anyway..

Like most ecommerce ideas, if I was you I'd start out in buyer's markets (e.g. Amazon, Ebay), establish customer base, build email list. Then move to your own website when your business is heading in the right direction. That way you're not dependent on ebay's or amazon's t's & c's and you know that even if all your listings were removed, you'd still have an audience. But start where the traffic is, prove the business model first.

With your own website you might always need to rely on organic search engine rankings (if that's where you intend to get traffic from). Many (maybe most?) seo providers won't go near sex, adult or dating sites

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Ryce

12 years ago

bump for more info

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jessiewriter

12 years ago

Originally Posted by trader909

not for me but to sell. ;0(

if you can buy in from your local store it's a tough sell on the Net.

Sex toys you can't. But there is huge online competition?

Anyone in this niche? Come on own up.

Local stores always sell their sex toys at closer to retail.

No, if you want to buy and resell, then you want to do wholesale buying.

Otherwise, you're just kind of selling used goodies and nobody wants that...well, there's an entirely different market for that on an adult Fiverr-clone ;-)

Huge online competition? Of course. All kinds of niches are like that. Unless you're hoping for doing no work on the business at all, that's just a fact of business.

Consider becoming an affiliate seller and creating your own shop, perhaps with an honest review blog (have a few different reviewers in different flavors like adventurous and classic women and men - separately - and couples straight and lesbian, gay, and group and also vanilla and kinky and then levels of kink) and that would be a big part of your differentiation. Hard to get good reviews of sex toys out there.

By the way, the best sex toy in the universe, the Hitachi Magic Wand :-D is available wholesale I recently discovered. Haven't vetted the site (an easy internet search away, they have a good keyword domain) and if you're going to sell sex toys then you'll want to sell those and different attachments as well.

There's also a toy that's supposed to be a million times better than the Hitachi, this pink thing whose name I cannot think of, that advertises on all my favorite porn sites. I think that they may have an affiliate program.

Hope my two cents can help you :-)

Thanks

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~ Jessie Haynes
Erotica Author
Caffeine Headaches: Author Blog

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Solid Commerce

12 years ago

I'm going to guess that when it comes to shipping/packaging/delivery...discretion is key.

_ Sean

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_ Sean B.
Solid Commerce

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sex toys and stuff?

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