FBA Quick Beginners Look

 Amazon Quick Look

This is entirely written with a pure beginner in mind.

If you are kicking tires thining about FBA or are just starting FBA read a bit this may help you.

This is still the easiest way to get into online eCommerce that there is.

I wish there were a truely easy let's go when I decided, only 1/12 years in I have made so many mistakes it's not funny.

There are a lot more to come :)

My business model is RA and OA Retail Arbitrage and Online Arbitrage, and moving some into wholesale in late 2020.

I will give you a bit of help here, I won't give the farm away, but will help you a lot, at least this will point you in the direction you want to head.

Things To Know

You don't need a sellers pro account to start. But at the price and with the hassles and cost of any mail or cartage in Canada its the best way to go, even if you're just trying it out.

USA carrier rates are way better and so it easier to start as a free account, but there are so many reasons not to, its not funny.

I can't speak for any other country, but I will certainly look into the UK within a year.

• You send your products Amazon holds your stock in warehouses
• Amazon handles all shipping
• Amazon takes care of all returns
• The most trusted Ecom platform in the world with built-in customers

It is by no means a passive or easy way to make money. 

This Is Business                                    

This is not going to make you rich overnight. 

There are shortcuts, but people will not actually show you, I will give some hints and points but not everything, I certainly won't mislead you.

You will not make money right away.

It will take time to build, don't become impatient, don't push it too much, I did and it cost me. 

There are hurdles and obstacles every step of the way.

You must REALLY want or NEED this to succeed.

Time Is Of The Essence

Since I had no guidance and was fleeced by a GURU my start was expensive and very rocky. I was on the verge of just cutting my losses and quitting, my wife was pretty upset with me.

Thankfully I kept on going and learning. 

So basically 4 -5  months of misery and hustle trying to get anywhere a lot of red numbers, then as the 1st quarter began (Jan. 01/2019) of the second or as I refer to the real first year things started to break.

Still frustrating but better.

You see you don't just jump in and sell whatever you want to!

Gates And Approvals

The most frustrating thing in the world for me was finding the first few products to sell.

There's a process in the Amazon logarithm, whereby the more you sell with the least or better zero amount of problems, the faster you become trusted and start to be approved to sell more products.

You will be auto ungated for categories and products. There is a way to get ungated by buying from approved wholesalers and producing the invoice for an amount of 10 or more units.

I'm not sure if you get auto ungated for things like lego etc, but don't sweat these things at the beginning, you will see why as you gain experience.

Don't sell anything Amazon sells at the beginning. You can compete on certain items, but that's for later.

Why Do It                                 

This is truly a remarkable time in history, giant brick and mortar businesses are being shut down because of the online cultural shift.

You don't have to be a businessman, just possess the will to want to be that and are willing to work to be that.

You could not ask for a better opportunity. It is not easy and only gets harder, but it can be all that you want it to be.

Truly scaleable with risk like everything in life.

Fairly low start-up cost.

Make no mistake this is a job.

What Will It Cost?

The cost of a Seller Central account is $29.99 in Canada with access to North America (USA Canada Mexico)

For some reason, it's $39.99 in the USA.

Free accounts get up to 40 free sales, without the FBA service (no FBA with free it's from home or shop) then .99 cents a shot, that can add up.

There is a lot of discussion on what you need to start with, I would say 3k, but it will be a long time to grow, this being said it is going to take time anyway.

Plus a few other expenses.

Tools You Will Need   

There are a few things you will need to start up.  

Laser or thermal printer. I have both. a Dymo which I love now and a Brother Laser.

I used to print bar codes with the laser, then moved to thermal about 5 months ago.

 With the laser you have a few choices for labels Amazon recommends Avery
 30 up removable labels.

Tape and Tape gun

Boxes ( you can repurpose old boxes just cover up old shipping labels etc.)

Seller Central app from Google play store free. There are paid apps but that's a later deal if you choose, I still use the Amazon app.

Keepa is an absolute you need it this will run you 15 euros a month at this time, around 22 CAD.  You may get it free for limited use, you can try.

Look for youtube videos on this one. It's pretty easy to read but there is a curve. I will go in-depth on this in another article.

Start Slow                                             

This is my sales and totals for 2019 its not a lot,  but this is my proof

                   

If you are still not sure whether this is for you or not, make a free account.

Pick up the seller app and start scanning bar codes.

This will give you an idea of what is going to happen for a while. Costs for everything are a bit higher, so its an uphill battle to be sure. 

Check against keepa to see if Amazon is on the listing.  Don't try if they are. And you will see a lot of that.

Don't give up if you want it you will get it.

My Creds

My figures up to this point are pretty unimpressive really, but from the adversity, I started with its actually not bad.

I have a ton to learn but all the basics are pretty much down. It took me a while there are people that have tripled and more that amount in the first year.

But they may have had help ;)

There are FB groups where people might help you, I haven't found this, but you may. 

You can certainly learn a lot just by reading all posts and searching archives.

As an older seller the younger folks are a bit leery, no doubt I was the same as a young man.

Remember the GURUS are selling things that don't work as good anymore or things they have never done, there are a lot of them selling FBA related courses but have never sold on Amazon.

There are a lot selling you stuff they do, but it may be outdated, that's why they are selling it. Some are or look totally legit or at least have great info for a starter.  This is for PL (Private Label) but beware.

Amazon has become a superheated very competitive market place, even since I started prices have fallen, some items you can still win, a lot you can`t it's a volume game. With some selling for as low as 10 cents profit.

If you have read this far you are definitely interested, so go act and try your hand...