Newbie Importing and Selling on Amazon

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Awesome work mate. My search came up with four hits plus twitter/facebook/email referrals by unnamed others. Yours is a good story easily propagated. Keep those PR efforts going!

Thanks SYK! I couldn't have done it without you! Also what are you searching with? I set up google alerts for my brand name but haven't got any alerts yet.

 

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[SYK]

I just did a straight Google/Google News search. I find Google alerts aren't entirely trustworthy. Once things get to a bigger scale their are sophisticated services for media monitoring. For now I'd just go the ol' timey way of searching Google yourself.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Sold Out!

I finally sold the rest of my samples. I had 6 samples.

I'm going to order more as soon as I get the deposit in my account.

As for my marketing, I just reached 150 fans on facebook and have 26 email subscriptions.

Here's my plan for going forward: Start getting daily sales on amazon by running a promotion on instagram to boost my ranking, then start blogging and posting to facebook, then start collecting leads from facebook and referral traffic.

 

[Daniel M.]

Really nice progress thread Ben. More and more people starts reselling on Amazon and I love it, I can't wait to try it out too.

Could you please tell us what was your profit for the 6 samples if it was any as you spent money on ads too?

 

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[Deleted2BB3x9]

Really nice progress thread Ben. More and more people starts reselling on Amazon and I love it, I can't wait to try it out too.

Could you please tell us what was your profit for the 6 samples if it was any as you spent money on ads too?

Sure, I made $186.78 profit. I spent 123$ on amazon ppc to get those 6 sales.

I wouldn't worry about advertising costs in the beginning though, this was more of just a way to validate the market.

I'll be able to reduce my costs for my upcoming runs.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Just sent 3k to China.

This is my first wholesale order, I ordered 100.

 

[wade1mil]

Just sent 3k to China.

This is my first wholesale order, I ordered 100.

Congrats, this is hard to do the first time. I hope you kick some a$$!

 

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[Daniel M.]

Just sent 3k to China.

This is my first wholesale order, I ordered 100.

Wow. Good Luck.

Keep us Updated !

 

[Dicky Dee]

great thread you have going on here, were kind of in the same boat being from Canada and selling through US FBA (about to send my first test shipment), i've been selling on ebay for a couple years and have recently decided to give amazon a shot as well. If you ever need someone to throw ideas back and forth with i'd be happy to skype chat with you here and there as it would probably be beneficial to both of us.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Received my order this morning.

Within an hour, I shipped out half my inventory to FBA. It should be there next week.

I also just finished writing the first email for my autoresponder. I have about 40+ email subscribers right now so I'm going to try promoting on email first.

I'm also continuing to build my presence on facebook and instagram. I can finally take some action shots now too since I have inventory now.

Haven't gotten around to blogging yet though.

 

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[MoneyDoc]

Received my order this morning.

Within an hour, I shipped out half my inventory to FBA. It should be there next week.

I also just finished writing the first email for my autoresponder. I have about 40+ email subscribers right now so I'm going to try promoting on email first.

I'm also continuing to build my presence on facebook and instagram. I can finally take some action shots now too since I have inventory now.

Haven't gotten around to blogging yet though.

Nice progress Ben.

Been following you from your last idea.

Just a question, how do you ship your products to amazon? Canada post? FedEx? Find any good rates?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Thanks and i've only been using Canada Post. I shipped out 3 boxes today and they each had to go to a different warehouse, so I don't think a courier would be cheaper. I ended up paying like 50$ a box.

 

[Dicky Dee]

Received my order this morning.

Within an hour, I shipped out half my inventory to FBA. It should be there next week.

I also just finished writing the first email for my autoresponder. I have about 40+ email subscribers right now so I'm going to try promoting on email first.

I'm also continuing to build my presence on facebook and instagram. I can finally take some action shots now too since I have inventory now.

Haven't gotten around to blogging yet though.

Hey Ben, just wondering which autoresponder tool do you use? Also are you shipping to CDN FBA? Have you seen any difference in sales volume having access to the prime members?

 

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[James Fake]

Nice progress @BusinessBen ... I'm going to reach out to you soon about a guest post! I'd love to pick your brain on some stuff..

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Hey Ben, just wondering which autoresponder tool do you use? Also are you shipping to CDN FBA? Have you seen any difference in sales volume having access to the prime members?

Technically it's not on an autoresponder yet, but I used MailCheat(Chimp) to send the first email.

MailCheat(Chimp) let's you have an autoresponder with a paid account, but I think I'm just going to upgrade to aweber instead.

Also I'm shipping to US FBA, you only ship to CDN FBA if you want to sell on amazon.ca. Which I probably will eventually.

And I can't exactly give you a comparison between volumes, i've personally only been using FBA.

 

[Dicky Dee]

Technically it's not on an autoresponder yet, but I used MailCheat(Chimp) to send the first email.

MailCheat(Chimp) let's you have an autoresponder with a paid account, but I think I'm just going to upgrade to aweber instead.

Also I'm shipping to US FBA, you only ship to CDN FBA if you want to sell on amazon.ca. Which I probably will eventually.

And I can't exactly give you a comparison between volumes, i've personally only been using FBA.

When you ship to US FBA what carrier did you use? I believe you have to have duties and taxes paid prior to them receiving it and Canadapost doest offer that option.

 

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[Deleted2BB3x9]

When you ship to US FBA what carrier did you use? I believe you have to have duties and taxes paid prior to them receiving it and Canadapost doest offer that option.

I mentioned I was using Canada Post earlier, and I haven't had a problem so far.

I'm pretty sure that most items shipped by the postal service just don't get charged.

You got me worried now though [emoji32]

 

[Dicky Dee]

I mentioned I was using Canada Post earlier, and I haven't had a problem so far.

I'm pretty sure that most items shipped by the postal service just don't get charged.

You got me worried now though [emoji32]

haha sorry for getting you riled up, but im in the process of getting a shipment out to fba as well and from my understanding you're suppose to have the taxes and duties paid prior to them receiving it, maybe give them a call and ask about that?

Pretty sure UPS has that option but i know canadapost doesnt.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Just finished writing my first blog post.
It was like an introduction post where I described who I was, what the company does, and why. I wrote it in a personal way and then asked them to subscribe to my newsletter or like my facebook page to stay updated about my blog.
I also posted a link on my facebook page.

And about my newsletter, I got a reply from a designer wanting to cooperate on some products. So now I know people opened my first email, since MailCheat(Chimp) doesn't let you track opens with the free version.

 

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[Pacman385]

I can't really find the place to post this question but it is sort of related as I will be selling my product on Amazon.

Where and how would I go about getting in contact with a RELIABLE Chinese manufacturer that would make me exactly what I need?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I can't really find the place to post this question but it is sort of related as I will be selling my product on Amazon.

Where and how would I go about getting in contact with a RELIABLE Chinese manufacturer that would make me exactly what I need?

I found mine on Alibaba.

 

[Pacman385]

I found mine on Alibaba.

That was my first idea but how would I know he won't take my idea and run away with it? It's not exactly something I can patent.

 

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[Pacman385]

I found mine on Alibaba.

That was my first idea but how would I know he won't take my idea and run away with it? It's not exactly something I can patent.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Oh you're looking at getting a new product molded? Well i'm not sure man, i don't have experience in designing a new product, so maybe look into a US manufacturer?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Amazon received 2 of my packages yesterday. They were fully received and everything went smoothly. Now I have 40 items ready to sell.

I plan on redoing another instagram promotion to get some initial traction, but this time instead of a discount I'll be selling 25 of my items for 1$ in exchange for an amazon review. Similar to how @AllenCrawley did his instagram promotion.

I posted a picture about an hour ago asking people if they wanted to be tagged when the promotion is live and more than 25 people have already commented saying they wanted to be tagged and that they would definitely leave a review. It's looking good so far!

I decided not to promote on email since people would probably already be open to paying the full price so i'm just going to continue educating them with my blog and newsletter for now and focus on growing my list before doing any more promotions. Depending on how many reviews i get from instagram I should get boosted to the first page on amazon. I'm guessing first page since I was on page 5 only after selling 6 in a month and a half.

Wish me luck!

 

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[Deon]

Amazon received 2 of my packages yesterday. They were fully received and everything went smoothly. Now I have 40 items ready to sell.

I plan on redoing another instagram promotion to get some initial traction, but this time instead of a discount I'll be selling 25 of my items for 1$ in exchange for an amazon review. Similar to how @AllenCrawley did his instagram promotion.

I posted a picture about an hour ago asking people if they wanted to be tagged when the promotion is live and more than 25 people have already commented saying they wanted to be tagged and that they would definitely leave a review. It's looking good so far!

I decided not to promote on email since people would probably already be open to paying the full price so i'm just going to continue educating them with my blog and newsletter for now and focus on growing my list before doing any more promotions. Depending on how many reviews i get from instagram I should get boosted to the first page on amazon. I'm guessing first page since I was on page 5 only after selling 6 in a month and a half.

Wish me luck!

Good luck!

Just ordered 8 samples from China myself and looking forward to test them out (7 of them) on Amazon. Exciting stuff

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Good luck!

Just ordered 8 samples from China myself and looking forward to test them out (7 of them) on Amazon. Exciting stuff

Thanks! Good luck to you as well!

 

[Cembo]

Good Luck Ben! I just ordered some samples, too! I am really excited

 

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[GUTTA BOB]

Sup Ben, I was going to tell you I heard not-so-good stories about MailCheat(Chimp). You can look up ppls complaints if you like but if your planning to switch to aweber that might be a good idea. I've used them and they have really good customer service. I think there's another one too but forgot the name.

I was also going to mention about discount codes on Amazon. You can create promo/discount codes on your seller's account (Advertising tab>Promotion)... maybe this may help you with your email campaign.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Just got my first 2 reviews!

I didn't even ship out their orders yet, I'm having an error with my amazon promotion.