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Email: theamazingsellers@gmail.com
Hey Scott,
I’ve been listening to the podcast now for about 3 weeks. Love it!
I’ve picked a product! Now, I’m moving on to sourcing it. With that comes a TON of questions haha. I wanted to get your opinion on these, namely #1.
1) What is the best resource for questions related to FBA in general? Is there a forum or something? (Much like the email template sent to suppliers gets numerous answers at once, as opposed to sending the questions individually, I’ve love a one-stop-shop resource where I can get the answers the numerous questions).
2) What profit margin do you aim for? 10x10x1 states a $10 profit. The particular product I’m looking at has about a $7-8 profit, at a $35 sale price. Coming in at just over 20% profit margin. Is this acceptable?
3) Is my product in the sweet spot or too competitive? Jungle Scout lists the top 10 sellers for my search as having 6000 monthly sales among them. #1 has 2500, #2 has 1000. #4-#10 have between 150-500.
4) What generic costs should I keep in mind when searching for a product and looking at margins? Such as $4/kg air shipping, or $0.50/kg sea shipping. Is it enough to just look at lower weight items and ignore this all together, or is there a general rule of thumb in terms of “you will pay X for shipping per item, Y for shipping from US port to FBA per item, and Z for customs per dollar per item”?
5) How much inventory should one order on their first go? Let’s say X sales per month was forecasted. Should I order 2*X, or enough for 2 months worth of inventory? More or less?
6) As an international to the US (I’m from Toronto), I was considering between the Sample Phase and a Sea shipment to the US… having a substantial size of my product sent to me in Canada so I can inspect the packaging in close detail. I would of course use Guided Imports to do an inspection. Would having a large box of packaged units sent to myself be overkill when already using Guided Imports, or is there a benefit?
1. TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
2. we try and find a 10$ profit 🙂
3. the volume may be there but it’s a very top heavy market (1 seller has almost half the sales) that’s usually something we want to avoid. You want to see them more spread out
4. cost of goods, amazon fees, shipping.
5. we typically order 500-1k units
6.If you’re getting a 3rd party inspection, I don’t know that you NEED to have a whole bunch sent to you, but you can if you want
Hi Scott – have you launched Boost 2.0 yet? Where can I get more information on it? Will this help us not only develop an email list and create contests – but can we also collect Facebook messenger ids? Should we try to collect both? How is Boost different from Clickfunnels?
Hey Mayra, 2.0 is currently in testing and will include a few new ways to capture email addresses (beyond just contests)
I have created a giveaway on giveaway boost but am having trouble publishing it as a workable link. I’m guessing I have to buy a domain name to make it an actual live site that others can click on. Is that accurate? If so, how do I go about entering/editing the domain after I buy it to make everything work? Thanks!
Hey Derek, if you go through the training that comes along with GB, it walks you through the setup process step-by-step. YEs you would need a domain and hosting.
Hi, Scott
You have an excellent podcast and thanks for providing a platform for Amazon sellers to ask questions and learn from. So I’ve found this hat that already has an Amazon listing that sells decently, and has a decent amount of reviews, but not the particular color I have. I would like to create a variation under this listing, however there is another listing of this same hat and same color but it is one of poor quality, with no reviews and no sales rank at all. So my question is would I be violating Amazon’s policy by adding a variation under the higher quality and more successful listing, even if there technically is a active listing for this particular hat and color. Thanks alot Scott.
Hey Jamal, if you’re private labeling you should always be creating your own listing. If you’re selling an exisitng product and it isn’t your own brand, then it should go on the existing listing as a variation.
Hi Scott, thanks so much for your encouragement and useful information! I’ve got my product launched and it did better than I expected and I ran out of inventory before my resupply. So much thanks to your encouragement and advice. My question is about the number of sessions. I have only about 500 sessions a month. I have pretty good conversion at 12% but I really need some eyeballs. My ppc acos is unprofitable at >50%. I think my advertised sessions are almost half of my total sessions. Do you have a link to an episode that can help me with diagnosing my problem? I don’t know if I need to launch to some long tail keywords. Focus more on long tail keywords in ppc and ignore the too competitive ones. Thanks so much for what you do. I almost quit but your words of just doing one thing a day have really encouraged me!
Hey Tony! If you run a search on the site for “hotseat” you should be able to find a few episodes to point you in the right direction. The last few should help specifically with this issue.
Hey Scott,
Thanks for all the information, encouragement and humor! I’ve been a listener for 4 months now and look forward to every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! I’m listening all the way from Australia too. I’ve been working on launching my first product for a few months now and have had a few speed humps with Amazon’s approvals/gated categories. The products I am trying to list at the moment fall under the topical category. I am really focused on building a brand and the first 2 products I am launching are able to have around 4-5 other products launched after them (if all goes well). Amazon keep knocking me back during the approval stage, even though I have provided them with the correct documents. I have a feeling this may be because I have no history of selling any products on Amazon. Have you come across trouble in this category before? Thank you for any assistance you can provide! Keep up the good work and motivation!
Kind Regards,
Kirk Richards
Hey Kirk, rock on!
I would give a listen to (I think) episode 212. This is completely common, amazon is an odd duck sometimes 🙂
Hey Scott,
I’ve been listening to the podcast for about two months now and am grateful for your information and encouragement! I am just starting out on this journey and I’m definitely nervous. I have taken some action in identifying two products that seem to fit success criteria, and I have lined up manufacturers and have my first inventory in production and on the way, but they are in two different markets, neither of which I have any experience in. I went ahead and did this to go through the process and take a stab at getting started. Is this a mistake, or is it ok to give this a go while I continue to to hone in on a market that might be the best fit?
Hey Sean, if you’re ordering small numbers of both to test it, that might be ok. I generally suggest against launching mulptle products right out of the gate (even for people like me) because it’s easy to get distracted and miss something important.
Hey Scott , looking over your website i don’t see a cost for your program ? Have been looking into wholesale have plenty of distributors , but lots of problems dealing with them and ROI’s are really bad thinking about switching over to going PL .
Hey Ed, you may want to take a look at productdiscoverybootcamp.com
Hey Scott. You mentioned in your shows that you have been getting them transcribed. Is there a software or service that you can recommend. thanks
Hey Carlton, we use a person….but you may want to check out rev.com or temi.com
Hi Scott,
I have been listening to your podcasts from the beginning and I am going through your Product Discovery Bootcamp. They have been extremely helpful getting me to launch my product and start my business. For the products I am going to be selling, I am looking into a selling similar product but slightly different. Because I want my products to be customized, it is a little bit more expensive. After I launch my initial product and I am looking into selling my second product, should I start selling what is available and private labeling it versus changing the design and it cost more. I am somewhat limited on my funds until I start selling my product but I want to get started on my second product? Any suggestions.
Hey Dawn, it can’t hurt to test the market with what is already there to see if it sells. That way you can use that to bank roll the “better version” when you want to down the road!
Hey Scott! hope this message finds you and the family doing well. My question is about collecting emails and landing pages. I’m at the point now where we’re about to launch a giveaway to start collecting emails. I can’t seem to clearly understand the flow of it all…meaning what tools do i need to start collecting it. I know about Leadpages, i know about Salesbacker and others but i dont know which all i need. Is it 1 tool that does it all or do you need 2 of them to complete the process? Thanks Scott!
Hey Ronnie, we use giveawayboost to build out landing pages. Basically you need two things. A landing page and an email service. We use giveawayboost for the landing page (where you capture the email) and Convertkit for the ability to actually send emails to all of those people at once.
You may want to check out theamazingseller.com/buildlist if you haven’t already.
Hey Scott,
Great show!!! Just started listening as I am getting ready to launch my product. My question is regarding my “niche.” I used JS to find a niche that has an opportunity score of 6-7. The thing about that niche is, the average prices is around $12, although some bundles that are almost as similar as mine are selling for $19-22. Should I be concerned that I will be in space where most of the products are considerably less than mine, even though the price of my bundle will be competitive with similar bundles?
HEy JR being higher priced isn’t always a bad thing. One of our top sellers right now is 10 bucks more than the competition. That being said, I’m not a huge fan of low priced markets, I prefer that most sellers be in the 19-45 range.
Hey! Congrats on 500.
I was wondering if you use the “Amazon Giveaway” feature for your product giveaways or if you just buy them and personally ship it to the winner of your giveaways? Thanks!
Hey Derek, do you mean when we are building our email list? We buy the product and ship it to the winner.
Hey Scott,
now that my product range keeps growing I’m noticing that the cash flow projection becomes more and more important but also pretty hard.
For a couple of weeks I’m already trying to implement some kind of spreadsheet to track and project my cash flow, but I keep failing miserably. I’m just not a numbers kind of guy I guess.
In my case the numbers of the transaction reports (turnover as well as the amount which should be paid out) just aren’t congruent with the turnover which amazon shows in the biweekly periods. I’ve contacted Amazon but didn’t get any helpful reply so far.
So I’m wondering which reports are you using to track your turnover and payout of amazon as well as to project the cash flow? And are the numbers of your transaction report always congruent with the amount amazon actually pays out?
Or do you have a better process for cash flow projection than the transaction report? Ideally even something halfway automated?
Thanks a lot in advance and keep up the amazing work!
Cheers!
Hey Marlo, transaction reports and pay off reports run on different cut offs so they will NEVER match 100 percent. We use our inventory and transaction reports for planning
Hey Scott,
Recently started listening to your podcasts and they are great. I do get a lot out of the podcasts, however I seem to be suffering from the same initial challenges of finding a product. I created a touch list and exhausted through it the first week with no luck. Now i’m sifting through jungle scout and I feel like i’m doing something wrong not being able to identify any potential markets. It seems like everything is just already done. Do you have any tips for someone going through these struggles as to better dig down to find a potential market/brand?
Hey Adam, if you haven’t yet, go through the 24 hour challenege over at theamazingseller.com/challenge
Hi Scott,
Love your Podcast. One quick question, I am currently trying out a tracking tool to find niche products to sell on Amazon. I am curious if you have any prior experience using similar product research tool before. If you have, is there a recommended length of time I should monitor a product before I make my sourcing decision. Also, in your opinion, what is the most important product performance metrics, besides sales estimates and PSR, that should be taken into consideration when finding a niche.
HEy Eric, I don’t use tracking tools to find products, but they can be useful to help validate products. We typically montior BSR for at least 7-10 days
Hey Scott,
Where would you send your customers to redeem the promo code by product launch?
Should we be using super url’s which can boost keyword ranking?
either to the social media code page (if you have that new feature), to your storefront (if you have one) or direct to the listing. No need for a super url.
Hi Scott,
With the help of TAS podcasts, your ideas and information I have found products with depth and market potential etc. to create a bundle for listing.
I now have nearly enough funds to buy some inventory before listing.
Once listed I would have funds for either Ignite or Boost for marketing. Is it possible to suggest which one would be best initially, before adding the other.
Thanks for your commitment.
Michael.
Hey Michael, I would start off by building an email list using boost. Ignite is a great tool but you can manage ppc using amazon’s dashboard fairly easily when you’re just getting started.
Hi Scott!
I just want to begin by saying the knowledge presented through your podcast is absolutely invaluable. I learned about FBA a year ago and have successfully launched my first PL product since. I’ve learned so much along the way including the massive headaches of hijackers and the power of Amazon to disable your listing for weeks at the snap of a finger. My product went from being profitable to barely breaking even. The PPC for my product is becoming more and more expensive (because of competition) and my profit margin is being crushed. I would love for the chance to show you my listing for any feedback.
My experience with FBA has been a rollercoaster and don’t know if I should start a second product because of how my first product ended up. I guess the reason I am writing this is because I would like some reassurance that the FBA model is still viable in this day in age considering the competition and amount of hijackers.
Anyway thanks so much for your time and the amount of effort you put into making your podcast what it is.
BT
Hey BT, if you’re interested in a hotseat, send your listing and any other supporting info you want chris and I to take a look at to support@theamazingseller.com, we get a bunch so I can’t promise anything, but it’s worth a shot!
Hey Scott. I’ve been bingeing The Amazing Seller podcast and really appreciate your insights. I have a lot of background in a lot of the things you mention as part of being successful on Amazon: I have a lot of close relationships throughout China (WeChat user for several years), I have SEO experience, and some basic e-com experience selling on Ebay etc. Your podcast has got me “all in” on giving this business model a shot, but I haven’t found a product or niche yet (need to listen to a few more episodes to learn how to properly choose those). Finally, my question… I had already planned to go to China in the next month or two to visit friends and do a little business, and your mention of the Canton Fair made me think that maybe I should bump my trip up a couple weeks to try to attend it. I’m guessing your response to the typical beginner Amazon seller would be “Whoah… You’re not ready for that yet, don’t waste your money traveling to Guangzhou until you’re more experienced.” But since I’m already going to be in that area soon and I’m committed to investing some money and time on this, would it be wise to go? Any tips? Thanks!
Hey Dan, you’re right I’d probably say slow down 🙂
I’ve never been to canton but from those people who have I would say, make sure you have some idea what you want to get before you go. Otherwise you’ll end up with TOO MANY possabilities. If you already know what direction you want to go and you’re gonna be there anywhere, it might be worth going.
Hey There Scott,
Hope everything is good with you.
The Facebook group thing and the getting reviews from 15 of your friends is a huge sticking point for me.
Is it possible to launch a successful product by just doing Amazon PPC? Or any other way?
you shouldn’t be getting reviews from your friends at this point, you can absolutely launch using just ppc 🙂
Hello Scott –
What are people doing these days about UPC codes? Seems ScanUPC no longer works and the vendor Amazon is asking us to use is outrageously priced. Thanks so much! Michelle from Albany NY!!!!
Hey Michelle, all real upc codes are issued by GS1, so you can either go directly to them or to any of the resellers of theirs, like the ones listed on the resources page.