CheapTweet Blog

This week, we talked to Derek Bacharach (@ssuperheroes). Derek is the owner of SimplySuperheroes.com and lives in Maplewood, NJ with his wife and two children.  He has a bachelor’s degree from Penn State and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Teachers College.  While he enjoys time with his family, he is an avid Rush (the band) and Mets fan.  He has been selling online for more than 10 years on eBay.  You can find him on Twitter and his Simply Superheroes blog. He also enjoys blogging about a sports card niche.

How did you get started selling superhero merchandise?

I attended eBay Live last year and went there realizing I needed a niche market. At this time I had started my own Yahoo website store for several months and realized I needed to specialize.  This realization took awhile to sink in after being spoiled for so long on eBay where you don’t have to specialize.

Tell us a little bit about simplysuperheroes.com. What kinds of items do you sell? What else can we find on the site?

At eBay Live, I attended lectures on finding your niche which helped me realize from the products I sold in 2007, I enjoyed the feedback given to me from parents who purchased superhero merchandise from me such as Superman pajamas.  So this got the ball rolling.

Our website is a hub for families who like superheroes.  We sell t-shirts, pajamas, school supplies, party supplies, books, posters, and many household items.  One of my favorites is a Spider-Man liquid soap dispenser!  In addition to what we sell, we offer a gift registry, gift certificates, and a birthday e-card service in which you can register your child to receive a superhero birthday e-card of their choice in advance.

We also have a Fun Stuff section that has over 15 free superhero video games for kids to play.  We also have a Library section that catalogs over 100 superhero videos spanning from the 1940s to current superhero movie trailers, wikipedia links, superhero current events, event calendar listings, and upcoming movie listings.

Where do you get your inspiration?

The feedback from customers.  For example, I was a vendor at my town’s music festival recently.  One family had to leave my tent after a few minutes because one of their children was going nuts seeing so many superhero items he wanted to buy.  But my inspiration mainly comes from my son.  His interests in superheroes when he was younger and even now, he gives me feedback on which superhero products are cool and why for his age.

How do you market or promote your business?

I have a few avenues: referring shopping sites, PPC, SEO, eBay customers, local online ads, social media websites like Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit, blogging and newsletters.  Offline, I have been a vendor at a few local events.

We also blog about cool things we think both kids and their parents will enjoy, whether it’s about a man who built his own Batman Tumbler to the latest news about the upcoming Spider-Man Broadway musical.

How do you use Twitter to help with your business?

I use TweetFeed to announce new blog posts.  Occasionally I’ll post a sale I’m having or announce the monthly promotion I’m having at the beginning of the month.  But mostly, I try to be informative and helpful on Twitter and re-tweet what I’d want people to who are following me to know about related to superheroes.

Do you have any tips or advice for someone just starting his/her own store?

Set up modest goals when you’re starting out.  Read as much as you can that’s online about getting started and read Seth Godin’s blog – every day.  There’s an urgency to getting your website started as soon as possible.  But the dividends are in the planning and research stage prior to the launch. Last, while you may need to hire help with your website at first, be ready to wear these hats later on if you want to save money.