Are you looking for a full run down on the latest course by Earnest Epps and whether it’s worth the hefty price tag? Are you looking for the best eCommerce course for high ticket sales?
If so then you’ll enjoy this High Ticket eCom Secrets Review.
Coming in at $997 it’s one of the more middle of the range courses from a well known online guru. Regardless of the status of the individual behind the course, is it really worth the price tag and do you get value for money?
In This Article
Who is Earnest Epps?
If you’re looking for a review on him you probably already know, but for those who don’t or are looking for some additional information I’m pleased to announce he’s got his own blog and is an eCommerce and business consultant who is well known for his saying, ‘knowledge is the new currency.’
Earnest doesn’t flaunt his wealth on IG or FB like the youngsters who seem to be starting eCom courses every week and offers coaching and has featured in live events for eCommerce.
But is his course worth $997 and can you make money high ticket drop shipping?
Be Careful With High Ticket Products
I’m always amazed at the term, high ticket course. Many people believe that somehow there is a difference between a standard eCommerce course and one specifically called high ticket. In my opinion it’s nothing more than a marketing gimmick to sell their course, or a different style of course.
If you can sell low priced items well and make good money then there is no reason why you would need to buy a high ticket course. Simply apply the same methodologies that you learnt with low ticket and apply them in a similar way.
High ticket items carry a lot of risk, that a guru will never tell you. On paper it looks a hell of a lot easier to sell one product at $2,000 than it is to sell 200 at $10. The problem there is that people online are going to take far more convincing to buy a $2000 product than a $10 impulse buy that popped up on their newsfeeds.
A good friend of mine sells furniture online, luxury pieces that cost upwards of $10,000. The problem he has is it takes the same amount of cost to sell one piece as it does to sell a ton of smaller items for say $100.
A lot of people simply look at the sales figures, the $10k from our example and assume they could sell a few pieces and they’d be set for a month or two. They fail to realize that to sell that piece of furniture might require $2,000 of ad spend, then there’s the cost price of the piece which might be $6,000. Then there is sales tax, your website fees, your other expenses.
Other expenses Rhys? Oh those are the things that no guru will ever tell you until you’ve given them your cash. Fraud, it’s a big one. Refunds, another big one, change of mind? Return shipping?
All these factors are overlooked, let’s take fraud. My buddy with the furniture loses well over $50k a year from fraud. Someone will buy the furniture and pay via credit card, await delivery of the pieces, usually inter state and then files a credit card dispute saying someone used their card. You can probably kiss goodbye to your money and furniture.
What happens when you drop ship a piece of furniture to a customer and they change their mind or the goods are defective on arrival. You will need to pay the return shipping. Is that something your supplier will cover, if not, it’s going to be on you.
Now all these factors can be easily dealt with if you’re a LARGE business, but if you’re a one man drop shipper just starting out, these factors could RUIN you, especially if you’re a sole trader with unlimited liability.
I’ve seen far too many horror stories of people starting out with high ticket items and ending up with thousands of dollars of debt because their cashflow sucked. Yes there is a saying, high risk high reward but if you don’t have the money in the bank to bail yourself out then you should not start high ticket drop shipping right off the bat.
High Ticket eCom Secrets Review
The course has some bold claims on the sales page such as ‘Escape your 9-to-5 by starting a high ticket drop shipping business’ and unfortunately this mentality only adds to the confusion as to who the course is targeted towards.
The course is built on the Teachable platform which looks great on both mobile/tablet and desktop. You can’t download the videos for offline viewing but they are high quality and both video and sound works together well.
- Introducing You to High Ticket eCom Secrets.
- Module 1 – Successful Selection.
- Module 2 – Defining the Market.
- Module 3 – Business Formation.
- Module 4 – Website Creation.
- Module 5 – Supplier Approval.
- Module 6 – Optimize for Conversion.
- Module 7 – Unlimited Traffic.
- Module 8 – Automation.
- Bonuses.
Module 1: Successul Selection
The first module is fairly short, including only five videos and gives you an insight into what to get started with. There is a video on product selection, pricing, choosing a target market and interest targeting lastly with a video on choosing your first product.
The videos are fairly short but do offer insightful information.
Module 2: Defining The Market
Seven videos are included in this section with very strange naming on the videos. Its almost as if Earnest Epps wants to create a sense of a special masterclass here, when in actual fact the videos are quite basic eCommerce ones.
Videos in this section (using my own basic descriptions) include, market research, brand loyalty, search volumes, competitions and a bonus video on how to get an edge over your competitors.
Module 3: Business Formation
Okay sorry to burst your bubble but if you’re not American, a lot of the videos in this section are pointless. There are videos on how to setup your EIN and obtaining your resellers certificate. You’ll also learn how to setup DBA registration.
It’s important to throw this spanner in the works for non US residents. If you want to drop ship with US suppliers to US customers it’s highly unlikely you will be able too as an international sole trader. You’ll likely run into issues when they ask for your reseller ID or social security number which of course you don’t have.
I’ve done a quick article on how I started a US business from overseas but it’s a tricky process and you should consult an accountant and tax adviser on your obligations to pay tax in your home country vs USA before registering a US company.
Other videos in this section include setting up a domain name, linking this to your Shopify store and purchasing and configuring email, phone and addresses for your store.
Module 4: Website Creation
I won’t bore you to death with all the videos in this section but there is eleven videos in this section on how to setup your Shopify store, choosing a template, installing and customizing all the apps he recommends you use.
There’s videos on adding logos, changing color schemes, layouts etc, etc.
Fairly basic content here, there’s plenty of free videos for further Shopify store setups.
I recommend using eCom Turbo for your store (read review).
Module 5: Supplier Approval
Again if you’re outside the USA you’re going to find this section nearly impossible to succeed with, but you can still watch and learn from the videos provided by Earnest Epps.
Videos in this section include, how to get accepted by suppliers, supplier types, supplier contact scripts and making initial contact as well as additional supplier research tactics.
Module 6: Optimize For Conversions
This is the module that you need to follow to correctly optimize your store however the videos in this module were quite basic and a lot of the features are actually already included in themes such as eCom Turbo, Konversion or Shoptimzied by default.
I won’t go into all the videos but they are fairly standard such as adding urgency timers, bonus offers, upsells, social media signals and social proof, using reviews and using a plugin called Lucky Orange for tracking visitors.
You need to follow each video, if you want a refund for this course you must setup your site exactly as per the videos in this module or you will be denied that refund (see below of article for more info).
Module 7: Unlimited Traffic
The word unlimited simply does not exist in web traffic, there is always going to be a limit to what you will actually receive and how much you can afford to spend to get that traffic.
This module sounds promising but is basic videos on using Google Adwords, Google Shopping, influencers and banner ads. The only problem is where other courses include 50-100 videos on the topic, you get 9 short videos.
Given the price of the course and how important traffic is to your business, without it you’re pretty much going to make no money I’d have thought this section would have included a lot more content.
This goes back to my comment earlier, is this a course for people who have already started drop shipping and want to scale into bigger potential profits, or is it for a beginner just starting out, looking to fire their boss?
If it’s the latter, this module will be very disappointing for you. If you compare it to a course such as eCom Elites (review) that offers nearly 100 videos on Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping and Pinterest, there is really no comparison.
*Update, it now appears there is 15-20 more videos included in the bonus modules.
Module 8: Automation
Four videos on automating your business. Very short and include topics such as outsourcing with VA’s.
What about software plugins? No mention whatsoever.
2 Original Bonus Modules
There is currently two bonus modules, one on combating fraud as I mentioned earlier, it’s a big topic that seems to have only recently been added to the course and the last one is on further information for updating your store.
Additional Traffic Modules
Since I initially penned this article, there is now five bonus modules in the course on the following topics (not much detail). It does however cover the basics on Google Shopping, retargeting and one nice feature which you won’t find in many courses is of course Bing Advertising which is making a bit of a come back in 2019.
The weekly live masterclasses do offer some valuable insights too.
- Google Adwords
- Google Product Ads
- Google Dynamic Retargeting
- Bing Advertising
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Conversion Optimisation
- Weekly Live Masterclasses.
Refund Policy
To get a refund for the course if you are unhappy, within the first 30 days you need to go through the entire course, optimize your site for conversions as taught in the course, list your first 100 products and run traffic using Google Ads and PROVE it, and if you still aren’t successful, you can get a full refund.
So you actually need to apply the learning to get a refund if you wanted one.
Final Verdict
Look, if you’re new to the drop ship or eCommerce game, in my opinion you’d be a fool to start high ticket drop shipping. You’d be far better buying a lower end course such as $197 or $297 and then spending the additional $700-$800 learning how to setup Facebook Ads, Google Shopping and other traffic methods such as Instagram Influencers.
If you know what you’re doing then this course offers value, but nothing ground breaking and definitely not worth $997. If you are already drop shipping then I think you would find little knowledge you didn’t already know from free courses or other courses you may have bought previously.
For beginners, buying a course of $997 leaves you in the exact same position, you then need to spend money running traffic. Do I think the content in Earnest Epps course, High ticket eCom secrets is worth $997? No I don’t and it’s a super short course that has a ton of bonuses thrown in at the end to bolster out the course.
So my suggestion is to buy eCom elites (read review) and buy a powerful theme which includes all the bonus urgency apps mentioned in the modules in this course and spend the $600 you just saved and learn drop shipping.
Once you’ve made $10,000, then start high ticket drop shipping. You will know how to combat fraud, know how to drive traffic and most importantly you’ll have the cashflow to bail yourself out if shit hits the fan.
If you’re an international visitor and the thought of starting a US business is too tough or confusing then drop shipping from other countries such as China using Aliexpress is your best bet. Again eCom elites (visit site) covers this in great detail as well as US drop shipping for when you’re ready.
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