See How I Made $1.3 Million in 12 Months and Learn How to Sell On Amazon.
During these free lessons, I’m going to make you understand the INITIAL fundamental steps you require to consider to learn and master how to go about selling on Amazon. Additionally, I’m going to tell you all you need to do to become an actual business. Just keep in mind that, all the lessons you’re about to get here are entirely charge-free.
Amazon Is the Biggest
Analytically, Amazon is currently the world’s biggest online retailer. As of this writing, more than 2 million merchants sell their merchandizes on Amazon. Of course, Amazon has grown to be a strongly competitive marketplace. However, the fact is that the majority of sellers don’t actually know how to sell products on Amazon.
Although there are a tremendous number of sellers on Amazon, the majority normally do it as a side-hustle business. For this reason, they make pretty little income. Consequently, during the last 5 to 6 years, we all have seen a rash of online courses promising to educate people on how to sell on Amazon. Each course claims to show people how to sell on Amazon and how to grow wealthy selling products on this remarkably giant marketplace.
This comprehensive guide you’re going to find below is crafted to assist you in learning and mastering the skills of selling to sell on Amazon. The parts you see below are going to take you through the first four sections of this course. So, please follow along then take action following each part.
A Bit About Me
Kevin Le Millionaire
I had been flourishing in my online business. Since the years 2003 to 2010, I had been able to make millions of dollars. This means that I was no amateur in the realm of internet marketing. Somehow, I had become a professional of all time at SEO, and several of my site properties were in the first spot on Google.
Nevertheless, my chief experience was in building membership-based on websites and affiliate marketing. Surely, I had never traded physical products or even been linked to e-commerce. Everything I had done didn’t prepare me for physical marketing products, particularly in the intricate world of Amazon.
Change in Direction
After selling many of my online ventures in 2010, I went off for a year to determine the direction I needed to take. Many of the websites which I had abandoned got crushed by the Google Penguin and Google Panda updates. As a result, I was left with no actual income sources. This didn’t have any effect on me in terms of my financial security since I had sufficient cash in the bank to serve for a very long time. Nonetheless, I’m not the kind to get at ease in my achievements. Still, I had a great desire to do another prosperous business.
In January 2012, I went to the Philippines to enjoy a year with my fiancée. During this time, I had no income or businesses. All I had done earlier was now sold. I required getting a new course. Because I was now in a distant country, I wanted something to be doing while my fiancée was working. Therefore, I went for a program on affiliate marketing. Unluckily, this program was repeating the same tired and old concepts which had made numerous affiliate marketers lose their incomes following the Google algorithm of the year 2011 and 2012.
Later, in June 2013, I got an email from a popular internet marketer. This email was advertising their brand-new course “Amazing Selling Machine“.
The course guaranteed to teach and guide individuals in making a prosperous venture selling on Amazon. Further, the founders stated that anyone could become successful. I was interested. Nonetheless, this was the most expensive course I had come across. The price was $2,600! At first, I was hesitant to spend all that on a single course. I spent many weeks thinking about it. Of course, the plan of doing something unusual was interesting to me.
Making a Decision to Learn How to Sell On Amazon
Ultimately, after many days of going back and forth as far as the advantages and disadvantages of taking this program were concerned, I made up my mind to move forward. What I wanted to understand was how to sell products on Amazon. While resting at a small table on the 24th story of a high rise condo building in the Philippines, I got my credit card out and paid the $2,600 membership charge. The decision had been made to learn all I could about how to sell products on Amazon.
The Start of the Journey to Sell Products on Amazon
This course required 8 weeks to finish. It was delivered one module every time. Admittedly, I was pretty impatient waiting for the next content every week. This was one section of the program I didn’t fancy. I’m not the kind who likes waiting. The moment I’m set to do something, I require doing it now. Generally, the content was pretty good. And, even though I yet had questions, I was prepared to continue.
In March 2014, I began investing all I had learned into use. By the end of this year, I had realized a $15,000 loss. I was not bothered though. I had discovered a lot in the 9 months since I began selling on Amazon. In 2015, I grew my product line using many other products. By the time the year was ending, my venture had made over $1.3 million in sales. At the same time, I had earned a $462,000 as net profit! That’s following all the expenses. Thus, from the look of things, everything was going on well.
An Offer I Could Not Refuse
I was happy to realize the growth which happened in 2015. But, because I had sold ventures in the past, I got curious about what this new venture might be worth in case I tried to sell it. I reached my site broke, the company which sells my ventures, and surprisingly, he has an opinion that I could sell it for more than $1.3 million. I decided to allow them to list the venture on their site to determine if there would be anyone to develop the interest. Surprisingly, many people were very excited about buying the venture. One offered me what I was requesting. This was an offer too good refuse. Therefore, in 2016 April, I sold this venture for $975,000! Keep in mind; I had earned $462,000 the preceding year. This implied I had earned $1.3 million in less than a year of work!
Effort Duplication
I didn’t stand still for long. Following a 9 month tour overseas, I made up my mind to begin another business to sell on Amazon. I had discovered a lot from the program as far as selling things on Amazon is concerned. Additionally, my one year of the real-world encounter was a huge plus. In 2016 June, I launched a brand-new line of products on Amazon. From then till end 2016, I got more than $1.3M in sales. Actually, this is just 12 months. I aim to take this venture to more than $2 million and then perhaps to sell again.
It’s Your Turn to Understand How to Sell on Amazon
I suppose you’re reading this piece since you, as well, want to know how to go about selling on Amazon. Hence, from now on, I’m going to show you precisely what I did to make a venture selling on Amazon and later to sell it for more than $1.3 million. So, before you reading this, ensure you keep in mind that all I am explaining here is all I did. I make no assurance that what worked for me will as well work for you. I’m merely sharing what I did and hoping that it can assist my readers in understanding more about all that it actually requires to sell on Amazon.
Preface
I decided to include this introductory preface to let you understand that I’m going to take you through the methods I apply when operating my business while selling on Amazon. There may be fields where you stray from what I train according to your own business requirements, which is fine. For instance, I advise that you create your Amazon account AFTER you got your business name decided, registered, and your products simply past the design level. This will be for sellers that may require category approval. I opt to get everything ready before I would create an Amazon account. However, there are a few who would choose to set up their account first.
Products Requiring Category Approval
In case you pick a category which doesn’t need category approval, then you can first create your Amazon account. If you are selling a product in one of the categories which require approval, you’ll require to following the steps in the order I teach it as you’ll need your venture and product set up before you requesting category approval.
The Best Business Model
There are actually 3 Business Models that you can utilize when selling on Amazon.
- Sell other brands.
- Manufacture your own products.
- Private label your own products under your own brand.
Selling Other Brands
The idea of most people of selling on Amazon is discovering a product at a low value, maybe a closeout or liquidation and later selling it on Amazon. Essentially, they sell another person’s product or merely another brand and make a pretty small percentage the moment the product sells. For example, let’s assume you got a case of Head & Shoulders shampoo on sale or even being liquidated. Here, you could then get these products and sell them on an actual listing on Amazon then compete for the best price. Although this can still make money for you, there are many problems associated with this model. They include the following:
a.) A low rate of profit which is usually between 10% and 20% if you’re fortunate.
b.) Never stopping Sourcing: Because these are other individuals’ brands, there’s always a necessity to discover brand-new sources for products at a discount. Here, you’re left consuming all of your time sourcing brand-new products.
c.) Never possess the brand: Because this model involves selling other brands, you’ll never have the brand meaning you’ll, therefore, always have limited control over your prospective business.
d.) You have to strive for the lowest rate on Amazon.
Manufacturing Your Own Products
a.) The rate of earnings is higher: If you can discover suitable products to trade under your brand, the product can earn anywhere between 25% and 60% profit. Clearly, this is comparatively higher compared to selling other brands.
b.) Sourcing is quite simpler: You produce the product, so you don’t need to source!
c.) You Possess the Brand: By far, this is the best motivation to create your own products. When you trade products under your brand, you dominate the brand and the pricing. Also, you can even sell the brand in case it becomes big enough.
d.) You don’t have to bid for the lowest price: Because you possess the brand, you can just set the pricing and restrain others from selling at a lower rate point compared to you. This is important to succeed on Amazon.
Limitations to This Business Model:
The cons of creating your own products are that there may be very many upfront investments into a building, depot, and machinery and the troubles of employees. Additionally, this model can be the most productive in case you got a lot of cash to invest upfront. However, for the common person, it’s not feasible.
3. Private Labeling
To actually earn money while selling on Amazon, private labelling is the way to go for the majority of people.
What is private labeling?
Private labeling is the method of either purchasing a product from another firm or having a product created by another firm and getting them to label the product under your own brand. Private-label products are usually those created or offered by one firm for offer under another firm’s brand. Private-label products and services can be found in a wide array of industries ranging from cosmetics to food. This business model is far much better than selling other brands.
Advantages of Private-Labeling
a.) Higher rates of profits: If you’re able to find a nice product to sell under your own brand it can earn anywhere between 25% and 60% profit. Admittedly, this is considerably higher than selling other brands.
b.) It’s much easier to do Sourcing: Sourcing products is hugely more accessible with private labelling. After you obtain a supplier, you don’t have to search for another supplier the moment you require more inventory. Here, you just return to the same supplier to reorder!
c.) You possess the brand: As with manufacturing, the moment you sell products by private labeling under your brand, you dominate the brand and pricing. You can also sell the brand in case it gets large enough.
d) You don’t have to strive for the most favourable price: Because you possess the brand, you can conveniently set pricing then restrict others from selling at a lower cost limit than you. This is important to succeed on Amazon.
As you can see, this model is considerably the soundest business model for a common person who’s on a restricted budget. You can have this kind of business running without a significant investment. Since you’re having another supplier creating for you, there will be no worries when it comes to buildings, warehouses, machinery or employees!
Throughout this FREE COURSE about how to sell products on Amazon, we’ll concentrate on private labeling as the ideal business model. Then, you can make use of what you receive here though to any particular business model.
AMAZON FBA VS FULFILLED BY MERCHANT FBM
Usually, there are two means through which one can sell on Amazon: FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) or FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon).
Amazon FBM
FBM implies that a seller will be shipping and fulfilling their own orders and simply updates that order within the Amazon system by tracking information after the order is shipped. In this case, you being the seller would perform all the shipping work and would be accountable in case of any problems with receiving the product to the client.
This is a service offered by Amazon through which you can convey your products to Amazon, and they are going to ship them the moment a client orders. Amazon gets a fee for having this done. As the seller in this scenario, you got nothing to do as far as shipping is concerned, and this leaves you free so that you can handle other things. You are additionally not accountable for any problem that happens while shipping.
Why I Would Opt For Amazon FBA
1. I Don’t Have To Worry About Shipment
By utilizing FBA, you’ll never have to mind about the shipping of a product. So, this leaves a free man to work on other essential things. Amazon manages every phase of shipping. You may be on holiday and never need to worry about requiring shipping a product. This provides you with the freedom to enjoy your life without bothering about fulfilling any orders.
2. I’m Not Accountable In Case of Any Problems during Shipment
Because Amazon manages shipping, it implies they are accountable for any issues which happen during shipping. Actually, this is important as Amazon retains seller metrics. If you utilize FBM and ship products yourself when a client has an issue with a shipment, it’s your obligation, and if the client files a complaint, it can affect your Amazon seller metrics plus your entire seller account. FBA offers you that peace of mind by knowing that Amazon takes accountability for everything.
3. The Amazon Prime
Products which are shipped by FBA are qualified for Amazon Prime. This implies that the client can enjoy free of charge 2-day shipping. This provides the customer with a tremendous incentive to purchase your product over a product which doesn’t come with Prime.
4. Possibility of My Products Ranking Higher
If you’re utilizing FBA, then your products may rank higher in the search results on Amazon.
A few sellers state that utilizing FBA is more costly as you need to pay the additional FBA fees. Nonetheless, I believe the benefits far outweigh the expenses.
Finding the Best Product to Sell
Restricted Products
There are particular products which can’t be traded on Amazon. You must look at the list of restricted products before you go ahead to choose a product.
The Best Products to Sell On Amazon
There is a countless number of products on Amazon and numerous good markets in which sellers can private label products in. Nevertheless, a few kinds of products can be better compared to others.
Consumables
The majority of individuals think of consumables as things that a customer eats. However, this isn’t the only implication. Products which consumers use up and are going to need to purchase again are consumable. For instance, food, health products like cosmetics, supplements, fragrances, paper products, hair care, specific personal care products and several others.
One-time Buy Products
These are products which the customer is going to purchase once, and they may not require purchasing again for a very long time, e.g. furniture, appliances, computer, and many more.
Here, vacuums may not be a consumable through vacuum cleaner bags would be. Thus you can trade consumables which are accessories for the non-consumable products.
Repeat Consumers Is the Way to Go
As you grow your business, you need to get as many repeat customers as possible. This is done by having a good product and offering wonderful customer service. If you get all these things done, customers will purchase from you once more when they need the product. But how frequently are they going to need your products?
It’s always best to trade products which customers exhaust in a particular amount of time. If you sell a supplement where the consumers take a day, then there are 30 servings, you can logically expect that the consumer will need your product again after every 30 days and so on. This offers you the chance to make a second sale from the customer at continuous intervals. That is why selling consumable products are very profitable.
I usually look for products which are much more naturally consumable so that I can receive more repeat clients. However, this doesn’t imply that I won’t sell a product, which is a non-consumable. Still, you can earn a lot of cash on non-consumable products mainly if you got high-profit margins though I opt for consumable products.
Choosing a Winning Product to Sell
If you’re going to trade fortunately on Amazon, you have to find a product that people require and are looking to purchase. If you pick the wrong product or get into the wrong market, then, it can be a waste of both your money and time.
A lot of people pick a product based on their hobbies, passions or interests. But, this can really be a great thing as it means you’ll be selling something which you got a passion for. This will see you become a fabulous spokesperson for the product. Nevertheless, before you make a decision to get into a market just because you got an interest in it. You have to ensure that the product is within a market in which THERE ARE TRULY PEOPLE BUYING! In case you just pick a market based on your interests, and as a result of that the market possesses no buyers, you’ll fail.
Passion Not Required, You Require Buyers!
You don’t need to be so passionate about a particular product or market to earn money. Instead, you simply require being on a market which has many buyers. I have earned over one million dollars selling products on Amazon which I have never had an interest in. To discover the best product to sell, you require recognizing a market which is selling adequately, and then create a product which is going to be better compared to your competition on that market.
Finding a Good Product to Sell on Amazon
1) Browse Departments:
Go to Amazon and click the “SHOP BY DEPARTMENT” on the upper left side of that page.
2) Choose Category:
Then, pick a category. If you’ll find private label products, it’s good that you stick with the following categories because they are quite simpler to get private label suppliers:
3) Look At Best Sellers In The Category:
Then, after you pick a department, you click on the “BEST SELLERS” link on the page of the department. This is going to bring up a listing of the top 100 best-selling products in the category. So, this implies that these products are selling pretty well, and this allows you to know that these markets are productive. Further, it means that these products are probably selling so many units every day in relation to the product category.
4) Try to Discover a Product You Can Private Label:
Out of the best-sellers you see on Amazon, find one which you can conveniently private label. After you find a product, you’ll then require finding a supplier for the product, and then trade it on Amazon. Also, you can increase your line using more products to make much more money. This procedure can assist you to discover the best product at each level on Amazon. It allows you to know the products that are selling very well. Any product within the top 100 in the list on Amazon is selling great.
Checking Competition
In case a product is a great seller on Amazon. Still, you require being careful. This doesn’t imply it will be a beneficial product to sell. Although these products are selling, surprisingly, the markets may be extremely competitive. You’ll need to do a few analyses to determine how aggressive the market is.
Then Look at the Best Seller Ranking (BSR) of the TOP 1O
Actually, I want those markets selling well, though not too competitively. Therefore, I look for products which have a BSR of between 500 and 5,000 within their top-level category, sell between $20 and $70, weigh 3lbs or less (For me, I prefer 1lb or less) PLUS where all of the competitors possess less than 500 reviews each. This implies that the market is performing sufficiently well to earn good money, and isn’t so competitive, which I can’t break into the market. The BSR is how well a product is selling in relation to all other products in a category. It’s a great indicator of how great a product is selling.
Why Do I Look For a BSR of 5,000 OR Below?
If a product is within the top 100 in its top-level category, then this implies it’s most probably selling a lot of units every day. (This depends on the category because a few categories are bigger than others). In the majority of the categories, if a product is at a BSR of between 101 and 5,000, the product can still be selling anywhere from 20, 30, 60 or 80 units every day. Clearly, this is good money. The issue is Amazon shows you only the top 100 products of every category. So, trying to look for products which satisfy these criteria may take many days, weeks, or even months looking through Amazon. Usually, it’s literally like trying to look for a needle inside a haystack. I utilize a service such as Jungle Scout to assist find the ideal products to sell on Amazon.
Important Note on Selling Price:
It’s important for you if you look for products which you can sell at a price range between $20 and $70. Because you’ll be using Amazon FBA, you’ll have FBA fee each time a product sells. Therefore, you need to ensure you got sufficient profit once your product cost & Amazon fees.
However, if you can still be in a position to make 40 percent or greater profit margin once Amazon fees you’re doing great, additionally, I like trying to find smaller and more lightweight products. FBA charges are also dependent on weight. Thus, try to choose products which are less than 1-pound. If you’re going to trade a product over 1-pound ensure you leave sufficient space in your pricing for accounting for FBA charges.
Speeding up the Process
All I wanted is for you to master how Amazon operates, and that’s why I went into details. Nonetheless, doing it manually can take a pretty long time. So, I suggest utilizing a service known as “JUNGLE SCOUT“. This tool is capable of speeding up the process to help you find a product fast.
Confirming a Product Market
Given that you’ve now potentially picked a market to get into, you’ll need to confirm the market so that you can ensure it’s in an industry that individuals are really searching for. For example, you can decide to trade essential oil diffusers.
I was using the Google Keyword Planner to help in this section of the process. But, Google has of late made adjustments to their tool. This makes it quite harder to master the data.
Hence, I suggest making use of a tool known as KWFINDER. Here, you can perform 3 searches for free every day though, after 3, you require waiting 24 hours before using the tool once more. I go for the full subscription for me to search as several times as I need. It’s important for you also to try doing this for a month till you get this section of the process concluded. You can find free keyword tools too. Search for “free keyword tools” on Google.
For example, if you utilize the KWFINDER keyword tool and on it, search box, write in the search word or phrase. Then, pick the country you’ll be investigating (I choose the United States as I am selling on Amazon.com US). Lastly, select the language (I pick English), then click “ANALYZE“.
So then, if in this case, you write in “espresso machine” and you get that this phrase, “essential oil diffuser” say, has more than 164,000 searches every month on Google, this product is very OK. Actually, anything above 2,000 searches every month isn’t bad and implies that your product is in great demand. Over 2,000 searches every month implies that you ought to have a wonderful market in which you can sell.
Additionally, you can look down the list in order to see complimentary phrases people are looking for linked to the product. If you notice a number of other products with good numbers then that implies you have a big market enough to do better. Further, you can scroll down to see other complimentary words people utilize when searching for this product including aromatherapy diffuser, aroma diffuser, oil diffuser, and diffuser and so on. If this is so, then, it means that this is a pretty big market and the majority probably would have numerous customers who want to purchase your products. However, this doesn’t imply you want to get into this market unless you’ve also established that it’s not extremely competitive. After you’ve investigated the competition and has confirmed that there’s a demand for the product, you should ensure that there’s sufficient profit if you make a decision to sell the product on Amazon.
Using the Amazon FBA Revenue Calculator
Actually, before you get out sourcing your products, you should confirm that the product will be profitable. To have this done, you’ll require using the “Amazon FBA Revenue Calculator“. After you are on the revenue calculator page, ensure that you pick the country you’re selling in.
What you’ll do is to look for similar products which you’re about to source (the type and approximately same weight) to ensure there’s profit on selling them on Amazon. Now, go to Amazon and look for the type of product you’re considering selling, in this case, we can use “essential oil diffuser”:
Then search for the top 10 products and get the ones which are selling the best:
Search for the products which are selling favorably and with the highest price. Click on these products and obtain the ASIN number displayed in the URL.
Now with this ASIN, enter it in the “Amazon FBA Revenue Calculator” then click search:
Next, enter the price that the product is selling for into the “ITEM PRICE” area and click “CALCULATE“:
This will show you the entire cost for this product to be fulfilled by Amazon. Here, you can see it where it shows, “Selling on Amazon Fees” then “Total Fulfillment Cost“: After that, take its selling price, and then subtract the “Selling on Amazon Fees” & “Total Fulfillment Cost“. Once this is done, this shows you your returns after fees.
Then you take the selling price, subtract the “Selling On Amazon Fees” and “Total Fulfillment Cost”, this leaves you with your proceeds after fees. In this example we used ASIN: B07L5DTC1R and can see that this product is selling for $39.5 minus the “Selling On Amazon Fees” of $5.93 and “Total Fulfillment Cost” of $6.28 leaves us with $27.29.
For you to be successful, you require being able to source a product for $12 for a unit or below. The objective is to earn at least 40 percent profit following all expenses & fees. A 50 percent or higher profit is fine but less than 40 percent is unacceptable. This is functional for any product. Simply, find those which are selling well on Amazon. Get the ASIN, plug in the information into the “Amazon Revenue Calculator“, and then read its profit potential. After you discover you can be beneficial for a specific product, you’re set to look for a supplier. You should look for a product either precisely the same or quite close to the best-selling product you researched on Amazon.
Finding a Supplier for Your Products
After you’ve picked your product or product line, it’s now the best time to look for a supplier. The kind of product you’ve picked will define how you search for your supplier. The moment you start your business, it’s normally good to determine if you’ll be able to get a supplier that’s based in the United States. This simply makes things a bit simpler during the shipment of the products on Amazon.
Keep in the mind that your objective is to have a venture that is going to provide you with the freedom to enjoy your life. Therefore, according to me, it makes life even much simpler to look for a supplier who is based in the United States. But, there are simply a few products which just can’t be sourced cost-effectively in the United States meaning that you may need to import.
Souring In the United States
First of all, let’s consider sourcing a product here in the United States. For instance, let’s suppose you’ve decided to trade dietary supplements. Then, you’d go to Google and search for, “private label supplements” USA.
In case you had a particular product like: “Omega 3 fish oil”, you’d search for: “private label” fish oil. Then search for the US-based suppliers who appear to possess what you’re looking for. Reach the suppliers to tell them you want to private label your product. You should contact many suppliers since finally, you’re looking to get the ideal price and to determine who calls you the fastest.
Questions to Ask Suppliers
i.) What Is Their MOQ?
Minimum order quantity (MOQ) is the quantity which you have to order. So, talk about this and ensure they understand you’ll be ordering bigger quantities in the future.
ii.) Ask about Pricing
Inquire about the pricing for 2,000, 1,000, 500, 100 unit quantities. The more you’re able to order the better pricing you can enjoy. Always, I would begin with a minimum of 500 units. A lot of people begin with smaller quantities and then they end up suffering when they run out of the stock. It’s going to require a minimum of 500 units to start off in my opinion. But, in case your budget doesn’t allow this, then begin with the quantity you can.
iii.) Do They Do Bottling and Labeling?
A few suppliers can design labels on your behalf. However, many don’t. So, simply ask about this to be certain. Ensure they’re going to ship undeviatingly to Amazon for you. You’ll be sending the shipping labels to the supplier for them to send straight to FBA on your behalf. This implies you’ll never require touching the product. Nonetheless, you have to ensure that your supplier is going to do this.
iv.) Get Samples
The United States suppliers will usually ship to Amazon on your behalf. This saves you the hustle of having to see this done by yourself. Surely, this can be a big time saver. Personally, on the initial shipment they’re shipping out, I take samples of the product to ensure all is well and that there’s no problem. I have discovered that for products like cosmetics, supplements or anything which the customer ingests or puts on the body, it’s simple to get US-based suppliers. Apart from that, you ought to always utilize a US-based supplier as far as these kinds of products as concerned. This is because it’s important that you satisfy the quality measures for these kinds of products.
Overseas Sourcing
In case for a reason or the other you can’t locate a United States based supplier, and which can happen on some types of products like electronics and plastics, then you’ll require searching for overseas suppliers. I usually go to Alibaba.com and then search for a supplier there. On Alibaba.com, simply search for the kind of product you want to sell and then search through different suppliers. For instance, suppose you needed to sell “essential oil diffusers”; Go to Alibaba.com, search for the “essential oil diffuser”:
Ensure you check the search box to just look for trade assurance, Gold Suppliers, and Assessed supplier. This will ensure you’re showing quality suppliers that have been validated by Alibaba.
Additionally, you can go to Google and then search for the kind of product: “essential oil diffuser” private label and “essential oil diffuser” wholesale.
Questions to Ask Suppliers
i.) What Is Their MOQ?
Minimum order quantity (MOQ) is the quantity which you have to order. So, talk about this and ensure they understand you’ll be ordering bigger quantities in the future.
ii.) Ask about Pricing
Inquire about the pricing for 2,000, 1,000, 500, 100 unit quantities. The more you’re able to order the better pricing you can enjoy. Always, I would begin with a minimum of 500 units. A lot of people begin with smaller quantities and then they end up suffering when they run out of the stock. It’s going to require a minimum of 500 units to start off in my opinion. But, in case your budget doesn’t allow this, then begin with the quantity you can.
iii.) Do They Do Bottling and Labeling?
A few suppliers can design labels on your behalf. However, many don’t. So, simply ask about this to be certain. It’s much tougher to have products shipped all the way from overseas straight to Amazon. I have perpetually had them ship to our storage section so we can scrutinize the shipment prior to shipping it to Amazon. This makes an additional step. But of course, it’s worth the trouble of having shipments come at FBA having problems.
You can utilize services like http://www.zebrapals.com/ or look for “FBA inspection” on Google. The FBA inspection services are going to get your shipment, scrutinize it, and later ship it to Amazon FBA. This also creates an extra cost so you’ll need to determine if it can be accommodated with your budget. We have ever performed the inspection ourselves.
Furthermore, keep in mind that when importing all the way from overseas, your shipment has to pass through customs. This is precisely what makes the process harder. You could master how to manage everything concerning customs or employ a freight forwarder. Here, a freight forwarder is going to handle everything on your behalf; pick up at the supplier, keeping you updated on shipment, handling shipment past the customs, and finally delivery to your address. Moreover, this is an additional cost though it’s worth it. We’ll talk more about freight forwarders below.
iv.) Get Samples
After you’ve found some potential suppliers for your product, you’ll require ensuring you get some samples from each.
Never Place an Order with a Supplier Before Getting Samples.
Ensure you get over a sample from every supplier to be certain that the product quality and consistency is similar. There are moments a supplier sends you a sample and later you discover that the quality doesn’t remain the same. Thus, be certain to get multiple samples from every supplier.
In the case where your supplier is from overseas, they will ordinarily request you to compensate for the costs of shipping and sometimes the samples. Don’t mind, however, this is normal. A supplier that is US-based will actually just need you to cover the shipping cost.
Importing Products
I fancy selling products where I deal with a US-based supplier. This leads to simpler logistics and planning. Notwithstanding, sometimes that’s simply not possible. If you’ve picked a supplier who’s overseas, you’ll require getting those products from that other country, via customs, then to the destination. This is actually not an easy task and needs much paperwork. In addition, there are moments when problems arise making your shipment to delay. For me, I love using what’s known as a Freight Forwarder.
A Freight Forwarder also called a “Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier” (NVOCC), is an individuals or company which organizes shipments for people or corporations to receive goods right from the producer to a customer, market or ultimate destination of distribution. Forwarders get into a contract with a carrier or mostly many carriers in moving of the goods. However, a forwarder doesn’t move the goods but acts as a professional within the logistics network. The carriers can utilize various shipping modes such as airplanes, ships, trucks and railroads, and usually several modes for one shipment. For instance, a Freight Forwarder may plan to have cargo transported from a source to an airport by road, flown to the destination point, and then transferred from the airport to a client’s premises again by road. (From Wikipedia)
Essentially, a Freight Forwarder is a firm which will manage every section of the import shipping process on your behalf. They manage all the involved paperwork and are going to inform if problems arise with customs or tell you what additional paperwork might be required. So, first, you require finding a Freight Forwarder that you can conveniently work with; Go to Google and then search for “Freight Forwarding Companies”. You’ll find several of them. I have just utilized one and they’ve been wonderful. I work with a company known as V.Alexander. You can look them up to see if you can consider them.
After you pick a Freight Forwarder, you’ll require creating an account with them. Normally, they will require business information, company title, address, phone, contact information, EIN number, and perhaps if you need to create a credit account, they’ll have to look up credit information. I suggest creating a credit account as it’ll speed up the process of delivery at the completion of the shipping process. Actually, you don’t need to take the additional step of sending money to them before they’ve delivered the shipment.
Most likely, you’ll need to purchase single entry or continuous bond. Here, it all depends on the number of times you’ll import. In case you import regularly then go for a continuous bond because, in the long run, it’ll be cheaper. Address this with the Freight Forwarder. Ordinarily, your Freight Forwarder is going to charge fees depending on the weight and size of your shipment. Further, you’ll have different customs fees. Simply ask them about the total approximated cost of each shipment.
Usually, during importation, you’ve two choices for shipping, by air or ocean. Keep in mind that it’s ever FAR less costly to get your shipment sent through ocean shipment. Actually, it can ask for 60 to 70% less compared to air shipment. The issue is that an ocean one can take from 1 and 1/2 months to 2 and 1/2 months to get to you. It can even take more time if for a few reasons your shipment gets delayed in customs. Certainly, this is such a long time that requires elevated inventory management to this. If you have a quick selling product you’ll need how & when to place orders in order for you not to run out of your stock.
On the other hand, an air shipment takes between 7 to 14 days to arrive. I only go for air shipments the moment I have a product that sells very quickly, I simply can’t maintain the demand and encounter a hard time programming for two months out. If I’ve to make use of air shipments for a product, I try building this cost into the cost of the product so it absolutely doesn’t matter whether I need to cater for the much higher costs of shipping.
Differentiate and Be the Best in the Market
A lot of individuals learn how to go about selling on Amazon. However, that doesn’t imply they ever really succeed. You must be different to position yourself higher than the other sellers. Regardless of what you choose to trade on Amazon, ensure that you make a decision of being THE BEST. Also, you need to ensure that anything you sell it’s of the topmost quality. Selling substandard products will forever come back hurting you. If you trade low quality products, your consumers will write negative feedback, and you’ll have huge refund amounts. Generally, this will damage your seller rating.
Do Widespread Testing
Ensure to do thorough testing from your supplier prior to actually placing your first product order. This way, you’ll be certain that what you’re selling is really of high quality. After you understand that you have a high-quality product you then require making sure that you differentiate your product from your rivals. For instance, let’s assume you chose to trade chalkboard labels. By the way, a chalkboard label happens to be an adhesive label which can be written on using chalkboard markers. It can be rubbed clean and re-used again and again.
Here Find Ways on How to Differentiate
i.) Larger Size:
Let’s assume that following research, you discover that the majority of your opponents are selling sets of 24 labels. So, to differentiate your product, you could trade a bigger size set. Customers fancy getting a better bargain so selling a bigger set for a similar price would be an amazing way to position your product apart from your rivals.
ii.) Complementary Add on Products:
Instead of selling a bigger size, you may need to utilize a COMPLEMENTARY Add on item. In the example above, of chalkboard labels, chalk makers are utilized to write on these kinds of labels. Therefore, you could attach a chalk marker to your product to boost the value for your consumer. Now the consumer will get chalkboard labels plus a chalk marker for the same cost as other products only selling the labels. Hence, this would set apart your product from others.
When we perform a search for the chalkboard labels at Amazon, the best-sellers have attached a chalk marker onto their chalk label packs. Others have created a bigger size pack. They are utilizing this aspect of differentiating and so that they can be better.
iii.) Both Strategies:
To surely set yourself apart, you could utilize both strategies. You could trade a bigger size PLUS a complimentary Add on product. I have utilized the two strategies and they actually have worked nicely. Utilize your imagination then think out of the box! Anything you do, simply ensure you set your product apart from your rivals and become the BEST!
What to Do Next: Sign Up for More Free Lesions
Hopefully, you have appreciated all these lessons. The lessons were tailored to assist you to obtain a better understanding of how selling on Amazon involves. However, they just take you through the initial steps. But, this is only the beginning of everything you need to understand to master how to trade on Amazon. Still, there are numerous more aspects you must know.
Therefore, it’s normally better to enter a program which teaches every strategy of selling on Amazon. You’ll also need a program which updates often for you to stay on the cutting edge of what’s happening on the Amazon market. If you fail to do this, you’ll drag behind and probably do things which could destroy your business.
If you’re earnest about selling on Amazon, I would urge you to take a more thorough course. You should take a course which stays updated on all Amazon is doing then get connected within a community that you can receive assistance from others. There are 2 courses I greatly recommend:
i.) AMAZING SELLING MACHINE
The first course is the “AMAZING SELLING MACHINE“. I took this course and it helped me understand how to earn over $1.3 million within 18 months. The course is highly advanced on what’s happening on Amazon. Actually, it’s far much the most ideal course available on this subject. There’s no other course on Amazon that’s as simple to follow plus the advanced approaches aren’t taught anywhere else. However, this course just opens for enrollment only once or twice every year meaning you can’t know if it’s closed once more to the public.
ii.) Proven Amazon Course
A membership website full of PDFs, video tutorials, webinar recordings, and other curated resources all about creating a business using Amazon FBA