I think it's over.
After more than 3 years, I think my Funko business is going to end.
Yesterday, I checked my Amazon seller account—where I sell most of my Funkos rn—and it was deactivated. I checked everything, but there was practically no information about why that happened, except that I needed to send invoices of some products they didn't mention. I sent emails asking, begging for more info, but it was after 5 pm, so I was almost sure I'd receive an answer today.
I was panicking, mainly bc I don't have that many invoices tbh.
You see, buy Funkos from an official distributor, and get their respective invoices is the easiest thing ever.
The problem is a little complicated: the funkos they offer are the one every seller has, so the market is overflown with them, meaning that everyone that wanted it already got it, and no one's buying it anymore. Also, Amazon sells them too with free shipping, so there's no way to compete with that. And bc of this a lot of sellers get desperate and start selling them for cheaper, and cheaper, and cheaper. Even I ended up doing the same, losing a lot of money in the process.
The Funkos I mostly buy are the vaulted ones, which no distributor has anymore. I get them looking for collectors who're selling their figures at a good price. Obviously, they don't give me an invoice for the transaction. But they're the ones worth a little bit more, and there's people who actually want them.
So, yeah… I'd probably end up losing that account—and most of my income, in the process.
If that had happened a couple years ago, I wouldn't mind that much; I was selling a lot in my country's ebay equivalent, and I needed that money for anything, except to start building my own life.
But now's different, now I'm barely selling in that other website, and without Amazon's account, and those sales, I won't be able to pay my loan month by month.
I would have to use all my savings, and that wouldn't be enough.
I would have to sell all my inventory at the price I bought it—or maybe cheaper—and that wouldn't be enough.
I would have to sell must of the stuff I have, and that wouldn't be enough.
I may have to get a new job. But let's remember I'm a 34-year-old man with practically no experience whatsoever. I wonder who's gonna hire me.
My future just doesn't seem bright, ngl.
Or I could go to my dad or my grampa and tell them everything, to get some advice, at least.
But I want that to be my last resort: my family really enjoys when someone fails, and they'll never forget it. Also I want to really try on my own before I give up and seek their help. And I don't know if they'd help me at all—I don't think my that would; he'd just complain about it and tell me how big my mistake is, nothing valuable.
Worst case scenario is that I just stopped paying the loan. My credit score would go to shit. I'd end up in what we call "credit's bureau", a nationwide database with all the people that don't pay their debts, meaning I won't be able to get a credit card, or a loan for a house, a car, anything.
I was thinking about all this last night, so I couldn't sleep.
Today, nothing's improved: Amazon responded my emails, and they told me about the Funko they believe is fake (A Kento Nanami Glow in the Dark), which I bought from one of my providers, but don't have the invoice—meaning I'm probably fucked.
I contacted my provider who sold me that figure. He's actually an authorized distributor of EE, the brand that has the exclusivity of that figure. He told me there are no fakes of that figure, and he's willing to help me with what he can. He has invoices of the ones he purchased, and I could use them to prove that he bought them legally.
But that doesn't hide the fact I don't have an invoice for my purchase. I didn't ask for it, and that's gonna be my doom.
I've also tried to open an account in other selling sites, but one just doesn't let me. I talked to customer service, and they just gave me a ticket and told me to wait.
I tried another site, but I need to do a bunch of legal stuff first.
I can't compete with ebay's prices.
I barely sell on fb marketplace anymore.
I'm fucked.