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.
Is anyone importing/selling/dropshipping products on Amazon as a side hustle?
- Thread starter HonantheBarbarian
- Start date
Also, if you want to look at a play by play case study there's a pretty good one at
passion into paychecks.com
He did a step by step walk through for the entire process
passion into paychecks.com
He did a step by step walk through for the entire process
jamaicabound
Pelican
Hey guys, been a while since i been back on this thread but interesting discussion.
I notice a couple people have asked about Jungle Scout, it's a great program, however for those not wanting to ponyup the money for it there's a free chrome extension called Unicorn Smasher that has most of the features of JS but for free.
Amazon is getting tougher and tougher. Even if you have a private label you'll get piggybackers and chinese sellers jumping on your listing, AMazon is doing less and less about it.
New update as of yesterday Amazon is now "gating" brands like they do categories. You want to sell Nike shoes you have to pony up $1500 and submit all your invoices and proof it was bought from Nike or a licensed distributor. This is for every brand so if you want to sell Nike, Reebok, and Asics that's $1500 per pop with no assurance Amazon won't take your money and knock you off a week later.
The days of buying oil diffusers for 0.50 cents and selling them on Amazon all day for $20 bucks is over. You really have to find new low competition and unique items and even then its only a matter of time before people using analytics programs take notice of your success and come either compete fairly with you or just say fuckit and jump on your listing selling a generic version and undercutting you on price.
I'm not saying dont' do Amazon but don't violate control, don't build a business on AMazon. I make money on ebay and amazon but my ultimate goal is driving those customers off that platform to my website where i dont pay fees and i make the rules.
I notice a couple people have asked about Jungle Scout, it's a great program, however for those not wanting to ponyup the money for it there's a free chrome extension called Unicorn Smasher that has most of the features of JS but for free.
Amazon is getting tougher and tougher. Even if you have a private label you'll get piggybackers and chinese sellers jumping on your listing, AMazon is doing less and less about it.
New update as of yesterday Amazon is now "gating" brands like they do categories. You want to sell Nike shoes you have to pony up $1500 and submit all your invoices and proof it was bought from Nike or a licensed distributor. This is for every brand so if you want to sell Nike, Reebok, and Asics that's $1500 per pop with no assurance Amazon won't take your money and knock you off a week later.
The days of buying oil diffusers for 0.50 cents and selling them on Amazon all day for $20 bucks is over. You really have to find new low competition and unique items and even then its only a matter of time before people using analytics programs take notice of your success and come either compete fairly with you or just say fuckit and jump on your listing selling a generic version and undercutting you on price.
I'm not saying dont' do Amazon but don't violate control, don't build a business on AMazon. I make money on ebay and amazon but my ultimate goal is driving those customers off that platform to my website where i dont pay fees and i make the rules.
OrthodoxExpatCol
Kingfisher
I'm down to join a mastermind. I'm in a few already, but would be cool to join one with like minded fellas' from the forum.
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.
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.
OrthodoxExpatCol
Kingfisher
SanMiguel 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.
WeekendCasanova said:
Just had a quick look but there's nothing on there that ties in with this specific product. I've started thinking about other options incase this one doesn't take off - will check it out again when I decide on something.
Suits said:
Thanks, done.
jamaicabound
Pelican
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.
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.
Screemingdead
Sparrow
I was trying to find cheap protein powder online to sell here actually... No luck so far.
jamaicabound said:
This. I've been planing to put together a few mini-books related to some topics I'm knowledgeable about. Will put them on Amazon Kindle for a good price and then in the last page in the book steer them to a web site where I can offer consulting, planning, sales, and development gigs. My topics cover offline businesses so there isn't much out there about it and the few guides that exist are dated or expensive. I might also consider doing a series. How to get started in x, what you need when you build x, operating x profitable, etc.
Is it possible to start on Amazon FBA with a budget of about $1200? That includes absolutely everything, all upfront costs.
LanreLannister
Chicken
jamaicabound said:
Any updates on Amazon drop-shipping, i am interesting in starting out.
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 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.
RustyShackleford
Robin
tomzestatlu said:
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.
PrettyBoyAJ
Sparrow
I've been doing a lot of research on Amazon FBA. Got a brand logo now and subscribed one month to Viral Launch. Currently, I'm searching to see what my first product should be. I can update this thread once I find a product and start making sales. If anyone has experiences please post in here.
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:
For example launching new product is definitely something I don´t have capital for.
HairyTrigger
Chicken
Anyone here have an Amazon seller central account that's 3 years or older and they are currently not using ?
If so I may be able to hook you up with some passive income (400 to 800 USD per month )
Please drop a pm for deets .
Cheers
If so I may be able to hook you up with some passive income (400 to 800 USD per month )
Please drop a pm for deets .
Cheers
A Simple Visitor
Pelican
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.
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.
ChicagoFire
Kingfisher
Latan said:
You're looking for couriers like this:
https://www.parcelmonkey.com/services
Price starts at $20 though.