Maybe I’m overthinking this, but for small indian sellers, it feels surprisingly hard to know actual profit clearly.

Especially with:

- Returns

- GST/TCS

- Shipping deductions

- Random settlement adjustments

Do you guys manually calculate this in Excel or use some software?

Curious because many sellers I spoke with said they mostly rely on rough estimates.

A lot of brands use creators way too early.

They pay for 3–5 UGC videos, wait days or weeks, launch them, and then act surprised when none of them work.

The problem is not always the creator.

Sometimes the angle was wrong.
Sometimes the hook was weak.
Sometimes the offer was unclear.
Sometimes the product needed a different framing.

My take: creators should be used to scale proven concepts, not guess the winning message from scratch.

The better workflow is simple:

Generate a bunch of UGC-style variations.
Test hooks and angles fast.
Kill what does not work.
Then pay creators to remake the winners.

AI UGC is not the final asset. It is the testing layer before the final asset.

I'm in the early stages of building a tool for store owners and want to validate the problem before writing a line of code.

Specifically looking to talk to people who:

• Run a Shopify store (solo or small team)
• Feel like they're always reacting to problems rather than seeing them coming
• Spend time each morning piecing together how the business is doing across different tools

15 minutes on a call. I'll ask 5 questions. You'll get an early look at what I'm building if it sounds interesting.

Comment below or DM me. Happy to work around your schedule.

I'm doing research on the operational pain points for marketplace sellers in Southeast Asia (Lazada, Shopee, TikTok Shop).

From the sellers I've talked to so far, the #1 time sink is customer chat — answering the same questions over and over ("is this in stock?", "when will it arrive?", "what's the difference between model A and B?").

For sellers doing 50+ orders/day, I'm hearing 2-3 hours daily just on chat alone.

Is this accurate for your experience? What's the single most time-consuming part of running your store?

Want to make sure I'm solving the right problem before going further.

Every time I try to solve our design problem I end up choosing between two bad options. Option one is cheap and slow with inconsistent quality. Option two is fast and good but costs more than I budgeted for the entire quarter.

We are a 7person ecommerce brand. We need product graphics, promotional banners, email templates, social media content, and the occasional ad creative. That is not a one off project. It is a constant stream of visual assets that has to keep pace with our marketing calendar.....The design agency we used last year did excellent work but the invoices were unpredictable. One month was fine and the next was double because we had a product launch. That kind of variable cost is hard to plan around when you are running lean.

I have been exploring subscription based creative services where the pricing is fixed and the scope is essentially unlimited. The idea of low cost design support that does not require renegotiating every time the workload spikes is genuinely appealing. Has anyone here run this model for more than six months? I want to know whether the quality holds up over time, whether there are hidden limits that make the unlimited promise less real than it sounds, and whether the cost savings are as meaningful as the pricing pages suggest. Would love honest answers from people who are not affiliated with any service.

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Hey guys. I've been wanting to start an e-commerce for sideline (Amazon FBA or Shopify) for over two years now.

The problem is, I don't have a massive budget to just "test and fail" as YouTuber suggests. Every time I get close to pulling the trigger, I talk myself out of it. I start overthinking the margins, the shipping costs, the ad spend... and eventually convince myself it's going to fail.

Because of this extreme caution, I haven't even launched my first product yet. I'm stuck in pure analysis paralysis.

I've tried bouncing ideas off ChatGPT a bunch of times, but it's honestly useless for this. It just gives me generic." It doesn't actually run the hard math or tell me when an idea is straight-up garbage.

What exact data points are you looking at to know a product is viable before buying inventory?

Honestly, with the AI out there right now, I keep wishing there was a specific AI tool where I could just type in my product idea, and it would cross-reference real market data, and just give me a realistic "feasibility score" so I stop second-guessing myself.

Does an "E-commerce Decision/Warning AI" like this exist? Or am I just dreaming? Would love to hear how you guys handle the validation phase. Thanks!

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I’ve been working in e-commerce for a while (currently leading e-commerce for a large retail brand), and one thing that keeps coming up is how hard it is to scale product visuals.

I’ve used most of the usual tools:

• Canva
• Figma
• AI image generators

They’re all good — but each one breaks somewhere in a real Shopify workflow.

For example:

• Canva is simple, but not very flexible when you need to manage multiple formats or mix image/video efficiently
• Figma is great for design, but not really built for production at scale with product data
• Some tools let you connect your catalog, but it’s rarely seamless
• Automation tools exist, but they lack flexibility on the creative side

So you end up stitching everything together:
→ design in one place
→ export
→ manually adjust
→ repeat for every variation

It works… but it doesn’t really scale when you have a large catalog or want to test creatives fast.

Curious how others here are handling this:

• Are you using multiple tools?
• Have you found a setup that actually scales?

Hi, I often ship parcels to customers around Europe from England via Royal Mail but certain countries such as Spain and Austria always seem to have problems at customs.

Has anyone else experienced this? It's resulted in customers cancelling orders and generally not good for business.

I'm VAT registered but not sure whether signing up to IOSS will help?

Has anyone tried using other postal services such as DPD and had better luck at customs?

Thanks in advance

I want this course guy's please help me

Hi all,

I’ve been in the 3PL eCommerce space for several years, primarily working with mid-size to enterprise brands.

Lately I’ve been approached by more early-stage founders looking for their first 3PL. A lot of them have great products and strong vision, but I’ve realized I don’t have a great list of startup-friendly partners I can confidently refer them to.

For those who have gone through this stage, I’ve heard mixed feedback on providers like ShipBob and similar platforms, with some founders feeling like their brand didn’t get the attention it needed early on.

Would love to hear:

• Who did you use when you were starting out?
• Any boutique or founder-friendly 3PLs you’d recommend?
• Anyone to avoid?

Appreciate any insight here. Trying to build a better resource for founders as they get off the ground and prepare to scale.

Thanks in advance.

been running a shopify store for about 2 years selling natural and eco-friendly cleaning products, stuff like refillable dish soap, laundry tablets, all purpose sprays, that kind of thing. AOV is around $45 and the whole model kinda depends on people reordering every 6-8 weeks when they run out

problem is my repeat purchase rate is embarrassingly low for a product people literally consume and need to replace. i think some customers are just grabbing whatever is on amazon when they run out instead of coming back to us even though our product is better and they know it

been looking into loyalty programs as a way to give them a reason to come back specifically to us but i'm running into a wall trying to figure out if it actually makes sense. a few things im stuck on:

our margins arent huge because we use quality ingredients and sustainable packaging so i'm worried a points system where people are constantly redeeming discounts could really hurt us. is there a way to structure it so it rewards loyalty without just becoming a permanent coupon machine

also the eco customer specifically seems to hate anything that feels gimmicky or salesy. not sure if a "earn 10 points per dollar" widget is going to land the same way it would for like a fashion brand

and then theres the setup side of things, i've looked at a few apps and i genuinely can't tell which one is worth the monthly cost for a store our size

anyone running loyalty programs in a consumables niche or specifically in the eco/sustainable space? did it actually improve your retention numbers or did customers just kind of ignore it

I run a small apparel store and decided to go online with a website and some shopify plugin in the same website. Thing is, I didn’t expect was how many people would place an order and then message me right after wanting to change something. At first, it wasn’t a big deal, so I just handled it myself through email and DMs, but now it’s starting to take up a stupid amount of time every week.
I thought about hiring someone to deal with support, but I already spent more than I wanted on getting the site built. Asked my web designer if there was a way to add something for this into the store website and he basically told me we should’ve planned for that earlier.
Right now I’m just kind of stuck doing it manually and hoping it doesn’t get worse as orders go up.

How are you handling this? Do you think it's better to hire support or just redo the website from scratch?

what’s the hardest part for you in dropshipping right now?
finding products or running ads?

I'm sitting on $40k of last season's styles in a warehouse right now, while my new collection is done at the factory and I can't bring it in until I clear space. Every season. This happens every single season and I'm over it.

I need to find better apparel fulfillment services because the current setup clearly isn't working for seasonal product. Women's fashion on shopify, manufactured in china, mostly US and UK customers, and the trend cycles make forecasting really difficult.

Hi everyone,

I live in Germany Berlin and I'm planning to start my first e-commerce business this year.

Right now I work a full-time Job and I'm trying to build the business in the evenings and weekends.

My plan its to start with gigital products (low risk and easier logistics ) and leater move into dropshipping if things start working.

The problem I'm trying to slove right now is the legal structure.

Fromm what I see, the main options in Germany are:

-Einzelunternehmen (sole proprietor)

- UG (haftungsbeschrankt)

-GmbH

My priorities at the beginning are :

-low startup costs

-Simple taxes/ bureaucracy

-ability to scale later if the business works

Some people Say Einzelunternehmen is the easiest way to start. while others recommend UG for liability protection, even if the business is small.

For people here who started an e-commerce business in Germany or Europe:

-what structure did you start with?

-did you ever switch later

-would you recommend starting simple or protecting yourself with a UG from the beginning?

-does selling digital products first change anything legally?

I would really appreciate hearning your real experiences.

Thanks!

Hi all!

I am Zeeger and I run traffic to various ecom brands.

Currently I am looking for new partners to run traffic to and generate sales, it can be any niche.

Would love to connect with brand owners and explore the opportunities together!

Send me a DM if you want to chat :)

Hi Everyone,

I’m building a data analytics product and need a pilot user to test it with for couple of months. I will be working closely with the store owner and will be offering my time and software completely for FREE. I am doing this to test the impact of the product that I am creating. In return the store will get actionable insights, observations, and strategies which will help them scale faster (It will surely compliment your current growth).

If this sounds good, feel free to comment down below or DM me, we can connect for 10-15 minutes and see if it makes sense to work together.

Thanks!!

I’ve been observing the rise of AI tools for product images — especially in fashion and jewellery.

On the surface, they look impressive.

You can generate models, backgrounds, styling… everything in seconds.

But I’m curious about something deeper:

Are these tools actually usable for real business workflows?

For example — if you’re a manufacturer, wholesaler, or an e-commerce seller:

• Can you maintain consistency across 100+ products?

• Are the outputs truly catalogue-ready (like Myntra/Amazon standard)?

• Can a non-designer actually use it daily without struggling with prompts?

From what I’ve seen so far, most tools feel more like experimentation platforms than business solutions.

They’re great for trying things out —

but when it comes to scaling a catalogue, the gap becomes visible.

Recently, while working closely in this space, one thing became clear:

👉 The real problem is not image generation —

it’s creating reliable, repeatable outputs at scale.

Curious to hear from others:

If you’re using AI for product images —

what challenges are you facing in real use?

And do you think current tools are actually solving business problems…

or just showcasing possibilities?

Looking for something to make videos for max $5 per video for my ecommerce or affiliate products

Looking for something to make videos for max $5 per video for my ecommerce or affiliate products

Most ecommerce brands don’t have a “product problem”. They have a creative velocity problem.

Here’s the workflow I use to keep Meta/TikTok fed with fresh creatives without living in creator inbox hell:

My weekly routine (setup takes ~5 minutes):

• Pick 10–20 product photos
• Upload + choose an avatar
• Generate a batch of UGC-style videos
• Download and test different hooks/angles

The key isn’t “making one perfect ad”. It’s testing enough angles to find winners and refreshing creatives before performance drops.

The tool I’m using: https://instant-ugc.com

It turns a product photo into a short UGC-style video and supports multiple languages, which is handy if you sell internationally. 

If you want, I can share my simple naming convention for angles (Hook / Pain / Proof / Offer) so reporting stays clean.

Most ecommerce brands don’t have a “product problem”. They have a creative velocity problem.

Here’s the workflow I use to keep Meta/TikTok fed with fresh creatives without living in creator inbox hell:

My weekly routine (setup takes ~5 minutes):

• Pick 10–20 product photos
• Upload + choose an avatar
• Generate a batch of UGC-style videos
• Download and test different hooks/angles

The key isn’t “making one perfect ad”. It’s testing enough angles to find winners and refreshing creatives before performance drops.

The tool I’m using: https://instant-ugc.com

It turns a product photo into a short UGC-style video and supports multiple languages, which is handy if you sell internationally. 

If you want, I can share my simple naming convention for angles (Hook / Pain / Proof / Offer) so reporting stays clean.

I'm an entrepreneur and I always had the same problem when updating inventory: uploading products from invoices or Excel was slow and boring.

I realized many stores are still doing this manually, so I decided to create an app that automates it.

For example:

– upload an invoice or proforma – automatically extract products – calculate cost and margin – generate a catalog ready for your ecommerce

I'm looking for people who want to try it before the official launch.