Made $6,900 Importing From China and Reselling on eBay.

[Tehcasa]

Some ideas:

• make it with a better material
• package it in a premium box
• make it part of a bigger kit
• make it in a range of different colors or designs to give people options
• make a new product based on it
• make it bigger
• make it smaller
• make it lighter
• make it heavier
• make it transparent/see through
• build a brand based around it through a website, social media, influencers
• add an instruction booklet with comical step-by-steps and ideas on creative uses
• price it really high
• price it really low

Exactly what Jonny said

 

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[Ap0110]

Some ideas:

• make it with a better material
• package it in a premium box
• make it part of a bigger kit
• make it in a range of different colors or designs to give people options
• make a new product based on it
• make it bigger
• make it smaller
• make it lighter
• make it heavier
• make it transparent/see through
• build a brand based around it through a website, social media, influencers
• add an instruction booklet with comical step-by-steps and ideas on creative uses
• price it really high
• price it really low

Thank you sir!
"add an instruction booklet with comical step-by-steps and ideas on creative uses"
You just gave me an idea amazing.....

 

[Tehcasa]

Wow you guys are right on value. E-commerce really is like the gold rush and if you you're just doing the simple importing OEM products and selling them on e-commerce platforms right out of the package for too long, some day you might get bodied out of the market or deal with heavy saturation. Really something I need to consider.

The products I import always become saturated on the market, and here are two main reasons why.
1. I only deal with new upcoming trendy products on a global scale. This involves new product inventions that are rising in sales and likes. After a while the product would usually become saturated; and hence this is where my second reason comes in place.
2. I quickly change products and ideally, find a new product niche. This is integral for keeping your business unique and different to your competition.

It's quite a simple flow to work by, and its definitely something I recommend. Don't get me wrong, there are some product niches where you can keep selling the product for a long time without disturbance from competitors or as I like to call the market spectrum we work in, a "perfect competition".

 

[Dream&Achieve]

As of the age of 16 I started importing directly from Chinese manufactures (through Alibaba). During the course, I was a failure. I didn't break even, I was scammed once and I had no clue on how to find reliable suppliers and profitable products to sell.

Before I go on, many people ask me "did you use your own money to start-up your own import venture". My answer is: Yes. I scrubbed dishes like a crazy old lady, cooked bread and oysters like no tomorrow and scrubbed toilets with my bare hands in a restaurant I worked at for no longer than one year.

As of today, I've made close to $7,000! I know it may not seem that much, but I started importing at the same time I had school.

My process on importing is simple. FIND, BUY & SELL!
Of course it's not going to be as easy as it sounds. But the more questions you ask me, the more you'll be better off in your start-up journey.

For now, I have stopped importing mainly because of starting year 12 and putting all my time into that for necessary purposes. Please don't rant onto me about dropping out of high school...

As a small success, I want to give back to the Fastlane community. If you have any questions related to importing from Alibaba and reselling via eBay. I'm your man. Personal Message me if you like!

Pat

How did you find a legit manufacturer? I've looked around and I'm not sure how to tell if they're legit or sell fakes.

 

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[JonnyC]

The products I import always become saturated on the market, and here are two main reasons why.
1. I only deal with new upcoming trendy products on a global scale. This involves new product inventions that are rising in sales and likes. After a while the product would usually become saturated; and hence this is where my second reason comes in place.
2. I quickly change products and ideally, find a new product niche. This is integral for keeping your business unique and different to your competition.

It's quite a simple flow to work by, and its definitely something I recommend. Don't get me wrong, there are some product niches where you can keep selling the product for a long time without disturbance from competitors or as I like to call the market spectrum we work in, a "perfect competition".

Why not make your own products as a brand owner instead of reselling other brands?

 

[Tehcasa]

Why not make your own products as a brand owner instead of reselling other brands?

After I was successful after selling my first load.. I didn't want to change or excel my process into selling re branded products. Of course ODM is great, however, at my particular stage of importing I was more inclined to stay on this path.

 

[Tehcasa]

How did you find a legit manufacturer? I've looked around and I'm not sure how to tell if they're legit or sell fakes.

Nicole, if you read Page 2 of 3 on this forum post. you will examine my full written summary on my process for finding reputable suppliers. Hope this helps

 

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[Dream&Achieve]

Nicole, if you read Page 2 of 3 on this forum post. you will examine my full written summary on my process for finding reputable suppliers. Hope this helps

Thank you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tehcasa]

Yes, it is that simple.

However, how much value are really adding by doing that? I just got off the phone with @LightHouse and we were talking about this.

So many people looking to sell on Amazon (and off of Amazon) merely import something from Alibaba, get their logo stitched on it, and throw it on Amazon.

There's an Amazon / importing gold rush happening right now.

Most of the guys making the best money are supplying shovels and pans for that gold rush. Look at all of the Amazon software out there.

Yah, that's easy. It's still a lot of work - but how much value are you REALLY adding?

Yes, you can make some money (and in some cases, a LOT of money).

But in the end, you are doing what everyone else is doing - the easy thing. The stay at home mom who makes $2000 from importing from China and selling Amazon.

If you don't add any real value to your branding or product, how long do you expect to last?

If it's easy, don't expect to make a lot of money.

Maybe you can make some money in the short run, but you will be driven out of the market if you don't have large competitive advantage.

I feel privileged to have a legendary contributor visit my post

How did you find a legit manufacturer? I've looked around and I'm not sure how to tell if they're legit or sell fakes.

Nicole, if you read Page 2 of 3 on this forum post. you will examine my full written summary on my process for finding reputable suppliers. Hope this helps

 

[Dream&Achieve]

I've been asked the question regarding "the process for finding reputable suppliers" a lot, so here is a small summary of what you should know.


WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!

ALIBABA'S DIFFERENT CLARIFICATIONS:

GOLD SUPPLIER: Is a company who pays for a yearly membership to host their store on Alibaba. This also allows the supplier/company to have premium benefits. The number one rule is to ALWAYS this button as it ensures that you are buying from a verified supplier. Also, the number on gold symbol represents how long the company has been on Alibaba. The longer the better your chances are of finding a verified supplier.

ONSITE CHECK:
Informs you that the supplier’s company premise has been checked by Alibaba.com staff to verify onsite operations exist there. Again, this box should ALWAYS be selected before you search for a product.

ASSESSED SUPPLIER:
This highlights that the supplier has been assessed by Alibaba’s third party inspection companies. This Feature is another way to certify that your supplier is verified.

ESCROW SERVICE:
Is a safe payment method to use when purchasing goods on Alibaba. The service will hold your payment until the order has been processed. The payment will be released to the supplier upon your confirmation. Although this feature seems important to select, I highly recommend that you only use PayPal to purchase your goods on Alibaba seemingly because it’s one of the safest ways to transfer money without having to share financial details.

E-CREDIT LINE:
Paying a supplier through credit. I highly discourage this because you may have to give out your financial details to a supplier. Entirely, I wouldn’t bother selecting this button when you are searching for your specific product.

ONLINE:
This means that the supplier/company has sales representatives in real time ready to chat with you about the product you want to purchase. Another note to add is to buy ONLY from suppliers who are ALWAYS online. You always want “on the spot clarification” when you are researching your products. It is inevitable at sometime that most suppliers on Alibaba will be offline. This is due to the different time zones between your country and China

RESPONSIVE RATE:
Informs you that the sales representatives are active and will respond quickly to your inquiry. The responsive rate of a sales representative should range from 20% to 100%. This figure can be illustrated below. In doing so, you will save a lot of time.

Acceptable responsive rate
Even if a company has a responsive rate over 40% they may use an automatic program to greet you when you open a real-time conversation with them (chat now)

CHINA MAINLAND:
This is another important clarification to note. You ALWAYS want to purchase from China (Mainland) manufacturers. Most other global manufacturers like India increase the chances of scam.

LISTINGS:
Also, another important part to add to your notes is that a company usually has more than one of the same product listings. For example, the above diagram shows two listings which are exactly the same product from the same company. Companies do this for publicity of their product. If they are seen more than once, a viewer may believe that they exclusively provide that product to consumers.

FOB PRICE:
Simply means Free on Board or Freight on Board. FOB idolizes which party (buyer or seller) pays for shipment and loading costs, and/or where responsibility for the goods is transferred.

MINIMUM ORDER QUANTITY:
This is how many units of the product you will have to buy in one order. The above supplier has an MOQ of 1000 Piece/Pieces. Never buy this amount during the early stages of your importing venture. You will always want to negotiate with your supplier to reduce the MOQ to a smaller quantity.

PAYMENT METHOD:
At first, buying direct from Chinese Suppliers over the internet can be overwhelming. The major concern is money transfer requests. ALWAYS use PayPal when transferring money to a supplier. It is the safest way to pay for goods without sharing financial details. Ideally, a Alibaba company will have it stated if or not they accept their payment through PayPal.


USE ALIBABA'S TRADE MANAGER!!! search it on google
The trade manager will be used significantly throughout your importing stages. It is the lifeline of connecting you with a supplier in a real time conversation

To start conversations with the supplier click “chat now”. Your Alibaba trade manager will load
up and a real time chat with a sales representative will appear.

Chinese sales representatives don’t like buyers who are mean and disrespectful and so you should always behave in a respectful manner while talking to them.

Getting on the good side of a sales representative will be as simple as this:
-Talk about your life in general. For example, your lifestyle in Australia.
-Ask why “China is a good destination to travel”.
-Have manners. For example, thank you for your time, I appreciate your service or you’re the best.

Most suppliers will be able to understand and write in English, but you will find out that some won’t. Don’t deal with these sorts of suppliers because communication is GOLDEN in finding the right product.

The main goal to have a long term relationship with a supplier is to maintain trust. I encourage you all to set up a Skype account and to ask the supplier to talk to you through there instead of the trade manager. Skype’s interface is much more user base friendly and it’s easier to track your messages after a long period of time.

--

I always tested my products first by buying a few samples to see how they could sell. From this I determined if they were good to buy in bulk. If yes, I would purchase around 20 and from there I would buy a much larger quantity. The product would come straight to my door via the courier agency that was assigned to me. I would list the product myself on eBay and as soon as someone purchased one of my products I would go to the post office myself and send it off. Not all the time I did this, when I had heaps of products selling I would buy bulk satchel packs instead of going to the post office and send the products off to the nearest post box (which was 100% faster and more efficient).

How I find products to sell? Well, if you go to the first page of this post, you will see my response already answering this question. It is just a small summary of how I would go about finding products to sell.

As for the eBay part, It is quite ok. eBay now offers I think its still (occurring) 80 free listings every month? I'm not 100% sure on that. But that helped me a lot. Not much extra costs except for the tax of each product I sold. And influx? This will depend on the product you buy. Not all products are heavily listed on eBay. When you see my old response on this posting on "finding profitable products to sell" you will see that the products I found were new and trendy. Products that are not over-saturated!

Hope this helps. pm if you want to join my skype group full of new start-up importers.

Great information! Thanks for sharing!

 

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[Jon Park]

Hi Tehcasa,

1) How long does it take between your first order of the first one item batch and starting selling a lot of them on Amazon? Do you get impatient?

2) What resources/articles/books/videos other than this thread did you find invaluable in starting your business?

3) What are the top 3 mistakes you see being made when you check other products, or that you did/were close to doing?

Regards, Jon

 

[Tehcasa]

Hi Tehcasa,

1) How long does it take between your first order of the first one item batch and starting selling a lot of them on Amazon? Do you get impatient?

2) What resources/articles/books/videos other than this thread did you find invaluable in starting your business?

3) What are the top 3 mistakes you see being made when you check other products, or that you did/were close to doing?

Regards, Jon

Hi John, here's my response.

1. The initial process of waiting for my first order was very frustrating as the courier took over 1 month. In this time I numerously contacted my supplier to see the progress of the shipment, however I was scammed. *This was my first ever shipment*!

After years of training and failing, I finally created my very own formula to import profitable products from reputable Chinese suppliers. As a matter of fact, I enjoy researching and analyzing products on the global market, hence this made the entire process much more enjoyable and entertaining in a way. (there's a lot of strange and weird products on the market).

I was never quite impatient with my orders, despite the time it takes to arrive to my destination, Australia. In the mean time of waiting, I just went on and did more research for my next product/order.

2. I rarely used resources to learn how to import, however, I highly discourage going to seminars without checking the background of the speaker. I've been to a few in my local area, and without a doubt they were just a sales pitch. A very expensive sales pitch, that went on for more than 3 hours. Again I reinforce, do a check of the host taking the seminar, see if the content on his sales page is "too over the top", and if it is, don't waste your time!

3.

• Importing highly saturated products, which means that there are too many sellers and not enough buyers, e.g. iphone cases, clothing.
  
• Importing bulky products is a NO GO as a startup importer - too much risk
• Not researching your suppliers reputability, and not creating a professional framework to find profitable products

 

[BenjaminGetsRich]

Hey man thank you so much for making this AMA.

My question are:

what made you choose to sell on ebay rather than amazon?

Will you consider selling on amazon in the future?

 

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[Tehcasa]

Hey man thank you so much for making this AMA.

My question are:

what made you choose to sell on ebay rather than amazon?

Will you consider selling on amazon in the future?

Hey Benjamin
I initially choose eBay over Amazon because "as a start-up importer" I felt more competent using eBay's simplistic interface design, whereas Amazon there was much more to uncover. More so I just wanted to sell a product fast and easy, and eBay was the first eCommerce website to do that for me, hence why I've stayed. Now, Amazon is certainly a better selling platform than eBay for more experienced sellers as it carries FBA and other fantastic benefits for sellers. However, the largest and most popular selling fulfillment network websites in the world, Fulfillment by Amazon is not deployed in Australia. This is ultimately why I have stayed with eBay for so long.

 

[Minlaker]

As of the age of 16 I started importing directly from Chinese manufactures (through Alibaba). During the course, I was a failure. I didn't break even, I was scammed once and I had no clue on how to find reliable suppliers and profitable products to sell.

Before I go on, many people ask me "did you use your own money to start-up your own import venture". My answer is: Yes. I scrubbed dishes like a crazy old lady, cooked bread and oysters like no tomorrow and scrubbed toilets with my bare hands in a restaurant I worked at for no longer than one year.

As of today, I've made close to $7,000! I know it may not seem that much, but I started importing at the same time I had school.

My process on importing is simple. FIND, BUY & SELL!
Of course it's not going to be as easy as it sounds. But the more questions you ask me, the more you'll be better off in your start-up journey.

For now, I have stopped importing mainly because of starting year 12 and putting all my time into that for necessary purposes. Please don't rant onto me about dropping out of high school...

As a small success, I want to give back to the Fastlane community. If you have any questions related to importing from Alibaba and reselling via eBay. I'm your man. Personal Message me if you like!

Pat

It has been about a year now since your original post, how has your business progressed? Would you care to share a few of the products you started with? Great post, thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Tehcasa]

It has been about a year now since your original post, how has your business progressed? Would you care to share a few of the products you started with? Great post, thanks for sharing your experience.

Of course Minlaker, my startup progressed rapidly. I have however stopped importing and moved to actually coaching new people "how to startup". I just find it more enjoyable and it's just something I love to do. I unfortunately started out with selling counterfeits (fake replicas) of Daniel Wellington watches. I then stopped this operation because it could of jeopardized my entire importing startup. I moved onto importing GoPro accessories which is a niche I loved working in. My next big trend I found was movie toys. A major sell-off I was dominating in at the time was Big Hero 6 Plush toys. This is just a brief response to my importing startup business venture. There were many downfalls and successions I had during this enjoyable experience.

 

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[Late Start]

I'm planning to dip my toes into these waters come tax refund time (hopefully this is the last year we qualify for a refund) - the supplier I am eyeballing on Alibaba is a Gold Supplier and offers Trade Assurance - do those designations truly mean anything useful, or is it just marketing hype. Is there any particular resource you would recommend to get a crash course of importing from Alibaba? I grabbed a well reviewed Udemy course that I plan to start after I finish a couple of others not related to import.

 

[Tehcasa]

I'm planning to dip my toes into these waters come tax refund time (hopefully this is the last year we qualify for a refund) - the supplier I am eyeballing on Alibaba is a Gold Supplier and offers Trade Assurance - do those designations truly mean anything useful, or is it just marketing hype. Is there any particular resource you would recommend to get a crash course of importing from Alibaba? I grabbed a well reviewed Udemy course that I plan to start after I finish a couple of others not related to import.

First, both reliable and unreliable suppliers and manufacturers do exist. Your view on suppliers who are gold suppliers and offer Trade Assurance is factual. Marketing within Alibaba is extensive and any apprehension to "sell more" is vital and enforced by all Chinese suppliers. So yes, becoming a Gold Supplier is a small facet for many Chinese companies marketing strategies, hence effecting a buyers choice to view their online store. A majority of legitimate and reliable companies however become Gold Suppliers in order to "actually" become successful. It's quite clear and evident that many buyers/importers will buy from these sellers "only" and dismiss any other sellers who aren't. That's why it's vital to research Gold suppliers who are matured or in other terms have been selling on Alibaba for many years. In contrast, 1-2 year gold suppliers may be more fabricated then 3+ gold suppliers, but don't get me wrong I've had matured suppliers who've scammed me in the past.

If you're looking for a particular resource, I'm here to help! I can teach you the whole process in a 1 on 1 conversation. Plus, I'm currently in the working stages of creating my upgraded online importing course for startup importers.

 

[Tehcasa]

10x

 

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[MikeRaymond]

What is the best way, in your opinion for seeing how saturated a market is in your niche? for example with your gopro cameras, how did you know you would make a sale?

 

[Late Start]

The first thing I was planning on importing is starting to get saturated. It's gone from a couple of sellers in Amazon a couple of months ago to several. The vendor I've been in contact with on Alibaba quoted me at $12 unit, and they seem to sell well online for $35-40. I've got a sample on the way, but by the time I have enough capital to buy 100, there will likely be that many sellers. I've got one on the way from a seller on eBay in CA, as I could tell from the pic they got theirs from the same vendor I am talking with. If it works as advertised, I may still buy 100 come tax refund time, but Amazon is becoming rather crowded. I've got a lot of feedback on eBay, so maybe that will give me an edge, but eBay is a lot less passive than FBA.

 

[Tehcasa]

What is the best way, in your opinion for seeing how saturated a market is in your niche? for example with your gopro cameras, how did you know you would make a sale?

Most of the time product saturation is easy to identify in various online departments. For example, phones, clothing, or simply products you could purchase from a retail/supermarket store. However, there are some products in which you can't determine when there's too many sellers and not enough buyers. This is probably what you're trying to question? My answer: I used to use Terapeak.com: a online analytic research product tool for eBay/Amazon.
This allowed me to examine the sell through ratio of any product keyword I searched, allowing me to tell if there was either: Buyers > Sellers (buyers greater than sellers).

I then moved onto importing new and innovative products which were already in high demand/trendy products. I was able to generally perceive if these products would sell or not without having to use any online data analytics to back up my decision of importing the item in the first place. This also cut the cost of having to pay for a recurring subscription on Terapeak which was expensive and enduring at the start of my importing business venture.

 

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[Tehcasa]

The first thing I was planning on importing is starting to get saturated. It's gone from a couple of sellers in Amazon a couple of months ago to several. The vendor I've been in contact with on Alibaba quoted me at $12 unit, and they seem to sell well online for $35-40. I've got a sample on the way, but by the time I have enough capital to buy 100, there will likely be that many sellers. I've got one on the way from a seller on eBay in CA, as I could tell from the pic they got theirs from the same vendor I am talking with. If it works as advertised, I may still buy 100 come tax refund time, but Amazon is becoming rather crowded. I've got a lot of feedback on eBay, so maybe that will give me an edge, but eBay is a lot less passive than FBA.

I would approach this by trying to reduce the bulk buy? Maybe start off with 20 units instead of 100. Unless 100 is the MOQ?
If so, try and haggle with the supplier respectfully. You could inform the supplier that you will keep buying products with them in the future to add incentive for the supplier to accept your offer. Also, why not list your item on both platforms, in fact list the product on any eCommerce website you can, that's including local websites. In this way you can tell which platform is more sufficient.

What is the best way, in your opinion for seeing how saturated a market is in your niche? for example with your gopro cameras, how did you know you would make a sale?

Most of the time product saturation is easy to identify in various online departments. For example, phones, clothing, or simply products you could purchase from a retail/supermarket store. However, there are some products in which you can't determine when there's too many sellers and not enough buyers. This is probably what you're trying to question? My answer: I used to use Terapeak.com: a online analytic research product tool for eBay/Amazon.
This allowed me to examine the sell through ratio of any product keyword I searched, allowing me to tell if there was either: Buyers > Sellers (buyers greater than sellers).

I then moved onto importing new and innovative products which were already in high demand/trendy products. I was able to generally perceive if these products would sell or not without having to use any online data analytics to back up my decision of importing the item in the first place. This also cut the cost of having to pay for a recurring subscription on Terapeak which was expensive and enduring at the start of my importing business venture.

 

[Late Start]

I would approach this by trying to reduce the bulk buy? Maybe start off with 20 units instead of 100. Unless 100 is the MOQ?
If so, try and haggle with the supplier respectfully. You could inform the supplier that you will keep buying products with them in the future to add incentive for the supplier to accept your offer. Also, why not list your item on both platforms, in fact list the product on any eCommerce website you can, that's including local websites. In this way you can tell which platform is more sufficient.


Most of the time product saturation is easy to identify in various online departments. For example, phones, clothing, or simply products you could purchase from a retail/supermarket store. However, there are some products in which you can't determine when there's too many sellers and not enough buyers. This is probably what you're trying to question? My answer: I used to use Terapeak.com: a online analytic research product tool for eBay/Amazon.
This allowed me to examine the sell through ratio of any product keyword I searched, allowing me to tell if there was either: Buyers > Sellers (buyers greater than sellers).

I then moved onto importing new and innovative products which were already in high demand/trendy products. I was able to generally perceive if these products would sell or not without having to use any online data analytics to back up my decision of importing the item in the first place. This also cut the cost of having to pay for a recurring subscription on Terapeak which was expensive and enduring at the start of my importing business venture.

Yeah, the MOQ is 100, though I would like to start with 50.

 

[Guest14692]

Many people have different opinions on jungle scout and I understand why.

But in regards to analyzing market saturation on Amazon, you could search the keyword for your product and run the JS chrome extension. If the majority of the products in top ten have >100 reviews and/or 3-4 products have 600-1000 reviews, you might want to find a new product.

 

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[JDawg]

Hey man, thanks for doing this AMA.

It seems like you had some initial success with importing, so I'm curious to know why you gave it up completely? I understand that you enjoy the coaching aspect of starting a new importing business, but why not do some coaching and build your importing business as well?

Note - this is coming from someone who runs a importing business, goes to school full-time, and works almost full-time.

 

[Tehcasa]

Yeah, the MOQ is 100, though I would like to start with 50.

Have you had a thorough check on the number of suppliers who provide your particular product? If there's just the one then you must get it down below the MOQ. It's very possible. Also, don't send messages via email, always use real time chat (Alibaba's Trade Manager). It's much more easier to converse your thoughts and ideas about the product you want to import from your supplier. Plus it's just much more convenient. It's also great to captivate your supplier by making it seem like you're a big time buyer and own a successful business.

The first thing I was planning on importing is starting to get saturated. It's gone from a couple of sellers in Amazon a couple of months ago to several. The vendor I've been in contact with on Alibaba quoted me at $12 unit, and they seem to sell well online for $35-40. I've got a sample on the way, but by the time I have enough capital to buy 100, there will likely be that many sellers. I've got one on the way from a seller on eBay in CA, as I could tell from the pic they got theirs from the same vendor I am talking with. If it works as advertised, I may still buy 100 come tax refund time, but Amazon is becoming rather crowded. I've got a lot of feedback on eBay, so maybe that will give me an edge, but eBay is a lot less passive than FBA.

I would approach this by trying to reduce the bulk buy? Maybe start off with 20 units instead of 100. Unless 100 is the MOQ?
If so, try and haggle with the supplier respectfully. You could inform the supplier that you will keep buying products with them in the future to add incentive for the supplier to accept your offer. Also, why not list your item on both platforms, in fact list the product on any eCommerce website you can, that's including local websites. In this way you can see which platform is more sufficient.

What is the best way, in your opinion for seeing how saturated a market is in your niche? for example with your gopro cameras, how did you know you would make a sale?

Most of the time product saturation is easy to identify in various online departments. For example, phones, clothing, or simply products you could purchase from a retail/supermarket store. However, there are some products in which you can't determine when there's too many sellers and not enough buyers. This is probably what you're trying to question? My answer: I used to use Terapeak.com: a online analytic research product tool for eBay/Amazon.
This allowed me to examine the sell through ratio of any product keyword I searched, allowing me to tell if there was either: Buyers > Sellers (buyers greater than sellers).

I then moved onto importing new and innovative products which were already in high demand/trendy products. I was able to generally perceive if these products would sell or not without having to use any online data analytics to back up my decision of importing the item in the first place. This also cut the cost of having to pay for a recurring subscription on Terapeak which was expensive and enduring at the start of my importing business venture.

 

[Tehcasa]

Hey man, thanks for doing this AMA.

It seems like you had some initial success with importing, so I'm curious to know why you gave it up completely? I understand that you enjoy the coaching aspect of starting a new importing business, but why not do some coaching and build your importing business as well?

Note - this is coming from someone who runs a importing business, goes to school full-time, and works almost full-time.

Hey JDawg, I didn't give up importing completely, I'm just having a big break to create my importing course. I believe and have had the advice of many successful people, 1 being the author of the 10X rule "Grant Cardone" to put in as much action into one area in which you should only focus on.

I'm actually really excited to get back on board with importing as I have a few ventures up my sleeve.

As you noted "this is coming from someone who runs a importing business, goes to school full-time, and works almost full-time."

That used to be at the initial startup of my business. I did have time, however just putting in 10X action into one of those areas will obviously make you achieve and gain better and bigger results.

Hope you understand!

 

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[Tehcasa]

Many people have different opinions on jungle scout and I understand why.

But in regards to analyzing market saturation on Amazon, you could search the keyword for your product and run the JS chrome extension. If the majority of the products in top ten have >100 reviews and/or 3-4 products have 600-1000 reviews, you might want to find a new product.

You're incredibly right. Examining products with this effortless process is just one of many methods new startups must know about in order to find profitable products. I just care bare attending another aimless seminar, and seeing an importing coach teach you nothing but buying for the newest electronic gadgets in the market. Mind you I'm not discouraging anyone to not attend seminars, you'll always learn something new. I'm just stating the fact that the one's I've dropped into weren't great at all. And JEEZ that's why I'm making a simple and uncomplicated course for new startups to invest in. No BS. Just real and authentic coaching lessons/demonstrations.

 

[Tehcasa]

great insights! thank you!

Feel free to ask me any questions you want. You can also PM me!