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Ask me anything about eCommerce (Ongoing)

MoneyDoc

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I know I have been in this fórum for long, and his book is amazing. Also, I was asking "WHERE" is he buying from, so hard to understand some english? 2 years a go this fórum was way more friendly, now there is some people saying "moron" to a guy who asked for a website... Uneducated red necks everywhere.
You obviously know he buys from China.

A simple google search "import from china" would yield a good bunch of websites for you to look at.

Also, I don't think @MJ DeMarco is an uneducated red neck. In fact, I think you should be removed from this forum for making such a statement. That's quite offensive in my opinion.
 
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DaRK9

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Being in business is a lifestyle change and a commitment to better your circumstances. This commitment is independent of any single business idea. You still need a business bank account, regardless of whether you pursue this idea or something completely different. If you're concerned about losing $1300 for something so important, with respect, you need to consider how much you really want this.

You won't get very far without a business account, and when you find later on that you do need one, you'll just experience delays whilst you wait for it to be set up.

Worst case scenario, get a fresh unused personal bank account and use that.
This is basically the business card advice. Having a business account might make you feel like a business guy, but unless orders are coming in, it is worthless.

Get a personal account to make taxes cleaner and easier. Don't worry about a business account until you actually have a business.
 

aprabhak

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Just arranged to have my samples shipped. While I wait, few more questions for you experienced FBA folks -

1. When shipping to Amazon FBA, do you prefer to print + apply labels yourself or have Amazon do this? I believe the fee is 20 cents per unit sold (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm probably going to leave this for Amazon to do, and wanted to know if I just ship product sans label and they will take it from there or is there a specific process I would need to follow?

2. Once my listing is active, I need to gain popularity over my competition. From reading through this thread and other resources, there are two methods.

a. Sell cheaper than competition initially.
b. Giveaways, promotions etc to build reviews (legitimately). Can someone shed some light on this part please?
 

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1. When shipping to Amazon FBA, do you prefer to print + apply labels yourself or have Amazon do this? I believe the fee is 20 cents per unit sold (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm probably going to leave this for Amazon to do, and wanted to know if I just ship product sans label and they will take it from there or is there a specific process I would need to follow?

2. Once my listing is active, I need to gain popularity over my competition. From reading through this thread and other resources, there are two methods.

1. It really just depends on you and how many products you have. It doesn't take that long to put the labels on the products - but if you're someone like biophase who has 50+ products and you receive 1000's of units at once it can obviously be a pain in the a$$. At first you may as well just do them yourself - but once again, it's a preference/time thing.

2. I'm not sure what you're asking.
 
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aprabhak

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1. It really just depends on you and how many products you have. It doesn't take that long to put the labels on the products - but if you're someone like biophase who has 50+ products and you receive 1000's of units at once it can obviously be a pain in the a$$. At first you may as well just do them yourself - but once again, it's a preference/time thing.

2. I'm not sure what you're asking.
Sorry I accidentally hit post before I finished - it's been edited.
 

Alex W.

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Here's a question for @biophase and all the other experienced eCommerce guys here...

I've been in contact with a Taiwanese manufacturer in regard to a new product I'm interested in importing (in the beginning stages still... no samples have been ordered, no testing has been done, etc.).

We've already discussed pricing & MOQs of the product I'm interested in. Late last night/early this morning, I sent an email asking about ODM services (specifically about private labeling and custom packaging).

Here's the response. I am accustomed to broken English, but I don't know what the hell this means. It sounds like a sole distributorship agreement, maybe? They also asked for my sales plan, which made me laugh (no F*cking way am I giving that to my supplier). Any help deciphering this would be greatly appreciated.


"Good morning.
Thanks for your highly interested on [product name], Regarding to these two items comes with [manufacturer name] logo, and if we need to made them with new logo, it means we need to create a new mould, also, all package boxes and so on all need to change. The new mould creation requests for MOQ and cost, so, at the first stage, we could discuss sales strategy with you, we hope to discuss with you for regional agency details; it means, if you interested on be a regional agency, you could tell us which states / region area you are interested to be agency for these two bike lock items, and how many quantity for estimate, of course, if we receive any inquiry from these areas, we will forward the inquiries to you. Also, we will sticker label on the package box with your company contact information.

We have been doing sales channel as above with many of [manufacturer's] clients, it is the best way to our customers, they don't need to invest too much money to create new mould in the beginning, also, neither worry any MOQ request or in stock interested, we hope support our customers and when the quantity become huge and sales channels solid, we could start next step for ODM or OEM or create mould for new logo.

If you would like to discuss the deal, let me know how many locks you would like to for the try order, and if you would like to show us your sales plan, we will be very happy to discuss with you, we believe it is the win win for both of us in future."
 

DamienP

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This is basically the business card advice. Having a business account might make you feel like a business guy, but unless orders are coming in, it is worthless.

Get a personal account to make taxes cleaner and easier. Don't worry about a business account until you actually have a business.

I understand your point but I don't entirely agree. Going out and getting business cards designed, buying flashy office furniture, writing a nice brochure...... all that stuff is bullshit until you have a business.

A business bank account however, is a necessity in my view. Entrepreneurs live and breathe business. If this idea doesn't work, there will be another project in the pipeline soon enough, in which case a business bank account is still needed. Making a decision to go into business is separate to the idea itself.

Two things I guess:

1. I already said that a fresh personal account would be the next best thing
2. I think we're looking at this from two different perspectives. Here in the UK, business bank accounts are free to set up. If I had to pay $1000+ for a business account (which it sounds like people do in some countries), then I would think twice too.
 
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DaRK9

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I understand your point but I don't entirely agree. Going out and getting business cards designed, buying flashy office furniture, writing a nice brochure...... all that stuff is bullshit until you have a business.

A business bank account however, is a necessity in my view. Entrepreneurs live and breathe business. If this idea doesn't work, there will be another project in the pipeline soon enough, in which case a business bank account is still needed. Making a decision to go into business is separate to the idea itself.

Two things I guess:

1. I already said that a fresh personal account would be the next best thing
2. I think we're looking at this from two different perspectives. Here in the UK, business bank accounts are free to set up. If I had to pay $1000+ for a business account (which it sounds like people do in some countries), then I would think twice too.
If it's an expense, no. If free or cheap then go for it. To OP, it's $1,300. It isn't going to make or break a business.

I ran all my freelance work out of my personal checking. I use accounting software plus Mint.com to keep track of everything. If I need to produce bank statements to the IRS, they can go dig through it themselves.

I have one now just to make it easier on myself now that I have more Stripe transactions. Not to be "serious about entrepreneurship".

This is my gripe:
If you're concerned about losing $1300 for something so important, with respect, you need to consider how much you really want this.
Of course I would be concerned about losing $1,300. If I use money, I want it to GET me MORE money. I use my money in the most strategic way possible. I'm all for risk and reward, but for OP this is unnecessary.

Here's how I think of my money - as soldiers - I send them out to war everyday. I want them to take prisoners and come home, so there's more of them.
Kevin O'Leary

I wouldn't spend $1,300 on an account to validate an idea, I would put that in AdWords.
To OP of this post, use the $1,300 for validation, not masturbation.
 
Last edited:

biophase

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Hello biophase,
thanks for your answer. I will explain my business plan.
Dropshipping means for me: I sell a product(no matter if it is on my online shop, ebay or amazon). I get the payment and the adrdess from the customer. Than I go to my dropshippers website and order the product at a wholesale price and input the adress of my customer.
The Pro's:
I don't have to make any investements before I know a product is sold.
I can have a very broad product pallete because I don't need to buy them all before.
I just have to put products online for sale, promote them and give away the adresses without caring about the shipment.
I get all the promotional Material as Images, Videos, Product details from my dropshipper.
The Con's:
Dropshipping Prices are usually higher than Wholesale Prices, because of the lower volumes and because they take care of shipment.
I don't have the product in my hand to answer buyers requests.
I can't use FBA which gives me advantages at amazon because I don't get the product as fullfillment is made by my dropshipper.

Low Price ist okay for me. Example: There is a product which is sold for about 127€ at Amazon. I get it at my dropshipper for
77,19€ (includes shipping). The Product will be shipped within 1 day from a warehouse in the same country as the customer. So if I calculate 15€ Amazon fees, I'm able to sell the Product at a much lower price then the others while still making profit from it. But FBA is not possible as said above.

It is my strategy because it has the lowest barrier to get into business. I have no upfront payments and risks. If I'm successful with this strategy I can always change to the other strategy mentioned in the thread where I have more risk but also higher margins.

Regards

Andreas

Ok, I understand now, you are using a dropshipper and selling on Amazon. While this is a good way to start without inventory I can see huge issues.

First off, if your dropshipper is out of stock, you will need to cancel an order, which is very very bad on Amazon. A couple cancelled orders and your account will get banned. Also, your dropshipper needs to ship fairly quickly to satisfy your shipping times.

I don't see how you will make any money with Amazon's 15% commission. Most dropship profits are only right around 15-20%. As soon as you drop your price from 127 to 120 in an attempt to get the buy box, your competitor will drop theirs to 115. At some point they will chase you out because they can afford to sell at 99 and you cannot. Their cost is probably 50, so they are fine selling at 99.

I see this in my market all the time. You just will not be able to compete. I still think that this is a poor business model. But if it's your way to get enough capital to start something else, then that's fine.
 

biophase

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Kind of a random question. But when you send your products into amazon, do you ship them in a brand new box?

No, I ship them in the box they came in from China. Your box looks way better than mine. My boxes are always messed up because we push them off of the container onto the ground for unloading.

12087847_10207274115387041_6558557627850597821_o.jpg
 
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biophase

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On another note, @biophase this thread is awesome. I have 2500 units of my product that I am going to be fulfilling and I need to keep track of it and I saw you use stitchlabs, does this integrate your site and amazon into one place so you can see and track all inventory from all channels at once?

Here is a screenshot of a product down to the variant level from Stitchlabs. I only have 2 warehouses so it's listing my main one and FBA. The main warehouse inventory is entered in and is subtracted every time I fulfill and order from my own stores. The FBA number is pulled from FBA every 15 minutes.

The only issue with Stitch is that when you ship supplies from your warehouse to FBA, you need to manually decrease your inventory at the warehouse. They don't have a ship inventory to FBA feature yet.

Untitled.png
 

biophase

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"Sales Channel Integrations

Stitch integrates shopping carts, marketplaces and point of sale solutions including Shopify, WooCommerce, Bigcommerce, Magento, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Square, Vend, SparkPay and Storenvy."
"Automated Channel Syncing

Monitor your orders and inventory in real time. Immediately adjust inventory when an order is received from an integrated sales channel."

So the cool thing with Stitch is that if you have 1 shopify store, 1 bigcommerce store and 1 magento store, they can all pull off the same inventory. So if you had 10 hats left in your warehouse, all your stores would show an inventory of 10. If the shopify stores sells 8 of them, the inventory in Stitch goes down to 2 and it automatically sends that data to your bigcommerce and magento store, so they all say there are only 2 left.

It sends this inventory every 15 minutes. So there is still a small chance that you end up selling more than you have, but it's rare.
 
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biophase

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@biophase I currently have a brand that I am selling on Amazon and my own ecommerce store. I have 3 products selling and a couple more in testing phases. I am thinking about adding more products to my website that are in the same niche and complement my products. I would be dropshipping these from a couple wholesale suppliers that I have accounts with.

What I am worried about is diluting the brand with the other products. Going from a store that just sells one brand to adding most of the other big players in my niche. None of which have competing products.

I don't think there is anything wrong with adding more products to your own store. In fact, I would add them and fulfill them via dropship and in a few months you can sell what is selling well. Then start looking at importing those particular products. This is how I do some of my testing.
 

biophase

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Just arranged to have my samples shipped. While I wait, few more questions for you experienced FBA folks -

1. When shipping to Amazon FBA, do you prefer to print + apply labels yourself or have Amazon do this? I believe the fee is 20 cents per unit sold (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm probably going to leave this for Amazon to do, and wanted to know if I just ship product sans label and they will take it from there or is there a specific process I would need to follow?

2. Once my listing is active, I need to gain popularity over my competition. From reading through this thread and other resources, there are two methods.

a. Sell cheaper than competition initially.
b. Giveaways, promotions etc to build reviews (legitimately). Can someone shed some light on this part please?

1) Why not have your supplier put the labels on? $.20 per unit can be nothing or everything depending on your price point. Also, Amazon has been screwing up a ton of receiving orders lately. I can only imagine how many products will be lost or mislabelled if your products were shipped to them with no labels.

2) I'm not going to go into the whole giveaway thing as there are many websites/podcasts that explain it. But other methods would include legitimate full price sales by promoting your product/brand through facebook or instagram.
 

biophase

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Here's a question for @biophase and all the other experienced eCommerce guys here...

I've been in contact with a Taiwanese manufacturer in regard to a new product I'm interested in importing (in the beginning stages still... no samples have been ordered, no testing has been done, etc.).

We've already discussed pricing & MOQs of the product I'm interested in. Late last night/early this morning, I sent an email asking about ODM services (specifically about private labeling and custom packaging).

Here's the response. I am accustomed to broken English, but I don't know what the hell this means. It sounds like a sole distributorship agreement, maybe? They also asked for my sales plan, which made me laugh (no F*cking way am I giving that to my supplier). Any help deciphering this would be greatly appreciated.


"Good morning.
Thanks for your highly interested on [product name], Regarding to these two items comes with [manufacturer name] logo, and if we need to made them with new logo, it means we need to create a new mould, also, all package boxes and so on all need to change. The new mould creation requests for MOQ and cost, so, at the first stage, we could discuss sales strategy with you, we hope to discuss with you for regional agency details; it means, if you interested on be a regional agency, you could tell us which states / region area you are interested to be agency for these two bike lock items, and how many quantity for estimate, of course, if we receive any inquiry from these areas, we will forward the inquiries to you. Also, we will sticker label on the package box with your company contact information.

We have been doing sales channel as above with many of [manufacturer's] clients, it is the best way to our customers, they don't need to invest too much money to create new mould in the beginning, also, neither worry any MOQ request or in stock interested, we hope support our customers and when the quantity become huge and sales channels solid, we could start next step for ODM or OEM or create mould for new logo.

If you would like to discuss the deal, let me know how many locks you would like to for the try order, and if you would like to show us your sales plan, we will be very happy to discuss with you, we believe it is the win win for both of us in future."

It sounds like they think the initial mold and MOQ will be too high for you. So they are suggesting that they help you by sending future you inquiries and holding stock for your brand product in the future. They don't understand that you are selling it only online.

I would go back to them and ask them what the mold price is and the MOQ.

BTW, I import from Taiwan also, and their prices are much higher than China prices, but the quality is also much better.
 
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Alex W.

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It sounds like they think the initial mold and MOQ will be too high for you. So they are suggesting that they help you by sending future you inquiries and holding stock for your brand product in the future. They don't understand that you are selling it only online.

I would go back to them and ask them what the mold price is and the MOQ.

BTW, I import from Taiwan also, and their prices are much higher than China prices, but the quality is also much better.

Thanks Bio, I'll shoot them an email now.

You're correct about the price (it's about ~$7 more/unit more than a comparable product made in China).

The product, at it's core, is a premium bike lock (it has an incredibly unique selling proposition). From what I can tell, the manufacturer I'm speaking with has tried to market the product in the U.S., and has failed pretty badly (website & Amazon postings are terrible). I can't imagine much actual marketing was done, either.

Of course, maybe I'm wrong and bikers here just don't want it. Shouldn't be very expensive to find out...

The fact that the manufacturer is savvy enough to even attempt to market the product here has me a little bit wary. If I don't brand the product, not much is stopping them from absolutely crushing me, if this gets off the ground.
 

MJ DeMarco

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I was asking if he was buying from a specific website or Factory. I couldn't care less, I'm cashing 10x times the median argentinian salary while on med school. I don't need to take on some one's bussiness, and I'm also in Argentina. You should watch your acttitude, you are a grown up man, not some 16 Smart a$$.

First, I wasn't aware that "cashing 10X the median argentian salary" gave you a license to ask about sensitive business details that shouldn't be asked on this forum. Your salary has zero relevance.

Second, if you were expecting @biophase to answer "I import XYZ from factory ABC in the Ghangzhou province" you obviously haven't been paying attention while enjoying your stay here. Perhaps the forum is less friendly nowadays because top contributors are tired of seeing their ideas hacked and poached by drive-bys. Gee, I wonder how many brainiacs are suddenly now trying to start carpet cleaning companies?

Third, don't tell me how to act in MY house. You are my guest and you are here by privilege, not by right. If you fail to see that relationship, leave.

Fourth, due to ill-timed and ill-asked questions, unfortunately my primary function here is no longer to contribute, but to protect the dedicated contributors who spend their time here providing valuable insight to those who want to apply it to their business. I do my best to protect these contributors from low-rent thieves who have nothing better to do than to hack and poach the exact business/supplier/product from those who mistakenly disclose it to the some 100,000 users who visit here, most of them, hidden in the shadows.

Unfortunately, the forum mirrors a socialist economy where the majority takes while the minority gives. You can bet for damn sure I'm protecting the givers over the takers.

Thank you for your understanding.
 

Trivium iz rC

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Brags about how me makes 10x the median argentinian wage.... According to the Argentina Peso VS USD. If you make 1M pesos per year, you make roughly 105K. Glad to see your making the big bucks.......
 
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LightHouse

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First, I wasn't aware that "cashing 10X the median argentian salary" gave you a license to ask about sensitive business details that shouldn't be asked on this forum. Your salary has zero relevance.

Second, if you were expecting @biophase to answer "I import XYZ from factory ABC in the Ghangzhou province" you obviously haven't been paying attention while enjoying your stay here. Perhaps the forum is less friendly nowadays because top contributors are tired of seeing their ideas hacked and poached by drive-bys. Gee, I wonder how many brainiacs are suddenly now trying to start carpet cleaning companies?

Third, don't tell me how to act in MY house. You are my guest and you are here by privilege, not by right. If you fail to see that relationship, leave.

Fourth, due to ill-timed and ill-asked questions, unfortunately my primary function here is no longer to contribute, but to protect the dedicated contributors who spend their time here providing valuable insight to those who want to apply it to their business. I do my best to protect these contributors from low-rent thieves who have nothing better to do than to hack and poach the exact business/supplier/product from those who mistakenly disclose it to the some 100,000 users who visit here, most of them, hidden in the shadows.

Unfortunately, the forum mirrors a socialist economy where the majority takes while the minority gives. You can bet for damn sure I'm protecting the givers over the takers.

Thank you for your understanding.
Damnnn.gif
 

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First, I wasn't aware that "cashing 10X the median argentian salary" gave you a license to ask about sensitive business details that shouldn't be asked on this forum. Your salary has zero relevance.

Second, if you were expecting @biophase to answer "I import XYZ from factory ABC in the Ghangzhou province" you obviously haven't been paying attention while enjoying your stay here. Perhaps the forum is less friendly nowadays because top contributors are tired of seeing their ideas hacked and poached by drive-bys. Gee, I wonder how many brainiacs are suddenly now trying to start carpet cleaning companies?

Third, don't tell me how to act in MY house. You are my guest and you are here by privilege, not by right. If you fail to see that relationship, leave.

Fourth, due to ill-timed and ill-asked questions, unfortunately my primary function here is no longer to contribute, but to protect the dedicated contributors who spend their time here providing valuable insight to those who want to apply it to their business. I do my best to protect these contributors from low-rent thieves who have nothing better to do than to hack and poach the exact business/supplier/product from those who mistakenly disclose it to the some 100,000 users who visit here, most of them, hidden in the shadows.

Unfortunately, the forum mirrors a socialist economy where the majority takes while the minority gives. You can bet for damn sure I'm protecting the givers over the takers.

Thank you for your understanding.


Now, that's an answer I would expect from you. I understand, the thing is I can't even import lol, as importations are blocked at Argentina due to economic problems. I was expecting pages not factories, but now I know you are doing getting the products straight from the Factory, that's the only thing I wished to know. Thank you for your time.
 

DamienP

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Now, that's an answer I would expect from you. I understand, the thing is I can't even import lol, as importations are blocked at Argentina due to economic problems. I was expecting pages not factories, but now I know you are doing getting the products straight from the Factory, that's the only thing I wished to know. Thank you for your time.

I think the words you were looking for are: "I'm sorry for being a dick. I'll be more respectful from now on".
 
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@biophase
How can you brand a product?

Can you just take some product that already exists and put a brand on it? Or do you need a patent or trademark?

For example, if I wanted to sell tennis balls, can I just buy some tennis balls in bulk, stick them in a box and put a label with my brand on it?

Does it have to be any different from the other stuff on the market?

Thanks for your time!
 

jon.a

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@biophase
How can you brand a product?

Can you just take some product that already exists and put a brand on it? Or do you need a patent or trademark?

For example, if I wanted to sell tennis balls, can I just buy some tennis balls in bulk, stick them in a box and put a label with my brand on it?

Does it have to be any different from the other stuff on the market?

Thanks for your time!
http://bfy.tw/2ZGF
 

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@biophase
How can you brand a product?

Can you just take some product that already exists and put a brand on it? Or do you need a patent or trademark?

For example, if I wanted to sell tennis balls, can I just buy some tennis balls in bulk, stick them in a box and put a label with my brand on it?

Does it have to be any different from the other stuff on the market?

Thanks for your time!
Yup! That's all you have to do to "brand" a product. You just need to make sure that the stuff that you private label (what it's called when you stamp your logo on pre-made product) doesn't have a patent on it.

You also need to consider that if all you do is put your name on the same product that 300 other people are - it might make your brand look pretty crappy.

Go to Amazon and type in "selfie stick".. Look at how many selfie sticks there are and then how nearly all of them are the same but with a different brand name.
 
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rc08234

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Thanks for doing this biophase.

My first question is, do you think being a complete newb and not knowing anything, it is worth learning and getting started to build an amazon business, esp with the increasing competition and low barrier of entry?

2nd is, eventually do you think other e-commerce stores will become obsolete and everything will be sold on amazon? Also do you think the amazon marketplace will become so competitive that eventually 2% or 3% (or something similar) margins will be good? Kind of like how walmart squeezes the seller but they are making a penny off a trillion items sold.


Thanks I appreciate you taking the time to do this
 

aprabhak

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I've received and reviewed my sample, and am now ready to order the first batch and give this a shot.

Initially, I'm only having 100 samples sent in from China to Canada. What is the best method to have this shipped? My manufacturer would like to ship by express but I don't know if this seems too expensive? Reaching out to those of you with experience to provide insight.

Unit Cost: 3.50 USD x 100 = 350 USD
Shipping by express = 248 USD

Total cost is 598, which means my new unit cost is now around $6

Then I need to factor in shipping to Amazon US. I will be selling this for $19.99 (but cheaper initially to raise sales and awareness).

I'd just like to know if the shipping cost is reasonable for 100 units. My item is about palm-size.

Cheers.
 

Cooper C.

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I'm looking to add more value to a digital product but I can't think of any little things people can purchase to add to that value.

Ex. Big Mac > Want Fries with that? > and a drink?

Any suggestions?
 
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biophase

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Thanks for doing this biophase.

My first question is, do you think being a complete newb and not knowing anything, it is worth learning and getting started to build an amazon business, esp with the increasing competition and low barrier of entry?

2nd is, eventually do you think other e-commerce stores will become obsolete and everything will be sold on amazon? Also do you think the amazon marketplace will become so competitive that eventually 2% or 3% (or something similar) margins will be good? Kind of like how walmart squeezes the seller but they are making a penny off a trillion items sold.

Thanks I appreciate you taking the time to do this

Yes, it is worth learning. If you are worried about Amazon, then you are worried about the wrong things. Even if all you do is get a product up and it never sells, you will have learned alot. Let's say I told you Amazon selling was going away in 2017, would you still want to learn it? What is your alternative? If Amazon was going away on Jan 2017, it still gives you a whole year to get in and make money and learn.

There will always be ecommerce stores. At some point people will migrate away from Amazon if margins are 2-3%. Remember, Amazon takes about 20% total, so if you make 2-3% on Amazon, you can make theoretically 23% on your own store, or even 10% and price yourself under Amazon. I don't think that Amazon will ever be the lowest price because of this. Right now, people accept it because of their volume, fulfillment and traffic, but at some point selling on Amazon for 2-5% margin won't be worth it and people will migrate away.
 

biophase

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I've received and reviewed my sample, and am now ready to order the first batch and give this a shot.

Initially, I'm only having 100 samples sent in from China to Canada. What is the best method to have this shipped? My manufacturer would like to ship by express but I don't know if this seems too expensive? Reaching out to those of you with experience to provide insight.

Unit Cost: 3.50 USD x 100 = 350 USD
Shipping by express = 248 USD

Total cost is 598, which means my new unit cost is now around $6

Then I need to factor in shipping to Amazon US. I will be selling this for $19.99 (but cheaper initially to raise sales and awareness).

I'd just like to know if the shipping cost is reasonable for 100 units. My item is about palm-size.

Cheers.

That shipping price sounds decent. At that volume you won't save alot going by sea anyway, so air is the way to go. You should ask him how much shipping would be for 200 pieces and 500 pieces.
 

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