Just sold my first 3 items on Amazon!

[Sanj Modha]

It's all about speed and execution. MJ calls it The Fastlane. I had no idea what I was doing and if you've ever used Seller Central - you know how crappy the interface is.

But the unstoppable mind can do anything. That and YouTube too.

The biggest tip I can give you is try not to follow the crowd i.e. if we all used Amazing.com or every other guru strategy - there's no advantage.

I have a best seller on my Shopify store. We've done over 1000+ sales so I know it's popular. Turns out the entire niche is low competition and we already have stock in our US warehouse - it's a no brainer to move to Amazon.

Don't get bogged down with too much competition, search results, getting paid reviews or private labelling. "Yoga Mats" is saturated but what about "Yoga Mats For Pregnant Women"? Dig deep and find that gold. There's lots of ways to sell.

We're not even FBA (yet) or private labelled. Once that kicks in it will get easier. I'm looking forward to cranking up the sales after the Chinese New Year too.

If you're sat on the fence - jump right in. It's never been a better time.

 

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[NickC]

Good job. I'm currently working on launching a product as well

 

[Argue]

Excellent execution. Your belief, determination, and focus will get you far. Tremendously terrific work! Keep it up!

 

[steelandchrome]

I launched with a small FBA shipment yesterday and sold 50% of what I sent in the first day. I did some retail arbitrage and figured it would be a fun test to see how it goes even if for a low profit to get some sales under my belt...

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

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[frankieboy]

That's brilliant, well done. Are you doing the free product offer with paid shipping thing?

 

[Sanj Modha]

That's brilliant, well done. Are you doing the free product offer with paid shipping thing?

I'm not sure if Amazon allows that to be honest. And why do you need to give products away on Amazon? People are happy to pay.

BTW - this is not FBA or private labelling. All shipped from our facility in NYC so it's low risk and higher profit. The next batch will go from FBA since there are many perks like Prime shipping.

 

[New]

Awesome thread, thank you for the inspiration and for promoting the right mindset.

 

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[Chazmania]

All shipped from our facility in NYC so it's low risk and higher profit.

Nice job on getting it going. I'm sure you're aware of this but I'll say anyway:

Watch your seller metrics very carefully when merchant fulfilling, if your numbers get out of line Amazon can/will drop you like a hot potato. That's one other benefit of selling FBA - many of the things that customers can complain about (package arrived late, damaged items during shipment, customer questions, emails etc....) become Amazon's responsibility, not yours.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Nice job on getting it going. I'm sure you're aware of this but I'll say anyway:

Watch your seller metrics very carefully when merchant fulfilling, if your numbers get out of line Amazon can/will drop you like a hot potato. That's one other benefit of selling FBA - many of the things that customers can complain about (package arrived late, damaged items during shipment, customer questions, emails etc....) become Amazon's responsibility, not yours.

The next order will go straight to FBA. We have some units in the US so it makes sense to clear that inventory plus China is offline for another week or so. FBA is definitely easier to work with.

 

[Altraxx]

Great progress, i'm trying to build something similar. truly motivating to see others succeed

 

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[Sanj Modha]

UPDATE - sold 10 units since this post went up but sales have dried up. Rankings have gone down from 28 to 1000 ish too. This when the real work starts.

 

[frankieboy]

I'm not sure if Amazon allows that to be honest. And why do you need to give products away on Amazon? People are happy to pay.

BTW - this is not FBA or private labelling. All shipped from our facility in NYC so it's low risk and higher profit. The next batch will go from FBA since there are many perks like Prime shipping.

Just interested...

It's just that Shopify is really big right now and that's what a lot of people are doing. They advertise on Facebook a product, mention that it's free but got to pay for shipping. I think that's the hook. Of course once a person clicks to go to the shop to claim the item, of course they're going to roam about in the online store to have a look at other products too and maybe buy other stuff.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Just interested...

It's just that Shopify is really big right now and that's what a lot of people are doing. They advertise on Facebook a product, mention that it's free but got to pay for shipping. I think that's the hook. Of course once a person clicks to go to the shop to claim the item, of course they're going to roam about in the online store to have a look at other products too and maybe buy other stuff.

The F&S model is getting abused. At least on Shopify/FB. If you still want to run it - my advice is go down the ClickFunnel route and offer plenty of upsells to increase your AOV. It's what Ryan Deiss et al do.

 

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[Mr.M]

It's all about speed and execution. MJ calls it The Fastlane. I had no idea what I was doing and if you've ever used Seller Central - you know how crappy the interface is.

But the unstoppable mind can do anything. That and YouTube too.

The biggest tip I can give you is try not to follow the crowd i.e. if we all used Amazing.com or every other guru strategy - there's no advantage.

I have a best seller on my Shopify store. We've done over 1000+ sales so I know it's popular. Turns out the entire niche is low competition and we already have stock in our US warehouse - it's a no brainer to move to Amazon.

Don't get bogged down with too much competition, search results, getting paid reviews or private labelling. "Yoga Mats" is saturated but what about "Yoga Mats For Pregnant Women"? Dig deep and find that gold. There's lots of ways to sell.

We're not even FBA (yet) or private labelled. Once that kicks in it will get easier. I'm looking forward to cranking up the sales after the Chinese New Year too.

If you're sat on the fence - jump right in. It's never been a better time.

Hello,

I just ordered the book online, I am really excited to see what I can learn from it. It seems many people on this forum have had some success after getting started. I have been working full time since I was 16 years old, I am now turning 30 and am exhausted. I have a great career as a senior motion designer working on tv commercials and films but now am trying to figure out a way to change careers in order to create more time for myself and family. I typically work 9-14 hours 5 days a week, I have a friend who works about 4-5 hours a day but own a business selling metal to artists and he makes 6 figures a year. I would love to learn to sell a product online and use my skills as a motion designer to help give me an edge marketing it.
You mentioned you live in NYC, so do I. Is there any chance we could meet for coffee and chat in the future? Should I read the book first? I would be beyond appreciative to get some advice or mentorship.
What is your amazon store? Can I see a link?

 

[frankieboy]

The F&S model is getting abused. At least on Shopify/FB. If you still want to run it - my advice is go down the ClickFunnel route and offer plenty of upsells to increase your AOV. It's what Ryan Deiss et al do.

I love ClickFunnels. Yes you've got a point there as I've seen many examples of what Russell Brunson does.

 

[amp0193]

UPDATE - sold 10 units since this post went up but sales have dried up. Rankings have gone down from 28 to 1000 ish too. This when the real work starts.

There is a small boost in the search algo for newly launched products. Every week or two, I see some new competitor launch in my space, and they are buried and gone after a few days.

Here's what you need to do.

1) Drop your price to break even, or a little above.
2) Run Amazon PPC aggressively for the main keywords, so that you are the 1st ad everytime.
3) Assuming your page is converting, with good pictures and copy, then you will rank up.
4) When in the top spot, raise your price $1 a week, until you're at full price.


If it's really competitive, you may need to give away 40-60 units at a deep discount, spread out over 3-4 days, just to get that initial boost. You said your competition isn't huge, so you probably don't need to do this.

It helps ppc clicks/conversions to have 5-10 good reviews on your listing first. So find some friends to help out.


Bonus Points: Run AMS ads. (thread here)

 

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[Sanj Modha]

There is a small boost in the search algo for newly launched products. Every week or two, I see some new competitor launch in my space, and they are buried and gone after a few days.

Here's what you need to do.

1) Drop your price to break even, or a little above.
2) Run Amazon PPC aggressively for the main keywords, so that you are the 1st ad everytime.
3) Assuming your page is converting, with good pictures and copy, then you will rank up.
4) When in the top spot, raise your price $1 a week, until you're at full price.


If it's really competitive, you may need to give away 40-60 units at a deep discount, spread out over 3-4 days, just to get that initial boost. You said your competition isn't huge, so you probably don't need to do this.

It helps ppc clicks/conversions to have 5-10 good reviews on your listing first. So find some friends to help out.


Bonus Points: Run AMS ads. (thread here)

Some SOLID advice! Here's what I'm doing:

1) 2 x PPC campaigns. 1 to BROAD and 1 to EXACT keywords. CPC = $1 with $10/day budgets. It's making some sales.
2) Signed up to Feedback Genius to get some reviews back. Believe it or not, I'm ranking pretty high with zero reviews. Positive reviews will increase conversions.
3) Improved the landing page copy by adding some newer keywords that I've found off Voucher Leap. There's some GOLD in there.

Will keep you posted. Remember folks - this is a non PL, non FBA listing with no reviews. Start selling first then make changes to improve conversions and revenue.

 

[Mr.M]

Hello,

I just ordered the book online, I am really excited to see what I can learn from it. It seems many people on this forum have had some success after getting started. I have been working full time since I was 16 years old, I am now turning 30 and am exhausted. I have a great career as a senior motion designer working on tv commercials and films but now am trying to figure out a way to change careers in order to create more time for myself and family. I typically work 9-14 hours 5 days a week, I have a friend who works about 4-5 hours a day but own a business selling metal to artists and he makes 6 figures a year. I would love to learn to sell a product online and use my skills as a motion designer to help give me an edge marketing it.
You mentioned you live in NYC, so do I. Is there any chance we could meet for coffee and chat in the future? Should I read the book first? I would be beyond appreciative to get some advice or mentorship.
What is your amazon store? Can I see a link?

Hmm, the fact that my message was ignored worries me and makes me feel this whole forum is just part of the automated money maker of this book. Just saying I am concerned.

 

[ljean]

Hmm, the fact that my message was ignored worries me and makes me feel this whole forum is just part of the automated money maker of this book. Just saying I am concerned.

 

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[Mr.M]

Hahahahaha, you know what...Thank you for your response. Apparently there is human life on this forum.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Hmm, the fact that my message was ignored worries me and makes me feel this whole forum is just part of the automated money maker of this book. Just saying I am concerned.

automated

Yea, the 500,000 messages on this forum are from bots I created. You're talking to yourself here, and just me.

Please read this:

IMPORTANT! - Why All The Secrecy? Here's Why...

It will tell you why some folks are overly secretive with their business details.

 

[Mr.M]

Yea, the 500,000 messages on this forum are from bots I created. You're talking to yourself here, and just me.

Please read this:

IMPORTANT! - Why All The Secrecy? Here's Why...

It will tell you why some folks are overly secretive with their business details.

Lol ok I got it. I just read your link, I see why my earlier post was ignored.

Long story short, Before finding this forum and this book I started 2 creative services businesses (creating tv commercials, print, web, digital design). Both flopped due to disagreements with partners. The creative services business can be lucrative however it's basically slow lane according to the book because it requires all my time. The next steps for me is to go into business solo, for now I am an independent contractor but I would like to figure out how to get in the fast lane. I apologize for my earlier rant, I am eager to get on the ball and I usually learn by seeing examples that's all. My comments probably took this thread off course, hopefully other users won't continue to drive it off it's intended purpose.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Both flopped due to disagreements with partners.

Oh man, would love to hear the details. Partner troubles always interest me because I hear more horror stories than successes.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Hello,

I just ordered the book online, I am really excited to see what I can learn from it. It seems many people on this forum have had some success after getting started. I have been working full time since I was 16 years old, I am now turning 30 and am exhausted. I have a great career as a senior motion designer working on tv commercials and films but now am trying to figure out a way to change careers in order to create more time for myself and family. I typically work 9-14 hours 5 days a week, I have a friend who works about 4-5 hours a day but own a business selling metal to artists and he makes 6 figures a year. I would love to learn to sell a product online and use my skills as a motion designer to help give me an edge marketing it.
You mentioned you live in NYC, so do I. Is there any chance we could meet for coffee and chat in the future? Should I read the book first? I would be beyond appreciative to get some advice or mentorship.
What is your amazon store? Can I see a link?

I honestly missed this post so my bad. I'm certainly not ignoring you. Definitely buy the MFL and read it at least once a year. I'd also add Rework to your yearly reading list too.

If you want to sell - just sell. Don't over think it. You'll make a TON of mistakes. I certainly did but that's when you correct and change course. It's the only way I know how to do anything. I haven't cracked Amazon yet but I'm doing pretty well on Shopify/eBay so I have time to work on my sales and dig down deeper.

I can't show you my store because that will reveal my niche and it's currently untapped. I don't live in NYC - our warehouse is in NYC and my partner runs it. I live in India.

My biggest advice for you is change your attitude. Nobody's out to "get you". Most of us have had challenging lives and careers. And, this is one of the best forums you'll find out there. Trust me on that.

 

[Mr.M]

I honestly missed this post so my bad. I'm certainly not ignoring you. Definitely buy the MFL and read it at least once a year. I'd also add Rework to your yearly reading list too.

If you want to sell - just sell. Don't over think it. You'll make a TON of mistakes. I certainly did but that's when you correct and change course. It's the only way I know how to do anything. I haven't cracked Amazon yet but I'm doing pretty well on Shopify/eBay so I have time to work on my sales and dig down deeper.

I can't show you my store because that will reveal my niche and it's currently untapped. I don't live in NYC - our warehouse is in NYC and my partner runs it. I live in India.

My biggest advice for you is change your attitude. Nobody's out to "get you". Most of us have had challenging lives and careers. And, this is one of the best forums you'll find out there. Trust me on that.

Thanks for the advice Sanj, sorry I lost my cool.

 

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[amp0193]

Some SOLID advice! Here's what I'm doing:

1) 2 x PPC campaigns. 1 to BROAD and 1 to EXACT keywords. CPC = $1 with $10/day budgets. It's making some sales.

I've done: Set up 1 campaign for product. 1 ad group for EXACT. 1 ad group for PHRASE. 1 ad group for BROAD. Then I tier my bids. Broad gets $0.80. Phrase gets $1.00. Exact gets $1.20.

Make sure you run a search terms report and add irrelevant negative keywords to the campaign on a weekly basis. After 6 weeks of doing this, you're good to go.

Daily budget should be $1000. $10/day won't get you anywhere.

You have two scenarios with ads:

1) Newly launched: Get a lot of sales in a short amount of time. Max ad spend. Lose some money in the short term. Profit from organic sales in the long term.

OR

2) Your ads are profitable. Max ad spend and MAKE MORE MONEY.

I spend $500-600 a day on Amazon ads. I'd spend 10x that if the search volume enabled it to get that high and the ACoS remained the same.

PRO TIP: Pay for amazon ads on an airline credit card. I'm getting 25000 miles a month from business expenses.

2) Signed up to Feedback Genius to get some reviews back. Believe it or not, I'm ranking pretty high with zero reviews. Positive reviews will increase conversions.

Good. Make sure your emails are directing them to the "leave a review" page for your ASIN, and not the "leave a feedback" page. Here's the URL You should send them to: amazon.com/gp/review/create-review/?asin=YOURASIN&channel=email-firstHelpful

Pro Tip:

Give them 3 choices:

Option A) I love this product - 5 stars ---> Links to review URL above


Option B) I was satisfied but have some suggestions on improvements ---> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)


Option C) I am dissatisfied or need help ----> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)

3) Improved the landing page copy by adding some newer keywords that I've found off Voucher Leap. There's some GOLD in there.

Keyword Inspector - Amazon Merchant Words and Keyword Product Research Tools has gotten me some good keywords in the past. As well as google keyword tool.

 

[JayTGold]

It's all about speed and execution. MJ calls it The Fastlane. I had no idea what I was doing and if you've ever used Seller Central - you know how crappy the interface is.

But the unstoppable mind can do anything. That and YouTube too.

The biggest tip I can give you is try not to follow the crowd i.e. if we all used Amazing.com or every other guru strategy - there's no advantage.

I have a best seller on my Shopify store. We've done over 1000+ sales so I know it's popular. Turns out the entire niche is low competition and we already have stock in our US warehouse - it's a no brainer to move to Amazon.

Don't get bogged down with too much competition, search results, getting paid reviews or private labelling. "Yoga Mats" is saturated but what about "Yoga Mats For Pregnant Women"? Dig deep and find that gold. There's lots of ways to sell.

We're not even FBA (yet) or private labelled. Once that kicks in it will get easier. I'm looking forward to cranking up the sales after the Chinese New Year too.

If you're sat on the fence - jump right in. It's never been a better time.

Congrats man! Im definitely looking to go full into Amazon selling soon however Im pretty busy right now with my new brand/product import setting up my ecommerce website PLUS my dayjob. Your story is definitely got me motivated

 

[Sanj Modha]

I've done: Set up 1 campaign for product. 1 ad group for EXACT. 1 ad group for PHRASE. 1 ad group for BROAD. Then I tier my bids. Broad gets $0.80. Phrase gets $1.00. Exact gets $1.20.

Make sure you run a search terms report and add irrelevant negative keywords to the campaign on a weekly basis. After 6 weeks of doing this, you're good to go.

Daily budget should be $1000. $10/day won't get you anywhere.

You have two scenarios with ads:

1) Newly launched: Get a lot of sales in a short amount of time. Max ad spend. Lose some money in the short term. Profit from organic sales in the long term.

OR

2) Your ads are profitable. Max ad spend and MAKE MORE MONEY.

I spend $500-600 a day on Amazon ads. I'd spend 10x that if the search volume enabled it to get that high and the ACoS remained the same.

PRO TIP: Pay for amazon ads on an airline credit card. I'm getting 25000 miles a month from business expenses.






Good. Make sure your emails are directing them to the "leave a review" page for your ASIN, and not the "leave a feedback" page. Here's the URL You should send them to: amazon.com/gp/review/create-review/?asin=YOURASIN&channel=email-firstHelpful

Pro Tip:

Give them 3 choices:

Option A) I love this product. 5 STARS ---> Links to review URL above


Option B) I was satisfied but have some suggestions on improvements ---> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)


Option C) I am dissatisfied or need help ----> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)




Keyword Inspector - Amazon Merchant Words and Keyword Product Research Tools has gotten me some good keywords in the past. As well as google keyword tool.

MOTHER OF GOD - this is beautiful! I'm swiping and adding to my Evernote library. Wow, just wow.

 

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[Sanj Modha]

I've done: Set up 1 campaign for product. 1 ad group for EXACT. 1 ad group for PHRASE. 1 ad group for BROAD. Then I tier my bids. Broad gets $0.80. Phrase gets $1.00. Exact gets $1.20.

Make sure you run a search terms report and add irrelevant negative keywords to the campaign on a weekly basis. After 6 weeks of doing this, you're good to go.

Daily budget should be $1000. $10/day won't get you anywhere.

You have two scenarios with ads:

1) Newly launched: Get a lot of sales in a short amount of time. Max ad spend. Lose some money in the short term. Profit from organic sales in the long term.

OR

2) Your ads are profitable. Max ad spend and MAKE MORE MONEY.

I spend $500-600 a day on Amazon ads. I'd spend 10x that if the search volume enabled it to get that high and the ACoS remained the same.

PRO TIP: Pay for amazon ads on an airline credit card. I'm getting 25000 miles a month from business expenses.






Good. Make sure your emails are directing them to the "leave a review" page for your ASIN, and not the "leave a feedback" page. Here's the URL You should send them to: amazon.com/gp/review/create-review/?asin=YOURASIN&channel=email-firstHelpful

Pro Tip:

Give them 3 choices:

Option A) I love this product. 5 STARS ---> Links to review URL above


Option B) I was satisfied but have some suggestions on improvements ---> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)


Option C) I am dissatisfied or need help ----> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)




Keyword Inspector - Amazon Merchant Words and Keyword Product Research Tools has gotten me some good keywords in the past. As well as google keyword tool.

Quick Q - where do I select the different keyword types? I've only seen Broad and what I thought was Exact but I'm beginning to think it's a Phrase match now.

Thanks.

 

[JayTGold]

I've done: Set up 1 campaign for product. 1 ad group for EXACT. 1 ad group for PHRASE. 1 ad group for BROAD. Then I tier my bids. Broad gets $0.80. Phrase gets $1.00. Exact gets $1.20.

Make sure you run a search terms report and add irrelevant negative keywords to the campaign on a weekly basis. After 6 weeks of doing this, you're good to go.

Daily budget should be $1000. $10/day won't get you anywhere.

You have two scenarios with ads:

1) Newly launched: Get a lot of sales in a short amount of time. Max ad spend. Lose some money in the short term. Profit from organic sales in the long term.

OR

2) Your ads are profitable. Max ad spend and MAKE MORE MONEY.

I spend $500-600 a day on Amazon ads. I'd spend 10x that if the search volume enabled it to get that high and the ACoS remained the same.

PRO TIP: Pay for amazon ads on an airline credit card. I'm getting 25000 miles a month from business expenses.






Good. Make sure your emails are directing them to the "leave a review" page for your ASIN, and not the "leave a feedback" page. Here's the URL You should send them to: amazon.com/gp/review/create-review/?asin=YOURASIN&channel=email-firstHelpful

Pro Tip:

Give them 3 choices:

Option A) I love this product. 5 STARS ---> Links to review URL above


Option B) I was satisfied but have some suggestions on improvements ---> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)


Option C) I am dissatisfied or need help ----> Links to seller feedback (then you remove negative product reviews from your feedback by opening a seller central case)




Keyword Inspector - Amazon Merchant Words and Keyword Product Research Tools has gotten me some good keywords in the past. As well as google keyword tool.

Wow, good info man. Thats alot of money to spend on ads though lol! What did you do starting out? I definitely couldnt afford that now.