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How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

arbing.co.uk

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Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#31

Post by louprado »

bambax wrote: post #30

Great article. I'm in the process of making a physical product: a new quick-release plate for DSLRs; I did find a manufacturer in China for CNC machining and had a couple of prototypes sent to me (in France), which were of very good quality. The problem is however, the final product will be made of several parts from different manufacturers: the plate, a rubber pad, screws, washers, a box for "clean" packaging, etc.…

Have you asked your current suppliers if they could perform the assembly or find someone who can ? That's what my company does and it has worked well.

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#32

Post by teslabox »

gregpilling wrote: post #27

I have a small factory in Arizona, and we sell products on Amazon as well as through multiple other distribution channels. A few thoughts came to mind while reading this: 1. China isn't the only place to get stuff made. Look locally. We manufacture our products, as well as products for two other companies who also sell partially on Amazon. You probably have local contract manufacturers like us who would appreciate a…

> 2. Getting a hit product isn't easy. Mostly it seems to be luck.

One weekend I had a surge traffic to my website. Then the orders started coming in. Finally I emailed one of the new subscribers to my email list to ask why scores of people had suddenly started searching for that term. She said a radio show host had told his listeners to go to google and search for that term.

Agree with your points about working locally. Arizona Archery's main business is injection molding; they take care of most of the my machining. Maybe I'll come see you some time.

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#33

Post by bambax »

louprado wrote: post #31
bambax wrote: post #30

Great article. I'm in the process of making a physical product: a new quick-release plate for DSLRs; I did find a manufacturer in China for CNC machining and had a couple of prototypes sent to me (in France), which were of very good quality. The problem is however, the final product will be made of several parts from different manufacturers: the plate, a rubber pad, screws, washers, a box for "clean" packaging, etc.…

Have you asked your current suppliers if they could perform the assembly or find someone who can ? That's what my company does and it has worked well.

No, not yet, but I will.

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#34

Post by tomkinstinch »

abbasaamer wrote: post #29
gregpilling wrote: post #27

I have a small factory in Arizona, and we sell products on Amazon as well as through multiple other distribution channels. A few thoughts came to mind while reading this: 1. China isn't the only place to get stuff made. Look locally. We manufacture our products, as well as products for two other companies who also sell partially on Amazon. You probably have local contract manufacturers like us who would appreciate a…

Serious question about point #1: I've thought about contacting local manufacturers, but I don't know where to find people such as yourself. Do you also get discovered through Alibaba or is there some U.S. equivalent version of the site? I'd love to try someone local for some prototypes I'm building.

Picking up a phone book is one option for finding local manufacturing firms; one benefit of dealing with someone local is that you can pick up a phone and speak to them in your own language. Another is that it significantly reduces the iteration time during the prototyping stage, since you can drive over to inspect things yourself.

Another is by web search: "contract manufacturing ", "injection molding ", or "machine shop ".

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#35

Post by awqrre »

tomkinstinch wrote: post #34
abbasaamer wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question about point #1: I've thought about contacting local manufacturers, but I don't know where to find people such as yourself. Do you also get discovered through Alibaba or is there some U.S. equivalent version of the site? I'd love to try someone local for some prototypes I'm building.

Picking up a phone book is one option for finding local manufacturing firms; one benefit of dealing with someone local is that you can pick up a phone and speak to them in your own language. Another is that it significantly reduces the iteration time during the prototyping stage, since you can drive over to inspect things yourself. Another is by web search: "contract manufacturing ", "injection molding ", or "machine…

While it's true that you can find them using a phone book or any search engine, it is not a similar experience to using Alibaba.

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#36

Post by cm2012 »

mooreds wrote: post #22
cm2012 wrote: post #17

I've worked with quite a few old school manufacturers that have expanded their business by selling direct on Amazon. Amazon's easy to use marketplace is the only online medium that has ever worked out so well for companies that make products but are not savvy in e-commerce. The profits from Amazon are giving these businesses the opportunity to dip their toes in e-commerce. The real advantage to the world from all of…

> the manufacturers are now getting the confidence to start seriously selling directly outside of Amazon, because of their experience on Amazon. Hmmm. Are they concerned about marketing? That seems to be where Amazon provides a ton of value--aggregating a tremendous number of customers that are shopping. A manufacturer's website won't have the same traffic, right?

Precisely.

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#37

Post by mooreds »

cm2012 wrote: post #36
mooreds wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the manufacturers are now getting the confidence to start seriously selling directly outside of Amazon, because of their experience on Amazon. Hmmm. Are they concerned about marketing? That seems to be where Amazon provides a ton of value--aggregating a tremendous number of customers that are shopping. A manufacturer's website won't have the same traffic, right?

Precisely.

Err, maybe I misunderstand. Is it possible that their confidence is misguided, or are they aware that Amazon provides a tremendous platform that, if they sell direct to consumer, they'll have to replicate in some way?

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#38

Post by arbingsam »

bambax wrote: post #28
arbingsam wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Vibrelli says, I use an extra step where the freight forwarder quality check every item before sending them to Amazon.

How does that work? Do they open 1 in 10, 1 in 100, etc.? Are products sealed at the factory? Or does the freight forwarder seal them for you?

They open and repack everything. Amazon requires a specific Amazon barcode, you can either pay them to do it for you for 20c an item or pay someone else to do it. I found I could get the item quality checked and barcoded for the same price as Amazon would do it.

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#39

Post by arbingsam »

ilamont wrote: post #20

The article glosses over a critical element: Getting Amazon reviews and positive ratings. Unfortunately, many sellers of new products take the easiest way out, and go to Fiverr or a similar service to pump up their product with dozens of fake reviews. A few also use fake reviews to bring down competing products. It's a broken mess that misleads buyers and hurts legitimate vendors.

I'd always recommend new sellers to not buy or fake reviews. Not just from a moral view point, but also from a business one - if Amazon catch you (which they're quite good at now) that's it, no more selling on Amazon for you.

I totally agree with you that the Amazon review system needs a complete overhaul. I've had fake reviews from competitors damaging my sales, and have seen people get hundreds of reviews in a few hours. The issue is that it's too easy to leave a fake review (you don't even need to buy the product), and too few customers leave a real one. Less than 1%.

Re: How To Start An Amazon FBA Business

#40

Post by cm2012 »

mooreds wrote: post #37
cm2012 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Precisely.

Err, maybe I misunderstand. Is it possible that their confidence is misguided, or are they aware that Amazon provides a tremendous platform that, if they sell direct to consumer, they'll have to replicate in some way?

Sorry, yeah, misread your question. It is really hard to expand beyond Amazon because marketing is so hard. But the few that do succeed can then control the customer relationship, so its worth the risk and investment.
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