Starting an E-Cig Store

[player30]

Could not have put it in better words.
As a supplier myself it I can say it is very time consuming and a lot of cash has to be put out.
Probably more then you think.
We spent almost almost a full year just trying different flavors and nicotine and figuring our what the best way is to create a perfect and flavorful juice.
Thankfully I was able to design our website which saved us thousands.

If you do decide on doing a business, Good Luck!

Looking forward to trying your juice, Jon!

 

[Frick]

This may be just a bit off-topic, but of the two vendors who have contributed to this thread, I see no mention on either of their sites of diacetyl content in their juices, or lack thereof. This is a very real concern of mine, and should really be a concern of every vaper.

Until more is known of the effects of diacetyl (and we already know that it causes problems when inhaled) when vaped, I cannot in good conscience purchase from vendors that don't make efforts to inform their customers of this danger, and state explicitly whether their juices are known to contain diacetyl.

I wish the OP all good luck in any efforts to start a business. Just be aware that there are vapers out there who are aware of this problem who will not purchase from you without this information.

 

[Stownz]

We were not really concerened with the 4000 chemicals in the analogs before or we would have quit. This attitude is what is getting the e-cigs banned. If you want to be healthy, QUIT SMOKING AND QUIT VAPING. Smoking was a death sentence to us, and everyone around us. Now whatever chemicals I am killing myself with now is probably only taking me out and my kids can live a long healthy life and tell everyone how horrible smoking is and how it killed their father. Vaping is an alternative way for us to continue our addiction, it is by no means healthy or tested accurately by the FDA. It would be better if the entire population thought that vaping would KILL you, then for them to think there is even a halfway safe way to vape. If you care about your health, or your family, or anything QUIT smoking and vaping.
Whatever it takes to get off the analogs, whatever flavors from whatever manufacturer. If you have found a juice from china that contains anthrax, and you can vape it without going back to analogs... then AMEN. Have pride in that you have at least made a little headway towards kicking the habit entirely. At least your not burning tobaco which has been tested a million times and gauranteed to kill you and everyone around you.
Order from the china guys, you dont have to spend a fortune. Sell a few units for $30 and spread the knowledge about E-cigs. No, you will not become the next Bill Gates with your re-branded boge PV, but you can rest assured you have helped someone. Help enough people, and they will help you back. I'm happy for selling egos out of the trunk of my car for $30 and juice I order by the liter for stupid cheap. View it all as a mission, and help save smokers and .... the money. The tobaco companies only cared about the money, and they ....ed us all. Lets not duplicate their mistake (enough are trying already).

 

[Hotwire]

TBh I find vaping only a second habbit on top of smoking. I still smoke when need to really relax. Vaping stimulates, doesn't relax me. It is far from perfect and until they can add tobacco consituants to the juices that mimick the feel from smoking I will still also smoke. I have cut down my smoking a little but thr]ere are certainly times when I need the feel of a real smoke.

peace.

 

[VanderVape]

I am currently looking into starting an e-cig business. I will tell you all that it is taking up a majority of my time with all the research that I have been doing. I have decided to go back to college and get a entrepreneurship certificate so that I know what I am doing. (this is going to take a year)
The thing is however I have to admit that I am overwhelmed. We started adding up just the juices and the bottles and to rightfully have enough flavors and bottles it will take 30,000 just to start that. We haven't even went looking around at available places to rent, office supplies, Hardware, and what not. It's very stressful and I am not even done adding things up for making a full list.
I don't want to sell stuff online because there are online e-cig businesses popping up everywhere, but I may not have a choice in the matter to first get our name out there. Then there is finding a reputable china supplier that sells the eGos, and the supplies and I have to say I have gotten a big headache from looking around.
We thought about having the online business. It would be only for our surrounding area, and we would deliver to them. But it just seems a little strange. I do however like the idea of setting up a table in front of Wal-mart and getting the word out to people with the Cds and business cards.
We want to get into the business to educate people about vaping. We don't look to become rich off of this, but to at some point live a comfortable life.
I am looking at just starting it out from scratch and saving money, and paying off our bills. I don't want to be stuck in Loan hell when we are trying to get something up and going. I would love to find a good size house and start from there, but I was told by a friend that it makes things really personal, and that businesses out of the house don't usually survive. The overhead costs though would be a lot cheaper though if I could.

Your thoughts and input are much appreciated and I am glad that this thread was started and replied to. A few months ago I started a thread much like this and it didn't get one reply. Ended up disappearing into no where ville.

 

[Frick]

We were not really concerened with the 4000 chemicals in the analogs before or we would have quit.

Personally, I've always been concerned about the dangers of smoking, and have quit for as long as 13 months in the past. I've been trying to quit for years...decades, actually.

So I kept hearing about vaping. Fine, I'll try it. Doubt it'll work, but it's worth a shot.

I've been vaping for three weeks and the difference without cigarettes is amazing. I can taste and smell things again. I don't cough for two hours in the morning anymore. I don't wheeze in the bed at night. I can already tell I can climb stairs without getting winded as easily.

If you want to be healthy, QUIT SMOKING AND QUIT VAPING.

Absolutely agreed.

Whatever it takes to get off the analogs, whatever flavors from whatever manufacturer. If you have found a juice from china that contains anthrax, and you can vape it without going back to analogs... then AMEN.

I certainly hope that's hyperbole, but you make the same argument I see from so many people online: "It's got be better than cigarette smoke."


Cigarette smoking has been proven to harm us. Diacetyl has also been proven to cause harm when inhaled. I simply want to avoid both, and there are liquids available that do not contain diacetyl.

I choose to avoid one more danger, while having an alternative that keeps me from smoking. Just not smoking is a gigantic step for me, but I need nicotine for the time being, or I'll light up. Vaping replaces that need; why not make it as safe as possible, by avoiding chemicals we know will harm us?

And since there are vendors out there who are making an effort, with their flavor suppliers, to verify that their juices are diacetyl-free (I've seen independent test results for one particular vendor), I choose to purchase from them.

 

[RY4Junkee]

There are SO MANY online vaping stores it ain't even funny, but VanderVape and I wanna open up our own store too some day and online will probably be the only way we'll be able to get started.

We're a couple of old broads and it's damn time we did something for ourselves.

 

[VanderVape]

There are SO MANY online vaping stores it ain't even funny, but VanderVape and I wanna open up our own store too some day and online will probably be the only way we'll be able to get started.

We're a couple of old broads and it's damn time we did something for ourselves.

Yep What she said. lol

This all needs to be started a little easier than what we are coming up against. (and a little less expensive)

 

[Slickstick]

This may be just a bit off-topic, but of the two vendors who have contributed to this thread, I see no mention on either of their sites of diacetyl content in their juices, or lack thereof. This is a very real concern of mine, and should really be a concern of every vaper.

Until more is known of the effects of diacetyl (and we already know that it causes problems when inhaled) when vaped, I cannot in good conscience purchase from vendors that don't make efforts to inform their customers of this danger, and state explicitly whether their juices are known to contain diacetyl.

I wish the OP all good luck in any efforts to start a business. Just be aware that there are vapers out there who are aware of this problem who will not purchase from you without this information.

I didn't think anybody used it!
None of the flavoring companies I know of even have it in their flavorings!
It would have to be added separately.
I don't think any ecf forum supplier would contain it in their liquids!

It would have been much easier in the past to ask which companies do contain it rather than which ones don't.

I think there should be more concern over the diyers adding it to their liquids that may not know they are doing so.

 

[VanderVape]

Hence why I really don't want to mix juices. Id just rather stock them.

 

[Slickstick]

Thanks for that man. What about an actual store? Do you know of any stores that a exclusively devoted to just vaping? Sounds like a good idea.

There are many brick and mortar shops all over the country devoted to electronic cigarettes.
I do not discourage this at all as long and you know all the dangers of e-liquid and offer a product actually worth carrying.
But you would need even more money to run on of those and it would cause even higher prices for the customer.

 

[RippleInStillWater]

I've gotten a lot of people telling me I should try selling my flavors of juices -- do you think its too competitive? Selling hardware is not a profit-maker online for sure -- I have seen the intense competition on here for prices, availibilty, etc., and I don't think I want that headache -- can you make money at juices?

 

[SikVapor]

What an interesting thread topic.

 

[VanderVape]

So selling things online would be better. Hum...

 

[JudgeVape]

So selling things online would be better. Hum...

Not in my opinion. Certainly, you should have a website and be able to accommodate online orders, but your bread and butter should be for selling e-cigarettes and juices to current smokers, always focusing on getting new customers rather than just trying to sell more things to your existing customers.

E-cigarettes are, at least at the moment, complicated and confusing to most people (who have even heard of them), largely because the market is so scattered. Yes, you can be selling these people a quality product, but what you can really be selling them is knowledge and confidence. And for that, you can charge more than the Liberty Flights of the world for your product (within reason of course).

That's why I really like the idea of personally-created videos on a CD that you can hand to people along with your business card.

For example, I walked by a pretty young lady in a Staples uniform on Sunday sitting just outside the front door of Staples smoking a cigarette and probably freezing her ... off, almost certainly an employee on her smoke break. Even as young as she is, it is a solid bet that she has already thought about quitting smoking on several occasions. You wouldn't have 20 minutes to talk her up and sell her in that sort of situation, but you probably would have 2 or 3 minutes to quickly show her your cool electronic cigarette gadget and tell her how wonderful they are and how much money she could also save my using one, etc. She'll see that huge plume of vapor you are blowing out and be impressed, I can almost guarantee it. Instead of trying to talk her ear off right there, hand her that CD and a business card and tell her to watch the videos and give you a call.

I think someone using that approach would have a fair amount of success.

 

[VanderVape]

That is a very good way to get people interested.

 

[Slickstick]

I've gotten a lot of people telling me I should try selling my flavors of juices -- do you think its too competitive? Selling hardware is not a profit-maker online for sure -- I have seen the intense competition on here for prices, availibilty, etc., and I don't think I want that headache -- can you make money at juices?

Not really.
There is small profit to be made but you won't be able to live on it.
There are many unexpected charges when trying to sell liquid vs. diy.
I am expecting a small tax return because I am probably close to breaking even.
It depends on the quality of the product you sell.
Buying knockoffs for a much less price so you can resell them seems ok at first, but then when you get a billion returns because the quality is terrible you may realize it is better to pay more and get the better product.
For example 1 said item may cost $80 if you buy 1-99 of them.
But if you hit the 100 mark on an order for that item, you could get the items for much less.
Buying good quality in bulk is the way to go.

The problem is having $3500 or more to order the bulk package so you CAN make a profit.
And if you do that there is a huge chance it would get stopped at customs.

I am actually surprised we even made it this far.

It takes money to make money, and if you don't have a lot of it, the only thing you will be doing is helping others.
Which is why I am still in this anyway.

It really isn't THAT difficult to run an online store.
You just need time, patience and lots of money.

I've been vaping since October 2009.
In December I decided to open up an online store.
It took months just to get up and running.
Around March 2010 we finally were able to launch the website.
It has been almost a year now and I do not regret it.
Feels good helping other people.
I am fortunate though that my other half is able to take care of the bills on the home front.

What I do myself does not pay the bills. But from time to time we can take the profit and go out to eat and a nice restaurant or I can afford to have a juice giveaway.

It really has to be something you want to do for others unless you are rich to begin with.
If you are then this would definitely a good way to pay some bills.

 

[Slickstick]

So selling things online would be better. Hum...

I would go that far.

If you have the money to carry a product worth offering then a brick and mortar is an excellent way to make money.
There are many people that do not even have internet to even know about electronic cigarettes.

Look at Rob, He just opened up a brick and mortar next to a tobacco shop and they have the silver bullet!

Next to a tobacco shop! Genius!

 

[Xhale12]

Well once again. I will be pursing this store idea in Hollywood.

I have already begun talking to several investors who are very interested in the idea. I also have alot of money to invest. For more info or if you would like to get involved send me a PM.

 

[Slickstick]

Well once again. I will be pursing this store idea in Hollywood.

I have already begun talking to several investors who are very interested in the idea. I also have alot of money to invest. For more info or if you would like to get involved send me a PM.

I think the location you desire is also genius.
If we can get a few millionaires in there to start vaping, they may display their thoughts on television or the movies.
Like has been done recently in the new movie the tourist, with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.