Post: #26

Happy to be of help

Post: #27

Killface, going back to giving the first few units away;

How do you find/choose these freebie recipients?

Are they friends of yours with Amazon accounts? Or do you just simply list the item at an insane price and wait for people to buy it and hope they review? If you are giving it away, isn't there a stipulation that you must mention in the review that the item was a "gift" or something like that?

Post: #28

Friends or family.

Facebook group called "something something product reviewers" i forget but should be easy to find

Tomoson

Productelf

Viral-launch

Zonblast

People do mention that the item was received at a discount in exchange for an honest review. It doesn't effect anything, in my experience or those of anyone I know.

Post: #29

Disappointing to see that Killface has been banned.. he seemed to be posting some good info in here.

Anyway I have been looking into this stuff in the past few weeks. Here is a great blog post where he outlines the entire process including all the costs ect:

http://www.nichepursuits.com/amazon-fba-in-30-days/

He also links to another blog post which gave him the idea, and a podcast they made about it, check it out! I would be interested to see any other good resources on the topic if anyone else knows of some.

Post: #30

Ecommerce:
Ecommerce Fuel by Andrew Youderian (one of the better podcasts overall on ecommerce).
Ecommerce Pulse by Leighton Taylor.

For FBA podcasts, doing a quick search I found the above worthy of a mention:
Ask Jordan Podcast
Private Label Podcast

These will keep you busy and happy.

(05-26-2015 08:21 AM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(05-26-2015 12:30 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  Yeah I've heard both, selling the first 1-200 units at heavily discounted rates and giving them away.

Nowadays, there are podcasts on pretty much any topic out there. Earlier tonight, did some search and found quite a few on Amazon FBA and starting to listen to a few.

Guys, start listening to podcasts, there are a good mine!

Maybe a couple of podcast links please? Just to get started. Thanks.

Post: #31

Why was Killface banned? He was posting good stuff!

Post: #32

Killface was banned most likely because of this:

/thread-47731-...pid1029900

Sad though, he was just telling people to cheer up.

Post: #33

Why was Killface banned this is ridiculous

Post: #34

I am similarly surprised. I guess I see how his post could have been offensive but I am surprised at the ban.

Post: #35

Dude, Killface was providing extremely useful info, and now he gets banned over some ridiculous comment?

Post: #36

Killface had good info, but I'd be careful about taking any of his claims too seriously.

Check the thread below. Now, I'm not saying that it's impossible to do what he claims, but I'd be skeptical of anyone making those claims if I didn't see it in person.

But that doesn't change the fact that importing and selling on Amazon appears to be a legitimate way to make real cash. I know a guy who is successful online who I'm pretty sure got into it recently as well. He's a guy whose opinion I would trust. Next time I see him I'll pick his brain, but not sure if I'll be seeing him anytime soon.

/thread-43597.html

Quote:New to the forum. First, I'd like to say thanks...I lurked for around a year and during that time I was able to unplug from the matrix. During that time, I:

1. Took a $9/hour job (security, so I could work on side projects or sleep) on top of my office slave job, effectively working 24 hours per day to fund an online affiliate marketing business.

2. Managed to crack the code, found a winning campaign, and banked about $500k after taxes in a few months before the campaign died. (I have not been able to get anything to work since)

3. Rolled the money into rental real estate in one of the best markets in the nation, acquiring 30 units rapidly before killing my job.

4. Did some mind-expanding traveling, reduced bodyfat from 20%+ to 8% and started a healthy lifestyle with the newfound free time and disposable income.

5. After a few months got a $200k/yr job in the oilfield with no experience thanks to Atlantic's thread. Drove to HQ and knocked on doors.

Post: #37

Pity Killface got banned, I was enjoying this thread and has started reading up on the advice given.

Never seen that other thread that Rio linked till now...

As for the oil industry thing - it is definitely possible. I made 180k last year before taxes, I meet a guy recently who hasn't posted much about the Oil Sands but he made 140k in 5 months I think. If you find the right area and put in big hours you can make huge money. Most guys in any sort of niche clear upwards of 120-150k if they are being kept busy.
Did he ever say what he did? He mentioned my thread which was nearly all MWD advice but the pay in the States is quite a bit less than Canada for that.

Anyway hopefully someone tries this as there does seem to be some money in it.

Post: #38

I PM'd with Killface when he first came on the forum (guns blazing), and as far as I can tell, he checks out.

He was doing MWD work and the pay he told me was fairly accurate, no reason to doubt because I think he had an engineering degree.

It's too bad he got banned. He was motivated and did not want to be poor, no matter what happened. His banning was not even bad, he's right, there are some people who still take a blue pill stance to money. It's out there, you just have to go get it.

Post: #39

On a slightly different note, the guy who rents in the industrial unit next to my workshop has a few hustles going. He has. Fork lift truck and last week I saw a van arrive, he unloaded it then less than an hour later a different van arrived and he loaded all the palates of goods into it. Not sure what this deal involved but he was buying from the first guys and selling to the second at a profit. It's all about having the contacts and jumping on opportunities.

A friends dad after losing his job started an Ebay business ( now has his own website) buying car related gadgets ( reversing cameras, reversing sensors and alarms etc) buys them in from China and sells individually on EBay.

So, potential " big baller trolls" aside, the hustles are out there. You just need to buy and the right price and sell at a profit.

Post: #40

BTW, if my posts sometimes look retarded, I apologise. Those are the posts done in a hurry on my old iPhone with its autocorrect. Not from my laptop.

Post: #41

I'm pretty disappointed killface got banned.

He was a helpful poster and much of that info in the above mentioned thread doesn't seem astronomical or unobtainable by any means. A lot of oil guys are pulling similar numbers from what I understand, especially with a degree.

Pour out a little liquor I guess.

Post: #42

I thought of a novel application for an existing, ubiquitous, cheap product.

Id like to produce it (order a couple thousand units, pack them, stock them, etc) and sell them on Amazon.

How should I go about this? What info or sources would you guys recommend me check into?

Post: #43

Most of that has been covered on the first page germanico. You really dont even need to stock anything yourself physically.

The basic jist is After your product is developed you have your chinese supplier from alibaba or wherever send you pics and samples of the product. Once you're happy, you have the total order/shipment sent straight to one of amazons fba warehouses in the US. Give the first 20-100 units away, depending on what it is your selling, rack up some 5 star reviews, after about 10-20 reviews you hit the first page of amazons search for that product and hopefully the orders will start coming in. You never physically hold the product.

Also Vac posted some good links and podcasts, give them a look.

Post: #44

I was wondering if I had to hold the final product. I think that answers my question, thanks a lot.

Post: #45

You can technically start selling without ever actually touching or seeing the product.

But that would be risky cause the supplier could royally fuck up/take shortcuts on your product.

Searching for only gold rated suppliers on alibaba mitigates this a bit, but I would still order a small sample to see it and use it for myself.

Post: #46

I heard on one of the podcast I've been listening that the gold rated label in typical chinese fashion, is at times nothing more than that, a label, that these chinese manufacturers purchase.

Has anyone in here heard about this and confirm/ deny this and and more lights into that?

Post: #47

You get the Gold Label by paying Alibaba, it's nothing more. It costs 5000RMB a year.

Guys, the real money is made by actually being in China. The majority of vendors on Alibaba are traders, not factories, despite what they may claim.

Why you ask? Because a factory may produce anywhere from between $5million-100million worth of product annually. Their job is to produce quality product at the lowest possible price. They only care about supplying by the container. They don't have the time nor the interest to chat on Alibaba all day with guys who are kicking tires about possibly buying 50 cell phone chargers. That's what traders do.

The problem with traders though, is they'll hike up the price anywhere from 30-100% of what the factory charges them. In addition, they're also your competition on ebay and amazon. You know the guys on amazon who have the cheapest price but it says it ships from China? Those are the same traders you're buying from on Alibaba.

As far as shipping directly from China to the Amazon FBA warehouses.... I call bullshit. Any marginally large shipment that comes into the US has to go through customs. Who's going to do that for you?

Bottom line, there's plenty of money to be made, but it's not done by a couple of clicks and boom, your product's in the Amazon warehouse.

Germanico, if you have any questions I can help you with, shoot me a PM. The most lucrative items I've found are ones that you craft yourself. When only one factory has the molds, instead of thousands, it prevents competitors from shooting down the price and killing your business.

Post: #48

(05-31-2015 06:25 AM)BallsDeep Wrote:  You get the Gold Label by paying Alibaba, it's nothing more. It costs 5000RMB a year.

Guys, the real money is made by actually being in China. The majority of vendors on Alibaba are traders, not factories, despite what they may claim.

Why you ask? Because a factory may produce anywhere from between $5million-100million worth of product annually. Their job is to produce quality product at the lowest possible price. They only care about supplying by the container. They don't have the time nor the interest to chat on Alibaba all day with guys who are kicking tires about possibly buying 50 cell phone chargers. That's what traders do.

The problem with traders though, is they'll hike up the price anywhere from 30-100% of what the factory charges them. In addition, they're also your competition on ebay and amazon. You know the guys on amazon who have the cheapest price but it says it ships from China? Those are the same traders you're buying from on Alibaba.

As far as shipping directly from China to the Amazon FBA warehouses.... I call bullshit. Any marginally large shipment that comes into the US has to go through customs. Who's going to do that for you?

Bottom line, there's plenty of money to be made, but it's not done by a couple of clicks and boom, your product's in the Amazon warehouse.

Germanico, if you have any questions I can help you with, shoot me a PM. The most lucrative items I've found are ones that you craft yourself. When only one factory has the molds, instead of thousands, it prevents competitors from shooting down the price and killing your business.

I have also done my deep dive into FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon and had read the Amazon Amazing Selling Machine materials they wanted $4K for the "full" course - - for $4K I would rather buy and roll fast moving inventory! I have an associate who had about 16 Virtual Web Assistants working in Philippines on various niche web projects... he tries to stay away from physical product - as there is always the problem of dodgy "trader" suppliers that may or may not deliver quality product - If you are selling the product attached to your name and business most states hold you responsible for merchantability and fitness implied warranties and the last thing you need is a fraud lawsuit from your States Attorney General around your neck.

That said some of the best ideas you will find are on the warrior forum...

The gist of the $4K Amazon Amazing Selling machine course was buy an inexpensive product in bulk preferably consumables or stuff easily lost and reordered... fishing tackle and lures or trout, bass or saltwater flies, or ladies garments - yoga pants, workout apparel - lightweight high markup stuff that is easy to ship ... then inspect for quality as you package the items in your own branded packaging then sell your brand for about half of the premium "licensed" stuff.

I did a week of selling at the Laconia bike week - the guy I set up with was a comedy of errors - but meet a guy with a business from Myrtle Beach - he carried licensed goods - Orange County Cycles and Jessie James goods which he augmented with cheap stuff he bought from China via trade shows he visited there. He sold some tacky stuff - he said you never go broke underestimating the tastes of the American consumer - he said if it had a wolf, eagle, bear, snake, pentagram, Iron Cross, US flag, Confederate flag etc etc on it it would sell.

He carried a lot of ladies undergarments and short shorts and beater tees - with printed slutty images of the above or provocative sayings - basically stuff that cost him one or two bucks from China and that he sold for 9.99 or 19.99 or more. The slutty biker chick slutty beach chick market for the rag trade is huge. Skimpy low weight easy to ship goods with a huge markup - he also sold ear rings and piecing kits, nipple rings, face piercings, clit rings - again same theme - small, slutty, cheap to buy, as much as a ten times markup, easy to ship.

Back to Amazon once you private label your quality controlled products (Don't want lots of returns and charge-backs to Amazon as with their 15% fees you can lose money at double your cost on just one crap quality shipment). People bend over backwards to keep customers happy so they will not be dropped by Amazon - cheap Chinese Phones or buggy electronics will drive customers into rages whereas a slutty pair of panties a sloe loses in the backseat of her boyfriends mud mobile means nothing... Fisherman lose millions of lures and flies and gear a year on snags in the countries lakes and streams it is a cost of fishing.

Guns and ammo and crossbows are often governed at the state and Federal ATM (Fed Gun Dealers License) and huge liability if a customer shoots his girlfriend if he finds her in bed with her boss or the local bad boy wannabee -

Any thing seen as healthy or green, light weight and consumable or on the other hand sexy and slutty and easy to ship with large margins will sell.

Dried fruit, nuts and spices can be lucrative but perishables - fresh cooked gourmet meals, etc., require special handling not well suited to Amazon FBA.

There are manufacturers who make stuff in volume, brokers who broker by the container full and dealers who buy wholesale then private label brand and resale with merchantability and fitness implied warranties

Still have to stay within the bounds of the Amazon TOU.

So that is the short overview about FBA with Amazon - I do not like drop shipping as there is too much room for fraud and if you get a low quality shipment from a bait and switch Chinese supplier you can get in legal hot water especially if any life safety issues - flammable fabrics etc.

Again quite a good bit of IM discussions on the warrior forum... yeah with the name warrior forum you might think it is a military oriented forum - nope just wannabee internet marketing warriors - a few the real deal.

Warning once someone finds a hot niche with a few hot products they guard that info and their sources with their lives. So unfortunately a certain amount of trial and error involved.

Post: #49

(05-31-2015 06:25 AM)BallsDeep Wrote:  You get the Gold Label by paying Alibaba, it's nothing more. It costs 5000RMB a year.

Guys, the real money is made by actually being in China. The majority of vendors on Alibaba are traders, not factories, despite what they may claim.

Why you ask? Because a factory may produce anywhere from between $5million-100million worth of product annually. Their job is to produce quality product at the lowest possible price. They only care about supplying by the container. They don't have the time nor the interest to chat on Alibaba all day with guys who are kicking tires about possibly buying 50 cell phone chargers. That's what traders do.

The problem with traders though, is they'll hike up the price anywhere from 30-100% of what the factory charges them. In addition, they're also your competition on ebay and amazon. You know the guys on amazon who have the cheapest price but it says it ships from China? Those are the same traders you're buying from on Alibaba.

As far as shipping directly from China to the Amazon FBA warehouses.... I call bullshit. Any marginally large shipment that comes into the US has to go through customs. Who's going to do that for you?

Bottom line, there's plenty of money to be made, but it's not done by a couple of clicks and boom, your product's in the Amazon warehouse.

Germanico, if you have any questions I can help you with, shoot me a PM. The most lucrative items I've found are ones that you craft yourself. When only one factory has the molds, instead of thousands, it prevents competitors from shooting down the price and killing your business.

QFT. I bought a couple things for the dental office from Alibaba. F-ck me with the amount of bullshit that I had to deal with. I probably spent 10 hours talking to suppliers.

F-ckers keep trying to upcharge for some crazy amount for shipping. Then never get back to you after receiving $$$$.

I was waiting an easy 2-3 weeks and sweating my payment going through. Drove me absolutely nuts.

On a time/value/saftey basis you are better off just ordering at higher markup from ebay or from an american company.

Post: #50

I'm also interested in starting a FBA business. I found out about Scott Voelker's "The Amazing Seller" podcast and it's been a huge help so far. I'm not affiliated with this guy, besides the entire thing is free anyway so just Google it and off you go.
There's also a closed Facebook group called "The Amazing Seller" (the one with 12-13k members) Just apply to join and the guy himself (Scott) hooks you up.
From what I've found out, apparently $4-5k in gross profit is pretty regular in this. I've just read about two dudes pulling off $6.5M in gross profit last year.