Egg peeler amazon how to#

In July, the company announced its new Counterfeit Crimes Unit. Amid criticism from the government, consumers and sellers, the site has stepped up efforts to try to combat fakes. Amazon, the dominant player in e-commerce, has been besieged by counterfeiters in recent years. “In my old-fashioned way, it hurt my feelings that anybody would want to do that to me.” Dealing With Fakes “It was very difficult for me to go online and see these people taking money right out from under us,” she says.

(Photo credit: Courtesy of Negg)Ĭounterfeiters had even stolen the Negg’s photos and videos to promote the fakes, much to Tyler’s dismay. A camera-shy Tyler felt like she died “a thousand deaths” but “I got through it and everything peeled really well and it all sold out and it was like a miracle.”Īn authentic Negg, a device that peels hard-boiled eggs. “It was really flying out the door,” Tyler says.Īnd then, more good fortune: HSN, the home shopping network, discovered the Negg when Tyler attended the International Housewares trade show and invited her to pitch the peeler on the channel. “I would go over every once and a while and look at them and think, have I lost my mind?”Ī lucky break came when The Grommet, an online marketplace for makers, spotted the Negg on Kickstarter - and placed a purchase order for 4,000 to launch on its platform (retail price: $14.95 each) in April 2017. “I was looking at 5,000 Neggs in my business partner’s garage,” Tyler says. Getting the word out about the product was the next challenge. To see her idea come to life was “mind-blowing.” A Lucky Break But when the first Negg popped out of the equipment at the factory, “I just burst into tears,” Tyler recalls. The run actually cost $60,000, so Tyler was forced to dipped into savings to pay for it. The two decided the world needed the innovation - dubbed the Negg - and ran two Kickstarter campaigns to raise about $33,000 to manufacture 5,000 peelers at a U.S. “It really works,” says Tyler of the device, a clear plastic cylinder that one shakes after the egg (and a little water) are added.īonnie Tyler (seated) with Negg co-founder Sheila Torgan. She and a colleague, Sheila Torgan, tried about 7 renderings before they had a proof of concept.

“My instructor was 11,” she says with a laugh.

Egg peeler amazon how to#

She then took a course at her local library to learn how to print her prototype on a three-dimensional printer. Not your typical grandmother, Tyler worked in web development and designed a hand-held egg-peeling device using CAD software. How She StartedĪ few years back, Tyler was making deviled eggs (here’s her recipe) when she decided there had to be a more efficient way to peel hard-boiled eggs. But the 71-year-old is fighting back and jokes that she plans to add “granny thug” to her title. Take Bonnie Tyler of Southerport, Connecticut, who has experienced both the thrill of skyrocketing sales and the agony of rampant counterfeiting via Amazon and other online platforms. While consumers have been disappointed by fake products, small innovators whose ideas have been stolen have been crushed. If you’ve ever bought from - and chances are, if you live in the U.S., you have - you’ve probably at some point inadvertently purchased a cheap knock-off that malfunctioned, broke apart or (perhaps in a worst-case scenario) caught on fire.