My friend and I pooled $10,000 to start an eCommerce company. After months of brainstorming products, we chose pickleball paddles.

• My friend and I decided to commencement an eCommerce institution connected a $10,000 budget.
• One of nan first steps we took was selecting a merchandise to sell.
• After consulting experts and utilizing information from Helium 10, we chose pickleball paddles.

When my friend and I committed to building our ain eCommerce business, our first task was selecting a merchandise to sell.

We knew we wanted to create thing of our ain (rather than usage an arbitrage model and bargain and resell an existing product) — and that was astir it.

There were infinitely galore directions we could pursue. We talked successful circles for weeks, plagued by determination fatigue. Our moving database included but was not constricted to, room sponges, elbow braces, zip ties, wind-up toys, cooky cutters, and moreover seasonal-specific items for illustration vacation socks. And it felt for illustration nan unsighted starring nan blind: My acquisition pinch eCommerce was secondhand, having reported connected successful Amazon sellers. My business partner worked successful film.

Rather than walk much clip moving done whether location was capable request for elbow braces aliases excessively overmuch title successful nan cookie-cutter space, we decided to inquire for help.

I reached retired to Joe Reeves, who, successful summation to building his ain eCommerce empire, co-founded nan consulting business 330 Trading to thief group do precisely what we were hoping to do: Make money trading things online.

He and his cofounder, Tyler Walter, agreed to meet. They assigned america homework up of nan call: Select a class we wanted to waste successful and travel up pinch a database of circumstantial merchandise ideas successful that space. To get nan ideas flowing, they encouraged america to deliberation astir our hobbies and really we mostly walk our time. What do you cognize and like?

It was an easy mobility to answer: We some grew up surrounded by tennis and competed collegiately. Years aft graduating, we still played recreationally and spent our weekends teaching. We dabbled successful different racket sports, including pickleball, padel, and paddle tennis.

It wasn't room sponges aliases zip ties we should beryllium producing; it was thing racket-sport-related.

After pinpointing our category, nan adjacent measurement was listing circumstantial merchandise ideas. We came up pinch tennis shot tubes, overgrips, lead tape, daze absorbers, pickleballs, and pickleball paddles and, nether Reeves' counsel, signed up for a package called Helium 10 to commencement researching our merchandise ideas. It offers a batch of information and Reeves recommended we commencement by paying attraction to request — are group really buying nan product? — which you tin place by looking astatine nan hunt volume.

We purchased Helium 10 Platinum ($79 a period erstwhile billed annually and $99 a period erstwhile billed monthly). Our $99-a-month subscription besides granted america entree to "Freedom Ticket," an online people that consists of an extended room of video contented designed to thief you build a successful Amazon, which Reeves suggested we return advantage of.

One of nan first devices we started tinkering pinch was Xray. It allows you to spot income information that, successful theory, tin thief you place a profitable merchandise niche.

Here's nan information we pulled connected "tennis daze absorbers," "tennis grip tape," and "pickleball paddles." I highlighted nan hunt measurement and nan BSR, which stands for "best sellers rank" and indicates really good a merchandise is trading connected Amazon. The little a product's BSR, nan higher its sales.

"Tennis daze absorbers":

"Tennis grip tape":

"Pickleball paddles":

Pickleball paddles were nan astir intriguing, astatine slightest based connected hunt measurement and BSR, but pinch an mean value of $63, we wondered if they'd beryllium excessively costly to make connected a $10,000 budget.

We sent our database of racket-sports products and accompanying Helium 10 information to Reeves and Walter up of our call, not wholly judge what to make of nan numbers — and not wholly judge we were moreover utilizing nan package correctly.

When we met complete Zoom, Reeves helped america nix a fewer products correct disconnected nan bat. Tennis shot tubes, for example, had a debased hunt volume, signifying debased demand, and they were irregularly shaped, which intends they'd apt beryllium difficult and costly to ship. He asked us, arsenic tennis coaches, if we utilized tennis shot tubes. The reply was nary — different logic to pass.

We yet narrowed nan database down to overgrips (a cloth-like portion that you wrap astir nan grip of a racket) and pickleball paddles. Grips were nan cheaper (and, therefore, safer) action for first-time Amazon sellers but you could consciousness nan power down nan paddle idea. It would beryllium easier and much nosy to market, location was title but notable request arsenic the athletics continued to turn successful nan US, and nan margins seemed fantabulous based connected back-of-the-napkin math.

The 1 drawback was nan cost. Reeves estimated that our first inventory bid unsocial could swipe retired our $10,000 budget.

He recommended we talk among ourselves and slumber connected it, which we did, but nan determination already felt made.

It was clip to make a pickleball paddle.