Ask me anything about eCommerce (Ongoing)

[biophase]

Hey bio

Thanks for the thread. Can you elaborate more on this? Maybe some examples.
Thanks a lot

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sure I can think of a bunch just sitting here.

1) I have a product that has no on and off switch. I have to take the batteries out after I use the product to keep it from draining down. On Amazon, this is the #1 complaint on this product. This one just needs a small switch added and some plastic cover redesign.

2) My biking knee pads slide down my quads while peddling. Someone needs to put some rubbery type of material on the upper insides of them.

3) My biking elbow pads are too bulky, I need a lighter, but less protective one, sort of like a sleeve that the NBA players use. Maybe I can modify a current sleeve and add some protection on them

4) I just got bigger tires on my SUV. Now this device I had bought for it doesn't work as well. They only make this for cars and regular SUVs. There is no device on the market for a lifted/larger tire SUV. Pretty easy to make, just make the product bigger!

5) My wrist heart rate monitor doesn't fit right. I need to put it further upper on my forearm for good contact. But then it slides down a little when I'm working out. I need a neoprene sleeve to go over it to keep it in place.

6) A certain product I bought had a head cover that was too small. All the amazon reviews wished it had a larger head cover and that it was a little longer.

7) A tarp I bought has weak grommets. Amazon reviews also complain about it and that the tarp rips easily. So I'm redesigning the grommets to be stronger and making the tarp a few mils thicker.

 

[amp0193]

To answer this.

Yes, the emails do make some customers complain about the product that probably would not have if they did not get the email. But it's worth the risk.

I have never received a response that said they were sick of my emails.

Here's one thing that has been working really well for a few of us here @biophase :

I provide 3 options:

a) I love this product, 5 stars (links to the ASIN specific leave a review URL)
b) I was satisfied but have some suggestions for improvement (links to the SELLER FEEDBACK page)
c) I am dissatisfied or need help (links to the SELLER FEEDBACK page)


Since using this method (and adding some brand-building, etc to the template), my review rate went way, way up from using the stock software template (I'm at 7-8% review rate), and almost NONE of them are 1 or 2 star. Instead, any negative comment or review goes to seller feedback, which is super simple to get removed. Over the past several months, I've risen from 4.3 stars on my best seller to 4.7 stars, and am on the cusp of that glorious 4.8. Meanwhile, my competitors are all stuck between 4 and 4.2.

 

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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]

Kenric, what do you use for market research beyond the obvious Google adwords/keyword traffic chart & basic amazon/ebay searches/movers & shakers?

Perhaps a product like a level board, I would want to know the top 1-3 selling brands, volume of ecomm sales, sales price deviation, and many more things about a particular product. are there websites/tools that are useful for this? I know market research companies compile lots of useful data.

I don't do any market research the way you guys do it. I never look at that stuff. Sometimes I may check out the Amazon ranking, but really who cares. If I can sell 1 a day, 30 units a month and make $10 a unit, that's $300 to my bottom line.

So while everyone is looking for a huge hit. I've got 10 improved, low volume selling products, making me $3000 a month. And guess what else..... I didn't have to giveaway any to rank. I didn't need to get reviews. I just sit at number 1 or 2 all day. I don't need to compete with anyone, because all the AMZ class people won't touch this product.

In your example, you are implying that the only reason you want to get into the level board is because it is hot and you want to know how much the top 3 people are selling. If the answer was 1 unit a day, you would not do it. If the answer was 1000 units a day, then you would do it. This would be destined to fail because you will be just another level board.

 

[biophase]

Hey Bio thanks for all this info. I was wondering if you could speak a bit about what percent of time your employee spends doing different tasks on a given day/week? Do you use temp workers on days when you get a truck load or are prepping a big shipment for amazon or around the holidays?

My employee is full time. She gets a salary and benefits. She is responsible for all orders, customer service, receiving inventory. This year I was gone for 2 months on vacation and did not need to set foot into the office at all. She handles everything there.

I don't know what percent she handles of everything. But her day is basically, checking emails, returning phone calls, packing and shipping orders, determining what needs to go to FBA, determining if we are running low on anything, order more inventory, reviewing invoices and then keeping the warehouse clean.

She does need help unloading boxes from China, so I usually will come into the office on those days. Next year, I plan to have her hire people to help unload boxes and do anything around the warehouse that involves heavy lifting. This year I've been getting "fastlane helpers" and paying them with food.

I do not need to go into the office unless it is for the manual labor. This will change in 2016.

 

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[biophase]

Just a word about product selection...

By now you've probably read that I don't use any software in picking products. I really don't do much research at all. I just go in if I feel that I can add value.

So I recently jumped into a niche that is considered one of the toughest niches on Amazon. It is a 2 word key word that has 170,000 results. Surprisingly, it took me 4 days to get to the bottom of the front page. I was shocked. Today, I am still on page 2.

The top listings have almost 2000 reviews. Most other listings have 300+ reviews. I'm still there with 4 reviews.

My point is that all the research can stifle you. Many of those software programs are not accurate. And you can never tell how you will do within a niche.

I will say this. Now that I am IN the niche. I do research and track it. I know its a$$ backwards, but that's how I work.

I now track how many my competitors sell per day, including their variations and colors.

Now, the top 1 and 2 spots are selling a generic product at a lower price point of $10. I am selling at $15. So I am not comparing myself to these guys. I compare myself to the others selling at $15.

And one of them is pretty impressive selling about 25 a day. Another competitor is sell 20 a day. So now I have an idea of how to proceed. I can tell what color options they sell more of. So now I know that black is a how seller, then blue, then red. Now I know what color to make my second product.

 

[AllenCrawley]

@biophase I know there are many people on this forum that kill it with Amazon, but has the ship already sailed just like blogging, Ebay, and Craigslist businesses?

Is starting up an Amazon store still relevant anymore?

All of a sudden my friends are starting up stores.

To me, this would be the first indicator that the barrier to entry has been obliterated.

Maybe I'm missing something. But maybe this is a warning sign that most of the money to be made has been... made.

Keep crushing it and thank you.

If you mean are the days of AMS students coming in a making a killing on amazon gone? Probably.

But you can take this to the bank...

Don't start an "amazon business". Start a brand and use amazon as one of your sales and distribution platforms.

 

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[biophase]

With the new TOS you're 100% right - it IS a real risk for the business. You're definitely better off at the moment just growing organically / with PPC until amazon specifies what they mean by an "excessive" number of free or discounted items. Does giving away 5 products for honest reviews put you in the same "excessive" category as 50 or 500? ..Probably not - but who knows?

If you are giving away 5 products, just ask your friends. You only really need a service when you want to do 25+.

The big worry here is not if it will work, it is if you will get penalized in the future. Let's say you launch today and you get 100 free reviews, you shoot to #1 and everything is fine. You build a nice business this way. Then in 2017 Amazon decides to penalize people who did this. All your listings go from #1 to [HASHTAG]#800[/HASHTAG] in a day. All the income that you were used to is now gone. Your listings are now tainted. So you need to start a new listing, but now you are starting from scratch at 2 years behind your competitors.

This is basically what Google did with its Panda updates.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Tagged GOLD. Thanks @biophase for the new AMA and stepping up to the plate with some awesome answers!

 

[biophase]

As im sure you always like to position yourself before the shift or pivot somewhat, what are your plans when the inevitable (with Amazon and China) happens? Are your businesses solely ecommerce right now? Will you expect to make it up in your other avenues since you don't put all your eggs in one basket? (Amazon).

I also believe that people still buy value over price any day. Therefore the ones with great (original, unreplicatable) products won't be hurt much and it may sift out the weaker "import this manufacturers exact product and list on Amazon" sellers or even "brands". Would you agree?

I very much appreciate your input and your contribution to this forum.
Thanks!

My differentiation now is mainly branding, since none of my products are patented. Also innovation in my brand with tweaks and changes means that I can keep my products one step ahead of China. The factory isn't going to roll out your new product first, they will rollout products that they've been making for hundreds of other sellers.

Yes, my businesses are 100% ecommerce. I don't want to get into retail. I think that there will always be enough ecommerce traffic to make a decent living. I will get other baskets if I need to. I just figure I'll adapt when the time comes.

The weaker importers with cookie cutter products will get crushed. In fact, I'm doing some of the crushing in one niche pretty soon. You have to ask yourself, how do I compete against big dogs with alot of money and go that route on your product.

Let's say you cobble together $2k and get 500 units @ $4/unit and launch on Amazon. You do a giveaway with 100 units to get to middle of page #1, sell the remaining 400 at $14 for $10 profit each. Yay you made $4000. You enjoy this money machine for 3 months and then...

...someone comes along with Amazon experience and $25k of backing. They get 10,000 units @ $2. They giveaway 1000 units and shoot to #1. They sells theirs at $4 and spend $5,000 on PPC. You just have no way to compete with them on this product anymore. You will need to adapt.

So what do you do here?
1) Obviously you will have branded, and hopefully you can convince people that your brand makes a better product
2) You change your product slightly, whether it be colors, or number in the package. Sell a 3 pack instead.
3) You increase your value proposition, add a free secondary item, lifetime guarantee, or warranty

 

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[LightHouse]

A bit on finding a product that will sell and modifying it, in the terms that Kenric is talking about.

I got a deal on a car trash can that clips to the head rest and is waterproof. For me this was a great product because I needed something like this, that was waterproof and washable since I have a child. The one i bought was just branded from a factory... looking at it... a few simple changes and it would be the best selling car trashcan besides graco.

#1 it is brown, no one wants a poop brown car accessory.

The logo is the companies name like "adv23", this is silly because it isn't a brand i'm going to associate with future car accessory purchases if i like the quality.

Since using it, there are things i found could be more useful, the biggest being the clasp could be moved to the end of the loop. Currently it is in the middle, well when it is between the headrest and seat, it has to be dug out and un-clipped from an uncomfortable position. This would be a simple change.

The metal around the top is a great idea, but it should be a flexible semi-har plastic, the metal already cut through the webbing. The velcro on the opening should be a button or something more secure since if you are clasping it to prevent spillage, it is full and velcro wont hold that tension.


These are just a few EASY changes that could be made to this PL type product. Marketed correctly and sold efficiently.

The difference between making $100 and making 10,000 is the effort and thought that goes into it. If you are lazy, you get lazy results.

 

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[biophase]

Hey Kenric,

I read the thread in its entirety a while back, and been reading new posts and revisiting old ones here and there. Apologies if some of these questions were already answered or if I got some of the info confused.

You have a master's in engineering, how did you get into e-commerce? I think you stated earlier in the thread that you weren't dependent on the project as you were still at your full time job. I found the switch to be very interesting since it relates to me as well, haha.

Actually I had quit engineering and was investing in real estate. Then made the switch to ecommerce when the housing market crashed in 2007. I had already learned HTML and some CSS just by blogging and having my own personal website at the time.

Did you start with private labeling right away or did you dabble in retail and/or arbitrage first?

I started with dropshipping. It's important to note that I did not do any private label. Private label implies that I just slapped my brand on something and imported it. I have never brought over something that was not unique to me. Although some people have copied them now.

Did you learn things by trial and error? I see there are so many sources that claim to teach 'students' from start to finish for $xxx. I can't knock the creators though, that's their fast lane path afterall.

Yes, when I started ecommerce or even selling FBA in 2011. There were no classes. In fact, alot of things I did back in 2011 are the same that are taught in those classes. But there weren't any review groups back then.

In addition to your thread, I've been reading stuff on FBA elsewhere and I noticed how heavily some people rely on services like Junglescout or use services that will look up the ASIN of competitors that will look up their search words. It appears a lot of them also care a lot about the best seller rankings. Your way looks a lot more simple...find a product you can improve upon, implement the improvements, and go from there.

Yeah I never look at that. Like I said, I have about 80 SKUs so adding a new SKU that sells 1 a day is fine with me. That's 365 more sales a year and probably $3650-$5000 more in profit.

I just received 3 products on Amazon from 3 different listings, with 3 different photos. Guess what, they are all exactly the same and come in the same packaging. One seller put a small tag on the outside bag. The other two have no branding. Not even a single sticker, label, card, etc... In fact, I can't even tell which came from which now.

They sold for $17, $21 and $27. Because they are exactly the same, all their "real" reviews mention 2 distinct issues. The product is not big enough in some places and it is too short in others. So what do you think I'm going to do?

I just contacted a couple suppliers last night for this product. I'm going to fix those 2 issues and launch against them. You better believe that in my photos and product description I will mention the 2 improved portions.

If you asked me what the BSR is for this product or how many these 3 sellers sell per day, I would have no idea. Does it really matter?

 

[JasonR]

I'd still love to try a blast but I think I'll wait and see how the dust settles and what the real consequences for using such services are.

Try it, and please let us know.

Any sort of product or service that manipulates rankings (Google, Amazon, etc.) will all go away, or at the very least, be in a constant state of change. They don't want to be results to be gamed. This is why its important to have good PRODUCT and not build a business based on manipulating rankings of any kind. Those sort of businesses don't last.

It will be interesting to see how services like Zonblast (and others) pivot, change their methods, or simply go away.

 

[biophase]

Very happy you decided to make a new AMA thread!

Without disclosing any products or niches, can you elaborate on this statement and how it relates to importing, if at all?

It would be refreshing to hear a new process that is proven successful.

When I say I make my own product, I just mean that I import my own product. I don't physically make anything. I choose new products to import, I don't just import a product that a factory current makes, I make changes to it.

 

[biophase]

Great thread, thanks Biophase.

I have a question about sourcing:

Do you always just deal direct with factories in China or do you ever go through an agent?

I looked into this a while ago and heard some horror stories e.g. https://thewoodlandgroup.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/how-to-lose-20000-in-one-day/ and this scared me.

This lead me to this guy http://www.youngmoneychina.com who is someone 'on the ground' in China. He seems like a decent guy and his blog is fairly interesting.

Is using someone like him worth considering, or just a scare story?

I deal direct with factories in China, or as close as possible. I don't see a need to go through an agent. The factories that I use I have been using for 5 years now. So we have a good relationship. They are actual factories that make the product from raw material.

A few products I'm ordering I know I am not directly dealing with the people who make it. But this is the best that I can do right now. As long as my price is good I will stick with them. But if the price starts creeping up, I will look deeper in to find the actual factory.

I'm always careful with newer factories and I place smaller orders ($10-$15k) with them for a few years. But even with my old factories I still get nervous when my order amount goes over $50k. You never know when they might just run. I try to keep smaller orders flowing in constantly, so I only have $25k orders out at each factory at a time.

 

[biophase]

@biophase if you have discovered a certain product that you think you can improve, how do you go about testing whether the improved product would sell before you actually 'improve it' ? for example if your improvement is in the design of the product which would require a change in the manufacturing process, how would you go about testing the marketplace without first making the investment in the change? or do you just have to roll the dice and assume it 'should' sell since its just a variation of a profitable product in a proven niche?

I test by making a small order, like 200-500 pieces. I don't do the test a sample, or 10 pieces anymore. I guess I assume that my changes would sell. I think that any improvement of a product should increase its sales. You do have to understand that there is a difference between a functional improvement and a simple cosmetic modification.

If you took a flashlight and made it cooler looking be redesigning its handle, that could be risky because you only changed its look and you don't know if people will like your change. But if you took a flashlight and made it 50X brighter for the same price, that's a performance improvement and should increase sales over a similar competitor.

Current case study:
I have a new bag that I'm designing for a product, let's call it a duffle bag for a clock. While a duffle bag has been around for years, I am making specifcally a carrying bag for a clock. Nobody else has ever made a clock duffle bag. So this is a risky product for me. I think that people need this bag based on my knowledge of the need for people to carry along large clocks. But I do not know 100% if they this need bag, so it could flop big time. I'm ordered 500 pcs to start. My backup plan if this fails is to resell it as a regular duffle bag. Therefore, I did not put the word "clock" on any part of the bag. We will see how this goes.

 

[biophase]

Out of all the 50-100 products you have are all of them selling well? Currently, do you have any dud products that nobody are buying sitting at your warehouse? If you put a large order and you get crap from your supplier, do you ever get demoralized? How do you handle duds that are just not selling and wasting space?

I imported some products a couple months back and it took like six months to get rid of and I got super demoralized/paralyzed. Maybe its because I am under capitalized so I don't have much wiggling room for mistakes which is what makes it so scary for me. Just want to know your mindset for handling duds.

I've had 3 dud products. Duds are products that I can't even sell at breakeven. Any product that makes money to me is not a dud. I don't need each product to sell 5 a day. If that happened I would need a way bigger warehouse. With 50-100 products all I need is for half of them to sell once each day.

Duds don't do anything to me. It's a risk reward calculation. If I worried about every product I imported I would still be at 10 products. The only way to expand is to take risks.

When I do get certain duds that don't sell, I just toss it all into the trash. Clear the clutter and move on. I don't even try to liquidate or wholesale them because it just sits in the warehouse taking up space and serves as a reminder of a bad product.

 

[biophase]

This is exactly what I ran up against. My first product was a low barrier to entry on price and therefore competition came in high numbers. These guys were doing huge giveaways and spending way more on advertising that what I could.

BTW, I'm trying something new right now where I drop my prices for a few hours during the day if sales are slow. I'm doing this so I get a steady stream of sales. Basically I sell 10 at profit, then 20 at a loss, the day comes out a wash. But I sold 30 instead of the normal 15. Trying to see how think affects rank.

 

[biophase]

On one forum, I was even advised to stay away from Amazon.

Right, an early bird catches the warm (and it was the case I suppose) but I still think I'd like to give it a try. If you were to start from scratch with Amazon FBA in 2017, what would your strategy be? What about marketing costs/product launch costs? Would you spend time looking for a product to put your label on and ship or would you rather spend time changing/inventing a product to differentiate yourself because the competition is too tough?

Jungle Scout has promised to do another collaborative launch soon. I'm interested what they'll come up with.

I'd really really appreciate your help!

That's actually great that people are saying to stay away from Amazon. Those are usually people who are chasing money and not trying to build a business.

My strategy would be to provide a quality product at a good price. There's actually no need to launch or market much any more. Why? Because in the past, your quality product would get overwhelmed with all the people giving away crap and getting reviews that your product would need some help to stay afloat.

Now that that is all in the past, your quality product will eventually come to the top without much pushing.

 

[SeanyHang]

Any recommendations for someone whom is starting out with around $1k capital. Would you do drop shippping, private label?

When you walk into a phenomenal thread and see that a new user asked what type of business to start with a monetary limit.

My thoughts are with you, dear friend.

 

[biophase]

Thanks for creating a new thread with updated information, Kenric! Rep+

When the company gives out samples, are they targeting key players like top bloggers and video reviewers, or are they giving product away to anyone interested? I've noticed that it takes a little incentive to get people to review a product. I'm guilty of it too, so how did they get so many people to respond?

They are usually using Amazon review groups or hiring copmanies to help them get reviews. With some of these groups you are guaranteed 1 sample to 1 review. People in these groups only get the samples if they agree to do a review, else they will get kicked out of the group and no longer get free samples. And people love free stuff so they want to stay in the group!

 

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[biophase]

Am i able to get into this if I live overseas, like in Australia? Like could i use the fulfilment in america and sell to them? Also, say you wanted to start selling on amazon. You were on a budget, you say wanted to invest the smallest amount possible to start and build up, what resources would you go about looking up to read, what niches would you look in? I'm not per say looking for the most profitable, i'm looking just to get started then build up.

Finally, so assuming I do all this, i could run the business entirely remotely and never have to see/pack the product myself?

Kind regards,
Luke.

I know a few people in Australia who sell FBA on Amazon US so yes it is easily doable.

I think the whole start small, choose a profitable niche is the wrong way to go. By picking a niche based on your funds and what everyone else is doing, you are basically guaranteeing an unsustainable business. You have to find something that works for you. If I told you kitchen knives was a good niche, would you start there and jump into a crowded space with no value add?

You're almost guaranteed to lose your small investment because you can't compete against someone willing to give away their first $2000 order.

 

[biophase]

Thanks for the response, so you'd recommend minimum $2000 saved, and forget about the cheapest niche to start in, just look for demand?
Okay, so say you had to start your own journey all over again from 2015, instead of when your started yourself, what mistakes try your hardest to avoid? What areas would you of focused on in your business instead? I'm not just talking marketing, everything. Branding, product development/sourcing ect.
Do you recommend another forum thread to get started learning?

Thank you.

"what mistakes try your hardest to avoid?" - I would not sell what everyone else is selling. Personally I would not go this route, BUT it is still working, so if you want to make a quick buck, the current Amazon methods that everyone is doing still work. This is not the path to building a company though, but it can make some money.

This is hard to do, but I'm trying not to brand just to brand. If you just slap a sticker on a product, people can hijack your listing easily. I'd like to make it so that my brand is somehow designed into the product. So others can't listing under you, and if they do, the customer will know that they got a fake.

"What areas would you of focused on in your business instead?" - I am focused on being different. I'm not launching a knife because there needs to be another knife for sale out there. If I could make a super undulable knife, then I'd go that direction. I am launching a new business right now. In fact my first shipment shipped on Friday. The product in this business is nothing special actually. What is special about this business is where the proceeds are donated.

I don't know if $2000 saved will get you anywhere. You are talking about 500pcs of a $2 product. A $2 product is likely to be shit. Not saying it can't be done, but you need to do some research.

There are tons of Amazon progress threads on this forum. I would read them all. It doesn't take alot of time.

 

[biophase]

what % profit are you aiming for? I've gone on and looked up 1 star reviews of products and started writing down what I can improve on, I'm guessing you do that for the positive reviews too. So what your saying is to just don't worry too much about making everything perfect, just get launching and testing.

I don't have a particular % profit. I really do not concentrate too much on all that stuff. I just make a good product and sell it. You have to be comfortable with whatever profit you make per sale or per dollar you spend.

 

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[biophase]

Hello everyone I'am new in the area so first wanted to thank you all for great information shared in the forum, specially Biophase for his remarkable work put up in this thread and previous ones. Regarding Amazon's market saturation with PL products imported from Alibaba and fullfilled via FBA model, It's been a while that I see that a lot of vendors are now turning into naming themselves Amazon sales gurus, then turning into magic Amazon related software providers and or Amazon sales guru Consultants, Isn't this another sign of Market saturation? most of them actually seem to know what they are talking about , they are somewhat consistent but to me, it just does not sound right that they all insist in bringing in more players to compete giving away their formula for a few bucks? What do you think?

They can make more money teaching how to be on Amazon so that's what they do. Just real the so called REI gurus have found that it is easier teaching how to make money in real estate that actually doing it.

I have no problem with those classes. However the students coming out of those classes do lack creativity and out of the box thinking. They go by the formula given in the classes and in my opinion build the business a lazy way. Trying to do the least amount of work possible. I don't see them as much competition. I almost feel like you can crush them on their first product by using brute force (product giveaways, lowered pricing) and they would quit and never come back.

 

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[biophase]

I find it hard to know if the product actually sells well, or if it has all been "sold" to these review groups.

You shouldn't be using review counts or Amazon rankings to pick what you are going to sell on Amazon. You should choose something that you can improve upon and are somewhat knowledgable at. If I based all my products on what sold alot I'd have a really mismatched brand and would have missed out on a ton of products.

 

[biophase]

Well, I think the example of level board is poor, I wouldn't try a product quite like that.

It's more like just product research when you have a limited bankroll of 1-3K to invest. I think your business strategy is obviously terrific of improving products and building a brand that way.

The problem is that with your limited bankroll, everyone starting has the same bankroll. So if you stick to the same criteria as everyone else you end up competing against all the newbies. You'd be better off researching a product that needs 10k to start with because when you find it, you will profit more per sale and have less competition.

I have a friend that is looking into products that cost $200 wholesale, sell for $700 on Amazon. You can bet there is nobody else from an AMZ class doing that.

 

[jon.a]

On Cyber Monday I dropped one of my products to $7.99, sold each one at a $1.50 loss. Sold 87 of them. Jumped from page 6 to the bottom of page 1. After the holidays, I'm going to drop it back down to $7.99 again and leave it there until I'm top 1-3. I can afford to go months losing money on a product to rank it.

Let's say I sell 2000 a month and lose $3500 a month for 2 months straight. Assume that I rank at #1 afterwards. Then I raise my price back up to $20 and make $10 a sale. Now I'm selling only 1000 month (due to the price increase) and $10, making $10000 a month. I make my lost money back in 1 month.

You're giving away your good shit here!

 

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[biophase]

Any recommendations for someone whom is starting out with around $1k capital. Would you do drop shipping, private label?

I would go Amazon with $1k. You just need to improve the right product. I would not do dropshipping or private label. You would not have enough money to do those effectively.

 

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[biophase]

Oh I wanted to know how aggressive you push. I guess I was trying to get a feel whether its better to inch your way in or just go all out and expand faster even if it means money coming out of your pocket temporarily.

But you are implying that being aggressive means losing money or going negative monthly. That's not the same. What you implied is that I expanded fast by importing many products and ran out of storage room. Which means that by expanding, I went from 10 products to 50 products quickly without knowing if the additional 40 products were going to work and would actually put me in the negative.

But what I still don't understand is the thought process...
I'm selling online and it's not profitable...
I decide to import alot more stuff, even though I'm not profitable...
I decide to sign a lease on a warehouse to hold all this stuff that I can't sell...

I guess your question bothers me because it still does not make any business sense to me.

My one rule is to always make money. I've made money from day 1. I've never have had to take out a loan. I personally don't like expanding to the point where I need to worry about sales to pay the bills.

Lastly, getting a warehouse doesn't mean that you are aggressive. You can be aggressive from your apartment. You get a warehouse when you absolutely cannot fit anything else in your home. I had my garage and 2 bedrooms full of stuff before I moved to a warehouse.

 

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