Ask me anything about eCommerce (Ongoing)

[MetalGear]

Do you think it is generally suicide to list oversized products on Amazon?

For example...a 36" x 6" x 6" 4lb foam roller. I understand shipping and inventory costs are higher.

I am wondering if you have had success with oversized products during your journey and if there are any special insights you can share.

Thanks,
MG

 

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[Vincent Law]

Is anyone else having trouble getting products approved on Amazon? I keep getting rejected, and have resorted to googling why Amazon Sellers Central is rejecting my product.

Lots of people there are complaining that Amazon no longer wants to source products from outside the US in the categories of health or food.

Any advice about getting around this frustrating roadblock?

 

[jsdev]

So a company has offered me a commission on sales if I set up and run their FBA.

They sell a variety of handmade chocolate products- good product, and they do all the manufacturing so fat margins.

Anyone here done commission/royalty based deals before? Would like to get some ideas on how to structure the deal.

Also, has anyone exported food products form Australia to America for FBA?

 

[Denim Chicken]

I placed a test order anyway, but they removed their offer from my listing when I sent them a message.

The real problem that's quite annoying is they still have their own ASIN (just their version of my product) where they have copied the title and bulletpoints word for word from my product. Over time, I don't expect their version of this product to get near as good of reviews as mine, but for now, they're moving up the sales rank while directly stealing my title and descriptions, and from what I can understand, Amazon won't do anything about this part.



Do a significant percentage of your Amazon customers actually register for the warranty? This sounds like a great way to use Amazon sales to slowly develop an outside customer base.

Is this something being a registered brand will help with? They made another listing of your product word for word and I'm guessing pictures also. If you get registered as a brand, then they wouldn't be able to do that right?

 

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[biophase]

So quick question...

what's the general consensus on getting product reviews?

Feedbackfive vs feedbackgenius vs feedbackz

# of emails in email sequence

time after delivery for first email + time in between emails in sequence

Email content

Also i've heard some people on the seller forums say that it's better not to ask for feedback and let amazon handle it. They said amazon sends out emails for product reviews (but I've never recieved one from them).

Thoughts?

I send out a 2 email sequence to ask for reviews.

I wouldn't go anything above 2. I think one is enough but with my company I don't think people mind the first email which is just informational.

 

[biophase]

Do you think it is generally suicide to list oversized products on Amazon?

For example...a 36" x 6" x 6" 4lb foam roller. I understand shipping and inventory costs are higher.

I am wondering if you have had success with oversized products during your journey and if there are any special insights you can share.

Thanks,
MG

There's nothing wrong with oversized products. You treat it the same as any other product. You just need to figure out if the numbers work.

The fact that the product is oversized should not factor into your decision on whether or not you should import it. You are trying to decide if the product adds value to people's lives not if it's small enough to fit in a certain size box.

I can see where you may not have storage room at your house because of product is oversized. But other than that I don't factor it's size specifically in my decision because your margin calculations are done regarding the actual product no matter what you choose.

If you look at the large foam roller, people are obviously selling it on Amazon so they are dealing with its size. So how does that make this product different then a smaller foam roller? I'm sure the margin calculations have accounted for at size and shipping due to its size.

 

[biophase]

Is this something being a registered brand will help with? They made another listing of your product word for word and I'm guessing pictures also. If you get registered as a brand, then they wouldn't be able to do that right?

No, being a registered brand will not help that issue at all.

 

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[MoneyDoc]

Hey Kenric,

Quick question, how do you deal with a product doing a great number of sales per day (70-100) but is still not on the first page? There's some products on the first page with 5-10 reviews doing WAY less sales than our listing. We released in March. One problem we did have was running out of inventory too quickly.. You think this is what is affecting our listing? The best we've been was page 2. Sold 100 units yesterday, and oddly going down in rank...? I think we have the most reviews in our category as well. Listing is well optimized.

 

[ddzc]

Do you think it is generally suicide to list oversized products on Amazon?

For example...a 36" x 6" x 6" 4lb foam roller. I understand shipping and inventory costs are higher.

I am wondering if you have had success with oversized products during your journey and if there are any special insights you can share.

Thanks,
MG

Big products are tougher, but it's a HUGE barrier of entry for many, which is always good. You need to figure out the margins and have a fulfillment center handle the logistics end of it. You also need to map out your entire year in advance and have huge capital for monthly container shipments if you want to scale and grow fast. There's a lot of delay and time involved with sea freight as opposed to air. I'm going through this as we speak, it's definitely a pain and not easy!

 

[JayTGold]

Hi Biophase, quick question: I have a product Im selling locally which is actually doing pretty good (not in the US)

Im planning to get into Amazon this year however I havent decided if I want to use my current product to start the FBA process.

Would it be possible for me to send you a private message and show you my product to get your feedback on if it would be a good idea or crap to sell it on Amazon?
Thanks

 

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[Denim Chicken]

Hey Kenric,

Quick question, how do you deal with a product doing a great number of sales per day (70-100) but is still not on the first page? There's some products on the first page with 5-10 reviews doing WAY less sales than our listing. We released in March. One problem we did have was running out of inventory too quickly.. You think this is what is affecting our listing? The best we've been was page 2. Sold 100 units yesterday, and oddly going down in rank...? I think we have the most reviews in our category as well. Listing is well optimized.

Maybe you're ranking higher on a different keyword or not accounting for something else like word of mouth, etc.

 

[Denim Chicken]

No, being a registered brand will not help that issue at all.

Could you elaborate? I thought the whole point of going through the trouble of becoming a registered brand is that you have the ability to introduce the brand/product variations into the amazon system so there's only 1 listing for it by the manufacturer or authorized retailers. This can help get around having to compete for the buybox on your own private labeled or branded product, and also other people changing your listing.

If people can sell your exact same listing without being the owners, I'm guessing that's not allowed but is the problem that there are too many of these copycat listings to effectively deal with this issue? I read amazon does not take kindly to counterfeit and I imagine if your brand is registered it will be enforced faster or at least with a high % of success.

 

[samuraijack]

Curious if you ever ran out of stock on a certain item that only you sold, meaning the listing went inactive, and how did it affect your sales rank when you finally restocked?

I've seen a best seller run out of stock and i know your listing drops in ranking, but right after restocking, it was back up at #1 (not sure how long it took but i'm sure it wasn't long). So does this mean you don't have to fight your way back up to the top again if you run out of inventory?

 

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[Denim Chicken]

Curious if you ever ran out of stock on a certain item that only you sold, meaning the listing went inactive, and how did it affect your sales rank when you finally restocked?

I've seen a best seller run out of stock and i know your listing drops in ranking, but right after restocking, it was back up at #1 (not sure how long it took but i'm sure it wasn't long). So does this mean you don't have to fight your way back up to the top again if you run out of inventory?

I remember reading in one of biophase's threads he did run out for a bit and his sales rank dropped a little but came back once sales started.

 

[amp0193]

I remember reading in one of biophase's threads he did run out for a bit and his sales rank dropped a little but came back once sales started.

This has been my experience as well.

Or sometimes it comes back exactly in the same place from the get go.

 

[undertheradar]

I am currently setting up my Amazon Seller's account. I am in the process of getting my LLC formed and EIN obtained.

I think I read here before that it's ok to use my SS# for the time being? Is this acceptable? Anything else I need to consider at this point?

 

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[biophase]

Curious if you ever ran out of stock on a certain item that only you sold, meaning the listing went inactive, and how did it affect your sales rank when you finally restocked?

I've seen a best seller run out of stock and i know your listing drops in ranking, but right after restocking, it was back up at #1 (not sure how long it took but i'm sure it wasn't long). So does this mean you don't have to fight your way back up to the top again if you run out of inventory?

Yes I've run out of stock. I found that if you run out of stock only a few days or maybe a week or two you do not lose much ranking.

However if you run out of stock for a month or two, I found that your product drops a lot In ranking.

So when I start to run low inventory I start trickling the inventory into the Amazon warehouse so that I am out of stock no longer than one week. I also raise the price of my product to slow down sales velocity.

 

[samuraijack]

So when I start to run low inventory I start trickling the inventory into the Amazon warehouse so that I am out of stock no longer than one week. I also raise the price of my product to slow down sales velocity.

Lesson learned the hard way. I'll definately take that advice to heart. Will be out of stock for 3 weeks or so.

To speed things up I will probably have the manufacturer send part of my inventory straight to FBA.

I have never done this before, how does the process work? I know it has to have my FBA labels on it, and I need to create an inbound shipment from my amazon account like usual. Do i just email my manufacturer over the labels?

 

[Denim Chicken]

Lesson learned the hard way. I'll definately take that advice to heart. Will be out of stock for 3 weeks or so.

To speed things up I will probably have the manufacturer send part of my inventory straight to FBA.

I have never done this before, how does the process work? I know it has to have my FBA labels on it, and I need to create an inbound shipment from my amazon account like usual. Do i just email my manufacturer over the labels?

Probably not a good idea to let your supplier and Amazon know each other direct

 

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[LuckyPup]

Alot has changed since my Ask me about Ecommerce AMA from 2012, so I thought I'd do an updated AMA as some of the answers in the previous thread are now outdated. The online marketplace has shifted greatly in the past couple years. Some examples of what has changed:

• Google Shopping is now at the top of your search results, so ranking #1 for a specific term is not as valuable as before. I don't do anymore SEO.
  
• Big box stores like Amazon, Walmart and Target now dominate the results whereas before smaller niche stores did.
• Amazon is now the place to be in Ecommerce.
• A huge shift has happened from dropshipping to importing and branding.

So go ahead and ask away!

I'm interested in starting in ecomm, FBA in particular. Maybe this is an ignorant, slow lane question, but what's the fastest, most "do-able" way to learn, launch and earn $1k per week within 90 days and what budget do I realistically need to do it?

 

[undertheradar]

I'm interested in starting in ecomm, FBA in particular. Maybe this is an ignorant, slow lane question, but what's the fastest, most "do-able" way to learn, launch and earn $1k per week within 90 days and what budget do I realistically need to do it?

If you haven't already, I would read @biophase 's thread "Do you want to do it the EASY way, or the HARD way?"

I'm in the process of launching my own product for the first time. Process started January this year, total start up costs including inventory around 10k, and plan to launch by July so not a 90 day process for me. You could start with a smaller investment, but this is just how things panned out for me personally.

 

[LuckyPup]

If you haven't already, I would read @biophase 's thread "Do you want to do it the EASY way, or the HARD way?"

I'm in the process of launching my own product for the first time. Process started January this year, total start up costs including inventory around 10k, and plan to launch by July so not a 90 day process for me. You could start with a smaller investment, but this is just how things panned out for me personally.

Thanks!

 

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[biophase]

Probably not a good idea to let your supplier and Amazon know each other direct

I just got back from China after visiting my supplier. They all know you sell on Amazon. It's pointless to hide that fact. In fact if I was trying to hide that fact, my trip would've been much more difficult since we spent a lot of time looking at Amazon listings together.

Our meetings literally went like this, I would go to Amazon and type in the search term and some listings of pop up. I would scroll through the pictures and ask the factory if they could make this. They would click on the pictures and say yes we could make it. I would ask them how much they would quote me a price.

Then I would show them the FBA seller calculation page to show them how much commission and shipping Amazon charged.

One product they quoted me $24 I told them I would sell on Amazon for $70. We punched a similar product into the FBA calculator Amazon took $37 of commission and shipping. This is because the product is very large, over 3 feet. Because it is very large, shipping to my warehouse would cost a lot also and then shipping it to Amazon's warehouse would cost a lot. When I finished the calculation I ended up with a $1 profit. So I told them I can't import this product because there's no profit margin.

I explained to them the Amazon 18 inch oversize category and how amazon calculates shipping fees. They explained to me why the cost was $24 and a lot of it was due to wasted material due to the product dimensions.

So we came up with a plan to shorten my dimensions by 2 inches which greatly decreased the wasted material. This lowered the price of the product by five dollars bringing it down to $19. Still not the best but at least it's profitable now.

This is just an example of how being honest and transparent you can work with your factory and come up with solutions that will help you both.

 

[biophase]

I'm interested in starting in ecomm, FBA in particular. Maybe this is an ignorant, slow lane question, but what's the fastest, most "do-able" way to learn, launch and earn $1k per week within 90 days and what budget do I realistically need to do it?

All I can tell you is that it will take you a lot longer than 90 days to launch a product.

If you want to make $1k a week, why don't you tell me how much product you need to sell to make that amount. Then tell me how much product you need to buy to be able to sell that amount per week. Then multiply that amount by eight weeks. What dollar amount do you get?

Do you see that you could've answered your own question?

Do you see that you were asking all the wrong questions?

 

[Denim Chicken]

I just got back from China after visiting my supplier. They all know you sell on Amazon. It's pointless to hide that fact. In fact if I was trying to hide that fact, my trip would've been much more difficult since we spent a lot of time looking at Amazon listings together.

Our meetings literally went like this, I would go to Amazon and type in the search term and some listings of pop up. I would scroll through the pictures and ask the factory if they could make this. They would click on the pictures and say yes we could make it. I would ask them how much they would quote me a price.

Then I would show them the FBA seller calculation page to show them how much commission and shipping Amazon charged.

One product they quoted me $24 I told them I would sell on Amazon for $70. We punched a similar product into the FBA calculator Amazon took $37 of commission and shipping. This is because the product is very large, over 3 feet. Because it is very large, shipping to my warehouse would cost a lot also and then shipping it to Amazon's warehouse would cost a lot. When I finished the calculation I ended up with a $1 profit. So I told them I can't import this product because there's no profit margin.

I explained to them the Amazon 18 inch oversize category and how amazon calculates shipping fees. They explained to me why the cost was $24 and a lot of it was due to wasted material due to the product dimensions.

So we came up with a plan to shorten my dimensions by 2 inches which greatly decreased the wasted material. This lowered the price of the product by five dollars bringing it down to $19. Still not the best but at least it's profitable now.

This is just an example of how being honest and transparent you can work with your factory and come up with solutions that will help you both.

Aren't you worried that you are teaching them what they pose to know? Including the calculations and possibly rankings, etc. I think I recall in your thread or someone else's (I can't remember) that you went to China (not sure if it was you) in the past and when they started asking too much about Amz you changed the subject? If this was your past experience, what made you open up about this and change your approach?

I'm wondering after your visit if they thought, "the margins for him wont work but it would work for us and all it takes is for us to learn this platform and send it in direct. We'll let him test the market, and if he starts placing larger orders, we'll enter."

I can see if this factory makes a lot of your stuff then their service and loyalty to you would make sense for them to continue but for someone starting out who has 1 or 2 products made by one particular company, there seems to be very little upside to keeping orders fulfilled to me versus just replacing me since they can get more business from pushing me out.

Also, I'm a bit paranoid about them continuing to service you but setting up a different trading company entirely and pushing you out discreetly, that'd be the best way to do it. Know everything about your costs and product, copy it and sell it using a different name with better margins than you while allowing you to operate without knowing.

Obviously this is a very cynical view and they could just be a very good factory but Walter seems very hesitant to share more than you have to and I dont have enough experience to err on the side of being too open.

 

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[biophase]

In my case no.

First they need to put up their own capital if they go this route. They know costs but don't know how to sell in the USA. They would rather make products and get paid than assume that risk.

They also have many customers to place one order and never reorder. So they know that there are many failures for every success.

Lastly, they cannot copy my business model because it is unique at the moment. They know what it is but it would require some extra labor to replicate.

In your case, no matter what product you end up coming up with, somebody will copy it on Amazon. Whether it is a USA company or a Chinese factory, competition will come.

 

[biophase]

It might have been me who said that I stopped talking when the supplier was asking questions about Amazon.

But that was two years ago and now I think that most factories either know of Amazon, or know how to sell on Amazon. It's not a stretch to think that they have read the amazing seller courses.

 

[Denim Chicken]

In my case no.

First they need to put up their own capital if they go this route. They know costs but don't know how to sell in the USA. They would rather make products and get paid than assume that risk.

They also have many customers to place one order and never reorder. So they know that there are many failures for every success.

Lastly, they cannot copy my business model because it is unique at the moment. They know what it is but it would require some extra labor to replicate.

In your case, no matter what product you end up coming up with, somebody will copy it on Amazon. Whether it is a USA company or a Chinese factory, competition will come.

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

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[LuckyPup]

All I can tell you is that it will take you a lot longer than 90 days to launch a product.

If you want to make $1k a week, why don't you tell me how much product you need to sell to make that amount. Then tell me how much product you need to buy to be able to sell that amount per week. Then multiply that amount by eight weeks. What dollar amount do you get?

Do you see that you could've answered your own question?

Do you see that you were asking all the wrong questions?

Yep, I do now. I get the math, so let me rephrase: What resources do you recommend to efficiently learn the ins and outs of FBA selling; resources that might shorten one's learning curve, prevent needless mistakes, heading down blind pathways and wasting time and money?

 

[Denim Chicken]

Yep, I do now. I get the math, so let me rephrase: What resources do you recommend to efficiently learn the ins and outs of FBA selling; resources that might shorten one's learning curve, prevent needless mistakes, heading down blind pathways and wasting time and money?

This forum. Reading this entire thread from page 1. Reading other people's progress threads and taking action