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Email: theamazingsellers@gmail.com
Hey Scott!
When private labeling a product, I’ve found the manufacturer isn’t always okay with modifying the product first and then sending me a sample of my branded/modified sample but would rather just send me the base product. Does this signal any kind of red flag or is it normal to only see a base sample and then place your order with modifications after that and trust they will get made correctly.
Thanks so much for all you do
HEy Derek, custom samples cost more to make, typically we get the base product as a sample and then start to ask about modificaitons.
Hey Scott,
I got you a cup of coffee via, theamazingseller.com/followup. 🙂
I have ordered 500 units of a simple product from china to “take action” and learn the Amazon game. I am using this year as a learning experience and hoping to go in big next year. Thank you for the podcast to keep me motivated and educated!
Hey scott
hope you doing well
i found my product,talked with the supplier. ordered for samples they look good ,now i`m a bit confused shall i setup my seller central account first? or design my logo first ?
i mean do i need check my brand name somewhere or i just can choose any name that i want then design a logo based on that ?
hopefully that make sense
thanks
Hey Yanoush, you choose your brand name and can setup your seller central account whenever you’d like. if you want to double check you can run a trademark search on uspto.gov
Hey Hey Hey Scott,
Is 70-90 days production time considered long? I was expecting my supplier to tell me 30 days but 70-90 days! That means if I use sea cargo, it adds another 30days to that… Does this usually mean the supplier is really small?
how long it takes varies by product. That’s one of the reasons we like to use air shipping whenever possible, because if we have longer production times, we can still get the product fast!
Hi Scott,
You mention in your podcasts that you only send in some inventory to amazon and the rest you leave at a warehouse.
Why not just send in the whole thing into amazon at once?
Are the storage fees a huge difference?
HEy Sammy, when you order units in large quantities it’s generally cheaper to do it that way rather than shipping thousands of units into Amazon
Hi Scott,
If I create a private label item that is slightly different from the other products, do I need to buy a UPC code for this product?
Also, in your tools regarding UPC codes you stated that Amazon will create a FNSKU number, is this in addition to an UPC code?
Thanks,
Dawn
You need a upc code to create the listing and then you can put the fnsku you directly on the product.
Hi Scott,
Are you still doing live workshops with Chris or is it just the recording?
Hey Naomi, we do workshops live every few weeks!
Hi Scott,
I am in the initial stages of the product research. I am using your Private Label Product Research spreadsheet. I can’t remember how to score the “Listing Quality” from 1-5. Is 1 the worst or the best?
Also, when doing the initial research, if I find a product that scores well but has multiple listings, should I stay away from those products or try to see if there is something I can find that is similar but different?
Hey Dawn off the top of my head I believe 5 would be the best.
You almost always want to see multiple people selling similar products in order to validate the market
Hi Scott,
I’m planning to register the Pro seller central account to sell private label products, and a bit confused whether I should register as a Sole Trader or a Limited Company.
What I’ve heard is it’s almost impossible to transfer a Sole Trader account to Limited company account with Amazon; but I’m not sure if it’s worth to get all the required documentation, paper work done for the limited company at this early stage.
I would love to hear your suggestion!
Thank you very much!
Michelle
Hey Michelle, you can transfer the account once you have all the documentation you need.
Hi Scott,
Thank you so much for all your help. I have learned so much from all your resources.
My question relates to creating a partnership like you and Chris have done. I would love to know how you decide or set up how the work and profits are allocated. Also the why’s behind becoming partners.
I have realized that there are certain parts of the business that I am good at, but dread completing other tasks. I am looking at the possibility of a partnership. I would like to know how you decided on who you would [artner with?
Thank you for your help!
Hey Julie, it’s really all about finding someone that can compliment you, someone who can help you with skills (or patience) in areas that you don’t have them!
Hi Scott! I was looking at your Breakthrough Univ. class but the web page isn’t allowing me to access it. Is this still being offered? Would love to consider this.
Hey Sarah, Breakthrough U isn’t currently available on its own. It’s available as a part of Private Label Classroom
Hi Scott,
This is Ryan from the Netherlands. Thank you for the great work you’re doing. My question is about list-building, There is a lot of information out there on how to build an email list, including your workshop, however, my question is about how to communicate with my list once I have built a list.
What is the copy of the email I send them, how many emails do I send them, how do I build a relationship with them, etc.? I don’t even know what to write to offer them a discount on my product, and if I randomly do that surely the majority of people will think it is spam.
I am finding this a very difficult stumbling block because I have no experience in marketing at all. Thank you!
Hey Ryan, if you send an email to support at the amazing seller .com we have the workshop templates (if you didn’t grab them during the workshop) which should point you in the right direction
Hi Scott! I have been referred your private label classroom program to begin my amazon business, however when I get to the purchase product screen it says error 404. My friend tried it to and the same thing happens.
Can you please help me ? As its something I want to commence straight away. Thank you so much Scott
Adam
Hey Adam, you should be able to enroll in the course should be able to by going to privatelabelclassroom.com
Hey Scott,
I have listened to you now for at least a year. Thank you for everything that you do! I am following your brand podcasts that you launched with an email list and my question is about margins.
How do you find multiple products in the same niche that are all around $20 to $30 that are able to give you a blended average margin of 44%? That almost seems like a unicorn niche. If I find a niche with a good product, sure there are other products that I can launch to make a brand, but I have yet to find a niche where I can launch 5 to 10 products that all have high margins.
Can you possibly talk about how you address this on one of your podcast updates about your brand?
Thanks!
Andrew
Hey Andrew,
There’s nothing MAGIC about it, the entire selection process is very intentional. From the start we picked the market based on its ability to support multiple products at healthy margins (some are AMAZING, some are ok, and some are meh…but high volume). Picking markets this way is aboslutley something we will always be talking about more in the future.
Scott,
After 3 years I finally did it! Got Instagram setup, a Facebook page, And even got a contest started to compile an email list! Scared to try because of my limited IT skills but got it done. Used MailChimp and after fumbling around for a few hours, got it set up and working. Been listening for two years and TOOK ACTION! Hope this is the start of great things. Thanks for the kick in the pants a few episodes ago
Hi Scott!
I was listening to your PL part 4 on pre launch and I was drawn into list building. My question is, I am not sure if i will commit to this brand or market at this point of time. I understand the power of a list but is it the most optimal thing to do right now?
HEy Guoquan, it’s worth building the list if you know you’re going to use it. If you’re not sure you want to use it in the future, you can always use someone else’s list, by reaching out to and working with influencers
Hey Scott
I’ll ask my questions later on But for now I just wanted that you know me and my wife Eli LOVE YOU
Thanks for what you’re doing
Yanoush
Hey Scott,
I am in your Product Discovery Bootcamp class and I am wondering if there is a difference between havin a brand with 3 same products (variations), like the gog bed example and a brand with 3 different products like the Jeep accessories example??
I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
Thanks ,
Alp
Hey Alp, generally i would consider variations to be the “same product” if you’re looking to build a brand you’d want to find multiple DIFFERENT products (and some of those would have color/size/other varitions)
Hey Scott,
I have created a new product (a babies Bib) and I am trying to get it approved for FBA in the UK. Amazon have rejected my claim and are about as clear as a Delphic Oracle and refuse to tell me why the product is rejected. We purchased a barcode to list the product is this likely to be a problem? Do you have any other advice to get round this?
HEy Rowan, if it’s in a category that needs approval you would need to meet the cateogry requirements and submit invoices giving them what they are asking for.
The problem is that i have submitted the invoice that meets their criteria, I have even got the supplier to cut and paste descriptions into the invoice. I have to all intents and purposes written the invoice for the supplier based on amazon criteria. yet still i get the stock rejection back that they are rejecting it and can’t tell me why
Hey Rowan, if the invoice meets all the criteria, let the ticket close and resubmit them in a few days.
Hi Scott, about 6 months ago I was at a stage to order and get things moving but had to stop due to work and financial issues. I’m now at a point where I can pick up where I left off but having been out of the game for 6 months I’m wondering if anything big has changed with the way Amazon operates that I need to take into consideration?
Cheers!
Hey Darren, not much has changed massively in the last few months, but if you want to get a refresher you can always go to theamazingseller.com/start-here or theamazingseller.com/workshop for what’s working right now
Hi Scott, long time listener to the show! I was wondering if you can clarify what launching to a specific keyword means? I keep hearing how people target a specific keyword and then target another one. I thought we would optimize our listings for ALL of the relevant keywords and then drive sales through external traffic or PPC. I don’t know what one would do differently for a different keyword. Thanks again for all your help!
Hey Tony you’re correct, you would be launching and ranking (ideally for all of your keywords), usually though there is one BIG keyword (like Garlic press) that you would want to rank for.
Hi Scott,
I need help! I launched my first products 2 months ago, and just started getting consistent sales every day. But two days ago my pictures changed to pictures that aren’t mine. It is the same product but a different color. On my inventory page, my listing is showing the correct images I provided for that listing. But on Amazon.com you can see other pictures (not mine). This is hurting my sales and my progress. I have no idea what happened. Have you heard about this before?
Hey Jennifer, contact amazon as the brand (just through your account) and let them know that the images are incorrect.
Can you please recommend a Logistics company for shipping LCL and containers from China. I am not very happy with my current logistics company. I would greatly appreciate it.
Hey Joshua, we typically start with DHL/fedex and then work with our suppliers to find one that works well for both of us.
Hi Scott. I am from Dublin, Ireland and a big fan of your show and I have listened to almost all of your episodes! I have found a product and I was so happy with the sample I received. The initial quote was 5.95USD but now they are quoting 14USD EXW. I don’t understand! I can’t figure out what EXW actually means. Does this include shipping costs or is it just for the product. Did they mislead me with their initial quote. Sorry for asking this but my heart sank when I got this information today. Please help!!
Sinéad, Dublin Ireland. (pronounced Shinade!)
EXW basically means you’re paying for all of the shippping. That’s a big jump, 5.95 should be the exw cost. Make sure they’re not giving you another type of shipping terms (like DDP) to raise it to 14.
Hey Scott
I’m 7 days into a 30 day giveaway, using Giveaway Boost, of course :). I was just listening to episode 468 again and I have a couple of questions.
1. What do you consider a good cost for a subscriber? Right now, running FB ads it’s costing me about $1.05 per subscriber, which I’m worried is a little high.
2. How big does your list need to be for it to really help you with a launch? Is there a rule of thumb conversion rate you can use to get an idea of the sales that might be generated according to your list size? I had heard Mike Jackness mention 1%, so in ep. 468 when you said, ‘We were able to get between 150 and 250 sales right out of the gate generally within the first five to seven days.’ that’s from a 15K to 25K list?
I know I have to get started somewhere, and I know it’s an investment, but 15-20K subscribers seems a long way off to me, and one serious chunk of change right now :).
Thanks
John
Hey John, we typically shoot for right around $1 (but it’s almost always less) typically if you start to optimize for conversions (using facebook) you can bring that cost WAY down.
Hello Scott — thanks for everything!!!
To get to the $20 threshold (sell price) on a product have you ever bundled together say 3 consumable items like salsa for example. Individual price might be $8 but bundling 3 for $21 would seem to make sense for them to save on shipping if they eat a jar a month. Or do you only look for single items that can cross the $20 threshold — consumable or not?
Thanks brother!
Hey Brian, multipacks can work for sure, but what tends to work the best is complementary items (frequently bought together items).
Speaking of bundles, can someone explain what the advantage of bundling is when you can simply sell it the exact same way as a ‘kit’ using a single UPC?
Hey Victor, the terms are used interchangibly when yo’ure referring to private label. Amazon calls them different things, but sellers use the terms interchanably. If you bundle mulitple products into one sku, it would need one upc.
Scott,
Like everyone else on here, I just want to say thank you and without this information I would have never even considered selling on Amazon. That said, we are currently hung up on ordering samples. We understand that there is risk but our supplier(s) do not have pay pal and request wire transfer. Do we order sample and request (maybe even demand) escrow or paypal for large order? Do we not waste our time with these companies? Vague question but thanks for your consideration.
Hey Danny, I would offer to pay the paypal fees and see what they say. That’s usually the most common objection to paypal. If you feel comfortable working with the supplier that way, test a small order first, we generally use split payments and escrow up front.
G’day Scott, hi from Sydney Australia
Started listening a month ago and now I listen to the show on repeat at home with my cat and dog, we are building a brand together (not in the Pets niche though!) and it feels great so HUGE thanks!
My question is: Could you please explain/advise me on launch strategies vs drip feeding? I like the idea of drip feeding and I recently listened to the podcast episode with Mike Jackness where you both discussed the benefits of selling a few a day, but how do I go about it, do I just not do a (big) launch?
Thanks to you or anyone who can reply,
Kathleen
Hey Kathleen, a “big launch” is usually spread out over a few days. For example, the launches we talk about over at theamazingseller.com/buildlist are structured over 3 days or so (meaning we push sales for 3 days and then organic sales and ppc really start to kick in to get us our “daily sales target”)
Basically Day 1: – we send an email to our list and let them know that its available, day 2 – we send a reminder, day 3 we send a reminder and let them know the deal is ending. That way we have a strong number of sales across several days, rather than just ONE day of sales and then nothing.
Hi Scott,
Thank you so much for your content and podcast! I’ve been listening about 6 months and have decided to take action 🙂
I live in Sydney, Australia and I’m hoping to list on Amazon Australia. At this stage they are offering seller accounts as invitation only. Do you know what they would be looking for or how they select when it’s invite only? I’ve submitted the details they asked for which wasn’t much just contact details and product category you plan to sell in and website address and I haven’t heard anything back. I’m just in the process of finalising my website so I’m not sure if that was the glitch? Thanks so much for your help, Lauren
Hey Lauren, I don’t know the exact criteria they are looking for, but even if they don’t let you in for now, you can always sell in the US or other market places.
Hello Scott!
Firstly, thank you for the amazing youtube videos and the immense value you have added in my life by providing your knowledge for free.
I will be purchasing your course soon as my first product is live and am just waiting for some more proceeds from that product.
I have a question from you though.
Let’s say i build a list of 50-100 initial reviewers for whom i do a flash sale and then follow up for a review without incentivizing them for a review.
Can i use the same list for all my product launches or do i need different people everytime?
Thank you
Hey Harsh, if you’re building an email list you’ll always end up with a slightly different group of people!
Hey Scott, can you steer me to your podcast numbers where you’ve covered this topic? I pulled the trigger a while back and took action on a product that has been on Amazon for over a year. I created some variations to maybe help sales but it’s been a slow go. I tried running some campaigns but didn’t really know if I was doing it right. Spent more than I made by a lot. Realized after the fact that I’m in a pretty competitive niche. I don’t have the resources (money) to shoot for page 1 so I’m thinking of cutting my losses. I still have maybe 1,000 or more units. I know you’ve talked about this on previous episodes but now that you’re up to nearly 500 I thought I’d go right to the source and ask which episodes address this issue. Thanks again. Joe from Idaho.
Hey Joe, I would highly suggest going through all the content over at theamazingseller.com/ppc . I would also give a listen to the two most recent episodes (482 and 483) they dive into this exact issue.
Hey Scott – my name is Neil. Thanks for all you wisdom – love your podcasts. So far I’ve been paying air shipping costs through the Chinese supplier for the product. I’m not sure if I’m getting the best shipping costs or are they marking it up. Should I start using my own freight forwarder? Do you think it’s more cost effective? Do you use your own? And if so, do you recommend any particular companies? Thanks and look forward to you reply.
Neil
Hey Neil, suppliers usually have much better rates, but there’s no reason not to shop around. We tend to partner with our suppliers (different suppliers have different suggestions) and then compare rates after the first few orders
Greetings Scott,
I was looking to sign up for Giveaway Boost, but first need to know how long the service lasts. Basically, does it run on a per contest basis, month-to-month, annually, etc.
Please let me know. Thank you, Sir. 🙂
Hey Scott Thanks for everything u do really appreciate. I have question:
I am selling a product right now but want to do an additional 1000 pc order with the same product but few additional features and a new box design. Do I need a new SKU or I can use my old one. The old one is doing pretty good. How amazon s gonna separate my new shipment from the old one left in storage?
Thanks again!
Hi Scott,
There’s a lot of hoopla at the moment about getting reviews from giveaways, some people say that you should give your products away at 80%, or 70% but nobody seems to know what works anymore. I wondered what your thoughts were on this? I remembered getting an email from you on this but I can’t seem to find it!
Thanks
Hey Scott
Do you have a podcast where you have covered profit breakdown and at different price points how that profit margin changes? I’m trying to get an idea for pricing a product vs what the supplier is charging to see if and at what stage the numbers make sense.
Do you only sell products for $20 and above?
Thanks for your help
Jamie
Hey Jamie, I sell products at a vareity of price points, but the ones $20 plus are much easier to source profitably than lower priced products.
Hi Scott,
I am currently negotiating with a factory through Alibaba. Their contact person does not want to send me a sample before they see my website and artwork for the product. They’ve been grilling me over Skype for a few days now on what I sell, where I sell it, how many employees I have etc… Is this normal? I am just starting out (this is my first product) and don’t even have a logo yet, much less a website. They do seem like a good factory to work with, but I think they want me to prove that I am legit business before they send me a sample. I am just not sure exactly what to tell them. Should I let them know I am individual selling on Amazon and this is my first product or should I try to come off as more established business? Thanks so much! Ashley
Hey Ashley some factories can do that (they typically deal with larger customers), it’s easy enough just to let them know that you will provide them with that stuff AFTER you get a sample and decide to work with them….if they don’t want to send you a sample or work with you, find a supplier who will 🙂
Hi Scott!
I am setting some goals for myself and I need your experience on this. For newbies, usually how many products do I have to launch before I get a sustainable sales, 10/10/1 product?
Guo Quan
Hey Guo, if you follow the numbers and do product selection correctly….one 🙂
Thanks a lot Scott!
Hey Scott,
What do you currently use to manage all your accounting?
Do you use Wave apps together with Fetcher?
Are you using Josh (CPA on Fire) as your accountant?
Do you use Quickbooks at all?
I’m really confused when it comes to accounting and would love some guidance on how to proceed so I should not have to worry about it every second of the day.
Thanks Scott for all that you do!!
Hey Sam, we use Fetcher for basic accounting and then yes…I use Josh to finalize everything 🙂
Hi Scott,
I have been struggling with this for 3 days now, so I decided to reach out to you directly for help, since no one can really answer my question.
I am a newbie and currently working on my first listing. For some reason only 30% of my bullet points are indexed (I check it using KW index Checker chrome extension and also with asin + kw method).
At first each of my bullet point has around 250 characters, but since only minimal kws are indexed, I re-worked my bullet points and each of them is under 100 characters now … still not working.
I have tried many ways and did so much research, and ended up calling amazon support for help but they told me that bullet points are not supposed to index (of course I don’t believe them).
Here are a few of things I have tried:
1) reduce character count to less than 100 for each BP
2) remove all check-marks, punctuation, symbols ext from my BP
3) remove all the duplicated terms from my entire listing
4) erase all product descriptions, backend, BP, title. Waited for 15 minutes. start over, one field at a time -> still not working for BP
The strange thing is my Title and Backend indexed 100%; However, product description is only 30% indexed. Please help. Thanks so much.
Hey Elva, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, it’s not going to index 100% of everything. make your bullets as long as they need to be to convey the benefits. The majority of the keyword “weight” comes from your title anyway.
Hey Scott!
Jungle scout has been your choice for product research. What is your thoughts on using Jungle scout’s extension over VL’s market intelligence?
VL claims that they use historical data to determine the “sales” on the extension as JS only uses today’s sales and multiplies it over 30 days. If a product does giveaways and gives 100 in a day JS will calculate it as 3000 sales on the extension. As compared to VL, they claim that it won’t affect their numbers as they use past sales history.
Looking forward to your thoughts and if you ever used VL’s Marketing intelligence. Thanks!
Hey Chueyee, I haven’t found Viral Launch to be nearly as accurate as JS. JS also uses historical data to determine sales per BSR(though it does reflect the CURRENT BSR)
Hey Scott, your enthusiasm is contagious! I’m setting up a giveaway competition but not sure how to get images of the product. I’m in the UK, my customers in the US. Would it be ok to take the images from a department store’s website if I’m going to send the giveaway prize from theit website?
Hey Maya, it’s usually best to get the images straight from the supplier of the product 🙂
Scott, I responded to an ad on your site for a Product Selection Boot Camp. Don’t think I got a response and don’t see anything about it on your site. Is this going to happen? Thanks for all you do. Jeff
Hey Jeff, The product selection bootcamp is currently full. If you want to get on the waiting list for when it opens you can head over to productselectionbootcamp.com
Hello Scott,
I’m so excited and confused at the same time. My product is in transit from China. It should get there in 2 to 3 weeks. I have written my listing and taken pictures. I’m wondering… what should I be doing to prepare for the launch in the meantime I wait? What should I do once the product hits the FBA werehouses (like day 1)? Do you have any videos or podcasts on PPC? Thank you much! Hope to be sharing my success story soon 🙂
Hey Tammy, I would suggest checking out theamazingseller.com/buildlist (to see our entire launch strategy) as well as theamazingseller.com/ppc for our ppc strategy!
Hi scott, been out of the game for a while but just getting back into it with your constant support and encouragement, thanks so much! I’m pretty much ready to place my order but unsure about the quantity. I can get variations of my product and was wondering if it’s best to start off with one or to go for the 3 different typesa available. It’s obviously cheaper per product with the larger order but increased risk with the overall cost. Do you think having options will do much to increase the sales on a product or is having one just as viable in terms of conversions?
Thanks again for all your help.
Hey Darren, it’s usually best to start with just one!
I have another question about selling while living overseas. So I live in another country but I am American, Amazon has an American Site and the site that is in the country I am currently living. Should I make an account on the U.S. version of Amazon to sell? The coutnry I’m currently in? I’m at a loss about what to do here.
Hey Craig, most sellers sell on the us site because that’s where the majority of the volume is. You can aboslutely sell on other sites, but the vast majority of Revenue will usually come from the the.com site
When creating a page on Facebook do you want it to be private so they have to ask for permission to get in, or do you just want to allow anyone and everyone to join?
Hey Jordan, pages are public by default, if you’re talking about a group, we require that people request access!
Okay, Thanks. So to get this email list started I have my sub-sub-market picked out. Do I just set up a group on FB or a page?
Hey Jordan to run ads, you would need to run a page, once you’re up and running. Long term, you can setup a group as well. It’s a great way to keep deeply connected with your audience.
When putting a home renovation tool inside a sealed or unsealed plastic bag, are there any labels I should watch out for, such as an fcusd code, or a suffocation warning label.
anything in a poly bag should have a suffocation warning, if you’re selling something sharp I would also put a warning about that on the bag as well.
Hey Scott!
Quick question… I know that the majority of people are searching for products/categories with minimal reviews (100 or less). Do you have any advice on pursuing products where 3-4 competitors have reviews in the thousands? The other competitors on page one have 1-300 reviews. Obviously it does make it challenging and more risky but the sales volume is definitely there.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
Thanks,
Colton
Hey Colton we typically look for products with an average under 200, a few outlieers wouldn’t make a major difference in the strategy
I guess the question part of that is “Can/will you do this?”
Thanks!!