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njord

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Hey guys, after some research iv desided to do amazon FBA selling to pay my bills.
(ordering bulk from china and sending it to amazon)

Iv followed a detailed cource on the subject and now iv started.

Only being stubborn as always I thought I could take some shortcuts...
Apparently you cant!

I thought I could skip going for multiple samples and just pick on good supplier and it semed good enough so i went for them.

Only I deceded to change model last minute and dident look over the reviews properly.
Turns out the are bad quality and now im stuck with a shipment of 500pcs.

Its not the end of the world but it means ill have to sell these off cheeply and start all over again with a proper model.

Status:
Production almost finished cargo ready date 25-9-18


BTW I want to look into dropshiping next to FBA selling as selling with amazon has a large capital restriction ( I cant lend money aready got a morgage and you need capital to expand quickly)


PS is the trade war going to mean everyone will start doing FBA shipments to europe instead of USA?
 
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njord

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UPDATE, HELP Iv f*cked up.

My first cargo is almost at the Amazon warehouse (30 nov) and i was recalculating my profit ect. and there isn't any.

Iv ordered 500 of my product from china for 2600USD
it cost me 770 euros to ship (Im starting to think i got ripped off on this pricing iv didn't do enough research)

The customs duty turned out higher then i thought i had looked it up... (almost 1000 euros instead of 750 i thought it would be)

amazon handeling fees, the price tag iv got in my FBA acount says 7,82 per product! I dont have premium account yet will upgrade a soon as i start selling but this is ALOT MORE then i expected!:eek:
In total (without premium) it will cost me about 4000euros

My listing price will be 25 euros with my product i have added 50% off coupons to get an email list and customer loyalty so iv calculated that ill be selling my product for about 70% off the listing price overal. (they buy 1, buy a second for 50% + the discounts i will do to launch my product)

What means ill be selling for 17,5 euros on average = ill make a turnover of allmost 9000 euros.

Just now assuming i sell everything ill only just be breaking even with a few hundred left for
promoting my product.

I just dont get it with so many expenses how do you run a profit off FBA where did i F*ck up?

I know there are other products out there that are way cheaper how do they do it?!
 

ManlyMansNegator

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UPDATE, HELP Iv f*cked up.

My first cargo is almost at the Amazon warehouse (30 nov) and i was recalculating my profit ect. and there isn't any.

Iv ordered 500 of my product from china for 2600USD
it cost me 770 euros to ship (Im starting to think i got ripped off on this pricing iv didn't do enough research)

The customs duty turned out higher then i thought i had looked it up... (almost 1000 euros instead of 750 i thought it would be)

amazon handeling fees, the price tag iv got in my FBA acount says 7,82 per product! I dont have premium account yet will upgrade a soon as i start selling but this is ALOT MORE then i expected!:eek:
In total (without premium) it will cost me about 4000euros

My listing price will be 25 euros with my product i have added 50% off coupons to get an email list and customer loyalty so iv calculated that ill be selling my product for about 70% off the listing price overal. (they buy 1, buy a second for 50% + the discounts i will do to launch my product)

What means ill be selling for 17,5 euros on average = ill make a turnover of allmost 9000 euros.

Just now assuming i sell everything ill only just be breaking even with a few hundred left for
promoting my product.

I just dont get it with so many expenses how do you run a profit off FBA where did i f*ck up?

I know there are other products out there that are way cheaper how do they do it?!
There is a lesson to be learnt somewhere in here.

hmmm
 

biophase

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Only I deceded to change model last minute and dident look over the reviews properly.
Turns out the are bad quality and now im stuck with a shipment of 500pcs.

Its not the end of the world but it means ill have to sell these off cheeply and start all over again with a proper model.

My listing price will be 25 euros with my product i have added 50% off coupons to get an email list and customer loyalty so iv calculated that ill be selling my product for about 70% off the listing price overal. (they buy 1, buy a second for 50% + the discounts i will do to launch my product).

If you are going to sell these cheaply, why are you doing a giveaway. Why not just price them to sell?

You are going to get a customer list of people who hate your product. The list is useless.

UPDATE, HELP Iv f*cked up.

My first cargo is almost at the Amazon warehouse (30 nov) and i was recalculating my profit ect. and there isn't any.

Iv ordered 500 of my product from china for 2600USD
it cost me 770 euros to ship (Im starting to think i got ripped off on this pricing iv didn't do enough research)

The customs duty turned out higher then i thought i had looked it up... (almost 1000 euros instead of 750 i thought it would be)

amazon handeling fees, the price tag iv got in my FBA acount says 7,82 per product! I dont have premium account yet will upgrade a soon as i start selling but this is ALOT MORE then i expected!:eek:
In total (without premium) it will cost me about 4000euros

Just now assuming i sell everything ill only just be breaking even with a few hundred left for
promoting my product.

I just dont get it with so many expenses how do you run a profit off FBA where did i f*ck up?

I know there are other products out there that are way cheaper how do they do it?!

Wow, so many things wrong in here.

First, it looks like your product is $5.20, selling for $25. This isn't too bad.

Second, $770EU for shipping sounds a little high (maybe just $100-$300 high though), but it's impossible to tell without knowing how big or heavy your product is and what port it shipped to.

Third, Customs of $1000 means you have a 33% tax. That is very high. Did you get hit with the Trump 25% tax?

Fourth, Amazon handling fees, $7.82 sounds normal. $3.75 for their commission and $4.07 for shipping. Can't get much lower than that. What were you expecting?? The cheapest it could have been is $1 cheaper. And did you know that you will get charged monthly storage fees? Maybe $300/mo in December?

But here's your biggest problem. You say your quality is no good. All those numbers and plans you have above were assuming you had a decent product.

You can make a profit by ordering more, lowering your cost and reducing shipping costs. Breaking even on your first shipment is fairly normal in a competitive space. You break even to establish your product rank and get reviews. But it sounds like you wouldn't want to use this same listing if you're likely to get bad reviews.
 
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RazorCut

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Did you have to purchase the course you took as well?

I have been bombarded on YouTube by FBA course sellers of late. And I don't know what they are picking out as a targeting factor as I have zero interest. I stopped doing Amazon FBA 4 years ago.

When you see all these guys flogging how-to courses you have to ask yourself why? If they are doing so well on Amazon themselves why do they want to share their 'secrets' and just create more competition for themselves?

It's because they have experienced how saturated the market has become and how difficult it is to make solid money so they want to bail out as teaching others is far more lucrative and a whole lot less hassle.

I'm not saying you can't make money on Amazon but it's not like it used to be. More like the wild west these days. Anyone and their dog can source from China and latch on to a promising listing even if the items are only remotely similar.

I'm not saying give up but I am saying it's no where near as easy as it seems and the course you have taken should have prepared you better (or you ignored ALL their warnings and waded through the quicksand anyway).
 

njord

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If you are going to sell these cheaply, why are you doing a giveaway. Why not just price them to sell?

You are going to get a customer list of people who hate your product. The list is useless.
Iv already got this product I know its crap i just need to get rid of it without losing too much money.
I had also added the 50% off vouchers before I realized my mistake that it was a low-quality product. there is not much i can do about this i have to carry this through or trash my brand name completely.

Wow, so many things wrong in here.

First, it looks like your product is $5.20, selling for $25. This isn't too bad.

Second, $770EU for shipping sounds a little high (maybe just $100-$300 high though), but it's impossible to tell without knowing how big or heavy your product is and what port it shipped to.

The shipment was from Ningbo port to Hamburg port and then to the Amazon warehouse in Rheinberg.

these are the dimensions of my product:

Qty per carton: 12
Dimensions 46.5*23.5*48cm , 0.052m³
Weight per carton: 9
Third, Customs of $1000 means you have a 33% tax. That is very high. Did you get hit with the Trump 25% tax?

Nope im based in the Netherlands and iv sent everything to Germany because they have a bigger market.
This is what freight hub put on the invoice:

Customs Duties 263,35 €

Import sales tax (EUSt) 637,58 €

Advance commission 90,09 €

VAT 0% 0,00 € Total amount 991,02 €

Fourth, Amazon handling fees, $7.82 sounds normal. $3.75 for their commission and $4.07 for shipping. Can't get much lower than that. What were you expecting?? The cheapest it could have been is $1 cheaper. And did you know that you will get charged monthly storage fees? Maybe $300/mo in December?

But here's your biggest problem. You say your quality is no good. All those numbers and plans you have above were assuming you had a decent product.

You can make a profit by ordering more, lowering your cost and reducing shipping costs. Breaking even on your first shipment is fairly normal in a competitive space. You break even to establish your product rank and get reviews. But it sounds like you wouldn't want to use this same listing if you're likely to get bad reviews.

Well my plan is to dump this product im already looking for a better one and make a new listing with that, only whats distressing me now is the margins are complete crap.
 
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njord

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Did you have to purchase the course you took as well?
nope i got my course via a good friend of mine (the Amazon selling machine)

I'm not saying give up but I am saying it's no where near as easy as it seems and the course you have taken should have prepared you better (or you ignored ALL their warnings and waded through the quicksand anyway).

I may have rushed through it and will pay better attention from now on...

Amazon FBA is all about capital
Iv invested as much as i can, i know there are better margins if i can invest more.
 

biophase

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I had also added the 50% off vouchers before I realized my mistake that it was a low-quality product. there is not much i can do about this i have to carry this through or trash my brand name completely.

The shipment was from Ningbo port to Hamburg port and then to the Amazon warehouse in Rheinberg.

these are the dimensions of my product:
Qty per carton: 12
Dimensions 46.5*23.5*48cm , 0.052m³
Weight per carton: 9

Nope im based in the Netherlands and iv sent everything to Germany because they have a bigger market.
This is what freight hub put on the invoice:

Customs Duties 263,35 €
Import sales tax (EUSt) 637,58 €
Advance commission 90,09 €
VAT 0% 0,00 € Total amount 991,02 €

Well my plan is to dump this product im already looking for a better one and make a new listing with that, only whats distressing me now is the margins are complete crap.

I didn't realize you were shipping to Europe and not the USA. I don't know if the shipping fees were good or bad then.

Are those the dimensions of the product or your case?

Those Europe VATs you should have known. Did the course teach you about those?

Since you had the AZ seller course, you probably should have gone through it in more detail. Most of this stuff is surely covered in it.
 

njord

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Ill redo the hole cource and see if i can fix this and if need be start again with a diffrent more profible product.
The margins are just crap
 
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njord

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I need help my amazon listing is inactive!

This is what i think happend:
I was playing around with my pricing to see how much FBA fees i would have to pay for diffrent price settings.
But i accedently put my pricing on 24.99 instead of 24,99 what meant that my listing price became 24.990 instead of 24,99€.

Amazon being amazon blocked my listing eventhough iv corrected the error!

The strange thing is in my seller central "manage FBA inventory" my listings are active on all my marketplaces (de, uk, it,fr, es)

But when i look up my listing on amazon i cant find my listing execpt for in the UK...?

When i look at my "Pan-european FBA inventory" i see that all my listings except for my UK listing are inactive (what checks out i can only see my listing in the UK store)

BUT HOW THE F*ck DO I FIX THIS?!?!!?!!?

The amazon support is non existent, they have some kind of self help thing that you can walk through but im stuck and cant find the solution!
All i get is something is wrong with my "Offer" and then i get routed back to the start again yah!

When I call amazon support (the shoppers support) they tell me they cant help me and ask me to use the online support tool... :rage::humph: tnx for nothing!

The also have a support forum but my post are still "pending":arghh:

Anyone got any suggestions or tips?!
My listing is "inactive" for at least a week now!
 

njord

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Iv finally figured out how the amazon help works and got an answer from Amazon.

Apparently iv been blocked for a copywrite issue...

I " borrowed" 2 pictures from an other listing... I dident want to invest in a professional photographer because im not going to continue with this listing anyway and just need to dump my product. I dont have the right photoshop skills or software to make my own photos (with the white background) so i used the good photos I had made and " borrowed" two photos from a other listing... I dident think they would notice...

Anyway im rather dissapointed in the way amazon is treating me, yes i know im in the wrong but seriously keeping me in the dark and blocking my listing without telling me and keeping it "secret" WTF!?!
I only found out by accident that my listing was blocked @##$!?!

At least im in contact with the support and i hoop i can resolve this problem, ill keep you guys updated.

Good day, Thank you for your message, but unfortunately we can not accept your application because it does not refer to the message we received from the copyright holder. Please provide us with the following information so that we can process your request: - A valid revocation sent to Amazon must come directly from the original copyright holder who reported the infringing content listed at the end of this e-mail. We do not accept redirected or attached revocations. Please contact the below mentioned copyright holder to request that a cancellation be sent to notice-dispute@amazon.de: *******.com - proof of product authenticity (eg invoice / order number, license agreement, power of attorney). It must be clear that your products do not violate any intellectual property rights. Send this information as well as other documents and a list of affected ASINs to notice-dispute@amazon.de. Where do I send this information? Send this information to notice-dispute@amazon.de. What happens if I do not provide the requested information? If we do not receive the requested information within 17 days of the original suspension notice, your account will remain disabled. ASIN: ****** Application number: ******* Depending on the status and activity of your account, additional review may be required before you can use your credit. Amazon may withhold payments if we find that your account has sold counterfeit or prohibited products. You can see your balance and billing information in the Payments section of Seller Central. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to payments-nachforschungen@amazon.de. You can view your seller service at (****) or select "seller service" on the Amazon seller app home page on your iOS or Android device. The Seller Performance dashboard shows how well your account performs in terms of seller performance statistics and policies required to be sold on Amazon. - iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-seller/id**** - Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.sellermobile.android&hl=en regards Regards, Seller performance team Amazon.de Amazon.de: Günstige Preise für Elektronik & Foto, Filme, Musik, Bücher, Games, Spielzeug & mehr
 
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njord

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UPDATE,

I was ashamed for f###ing up so i havent posted anything in a while but ill give you a brief run through how things went and what iv learnt:

Amazon blocked me and I had no seller support so I bailed ship and sent all my inventory to a post office just accross the German border (to save sending costs, i live in Holland close to the border.)
It was this or destroying 4000€ in inventory.

I found a post office close to the border and tryed to contact them, unfortunately i had no contact details so i had to hoop they could exept my inventory load.

BIG MISSTAKE!
I got a phone call from the truck driver that they where at the post office with a truck load but could not deliver it (it was just a small post office without loading bay unable to take a dilivery of 500x French presses...)
So I told him to wait and that i would be there in half an hour (half hour drive, turned out i need another 30 min to hire a van and find my way there so i was late and he had left!!)

I spent the next hour or so trying to contact the right person to find out where my cargo was.
Then I finerly found out it had be returned to the distrubition center about 45min drive away.
I had aready spent 100€ on the van so i was all in and drove there.
Upon arival no one knew where my cargo was and i was told to go home, after insisting i wouldent leave without my cargo they made some calls.
Turned out my cargo wasent there but still in the truck at some unknown location.
In the end i manage to make another apointment a week later at the parkinglot next to the German post office.
1 day lost and -100€

One week later, I hired a van again and made sure i was at the parking lot on time, this time i was able to collect my cargo and bring it home.

Upon inspection it turned out some of my French presses were broken; (the are made of glass BIG MISSTAKE! I had agianst the advice of the cource on FBA orderd glass french presses because these looked better...)
My suppier had also packed the french presses without proper proctection. But concidering I was rather depressed at this point i took no action to contact my suppier.

I have started to send small amounts of french presses to BOL.com (a Dutch version of Amazon) to sell via them as FBA. to sell my inventory off.

Unfortunly the procces is going very slowly iv only sold about 50 or so in half a year.

I tryed selling the French presses via the saterday market in Wagening, i only just managed to break even and thats not concidering the time iv spent trying to sell them.

OK OK enough of the bad news! iv got some good news!
I have made a big dicision; iv quit my job, sold my house and as of end of October im going to travel the world and find/work on my next business idea!

Now what happens to the rest of your inventory you ask??
Im sending a big batch to Bol to sell there and the rest i can leave at my moms place for storage (thanks mom for saving my a$$ :happy: )


Goals for my travels;
1. Rewind relax and reset.
2. Find mentors (i dont have any!)
3. figure out what nich/business i want to get into (more on that later)
4. figure out a new business plan (got some ideas need to work them out ect.)
5. Go to the fastlane summit
6. move to New Zealand and get a job (grew up there as a kid and while working on life goals i came to the conclusion i miss it and alot of the cool things i like to do i cant do in Holland.

WHAT?! GET A JOB YOU SAID?!!

Yep, this time round i want to know my nich and make sure i do it right!
I want to take a job figure out the industry and then start my own company again.

Brainstorming ideas;
Im currently a Medical technician (18 october is my last day).
I havent found any real need in my work i could start a business on.
Right now i have an idea on starting a service + representing products in New Zealand this would work well with my current knowledge. I would have to find out what the need(s) are in the NZ market. And i can do this by getting a job there.

This idea scores ralatively well on the Grademybusiness site only drawbacks are the size of my market and the need ( i would have to find out how big the need is)

I have some other ideas floting around I will back to them soon.

Thank you for sticking to the end and to be continued...
 

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