Is anyone trading on Amazon?

[outdoorman24]

I'm currently setting up an ecommerce site and I was recommended by a friend to set up an account with Amazon to sell products through as well.

Just after any views you have on trading through Amazon.

Thanks

 

[cycloneuk]

I did get approved to sell in the beauty category but have since changed my mind, 15% would eat to much into our profits since we sell discounted fragrances.

 

[MH1]

Although they sell some of my products I didn't find it so good, I think it's too early at the moment for my type of goods.

 

[edmondscommerce]

depending on what you are trying to sell, amazon can be VERY effective

if you need any help getting set up with let me know - its something i do a fair bit of work with

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Amazon, ebay etc should be seen as alternte routes to market. They have a cost, which needs to be balanced against the customer base/exposure.

 

[Kwackers]

When i ran a Computing business a year or so, we were trading at around £2,000+ a week on Amazon from a handful of products.

Right products at the right prices, youll do well

 

[phil knight]

I think its important to way up the pro's and cons of using Amazon :

Lots of exposure, free website, easy systems and notification system

Relatively high charges, certain sectors over exposed (books etc hardly worth bothering with now as every man and his dog is listing)

Might be worth starting up part time but I'd switch to your own e-commerce capability as soon as you can.

 

[RJH Enterprises]

I would never sell on Amazon and eBay as a method of trading. What I would do however is utilise these as an advertising method.

Have your own ecommerce store set up and sell a selection of products via Amazon eBay etc. Ensure that it is obvious, but without breaching any T&Cs, that you have your own store. Image watermarks work well as does your email address in any contact details or listing!

The additional cost caused by using these sites should be seen as part of your advertising budget. In fact it will probable be the best spent money in your advertising budegt.

Cheers
Rob

 

[Kwackers]

Just remember that Amazon has set fees for Postage and packaging, where as ebay you set your own.

I was ending up making more profit on the postage than the products.

Example (very rough was a long time ago!)
Logitech Mouse £20
Postage £5
Mouse profit £2
Postage profit £3

As someone else mentioned, use it as a form of retaining customers, make it so their first purchase is on Amazon, their second is from your website.

You could use a simple flyer with your details and some offers to acheive this.

 

[ServersandSpares]

Hi,

We have never sold on Amazon, however we do use eBay as a shop window. As stated above, use it as an advertising tool, you'd be surprised what sort of companies use the site and we have pulled some major players from there. The key is to retain them as a customer after their initial purchase, and the fees you might think exorbitant in the first instance, are worth paying if it means you gain a new repeat customer who potentially might spend thousands with you.

Julie

 

[computaguy]

Amazon is so globally recognised that when someone sees that you sell there you immediately gain credibility. In my (non expert) view, its worth marketting there just so that you can tell people that you do so.

If you gain a smaller profit for items sold there treat the difference as part of your marketing budget. I for one would look at Amazon and then hunt around. (In fact I did this this week... looked for a book and found it on Amazon. Then searched further and purchased it direct from the publisher)

 

[Jonesy]

We sell a large volume through Amazon Central. You can set delivery prices to whatever you want. Amazon Marketplace is completely different.

Central commissions are 30%+, but if you can still make money based on that it is essential IMHO.

 

[outdoorman24]

There's been some great pointers, thanks to everyone who has posted

 

[lesliedocherty]

Is there any bulk upload options for amazon,

or any programmes that help speed up the loading process, loaded a few last year and found it pretty labour intensive

 

[Jonesy]

You can bulk upload/update your stock on Amazon via inventory templates (Excel format), or you can integrate fully through XML web services.

 

[propertybillionaire]

Outdoorman
How do we get to look at your website?

 

[flyingfish]

we mainly do international business on alibaba, and made-in-china, but seldom on Amazon.

 

[Page]

Is there any bulk upload options for amazon,

or any programmes that help speed up the loading process, loaded a few last year and found it pretty labour intensive

If you were doing it via their spread sheet - it is - just hard going and very error prone.

If you have a premium account - needed for some sellers - then you can get seller desktop which makes it loads easier to do manually.

This can also (export and) import csv files so you can mix the two if you want. Create a csv file - import into seller desktop - upload from there. This is a desktop application that sits on one machine and works under windows.

There are third party add ons but I have no knowledge of these if you track anything decent down let us know.

You should be able to (perchance to dream) have a central database that then feeds and controls your normal web site and amazon and more.

I think this is what things like Channel Advisor do. Albeit at a cost.

 

[chiggs]

qq- do products have to have a barcode to be listed on amazon?

 

[Jonesy]

qq- do products have to have a barcode to be listed on amazon?

All but jewellery require barcodes.

 

[More4mums]

You also need to be pre-approved or invited for some categories such as beauty, jewellery and clothing.

If you have a few good selling lines it can give good turnover but some markets are very cut throat in pricing.

 

[chiggs]

All but jewellery require barcodes.

Ah,thank you!

 

[OrganicBod]

I have been trading on Amazon for over a year now and use the platform simply to raise the profile of OrganicBod. I then seek to convert the customers from Amazon to my website by including my web address on the packing slip. The profit margins are very slight but it depends what you want to get out of it.

 

[Kwackers]

I then seek to convert the customers from Amazon to my website by including my web address on the packing slip. quote]

Take note...this is the best thing about the orders you'll get from amazon

 

[Urban]

Did you go ahead with it? We are just considering it and I wondered how you got on?

 

[Jasminerose]

Great thread....I am in the process of setting up an Ebay shopfront. Picked up a few tips here. Amazon is sounding a bit better to me though after reading this.

 

[Blush]

I set up on Amazon last week, so far so good. No regrets yet

 

[Jeff FV]

An interesting thread - I hadn't considered selling on Amazon until I stumbled upon this (& one or two other threads on the forum.) I'll give them a call over the next few days - I'm encouraged by the fact that they give a phone number so I can talk to an individual on the business development team (0208 numbers aren't premium rate, are they?) Personally, I associate Amazon with quality and reliability and would like our (little!) company to be assocaited with (the giant!) Amazon.

However, before I do, on some threads I've read of barcodes, EAN/UPC codes and I haven't really understood all the posts! Do I need these to sell on Amazon? Basically, we design & print our own cards, gift tags, thank you cards etc. (They are high quality - targeting the shabby chic/ yummy mummy buyer. They have been likened to Cath Kidston style of products)
We would be the only people selling our products on Amazon ( we also sell through our website, MISI and wholesale to a number of independent retail gift & card shops). On some of the smaller items - i.e. gift tags, you couldn't physiaclly fit a bar code on it!

Any thoughts/help/advice welcome!

Thanks

Jeff

 

[chiggs]

However, before I do, on some threads I've read of barcodes, EAN/UPC codes and I haven't really understood all the posts! Do I need these to sell on Amazon? Basically, we design & print our own cards, gift tags, thank you cards etc. (They are high quality - targeting the shabby chic/ yummy mummy buyer. They have been likened to Cath Kidston style of products)
We would be the only people selling our products on Amazon ( we also sell through our website, MISI and wholesale to a number of independent retail gift & card shops). On some of the smaller items - i.e. gift tags, you couldn't physiaclly fit a bar code on it!

Any thoughts/help/advice welcome!

Thanks

Jeff

Sounds like we are in a very similar situation, Jeff, as I also produce cards/gifts that I wholesale to independent card/gift and baby shops.

My research suggests that products have to have a barcode to be uploaded onto Amazon.
The link on this thread http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=92848 may be of use.

 

[Jeff FV]

Thanks chiggs!

Had a quick look at your website (a brilliant idea!)- we do seem to be doing a similar thing, although not in direct competition, I might pick your brains on a few things if that's OK?

Thanks

Jeff

 

[Page]

However, before I do, on some threads I've read of barcodes, EAN/UPC codes and I haven't really understood all the posts! Do I need these to sell on Amazon? Basically, we design & print our own cards, gift tags, thank you cards etc. (They are high quality - targeting the shabby chic/ yummy mummy buyer. They have been likened to Cath Kidston style of products)
We would be the only people selling our products on Amazon ( we also sell through our website, MISI and wholesale to a number of independent retail gift & card shops). On some of the smaller items - i.e. gift tags, you couldn't physiaclly fit a bar code on it!

Any thoughts/help/advice welcome!

The items do not have to have a bar code on them but be associated with a bar code. There are a variety of reasons why amazon want this.
You can buy 1000 of them by joining GSM1.co.uk (I think but have a search on the forum) for £100 to join then £100 for the codes - 10p (or 20p!) a shot. These are the official lot - don't waste time looking elsewhere.
This may make it not worth you trying since it is an upfront commitment.

 

[Jeff FV]

Thanks Page. I can understand why Amazon would want barcodes, just not something I've thought about before! The site is gs1uk dot org (not gsm).

You're right - it may not be worth my while spending £200 up front - a shame as it would have probably been worth trialling Amazon as a marketplace, but I'd have to sell a lot of cards before I recouped that £200, so may not be a risk I'll take at this stage.

It does, however, beg the question as to whether one can buy a few barcodes, albeit at a higher price for each individual code. Perhaps this is a business opportunity out there for anyone who wants to take it - buy 1000 barcodes for £100 + £100 joining fee: cost 20 p per bar code ( a cost that would go down in the future as wont have to pay the joing fee again) and sell them on individualy to people like me who only need a few for, say £1, a barcode = £800 profit on £200 investment.

Interesting figures, now where's the flaw ...?

Thanks again for your help

Jeff

 

[chiggs]

Thanks chiggs!

Had a quick look at your website (a brilliant idea!)

Thanks very much!

we do seem to be doing a similar thing, although not in direct competition, I might pick your brains on a few things if that's OK?

Thanks

Jeff

Absolutely!

 

[outdoorman24]

Thanks everyone for all your posts. I am due to start trading on Amazon in 3-4 weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[BQx]

Thanks Page. I can understand why Amazon would want barcodes, just not something I've thought about before! The site is gs1uk dot org (not gsm).

You're right - it may not be worth my while spending £200 up front - a shame as it would have probably been worth trialling Amazon as a marketplace, but I'd have to sell a lot of cards before I recouped that £200, so may not be a risk I'll take at this stage.

It does, however, beg the question as to whether one can buy a few barcodes, albeit at a higher price for each individual code. Perhaps this is a business opportunity out there for anyone who wants to take it - buy 1000 barcodes for £100 + £100 joining fee: cost 20 p per bar code ( a cost that would go down in the future as wont have to pay the joing fee again) and sell them on individualy to people like me who only need a few for, say £1, a barcode = £800 profit on £200 investment.

Interesting figures, now where's the flaw ...?

Thanks again for your help

Jeff

GS1 membership is £100 pa. They sell the license to use their numbers - which includes a strong restriction on reselling them - you can't resell or gift or loan them to anyone else. So if you want lots of barcodes, GS1 is a good option. But for only a few numbers, they are quite expensive with the ongoing annual costs.
You can buy individual barcode numbers which are great for Amazon from barcode1.co.uk - they are £20 each (one of cost - no annual fees) or £17 each for 10 or more ...... so if you only need 10 barcode numbers, you have saved £££ compared with joining GS1.

 

[Page]

I have no idea why they are so expensive from them.

Why not £20 for the first one the £1 each or some other business model?

 

I agree with the majority of the posters. Again these sort of platforms really do depend on what margins you are working to with your products.

I found Amazon to be extortionate and WAY too expensive for me to market my products on. You really need to be working with 50%+ margins to make it viable.

 

[Ishumashi]

Its always good to have Amazon as another option, but not to fully rely on them. If you put everything on Amazon and they freeze up your account, you got nothing left to generate sales.

 

[zgj512]

I am also considering whether to sell my costume jewellery products on Amozon or not. Hope to see more discuss about this topic.

 

[Vad Boz]

It's interesting to note in this context that you can actually sell not only hard goods, but your services on Amazon.

Clickriver Ads offer to advertise your services along with relevant products.

Maybe this would make sense to a service based business? See if you can use it.