Stewart

#logistics-operations - April 07, 2025 at 01:45 AM

open you#PL = HELL! hahar own waehouse.

#general-chat - April 03, 2025 at 08:57 PM

@Michael Mallazzo Caraway is NOT non-toxic. Check out gentle Nursery or a non toxic group on facebook. Your best bet is stainless steel or cast iron. We use CI daily with eggs and its non stick. Good luck!

#general-chat - April 03, 2025 at 08:53 PM

@Christy Brown you would need to be on shopify managed markets in order to collect duty from the customer at time of purchase. MM charges taxes to the customer based on region (remits to CA government) and also charges, collects, and remits duty. They handle this for a 6% fee. I have this set up now, although I am considering taking it off. happy to chat via DM or facetime if you need more explanation. Went through all this last year.

#general-chat - April 03, 2025 at 08:43 PM

<@U0891CXKKRV> the only determinant is country of manufacturing origin. Ship from country does not matter. So if they are made in china, the tariff applies, regardless of if you ship from UK, Canada, or wherever! Fun times ahead....

#everything-marketing - November 07, 2024 at 01:55 AM

@Steve Bazant thanks so much for this detailed response and alll of the wonderful suggestions! I meant to send this a while ago but I've been mia in the group with so much happening. I really love all these idaas and agree it will take time to figure out. I'm certainly learning that trying to push outside of peak season is HARD and losses are real .... it will be a process to figure it out for sure. Will keep everyone updated! Thanks again for your feedback - I really appreciate it!!!

#general-chat - November 06, 2024 at 02:16 PM

@Nate D is there something you dont like from Finaloop? I debated last year but am looking to make the switch bc my current book keeping process is not working out. Need real time data so I can make decisions quickly. When I tried Finaloop before, it did not bring in international accounts (I have Canadian banks) so that was not good but now those are gone so it could work. Curious to see if you've been happy with it mostly aside from the price?

#general-chat - July 20, 2024 at 01:50 AM

3rd Party Quality Control in China - Hi Everyone, Looking to higher a 3rd party quality control agency to ensure products are perfect before packing and shipping from China. We have reached a point where volume is too large to open each unit and the issues continue with our manufacturer (yes, searching for a new injection mold manufacturer - in Mexico, ideally - specializing in stainless steel - if you know anyone ;). Looking for quality referrals bc opening unit by unit during fulfillment is costing us time and money. thanks!

#wins-and-humblebrags - July 19, 2024 at 02:09 AM

The Good Kiind - we sell stainless steel, ZERO plastic bento-style lunch boxes for school age kids...so "it's like our black friday right now!" ....but ill take it, LOL

#wins-and-humblebrags - July 19, 2024 at 02:04 AM

Thanks, Shin! The small wins keep me going 😉

#wins-and-humblebrags - July 19, 2024 at 02:02 AM

Well, we did NOT hit a million this month BUT this was our conversion rate today! Averaging above 2.5% for the last 60 days....proud ecommerce owner right here 😁

#wins-and-humblebrags - July 19, 2024 at 01:59 AM

DAMN!!!!!!! Congrats - keep it up!

#paid-media - July 17, 2024 at 07:15 PM

@Żaneta Szczypior why are you switching from Global E? I think if you go to markets you will need tax numbers for each country and will need to remit on your own, if I understand correctly? OR if not, customers will be charged additional broker fees on delivery. Just curious why you are making the switch? I am currently going to global e from markets as we are now shipping from only the US.

#logistics-operations - May 30, 2024 at 12:57 AM

@Ryan Bennett I think so. What do you mean 'act as agent? For importing or filing? Our Accountants are actually based in Canada but specialize in cross border taxes

#logistics-operations - May 29, 2024 at 12:47 PM

Thanks @Alan Scanlan 🤞

#logistics-operations - May 28, 2024 at 10:42 PM

DTC Shipping from US to Canada: Any US brands collecting provincial sales tax on Canadian orders to avoid broker fees associated with the shipment? I think I've figure out that collecting the duty from my customer at checkout (DDP) will avoid any broker agent needed for the transaction, just need to courier to transport to the customer. This does require you to remit tax to CA government quarterly or something like that but certainly makes shipping US to CA a less scary purchase for customers, as there won't be any surprise brokers holding parcels hostage for added fees. those experience in this space, please let me know if I am missing something here. Thanks!

#logistics-operations - May 28, 2024 at 10:36 PM

@Kris Watts sorry. to the US

#logistics-operations - May 28, 2024 at 10:36 PM

@Chris Skilton ohhh really? Good to know....thank you! I can't afford for them to go up

#logistics-operations - May 28, 2024 at 10:33 PM

@Alan Scanlan thank you! I am certain as well....I hate when you get duds at the border. FML - cause such a stink for nothing.

#general-chat - May 23, 2024 at 01:56 PM

@Mike K does Post Affiliate Pro have a loyalty/social sharing program as well or just affiliates?

#logistics-operations - May 23, 2024 at 01:48 PM

This is always tough. The brand building founder in me says, send the product and take the hit. The economics focused founder in me says yes, they should assume the cost but then you run the risk of them cancelling the entire order, right? Not sure AOV of your product or average shipping costs but that and the repeat order rates all come into play. On another note, when we were 100% UPS exclusive, I do believe this was covered soma be something to consider looking at having a single shipper and worker with an account manager

#logistics-operations - May 23, 2024 at 01:36 PM

IMPORTING to The US FROM CHINA: Those importing from china, do you have your Made in China product marking directly on the physical product or is it just on your packaging? I recently attempted to do an informal entry moving inventory from my Canadian warehouse to my US warehouse and was denied entry because he said the products didn't have Made in China marking on them(they essentially asked me to return to canada and come through another port of entry as they have the ability to look things up more, etc - BS if you ask me). Anyway, I do have Made in China markings on my packaging (the box each product is sold in - as well as the shipping/transport box) visible to the consumer to see 100%. I do NOT have the markings on my physical product; however. This has never been an issue importing into Canada but concerned about my upcoming $$$$$ shipment about to enter the US from China that is only marked on the product packaging. I was also thinking it may have been because I did not have the Certificate of Origin with my documentation (which the manufacturer would normally include when shipping to us). Any thoughts on this are appreciated...thanks!

#logistics-operations - May 13, 2024 at 03:46 PM

Hi All - anyone recently ship container from Shenzhen? What is the current container rate? thansk

#everything-marketing - April 30, 2024 at 06:38 PM

@Matan Armoni Thanks so much for the tips! SEO is such a long game....I need more focus here for sure

#general-chat - April 29, 2024 at 06:20 PM

Also add customer demographics can play a part in this - millennials and older tend to use PayPal (trust)

#general-chat - April 24, 2024 at 07:00 PM

CHINA Manufacturing EXIT for Mexico. Interested to hear of any experiences (pros/cons ) of DTC brands manufacturing in Mexico or exiting China for Mexico. Looking to diversify manufacturing with a new product we are working on and Mexico has come up many times. Curious to hear from the experts on here who've done so. Thanks in advance :)

#general-chat - April 24, 2024 at 03:31 PM

No we are doing self fulfillment from two warehouses (one in CA and one in the US). CA was once a largest market but since focusing on US, obviously(market size) things have really changed. Looking to keep fulfillment in house as long as possible (and consolidate to just 1 in the US) as we have some seasonality in the business too so paying high fees all yr long is tough. Plus I HATE 3PLS....our one and only experience was terrible.

#general-chat - April 24, 2024 at 03:27 PM

@Jai Patel thats promising. Going to set up a demo with them. Thanks!

#general-chat - April 24, 2024 at 03:18 PM

@Ben B You can manage international selling from one admin - you need the advanced plan on shopify to offer Market pricing (I THK BUT MAYBE NOT - you do if you want to get paid out in multiple currency however) or I guess you could use a currency converter app (dont recommend). The issue is the international shippings rates when only using 1 store are high - crazy high! When you have 1 store per country you get local rates (this would be holding stock in those countries, of course) to your consumer, it appears as if you are a local brand so they do not have to worry about import duties and taxes, etc. Hope this helps and not add further confusion

#general-chat - April 24, 2024 at 02:14 PM

@Jai Patel what kind of discounts are you seeing with passport?

#general-chat - April 24, 2024 at 02:13 PM

@Chris have you had any luck on this? I spoke with someone from Ascendia (rates were amazing) but our volume isn't there yet ($100K in shipping cost to canada annually). I tried shipping easy and that didnt seem to get any better rates than what shopify provides. Have you tried contacting UPS for an account? I used UPS when I was shipping FROM Canada to the US and the rates were much better than I was getting with Canada Post via shopify. Could be an option. I will also keep looking into this bc we are likely closing our CA warehouse and shipping all from US starting this summer.

#everything-marketing - April 18, 2024 at 04:45 PM

Thank you everyone! this is all very helpful - lots ot digest so I am going to do so and return with questions but appreciate the insight and suggestions 🙂. @Zoe Jirgens @Kanish Jain @Gabriel A. Mays @Roger Greene

#everything-marketing - April 17, 2024 at 01:52 PM

Good Morning - for DTC brands between $500K-$1M what strategy would you recommend in terms of SEO and google? We are all in on META and really starting to figure that out but I feel like we need to 'protect our turf' on google a little - especially bc our biggest competitor launched a product and name is the same as our hero product (clearly in an effort to cause confusion in the marketplace). I dont have the $ to spend a lot but wondering what we should be doing (at very least)? Lots of written content for our site? quality backlinks? just make sure site is SEO'd well? Thanks in advance 🙂

#logistics-operations - April 11, 2024 at 06:24 PM

@George Yusupov I spoke with the Ascendia team and we are still below their volume minimums shipping to CA but will definitely reconnect with the team this time next year as the pricing seems amazing from what I was told. Thanks for the referral - I did mention your name to Nick, as well 😉

#logistics-operations - April 05, 2024 at 06:39 PM

Thanks for the details @George Yusupov. Sounds similar to Chit Chats in Canada. Is it well automated? i will DM you, possibly a call would be great! Thanks

#everything-marketing - April 05, 2024 at 05:50 PM

well I guess I am starting from scratch so i know we are clean moving forward 😁

#everything-marketing - April 05, 2024 at 05:50 PM

Okay so removing them as well 😂

#everything-marketing - April 05, 2024 at 05:43 PM

Thank you! So i just did a little analysis (this was the issue, should not have started if I didn't have capacity to figure things out from the beginning) and I have changed a few things: Auto-DECLINES per a bunch of rules that are just obvious (negative feedback scores, PPC, etc) and basically all else goes to pending. My top two affiliates are A+ rated and did not generate bad customers, fraud orders, or chargebacks so I re-added them to the program. The next two were troublesome - fraud orders mainly. We never fulfilled the orders flagged by shopify and cancelled them right away so wondering how these slid through - going to reach out to SAS for a refund (doubtful but again, if we cancelled the order they should not have received their commissions). In the end, I am going to give it another try now that I have proper parameters in place to catch the shitty affiliates. @Samantha Briggs do you think it's okay to keep couponers if they have positive rating and clean track record? really they are driving orders so that is good??? From a business perspective I dont like those coupon sites for many reasons but the reality is that people use them so thinking as long as they are generating good customers (a few repeats even in my case), are they so bad to have as part of a program?

#everything-marketing - April 05, 2024 at 02:35 PM

@Samantha Briggs thank you so much, this was helpful. What are you thoughts around approvals? Should they be auto approved to participate or should we be approving each one to weed out the couponers, etc? I just wish it was more automated and the bad ones couldnt even access - like you need credentials to participate! Why doesnt this exist, LOL

#logistics-operations - April 03, 2024 at 09:44 PM

@Wyatt Kern that sounds really good! And 600 sq ft is nice size.....I'd be all over that! I really hope it works out for you!

#logistics-operations - April 03, 2024 at 05:14 PM

@George Yusupov I just listened to two youtube videos to get an idea of what they do and how and Im still confused, LOL. I think I have been out of the corporate world too long - you know when they have mtgs about the mtgs, hahaah. In a nutshell, do they have drop off locations in the US like chit chats or similar that consolidate all shipments going to Canada and do daily runs with labels being printed as if they were being shipped within Canada - thus avoiding international label fees as well as the customer paying duty?

#logistics-operations - April 03, 2024 at 04:26 PM

@Wyatt Kern Just an update on my visit to Saltbox - Miami. The facility was great, clean, and organized. I like that it provided space to expand and move to larger units as you grow, daily picks ups from all major carriers that you dont have to worry about (even extra supplies if you need it), you can rent fulfillment stations on a month to month or even rent to own basis, wifi, the option to use their in house fulfillment if and when needed on an hourly basis, mtg rooms, etc. The main deterrent for me is the cost, on the site it said starting at $700 but the non of the units were that low. The 400sqft space was about $3300/month which I thought was a little steep considering you still needed to outfit the space, etc. Honestly, if I only needed one fulfillment location, I'd probably do it but since we need 2 - one in CA and one in the US, the cost will just be too high! I love so much about it though, could be an option down the line but not at this time, I'm afraid. I am now looking at indoor climate controlled storage units with wifi as they seem to be all I really need at the moment and 1/10th of the price. Definitely doesnt come with all the above extra's as well as that entrepreneurial environment, but in an effort to be super lean during our growth, a 4-wall storage unit is just enough for us at this time. Hope that helps!

#everything-marketing - April 03, 2024 at 02:55 PM

SHARE A SALE! Okay I know this platform is terrible but we've already paid for it (last summer) .....Is anyone using it as part of your PR strategy as many journalists look on it for products to feature? Or is there a more 'all encompassing' platform that will do the job as well? Considering trying Social Snowball for customers and influencers but I don't believe it's the right platform for journalists...could be wrong....any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated 🙂

#general-chat - April 03, 2024 at 02:52 PM

@Matteo thanks for the heads up - I hated my 3PL and I think it scared me for life. Ill never go back to using one.

#logistics-operations - March 26, 2024 at 02:19 AM

Hey @Jake Singer not sure if a 3PL is all you are looking for but I was recommended to check out Saltbox (also in Dallas) it's like a co-working facility for shared warehouse space. Had a call today and was promising....maybe an option for you?

#logistics-operations - March 26, 2024 at 02:12 AM

@Wyatt Kern can't share anything about RISE but I had a call with Saltbox today and will be going on a tour there later this week - the Miami location. I can let you know how it goes if you'd like. Is RISE more appealing primarily because of the location and proximity to you?

#announcements - March 22, 2024 at 09:04 PM

@Shin Takeda looking for to catching this replay - headed to car pool duty :)

#logistics-operations - March 22, 2024 at 08:35 PM

@Emilie Schario @Chad Michael Carleton Thank you so much!

#general-chat - March 22, 2024 at 04:59 PM

@Valerie Crisp this is very interesting to me because we have manufacturing struggles with our current chinese manufacturer and have ended up having to adjust the product before sale once landed. So did you just use a new HS code to allow customs to identify this when you products enter US or Canada? Is it something your manufacturer did on their end? Thanks in advance 🙂

#general-chat - March 22, 2024 at 04:22 PM

I have never heard of hourly either but (without much information on your contract and other fees) I'd think once you are doing larger order volume, I would think this may be in your best interest?

#logistics-operations - March 22, 2024 at 04:17 PM

Has anyone heard or know of any co-working spaces for start ups that share warehouse space instead of office space, like most do? Essentially each brand/occupant has dedicated warehouse space on the floor and independently manages its' brands own fulfillment?