How can I make a living selling on Amazon?

#1 05-29-2018

I’m 18 and have some good product ideas. I don't have the resources for large initial orders or marketing, but I want to focus well. I’m looking to make $2-5K a month, and will need more than one product.

rsot · #2 05-29-2018

Welcome to the forums - all the best as both of you master stealth

@Emma6804, good luck on the endeavour

Sunspot144 · #3 05-29-2018

Would highly recommend shooting for sustainability rather than profitability, if that makes any sense. Get your feet wet buying and selling tried and true products to get a feel for the game, and use what you learn and observe to launch something new later on. If it fails, you'll still have your tried and true products to fall back on to pay your rent :P

I also highly highly recommend starting out on ebay. They way Amazon is designed, it is not new seller friendly at all. You WILL lose more money than you earn when you begin selling. At least ebay gives you 'new listing' boosts and their promoted listings are pay per sale, instead of pay per click like Amazon. I hate Amazon because when you search by lowest price, they filter their search results to still only show top selling products, instead of new seller listings. You're forced into their Sponsored listings program to gain any traction. Right away you're going negative.

sax4 · #4 05-29-2018

Yes the best way is to just start, rather than reading some ebooks etc

**SaiJin** · #5 05-29-2018

Hmmm... starting on amazon takes baby steps more so than eBay, but if you don't start now you'll never learn regardless.

Making $2-5k/mo is no small feat and amazon is very flakey as well.
But I suggest instead of using your original account with all your personal info, use an Amazon Ghost account to play around with first.

Trust me, you want to baby your personal real account.

e2free · #6 05-29-2018

I recommend to try on amazon its much more batter then ebay specially for new sellers.

with ebay no feedback new account and your item showing on search is very very hard since they promote big sellers with top rated and experienced sellers

where amazon they treat new account same way use FBA and u will have no issue at all,

JohnWall · #7 05-30-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by e2free

I recommend to try on amazon its much more batter then ebay specially for new sellers.

with ebay no feedback new account and your item showing on search is very very hard since they promote big sellers with top rated and experienced sellers

where amazon they treat new account same way use FBA and u will have no issue at all,

Not entirely true, new accounts aren't eligible for the BB in their first 90 days.

elmo · #8 05-30-2018

I get BB relatively fast on all my new stores...

e2free · #9 05-30-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnWall

Not entirely true, new accounts aren't eligible for the BB in their first 90 days.

Not sure which account you using but I have no issue with buy box on new account

For new seller Amazon is heaven and eBay hell

**SaiJin** · #10 05-30-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnWall

Not entirely true, new accounts aren't eligible for the BB in their first 90 days.

John, that is absolutely not true. I'm not sure what's going on with your activity or operation model, but I've seen that some of your posts is the opposite of what everyone else who is successful is saying.

So instead of just making a statement that's is not true, even if you think is true, let's try to make this into a discussion.

I have to agree with Elmo and e2free on this one.

Sunspot144 · #11 05-30-2018

Need a reality check here and just to clarify - everybody here has never had an unsuccessful product launch on amazon? When you started your very first product was a big success? Cmon. Ebay shows you sales history. That's a sure fire way to ensure your product(s) will sell; especially helpful for someone new.

JohnWall · #12 05-31-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaiJin

John, that is absolutely not true. I'm not sure what's going on with your activity or operation model, but I've seen that some of your posts is the opposite of what everyone else who is successful is saying.

So instead of just making a statement that's is not true, even if you think is true, let's try to make this into a discussion.

I have to agree with Elmo and e2free on this one.

Anything I've posted is based off personal experience and/or what I've seen posted multiple times else where. A quick google search of something along the lines of "Amazon 90 day buybox" will back this up.

I MF everyone of my orders on all of my stealth accounts and can 100% categorically confirm that not a single one of these accounts has ever won the buybox in the first few months no matter how much cheaper I am compared to the next seller.

I do use my own personal account for FBA but as this was set up a few years ago I can not remember that far back so things may be different for that.

**SaiJin** · #13 05-31-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnWall

Anything I've posted is based off personal experience and/or what I've seen posted multiple times else where. A quick google search of something along the lines of "Amazon 90 day buybox" will back this up.

I MF everyone of my orders on all of my stealth accounts and can 100% categorically confirm that not a single one of these accounts has ever won the buybox in the first few months no matter how much cheaper I am compared to the next seller.

I do use my own personal account for FBA but as this was set up a few years ago I can not remember that far back so things may be different for that.

Interesting. All of my new 1 week account has managed to get the buy box no matter what. BUt all of them are FBA of course.

Maybe the other members can shed more light to your situation and help you out.

Mickey H · #14 05-31-2018

You will always get the buy box on FBA if you are the cheapest FBA seller. Play with prices and on products I have to be 13p cheaper than the next FBA seller and bingo.

Sunspot144 · #15 05-31-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mickey H

You will always get the buy box on FBA if you are the cheapest FBA seller. Play with prices and on products I have to be 13p cheaper than the next FBA seller and bingo.

How does this even work though? Don't you eventually undercut each other to the point no one is making a profit?

Should have to sign an agreement not to sell under a certain price and leave it up to your creativity to market and drive traffic to yourself. The ideal marketplace...

JohnWall · #16 05-31-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunspot144

How does this even work though? Don't you eventually undercut each other to the point no one is making a profit?

Should have to sign an agreement not to sell under a certain price and leave it up to your creativity to market and drive traffic to yourself. The ideal marketplace...

Not sure about the US but here in the UK price fixing is illegal. You can try avoid penny under re-pricers though by looking for a consistant price history on the keepa chart.

Sunspot144 · #17 05-31-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnWall

Not sure about the US but here in the UK price fixing is illegal.

But I wanna use my six figure network to monopolize my market

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnWall

You can try avoid penny under re-pricers though by looking for a consistant price history on the keepa chart.

Possible to still make sales without having BB?

applebaum · #18 05-31-2018

@Emma6804

If you have a good product idea(s) try to sell a few items and see what happens. You may be surprised by what sells and what doesn't.

I would not recommend a large capital investment until you are sure the product(s) will sell. Also, as others have stated, try and play around with Amazon Ghost. In this game is it very important to have more than one account and ideally sell on more than one platform. This is a very, very competitive game and you need to ensure that you have backups for your backup accounts or you will find it is very difficult to make a sustainable living.

JohnWall · #19 06-01-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunspot144

Possible to still make sales without having BB?

Yes of course. As mentioned above I MF most of my orders & still make sales without the BB. But if your items are eligible for the BB simply match the lowest sellers price and you will both share it.

Mickey H · #20 06-02-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnWall

Yes of course. As mentioned above I MF most of my orders & still make sales without the BB. But if your items are eligible for the BB simply match the lowest sellers price and you will both share it.

Share it, in the real world this rarely happens. Most sellers have little common sense and always wanting to be the cheapest, also the more serious sellers are using pricing software so they rarely look at individual products they are selling.

yankee · #21 06-02-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by e2free

Not sure which account you using but I have no issue with buy box on new account

For new seller Amazon is heaven and eBay hell

My experience is 180 degrees. I personally think amazon is a hell hole. Screw that cesspool. Now of course, it all depends on the category and items. I sell 1/10000 on amazon as I do on ebay and that is being very generous to amazon. It is more like 1/100,000th

e2free · #22 06-02-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by yankee

My experience is 180 degrees. I personally think amazon is a hell hole. Screw that cesspool. Now of course, it all depends on the category and items. I sell 1/10000 on amazon as I do on ebay and that is being very generous to amazon. It is more like 1/100,000th

Have you ever tried FBA?