Store owners-any legal troubles? Working on Online Store/Local Supplier buisiness.. Is it safe if I dont sell nic liquid?

[sund79]

I have read.. and read and read... and it is makeing me crazy.
My friend and I have been working on starting a store online to sell the e-cigs and were also planning on suppling them to the local bar/college crowd -- Keeping it small, since i've got other stuff going to.. but since every smoker that i've shown it to wants one, and a local bar manager even offered to sell them in his bar for me, it seems like not doing it is just like not taking the money.

Well, now here comes the paranoia. I was looking into getting us a buisiness licence and started worring more...Should we just stop all our hard work and say, well, we wasted all that time and money..? Reading all this has just confused me more...and last thing I would want is a lawsuit.. Or Some local ... to get a hold of one of my buisiness cards and report me.

I have contemplated selling them without liquid (and this in it self seems like a pain.. and a way to drive would be local customers elsewhere..) or with nic-free liquid (yes.. driving the smokers away again i fear...) Or seeing if a liq supplier would allow me to put something like our company recomends XXX's liquid, maybe including just a sample of some ry4 & menthol nic liquid but not advertising it?

I see so many suppliers here- has anyone had any problems? Are you guys buisiness registered..? now i'm worried if we go to do the paperwork they wont give us a license to sell something that is (banned/ not banned, in banned limbo, i dunno)

Any one have any solid info or experiances? all of this legal crap is confusing to me.. Ugh.

Thanks to anyone that helps!

 

[Glassweaver]

I've had my own little ebay business going for years now, and needless to say, unless you have multiple pallets of merchandise being dropped in your driveway each year, there's not much I've seen that needs worrying about unless you use paypal, in which case they might just steal all your money (and their .......n percentage transaction fees anyway).

In regards to the nicotine? This is just my ignorant opinion, but I think the cops have alot more to worry about, like thugs selling real drugs to middle schoolers out on the streets.

As long as you have a standard 18+ disclaimer on your site, you shouldn't be liable for minors using it, because in doing so, they violated its terms (you know, like with porn sites!) and when it comes to legality, it's not like this is ........ Worst case I bet you would get a cease and decist threat letter.

Hell, isn't that how the smoking everywhere suit came about? They where selling it in malls and ****, and the attorney general told them to stop, they didn't so he's going at them now?

 

[Glassweaver]

Oh, I oughta note that with eBay, I dont nor have I ever sold ecigs, but I do sell sex toys (hey, its an 18+ could-get-in-trouble thing) and don't declare **** for income, and nobody's every come trying to rape me with a pile of papers yet.

 

[sund79]

Oh, I oughta note that with eBay, I dont nor have I ever sold ecigs, but I do sell sex toys (hey, its an 18+ could-get-in-trouble thing) and don't declare **** for income, and nobody's every come trying to rape me with a pile of papers yet.

Ahh, I myself am a former seller of the sex toys..

Hehe.. I think I have been permanently desensitized to the strange sex things you can get now from so casually filling invoices and asking my husband questions like, should we sell more of the fake lady parts... they seem to go well to the APO addresses..

Thanks for your input. I'm gonna start really small, like very small, and see how it turns around before anything else..

 

[DeterminedObserver]

@sund79 I'm in the same boat, seriously considering but have the same concerns as you...I'll be watching this thread carefully

 

[sund79]

@sund79 I'm in the same boat, seriously considering but have the same concerns as you...I'll be watching this thread carefully

yeah, i havent really gotten much feedback from anyone. I did see a thread that was saying that paypal said they still accept e-cig transactions so that is a good sign i guess.

 

[nocomply]

my guess, fwiw, is that since as of now, it's not illegal, or banned by the fda or anything(yeah, for how long wdk) but you should be fine.

I have a retail store front in my town and ever single smoker I have had the chance to show my 510 to, wants one.

That being said, you could honestly, sell to people through word of mouth if you were too concerned. My sister took an easy cig to the bowling alley her in-laws own, and came back with least half a dozen people who were interested. Even asked if I'd drive 45 minutes, one night in the bowling alley bar, and give a demo and bring stock.

Take cash only, no paper trail, period, the end. Don't charge tax, cos you aren't collecting it, and especially if you aren't set up with your state to collect and mail in collected sales tax.

My plan is sell what I can, save who I can, tell them about ECF, and if it falls apart courtesy of the FDA, get with my friends/customers, and start sharing how to use SNUS, or whatever means to get the nic juice, and everyone learn how to cut their own.

 

[newbutt]

I too am about to jump into this. I've kinda taken the prohibition attitude. If people want it, they will find it. I intended to open an internet store, already have the dot com,logo's, etc, but have no problem selling them out of the truck of my car if things go south.

 

[halfevildruid]

I gotta say, I don't know why but my experience so far with suppliers here has been they seem to not want to give up any info or work with anyone else looking to be a supplier. I worked with one who gave me a "deal" on a quantity of kits, and as time progressed I have pretty much decided a bunch of bad batteries were unloaded on me. Seems as though his 14 day warranty is not going to be honored because it's passed, however it took 4 or 6 weeks to sell them and start discovering bad parts. I had to break up kits to make good to the buyers, and have lost money. Haven't bought from him since. I have also put out a post looking for suppliers interested in being listed in my current online store, and maybe doing some dropshipping but have gotten no response yet. Of course it hasn't been up long and I should give it more time. The ones in china are more than happy to work with you, though. My best experience and prices so far have been from there. I don't want to deter anyone away from any of them as there are some great suppliers here, it just seems most of them have a narrow business scope and don't seem to want to expand horizons and sales volume. I guess this could be for many reasons. I am doing a nice amount of local sales from word of mouth to keep me going, and my partner and I are getting ready to soft launch our superstore, which is very stocked with many suppliers in every type of product willing to ship and do business, except it seems for the ecig area.

Anyway I think I started rambling, so I will run. BTW if any of you do become a supplier, I have a store that will bring you some sales here and there. My ecig site is up and running however I disable it when paypal started shutting merchants down. Don't want to screw my other store up!!!

 

[sund79]

"Take cash only, no paper trail, period, the end. Don't charge tax, cos you aren't collecting it, and especially if you aren't set up with your state to collect and mail in collected sales tax."

hmm.. its an idea, i have gotten a few people on them just by showing them mine, so I started thinking..

I do have a website on the way and a Really Pretty Logo I worked Very Hard on. I kind of thought about setting a skype no. up or something for ppl to call. I just dont know.. I guess while i'm trying to decide what to do store wise.. there is not really any reason I can keep some in the car and have them handy to sell when my friends and I are out at the local bars and everyone wants to know what they are..

Eh.

 

[Darkest]

And the E-cig mafia was born.......

 

[newbutt]

We'll make 'em an offer they can't refuse

 

[nocomply]

"Take cash only, no paper trail, period, the end. Don't charge tax, cos you aren't collecting it, and especially if you aren't set up with your state to collect and mail in collected sales tax."

hmm.. its an idea, i have gotten a few people on them just by showing them mine, so I started thinking..

I do have a website on the way and a Really Pretty Logo I worked Very Hard on. I kind of thought about setting a skype no. up or something for ppl to call. I just dont know.. I guess while i'm trying to decide what to do store wise.. there is not really any reason I can keep some in the car and have them handy to sell when my friends and I are out at the local bars and everyone wants to know what they are..

Eh.

I think "Tupperware Party" style sales, would be your best friend. Not so dramatic, but, that mentality.

IE, get people's curiosity stirred. Set up a good time in the evening at a local public place, preferably a place that may allow smoking. Or even your house. Have people come, and have about 10 cartridges set up with various flavors. Keep a box of alcohol swabs(3 bucks a hundred at CVS/Rite Aid) to wipe the mouthpiece after each user tries the "vape"

Keep a bottle of instant hand sanitizer there too, have everyone use it before "sampling" various flavors.

My guess if you have 20 people there, after 20 minutes of education, 30 minutes or so of "testing/sampling", 15 out of the 20 will walk out buying a unit, and probably a few bottles of juice.

IDK, it's an option to avoid the hassles of setting up a retail store front.

Don't get into the whole, 5 bottles free if you "book a party" type stuff....lol

But do it that way. Get a group of people together, give them the low down on vaping, give them a demo, let them try it for themselves, and with various flavors, and I think they will sell themselves.

 

[newbutt]

Way ahead of ya. Watch for Vapaware parties coming soon

I think "Tupperware Party" style sales, would be your best friend. Not so dramatic, but, that mentality.

IE, get people's curiosity stirred. Set up a good time in the evening at a local public place, preferably a place that may allow smoking. Or even your house. Have people come, and have about 10 cartridges set up with various flavors. Keep a box of alcohol swabs(3 bucks a hundred at CVS/Rite Aid) to wipe the mouthpiece after each user tries the "vape"

Keep a bottle of instant hand sanitizer there too, have everyone use it before "sampling" various flavors.

My guess if you have 20 people there, after 20 minutes of education, 30 minutes or so of "testing/sampling", 15 out of the 20 will walk out buying a unit, and probably a few bottles of juice.

IDK, it's an option to avoid the hassles of setting up a retail store front.

Don't get into the whole, 5 bottles free if you "book a party" type stuff....lol

But do it that way. Get a group of people together, give them the low down on vaping, give them a demo, let them try it for themselves, and with various flavors, and I think they will sell themselves.

 

[nocomply]

^^^^^ Vapaware....yes....haha

what you need is one of these...

Green Smoke Electric Cigarette Testing Station

Make your own, and advertise for yourself(IE your biz name or whatever, instead of the green cig....or better yet, put it in bars with a 25 cent coin mechanism on it, 2 draws for a quarter....

 

[seededcrown]

I have never had any legal problems, or paypal problems(I only accepted paypal). My biggest problem was my site was not proffesional looking, and the competition. I'm shutting down due to a job relocation and lack of sales. If you want to know anything else PM me.

 

[halfevildruid]

I have already been doing these.. it works very well. What I do is "pass and toke", various models and flavors, serve a few drinks and take "special orders". I have several of 8 different models, so they can decide the one they like. It is a good part time income, and maybe saving a few lives! The only down side has been the phone ringing for "I need another bottle right now! My dog chewed it!" or can I swing by and get one of those watermelon flavors real quick?" But it still is fun.

 

[WVapor]

Is anyone handing out disclaimers even when they do a cash only sell. Something like "This is not FDA approved, vape at your own risk type a thing", or any other type of something just in case. I like the vaporware idea. Also does anyone vape in public for the express reason of drumming up business? This is a great little, startup supplier thread.

 

[halfevildruid]

I have been providing terms and conditions at point of sale, ensuring I don't make any false claims, and that the customer knows what they are getting. It may not be perfect but here is what I use. I provide this in print to my locals, and ask them to go and register at my site.

[By making a purchase from eVapor.net, you agree to the following terms.
You agree and understand that you must be of legal smoking age for your region to purchase any products from our site.

You agree and understand that payments must be confirmed before items are shipped. Some items may occasionally be on back order. You will be notified of estimated delivery date and be offered a full refund on back order items before your order is processed.

You agree and understand that eVapor.net will warranty items for 14 days from date of purchase, excluding liquid and atomizers. Liquid and atomizers are considered consumable products and for reasons of personal hygiene can not be returned. All eVapor.net products are gauranteed to not arrive DOA. If an item arrives DOA email evaporsales@gmail.com to notify us and arrange for immediate replacement. We test all units for 24 hours before shipping, whenever possible.

You agree and understand there are no refunds. Repair or replacement only. Refunds can not be given once your order has been processed.

You agree and understand that eVapor.net products are used at your own risk.

You agree to hold eVapor.net and it's interests free of liability from any and all results of any use of eVapor products.

You agree to use eVapor products as a smoking alternative to tobacco and for no other use.

You agree and understand that you are already a smoker and/or user of nicotine products. We do not want to create an addiction to nicotine, only provide an alternative to tobacco.

You agree and understand that eVapor.net liquid may contain detectable amounts of carcinogens normally found in tobacco products. As of the date of this writing, amounts detectable in some liquid brands are not quantifiable. These means they can be classified as safe. Some, all, or none of the same carcinogens found in FDA approved smoking cessation products may also be found in trace amounts of some liquids sold by eVapor.net.

You agree and understand that our products are NOT smoking cessation devices. They are not intended to, or sold to assist in quitting smoking. Our products have not been evaluated by the US FDA. They are not intended to be drug products that diagnose, treat, cure, or mitigate any disease or condition.

You agree to not use eVapor.net products if you have a allergy or sensitivity to nicotine or if you are pregnant or nursing.

You agree to not use, or discontinue use of eVapor.net products if you have a sensitivity to propylene glycol.]

 

[Webby]

I have been providing terms and conditions at point of sale, ensuring I don't make any false claims, and that the customer knows what they are getting. It may not be perfect but here is what I use. I provide this in print to my locals, and ask them to go and register at my site. <truncated>

Pretty much the same model we use. I do make the point to educate the clerks so they are prepared to answer questions and sales resistance from potential customers who only saw the FDA's news byte.

One suggestion - I always drop off a spare box of 510 carts with each store for "demos" At less than a buck-a-box, it ensures the store reps have samples and potential customers like the idea of unwrapping their own sealed cart.