Welcome to our first AMA. From now (Friday @ 5PM) through Sunday I’ll answer any and all of your Amazon related questions. FBA, Advertising or account set up — I’ll do my best to provide you a great answer.
First thank you for doing this question and answer. I have so many questions. I'm registering my LLC before I get started on my Amazon FBA. I'm really confused about where and how to start. I've read your earlier substacks and that is a helpful to my start. My question is with Helium 10 and Jungle Scout. Which do you prefer? Which program should I pay for on each? I noticed on Jungle Scout they have a year subscription which gives you a step by step videos to help you get started with your FBA. I notice the year subscriptions on both are $1000 or more. Is this worth it? I don't mind paying but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing before I throw money at something that I don't really know how to use. I'm sure I will as I use it more and more. I have many more questions but I'll start with this for now. Thank you for taking the time.
Good question! Full transparency is that I use both, and since I’m not looking for a new niche I’m partial to H10. Their competitive insights (through Chrome extension) is huge for me, I love the keyword research tool gives both the top kw that’s your competitors are using and areas you can really exploit. The cpr rating (measure of kw competitiveness) is a major resource when launching a new item and doing your keyword map.
I find jungle scout to be better at finding niches to exploit and giving category competition data and review automation (primary use for us at this point).
Commonality is that both have strong training videos, ability to export reviews and both suck at ppc automation.
Shameless self promotion- here are some affiliate links to either site. To be clear and gun to my head I’m picking H10.
You can up your quantities and push for bulk discounts and standardize your product by removing or changing out special components / ingredients, The best advice I have is to get a competing bid and have the current provider match / beat the offer. Also make sure you aren’t lying above market on shipping so you ca check benchmarks here - https://fbx.freightos.com/ also I assume you are doing this but make sure you are filling the container or partnering w a forwarding firm to do it for you.
I would go for the LLC immediately. There are benefits associated with the to protect your personal property, and if anonymity is a concern than an LLC is a safer route/
Reselling is a great way to learn and you can make money, but someone can always beat you in price
And you are never fully in control of your destiny. I would start with reselling and if I had any success and loved it go into private label as fast as possible.
As a first time Amazon FBA everything seems overwhelming. Is there a video course on Amazon FBA that you recommend? I know many say just jump in and learn as you go, but I'd like to have some sort of idea what I should do to make sure I'm as proficient as possible. As always I appreciate your help.
There is no teacher quite as effective as experience. I’m hesitant to recommend a course as I have never done one and wouldn’t be speaking from experience.
Amazon’s training course is pretty good (seller university), especially to get things up and running. I’d also follow smart people on Twitter (@michaelpatron0, @molson_hart @dave_stickland) and continue to reread as much as your possibly can.
Pick a category and check out what happened every day, use a spreadsheet to track the metrics and see what changes… price / bsr / review count and avg star rating, did they run a deal…. Will give you a quick education on what is happening in the space).
Thanks for doing this! What tools do you use for product research for products currently on Amazon (e.g., Keepa)? Currently focused on reselling items purchased wholesale to learn Amazon/generate cash flow to start PL. Trying to understand how to better utilize the data sources out there to optimize purchasing decisions. Thanks!
If this is about finding a niche, you are going to be hard pressed to find a better product than jungle scout. Since you area starting to flip, use their product database to get an idea of how much volume you can make and the associated profit (you will have to add some assumptions) with your efforts. Once you are up
and running I would check out helium 10 but start the research with Jungle Scout.
I would take a slight different approach than BTB and wouldn’t go hard in the diet category. Remember this isn’t your DTC site where you only answer to yourself. Amazon makes the rules of the game and you have to abide.
On Amazon, you can’t really advertise those items and Amazon is becoming increasingly strict on the content that you can use within your listings.
I would focus on non-sensory supplements, places where branding, content and value add can help you win since the formulas are all relatively commoditized. Looks for areas of fragmented competition. (Variance between the best seller and #10 isn’t huge) and tots review count is relatively low for the top items. I would look at pycnogenol or NAC to get started.
If you need help doing category research I would certainly use jungle scout to help my process. Specifically the product database of you are looking to flip and resell.
What are non-sensory supplements? Tried google search but didn't understand them. Yes, I am planning to sign up to Jungle Scout using your link. It would be helpful if you could do a post on how you use Jungle Scout to do research.
A JS post is coming next week, maybe the following (have some personal stuff coming up.) Non-sensory items are products that don’t make you feel something when you take them. Think a pre workout or atom focused diet pill which make your face tingle and your heart race. Those item provoke a strong response and generate a lot of (not great reviews) which is what we want to avoid.
Non-sensory are things like multivitamins, CLA (if you want to stay in the diet category) vitamin d, magnesium, apple cider vinegar etc. you can also try something in the gut health category.
Thanks for explaining Non-sensory supplements and I look forward to the JS post. In regards to product demand testing/verification, would you adapt the same method as BTB suggests - Create landing page, send paid traffic and check if it converts? Or would your approach be different for amazon.
Approach wound be a little different as your PDP is you only real I sing page (outside of developing a brand store). I would find a product you think has the attributes to succeed and then use Amazon’s A/B testing ‘manage experiments’ tools to see what works vs what doesn’t forma content, creative and messaging perspective. This is limited to sellers who are brand registered.
BTB says to sell products in the diet, skincare niche. The problem that I face is I am not sure how to differentiate my products. BTB suggests to make a product that is better than all the existing products. But literally all the flavours, ingredients, designs, pills I think of already exist. I am not sure how I can launch a product that will be differentiated and competitive. What would be your approach to product differentiation. Thanks
The good news is that it’s a high margin / highly fragmented category so there is an opportunity to break through and make some money. Think more broadly about differentiation…most items are stock formulas from a contract manufacturer that might have a cool ingredient from a special ingredient house, but rarely is someone reinventing the wheel.
Ask yourself what you can do well, do you know a lot about exercise and fitness? You can add a qr to the lid of a bottle and give away a free workout that way. Provide a better money back guarantee, have better packaging that fits better in your bag, use a new delivery form (gummies vs. pills) add a pill case to the product / in a poly bag. Differentiation is about the value you provide above the competition, not just the formulation of the product.
The biggest thing you need to know is that supplements (and toys) are the underbelly of Amazon. There is a lot of shady stuff that happens with ranking bots, review solicitation and trying to delete negative reviews so you will be swimming in the deep end of the pool. Don’t go for head categories to start (such as whey protein) start with a niche item and build your way up as you start to build a customer base.
Just starting Amazon FBA and had a question regarding registered business address, I currently don’t have a rented unit and don’t want to use my home address, what would you advise be. I have read on forums about using accountants address but I want to hear from you. Thanks
Easiest solution is a virtual mailbox set up by your registered agent (typically your accountant or the lawyer who set up your LLC, partnership, etc). A virtual mailbox will receive all of your mail and provide a physical address. You can do a virtual office as well which is a virtual mailbox + coworking space if needed.
Low barriers to entry and really strong margins (low cost of creative and you keep like 70% of sales). I’m going to assume you are looking to a paperback notebook / sketch book be self publishing a novel (if it’s the ladder, I don’t know about that world) and the biggest hurdle is doing good creative for the covers. You can figure out the keyword research and marketing, but if you don’t do compelling creative it’s not going to work.
I am going to try do some KDP but have low sales expectation (thinking in terms of $100s, not $1,000s) and my strategy is to flood the zone with creative and derivatives of the note books to see if I can catch any traction. Would recommend that if you wanted to try you do upwork or Fiverr to get a bunch of creatives and try a similar strategy.
First thank you for doing this question and answer. I have so many questions. I'm registering my LLC before I get started on my Amazon FBA. I'm really confused about where and how to start. I've read your earlier substacks and that is a helpful to my start. My question is with Helium 10 and Jungle Scout. Which do you prefer? Which program should I pay for on each? I noticed on Jungle Scout they have a year subscription which gives you a step by step videos to help you get started with your FBA. I notice the year subscriptions on both are $1000 or more. Is this worth it? I don't mind paying but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing before I throw money at something that I don't really know how to use. I'm sure I will as I use it more and more. I have many more questions but I'll start with this for now. Thank you for taking the time.
Good question! Full transparency is that I use both, and since I’m not looking for a new niche I’m partial to H10. Their competitive insights (through Chrome extension) is huge for me, I love the keyword research tool gives both the top kw that’s your competitors are using and areas you can really exploit. The cpr rating (measure of kw competitiveness) is a major resource when launching a new item and doing your keyword map.
I find jungle scout to be better at finding niches to exploit and giving category competition data and review automation (primary use for us at this point).
Commonality is that both have strong training videos, ability to export reviews and both suck at ppc automation.
Shameless self promotion- here are some affiliate links to either site. To be clear and gun to my head I’m picking H10.
H10 - https://bit.ly/3iJPKvv
Here are some promos — BOWTIEDAMZ50 / 50% off the first | BOWTIEDAMZ10 / 10% off lifetime
Jungle scout - https://junglescout.grsm.io/gxrmxzml2jnd
Can you please give some negotiating tips on ways to haggle with Chinese manufacturers including shipping costs.
Thank you!
You can up your quantities and push for bulk discounts and standardize your product by removing or changing out special components / ingredients, The best advice I have is to get a competing bid and have the current provider match / beat the offer. Also make sure you aren’t lying above market on shipping so you ca check benchmarks here - https://fbx.freightos.com/ also I assume you are doing this but make sure you are filling the container or partnering w a forwarding firm to do it for you.
Thanks for AMA
At what point/scale does it make sense to go for an LLC vs just selling as an individual?
Is reselling worth it or is it better to just skip right to trying to white label/make a product?
I would go for the LLC immediately. There are benefits associated with the to protect your personal property, and if anonymity is a concern than an LLC is a safer route/
Reselling is a great way to learn and you can make money, but someone can always beat you in price
And you are never fully in control of your destiny. I would start with reselling and if I had any success and loved it go into private label as fast as possible.
As a first time Amazon FBA everything seems overwhelming. Is there a video course on Amazon FBA that you recommend? I know many say just jump in and learn as you go, but I'd like to have some sort of idea what I should do to make sure I'm as proficient as possible. As always I appreciate your help.
There is no teacher quite as effective as experience. I’m hesitant to recommend a course as I have never done one and wouldn’t be speaking from experience.
Amazon’s training course is pretty good (seller university), especially to get things up and running. I’d also follow smart people on Twitter (@michaelpatron0, @molson_hart @dave_stickland) and continue to reread as much as your possibly can.
Pick a category and check out what happened every day, use a spreadsheet to track the metrics and see what changes… price / bsr / review count and avg star rating, did they run a deal…. Will give you a quick education on what is happening in the space).
Thanks for doing this! What tools do you use for product research for products currently on Amazon (e.g., Keepa)? Currently focused on reselling items purchased wholesale to learn Amazon/generate cash flow to start PL. Trying to understand how to better utilize the data sources out there to optimize purchasing decisions. Thanks!
If this is about finding a niche, you are going to be hard pressed to find a better product than jungle scout. Since you area starting to flip, use their product database to get an idea of how much volume you can make and the associated profit (you will have to add some assumptions) with your efforts. Once you are up
and running I would check out helium 10 but start the research with Jungle Scout.
Jungle scout - https://junglescout.grsm.io/gxrmxzml2jnd
What products do you suggest we focus on launching in the diet/skincare space?
I would take a slight different approach than BTB and wouldn’t go hard in the diet category. Remember this isn’t your DTC site where you only answer to yourself. Amazon makes the rules of the game and you have to abide.
On Amazon, you can’t really advertise those items and Amazon is becoming increasingly strict on the content that you can use within your listings.
I would focus on non-sensory supplements, places where branding, content and value add can help you win since the formulas are all relatively commoditized. Looks for areas of fragmented competition. (Variance between the best seller and #10 isn’t huge) and tots review count is relatively low for the top items. I would look at pycnogenol or NAC to get started.
If you need help doing category research I would certainly use jungle scout to help my process. Specifically the product database of you are looking to flip and resell.
https://junglescout.grsm.io/gxrmxzml2jnd
What are non-sensory supplements? Tried google search but didn't understand them. Yes, I am planning to sign up to Jungle Scout using your link. It would be helpful if you could do a post on how you use Jungle Scout to do research.
A JS post is coming next week, maybe the following (have some personal stuff coming up.) Non-sensory items are products that don’t make you feel something when you take them. Think a pre workout or atom focused diet pill which make your face tingle and your heart race. Those item provoke a strong response and generate a lot of (not great reviews) which is what we want to avoid.
Non-sensory are things like multivitamins, CLA (if you want to stay in the diet category) vitamin d, magnesium, apple cider vinegar etc. you can also try something in the gut health category.
Thanks for explaining Non-sensory supplements and I look forward to the JS post. In regards to product demand testing/verification, would you adapt the same method as BTB suggests - Create landing page, send paid traffic and check if it converts? Or would your approach be different for amazon.
Approach wound be a little different as your PDP is you only real I sing page (outside of developing a brand store). I would find a product you think has the attributes to succeed and then use Amazon’s A/B testing ‘manage experiments’ tools to see what works vs what doesn’t forma content, creative and messaging perspective. This is limited to sellers who are brand registered.
BTB says to sell products in the diet, skincare niche. The problem that I face is I am not sure how to differentiate my products. BTB suggests to make a product that is better than all the existing products. But literally all the flavours, ingredients, designs, pills I think of already exist. I am not sure how I can launch a product that will be differentiated and competitive. What would be your approach to product differentiation. Thanks
The good news is that it’s a high margin / highly fragmented category so there is an opportunity to break through and make some money. Think more broadly about differentiation…most items are stock formulas from a contract manufacturer that might have a cool ingredient from a special ingredient house, but rarely is someone reinventing the wheel.
Ask yourself what you can do well, do you know a lot about exercise and fitness? You can add a qr to the lid of a bottle and give away a free workout that way. Provide a better money back guarantee, have better packaging that fits better in your bag, use a new delivery form (gummies vs. pills) add a pill case to the product / in a poly bag. Differentiation is about the value you provide above the competition, not just the formulation of the product.
The biggest thing you need to know is that supplements (and toys) are the underbelly of Amazon. There is a lot of shady stuff that happens with ranking bots, review solicitation and trying to delete negative reviews so you will be swimming in the deep end of the pool. Don’t go for head categories to start (such as whey protein) start with a niche item and build your way up as you start to build a customer base.
Thanks a ton man! Really appreciate your response.
Just starting Amazon FBA and had a question regarding registered business address, I currently don’t have a rented unit and don’t want to use my home address, what would you advise be. I have read on forums about using accountants address but I want to hear from you. Thanks
Easiest solution is a virtual mailbox set up by your registered agent (typically your accountant or the lawyer who set up your LLC, partnership, etc). A virtual mailbox will receive all of your mail and provide a physical address. You can do a virtual office as well which is a virtual mailbox + coworking space if needed.
Amazon KDP. Thoughts on the barrier to entry, market over-saturation and if it's worth investing time in.
Appreciate the input.
Low barriers to entry and really strong margins (low cost of creative and you keep like 70% of sales). I’m going to assume you are looking to a paperback notebook / sketch book be self publishing a novel (if it’s the ladder, I don’t know about that world) and the biggest hurdle is doing good creative for the covers. You can figure out the keyword research and marketing, but if you don’t do compelling creative it’s not going to work.
I am going to try do some KDP but have low sales expectation (thinking in terms of $100s, not $1,000s) and my strategy is to flood the zone with creative and derivatives of the note books to see if I can catch any traction. Would recommend that if you wanted to try you do upwork or Fiverr to get a bunch of creatives and try a similar strategy.