– 23 Years reCommerce Experience
– Alibaba eBusiness Man of the Year
– As seen on the Entrepreneur TV Channel – UK
– Largest Seller on eBay 2003
– Forbes Best of the Web Award
– Fastest Growing Company
– 40 under 40 Award
You’re in for a real treat!
When you’ve done something for so long, you’ve seen a lot of things, done a lot of things, had a lot of successes and also many failures.
Starting my eCommerce adventures in 1998 when the Internet was still the “Wild Wild West” and you could make money selling broken laser pointers. No, I didn’t sell any broken laser pointers.
YOUR NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS. One of the very first items I was asked to sell was a “Multi-Million Dollar Spy Communication System”, No joke!
It was 1999 and this system was built for a 3rd world country “secret-service agency” that got blacklisted before shipping and the company who made it was….stuck holding the bag. After I listed this system on eBay, I waited for the 3am knock knock on my door.
Even more crazy, I attempted to sell the largest meteorite from Mars ever discovered! YES MARS!
NASA inspected and documented this fine rock that they believed to be from Mars due to the unique gasses inside. The starting price for this one-of-a-kind piece of another planet, $450,000. A bargain if you ask me. It was 2003 when Mars was the closest to Earth in a very long time and we got a ton of FREE 10 o’clock news TV time.
From 1998 to 2006 I was a man-on-a-mission to build one of the largest eCommerce companies on the planet. I built a company called Sell2All. If you purchased something on eBay during this time there was a 1 in 10 chance you saw one of my listings and maybe purchased from us. We became one of eBay’s largest sellers in the 2003-4 time frame and based on our internal stats and eBay metrics at the time, nearly 10% of eBay buyers viewed our auctions listings.
Well in 2006, I got my ass handed to me and went from “Big to going home”. Bankrupt, out of business. China sellers entered the market in 2004 (thanks Meg Whitman), I invested too much money on infrastructure (there was no enterprise level software at the time), I ran the operation under-funded (eCommerce is a cash-flow business), I lost focus (shiny objects) and I trusted the wrong people (I’m too trusting). All these factors played a part.
Awards and Publications
During the climb to the top, I received many awards and was published in many newspapers, magazines and books. Awards such as Fastest Growing Company, 40 Under 40 Successful Entrepreneurs and Forbes Best of the Web to name a few.
While it feels great getting these awards at the time…looking back…I wonder how much they really mean today?
I Wrote an eCommerce Book and Shared my Story Around the World.
I’ve traveled the world (North America, Asia, Europe and Australia) speaking on stages of all sizes to talk about eCommerce.
In 2007, you could see me every day talking about eCommerce on the Entrepreneur TV channel in the UK, until they closed the TV station down.
What’s even more cool? All the eCommerce friendships I’ve made with entrepreneurs just like you from ALL OVER THE WORLD!
After an exhaustive run at going big, it was time to do what I love (eCommerce) in a less-stressful manner. I created a lifestyle eCommerce business working from home, outsourcing as much as I could and remain laser-focused on building my simple $1 million/year brand. It was about the “Customer Experience”.
My company OnFair is a family business focused on selling headrest DVD players to families just like mine. I even had help from the kids from time to time. It’s been a great 14 year run! But, as technology evolves, less people are buying DVD’s these days and this business is, well, past its prime.
It was a great lifestyle business while my kids were growing up so I had the freedom to watch their sports (even coached bowling and baseball some years) and we got to go on many family vacations each year. Showing them the world, was my driving force during this phase.
Alibaba’s 2010 eBusiness Man of the Year!
In 2010 Alibaba decided to give me an award for eBusiness Man of the Year…Pretty cool if you ask me. They flew me to Guangzhou, China (their home office location) and I attended their Economic summit where I got to watch Jack Ma, Masayoshi Son (my favorite) and Jet Li, to name a few.
See, in 2006 I decided I need to build my own private label brand and I needed to buy my products directly from the factory. I started sourcing from China and dropshipping from China in 2004 but went ALL-IN during my “Lifestyle” eCommerce business as my only sourcing scenario.
I’ve built many successful business relationships and lasting friendships with factory owners who are simply trying to support their young family just like me.
In 2016 I went searching for a local repair shop to repair my customer return headrest DVD players for OnFair because I could not send them back to the China factories anymore as China Customs decided no more used products back to China. I visited a few electronic repair shops and after visiting with Nestor, I knew he was the right guy for my repair needs.
Trustworthy, hard working and very skilled. No problem is too big for him. Nestor earned my business and I was always pleased with the result.
He’s a “Problem Solver” and takes great pride in his work.
Six Sigma trained and 15 years experience repairing products plus his natural attention to detail and accuracy makes him the “Perfect Person for the Job”.
After working together for 2 years as the “Go To” repair service for my headrest DVD players and being very happy with the results, I decided to explore BIGGER OPPORTUNITIES with Nestor. As you read above, my headrest DVD player business was mature and now in the decline. Well, being in the local TV repair business is also the type of business not particularly in “Growth Mode”.
Our combined skill sets are a prefect match for an eCommerce related repair/refurbishing service.
And there you have it, Back-Track was formed, again. Wait, what?
Back-Track 2003
I started Back-Track in November 2003 as a service to resell and recover lost profits for large companies such as Rubbermaid, IBM, Gateway, Paypal, uBid, American Tool, UPS, Circuit City and Best Buy to name a few. We received truckloads of goods, inspected them and either resold them on eBay, donated or destroyed them with a goal of optimizing the “Return”. This service was stopped in 2006 with Sell2All as I talked about earlier.
So why do this again?
Great question and I have a great answer as well.
First, we have the perfect team with Nestor and myself. Someone with 22 year’s experience in eCommerce + 15 year’s experience in repair. We also work great together as a team.
Second, the “NEED” + “OPPORTUNITY” are different now than in 2003. Let me explain below.
Back-Track 2018 to now
I’m at it again. Traveling the world, speaking at eCommerce events and showing online sellers the SIZE OF THE PROBLEM and that there’s NOW A SOLUTION!
I also participate on many eCommerce related podcasts and virtual summits.
Online customer returns is a $115 BILLION problem. THAT’S HUGE!
Thank you Tony Hsieh from Zappos + Jeff Bezos at Amazon. Online customers return 20-40% of the products with nearly 1/2 of the returns not being the seller’s fault.
The $115 billion customer return problem has been pushed onto the small online retailers. For example, Amazon 3PS (3rd party sellers) will receive back $30 billion per year in customer returns….WOW!
In addition, over 40% of Amazon 3PS are from China or other parts of the world where returning FBA customer returns is not easy or not possible. This creates the NEED for Back-Track reCOVER services.
In 2003 most recovery was done by reselling products on eBay. This works good for a select portion of products but not great for all types of customer returns.
Today, the Internet is also “Hyper Local” and great for promoting and advertising awesome deals on open box customer return products. With the help of Facebook Marketplace, Craiglist and other local selling apps it’s much easier to get the word out about new customer return inventory ready to sell.
As mentioned above, Back-Track has the perfect team to become your “Profit Partner”. Brandon brings 22 year’s experience in eCommerce and Nestor brings 15 year’s experience in operations and electronics repair.
That’s right. My mission is not to “Go BIG or Go Home”. This time my mission is to go BALLISTIC and SAVE ECOMMERCE!
Buckle up, we’ve grabbed the tiger by the tail and on the eCommerce mission of a lifetime.
We’re going to save eCommerce sellers $1 BILLION in lost profits due to online customer returns.