What I'm doing is Amazon private labeling. That might get you started as far as a search goes, and yes I'm in the process of launchingy first product. I hope to have it in the Amazon marketplace as early as the end of next month.
SanMiguel said:Does anyone have recommendations for a sourcing agent in China or elsewhere, either generally or to be specific, in health and beauty/cosmetics.
I know exactly what I want but have struggled to find a manufacturer to make it for me. So far I've tried Alibaba and Indiamart - posted buying requests and messaged factories direct. I've also searched google for cosmetics manufacturers in Europe/UK and emailed them but it's never really got off the ground.
SanMiguel said:Does anyone have recommendations for a sourcing agent in China or elsewhere, either generally or to be specific, in health and beauty/cosmetics.
I know exactly what I want but have struggled to find a manufacturer to make it for me. So far I've tried Alibaba and Indiamart - posted buying requests and messaged factories direct. I've also searched google for cosmetics manufacturers in Europe/UK and emailed them but it's never really got off the ground.
The problem is most of these companies are big factories that either want to sell their existing product range, which is not what I want, or for a brand new product to be created, require a very high MOQ. I am confident in the product but can't place an initial order of 10000+ units - I'm looking between 1000-5000 absolute max. and even that may be pushing my budget depending on the unit cost.
It's frustrating as I know once I get this product made, it will sell (there is a very similar product that does already, but has no real competition here in the UK/Europe). I am not talking huge numbers but it will definitely be a very nice addition to my passive income.
WeekendCasanova said:Probably a stupid question, but have you tried AliExpress? Sometimes, the product offerings differ. I've found better suppliers on AE than I have on Alibaba in lots of cases, and they were more willing to work with me on bulk orders, MOQs as well.
Suits said:PM me.
jamaicabound said:Take the knowledge you already have and teach a lesson in writing, video, audio, or a combination of the two. Market the course to people looking to learn that skills or hobby or whatever it may be and you have a product you created yourself of which you keep nearly 100% of the sales as there's no inventory cost. Your only real cost is merchant processing. You can use social media, blogs, youtube, etc to establish yourself as an expert and drive people to buy said course. This area is really a goldmine and one which isn't nearly as saturated as ecommerce. Also don't focus on how to make money online programs which is something I find many people doing. Though there is money to make there it could be how to use lending club, how to put together a simple investing portfolio for young professionals, how to buy your first sailboat and learn to sale, etc, etc, etc.
jamaicabound said:Hey guys, big update on Amazon, incase any of you havn't heard, Amazon is now starting to do what's called "Brand Gating". Same way you needed approval to sell in health and personal wellness and other categories, they are now cracking down on brands. If you want to sell Nike, Reebok, Hasbro, Asics, etc you need to pay $1500, per brand that is, plus have something from either the manufacture or authorized distributor stating you can sell plus invoices and AMazon needs to approve you. Again each brand is going to require $1500 and you can't just sell one product you need invoices showing 5 different sku's.
Now this isn't a huge issue because me personally have always advocated staying away from brands, margins suck, too many issues with eBay/Amazon claiming your selling fake even if your not, etc, but just something to be aware of for anyone who plays the retail arbitrage game.
Honestly I'm getting kind of fed up with Amazon, building up a listing by giving away free products and promoting it just to have others come piggyback and have Amazon not do anything about it, the fees suck, buyers suck, lots of returns, people buy stuff to use for free and return. I"m still doing Amazon but day by day getting more over Amazon. Ultimately while I do turn a profit on Amazon both Amazon and eBay are nothing more than a customer introduction in which I try to drive them off of those sites to my own Shopify site.
While I make the bulk of my income from ecommerce, I'm going to start branching off into creating digital products, I would encourage those of you not already doing this to branch out into it. It seems the guys on here have a great variety of skills, interest, passions, etc from woodworking to sailing to cars to guns, etc. Take the knowledge you already have and teach a lesson in writing, video, audio, or a combintion of the two. Market the course to people looking to learn that skills or hobby or whatever it may be and you have a product you created yourself of which you keep nearly 100% of the sales as there's no inventory cost. Your only real cost is merchant processing. You can use social media, blogs, youtube, etc to establish yourself as an expert and drive people to buy said course. This area is really a goldmine and one which isn't nearly as saturated as ecommerce. Also don't focus on how to make money online programs which is something I find many people doing. Though there is money to make there it could be how to use lending club, how to put together a simple investing portfolio for young professionals, how to buy your first sailboat and learn to sale, etc, etc, etc.
tomzestatlu said:Yesterday I asked some questions about dropshipping in another thread. I´ve written, that I will be interested in dropshipping from local sellers. But today I did a research on Amazon and it doesn´t look so bad.
I am from Europe and one of their main countries, Germany, is neighbout state. While dropshipping from Germany, delivery time is 4-8 days and if I pay more, it can be express (talking about products they have in stock). I must look into delivery times and shipping closer, but if we talk in period of few days, it doesn´t sound so bad.
I am thinking about this "algorythm", that doesn´t require any other costs than marketing and doesn´t put me in big risk of loosing money.
- Customer orders product at my eshop
- Customer recieves the payment details and make payment
- I recieve the payment and also information about product a customer wants
- I buy this product at Amazon
- When the product delivers to me, I repack it and send to customer
What do you think about this process? What are your experiences and what can be done better and easier? I think that the biggest pain is the time of delivery to customer, which is crucial factor IMHO. With the process above, it can take up to 7 days without paying express delivery, which is too much.
I have on my mind a product, which is kind of niche. It can be bought here, but it´s not in people knowledge very much. It´s a winter season thing, so I would like to earn some little on it, get experiences and then jump onto something else. I just need to finally start with something and I don´t have any other idea right now.RustyShackleford said:tomzestatlu said:Yesterday I asked some questions about dropshipping in another thread. I´ve written, that I will be interested in dropshipping from local sellers. But today I did a research on Amazon and it doesn´t look so bad.
I am from Europe and one of their main countries, Germany, is neighbout state. While dropshipping from Germany, delivery time is 4-8 days and if I pay more, it can be express (talking about products they have in stock). I must look into delivery times and shipping closer, but if we talk in period of few days, it doesn´t sound so bad.
I am thinking about this "algorythm", that doesn´t require any other costs than marketing and doesn´t put me in big risk of loosing money.
- Customer orders product at my eshop
- Customer recieves the payment details and make payment
- I recieve the payment and also information about product a customer wants
- I buy this product at Amazon
- When the product delivers to me, I repack it and send to customer
What do you think about this process? What are your experiences and what can be done better and easier? I think that the biggest pain is the time of delivery to customer, which is crucial factor IMHO. With the process above, it can take up to 7 days without paying express delivery, which is too much.
Yes there are some guys that do massive Ebay/Amazon listings to dropship. There's no start up cost, and little marketing you do so it's really hard to differentiate.
You'll have to make up for it in volume, as most purchases will be 10%, 20% at the most.
It can work but you don't really develop any skills or marketing. You are just a middle man without developing any savvy in how to market.
I know a few guys that tried this out a few months back, some had headaches with chargebacks, most dropped out. It might make you some money but I don't see a lot of long term benefit developing skills or making real money.
I'd consider something different but it could work.
Latan said:Question for US residents :
Is it possible to hire UPS / Fedex / Other compagny, in order to go to a store, to manually pick up an already purchased item?
For example, let's say I buy a pair of shoes online, whose store only lets me pick them up in person (no home delivery).
Is there a compagny offering the service to go pick these shoes at the store, then send the package to my house? (Let's say my house is in the US)
Thanks.