The Dark Side of Selling On Takealot

Hey there. I wanted to give my opinion about selling on Takealot and the level of support for sellers when going through a lead time suspension. I think this is so important to know when considering this as a opportunity to start a business in South Africa on Takealot.
It's just my opinion and Takealot does do a lot of good. But I still wanted to share this experience.
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[@bobbyshabangu]

Takealot needs competition!

[@Spekplant]

Rumors are that Amazon wants to open in SA.

[@shanegillespie7582]

Thank you for this. I have been researching effective distribution channels before I make a move and found this very useful.

[@AndrewForte1]

So glad!

[@hamzahkhan4039]

Thank you for the helpful insight. These are really useful for understanding what some of the risks and rewards

[@AndrewForte1]

An absolute pleasure 🙌🙌

[@berniventer1343]

Doing my homework and thanks for the heads up!

[@AndrewForte1]

A pleasure 👌

[@LifeIsGood49]

Thanks for your videos. They are informative.😇

[@shanicemoosa6925]

Thank you for the videos, it's great to be able to find information relevant to South Africans! May I ask if there is a minimum amount of products you need to offer Takealot or how does that work? Would be very interesting for very small business owners who are considering selling on Takealot

[@AndrewForte1]

Nope, you can have as little as one if you want 👌, no minimum.

[@bashkarnerpath3365]

My biggest issue is how long our my returns take to come back, waiting months for returns, also in one instance i have 20 TV's delivered and has not been checked in and shown in inventory for over a month and a half.

[@kesh7711]

I actually just did the onboarding process & I had such a difficult time in terms of communication between the teamll, over a month to receive a response. Now I'm sceptical in regards to selling on Takealot cause the rules & regulations seem very strict.

[@AndrewForte1]

Yeah, that's the issue. They don't really care much for you until you get big.

[@israelizzy5628]

It asks seller ID and also registered name on takealot to join the group. Is it safe to reveal all the info thou?

[@candyking4067]

hello buddy make some video about t-shirt Variants bow can we add different sizes to adding time

[@earnbestlife6001]

yes bro same issue mine also

[@qswedasf]

Sounds good. Drop shipping has completely ruined Takealot. So much nonsense and same products being offered from tons of different places - low balling prices but unable to deliver or when you receive the product its not working...

[@AndrewForte1]

Makes it really hard.

[@natasharaad3409]

hi Andrew, do you help people get started? like a course or something like that??🙏🙏

[@AndrewForte1]

Yes! andrewforte.thinkific.com/

[@bjornaugustyn1212]

on my limit of frustration at the moment

[@AndrewForte1]

Same 😵

[@muhammedismail8368]

How do we beat the loa requirements for takealot I've seen soo many people sell without it however mine is blocked

[@AndrewForte1]

Sorry what do you mean by Loa?

[@MatthewRyanSchoonraad]

if you don't mind me asking what are you or were you selling?

[@fluidafrica8715]

Hey there. I just want to let people know that unless your products are the top selling products, you will never make money on Take A Lot. Your stock get's sold and you as a seller are paying Take a lot to take your money. I have been doing it for 3 months now. I am never in the green with them.

[@AndrewForte1]

Raise your prices, you will still get sales. 🙌

[@modikiramaisa4619]

I’m 3 weeks in and been asking myself whether it’s worth it with all the fees , all the courier fees , printers and labels a lot invested. Are you still doing it ?

[@smitcosteel]

Hi, no. I lost a lot with Takealot. Not worth it at all

[@valuechain4710]

But why did you get your account suspended ??

[@AndrewForte1]

They have very strict performance indicators some as low as one percent. Which sellers will occasionally not meet.

[@leonkaplan6501]

We were cut off for 3 months and recently for 30 days. We missed black Friday and the whole Xmas business. We probably lost R500k

[@AndrewForte1]

It's so cruel sometimes.

[@techiq7389]

@@AndrewForte1 You know what's really cruel? not understanding business fundamentals, and failing to make money, then after all of that happened, sharing negativity on YT because you failed, and now blaming TAL....First class idiots do that. Don't be a first class idiot. If you have not studied some kind of business management, business psychology, etc. Don't expect to understand if you're not making money. I look at you, and i think to myself. How in the hell does he think he will make money being a KZbinr with these class comments, you Talk like a guy living between somewhere and nowhere, you don't really understand where you are in life. And YES, you will argue, because that's what naive people do. You cant be taught if you always know. Now take my advice, and study business management and Business Psychology. Learn how Kim Reid did it, He didn't get lucky, he knew what he was bluddy doing he Studied. Look at Elon musk, a self-taught billionaire...Why we ask, Because they were not spreading kak on youtube, while others were sleeping, they were working, where others were talking, they were listening. Now you come here to YT, targeting an audience to feel how exactly?. Put your panties back on boy, and start working harder, and complaining less. You are stuck on one opportunity in your life and that seems to be the thing you talk about the most, TAL. Either you wake up before the coffee gets cold, or fall in the latter where the others of your caliber are swarming together. Times are tough today and we don't need sissies in tough times. If you have a capital problem, get a loan, If you have a selling or product problem, get education, Learn what "self-actualization" is about, Learn what "Esteem" is about, learn what "Love and belonging means" things like Safety, Learn what Physiological needs are. If you understand all of these needs listed above you'll start understanding Business

[@techiq7389]

@@AndrewForte1 Another reason you are not making money is that you are not product flexible, as I can see gardening is the biggest part of what you do....in this market, your biggest part will fail, because you did not do market research, or you did it incorrectly. I fry my brain every time someone complains, who is not educated to talk about a topic they think they know something about. Get the education, you might think it won't help. But, get it. that's the only way you will succeed. Sometimes helping someone is tough

[@sungumabunda1162]

@@techiq7389how do I start

[@Jedi_Judo19]

Dude these people in Takealot are scamming me out of all my money!! It has cost me over R20 000 over the past 4 years to do business with these people!! They keep disbursing my funds at the end of every month, leaving nothing to pay the monthly fees and then they charged my bank account. Eventhough i had over R500 in my account it still charged me an overdraft fee of R220.

[@AndrewForte1]

It's not an easy business. Sounds like you need to raise your prices.

[@Jedi_Judo19]

@@AndrewForte1 Hi Andre. Do you maybe have any ideas how to grow my business with Takealot? I've been selling with them for almost 4 years now and been selling on average between R4000 to R1000 in products a month. Any advice would really help!!

[@CC-gk1xm]

Takealot wont look further than its "coded system". They dont consider whether their "coded system" is outputting junk. Their coding is so buggy and even if you detect a major problem, their help desk ignores because their game is to simply block copy a preprepped answer. They have no way of effectively detecting bug. Case in point -- the warehouse filled with missing returns that they thought their system is handling.

[@AndrewForte1]

Yeah, and it came as a big surprise when they figured it out

[@luckymike4163]

Damn

[@muhammedismail8368]

I have applied for an loa and I'm waiting this government junk department for it

[@AndrewForte1]

For a loan?

[@tanyalootsrestoredermapigm9077]

Its a nightmare! I got suspended for no reason. Hopefully Amazon will be a better option.

[@AndrewForte1]

Maybe it will hey!

[@corniliuspeter4522]

Takealot is horrible am a seller

[@milanbeharie4761]

Suspension is a mechanism for controlling sellers from missing lead-time orders. However, the other side you haven't seen is when your stock is lost. The other issue that will soon arise is when you need to load balance. I will wait for your video on these issues. :)

[@HarnessOmegaMolecule]

Ive just had my replenishment abilities suspended because they lost 3 units of my stock last year but on their side it reflects as "In Stock" so my Stock days cover is through the roof! 60+ days and Im now "In breach of SLA" I sell only on the "in stock" model so Im now royaly f*cked!!!

[@techiq7389]

Bro, you got serious issues. Why would you pull people in and bad mouth Takealot like this? Follow the rules, comply and you'll be fine. I actually can't see what this whole moaning video is about, accept that you're pissed off because you misunderstood that they got procedures to follow. if you supply evidence to prove you are not guilty, and still get suspended, it clearly means that you did not understand the rules correctly. I would also have ignored your reply for 2 weeks, its childish. Takealot will never suspend someone unnecessarily, either they suspected something or you were solid guilty. If they reviewed your acc, and found that you were not guilty, they will put it back to normal. Doesn't matter what people say, if its good or poor. Those saying its poor shouldn't sell on Takealot then, cause clearly they are like you, not understanding business and procedure. I can see you are quite young, and with that i can assure you that you have quite a lot of knowledge to catch up on. Don't come here and bad mouth Takealot and discourage people to sell there. If i were them i would have sued you for business and clientele damages, never mind my name. There are webinars when you first sign up, and a lot of SLA's to read both for selling in stock and on lead time. Watch them! To EVERYONE!!!, take it from me, Yes!! it is absolutely worth it to sell on Takealot. Your products get exposure, you generate great returns and sales. Yes, there are fees, and some think its high, but that's because they sell small quantities at a time. When you enter a marketplace like this, know that you are up for competition and there will be fees. Your quantities should be enough to cover your fees and generate a profit. Your pricing should be reasonable, and your products should not be the same as the products already listed on Takealot. You can't be competition if you sell something that someone else is already selling. If you want to do that, you got a surprise coming. If you want a 6 or 7 figure business, get your own brand, promote it, sell it. Someone that's greedy will always be ungrateful. Don't fest your attention on some punks trying to think they are clever and have a mouth full to say. If Takealot was that bad then why in fucks name would they sit with over 1.5 million happy customers, over 2000 sellers and hundreds of brands. Since its official launch in 2011, Why?? Im a supplier myself, and have never had a bad experience, yes, there are rules. Abide by them, or fuckoff . Easy peesy.

[@AndrewForte1]

Each has their own story. I just gave the truth about my experience. I have also made video saying why its good. Takealot isn't for everyone nor every businesses type and they aren't perfect either.

[@techiq7389]

@@AndrewForte1 No.....each has their own experience and you are trying to change people's mind before they even tried it.....because you are negative about it....do you know what they call that? Be glad TAL didn't see this. It wont end well for you

[@techiq7389]

@@AndrewForte1 TAL is definitely not for you mate

[@techiq7389]

@@AndrewForte1 don't pretend you came to KZbin to say something good about TAL mate......i can see your colors......if it didn't work for you, then ok.....go...be on your way then...there are others that do make money and follow their rules. No need for your negative input just to get paid for views.....if TAL didn't pay you, mate....get a job then

[@Boitumelo789]

But he has alot of vids speaking good, he isnt speaking Ill of TAL he is just mentioning his experience. I feel lije you are taking this video so personally

[@spsteyn]

Hi Andrew, how do I contact you? Regards, Sean Steyn

[@AndrewForte1]

Email 👌