Originally Posted by garce

I ran adult businesses and - on the mainstream side (completely unrelated to my adult biz) - I sold chili peppers, salsa, hot sauce, etc. I grew my own produce - in Scarborough of all places. I grew corn, habaneros, chilies, jalapenos, onions, tomatoes and garlic - and a variety of sweet peppers. I made my own hot sauces and salsas. I used to get ripped by my friends who chewed me out for having a cornfield in my backyard. I sold these products to local grocers - Foodland being my main purchaser.

Things were good back then. I entered into negotiations with a certain Michigan based company to sell their Habanero chips and bottled sauces in Canada. All I had to do was import their products and add French-language labels to the packaging.

This was before Ebay bought Paypal, mind you.

I started this failed "import" business in mid-late 2000. Initial talks were with a company called Confinity (? - not 100% sure - I'm not digging shit up). By 2001 it was Paypal. That was short-lived. We had the paperwork done (but still were not able to sell in Canada), yet things were looking up. I got homemade Salsas and Hot Sauces going to Foodland. On the sidelines I had Blair's, err, my Michigan based friend ready to import his stellar goods into Canada.

Then, Ebay bought the company.

Before I could finish the paperwork and set up a printing facility (which would have been handled by my best friend's father), Ebay purchased Paypal and shut down my account. Bam! Business gone. I didn't lose cash. What I lost was about two years worth of effort.

If you're wondering why I've been in the biz since 1998 and am still slugging it out, I have my own naivete and Paypal to thank. I trusted Paypal like a lot of people trusted Epass. There are threads here where I bitch about losing money on failed ventures.

This was the venture.

Ironically enough, I can go to my local Bulk Barn and grab a bag of Blair's Death Rain chips. Sadly, I still have to go to Windsor or to Detroit to pick up his magnificent hot sauces.

Now, I could just order a half million units of product, slap French language stickers on the packages, and be good to go. Back then, nope. To rub it in, Sobey's owns Foodland and they've shut down every local franchise.

If you actually read this, get someone to give you some cred.