I searched under "amazon" and "import" and found nothing that directly addressed this question, so if it is a redundant thread let me know. There is one thread about ecommerce and dropshipping but im more concerned with Amazon specifically.
Ive been doing some reading the past few days and noticed a few posts about importing various products from overseas or wherever and selling it on Amazon for a profit. I just wanted to see if any of the fellas here could possibly drop some knowledge about their experiences doing so. Im looking for ways to get a piece of the online pie and I figure someone else may also benefit from this info.
Ive been selling on Amazon for 3 years, completely self-taught. I do anywhere from $25k-$40K per month in sales. We don't use FBA, we fulfill ourselves from our own warehouse.
A few of the main questions that come to mind:
1. Drop shipping vs having the inventory physically delivered to you, which is preferable? They seem like two different practices but a lot of the material im reading seems to blend them together. There have to be obvious benefits/drawbacks to each.
Unless you are a really good internet marketer, affiliate marketer or have a huge list somehow, I would avoid drop shipping. The products are just as hard to find as buying them from a supplier. You will basically spend a few grand on a website, and man hours upkeeping the CSV for products with thin margins that no one is buying.
2. What kind of numbers were you looking at in terms of initial start up costs and investment?
For FBA its really just inventory. May need to rent some short term space and employees to sort.
3. Speaking of dropshipping, A thread I read on another forum states that the guy just purchases the item directly from another supplier i.e Best Buy and has them ship it directly to the buyer's address and has them (best buy) mark it as "gift" so that the buyer cant see what it actually cost the seller.
If im understanding this correctly, he waits for the money to be deposited in his account and then buys the product, has it "dropshipped" directly without ever handling the actual product and takes in whats left as his cut. This seems a bit shady and underhanded, but a lot of people seem to be doing it. He says his clients are more than happy with their product/prices and it all falls within his promised 7-10 days of delivery time. During this course he has supposedly invested $0 and uses UPC codes to mass upload several units at once.
This is a slippery slope. You'll still need capital, and still will need man hours. I don't think you can ever list and sell enough stuff this way to make it worth your time. Plus Amazon is super strict with their policies, and I can't imagine this will be good for your account health long term. I just don't think this makes money.
This is the thread I was reading in case anyone else wants to check it out:
link
4. I know a lot of sellers import from China real cheap and sell on Amazon for a profit and make a decent income that way. Without giving too much away what are some good examples of the types of products/goods used to achieve this method? Also how big of orders did you have to buy to initially break into this?
You're going to have to figure this out on your own. Experience plain and simple. You can import from China, but there is a ton of good stuff in the US as it is. Plus if your importing from China, you still need to know how to market your "private label brand" off-page. We spend about $100K a month on product for our different sales channels. You can do a minimum order of 100-500 units from China, but you won't sell non branded products with much velocity. The least I spent on an order to China was $5000 for Shiatsu foot massagers. Make sure you trust your supplier. Its a nervous feeling wiring a few Gs to a Chinese bank.
5. Ive heard Amazon's fees are pretty high at something like ~15%. How do you factor this in?
Amazon takes 15%, we offer free shipping, so that take out another 9-10% from the margins.
6. What kind of numbers did/is this amazon business generating in your experience?
We do $25-40k a month depending on velocity and how good our buying was. We could do over $100k a month on Amazon, but we choose to sell in other channels. Eventually we may try to expand in Amazon.
I also wouldn't spend a ton of money on a course. Use it to test inventory. I figured it out, so will you. Its pretty much a template, there isn't much creativity behind it.
Use Amazon as a sales channel and income. Keep in mind all these channels can kick you off whenever you want, and there is never an exit strategy. You can't sell your storefront, or your list. For us its great for monthly sales, but you also have to diversify, because you don't have much control over your distribution.
Forgive me if these are basic questions, there is just an overload of gimmicky information claiming $20k in 5 weeks and its becoming a bit dizzying to sift through it all on google. I just want some realistic, real life examples of this.
