The 3 Red Flags That Mean It's Fraud

Top 1% of Shopify. 8 Figures. Profit in Year 6.

Also available on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5O_wB5vhw] "It was a mind and body brokenness. I'll just say like depression." By 39, Chris Lang was running 10 businesses and falling apart. He killed most of them and bet everything on Fresh Chile, his bootstrapped Shopify chili brand from Hatch, New Mexico. It cracked the top 1% of Shopify and 8 figures in revenue, but didn't turn a profit until Q1 of year six. Inside: why he started publishing his real ROAS on LinkedIn when the numbers were ugly, the 80% Meta cut that finally flipped him profitable, and how a 250K-follower organic community out-engages Heinz, Tabasco, and Sriracha combined. SPONSORS Swym — Wishlists, back-in-stock alerts, and more getswym.com/kurt [https://getswym.com/kurt] Ecommerce Alley — Is it your ads, or is Meta having a bad day? Check it at ecommercealley.com/bad [https://ecommercealley.com/bad] Zipify — Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT [https://zipify.com/KURT] LINKS * Fresh Chile: https://freshchileco.com/ [https://freshchileco.com/] * Chris Lang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislangsocial/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislangsocial/] * Chris Lang on X: https://x.com/chrislangsocial [https://x.com/chrislangsocial] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

He Reviewed 500 Deals Before Buying One Shopify App

"You would probably prefer to take money from Tony Soprano." Jeremy Horowitz has spent a decade in the Shopify ecosystem, scaled brands at Gorgias, and now runs a PE fund that's reviewed nearly 500 deals. He acquired a WhatsApp marketing app called Coco AI and he's still hunting for his next Shopify brand in the $10-100M range. We get into what actually makes a business sellable (and what kills a deal instantly), how earnouts and seller notes really work, why DTC as we knew it is dead, and his scorching take on why Shopify Capital loans are worse than credit card debt at 40% effective interest. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Ecommerce Alley - Is It Your Ads Or Is Meta Having A Bad Day? Check it at  ecommercealley.com/bad Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * Jeremy Horowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorowitz1/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorowitz1/] * Coco AI (WhatsApp Marketing for Shopify): https://my-coco.ai/ [https://my-coco.ai/] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

The 3 Red Flags That Mean It's Fraud

"I shipped the bike and a couple of weeks later, the real credit card holder got a statement, said I didn't place that order, filed a chargeback, and then the money was gone." Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6k4iyfvjuTA [https://youtu.be/6k4iyfvjuTA] John Murphy's first-ever Shopify sale was a total scam. Two weeks into launching, he wired a $5,000 e-bike to a guy putting on an old man's voice over the phone. That single chargeback kicked off an eight-year obsession with not getting burned again. He grew eBike Generation into a $3M store and pieced together a fraud detection stack that didn't eat his razor-thin drop shipping margins. Now he runs FRIQ Labs, productizing the system he built for himself. We covered the trifecta of red flags that almost always mean fraud, why you should never auto-capture payments on Shopify, and how being curious about a single weird order can save you thousands. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT Promo Party - We built an app! https://promoparty.app/ [https://promoparty.app/] LINKS * FRIQ Labs: https://friqlabs.com [https://friqlabs.com] * Drop Ship Breakthrough: https://dropshipbreakthrough.com [https://dropshipbreakthrough.com] * Ben Knegendorf's episode: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/ben-knegendorf-dropships-FLGufeLE [https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/ben-knegendorf-dropships-FLGufeLE] * Ekata: https://ekata.com [https://ekata.com] * Shopify Protect: https://shopify.com/protect [https://shopify.com/protect] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Print on Demand's Real Playbook w/ David Hooker

"70% of stuff never goes sold. So you have to be prepared to interact with that level of rejection." David Hooker is the brand director for both Printify and Printful, which merged in late 2024 to form FYUL. He's got access to the data behind millions of print on demand sellers, and what he's learned is both humbling and useful. The top 1% aren't more talented. They're more consistent. We get into AI-generated mockups that actually look real, why email marketing is still a "print money button," and how community-driven niche selling beats paid ads for customer acquisition in 2025. Also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ppYhfdota7k [https://youtu.be/ppYhfdota7k] SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * Printify: printify.com [https://printify.com] * Printful: printful.com [https://printful.com] * David Hooker on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidhooker/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/hookerdj/] * David Hooker's TEDx Talk on Visual Literacy: ted.com/talks/david_hooker_the_importance_of_visual_literacy [https://www.ted.com/talks/david_hooker_the_importance_of_visual_literacy] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Ecom Vibe Check: What's Working in 2026

"If your product sucks, you're never going to succeed. A lot of people are trying to solve product problems with marketing spend." Chase Clymer runs Electric Eye, a Shopify agency deep in CRO, redesigns, and migrations. He also hits about one industry event a month, which means he's got a real read on how merchants and partners actually feel right now. Not the Twitter version. The hallway version. We got into the real state of ecom in 2026: Facebook CPMs nearly doubling since the pandemic, why most brands under $5M shouldn't be split testing at all, how agencies are using AI tools like Claude and Nano Banana to skip hours of busywork, and Chase's bold prediction that Shopify is about to overhaul its partner program after a failed enterprise bet. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * Electric Eye: https://electriceye.io/ [https://electriceye.io/] * Honest Ecommerce podcast: https://honestecommerce.com/ [https://honestecommerce.com/] * Fathom (sales call recording): https://fathom.video/ [https://fathom.video/] * Nano Banana / Gemini image generation: https://gemini.google/overview/image-generation/ [https://gemini.google/overview/image-generation/] * Figma Make: https://www.figma.com/ [https://www.figma.com/] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.