Amazon FBA - newbie looking for advice
Anyone have experience selling on Amazon FBA? Any people at Amazon have any insights? I have a couple friends who quit their 200k+ jobs to focus on Amazon full time and said they work less than 10 hours a week. Am I too late to join the party?
My friend has made a living for the last decade solely by selling used books on Amazon. He buys out library/school collections. Warehouses them. Has 2 employees who scan and list. Then envelope and ship. Last we talked he had 4 storage units filled and an old gym he bought to display the books on shelfs. Shitloads. I did not ask how much this nets a year tho. I’m not nosy like that.
I just launched my second private label product. It’s never too late to try and give it a go imo. Expect low margins for your first round (18-25%). Expect initial capital requirement of $4-6k depending on cost of product. The problem with Amazon is they don’t give a shit about small businesses or sellers on the platform. They will monitor small accounts like a hawk and issue bans like Oprah, but it’s a completely different story for larger businesses or corps that have reputable brands. They get all of the exceptions and taps on the wrist. This is particularly true of new product launches and reviews. Any person that launches a private label has to violate TOS (sell to family and friends for reviews) unless they want to pay out the ass for PPC and Amazons crappy “early reviewer” program. To answer your question though, it’s still totally possible. I don’t regret trying at all and it’s been a lot of fun.
How long did it take you to launch first product? And how much time does it take to manage? Easy to do in addition to full time employment?
These were the steps I took 1) Product research 2) Product verification (ok to sell on Amazon without issues?) 3) Supplier Research 4) Supplier samples 5) Supplier negotiations 6) Production 7) Keyword research 8) Create amazon listing 9) Optimize listing with keywords 10) Plan giveaways / launch strategy 11) Ship goods to Amazon This entire process took about 4 months but the time will just depend on how much detail you want to get into. If you put in all the due diligence up front, it’s much easier to manage. Quite the opposite if you’re just trying to sell “pump and dump” items.
Not too late. But do your research. And agreed with above, I put in $4K to get started.
Depends on your business. I think theres still plenty of item to resell AliExpress/taobao crap. Clothing especially, Amazon will come after you if you try selling knockoffs tho
Do you currently sell on FBA? If so, what kind of products?
I flip used electronics. Nothing id consider doing full time for a variety of reasons. Tho I do think the opportunity exists. I don't have any tips or advice though. Be sure you know *exactly* what you are listing and you know *exactly* what you store in Amazon fulfillment