Seller Round Table Session 2 – Featuring Andy Arnott and Amy Wees
Join us anytime for this free coaching session by registering on our Facebook Page Facebook.com/amazingathome
Here’s a recap of this sessions questions, watch the video for the golden answers!
Q: Should you delete your listing from inventory once you’re sold out?
We discuss how to use back ordering and not lose your rank and when you should and shouldn’t close your listing. For retail arbitrage and online arbitrage it’s recommended to clean up your inventory on a regular basis, especially if you plan not to restock it. We discuss how brands are cracking down on RA sellers as well.
Q: How do you set up your Shopify site to be fulfilled by Amazon?
We discuss this simple set up and another option called Shipstation which allows you to fulfill through multiple channels
Q: I’m currently designing my first brand and product, how can I use AliExpress to sell some items & gain experience? Do I sent those directly to Amazon or to my house?
We discuss how Andy first started and his trick he used to source and test products. Start by going with something your passionate about because it will come out in your products and sales. You’ll have knowledge and expertise others don’t. After you find a product, do your homework! At a minimum do a simple search across twitter and other outlets to see if people are talking about it and learn if there’s any demand for it. There are tools out there to find out what the latest trends are outside of Amazon to help validate your product ideas. Also know the wholesale price of an item so that you can determine if it’s profitable after testing.
Q: Check shipping cost, FBA fees, and PPC costs before moving forward with a product. Also how to consider keywords you might not be able to advertise like “CBD”
We discuss how to estimate shipping costs, FBA fees, and how to estimate advertising costs for PPC. If you’re thinking of selling CBD or supplements, you might want to check this out first!
Q: Check PPC costs and overall sourcing costs as well as return rate and give yourself the advantage of doing your homework before you even source 10 of a product to test
We discuss doing your homework and doing lots of sampling before moving forward
Q: The launch process for testing a product (PPC, Advertising, etc)
We discuss how to properly test a product, how to label and brand it, how to create the listing and advertise
Q: How to shop around and source when you are ready to reorder and sell this product for REAL!
We discuss how to place a sourcing request on Alibaba, sample multiple products, hire someone in China to help you source
Q: Payment systems for suppliers
We discuss as newer sellers to use Alipay or paypal. Paypal because your purchase is backed. But after building up trust with a supplier you can work out net 30 terms
Q: How to get an employee in China
We discuss upwork and finding VA’s to help speak the local language and find you a product. Some can source on 1688 for a better price if they are a native speaker. Also being careful about hiring and ensuring you’re auditing the work of your employees. Scale quicker
Q: How to sample products when you don’t live in the US
There’s nothing preventing you from having products shipped to you at your house wherever you live. Or you can hire someone in China to have them get the samples and do videos and answer all your questions for the products. GIVE US YOUR LADY’S NAME ANDY!!!
Q: Should you hire a coach to vet your products?
Yes, they will help you understand whether your product is viable and save you money in the long run. Hire Andy or Amy to help you! If not, the first failed product is the best Amazon course you can take!
Q: How many different samples should you get before you make a decision?
Get at least 3 samples so you can really get a good idea. Plus actually use the product! If you don’t want to use it no one else will either.
Q: How to launch a product for REALS…
Andy promises a launch checklist soon, but until then… Be prepare to invest in your product in the beginning, even if that means going into the negative to really get it ranked. You get a month of honeymoon time from Amazon but that is your best time to get your product solidified as relevant for your keywords and you start getting some sales volume. You want to be super aggressive with your PPC and use ALL sources of external traffic (pinterest, google ads, facebook ads, messenger, blog posts, press releases, the more the better). The launch is one of the most essential parts of your products success. The most important thing is an optimized listing…
Q: Isn’t external traffic a waste of time when you have more than enough traffic right on Amazon?
We explain why we love these people, and why Amazon incentivizes off-site traffic
Q: What is a good way to get reviews for a new product launch?
The early reviewer problem harasses the customer and does incentivized reviews for you. This is a great option! The reason you don’t have success with it is because you need more sales volume so that you get more reviews. If you’ve sold 100 in the first two weeks and only 3% give a review, that is 3 reviews. Push hard, sales volume = reviews. 3 reviews is a good number.
Q: What are the considerations for selling larger products?
There’s a lot of opportunity in oversized stuff but the returns would be extremely expensive. Not recommended for new sellers
Q: Can I register for GS1 if I’m not a US seller?
Go get brand registered! Spend the money to get trademarked so that you don’t have to deal with this. But when you’re just testing the waters with a product, you can buy a barcode from a “GS1” vendor and just use that to test. Better yet use a GTIN exemption! After brand registry you can just apply for whole categories and you can just upload listings automatically with your product identifier and brand name.
Q: How much should you spend on PPC in the beginning?
You want to bid above the range so that you are at the top of the page and get the early data for about 2 weeks in order to create the manual campaigns targeting the keywords you’ve converted for. But in order to determine those keywords you need to ensure good ad placement.
Q: How’s the new dynamic bid process working?
So far not so good. Best to stick with only bidding down and not letting amazon raise your bids.
Try out Andy’s awesome tool sellerseo.com anytime and contact Amy here on the website contact form to set up a consultation!
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