Playing around with various efforts to add small revenue streams, I decided to try my hand at sales of small technology goods online. It was an education researching products in China, contacting and conversion with Chinese factory representatives, and the like.
To start small, I identified a unique USB cable that had actual springs at each end for strain relief. This cable was also on of the earliest ones to use higher gauge wires so that it supported faster charge times for phones.
I chose the name “Skadget” and convinced the Chinese supplier to engrave my logo on the cables even though I was only ordering a small quantity (I think 100-200 total, in 2 colors)
I wrote up a great product listing, including a technical article on the benefits of the higher-gauge wires, and listed them for sale on both Amazon and Ebay.
I quickly discovered that selling on Amazon was only useful if you had products that could move in very large quantities — the fees involved were just not worth the effort for low-priced items in limited quantities. But Ebay became my focus, and I did manage to see all my stock over several months — and got some great feedback about the cable quality!
However, I quickly decided that this was not a venture I really wanted to pursue, because I simply didn’t have the capital to invest, and to do this properly meant having dozens of products and ordering significant quantities. Once again, it was a great learning experience even if it didn’t pan out as I had initially hoped.
