Designing a Car Trash Can and Making $15k/month | Hacker News Reader

Designing a Car Trash Can and Making $15k/month

starterstory.com

67 pointspatwalls48 comments

The creator doesn’t mention that one of his marketing strategies is email spam (his mailchimp account was suspended following abuse reports).

Source? I don't doubt your claim; just curious how you know this.

I received their spam, reported it to mailchimp (their provider) and was told that they were suspended.

was it out of the blue or did you sign up for something at some point?

Out of the blue. I am very careful about what I sign up for, I don’t have a car nor can I find any previous emails from the person involved (going back ten years). There’s no chance I signed up to a mailing list for a car accessory — and just in case I had somehow subscribed (maybe through another product they offer) I asked how they got my email address and they didn’t respond which is a tell tale sign of a spammer. My email address was included in a database leak from Kickstarter in 2014, so I am almost certain they have been spamming everybody from the Kickstarter database leak.

the kickstarter leak makes sense. that's very unethical behavior that should not be rewarded.

I received the same spam.

You know what else looks fishy: €1,060 pledged of €1,708 goal on Kickstarter.

$15k/month?? My bet is he tries to fake it till … he fades.

That is the new Kickstarter for the updated version.

Original Kickstarter ($17k raised): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1437516755/carbage-cant...

OK, that thing with the Kickstarter is cleared out in another reply, but I feel like fake it till ... has some truth to it. Some cheap rhetorics to my taste:

"Ordering from China, I’d see my product in 90 days. Now that it’s made in the USA, lead time is only 3 weeks!"

Err, 3 weeks = 24 days. "If you don't treat the flu with our drug you are seek for 14 days, if you do - only 2 weeks." Haha.

"They are producing them at the same price as the Chinese were quoting me! You can imagine the amount that I am saving on shipping car trash cans with producing them here." - Not sure why Chinese quote an experienced procurer same as in US, he should be able to get a discount at least for the shipping costs, shouldn't he? - And anyway, no, I can not imagine shipping costs, must be low, shouldn't they?

Based on the category ranking on Amazon of the Carbage Can it looks like he sells ~250 a month which at $20 equates to $5k a month in sales. This could easily equate to the $15k he claims in November/December. Total yearly sales could be around the $80k mark.

Assuming he makes $8, 40% margin, on each unit then that's $32k of profit each year. Capital costs for manufacturing are around $20k. Assuming the capital costs are amortised over 3 years, that's $25k of income each year which isn't great but you can live off it. If you were designing a new product like this every year, then it could make a healthy business.

I wonder how long before he's put out of business by Amazon sold Chinese counterfeits undercutting him:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12061288

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16498013

They may forget the floot mat clips, though.

And as a result, there's a nonzero chance of an unhappy knock-off purchaser accidentally leaving a bad review on the original, bonafide product page.

> To give an idea on the profit for Carbage Can, we’ll keep it simple:

> To manufacture, $2.50.

> Amazon FBA fee 6.90.

> And we’ll throw in 1.00 for Marketing PPC.

> That’s 10.40 per unit.

> I sell for 16.95.

Interesting that the Amazon cut is 40% of the retail price, while the manufacturing cost is less than 15%.

The Amazon FBA fee includes shipping cost which is greater than manufacturing cost for zillions of products.

FBA is a few different things. You pay for the on site storage, boxing and 2day prime(if they have it) shipping from that fee. Selling it for 10-12 bucks + shipping and handling would be more accurate comparison and more work for you.

And that right there is why a lot of things are actually cheaper in local B&M stores if you're in an area where there's a good concentration. This strikes me as the kind of thing that he might get into some hardware or auto parts stores as a holiday sales item.

You wouldn't believe the amount of supplements sold on facebook that cost $2 to manufacture but can earn a facebook affiliate $40-$50 for a single conversion (assuming subscription model)

Sorry, but a garbage can for your car? Bravo for the success, but this HAS to be only for people who buy all of the "As Seen on TV" garbage.

or you're someone that works out of their car/van, like a tradesperson

Most of them get a 5 gallon bucket, put a trash bag in it, and store some extra clean bags in the bottom (under the bag) for replacements.

The small improvement of a clip to keep it secured to the floor mat is probably enough for some people to buy this over having a 5 gallon bucket in their car.

not necessarily. If you have kids in the car, a trash can will be handy. I could certainly use one.

So bring a trash bag or take it with you like everyone else does already?

That has its tradeoffs.

The product has value, and solves the problem at hand in a unique way.

Or, you know, you could take trash with you every time you leave the car like normal human beings who don't hoard garbage.

Before you leave the car, do you just leave your trash on the seat or something? Certainly a bag or receptacle is desirable for food waste at the very minimum, and you don't want to gunk up your cupholders or door pockets with such things.

Being in the car for a few hours with an exposed banana peel isn't the greatest, regardless of what happens to it at the destination.

I don't have kids, but I can imagine how having my hands full my stuff, plus my kids' stuff, plus trying to have a hand to drag them along so they don't run out in traffic, could make it difficult to be tidy 100% of the time.

So when you're in the car driving, you don't have your hands full enough to pick up the trash in put it in this magical device? No one is saying be 100% tidy, but why do we need empty another trash, when you can just pick up after you get the kids secured somewhere.

Or, you know, you could do what works for you every time you leave the car unlike pedantic human beings who want to get all up in folks' business about how they handle their garbage.

I mean, yeesh, people have their reasons for having a trash can in the car. I'm a take-your-shit-with-you kind of guy myself, but I don't have kids and I don't eat in the car. Sure, that makes me a superior human being, but I don't rub it in people's faces.

I understand your confusion. Just, you know, take it out of the car when you get out. I've had people tell me "Geez, your car is so clean". It's not. But I don't have trash, empty bottles, old coffee cups, fast food bags, etc because, I take it out when I leave my car.

> Bravo for the success, but this HAS to be only for people who buy all of the "As Seen on TV" garbage.

You mean handicapped people, at whom many of those products are implicitly aimed?

https://www.bustle.com/p/as-seen-on-tv-products-arent-for-la...

Yeah, it's funny laughing at the idiot who knocks over a whole bowl of popcorn. It's not so funny when it's your grandfather with Parkinsons, who has serious mobility issues and would very much like something to help him keep his popcorn in one place.

And yeah, sure, people in this thread can suggest taking the trash with them every time they leave the car - except actually getting into and out of the car can be a non-trivial ordeal, sometimes involving assistive devices.

So maybe everyone in this thread can try to look beyond their mid-20s, childless, able-bodied lives involving short drives that involve transporting nothing more onerous than a shoulderbag with a Macbook in it and maybe a latte.

I understand that this can be a sensitive area, but I'm pretty sure that more obviously assistive items wouldn't be dismissed quite so out of hand.

I'm also pretty sure that a trash can for the car isn't going to make that much difference for folks with mobility problems - there are too many other options already out there for trash collection/disposal including small boxes (e.g. a square or cube shipping box with $0.25 of hook side adhesive backed velcro stuck to the bottom).

Do you have kids? Kids cause huge amounts of garbage to pile up in cars.

Clean up after them? I don't understand the responses here.

Yeah, by putting the trash they create, into a garbage bin that mounts to the floor of my car... I am a target customer for this and no amount of head-shaking is going to make me feel bad about it.

So you only put non organic trash in there right? Because it's going to make your car stink pretty damn fast baking in it.

I do and... they don't magically generate rubbish out of thin air any more than adults do - seriously, exactly what rubbish do they generate?!

I don't believe he is selling 750 pieces per month and has that few reviews.

Keep in mind $15k is the top month, not the median or average.

As well, although debatable, there are some that say 50% of Amazon reviews are fake/paid for. So perhaps he hasn't gone this route and therefore doesn't have what is the artificially high level of expected reviews.

https://www.fakespot.com/product/carbage-can gives it a B, so looks like relatively low fake nonsense going on review wise.

$15k a month for a trash can with clips on the bottom. I need to put some of my ideas on Kickstarter, I had no clue the bar was this low.

The bar, my friend, is far lower. At least this product is somewhat useful.

This is the new "my kid could draw that".

"floot mat clips"

Needs a copywriter...

At $20 it's a relatively cheap option, probably better than a plastic grocery bag (probably with a hole), and nicer than some of the pouches, etc that I've seen that attach to the back of a seat using a strap around the headrest. The fact that it's waterproof is a plus if you have drink containers.

Worth $20? Maybe. Making $15k/month on it? Not sure I see that being sustainable.

I put this in the same category as the Totasak.

Why create a Kickstarter for 1.7 k if you make 15k a month. I call bs.

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