Newbie Importing and Selling on Amazon

[Deleted2BB3x9]

@Walter Hay

Thank you for the suggesting the use of a label on the box. I will probably end up going this route as opposed to directly printing on the boxes.

As for the sticker, I liked your color scheme, however foil wouldn't be viable as the sticker is covering up an etching.

I will instead go with a hard plastic sticker.

Similar to this:

Thanks again for the help Walter! Your book was also extremely helpful during my progress. I would recommend anyone who hasn't read it yet to do so.

 

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[Walter Hay]

@Walter Hay

Thank you for the suggesting the use of a label on the box. I will probably end up going this route as opposed to directly printing on the boxes.

As for the sticker, I liked your color scheme, however foil wouldn't be viable as the sticker is covering up an etching.

I will instead go with a hard plastic sticker.

Similar to this:

Thanks again for the help Walter! Your book was also extremely helpful during my progress. I would recommend anyone who hasn't read it yet to do so.

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your plug for my book.

The label you have illustrated can be made by various means including sublimation printing + epoxy dome. If your Aunt can do that, fine, if not, let me know and I can give you contact details for a top notch manufacturer in China. MOQ 300 pcs.

 

[Hassen]

Wow, I just read this thread from start to finish and have to say, gotta go make a progress thread of my own now. Good job Ben, your story is damn inspirational.


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[Deleted2BB3x9]

Finally time for an update

So it's April 30th. Tomorrow is May 1st. It's pretty disappointing I've gotten delayed this far. I didn't sell anything for the entire month of April and my last sale was on March 11th. I received my 2nd order on April 15th. Still haven't shipped it out, but I have labeled them and applied my stickers. Literally took me 8 hours. I also submitted my instruction manual to staples for printing, it will be ready tomorrow. That means tomorrow is the day I ship my products out.

Now I've realized the reason for being delayed is all on me and that I need to reorganize my priorities. Like I could have written that instruction manual sooner, but I chose to procrastinate and ended up writing it at 3am last night. And because of this, it appears my competitor is pulling up ahead of me. He has 30 reviews on his listing while I still have 20. However, it looks like he will also be running out of stock. He is currently at 27 units.

This will be my chance to regain my position and stay ahead. I plan on updating my social media followers and my email list as soon as I'm back in stock. This should give me some momentum, i might also run a discount/giveaway but i'm not sure yet. What I am sure about though is instagram, I will be buying ads from influencers shortly after getting my inventory checked in. I've made a list of about 10 of the top accounts in my niche that offer ads. I will continue building this list in the meantime.

I plan to start focusing on influencer marketing. Instagram ads fall under influencer marketing. Blogger reviews/youtube reviews also fall under influencer marketing. For this reason, I will likely be keeping 10 of the 110 products for use as samples to send to bloggers/youtubers. I'll also be starting another list about the top reviewers in my niche and will seek to build a relationship with them.

And now that my product has my brand name on it, I can start taking more pictures. The sticker really makes my brand name shine, and it looks way better than my competitor.

 

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[Deleted2BB3x9]

Quick update...

Half of my inventory checked-in last night

Got a sale today

 

[Moises]

Thanks for the great information. Keep up the hard work.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Just wanted to update you guys.

It turns out, my manufacturer decided to go into an exclusive agreement with my competitor...

So I don't have a product anymore.

However, I still have my brand.

And because of this, I emailed another manufacturer and am now getting my own custom product designed.
This time, my product will have my brand logo on it. And I will have custom packaging.

I really want to make this product valuable! I want my customers to have a good experience when they open their package.

I did not feel this way with my first product, i felt cheap since i could not remove my manufacturer's brand name.

More to come soon!

 

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[Deleted2BB3x9]

Just got my first website sale!

So why did it take me so long?

Well, I had shipping to the US disabled...

 

[Lawrence Barse]

Turns out the limit for characters is 4500.

I don't know why I said 8000 before. When I was writing the advertisement I just wrote it out on word and aimed for under 8000 characters, I wrote it like a classic sales page.

Then it turned out I was only allowed 4500 (2000 for the description and 500 for each bullet point, with 5 bullet points.) So I had to restart and edit my copy to a shorter form.

I found that to make the listing look nice, you have to write your advertisement in amazon's native format. Write in amazon's style, don't write an advertisement on word then try to squeeze it into amazon's format.

Now I have a nice listing with a 2000 character description, using <p> and <b> tags. The bullets points probably aren't 500 characters each but I find it better to only have one or two sentences as it makes them look a lot cleaner and official looking.

Also keep in mind, amazon's items often has a much bigger description, more bullet points and pictures in the description.

Non-amazon items have limited descriptions.

Hi @BusinessBen

you are doing a great job man, very interesting to read the thread!!

I'm curious as to how much money you had to put in at this point??
Y'know shipping 3 samples from China testing them out in the market, then going ahead with another product. Branding. Social Media.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Hi @BusinessBen

you are doing a great job man, very interesting to read the thread!!

I'm curious as to how much money you had to put in at this point??
Y'know shipping 3 samples from China testing them out in the market, then going ahead with another product. Branding. Social Media.

Thanks!

I think my first order cost me like 300$ or something.

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[Lawrence Barse]

@BusinessBen

You said you have 5.5K+ followers on Instagram, and that initially you followed many people and then unfollowed people how didn't follow you in return. So, did you search for specific group of people and followed the people in the search result??

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

@BusinessBen

You said you have 5.5K+ followers on Instagram, and that initially you followed many people and then unfollowed people how didn't follow you in return. So, did you search for specific group of people and followed the people in the search result??

Yeah, i started getting followers by following/unfollowing. I would search for a hashtag in my niche, then follow people who posted pictures.

 

[Cembo]

Any updates Ben?

 

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[RisingStars]

A comment on shipping direct to FBA.

We never do.

There are several reasons why, all with equal weight :

1. We don't want Amazon to know who our supplier are

2. We don't want our suppliers to know how much of our business is done on Amazon

3. Quality control

4. We don't send all of our inventory to Amazon

I highly suggest NEVER sending inventory directly from a factory to Amazon.

Ever.

EVER.

For what you think you are saving, any of the top 3 points above could cost you the entire Amazon business.

I am using a fulfillment offer from another company because I mainly sell on ebay and amazon is shipping my products in amazon packages to my customers and most ebay customers in germany dont want amazon packages.
Also it would look like I am selling products from amazon I dont own and then sent it to the customer with a profit.

My fulfillment center offered me quality control. Would you still give the advise to not send directly to the fulfillment company? I see the point that they shouldnt know my supplier. Sending directly to the fulfillment center and let them do the quality control for me would make a huge gain in passivity and make my business basically location independent (which is my goal)

Thanks in advance for helpful replys.

 

[Vigilante]

I am using a fulfillment offer from another company because I mainly sell on ebay and amazon is shipping my products in amazon packages to my customers and most ebay customers in germany dont want amazon packages.
Also it would look like I am selling products from amazon I dont own and then sent it to the customer with a profit.

My fulfillment center offered me quality control. Would you still give the advise to not send directly to the fulfillment company? I see the point that they shouldnt know my supplier. Sending directly to the fulfillment center and let them do the quality control for me would make a huge gain in passivity and make my business basically location independent (which is my goal)

Thanks in advance for helpful replys.

Like Robert Kyosaki, I had a Rich Dad and a Poor Dad. Only, in my case unlike Kyosaki, I really did have a real Rich Dad (a client and mentor) and a Poor Dad.

My Rich Dad is a persian/iranian jewish multimillionaire who lives in Beverly Hills. He made his living in his family business. A lot of what I know about life and business came from the lessons I took from him that I wrote down first on a legal pad sitting in his office, and then etched the lessons in my mind so they have become reflexive.

Anyway, one of his lessons was this :

People tend to want to share too much, and expose too much. (Thick Face, Black Heart).

He had me read Thick Face, Black Heart.

He explained that his whole business existed in the separation space he could put inbetween his suppliers and his customers. The wider that wedge, the more critical he was in the equation. The smaller the gap, the more likely it was that he could be bypassed or replaced.

He wanted his company to live on the thickest part of the wedge. The maximum separation inbetween him and ANY threat to his business. Intentionally, proactively doing things that positioned him at the thickest part of the wedge.

You may consider it paranoid... until the day you wake up (like I did) and living in the shallow end of the wedge, you ultimately lose your grip and slip off all together.

So, stay at the deepest end of the wedge with regard to ALL aspects of protecting your business.

 

[RisingStars]

@Vigilante Thank you for your help. I will protect my business and let my inventory first ship to my place and then ship my product to the fulfillment center to protect my supplier information.

 

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[Walter Hay]

I am using a fulfillment offer from another company because I mainly sell on ebay and amazon is shipping my products in amazon packages to my customers and most ebay customers in germany dont want amazon packages.
Also it would look like I am selling products from amazon I dont own and then sent it to the customer with a profit.

My fulfillment center offered me quality control. Would you still give the advise to not send directly to the fulfillment company? I see the point that they shouldnt know my supplier. Sending directly to the fulfillment center and let them do the quality control for me would make a huge gain in passivity and make my business basically location independent (which is my goal)

Thanks in advance for helpful replys.

I agree with the post above by @Vigilante, but there is a possibility that your fulfillment center might pose little or no threat. Check out and see what other services they offer. Some act as defacto dropship suppliers.

If your fulfillment center does offer to supply any products, you should not send direct to them, because they could be a potential threat. If they don't supply products, they should be safe to use, but the situation could always change, so a small risk will always be there.

 

[Superwoman]

@Vigilante I am very pleased to see someone with your high standing advise along these lines.

I see a potential disaster looming for Amazon marketers because Chinese suppliers are learning that Amazon is a marketplace where they can sell at retail. They will gleefully ditch all their nuisance buyers in the US and other places where Amazon operate.

I totally endorse your views on this very important subject.

So my question is, if it is very easy to set up an Amazon account, set up FBA, and you say above "Chinese suppliers are learning that Amazon is a marketplace where they can sell at retail", I am wondering how much longer the business model of importing existing products from China and selling them on our own, (weather through Amazon, Ebay, or own website), will continue to be viable? Wondering what the experienced folks here see for the future?

 

[ddall]

So my question is, if it is very easy to set up an Amazon account, set up FBA, and you say above "Chinese suppliers are learning that Amazon is a marketplace where they can sell at retail", I am wondering how much longer the business model of importing existing products from China and selling them on our own, (weather through Amazon, Ebay, or own website), will continue to be viable? Wondering what the experienced folks here see for the future?

This is already happening. One of my suppliers is already doing just that, with two full time staff dedicated to this pursuit exclusively. That being said, they are failing. Why? Because it is highly competitive already with other sellers striving to be heard in the noise. It takes insight and experience in terms of how to market, rank for keywords, do PPC effectively, brand and customize effectively, and so on. It IS getting harder to be heard and it is requiring more and more bank roll (for product giveaways, custom toolings, professional design etc) to reach the top, and generally things seem to be consolidating somewhat in the major categories.

The days of finding a silicone spatula (as the common example goes) and simply slapping a sticker on it, getting a few friends and family to review, doing some Amazon ppc and up you go are pretty much behind us. You have to INNOVATE, have a solid stand-out brand with a MESSAGE and emotional connection, you have to REALLY differentiate, not superficially so with a new color or size but by custom tooling, custom packaging, and custom images. You need to go DEEP not wide (to start) and have something that stands out in the market. When your product gets searched you need Google results to reveal a webpage with actual unique content, a story about your brand. You need YouTube video reviews to pop up, YouTube HowTo's, Instagram pages and giveaways. You need bloggers and influencers talking about your product etc.

I.E You need to market effectively, you need to learn and implement strategies, you need to provide unique value to the market place, and quite honestly you will likely need more money than you did if entering this model a few years ago.

 

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[Vigilante]

So my question is, if it is very easy to set up an Amazon account, set up FBA, and you say above "Chinese suppliers are learning that Amazon is a marketplace where they can sell at retail", I am wondering how much longer the business model of importing existing products from China and selling them on our own, (weather through Amazon, Ebay, or own website), will continue to be viable? Wondering what the experienced folks here see for the future?

I found an article about my great grandfather. Apparently in the 1960's, he was an importer of physical goods that he would then sell to local merchants.

@Walter Hay built (and sold) an importing company before the dawn of the internet, yet his business expertise still applies.

The medium might change, and the methods might change, but with the evolution comes a certain degree of Darwinism.

Rather than focusing on the perception of the demise of one particular method, learn to focus on what value you can carve out in the food chain.

Maybe you can sit on top of the next wave as the markets change, the medium changes, and the methods change.

How will customers order? How will companies deliver? What will end users buy? How will manufacturers communicate?

The world is certainly getting smaller, but vast fortunes are still out there for those that focus on how to get on top of the wave instead of those that worried they are going to get drown by it.

5 years ago it would have been impossible to predict where we are today, so anyone that tells you they can predict where we will be five years from now is full of shit. The best you can do is be in the game so that you are in position to create and ride opportunities as the methods, the medium, and the markets expose opportunities.

 

[Walter Hay]

So my question is, if it is very easy to set up an Amazon account, set up FBA, and you say above "Chinese suppliers are learning that Amazon is a marketplace where they can sell at retail", I am wondering how much longer the business model of importing existing products from China and selling them on our own, (weather through Amazon, Ebay, or own website), will continue to be viable? Wondering what the experienced folks here see for the future?

As @ddall has pointed out, this process is already happening. BUT IT IS NOT A NEW PHENOMENON. I saw this happening as far back as 25 years ago at least, (as [URL='https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/vigilante.8202/']@Vigilante pointed out, I have been in this business since before the advent of the internet) when Taiwanese companies began setting up their own branches in the US, UK, and even Australia.[/URL]
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/ddall.20197/
Don't think it is only Chinese companies involved. Sadly it is common business practice for businesses to grant sole agencies/distributorships in order to allow some sucker to test the market for them, and then when they see that the demand is worthwhile, they revoke the agreement and set up their own operation.

The points made by both @ddall and @Vigilante are valid. Businesses survive if the operators are astute enough to change with the changes and outperform the intruders with superior marketing. My importing business encountered competition from Chinese manufacturers setting up in the four countries where I was selling B2B through my franchise network. They were selling at prices higher than the ex-factory prices I paid in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc., but those prices were less than half what I and my franchisees were charging. Impossible to beat? NO.

My franchise network not only survived, but it thrived. Profits did not fall, in fact they rose. Profit margins never fell below cost X 250%, and my franchisees loved me, although they were initially worried when they saw these changes taking place.

The market is there for the taking. To hell with the competition. Just do your job better than they can.

 

[Nrr]

I will make my first order the next week and was thinking in that my supplier send the inventory directly to amazon warehouse ... to keep the cost low... I know that my supplier only is a reseller and he buy directly to a factory, so I would like if someone can give me a advice...

If my goal is... first test my product and sell 500-1000 units per month and after travel to the country and search directly a factory . What can I make ?

 

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[Dicky Dee]

This is already happening. One of my suppliers is already doing just that, with two full time staff dedicated to this pursuit exclusively. That being said, they are failing. Why? Because it is highly competitive already with other sellers striving to be heard in the noise. It takes insight and experience in terms of how to market, rank for keywords, do PPC effectively, brand and customize effectively, and so on. It IS getting harder to be heard and it is requiring more and more bank roll (for product giveaways, custom toolings, professional design etc) to reach the top, and generally things seem to be consolidating somewhat in the major categories.

The days of finding a silicone spatula (as the common example goes) and simply slapping a sticker on it, getting a few friends and family to review, doing some Amazon ppc and up you go are pretty much behind us. You have to INNOVATE, have a solid stand-out brand with a MESSAGE and emotional connection, you have to REALLY differentiate, not superficially so with a new color or size but by custom tooling, custom packaging, and custom images. You need to go DEEP not wide (to start) and have something that stands out in the market. When your product gets searched you need Google results to reveal a webpage with actual unique content, a story about your brand. You need YouTube video reviews to pop up, YouTube HowTo's, Instagram pages and giveaways. You need bloggers and influencers talking about your product etc.

I.E You need to market effectively, you need to learn and implement strategies, you need to provide unique value to the market place, and quite honestly you will likely need more money than you did if entering this model a few years ago.

What else are you doing now to boost rankings? Amazon updated the TOS today about giveaways for reviews and it seems that they wont allow an "excessive" amount anymore of them, although they did not comment on what was "excessive"....

I have a few products launching right away and just looking for ways to boost the launch without being on page 3412342524352!

 

[biophase]

What else are you doing now to boost rankings? Amazon updated the TOS today about giveaways for reviews and it seems that they wont allow an "excessive" amount anymore of them, although they did not comment on what was "excessive"....

I have a few products launching right away and just looking for ways to boost the launch without being on page 3412342524352!

Just make it a better value and it will sell itself. What I've usually done is price it at cost or below cost and people will find it. They will buy it, like it and give it reviews and 6 months later I'm usually in the top 5. Sometimes I've priced stuff below cost and it still doesn't sell, then I know I have a dud.

 

[biophase]

I will make my first order the next week and was thinking in that my supplier send the inventory directly to amazon warehouse ... to keep the cost low... I know that my supplier only is a reseller and he buy directly to a factory, so I would like if someone can give me a advice...

If my goal is... first test my product and sell 500-1000 units per month and after travel to the country and search directly a factory . What can I make ?

Why don't you try to find that factory now?

 

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[ddall]

What else are you doing now to boost rankings? Amazon updated the TOS today about giveaways for reviews and it seems that they wont allow an "excessive" amount anymore of them, although they did not comment on what was "excessive"....

I have a few products launching right away and just looking for ways to boost the launch without being on page 3412342524352!

That is news to me. However, such is the nature of business and life, things change, new problems arise, new solutions and creative thinking need to be exercised. That's how you win. The problems will never stop, they are just barriers to entry and barriers to continued success, surmounting them is the name of the game

 

[QDF]

What else are you doing now to boost rankings? Amazon updated the TOS today about giveaways for reviews and it seems that they wont allow an "excessive" amount anymore of them, although they did not comment on what was "excessive"....

I have a feeling I know the reasoning behind this.

There are businesses forming where they will contact Amazon sellers asking if they're willing to do a giveaway for reviews, and they have a large email list of people wanting deals on products. They offer usually like 25 spots to their email list and then get coupon codes from the seller once they're claimed.

Per Amazon's rules and guidelines, this is perfectly acceptable unless they are now "excessive".

 

[Dicky Dee]

Just make it a better value and it will sell itself. What I've usually done is price it at cost or below cost and people will find it. They will buy it, like it and give it reviews and 6 months later I'm usually in the top 5. Sometimes I've priced stuff below cost and it still doesn't sell, then I know I have a dud.

I actually was thinking of using the same strategy last night, although it doesn't guarantee the reviews on those sales it would still boost rankings because of the amount sales you get from it. My only concern with this strategy is that there are deal sites from around the world that look for deals exactly like this and may just buy up your stock for that product when you price it so low, have you ran into this problem? A networking friend of mine had that happen to him with a discount code few months back.

 

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[Dicky Dee]

I have a feeling I know the reasoning behind this.

There are businesses forming where they will contact Amazon sellers asking if they're willing to do a giveaway for reviews, and they have a large email list of people wanting deals on products. They offer usually like 25 spots to their email list and then get coupon codes from the seller once they're claimed.

Per Amazon's rules and guidelines, this is perfectly acceptable unless they are now "excessive".

That is correct, the updated TOS is very vague though regarding this rule since they did not say you can not do this entirely but just not to do it "excessively". Im currently brainstorming with a few networking friends in the same business at the moment to figure out new ways to effectively do a product launch as this literally could 3x your wait time to get your products ranked on page 1 or 2 if you're lucky........has anyone tried selling on jet.com yet?

 

[Hassen]

This is already happening. One of my suppliers is already doing just that, with two full time staff dedicated to this pursuit exclusively. That being said, they are failing. Why? Because it is highly competitive already with other sellers striving to be heard in the noise. It takes insight and experience in terms of how to market, rank for keywords, do PPC effectively, brand and customize effectively, and so on. It IS getting harder to be heard and it is requiring more and more bank roll (for product giveaways, custom toolings, professional design etc) to reach the top, and generally things seem to be consolidating somewhat in the major categories.

The days of finding a silicone spatula (as the common example goes) and simply slapping a sticker on it, getting a few friends and family to review, doing some Amazon ppc and up you go are pretty much behind us. You have to INNOVATE, have a solid stand-out brand with a MESSAGE and emotional connection, you have to REALLY differentiate, not superficially so with a new color or size but by custom tooling, custom packaging, and custom images. You need to go DEEP not wide (to start) and have something that stands out in the market. When your product gets searched you need Google results to reveal a webpage with actual unique content, a story about your brand. You need YouTube video reviews to pop up, YouTube HowTo's, Instagram pages and giveaways. You need bloggers and influencers talking about your product etc.

I.E You need to market effectively, you need to learn and implement strategies, you need to provide unique value to the market place, and quite honestly you will likely need more money than you did if entering this model a few years ago.

I'm an individual Chinese FBA seller & I'd say not just the manufacturers/suppliers, but most of the Chinese middlemen fail at selling retail on Amazon, simply because the only strategy they use is low price & they can't seem to overcome the elementary but also fundamental obstacle of the language barrier.

I'm also on forums of Chinese export industry employees/entrepreneurs & most of them aren't that interested in selling retail, because export is seen as an industry that you're able to close large wholesale deals by your sales skills & take a good portion of the contract with little to no starting capital, acting as middleman between foreign buyers & Chinese manufacturers. Investing in inventory themselves is not very attractive to skilled people in this industry, unless they are well established already & can afford to practically dump money & products onto Amazon, since again the only strategy they use is low price & wholesale volume.

Even with me, who's selling retail & just starting out, I get told "good job, once you get better at this you can find foreign wholesale customers & become a wholesale broker", which admittedly irritates me to no end. In a word, even as Chinese sellers are discovering the option to sell retail on Amazon, it's still not perceived as good opportunity & the same kind of option has been in existence through eBay for a long while.

Truly successful Chinese sellers on Amazon, be it those who source & then sell or those who directly work for/represent the manufacturers, are extremely rare. Most of the Chinese sellers can't even figure out how to get inventory into FBA warehouses & prefer overseas fulfillment centers run by Chinese owners with customs clearance services. Couple that with the low price strategy, their listings don't look much more attractive on Amazon than the traditional Chinese seller listings written in broken English, with random choice of variation, shipped from HK & take a month to arrive.


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