Now is the perfect time to take advantage of the Amazon FBA platform.
Amazon has one of the most profitable business models of the 21st century. In the fourth quarter of 2018, they earned a spectacular $72.4 billion dollars. If you are interested in getting a small piece of that revenue to come your way, consider becoming an Amazon FBA seller. The company is constantly growing and expanding their reach. This guarantees that you still have plenty of time to hop on the Amazon train to success. Continue reading this article to see how you can leverage Chinese wholesale products to earn a respectable income.
What is an Amazon FBA Seller
FBA stands for fulfillment by Amazon. An Amazon FBA Seller is a seller that lets amazon fulfil their orders. The word fulfill means to process the shipping, manage customer service, process any returns, deal with unhappy customers, and collect payment. An Amazon FBA seller lets the company Amazon manage all of the above to help make their own personal lives much easier.
But why would you give so much power to Amazon over your products?
As it turns out, 47% of the products that were sold on Amazon in 2018, were fulfilled by Amazon. The data shows that this number is rising significantly. Therefore, Amazon FBA Sellers have the potential to earn more profit, and do less work than other sellers.
Sourcing Chinese Products To Sell
A major part of becoming an FBA seller is finding the right Chinese wholesale products to sell. Once you find the perfect Chinese supplier, the rest is easy.
Research Trending Chinese Wholesale Products
Finding the right Chinese manufacturers to order from will take a bit of work. However, all the effort you put in now will pay off in the long run with happier customers and increased revenue.
Google Trend is a great free resource for individuals. This powerful website allows you to check how much a search term is trending. This can be very useful in identifying rising trends that others haven’t noticed yet.
Some other research tools you may or may not have heard of include:
● Jungle scout
● Amazon’s AMZ Tracker
● Feedback Genius
● Scope
● CamelCamelCamel
Researching the perfect product is only the first part. Now you can begin locating Chinese suppliers. Use a website like this to find quality, well reviewed Chinese manufacturers, and wholesale suppliers.
Negotiation and shipping your Chinese products
Negotiating with your Chinese supplier will be a critical task. Everyone wants to get the best bang for their buck. Therefore, finding a Chinese manufacturer who has room to negotiate will help you increase your profits. With that said, you don’t want to always go with the cheapest seller. As you may already know, the cheapest seller is often cheap because of a low quality of products.
A great way to ensure the quality of your shipment is to hire a third party inspection service. This company will go to the manufacturing facility and inspect your shipment before it leaves their facility. This will dramatically improve the quality of your products.
Now that everything has been coordinated, and paid for, the shipping can begin. Your products ultimately want to end up in an Amazon distribution center. Therefore, where you ship your products from China will be a big part of your business model. We will discuss more on this subject later.
Design and photography
Once you have identified the perfect product, designing how you will display that product is critical. This can be done through high quality photos. Often times, your Chinese manufacturer will have standard photos of their products for you to use. However, if they are free to use for you, then everyone else can use them also.
When customers are browsing through your Amazon listings, the photo is the first thing they will see. Take this opportunity to brand yourself a level above the competition and take unique photos. This is especially important if you are planning to become a private labeler and not just a reseller.
Selling As a Product Reseller
Selling on Amazon FBA as a reseller is incredibly common and most people choose this option. A reseller is someone who orders products from Chinese suppliers and then resells them directly on Amazon. You will more than likely find dozens of other sellers also selling the same product. Therefore, Amazon requires products of the same SKU number to be listed under the same SKU. Try listing your product with a new SKU number, and it will most likely be deleted by Amazons team.
Resellers are the most common sellers on Amazon FPA because it is incredibly easy to sign up. The requirements are virtually open to anyone. If you choose to go the reseller route, be prepared to fight your way through dozens of competing sellers.
Selling As Private Labeler
An Amazon FBA private labeler takes things to the next level. The increased difficulty in private labeling your products causes many people not to choose this option. However, if you are successful in becoming a private labeler, you will stand out far above your competition. Building a brand allows you to separate yourself from the average reseller. It will come in handy in the event you gain success and end up wanting to sell your brand to a large conglomerate.
More and more Amazon FBA sellers are going the private label route due to increased competition on the platform. Branding your product will help you stand out with unique photos, quality logos, catchy slogans, and your own personal SKU number. This will give you a better chance of finding success as an Amazon FBA seller.
Creating An Amazon Seller Account
Choosing which type of seller account you create will determine your overall business model. The two types of accounts were designed to separate the professionals from the individuals. Learn more about the differences below.
- Individual Seller
Individual accounts are free to sign up for. However, they come with less features, flexibility, and a $.99 fee for every product you sell on Amazon. The individual sellers platform was built for those who are looking to get their feet wet as an Amazon seller. Often times your state of mind can determine the success of your business. If you envision yourself as an amateur, you will more than likely stay an amateur. Also, the individual platform limits you to selling a maximum of 40 products per month on Amazon.
- Professional Seller
As a professional seller on Amazon, you have access to incredible features and functionality like more product photos and listing options. The cost per month is $39.99. However, with that comes the ability to sell unlimited products commission free. This platform is truly the best option for anyone starting out as an Amazon seller. If you tell yourself right from the beginning that you are destined for success, you are more likely to achieve it.
Create your Product listings
Whether you choose to be a reseller, or private labeler, your product listings need to be equally as unique, and power packed. Consider the following options when creating product listings.
Writing sales copy
Sales copy is writing that is created with the intention of selling something. Using the powers of persuasion to convince others to part with their cash is a skill that takes time and dedication to master. If you're not the best writer, you can hire someone to do this for you.
Keyword research and SEO optimization
Keyword research and SEO optimization go hand in hand. By using the right keywords, you will be optimizing your search engine rankings. Amazon's search algorithm will recognize popular keywords over random keywords. Therefore, do some research into the proper keywords that define your products. Then make sure your listing utilizes them.
Labeling & Shipping Your Product To Amazon
This is without a doubt the most important part of becoming an Amazon FBA seller. Properly labeling your products will allow Amazon to efficiently locate, and ship your chinese goods when a sale is made.
Shipping Directly From Chinese Supplier to the Amazon Warehouse
The most economical option would be to ship your products directly from the Chinese supplier to Amazon's distribution facility. In order to make this transaction seamless, you must talk with the Chinese manufacturers about properly labeling your products. You want to make sure that each item is individually packaged for a single consumer and uses the appropriate labeling for tracking purposes. Click on this link to read the Amazon FBA exact labeling requirements.
Getting this correct will allow you to save money on shipping by sending your products directly to the Amazon facility. Amazon also offers a labeling service. This will allow you to ship your product directly to Amazon and let them label it for you on a per item fee basis.
Shipping from Chinese Supplier to Third Party Labeler and then to Amazon
If you are not completely confident on Amazon’s labeling requirements, you can always leave this task to a third-party. Remember that the ultimate destination of your Chinese products will be an Amazon distribution facility. Therefore, the location of your third-party service provider plays a huge role in determining the shipping costs.
After the third-party has finished labeling and verifying the quality of your goods, they will then have to ship them to Amazon. Depending on the distance in between the two locations, this can be quite an expensive option. Make sure you do your research beforehand to estimate the total shipping cost.
Shipping from your Chinese Supplier to You and then to Amazon
If you are not willing to pay for a third-party service to label your products and verify the quality, you can take delivery of your Chinese products yourself. Receiving delivery will allow you to personally verify the contents of your shipment and also label your products. Following the Amazon labeling guidelines specifically won’t be a hard task, however it will take some getting used to and there might be a learning curve involved.
This option is going to be your second cheapest option when it comes to shipping products to the Amazon facility. Of course, the cheapest option will be shipping directly from your Chinese manufacturer to the Amazon facility. However, in the event that your Chinese manufacturer cannot engage in the labeling, you will have to do this yourself.
Necessary Steps to Success
At this juncture, you should have your products at the Amazon facility and your listings optimized for keywords and search engine rankings. Now that you’re ready to go live, there a few steps you can take to increase your chances of success
Discount ads on Facebook
Facebook has long been a platform used for growing many businesses. A great way to promote your new Amazon FBA seller status and products is by offering buyers a discount. Through Facebook advertising, you can send out ads that target certain demographics with your discount. This can prove very effective in driving traffic to your Amazon listing
Pay per click advertising
Paper click advertising is an effective means of driving traffic, especially if you are a private labeler. If the cost is not too expensive for your specific keywords, try undergoing a pay per click advertising campaign to get things moving in the right direction. Once the word is out and you have generated some income, you can ease off your PPC campaign. However in the beginning, this will be a great tactic to get the ball rolling.
Importance of reviews
Gaining your first dozen reviews will be the icing on your cake. Online buyers follow a herd mentality. Positive reviews will attract more positive reviews. Negative reviews will attract more negative reviews. It’s just the way the game works.
Enjoy Your Earnings
Now that you are set up for success, you can sit back and enjoy your earnings. Your Amazon FBA account will operate like a well oiled machine. All you have to do is keep an eye out for when stock is low, and ship more to Amazon. That's It! It's no wonder so many sellers are taking advantage of the Amazon FBA sellers option!
