Ask me anything about eCommerce (Ongoing)

[Dissio]

I'm no Bio as well, but yes you can. You can certainly get samples made for $500 or less. I got mine made for 1/5 that price. After getting samples made, go get a small batch, and test the market. Or you can go the presale route. A lot of way to maneuver around the battlefield.

You have the Internet, you are no longer limited to just your country.

Thank you so much for your answer. Do you think that is good idea to buy e.g 50 produts (1 unit ) in one industry or test as many as i can?

 

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[biophase]

Have you experienced while growing rapidly,competitors sending cease and desist letters?

For example claiming to own a tradedress?

What are your thoughts on this

I have never received any C&D letter. It definitely helps when your product is different from everyone else's.

 

[biophase]

Thank you so much for your answer. Do you think that is good idea to buy e.g 50 produts (1 unit ) in one industry or test as many as i can?

No, how can you test with 1 unit of each?

 

[Dissio]

No, how can you test with 1 unit of each?

You said that, good idea for small market (like 30M ppl) is to sell them things that they buy often. What do you think is the best number of products and how many units to start selling with a such small amount of money ($500)?

 

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[Jambla]

@biophase I am trying to working out a rough a marketing costs per sale does 15% sound reasonable?

 

[biophase]

You said that, good idea for small market (like 30M ppl) is to sell them things that they buy often. What do you think is the best number of products and how many units to start selling with a such small amount of money ($500)?

If your purpose is to test, you need to come up with a number that will satisfy you. If you buy 50 products, 1 of each and you sell 10 products on day 1, 10 products on day 2 and then no others. Which product are you going to proceed with?

If you buy 10 products, 10 of each, you would get better data on which of the 10 sells well. I'd probably try 3-5 different products.

 

[biophase]

@biophase I am trying to working out a rough a marketing costs per sale does 15% sound reasonable?

I don't even know what you mean by costs per sale. Are you saying that for a $100 product, you are assuming that it will cost you $15 to sell one unit of that product? Is $15 good or bad for you? Is $15 100 PPC clicks or 5 PPC clicks?

 

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[Ariel Davis]

Thank you for this!!

 

[Ariel Davis]

Yes precisely, my digital product (which is still in the making) is a book and is most likely going to be $15, but I want to have little things that people can simply add to their shopping cart to raise it to maybe $20-$25 or more.

The theme for my product is spiritual and I was going to create meditation music for perhaps a dollar or so but one could easily go on YouTube and find what they need there for free. I need something that is worth the money and also better (or attempt to be) than a free version you can find while scouring the internet.

Could you maybe try upselling lists or worksheets? What about an added chapter of your ebook that addresses a pain point for your audience? I personally like physical books over digital copies; what if you upsold a hard copy of the book?

 

[Wisith]

When did you decide to get insurance for your company? (in case a customer sues you). I believe Amazon recommends you get insured after selling $10k per month for 3 consecutive months, so I'm just curious.

What are your thoughts on long tail keywords? I'm still reading about them so would like your input as you're a vet.

Also, since you have so many products being made and sold, how often do you run the numbers on them to see if they are still worth producing and selling? This question came to mind because once you modify something and the product is selling well, I would think others would just try to straight carbon copy your item and take a cut from your pool.

Thanks as always!

 

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[The Irish Guy]

Hi,

I started importing just recently (setup a LTD. company just a couple of months ago after reading this and Ecom_man threads), I just have a quick question.
I received my first shipment a couple of weeks ago from a Chinese supplier, value around 600$ via Fedex. Once arrived I had to provide Fedex with the payment details so they could charge VAT/Duty Tax, which turned out to be around 200$
Today I received my first order from a supplier from Pakistan, value also around 600$. I noticed that he declared only 135$ as value on shipment and DHL only charged my around 40$.

My question is, once I prepare the book-keeping file for my accountant at the end of the year and he will pass the detail to the Tax office, will they wonder why on a purchasing transaction of 600$ I only paid 40$ taxes? Or once is done is done and should be up to Fedex/DHL to verify?

Thank you for your help!

I'm Irish and know the laws and system there. First of all its such a small sum it would never get picked up on but more importantly the majority of what you paid was VAT, this isn't "taxable" revenue, it's direct sales tax. You should register for vat and you claim the 200 (or 40 from Pakistan) back and you charge the customers vat and give that to the government. Unlike the american system where prices are displayed excluding sales tax and then if there's any due it's added at the point of sale, the european system has sales tax (23% in Ireland) built into the displayed price. Any accountant will explain in more detail, as a general rule don't try and get in the habit of using fake invoices to import and pay lower tax, its false economy as it can be claimed back anyway.

 

[NYCGoblin]

When testing products on amazon (Or just listing them for that matter) they are generally deeper in the search pages. Do you do ppc ads? If so or a different method what is the budget that you allocate?

 

[BlahBlahBlah]

I'm Irish and know the laws and system there. First of all its such a small sum it would never get picked up on but more importantly the majority of what you paid was VAT, this isn't "taxable" revenue, it's direct sales tax. You should register for vat and you claim the 200 (or 40 from Pakistan) back and you charge the customers vat and give that to the government. Unlike the american system where prices are displayed excluding sales tax and then if there's any due it's added at the point of sale, the european system has sales tax (23% in Ireland) built into the displayed price. Any accountant will explain in more detail, as a general rule don't try and get in the habit of using fake invoices to import and pay lower tax, its false economy as it can be claimed back anyway.

Hi,

thank you for your comment . My business is very small at the moment as I only started back in October and VAT Reg. is not required unless I sell 70k €+ /year, my accountant advised that there is no need to register for VAT as whatever I claim back from purchases I would need to charge it extra on the sales anyway. I would be happy to make 30k/40k sales in this first year, but if everything goes to plan on year 2 I would need to register for VAT.
I am now telling my suppliers to always put the correct amount on the invoices whenever they make a shipment from China/Pakistan.

I had a little problem with Fedex shipments though, on a 559€ customs value they sent me an invoice of 188€ instead of 147€ as calculated here:
http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/
It is a pretty big difference on a small amount - I have emailed them twice in the past two weeks asking for an explanation but they have not reply. Luckily unlike DHL they do not ask immediate payment, so I will pay them only after they have clarified the discrepancy.

 

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[BlahBlahBlah]

Hi @biophase ,

quick question. I am about to place my biggest order to date for a new product. This will cost me about 1.5k $ and hope to have it by the end of February (delays due to Chinese New Year) - I was wondering how do you usually split the payment? I guess it is something on the line of 1/3 at the start, 1/3 when product has been completed and approved, 1/3 when product is ready to ship?
I don't want to pay everything in advance if possible.

Second question. I will need to name this new product and it is the first time I actually name a product. I have 2-3 names in mind and I am actually unsure which choice is best. As I want to make the best choice and have a tool that will help me both now and in future when I will be in similar situations, could you please advise a website where I can submit a survey and get a pretty quick turn around on a decent sample of people (50-100? ) on what name the like more for the product - possibly free and with targeted audience (not sure this is possible), but if a small charge applies is not an issue. Thank you!

Thank you again for your help.

 

[Ikke]

First of thank you for all the insights and answering so many questions.

I don't think this would be an issue at all.

Your VAT/Duty should only be for the cost of the product, $700 + $200, not for the shipping.

I´m not fully aware of the laws in the UK, but here in The Netherlands you also have to pay VAT on the shipping.
But you can claim all VAT back again if you are VAT registered.

 

[SweetTooth]

Can you tell us how to qualify for the Amazon Buy Box? Is it something that can be earned through high ratings, time as a seller, or upgrading accounts? Does having the Buy Box make a difference to customers?

 

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[The Irish Guy]

Hi,

thank you for your comment . My business is very small at the moment as I only started back in October and VAT Reg. is not required unless I sell 70k €+ /year, my accountant advised that there is no need to register for VAT as whatever I claim back from purchases I would need to charge it extra on the sales anyway. I would be happy to make 30k/40k sales in this first year, but if everything goes to plan on year 2 I would need to register for VAT.
I am now telling my suppliers to always put the correct amount on the invoices whenever they make a shipment from China/Pakistan.

I had a little problem with Fedex shipments though, on a 559€ customs value they sent me an invoice of 188€ instead of 147€ as calculated here:
http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/
It is a pretty big difference on a small amount - I have emailed them twice in the past two weeks asking for an explanation but they have not reply. Luckily unlike DHL they do not ask immediate payment, so I will pay them only after they have clarified the discrepancy.

Fedex (and all courier/freight companies) charge a fee for preparing the import documents and working out the correct stat code, that's the difference. A little trick for getting around the vat on shipping expenses is just to ask the supplier to issue you two seperate invoices, one for the product and one for the shipping. You will then only pay vat and import on product costs but you should really try to think bigger, ducking and diving to save a few quid here and there is probably costing you as much in lost growth as it's saving you, if I was you I'd just register for vat, set the systems in place that allow for scale and focus on making that happen.

 

[Jake]

Anyone with FBA experience can answer this.

Does Amazon ever mix up items when sending out to customers? I received an email this morning from a customer saying that he received a completely different item than what he ordered. I was able to get him to send me photos and the packing slip was for the item that was shipped, not mine. So my name on the outside of the package, a completely different item than what I sell on the inside.

A case of the customer trying to get free items or a amazon mistake?

Cheers

 

[biophase]

Also, since you have so many products being made and sold, how often do you run the numbers on them to see if they are still worth producing and selling? This question came to mind because once you modify something and the product is selling well, I would think others would just try to straight carbon copy your item and take a cut from your pool.

Thanks as always!

I don't need to ever run the numbers. I know all their costs in my head and what I get for each one on Amazon. None of them ever come close to losing money. Nobody has exactly copied any of my products so far. I've had to lower prices due to competition, but I'm still running around 30%+ margins on almost everything.

 

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[biophase]

When testing products on amazon (Or just listing them for that matter) they are generally deeper in the search pages. Do you do ppc ads? If so or a different method what is the budget that you allocate?

You'd probably have to do PPC to get traffic, or run at a lower price. I don't have a specific budget that I allocate to PPC. I don't do much testing, I generally do a small run of 100-500 pcs. I'd call that a production order.

 

[biophase]

Hi @biophase ,

quick question. I am about to place my biggest order to date for a new product. This will cost me about 1.5k $ and hope to have it by the end of February (delays due to Chinese New Year) - I was wondering how do you usually split the payment? I guess it is something on the line of 1/3 at the start, 1/3 when product has been completed and approved, 1/3 when product is ready to ship?
I don't want to pay everything in advance if possible.

Second question. I will need to name this new product and it is the first time I actually name a product. I have 2-3 names in mind and I am actually unsure which choice is best. As I want to make the best choice and have a tool that will help me both now and in future when I will be in similar situations, could you please advise a website where I can submit a survey and get a pretty quick turn around on a decent sample of people (50-100? ) on what name the like more for the product - possibly free and with targeted audience (not sure this is possible), but if a small charge applies is not an issue. Thank you!

Thank you again for your help.

Most China companies ask for 30% to start the order and 70% when the order is completed. After a while some factories will not require any deposit payment from me until the order is completed. Some companies will also ship to you and ask for payment only after you've received the inventory. It all depends on the relationship that you have built with your factory.

I don't know of any naming survey websites. Why don't you create a thread on the forum? Just don't give away the product if possible.

 

[biophase]

Can you tell us how to qualify for the Amazon Buy Box? Is it something that can be earned through high ratings, time as a seller, or upgrading accounts? Does having the Buy Box make a difference to customers?

I can't tell you exactly how to get it. But I think you need a combo of a good price and good seller rating. I don't think FBA is as important as your seller account history and rating. Yes, the Buy box makes a huge difference.

 

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[biophase]

Anyone with FBA experience can answer this.

Does Amazon ever mix up items when sending out to customers? I received an email this morning from a customer saying that he received a completely different item than what he ordered. I was able to get him to send me photos and the packing slip was for the item that was shipped, not mine. So my name on the outside of the package, a completely different item than what I sell on the inside.

A case of the customer trying to get free items or a amazon mistake?

Cheers

Do you mean the other item was packaged inside your packaging? Or just they put the wrong product into the box? I'd direct your customer to contact Amazon customer support, it's not really your issue.

 

[Jake]

Do you mean the other item was packaged inside your packaging? Or just they put the wrong product into the box? I'd direct your customer to contact Amazon customer support, it's not really your issue.

My brand on the envelope - Completely different item inside.

Thanks. I opened a case with Amazon already I just wondered if there's many scammers about or if Amazon messes up on occasion.

 

[biophase]

My brand on the envelope - Completely different item inside.

Thanks. I opened a case with Amazon already I just wondered if there's many scammers about or if Amazon messes up on occasion.

Is your product packaged yourself and put into an envelope? If not, who puts it into the envelope?

 

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[TKDTyler]

Hey Bio,

Have you ever tracked competition using the FBAToolkit website? Do you find that those numbers are reliable for A) Sales rank vs Units per day based on category, and B) Tracking ASIN numbers which looks at the inventory list of FBA items under that ASIN.

 

[biophase]

Hey Bio,

Have you ever tracked competition using the FBAToolkit website? Do you find that those numbers are reliable for A) Sales rank vs Units per day based on category, and B) Tracking ASIN numbers which looks at the inventory list of FBA items under that ASIN.

No, I have never tracked my competition or used that software.

 

[Jake]

Is your product packaged yourself and put into an envelope? If not, who puts it into the envelope?

No. I ship my products in poly to amazon. Amazon places them in shipping envelops and distributes to the customer.

Edit: Response from Amazon

"
Please note that as a stickered product, there is no chance that the buyer could get a different product other than the one that you have sent in to our fulfillment centers because stickered products are kept separately per the SKU labels you shipped. When stickered products are purchased, they are shipped out in the condition in which you sent them to our fulfillment centers."

As suspected.

 

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[Genesis_21]

Just read through this entire thread from start to finish! Took awhile since i was actively taking notes, but such great info in here.

While trying to think of products to improve, my top 3 products happen to be things that my girlfriend uses/likes! Something to think about too..

 

[_Cowboy]

@biophase,

Thanks for sharing this invaluable knowledge with guys like me. Im in the process of designing (improving) several products that Ill be selling on Amazon, however I did have a question on pricing.

How do you calculate your sales price for your new and improved product?