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FBA and Importing Goods From China

throttleforward

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So I've just spent the last few hours trying to source my first product

You could:
-search for products based on sales rank, looking not for the top selling items but items selling in the middle of the pack (less competition, usually better margins, e.g. take a look at sports and outdoor products over $25 that are ranked between 80k and 110k)
-put your own brand on an existing generic product (go to Chinese manufacturer, get your own brand stamped on it, sell at a premium - see the credit card knife on Amazon)
 
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Luke1213

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So I've just spent the last few hours trying to source my first product, but what I seem to find is that most products are branded, and that the mark-up on non branded products is non-existant. I hate to constantly ask for advice, but could you shed some light on how you found your FIRST product? Or is it a case of continual searching...?

I have a progress thread on here https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...b-m-to-online-making-3-500-in-6-months.53346/and I give a quick rundown of how I target products. Finding a products and supplier isn't that hard unless you are going after a product that is so competitive that you can't private label. If you read my post in my progress thread, it will help you get an idea on how to find products that can be private labeled. The example I use is a grill brush. Their is 100's of manufacturers who make that exact grill brush in China and will allow you to put your brand name on it. Don't over think the branding and private labeling.
 
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Luke1213

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As far as the quantity, I thought that was editable? I kinda remember starting my listing as a 3-pack, and then changing to 5. It's been a while though, so maybe I'm remembering wrong...

I am waiting for amazon to clarify this for me but no where under in listings tool will it allow me to change the package quantity. You can change the available item quantity and that's it.
 

exclusives88

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Hello - I have a question.

I imported a product that is very light and small. The product is about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. Each product contains 10 pieces.

It did not include any packaging. I was thinking of buying plastic 5 x 5 inch bag to put the product in with no brand labels. Do you think this is a good idea or should I look for custom packaging. Do you think I have to include a brand label? I want to use amazon fulfillment. The product will sell for 10 dollars.
 
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exclusives88

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Your thoughts on these products? For anyone want to import these, feel free!

Grilling gloves
Cut resistant gloves
Silicone bibs
Flexible skewers

Seems like profit margin is good and not too much competition (I think)
 

SJVC

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Okay a lot of posts so I will try and touch on everyone's points:

@Luke1213 If you are not getting the buy box even as the only seller then it is just because you are new. Maybe look at selling some products at cost to try and get some feedback. As for your product not showing, tbh I'm not sure about that. Keep checking and hopefully it will rank!

@harrry3000 Product research is really hard at first. Once you get a couple of decent products under your belt you will be able to sniff out what sells. My first product was ear spacers.... random I know (I'm not into that sort of thing). They had decent margins, relatively little competition and were small to store.

@exclusive88 I really can't comment on the products you mentioned without knowing your competitors, volume of sales, the margins etc. Just try one of them in a small sample and see how you do.
 

Zingy

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If I buy something through dhgate or alibaba like for example - phone cases, do I need to buy barcodes for them for amazon's FBA program?
 
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Davor

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Thanks for doing this AMA.
I have a question that you can hopefully answer:
I found a product that cost 15$ & I could sell it for 50$+. Now to look more professional could I put a logo on that product to see if I can make sales from it and later make a site for that product even tho I dont have a company atm. and I would sell that product as an individual. Did you ever do that? Do you know if it is legal? Thanks
 

Zingy

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Thanks sjvc. Ill use an existing page to get my feet wet for now. I will make sure the product page description matches the wholesale item. They look very similar.
 
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Davor

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Ok great. One more question:
The product I am talking about has MOQ:300 so it would cost me 4500$ to get the product which is way too much for me. Did you ever try to bring MOQ down and did you do it sucesfully? I would order from aliexpress but they dont have that product.
 

Zingy

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Amazon shows the top 100 in each category. Is there a way to find the top 1000 or do we have to do find it out ourselves?
 
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SJVC

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@John Z Yes Amazon only shows you the top 100.

I do not believe there is a list that shows you the best 1000 sellers, however when you are looking around on Amazon you can see for example that this product might be 'ranked 648 in Kitchen supplies'.

Hope that helps.
 

SJVC

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Hi everyone, I was just helping out a friend getting started with Amazon and big stumbling block for him was creating a page that converts from visitors to sales. He had a decent product but that is only half of the equation.

I shot him an email and thought, the guys on the forum into starting their Amazon businesses would probably find this valuable too. So here is pretty much what I sent him:

A lot of new sellers throw up a product page in less than ten minutes with poorly photographed images and even poorer sales copy.

Now I could just tell you too 'write good copy, take better photos, get better reviews, improve your product branding etc' but I think it would be more beneficial for you to show you an exemplary product page and then take it apart, analysing what makes it 'good'.

Here is a screen shot of page I found (this is not mine, so I hope they do not mind the analysis) that I think largely ticks all the boxes I look for.
upload_2014-8-26_15-8-7.png


First up - Brand Concept
This brand deals mainly in survival equipment. 'The Friendly Swede' is a million times better than 'OnlineSeller2010' or 'Bestdeal4uonline'. What do you think of when you say 'The Friendly Swede' to yourself? I think of perhaps a Swedish man who sells camping equipment who is friendly... strange thought process but it will add to the credibility of the products they are selling. The brand name is not restrictive to the type of products they could sell as well, so that leaves room for expansion.

Second - Title
They have filled up the description with relevant keywords which does not look obviously scammy or 'cheap'. Sometimes titles have random keywords that sellers have just thrown in which looks terrible. By adding relevant keywords to the title (that makes grammatical sense) will mean your page has more of a chance to rank in Amazon's search engine and also appear in the suggested items below. Additionally they add 'lifetime warranty' which adds to the brands credibility.

Third - Images
The main image is clear as to what the product looks like. The additional images further help the customer to see what is included in the product and not leave any questions as to the size or functionality. If you have unprofessional looking photos at the moment, borrow your friends DSLR, get a white/grey background and then go over to elance.com and post your photos to be edited to have a white background. Product pages that have 2 or more photographs that have a high resolution with a perfect white background have higher conversion rates.

Fourth - Description (Bullet Points)
Plenty of information is given in the bullet points below the title. This will help with keyword rankings and will help customers to become informed about the product without having to go below the fold.

Fifth - Reviews
Critically important, here they have an average of 5 stars which is really good. Notice something interesting in the review section...
View attachment 8102

Specifically, 'The Friendly Swede provided me with a sample' Huh? That's right, you can and SHOULD be proactive with your efforts to get reviews for your products. The person/people behind The Friendly Swede have obviously singled out this reviewer for their status also:
View attachment 8103

This reviewer has also included a video review which looks great and adds great credibility to the page. There is another review beneath the one above with 'I received one of these direct from the company' so I assume the company must have made a list of influential reviewers and sent them free samples. Remember you can message customers for reviews. Pages with no reviews look odd.

Lastly, the product is fulfilled by FBA which makes the purchase even easier for the customer, and for the seller ;)

So I hope that helps some of you guys out there who already are selling on Amazon or are just getting going.

Any questions?
 

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GreedyBGoode

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@SJVC this thread is gold gold gold, thanks for your answers, they've all been enlightening! I'm looking to develop a brand off amazon for my product so this definitely helped. Still in the process of sourcing and private labelling.

I think having a look at The Friendly Swede's actual product page would be a great way to get an idea of how this is operated:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Friendl..._sim_sg_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=15Y8NQNRV9K40PNBW972

Hopefully it's ok to post the link!

If I see you at the London/UK meet up sessions, you got a pint on me!
 
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chrischapman

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If you start this when you are 16, well, you will be light years ahead of 99% of your peers. The value isn't just in making x amount of money, but your SKILLS to be able to source products, work out margins, find customers and markets.

Yeah mate. If your @16yearoldboy then you better get to work asap.

You could probably be a millionaire by the time all the other chumps your age are finishing up university.
 

Trevorjc

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Anybody use Facebook ads for their physical products on Amazon?

I received an email today from a guy linked to ASM course apparently they have joined up with a Facebook ads guru, they are coming out with a course soon and they have a great looking free tool to design banner ads for Facebook news feed.

If anybody is interested you can PM me for the link (i'm not an affiliate or connected to them in anyway and i don't want to post link on the forum)
 
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GreedyBGoode

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@McPwnin Thanks man, when you say you will be developing your brand off Amazon do you mean your own website? I haven't been to one of the UK meetups yet, have you?

sorry, what I meant to say was developing my brand on Amazon itself as a starting point. And The Friendly Swede, among others, would be doing a similar to what I am - albeit different product niches.

I've never been to any of the UK meetups either but thought it would be interesting to meet other like-minded people.
 

SJVC

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@Trevorjc I don't use fb ads for sales and I don't know anyone else who does. I'm not saying it couldn't work but you could set up fb ads without having to pay a guru you to show you how to do it.

@McPwnin Yeah Amazon is a good place to get your sales going with some brand awareness.
 

1milclub

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Apologies if this was already asked elsewhere.

Question: Should we skip the products that are sold by Amazon as you won't get a buy box. Is it better to create our own brand if the items seems to be selling well?

Thanks,

update: Never mind. i found the answer on earlier page.
 
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Trevorjc

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@Trevorjc I don't use fb ads for sales and I don't know anyone else who does. I'm not saying it couldn't work but you could set up fb ads without having to pay a guru you to show you how to do it.

@McPwnin Yeah Amazon is a good place to get your sales going with some brand awareness.

No intention of buying the course, but i find it useful to see how good marketers promote their products. Plus this free tool to make the banner ads is pretty good, simple to use with eye-catching templates :)
 

MoneyDoc

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Guys, I'm starting my own line of e-shisha/hookah/cigs/cigars.

What I want to do is get all my products to amazons warehouse, and have them ship out orders when people purchase from my site. I'm just wondering, do they support international orders? Is that a separate charge?

Cheers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SJMM

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Hello,

I am in the process of starting my own brand on amazon as well. I have the product picked out, how much I will charge and my profits. What I am stuck at is the Brand name. I have been writing and thinking and I feel really stuck. Maybe I am approaching it the wrong way. Anyone have any advice as to what is a good process to pick a brand name. Thanks!
 

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