Selling on Amazon
- Thread starter -Chris-
- Start date
I would never work with such high commissions, in my region there are several shopping systems that dominate the market, including amazon with a big warehouse, all users are complaining about the comissions and yet they keep using them desperately, so they needed to be organized, I came up with an idea to set up our own online market system, instead of paying such high commissions lets use these commissions to establish and expand our own system and after a while noone of you will pay commissions except for a small amount that is required to operate the system, I told them. they all accepted it but again problems started to arise about trust, they could not decide who will be the leader of this formation, everyone pulled it to one side and the idea was eventually shelved. Also I got kicked out of the communities of all Amazon and similar market places for rebelling.
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I find this a strange reply, why is it any riskier than buying a guide that may contain good information, or possibly bad outdated advice?
People need to stop believing there are short cuts in business, you learn at the coal face.
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My guide would be don't line Amazon's pockets.
If you have something worth buying that has little competition (or you have some other reason people will want to buy from YOU) then setup your own site and do some proper marketing.
If you want to join all the tat sellers then you will be up against people working for peanuts.
If you have something worth buying that has little competition (or you have some other reason people will want to buy from YOU) then setup your own site and do some proper marketing.
If you want to join all the tat sellers then you will be up against people working for peanuts.
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Immerse yourself in seller university and then seek additional council on the Amazon forums. Avoid the paid for guides supplied by the get rich gurus on You Tube. There is no substitute for learning, as somebody else said, at the coal face.
Absolutely. Amazon is okay as an additional revenue stream but become too over reliant, and you'll be ripe for getting shafted. May be harder work but the margins will be better and the long term outlook infinitely more appealing.
Again, absolutely. And potentially end up with nothing at the end of it.
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I turned £1 into a turnover of £3000 plus per week, back in 2003-2005 selling on ebay. I was 22 at the time. Never read a decent book in my life apart from "the magic of thinking big".
You don't need no guides just get on with it and as you come across problems find the solution. Simples.
You don't need no guides just get on with it and as you come across problems find the solution. Simples.
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Rubber band and paper clip end of the market?
You came on here bragging about turning over £130k a year selling online (15 years ago) maybe I should ask you the same question? You now "manage" your parents business, congratulations.
No I didn't study, I went straight into work.
Again I will reiterate, Amazon is not like selling anywhere else. You do one thing wrong at the start and you will risk losing your account. They take an absolute no tolerance approach and advise everyone to understand the platform before you do anything on there.
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I have been selling on Amazon for decades. It is a very unforgiving market place. Your business processes must adhere to Amazons rules. It does not matter what you think about these rules, or how awkward it is to fit within them. Indeed there are things that you have to do, which I personally believe is poor customer service, but that is the way you play the game. Just one mistake can get your account suspended, and if you don’t respond properly to that suspension your account is then banned. There is no going back from that. You will never again be able to sell on Amazon.
So whilst it might be acceptable to suggest, just going ahead and learning from your mistakes, do not under any circumstances, do this on Amazon
So whilst it might be acceptable to suggest, just going ahead and learning from your mistakes, do not under any circumstances, do this on Amazon
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If you are planning to sell private label products, here is a rough overview of the process we followed to build multiple 6fig brands on Amazon:
PHASE 1: CREATE
PHASE 2: BUILD
PHASE 3: SELL
If you are looking for a good course, I recommend Kevin King's Freedom ticket.
However, if you are only just starting I would advise doing Retail Arbitrage or Wholesale instead to learn the ropes with Amazon's platform.
Once you find some decent products that sell well, you can consider taking the Private Label route.
PHASE 1: CREATE
- Product Selection - Keep a running list. Start with at least 50-100 ideas
- Product Research
- 3 Yes’s: Demand, Competition, Price
- Deep dive reviews - find the top 1-2 problems voiced by customers (80/20 Principle)
- Keyword research
- Product margins estimate
- Product Development
- Modifications
- Differentiation
- Assess the Degree of Difficulty
- Open Amazon Seller Central Account
- Can start with individual plan to keep down costs
- Then upgrade to Professional when needed
- File for Trademark and file for Amazon Brand Registry
- Setup a Company (recommended)
PHASE 2: BUILD
- Sourcing
- Put together RFQ
- Modifications
- Estimated Volume
- Cast the Wide Net
- Contact up to 20 suppliers over Alibaba, Global Sources, trade shows
- Contact sourcing agent (optional)
- Shortlist 4-5 suppliers after contact and review
- Responsiveness
- Attention to details
- Willingness to cooperate
- Common thread test
- Years of experience
- Country test
- Any red flags
- Order Samples
- With brand on sample
- Modifications
- Review and feedback
- Accept, change or reject
- Calculate Shipping Cost
- Ask supplier for the following based on trial order volume (eg. 500 pieces)
- Volume (cbm)
- Weight (kg)
- HS Code (for duty and tariff rate calculation)
- Negotiate
- Pricing
- Packaging - labels
- Payment terms
- Place Purchase Order
- Attach any drawings of product, packaging, designs, logos, instructions etc.
- Create creative assets
- Logo
- Package design
- Instructions
- Photography
- Create Amazon Listing
- Make inactive first to print out labels
- E.g. do not upload photos
- Get FNSKU labels
- Send to supplier
- Conduct Quality Control
- Before production
- During production
- Before shipment (pre-shipment inspection)
- Decide whether to release shipment or fix problems
- After shipment
- Arrange Shipment with Freight Forwarder At least 2 weeks delivery date
- Consider a 3rd party logistics warehouse to hold extra inventory in case of Amazon inventory restrictions
- Keyword Research
- Look for 5-10 competitors
- Reverse ASIN search to find keywords they rank for
- Brand analytics (copy top 3 competitors rank for search terms)
- Decide on 10-15 Search Terms based on relevancy - Focus on most relevant keywords first
- Finalize Listing
- Keywords you want to rank for 10-15
- Title
- Bullets
- Backend
- Images
- Finalize Images
- Main image
- Infographic
- Lifestyle
- Unique Selling Proposition (USP) / Point of differentiation
PHASE 3: SELL
- Pricing Strategy - NOTE: Your pricing is not set in stone! It will change depending on which phase of the business you’re in.
- Turn on Pay Per Click Advertising
- Goal is to research and let Amazon tell you the keywords that your customers search for and convert for
- Also to filter out any negative keywords that bleed money and don’t lead to sales
- Then create manual campaigns - broad, phrase, and exact matches
- Recommendation - take the Amazon Advertising Learning Console training Free
- Enroll in Amazon Early Review Program
- Amazon incentivizes the first 5 reviews
- Cost: $60 per SKU
- Enroll in Amazon Vine Program (Requires Brand Registry)
- Free program to get more Amazon reviews from Amazon’s pre-approved group of Vine reviewers
- Totally white hat and no risk of suspensions
- Track Sales
- Look for negative reviews
- Follow up
- Note opportunities for IMPROVEMENT for your generation 2 product
- GET MORE REVIEWS by Asking - Click the button in seller central to ask to leave a review
If you are looking for a good course, I recommend Kevin King's Freedom ticket.
However, if you are only just starting I would advise doing Retail Arbitrage or Wholesale instead to learn the ropes with Amazon's platform.
Once you find some decent products that sell well, you can consider taking the Private Label route.
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Hi all,
I am looking for help & Advice to set my business up on Amazon. I already have an e-commerce store on eBay, trading successfully for the last 5 years
but have struggled a lot trying to set up on Amazon and do this myself.
Problems range from vat approval to invoicing... GTIN number, ASIN numbers.
Brands ..help
Best regards,
Extrusion Sales Direct
I am looking for help & Advice to set my business up on Amazon. I already have an e-commerce store on eBay, trading successfully for the last 5 years
but have struggled a lot trying to set up on Amazon and do this myself.
Problems range from vat approval to invoicing... GTIN number, ASIN numbers.
Brands ..help
Best regards,
Extrusion Sales Direct
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@flaxtrade
Great post!
I reckon the best post on UKBF that I've read.
@Ozzy - perhaps a good idea to set up a thread for 'Best UKBF Threads of All Time".
Happy New Year to all UKBF Posters!
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It wouldn't work with me, as I am the supplier, they simply would not be able to source the product.
Indeed, I would never sell on Amazon, even with a unique product.
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Because latest studies by "TapInfluence and Nielsen Catalina Solutions" show that influencer marketing is driving 11 times more revenue than digital advertising.
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I'd be interested to see the 'profit' from these influencer campaigns though. We tried it a few years ago and burned through £5k per month on sponsoring influencers and giving them free products...got nothing from it really, a few orders here and there.
Seems like you need deep pockets to get the biggest influencers on board and you need a product that is the perfect fit for influencer marketing. No point trying to sell someone a pencil....difficult to influence that market.
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Considering how much we can pay to sell on other sites - its not that much extra to sell on amazon.
Sell on the cheapest sites and pay a few percent on the few sales versus selling hundreds of items on amazon and factor the increased costs into amazon price. Same effective profit per sale and higher sales allows for the fixed costs to be covered and more profit made overall.
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Amazon don't really do this anymore in the UK and as far as I am aware, everywhere.
This was a tactic by Amazon for a while but it stopped and it stopped a long time ago. There may be odd occasions they do it but Amazon are cutting back on Vendor and have been for years, pushing sellers onto FBA and trying to only deal with brands directly.
Amazon have there new program they are pushing super hard where they work with you and turn your product (you can still sell yours) into one of there branded products. (Amazon Basics, Amazon Essentials). Amazon also own 3 clothing brands you can brand as, but the names slip my mind.
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They do exactly what other businesses do. Competitor research.
And who cares if amazon undercut a seller? If the seller still sells the items.
Have lost count of items that we sold that amazon also sold - and we sold out of the product.
Probably multiple thousands of lines over the years.
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I think Peter meant it is riskier to do it without a guide, which I completely agree with. There is a common myth that to be successful at business you need to dive in, make mistakes and learn everything by trial and error. In my opinion this is absolute garbage. Nowadays it is easier than ever to learn so why make stupid mistakes that others before you have already made and from whom you can learn?
The important thing is to make sure the source is credible and when it comes to Amazon this is especially important because the rules change so often. Things like buying reviews, search/find/buy and automated responders were all fine not so long ago but are now either frowned on or completely banned.
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To ignore the biggest marketplace in the world irrespective of what you are selling is a brave move in my opinion. It isn't suitable for every product/person and if you have the wrong product you can be banging your head against a brick wall, but if you know what you are doing and aren't in a saturated niche, it can be incredibly rewarding.
Also, just because you are knocking it out of the park on your own website, doesn't mean you are guaranteed to do the same on Amazon. If other brands have got their first, have built up thousands of good reviews and know what they are doing it can be very difficult to get ahead of them. And there are plenty of cheap Chinese brands and products on Amazon because the factories over there realised years ago that they can keep wholesaling but also sell directly to consumers too! In fact, when I set up my original ink cartridge company about 15 years ago, the factory in China didn't retail at all. By the time I sold the company, they were my biggest competitor on Amazon (they tried to hide it under a different brand name of course) and wholesale had dropped to about 1% of their business!
Yes, the commission you pay Amazon is a good chunk - just over 15% in most cases - but that buys you insane traffic. In the US over 50% of ALL website transactions are on Amazon for example and it is moving that way over here. You can have your own sparkly website of course but if no one ever sees it, you won't get any sales, and to buy that traffic costs money, so it is as broad as it is long.
And FBA is an incredible opportunity for many. If someone had told me 20 years ago that I could sell internationally, with next-day delivery in most cases, without any staff or warehousing anywhere, I would have told them they were crazy. But that is where we are at now. You can directly compete with local sellers in dozens of countries without having any presence outside the UK! And the cost of using FBA in many cases is cheaper than it would cost to do it yourself, even before you account for time spent, rent, insurance, wages, etc.
Like I say, not for everyone but silly to dismiss out of hand.
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