The week ending May 18 was a light week for DRTV product launches. My email report contained just two new items. They were:
- REDI LITE (www.Redi-Lite.com), a stick-up LED light that's motion sensitive. As with the TAP 'N GLOW TRI-LITE, I liked the item but predicted it wouldn’t make it because the “stick-up lighting market" was “too saturated … for this item to have a fair shot.” Today, it does not appear on either list.
- QUICK CONNECT, a clip-on Web cam. I thought it was a great value, but a “tough sell to the DRTV buyer, who is older and less tech savvy.” It also had a $29.95 price point, which is high for DRTV. Today, it does not appear on either list.
I’m tempted to write that my record remains intact. But a side bet with a friend and co-worker, which I recently lost, compels me to come clean!
The item is called FOREARM FORKLIFTS (www.ForearmStraps.com). They’re straps for lifting furniture that are supposed to make things 50% lighter because they use the principle of leverage. When I wrote about the item in January, I did not share my comments or make a prediction. Privately, however, I bet that the item wouldn’t work.
My prediction was based on the fact that it had failed two of my seven product criteria. Two straps for $19.95 is not a good value in my opinion (weakness #1), and the idea that mere leverage alone can make things half as light is just not credible (weakness #2).
Ninety days later, the product was nowhere to be found on the IMS or Jordan Whitney lists. I thought the bet was won. But then a few weeks ago, the item resurfaced on one of the lists. I blew it off as an anomaly, and predicted it wouldn’t show up on both lists. Wrong again.
The next week it was on both lists. So I made excuses and predicted it wouldn’t stick around. But here it is two weeks later, and the darn thing is moving up the charts! This week, it’s #13 on the IMS list and #34 on the Jordan Whitney list.
Oh well, my streak couldn’t last forever!
