Yungi Chu has been selling headsets online for nearly 20 years.

He estimates his company sells 20,000 to 30,000 headsets a year through its website, HeadSetPlus.com, based on the roughly $3 million it grosses annually.

At first, he used to give away T-shirts and hats to promote his business. He tried printing catalogs and mailing them out to get more customers, but that became too expensive. The website, which went live in November 2003, was one of the first of its kind, so competition early on was sparse. Although he also sells directly to consumers, most of his customer base comes from businesses that make repeat purchases.

As is common with online retailers, shoppers receive their order confirmation and shipping information by email once they click “Buy.”

“We send a welcome email,” Chu says. “We basically offer them a number to contact us should they have any questions, if they need support. Basically, let them know there’s a human behind this. Not just: ‘Here’s the box, thank you, bye bye.’

“Some of these setups can be confusing for most people. Most of these headsets don’t work right out of the box. It needs to be adjusted. It’s not a DVD player — they just plug it in and it’s going to work. These are office headsets. They require a little tuning to work correctly.”

But after the sale, HeadSetPlus.com is basically hands-off.

“We make it a point not to spam people,” Chu says. “If they reach out to us, we respond. We don’t offer any marketing materials. Just shipping and tracking.”