Danny sent me a generic email asking for a 5 star review. I replied and asked what I'd get. Customer Service outsourced to a foreign company to save a dollar, responded, we don't give anything.
I'll simply be honest. I'll be fair and leave 2 stars for the automated order process Dripshipper provides.
As I explain further below (and this is the most important paragraph you'll ever read), in this long rant of venting, Temecula Coffee Roasters sells directly to the public for a cheaper price you can't compete with or you'll lose money. It's a major conflict of interest while THEY BRAND THEMSELVES to your customers. Customers will get annoyed. They will find out. You will NEVER EVER be able to build a brand around this coffee, ever. Every other coffee roaster you can find on Google that dropships DOES NOT brand themselves to your customers. I talked to them about this. They think it's a joke, too. Every single one of your customers will know they can buy directly from Temecula for a cheaper price because "DISTRIBUTED BY TEMECULA COFFEE ROASTERS" is on the front of every single bag. You will NEVER build a base of customers. You will never keep subscribers. You WILL receive negative reviews. You WILL receive negative comments on your social media. You WILL LOSE, period. I've already read it all from other people's sites and social media, who actually put effort into it. My motivation to sell this coffee went from 110% to about 3%. IT'S A WASTE OF TIME.
Temecula told me they sell 400,000 bags of coffee each year. There's no way their dropship clients are selling all those bags. I've spent countless hours looking for websites and sellers, reselling this coffee on Google, Google shopping, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, even Walmart's selling platform, social media channels, etc... They must sell 99.9% of those 400,000 bags to the public, from their own store in California with their own label, to local barista shops using their coffee to create fancy named drinks, to local grocery stores, and directly on their website. Where are these "magic sellers" selling 10s of 1000s of bags of their coffee using their dropship program? I can't find them. Temecula states most people selling their coffee are dissapointed after 6 months and not celebrating. YOU BRAND YOURSELF to everyone's customers which results in 100% failure. Of course they're dissapointed! WOW!
"Okay everyone, let's have our monthly meeting on zoom to talk about the hardships when trying to sell this coffee."
I already explained! I'll never join the meeting. I'd vent off about the reality of their FAILING program in front of everyone. They'd disconnect me.
I've looked through all the 5 star reviews. Websites with no traffic. No social media presence besides friends or family, if they even have social media. People buying fake followers for social media. Horrible idea. A few reviews, if any, from friends or family. People they know. Negative reviews from strangers, claiming this is dropship coffee, etc., if they're lucky enough to generate an order from someone they don't know. Negative posts on social media, etc. Others writing fake reviews for themselves, etc. I've seen it all. I'm very familiar with all websites trying to sell this coffee. Mostly the same, generic looking sites, with the same graphics, same wording, item descriptions, etc. No one actually puts any effort into anything, especially educating people on specialty coffee. They think that if they pay for a basic website and throw some coffee in it, they'll magically sell it. Wrong.
I don't see anyone actually succeeding, even if they use custom labels, they only offer very little variety as they can't afford $2000 for the approvals for all varients and types of coffee. About $3 to approve each label. Temecula could choose one employee, easily have them verify all the labels during one shift, pay them their hourly and pocket the other $1900 for themselves. Sounds rip-offy, because it is.
Working a few hours at a minimum wage job would earn you more money. I just see people pretending to own a company. I'm one of them! The websites you find on Google shopping aren't selling anything. Most give up. There's still sites listed with last year sales announcements. Once their one-year domain plan expires, they'll probably dissappear. I'm an SEO expert and have professional tools that tell me everything about everyone's website data, including domain registration information, traffic statistics, etc. Everything.
Let me talk about Dripshipper customer service. They know nothing specific about this coffee. Pretty much clueless. "Roast to order. Good quality." You must go to Temecula Coffee Roaster's and Old Chicago Coffee Co.'s websites to learn anything. There's been a few times I've talked to them and it was memorable. One time a lady gave me the wrong information and cost me hours worth of work. That was so frustrating. She did apologize after, but what was done, was done.
Another time, this guy from customer service told me Dripshipper customers are successful, via broken English, from Danny hiring overseas. I asked him to provide me an example site. He couldn't. Because he was lying lol. I'd be proud to give an example of someone's website who's successful through my services. It'd be great for advertising and getting people to sign up. I haven't contacted them in a while because there's no need.
And I almost forgot, when I first started, almost two months ago, I made a sale from a co-worker. They bought the coffee pods. No one from Dripshipper contacted me about some price increase. I lost money on the sale because they failed to notify me that the price increased by $6. Thanks a lot! I appreciate it! Thanks for losing me money! That's what it's all about, right? Losing money... Can I even trust you guys?
Temecula makes you keep their branding on the label, while they sell directly to the public on their own website for a better price. If you match their price, you lose money. Dropship companies DO NOT do this, ever. I contacted them about this major issue. They don't care. I contacted Dripshipper about this. They don't care. It's really a nail in the coffin. It's like trying to sell items on your website from Amazon. Someone places an order, you ship them the item from Amazon, they realize they can buy directly from Amazon for a cheaper price, and they feel ripped off and cheated. People will leave negative reviews. People will leave negative comments on your social media pages. I honestly feel like I'm trying to rip people off online.
The more money you spend trying to sell this coffee, the more you'll lose. It's depressing.
I've had real customers and none of them repeat buy. They see Temecula on the bag, know it's not from me. That's a turn off. They probably Google search them, quickly and easily, realizing they can buy direct from them, if they really wanted to keep drinking this coffee, for a cheaper price I can't sell for. I'll lose money.
My friends and family think I'm crazy for putting so much effort and money into this... And that I continue doing it. They've all heard this same rant.
I feel sorry for the people who went directly through Temecula for this dropship program and not Dripshipper. I looked at their websites and setups to create a brand around this coffee. Easily, 1000s of dollars spent. Custom labels, fully designed, custom websites, the whole nine yards. They wasted all of that money. They can't even sell this coffee after spending ridiculous amounts of money to showcase this coffee. I checked their website stats. I checked everything. Nada. Nothing. No one cares to buy anything. I'm so glad I spent 100s and not 1000s. My goal is to get my money back eventually. I won't. I'm dreading the day that people leave negative reviews and comments. I've been super lucky so far!
In order to be "successful" and make more money than you would working a few hours, minimum wage, you must rank high on Google for traffic driving keywords. Good luck! No one trying to sell this coffee does, and probably never will. And it's because no one tries or no one has $500-$2000 per month to pay a company. I do it on my own. I have no life. Every minute of free time goes into getting my name out there. I'm ranked #10 - #40 for a lot of competitive keywords and I'm only 2 months old. That's impressive. I still only sell to people I know, like others. Thanks mom and friends! You also need to be the actual roaster to gain popularity. No cares to spend a lot of money with a dropshipper when it comes to coffee. I've now found that out. The crazy effort I'm putting into this, I'm simply setting myself up to deal with negative things in the future.
In 6-12 months, when I've obtained top rankings, and I should, I told Temecula I'd email all the screenshots from people calling me out as a dropshipper, and the negative feedback, etc., they'll leave on my social media, as they have with others who've spent money advertising this coffee. I know it's going to happen. I just want to prove a point. Every time Temecula responded to me, it was 100%, generic sales talk. It was laughable. They simply couldn't be real with me. They couldn't have a real conversation about real issues.
I just saw someone recently leave a negative review for a young lady, who's a veteran, who sells to people she knows. Pretty cool website, but not nearly enough to be successful and worth the time or effort she's making. Simply a hobby. She recently left a 5 star review on here. Says the orders are rolling in. By that she means a few from people she knows. Her profits are low. Once she pays dripshipper the $30 and whatever other expenses she has running the website, those profits are gone and she's negative. The negative review on her Facebook page, recently made, will in fact ruin chances of sales because the review was 100% honest and fact based. She's not a real company. It's dropship coffee. They can buy from a real company for a better price, etc. As I've said, I've seen it all... I always feel embarrassed for people.
Anyone running ads on Google gives up shortly after because all they're doing is losing money. I pay close attention to everything. You're putting your website up against real coffee companies and roasters, who in fact sell roasted to order coffee, who look 100x more professional than you ever will. The majority of online shoppers compare before they buy. You think you can compete with them? How many of your friends and family are really going to only drink this coffee simply because you sell it? Let's live in reality.
To the people setting up coffee stands and paying too much money to showcase their coffee at local events, I'm proud of you for your effort. I love effort, but your websites have no sales or traffic to be profitable. Anything you sell in person at the events doesn't make enough money in profit to pay for that set up, each time. You're losing money. What's your backstory on your "company" that's compelling to people? "We dropship coffee and put a logo on the bag." Literally, you can't say anything else. There's nothing to say.
Some of you are proud to announce on your websites that this coffee comes directly from Temecula. You may as well re-write and state, "Buy directly from Temecula, you'll save money! Don't waste your time here!" You've failed before you started. Others use images hiding Temecula's name. Guess what, if you actually produce a sale, people will find out anyway.
I can't be dishonest. I have double diamond ratings from judge.me because only people who place orders can leave reviews. I've seen others using Judge.me... Lowest rating. Why? Judge.me doesn't like websites writing their own reviews. They're very strict and don't allow people to "cheat".
There's websites that have been trying to sell this coffee for years... No success. You're not an actual roaster. You're not a real company. You're dropshipping coffee, provided by a coffee roaster you can't compete with in prices, who sells directly to the public while branding themselves to your customers. Bad business. I've literally never seen anything like it, in my 20 years of dropshipping.
There's others selling this coffee claiming to big coffee companies with various locations expanding in the US? Corporate offices? A ton of fake bot followers on their social media with hardly any interactions, bought for $50 after a quick Google search, "buy fake Instagram and facebook followers". 100% lies of fakeness. Online shoppers can tell the difference between real and fake. Between legitimate and lies. What are people thinking? It's incredible... Do you really think you're going to build a customer base off of being completely deceptive.
I will never sell anything from Google shopping, a pretty good sales channel, because there's too many sites that have ruined the image of this coffee, on Google shopping. So dissapointing.
One of my favorite websites selling this coffee has in fact been running Google ads for a while. Their website is based on layers of fraudulent lies. It's Crazy Cat Coffee Co. They claim to have 100s of reviews, yet, they're no where to be found. Every item page claims to have a lot of reviews, but you can't read them anywhere on the site. They don't exist. They claim to have 100s of Google reviews. They don't exist. On each item page, they claim a 30 day return policy, but in their footer link, no one will click on, they claim there are no refunds. They claim to ship in 2 days and deliver in 2 days. Again, lies. It's all fraudulent information they're projecting to people. They claim to donate to cancer research, but there's no link to any cancer research organization on their website. Try to contact them with various emails, they don't respond. The person who owns the site doesn't live in the US.
From the types of people allowed to sell this coffee with very bad looking websites, being unprofessional, to those running websites on layers of lies, deceivment and fraudulent practices, you're 100% ruining the image of this coffee for others trying to sell it online. That's all you're doing, destroying the image of Temecula coffee. But it doesn't matter, because those who've spent 1000s are also failing. There are no winners here.
My website is 100% associated with these websites online because it's the same coffee. Oh man... I wish I had something positive to say... It literally doesn't matter anymore...
There's also websites selling this coffee found on Google shopping with bad reviews, bad customer service, spelling errors throughout their website. Very unprofessional. Unprofessional social media. It makes everyone else look bad who put somewhat of an effort in who are also listed on Google shopping. It's the main reason I wanted to create custom labels, to not associate myself with them, but the cost is ridiculous for approvals, and Temecula still brands themselves to your customers! And again, I'll say it a million times, sells directly to the public for cheaper prices you can't compete with.
I did however pay to become a member of World Coffee Research for $500. I'll probably never make my money back. But at least I'm helping a great cause, and supporting farmers, who I admire for their hard work and skills! That makes me feel good.
And, there's literally people trying to sell this coffee at a loss, and still can't. Why would you sell at a loss?
There's 5 star reviewers for this app, who didn't leave their review that long ago, who recently created social media posts about closing their website. People leaving 5 star reviews pretending like everything's great. What are you talking about? That's why I asked what I get for a 5 star review, as if people were leaving 5 star reviews for getting something in return.
I love being creative and designing things. If I could create custom labels for a cheaper price, I'd have my custom labels designed and uploaded in 2 weeks. I'd be super excited! If Temecula stopped branding themselves to my customers while selling directly to the public for a cheaper price, I'd be super excited! I'm already ranked for keyword phrases. Who's ranked one position or two above me? Temecula Coffee Roasters LOL. They also told me I wouldn't have to worry about that. Are you kidding me? They talk to you like a child who knows no better with generic, scripted sales talk. I honestly believe they have no clue what they're doing when it comes to their dropship program. A few people who co-own Temecula probably came up with the idea, and simply put it together in the wrong ways because they don't actually understand what dropshipping is. Either that, or they purposely brand themselves to your potential customers to gain more popularity for themselves. Old Chicago Coffee Co. doesn't do that. Temecula should've set up a sister or parent LLC to put Distributed by "something else". Or at least don't sell this coffee directly to the public for cheaper prices!!! Come on!! I'm literally competing with my dropshipper with a 0% chance of winning. That's horrible and wrong. The fact they don't care when I contacted them is disgusting.
One of us who actually puts effort into this might actually succeed if they changed their ways, but they won't.
This simply isn't set up for anyone to "succeed". Sorry. All I've seen is 1000s and 1000s of dollars being wasted from a small group of people trying to sell this coffee.
My biggest mistake was not looking into Temecula prior to signing up and spending a bunch of money on everything to sell online. If I knew they ran their dropship program the way they do, I never would've considered. I simply assumed it was a true dropship program.
Oh well... Learn from your mistakes. In the future, I'll laugh with my friends about the time I tried to sell coffee.
I could literally go on and on and on and on...
I hope you enjoyed reading my review. It was a long rant. It's based on 100% facts that you can't deny. Take care.
Wait... I've come back to add more. I finally found someone who generates about 4 orders per day on a selling platform other than their website. At first, I thought I found the only person making money. After they pay seller fees per sale and credit card fees, after they pay for all the CPC ads to advertise to generate each sale, plus their monthly fees to have the store on that platform, the dripshipper monthly fee, their real website fees generating no traffic and no sales, they're 100% losing money. The amount of time they're wasting while losing money, they'll give up eventually, once they've lost enough money. Most of their customers are buying it as a commodity and gift for someone. There are no subscriptions. Repeat customers will pretty much remain at 0%. Either way, any way... they're losing money.
I also just saw an ad for dripshipper on YouTube. The featured store and review on the ad is a local coffee shop. I could literally drive to their coffee shop. I can't. They've been out of business and closed.