Amazon Selling

[Deleted User]

Hi

Has anyone done any of the Amazon Selling Courses that shows you where to buy stuff to sell on Amazon and use software tools to work out what's selling, what's not, etc?

Keep seeing courses and wondering if it's worth doing and if so which courses are worth it.

If I can't make any money obviously no point doing one of the courses.

soolin

Although this wasn't technically in the wrong forum I have moved it as I am aware there are Amazon sellers on this board who may be able to advise you better.

However, I am aware of similar eBay tutorials and many , if not most, are scams - basically lifting the information direct from Amazon and repackagaing it at a cost to the subscribers. Both ebay and Amazon have tutorials on their site if you look, you don't need to pay to access them.

Strangely, I've been on a lot of US forums recently but in the US then yes there are proper paid for sites and courses that come highly recommended, people pay a lot of money and rave about them. Things though are different in the UK, so if you do look at courses whatever you do don't buy into a US one- the rules are very different.

GabbaGabbaHey

Beremy wrote: »

Has anyone done any of the Amazon Selling Courses that shows you where to buy stuff to sell on Amazon and use software tools to work out what's selling, what's not, etc?

The cynic in me can't help thinking that if these courses worked, the people providing them would be too busy making their fortune selling stuff on Amazon rather than telling other people how to...

ballisticbrian

There's a guy out there selling you information on special secret suppliers which turn out to be generic suppliers like "farnell" that everybody knows about and gives you clues as to special niche markets apparently still viable, which turns out to be the last guy he set up on eBay.
I'm afraid anybody that falls for this scam proabbaly isn't cut out to be a market place seller in the first place.

[Deleted User]

Soolin - thank you for moving and replying re the differences between UK and USA. Gabba - that's one of the reasons I posted as I had the same thought as you. BallisticBrian: not sure what to make of your post. The course I was reading through doesn't offer you suppliers and doubt many would investigate further if that was what was being offered. My request has come about as part of a 'due dilligence'. There's little real information available through searches and as there are people earning money from it there must be a way to learn about it. Obviously, no one wants to part with money without understanding where the costs are and how to run the sales smoothly. Where do you source goods, how do you get them out to the customer and ensure safe delivery. How do the costs work, etc. What are the pitfalls? For most of us we don't have access to suppliers and cheap warehouses. The information I'm looking at purports to be Shaun Mitchell and the FBA Wizard. He's not offering vague details on a supplier rather the software to operate the process. I'm therefore trying to find out if this is viable in addition to my full time job. People obviously do sell successfully on Amazon so how do they do it? The reason these courses are getting people is that the information is obviously well guarded by sellers who don't want someone else taking a chunk out of the market. However, if we were all afraid of scams/accidents none of us would ever do anything or even leave the house. The key is get the correct information and use it properly. Please feel free to inbox me if you've had experience of a course and would feel more comfortable that way.

ballisticbrian

My post was meant as an extreme example of someone out there releasing "you tube" videos on how to make money which basically are simply designed to make the producer of the video rich and no-one else.


Because it's so difficult to make money on eBay and Amazon nowadays, you'll find most of the "courses" available are simply that, someone trying to pull the wool over your eyes.


You have to ask yourself, if making money is so easy, why doesn't the author do it, instead of releasing a book, video, course whatever.


Like all the investing in bit coin videos or the affiliate programme videos there are swamping you tube.


If someone had highly technical info on how to manipulate eBays systems to appear most popular etc, eBay regularly "improve" their systems and what you had working one month doesn't work the next. And if they told you how to be the cheapest this month, another seller will be along 1p cheaper next month. That's how it is.

soolin

Beremy wrote: »

Soolin - thank you for moving and replying re the differences between UK and USA. Gabba - that's one of the reasons I posted as I had the same thought as you. BallisticBrian: not sure what to make of your post. The course I was reading through doesn't offer you suppliers and doubt many would investigate further if that was what was being offered. My request has come about as part of a 'due dilligence'. There's little real information available through searches and as there are people earning money from it there must be a way to learn about it. Obviously, no one wants to part with money without understanding where the costs are and how to run the sales smoothly. Where do you source goods, how do you get them out to the customer and ensure safe delivery. How do the costs work, etc. What are the pitfalls? For most of us we don't have access to suppliers and cheap warehouses. The information I'm looking at purports to be Shaun Mitchell and the FBA Wizard. He's not offering vague details on a supplier rather the software to operate the process. I'm therefore trying to find out if this is viable in addition to my full time job. People obviously do sell successfully on Amazon so how do they do it? The reason these courses are getting people is that the information is obviously well guarded by sellers who don't want someone else taking a chunk out of the market. However, if we were all afraid of scams/accidents none of us would ever do anything or even leave the house. The key is get the correct information and use it properly. Please feel free to inbox me if you've had experience of a course and would feel more comfortable that way.

Strangely I know this better from the US side so you might have to wait for RFW to sign in as they sell mainly as a large business on Amazon.

However, from what I understand (and again my knowledge is US based) the arbitrage system means you source an item and then run the programme and it looks up selling history, all costs (except tax and NI) and gives you a basic understanding of whether the item is a big enough seller at a cost to make you a margin. This has some obvious flaws, firstly you need to be out sourcing the items to run in the first place, so just as an example, you see something in Smyths toy shop at £10, Amazon have sellers showing this as £20, the system would look at sales, ranking and the costs and perhaps tell you it is a poor seller but you might make £1.50 an item out of it. You then decide whether to go back and buy stock for sale.

There is also the implied suggestion that you get an idea about drop shipping as well, so buying from one source only when it sells on Amazon and just having the stock sent direct- this is a very bad idea for so many reasons, but in fairness it doesn't seem to be a big part of the programme.

I personally don't use these systems, I am able to source and check myself easily using a smart phone. I use ebay so it is easier as I can see selling history rather than items listed- but I merely check sold price and quantities both sold and currently listed. I can do the basic math of costs and postage etc in my head so can source quickly and easily. I go to a lot of auctions as well and see most buyers clearly doing the same on their smart phones.

From my basic understanding I don't think this will necessarily be of much help to a new seller especially if doing it as a sideline from your main job, it will do the sums for you but you will still need to be out there daily looking to source stock and if shipping direct yourself making time for a PO visit every day.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

Strangely I know this better from the US side so you might have to wait for RFW to sign in as they sell mainly as a large business on Amazon.

Hello!
My immediate reaction is to steer clear of paying for information that isn't difficult to pick up yourself.


I don't think I have any goods now selling on Amazon that anyone else can sell, they're mostly manufactured by me. I would really struggle trying to sell products that already exist in the Amazon catalogue, it's seriously cut throat. That's from someone with 30 years experience in several markets. Going in cold I can't see how you could make money in either dropshipping or sourcing products from wholesalers. These days most of the wholesalers have Amazon stores anyway.


That's the negatives out of the way. Now for the positives.



I've no idea how much the course is but let's say it's £100. Here's my free advice. Have a think about what you'd like to sell or something you have knowledge of. Go out with your £100 (or whatever it is) and buy some stock. If you're planning on spending the money on a course then it won't matter if you lose on the stock.


When you have a stock, start listing it. I'd recommend using FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) for some of it. For FBA it can work out cheaper than posting yourself for some of the bulkier items. One of my items that works best is a 7-800g small parcel, Amazon pack and post it for £2.05, Royal Mail charge me over £2.50 and I have to pack it myself. I'm 99% FBA now. FBA items also sell better than those fulfilled by merchant, they have a better search and appear in the buy box ahead.



Just do bits at a time and work out how it all works. The best way of learning how to sell on Amazon is to just do it, you'll get how it works (from the buy box to sales rankings). All the details of what to do are within Amazon you just need to be able to find them as you go.


I've just found the pricing for the website mentioned and more of what it's about. It seems to be quite a cumbersome and time consuming approach to selling. It may well be useful and work but I can't see it. Also Amazon do a lot of price matching. If you find something for £10 in Argos that's £20 on Amazon it may well be that by the time you've bought from Argos and listed on Amazon, Amazon will have price matched.


Also just on my example, to get to the buy box you'd need to sell it for £15-£18. Once you've covered Amazon fees and postage you'll be struggling to get a profit, that's if the item sells quickly. Buying retail to sell retail is folly.

[Deleted User]

Thank you Soolin and RFW that is very useful advice and addresses the issues for me.

RFW

Just checking the video out. I looked at this item https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00UMSWSMI/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new


Now I don't see a date on the video but at the time that item was selling for £23.99 on Amazon and available to buy retail at £14.99. That would show a profit of £2.08 according to the video. Now on Amazon that item is selling for £18.95. If sold at that you'd show a loss from your £14.99 purchase.

[Deleted User]

Hi and yes. On the video I watched he shows a similar example and according to him the capability of the software is such that it should prevent or minimise that. You would use the software to see how fast something was selling. If it was selling quickly you shouldn't get the drop in price but if it was selling slowly it would be risky to buy the stock because you'd have a bigger risk of needing to drop the price.