Selling question

[dbpopescu]

Hi there, I have a question (maybe a couple) for amazon (stealth) sellers:

I've only sold on etsy so far and am trying my luck in the big leagues (amazon) so I got myself a high quality `elmo` TM stealth account and was wondering what would you recommend from your experience with amazon, dropshipping vs FBA ?

From what I've heard dropshipping is doable but most have said to stay away from aliexpress because of the long shipping times (from my etsy experience epackets were delivered anywhere between 10 and 14 days) ...

And final question, regardless of the method I will go with what do I do about UPC/EAN 's ? Is it ok to sell without one ? Do they HAVE TO be GS1 registered ? Will I get instasuspended if I don't put an code on the listing ?


Could someone be so gracious as to ELI5 the barcode problem ? The rest is optional.

Thank you.

[mshamazon]

10-14 day deliveries from outside the US will destroy your Amazon account in so many ways. FBA or do it yourself - if you're going to dropship, you better be REALLY stable and make it extremely clear how long it's going to take people to get their packages.

I have buyers select "Standard - Media Mail" which I specifically quote and STILL get upset when it takes longer than 3 days - so good luck with 14 business days (3 weeks). Amazon buyers expect a whole lot more than anywhere else: they don't read descriptions, they don't read shipping estimates, they don't read emails - they just want exactly what they ordered in less than a few days no matter what they select. And Amazon is only feeding their entitled personalities, frankly.

[dbpopescu]

Originally Posted by mshamazon

10-14 day deliveries from outside the US will destroy your Amazon account in so many ways. FBA or do it yourself - if you're going to dropship, you better be REALLY stable and make it extremely clear how long it's going to take people to get their packages.

I have buyers select "Standard - Media Mail" which I specifically quote and STILL get upset when it takes longer than 3 days - so good luck with 14 business days (3 weeks). Amazon buyers expect a whole lot more than anywhere else: they don't read descriptions, they don't read shipping estimates, they don't read emails - they just want exactly what they ordered in less than a few days no matter what they select. And Amazon is only feeding their entitled personalities, frankly.

gotcha ... I'm kinda leaning towards fba anyway but what about the upc's are those 100% required ?

[hwjimm]

Just buy UPCs on eBay.