SomethingStore runs on a unique business model where you can surprise yourself with 'something' by paying a flat amount of $10. The best part is that you will have no idea what you might receive.

The concept is simple: you select the quantity of 'something' you want and remember, that something might be anything! You pay $10 (no tax and free shipping to US) and a 'something' will be shipped to you within 7 days. Discover what you get and surprise yourself with a random product. You might receive what you want, what you need, what you desire or what you don't like; in that case, you can always gift it to someone else! ;)

Since SomethingStore's inception, 61,997 'somethings' have been shipped which is approximately 40 somethings per day. Well, the stats are pretty good! But I think this concept has a great potential and the numbers can be higher. I am saying so because I came across some user reviews on YouTube which are totally fun to watch. The 'somethings' they have received are not at all a bad deal for a sum of $10. You can see them at the end of the interview.

We have SomethingStore's founder, Sami Bayrakci, for an interview with us to tell us more about this fun website:


Sami, please introduce yourself to E-junkie’s readers and tell us something about 'SomethingStore'.

My name is Sami Bayrakci and I founded SomethingStore in 2007 here in New York. SomethingStore has a quirky business model in which customers buy, for themselves or as a gift, a something. What something is a mystery until it arrives to their door and they open their package.


What was the moment of “Eureka” that led you to create 'SomethingStore'?

I was shopping for a birthday present for a friend of mine and after searching for what seemed like hours, I still had no idea what to get. During that frustration the SomethingStore idea was born: what if someone randomly selected from a pool of cool and interesting items a something for me.


What was your thought process behind choosing $10 for every product?

Selecting the right price point was extremely important in our case. It needed to be low enough to entice people to give this idea a chance and at the same time give us enough room to send nice stuff profitably. And $10 fit the bill. Now, we're considering slightly changing the business model by increasing the price and quality of our inventory but we will test and see before we make a final decision.


Back in 2007, when you created your company, the concept of buying a surprise item did not exist. What were the difficulties that you experienced in getting 'SomethingStore' up and running?

Given the low entry point for starting an E-commerce business, I can't say I experienced a difficulty starting the business. While most people I shared the idea with did not believe people would buy something they don't know, I knew if I did a good job in selecting good products and providing good service, the rest would go smoothly.


What has been your fondest memory with 'SomethingStore'?

Early on, we noticed a few repeat customers who would buy weekly and or every two weeks. I had the chance to talk to one of them and when I found the person was a terminally ill lady spending most of her time in her home and opening a SomethingStore box usually highlight of her week, it  was a touching memory that I still remember every day.


What can buyers expect to get when they press the “Get Yours” link on 'SomethingStore'?

When customers order, they can expect a something selected from our wildly varied inventory to arrive to their door in a few days. Most customers say they actually enjoy the wait time between their order and arrival of the box. And we try our best to ensure they're happily surprised when open their package.


How do you choose what kind of product to be shipped to a particular customer? Is it entirely a random process?

Yes, the selection process is completely random. We tally a day's orders, then pack them in selected quantities, then ship them randomly. We only note some items to see which location they ended up going so we can publish it in our SomethingTracker page. Other than, after the packaging, we don't even know who gets what.


How many times do you encounter a situation when your customer is not happily surprised with the product? What happens then?

We try to ensure we select useful and interesting items so that situation happens less, but it does occur regularly and it's a part of our business to handle that. But most of our customers, who do not necessarily like what their something ends up being, understand it's part of the decision to buy a random item and they do not complain, but still let us know. This feedback helps us to fine tune our inventory. If there's anything wrong with the product we ship, we send a replacement to customers, but we do not accept returns, exchanges or refund requests otherwise.


Do you have any future functional enhancements lined up for your website. Please elaborate on these enhancements.

Yes, as I briefly mentioned in my answer to question 3, we're considering testing a new price point with a different selection of items. And also, most requested feature is gender-based ordering so we plan to introduce that this year as well.


Though you ship internationally, do you at any point in the future plan to have country/region specific stores, so that users in other countries can avail free shipping as well? :)

We do not have any specific plans to start operations outside the US right now, but I do hope we grow enough to do that in coming years.


What tips or advice would you like to give budding entrepreneurs and people entering the world of E-commerce?

My number one advice for E-commerce entrepreneurs is to center their business around complete customer satisfaction and provide the best service they possibly can. Customers have more choices than ever before the only way earn their business and their loyalty is to build your business around their complete satisfaction. The vast majority of people are reasonable and fair, so doing this profitably is entirely possible.


Sami, thank you for the interview and sharing this information about SomethingStore with our readers. We really admire its concept and hope it goes a long way! E-junkie wishes you good luck!


Hey! Don't forget to catch these fun videos where the users are experiencing their surprise gifts from SomethingStore:










You can follow SomethingStore on Facebook.