Up Fuel October 2014 marks only the third full month that I’ve been selling private label physical products on Amazon.com and because of the massive interest I’ve seen through comments, questions and emails I’ve decided to start doing regular monthly income reports for this specific business.
Spoiler alert: This business is off to a very fast start. Check it out.
Table Of Contents
October 2014 Report:
[yellowbox]BONUS: Click here to access your free video training on how to create a 6 figure plus Amazon FBA business in your spare time.
This step by step guide is the exact formula I’ve used to create my Amazon business[/yellowbox]
I ended the month with total sales of $12,855.72:
To be completely transparent and for verification purposes I also like to film a quick video walk through of my numbers as well:
You can assume roughly 40 – 50 percent profit margins on that number (after inventory costs, FBA fees, Amazon ad spend etc). So between $5,142.28 and $6,427.86 in profit for the month.
Why no exact number? Inventory purchases month to month can skew numbers e.g. 30% down payment one month and 70% the next month.
The 2012 median household income in the US is $51,107 so literally by my third full month selling on Amazon I’m already on track to smash through that number selling only one private label product on Amazon. Crazy.
Ongoing Monthly Amazon Charts:
My first sale came on July 28th. To keep it simple I removed July from the chart.
I wrote two previous blog posts where I shared my numbers here and here but I’m using this format moving forward.
How do I actually make money selling physical products on Amazon?
The short answer is that I created my own brand of products to sell on Amazon. I recorded a podcast which provides a great overview of the business model and how it works which you can listen to here. But I got started because podcast 17 guest Brian told me about this business model and how he learned how to do it. I went through the same course he learned from and then took action with the information.
We also created a private coaching group and offer exclusive software tools to help others build this type of business as well (you can get on the wait list here).
What else happened in October?
In October we also opened and closed our private Amazon mastermind group for the second time – AzonMasters.
We stack our coaching, group and tools on top of the Amazing Selling Machine course (same place I learned and Brian learned) so that when people buy they get coaching and tools to help them get going. We had 119 people join us and it’s been a ton of fun working with everyone while they’re picking products, talking to suppliers and starting their Amazon businesses. In just 3 short weeks we have a lot of people posting in our private FB group that are very far along in the process of getting samples and talking to suppliers.
Wouldn’t it be nice to ask a question from someone that’s already built the business you’re trying to build?
Of course.
That’s why we do the group (You can hear from a few of our mastermind members here)
Your next shot to join won’t be until April 2015 (at the earliest).
My plan for November 2014:
Objective 1: Prepare for the holiday sales increase
When I first started selling with 500 units I ran out of stock in early September while I was at Disneyland for a few days before my 1,000 unit order arrived from China. In late October I replenished my inventory again with a 2,000 unit order so for the first time I felt like I could try some outside of the box marketing strategies. Up until this point I was selling too quickly (great problem to have).
Because of my experience with Amazon’s affiliate program I know that November and December are absolutely huge so I went ahead with a 5,000 unit order which will be ready to ship in from China before Thanksgiving. Needless to say I didn’t want to run into a situation where I ever ran out of stock again especially during a time period where I could very well hit much higher sales volumes.
Objective 2: Launch more products
This week I’ve been speaking with suppliers to get samples of product 2. This product I’m looking at launching should be as big as the first product I launched and when successful I should be able to effectively double my revenue.
It’s likely too late to receive this product before Black Friday but I can certainly still hit the remainder of the holiday shopping season. I’ll probably start with at least 1,000 or 2,000 units.
Beyond that I’m looking at ramping up my product launches to be a monthly occurrence. If I can execute on this strategy I should be able to quickly scale this business up. I have a very specific number in mind that I plan to hit by July 28th, 2015. Stay tuned.
You’re right. This business is not my only income source.
I make more money collectively from the other businesses that I run e.g. running websites, buying and selling websites, creating and selling software, Kindle books etc when compared to this Amazon business.
But the primary reason why I don’t share those income stats is because there are several income sources I can’t or don’t want to share. With our software business for example I have a business partner that isn’t as comfortable sharing numbers and quite frankly I’m not either. I don’t want competitors to know precisely what we’re doing really well at.
If all my money came from this blog then there is no risk in sharing everything, but that’s not the case for me so I gotta keep most numbers to myself. I am going to continue posting these Amazon income reports though.
[yellowbox]BONUS: Click here to access your free video training on how to create a 6 figure plus Amazon FBA business in your spare time.
This step by step guide is the exact formula I’ve used to create my Amazon business[/yellowbox]
Tell me what you think of October’s stats
If you have any questions, comments or feedback I’d love to hear them.
Hi Chris,
I’ve been reading ASM and others’ stories online selling, I haven’t heard anyone mentioning the product that he sells. ASM has given a list of top products to sell, but I would like to know which item/s you chose to sell for a start.
Cheers,
Jenny
Hey Jenny, no one will mention the product they’re selling for competitive reasons of course. You’re right ASM has a tool that helps you look at top 100 products to analyze what’s selling. I personally don’t like to go after the super high competition products like that though. We built a product finding tool that helps us find products outside of the top 100 (we only offer it in the mastermind group though and that’s likely to not change).
Chris
Ues Chris ..EXACTLY
spencer hawes revealed his site and someone negative seo’d it and his project was cancelled. Many copy cats start up similar sites.
This is not about the product .. Its about the process.
Hey Dave, yah it’s hard to balance the desire to share specific examples with the very high likelihood of (because this is the internet) one person ruining it for the rest.
Hi Chris i have brought a few of your WordPress software .
AzonSpy,Azon Product Inspector, Authority Ignition, Amasuite,and a few more.
The problem is that i have never set them up.Will they work now.I really want to sell on Amazon now.I am a Amazon lover.where do i start.
Thanks for your help Herbert.
Hey Herbert, AzonSpy and Authority Ignition aren’t mine not sure who does those (and Azon Product Inspector is a part of AmaSuite). Yes we update AmaSuite regularly so they should work just reach out to product support if you’re having issues.
Chris
Hello Chris,
Thanks very much for sharing all the tips and results of your selling progress, I really wish you all the best and you get to hit your target “6 figure profit per/month” the sky is your limit 😉
Now i just have few questions and i hope it will not be too much to ask:
1- Do you recommend any products for the holiday season ?
2- Do you let the supplier from China handle the FBA barcode and shipping labeling or do you hire someone to do that .. how do you manage that.
3- How do you deal with payment ? most companies I have found doesn’t accept Paypal and ask for T/T or WU as a payment platform.
Thanks again and sorry to if i asked too much
Bakr
Hey Bakr,
Thanks for the encouragement.
1. Well the products you sell depends on the strategy you’re going after but literally everything should sell more during November / December because of the holiday shopping season.
2. My supplier attaches UPC bar codes and any supplier should do it for free. If you want Amazon to do it there is a $.20 per unit labeling fee and that adds up fast.
3. My current supplier accepts PayPal and I use mass pay. The new suppliers I’m speaking with I’m paying Western Union for samples and probably T/T for transfers. It’s more expensive and a bit more of a pain in my opinion but if you’re doing it right it won’t matter.
Chris
I’d love to know how you are dealing with that volume. Do you QA/QC, bag, label, and ship them yourself? I have been doing that…it only takes 2-3 hours per month for the 75 I sell, but I can’t imagine having to deal with 1000 units per month. The fear of it growing too large is holding me back.
Also, I am only making $3 in profit per unit so there isn’t much room for advertising to increase sales or for hiring someone to do the labeling and shipping to Amazon. Still haven’t found anything in my niche that has better margins.
Hey Michael,
I’m going to give you tough love:
Knock that crap off right now.
Why are you labeling and packaging your own units? You know how many times I’ve gone to the post office for this business? Zero.
My supplier does the packaging, labeling and then I pay a shipping company to take the goods from China into the US. The shipping company then forwards onto Amazon FBA warehouses.
Please elaborate so I can yell more and tell you what to do.
Chris
Yep. I need that tough love.
So you send in multiple months of inventory at a time? I’ve been trying to minimize my costs so I only send in 3-4 weeks of inventory. I will have to experiment with larger shipments, where I can have the supplier do more of the work.
Thanks for the push!
I use a shipping company to send in every single unit that the supplier creates. e.g. the last one I sent in was 2,000 units and the next one I’ll send in is 5,000 units.
Those both probably qualify as “multiple months of inventory” but since we’re heading into holiday shopping season who knows I could spike and be doing 100 units a day for a while.
Nice report my friend. This business model you’re using to sell on Amazon. Is it also practical for people outside of the US?
Thanks.
Hey Ray, yes we have probably two dozen people in our mastermind group right now from around the world. We’ve got folks in Australia, UK, Belgium, Ireland etc
Hi Chris,
I love following what you are doing with selling physical (private labeled) products on Amazon now. This is a great business model, and many are succeeding very well with it. I’m working on the same thing–but with a different group than yours. Yours DOES sound like a lot of fun, but I can’t start over with a different group now! I like that yours seems like a little smaller one though. That’s a plus! But I’m just thrilled for you — with the great success you are having already, even with just one product! Can’t wait to see how things go as you ramp up your product inventory. It’s gonna be just amazing, I’m sure!
Hope the family is doing well… It’s been a busy year for ya…
Linda T
Hey Linda,
Snap if you joined ASM and didn’t through us you’re missing out! But I do wish you the best with whatever group you’re in.
Where are you at in the stage of the business?
Chris
Hey Chris, I’ve been following along with your progress and think you’re doing a great job. I’m not an ASM member and have learned from FREE content by mostly Ryan Moran and yourself.
I launched my first product exactly 23 days ago (on September 21st) and have sold 278 units so far for $4,353.00 in total revenue.
These numbers will be much higher once I raise my price in the near future, but I currently getting ranked higher and building reviews.
My question is…when do you decide to raise your price?
I’m not number one yet for my keywords and I’m trying to get the Best Seller Badge. The badge is a golden ticket that can really drive sales. I’m averaging about 15 sales per day and I think that can triple once I get more reviews and the badge, but I want to keep the sales volume for building rank and reviews.
FYI: My product has 46 reviews and I know once I receive more than so will my conversions.
I would love your thoughts.
Thanks for sharing.
P.S.
Have you ever thought of creating some FREE content to help others go through the entire process? I know you kinda do now, but I mean really dig in. I don’t see much out there and think people could really benefit without investing in ASM right away. Just a thought
Hey Scott,
Thanks for reaching out and I’m happy to hear you’ve had success even without learning from a course / mastermind group. You’re the first I’ve heard making it happen via a comment on my blog actually.
RE: Your question: When do you raise your price?
You raise it when you’re starting to run low on your initial order and your inventory for order 2 won’t be there in time hah hah. That’s sort of what I did and then ultimately too I saw sales climbing so I raised the price. No scientific equation quite yet I need to get through another dozen product launches first.
RE: Your number of reviews…
That’s a lot of reviews for only 278 sales. I assume you’re using some of those “review sites” – wink wink nudge nudge – out there. Careful. Massive footprint of the customers that leave those types of reviews. Not if, but when Amazon smacks down I’d not want to have been getting my reviews that way.
RE: Free Content / Course:
I may do something small but most of the gems I’ve been learning we keep to the group (and that goes for the software tools too). I’ve spent about $7,000 in the last 3 weeks on development expenses for just one of the many software bonuses we have for our group. I expect to spend about $50k before our next group opens in April. Well over half of the stuff we’re building will never go outside the group. Too powerful and if it goes outside the group the effectiveness could be lost.
Want to know the main reason why I don’t want to invest as much in free content and course creation? You’re the extreme exception. So few people take action on free information (I have the stats on my end to prove it). It only works at massive massive scale and right now I’m just not there yet.
I’d rather sell access to the information, community and tools that we offer and then over deliver on the value side to the people that willing to work with us.
I do wish you the best though (and anyone that goes solo) but perhaps you’ll join us later. The way to look at any cost when it comes to improving your business is what the ROI is on the investment. If you learn 5 things that improve 20% of your business and you’re at $10k per month it quickly becomes easy to recoup your cost.
Last month we had someone join that was doing $1.5 million per year selling other people’s products and he wanted to learn private label. I take it as a complement that he decided to join our group vs going at it on his own even though he had some experience. Then we had other really successful internet entrepreneurs from other areas join as well. e.g. a friend of mine making mid five figures per month with TeeSpring and another friend that sold his company for a pretty massive sum and was looking for a new journey.
(Oh and staying consistent with the concept that free information isn’t valued I even made my friends pay to join)
In any case hope that helps,
Chris
Hey Chris,
The numbers look awesome, thanks for sharing! Great to see your progress and growth! Keep it up! I’m currently myself waiting for inventory and working my way through the ASM material, so far it’s been more than useful. Next time you open up the Mastermind, I’ll be signing up, ;).
Cheers,
Otso
Hey Otso, yah sorry you weren’t able to make it happen this time but yah would love to have you join us next time. Keep me posted on your progress! 😀
Hi Chris,
Great info. I’m glad you share the basics of your journey. Currently, I’m working on a product which I plan to make a brand and hopefully manufacture it in China and sell locally to businesses whom sell to consumers.
I’m waiting for about $3-4k from the current business and plan on investing into Amazon Fulfillment to private label my own product.
What is the group that you are referring too? I would be highly interested in joining as I would like to associate myself with others who are much more successful than I am.
Looking forward to your response. Thanks!
Hey Steve,
In the past every 6 months the Amazing Selling Machine course opens. This is the same course that Brian learned from (see this podcast) and the same one I learned from. It is $3,500 or 4 x $997 monthly payments. Not “cheap” but at a higher price point we’re able to provide the much higher value we deliver in the group.
Next time it will open is probably in April 2015. We have quite a few folks selling even more than me and then even more people that are under my numbers but still working on growing.
Chris
Hi! I was looking at some new information on shipping goods from China via UPS, DHL, and even USPS “sidekick. Wouldn’t it be quicker to receive your goods instead of waiting for the boat to come in in about 30 days?
To me it may cost a little more to have them shipped that way, but having quicker inventory ready to sell makes sense and less stress worrying about when your boat shipment will arrive.
Just curious.
And I too enjoy you keeping us non ASM members up on your discoveries as you go through the future.
Thanks again for your help!
Davis
Hey Davis,
I use air shipping so it’s pretty fast as it is. I’ll only switch to sea for new products that may be much much heavier which will then require some more logistical skills to win.
Chris
Congrats on all the success! I am so interested in this business, but with all the months of research I have done it seems like no one ever talks about the risks. To grow this business it seems like you must constantly reinvest everything every month to keep growing. Has it ever happened that someone has reinvested everything in a month only to be banned by Amazon for not complying with one of their many rules? I assume in that situation you can literally lose everything and that can be a lot if youre investing and selling a lot every month! I’m part of several fb groups where it seems like people get their accounts suspended on a weekly basis doing fba. Maybe one has to really step out of line to get suspended and thats pretty hard to do? Id love to hear your thoughts on this.
Hey Steve,
I’ve often heard it said that:
“Worrying is like praying for something bad to happen”
Are there risks with this business? Yes. Are there risks with any business? Yes.
Are you 100% positive you will keep the job you currently have? I know I was right up until the day I was fired 5 years ago. Best thing that ever happened to me professionally, but the point is nothing is 100% bullet proof.
I CAN say that no one in our group has been banished from Amazon forever. The rules Amazon has are pretty clear and easy to follow. Not even sure which groups you’re a part of though but would you want to be learning from the people that seem to be getting banned? I don’t know what they’re teaching but it doesn’t seem to be working.
They could be just doing the buy other peoples products and resell them method. e.g. going to Target because X product is $20 cheaper than on Amazon. Or as I like to call it, the special business hell method.
Listen to this podcast I did to see what I mean: Podcast 22
I would need to know more about the groups though to comment further.
Chris
Thanks for the response Chris. Just having you answer people in these threads separates you from so many others. Amazon is not my primary business (Yet). I’m also an information product creator/marketer and have been making my living online full time for over 5 years now.
So, I can relate to people not taking action. I give so much FREE content, but so few actually do it. It can be frustrating at times.
I’m finding the Amazon Business Model to be very different in a good way. The process works if you find a product that people are buying and you can get that product in front of people that want it. It’s pretty simple 🙂
I love it because people go to Amazon to do one thing…Buy Stuff!
As for your comment on my reviews that I received so quickly…I wanted to explain.
I didn’t post my product on any review sites or anything like that. I’m actually against that strategy. Using this techniques is a lot like blog link networks and black hat type stuff. I want to do this white hat and build a long term business.
Here’s what I did for anyone interested.
Step 1 – I reached out to everyone I knew that could use my product and leave a review. Friends and Family mostly. I didn’t even care if they purchased it on Amazon. I just wanted the review for Social Proof. People can leave a review for your product even if they didn’t buy it on Amazon. For all they know you could sell these on your website or brick and mortar store. I know that a verified purchase review is better for helping you rank, but at first you just need reviews for Social Proof.
I think I received about 25 from this first step alone in about 2 weeks.
Step 2 – I created a Facebook Fan Page 30 days before my product was even listed, based on my Market. I paid for some Facebook Ads to grow the Fan Page…(Real Fans by the way). In about 15 days I had about 2,000 fans. I spent about $100 on FB ads. My Wife spent and still spends about 15 minutes per day posting and engaging with the fans.
The goal with building this page was to do a launch when my product was listed. It worked! I think we received about 10 verified reviews and we can always do another launch to the group.
Step 3 – When the product was listed on Amazon, I created a landing page where people could try the product for $1. They would have to sign up with their email to receive the coupon code. I spent about $100 on FB Ads and built a 75 person email list of product testers. Out of those 75 there was 45 people that actually purchased the item. I probably received about 5 to 7 reviews so far from the testers. But, keep in mind I built a list of 75 people that I can now reach out to for my next product and get reviews even quicker.
Step 4 – I created a 3 email follow-up sequence that my customers receive after they purchase. The emails just ask them if they received everything in the order and gives them a Bonus Download that compliments the product.
Sorry for all the details, but I want others that may be reading this to see that it does take work and you have to TAKE ACTION!
Chris…as for learning one or two things from others that have already been there and help you grow faster…I AGREE! Who knows…I may join your group in the future if I think I need that extra boost.
I want to thank you again for offering these resources to people. People need to know what it really takes to make this all work and if they have the proper guidance…you can’t fail.
Thanks Chris!
Hey Scott,
Great feedback and launch strategy. I love it. There are so many angles you can take this business.
We will have to stay in touch / I will have to (selfishly for the benefit of our group) convince you to join us in April as well hah hah.
Thanks again,
Chris
Nice job Scott…I’ve done the same as you only I got started later.
I’ve learned a lot from Ryan and Chris.
You might benefit from the free facebook group “Amazon FBA Private Label Sellers”.
Where I’m at in the process = I’ve got 3 different product samples coming in this week.
Hey Gabe,
Cool. You’ll have to join our group with some of your Amazon money once you’re up and going 😀
Chris
Hello Chris,
Thanks for your answer, as always very helpful and valuable information.
I have one more question tho 😀
You mentioned that you are using a shipping company to do the shipping from your supplier in China to the Amazon warehouses, I thought that it was the supplier who take the charge of shipping the items and then add the shipping cost to the order cost, is this something u avoid ? do you prefer a shipping company to handle the shipping process on its own ? If Yes which shipping companies do you recommend ??
Thanks
Bakr
Hey Bakr,
Yes I use a shipping company so that I don’t have to do any work basically. It costs more but is worth it to me. I don’t share the shipping company that I use outside of our private group sorry 🙁
Chris
Out of interest, does your (various) website income stack up well against your Amazon income?
it seems to me that building sites, getting ranked and making money of sites in general is harder than ever.
I still make money from my websites but I’m sorry I won’t be divulging a specific figure. I have been selling more of my sites though (actually Escrow just cleared on a smaller one I sold for $6,300 earlier this month). I started doing that in late 2013 and that has carried into 2014.
Why you may ask?
I was spread too thin. I’d rather have a handful of websites doing really well vs a few dozen sites that add up to a sizable sum of money.
Of everything I’m doing right now software probably has most of my attention right now.
Chris
Hi Chris,
This is great stuff. I too want to get into FBA and sell my own products, private label items, via a supplier; but my fear of getting ripped-off or carrying too much inventory (and having to pay for them) because they don’t sell, are keeping me from taking action.
You obviously know what you’re doing; but since this is new to me, I fear I may screw up royally. I have no problems making mistakes (and even failing) since I do learn from them; but I also don’t want to make a HUGE mistake that I can’ t recoup from it either — I’m on a tight budget.
Also, since your mastermind group is closed until April 2015, do you sell a course that can teach me how to do this? I don’t want to wait until April 2015 to start. Thanks and as always…
Keep inspiring,
Warren
Hey Warren,
I don’t have a course that I sell that teaches the information at this time. I may create one eventually but I feel we can offer better value by doing our mastermind group and bonuses on top of the Amazing Selling Machine course so most likely I’ll stick to that for now.
Ultimately if you find a product and other people are selling you can usually (worst case scenario) do an inventory dump at cost. I don’t think the risk is that high personally.
Sign up for the waiting list though if we do anything before the main course it will be announced there.
Chris
Hello Chris.. thanks for the insight. My question is : Am from Uganda, how do you get paid with this business model? i checked out , Amazon requires u to have a US account to open up a seller account, so what do you recommend?
payoneer.com
We’ve got over a dozen people in our group from all over the world. That’s what you use.
Great site you have here and thanks for the info. I was curious….how many units (sold around $20-$50) could I expect to sell in a day if my product was above the 1200 rank in a major listing category on amazon (exe. electronics)? I watched a video where they were confident I could count on at least 10 sold in a day. Unreasonable?
yah pretty easy to assume that
Kyle…I’m not sure in that category, but I’m in sports and outdoors and my product has been ranked between 2,000 and 3,500 and I’m averaging about 12 to 15 per day. I did have a day were I sold 33 units and was ranked about 1,500.
FYI: Once you start selling more you will find that you will need to raise the price to slow things down. At the moment I only want to sell 12 to 15 per day so I don’t run out of stock. I have another shipment of 1,000 units coming in and when I receive these I will be doing a deep discount to spike the algorithm and grab that #1 sellers badge. Then sales should double or triple.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Chris and Scott. Scott that was great info and a good strategy for trying to grab that top seller spot. Sounds like a top seller would be a gold mine.
I’m saving up right now to join the azonmaster group.
Hey Kyle, sounds good. My strategy now is to just grow faster 🙂
is selling products via Amazon only possible when you live in the USA? Or could I be doing this from the Netherlands? I noticed that you have someone from Belgium in your mastermind..
Yes. The actual course has people from over 100 countries. Our group we have people from UK, Ireland, Australia, Belgium, Canada etc (and US of course).
I wanted to post my 30 day numbers to motivate and prove that this model does work if you Take Action. I also want to say that before my these 30 days I did give away about 50 units for $1 and collected a few reviews. I also have been running Amazon PPC.
So, from October 23rd to November 23rd I generated $6,832.81 in sales and 435 units sold. I’m still pricing my product on the lower end and plan to raise it as I receive more reviews. Currently I have 72 reviews and they were not bought or traded on review tester sites. I don’t think that’s a good idea personally.
I’m averaging about 16 to 20 sales per day and it continues to climb. I’m spending about $40 per day on Amazon Ads, but always turning a profit. My plan is to continue to spend on Ads and continue to increase sales and my keyword rank.
I’ve already purchased another 1,000 units and they should be here in 2 weeks.
The next step is to roll out product 2 and 3 over the next two months to build out my brand.
The one big takeaway here is to TAKE Action. Stop thinking so much and just do something and learn from your results.
I hope this helps others that are on the fence.
Thanks Scott and hope to see you join us in April 2015 when we open again 🙂
Hi chris
Very effective and mind blowing review. You have mentioned every points of your income and expenditure. And as an affiliate tutor it is an essence to say everything regarding to the income stream. As i am running an digital marketing agency so i have to handle a lot of clients each day as to their digital marketing marketing problems. some people ask me ” Anisul , Which should i chose?” Which product give me more commission”. I am really getting tried with answering their questions but i love to do it.
through your income statement review i found that you are selling your own product which is really impressive and i appreciate it. If anyone wants to introduce himself as an real internet marketer or ientrepreneur then own product is the main factor what ever it might be virtual or physical.
Thank you for your monthly income review. Catch you later on mail and hope for the best.
Cheers!!!!
After reading this amazon income report, it encourage me to focus my mind for internet marketing and would like to ask for you that is it possible this one from outside US World?
Hi Chris,
I really appreciate what you are doing to inspire and inform people who want to be an entrepreneur – myself included.
I have been listening to your podcast for over a month now since I started wanting out of the corporate world. Too bad I missed the open window for your mastermind group.
Waiting for another 5 months would be a very long wait for me… So is there any other material or course that you would recommend for me? Hopefully from your own network.. And with the tools to search for the top 200-500 best selling items in amazon.
I read a few not-so-ASM-fan-authors who said, “rather than spending 4k with ASM, learn the skills from other sources that will give the same result, and invest the money in your inventory…” Is this claim reputable enough to bank on? Or is it just an anti-hype campaign to get a share of the ASM customers?
Also, how do I ensure that I get to enter your mastermind group? I am a complete newbie in this and I am in a country that’s not included in Amazon’s sellers list. But I am very ready to start doing it anyway… Hope you can guide me to the path moving forward.
Thanks in advance for your response.
Leo
Hey Leo,
Thanks for the comment and kind words. You can’t see it right now but I’m high fiving you. I can only really recommend material that I’ve personally learned from. There are a lot of courses out there, but the thing is ASM was the first to truly popularize the private label Amazon method (to my knowledge).
When I log into my ASM member dashboard and I see people with $250k per month badges, $100k per month, $50k per month etc it’s just crazy because I know that at least initially they learned from the same source I learned from.
Do most people that buy achieve that success? No of course not because quite frankly people may buy but then just do nothing (yes even at $3,500 which is crazy).
When you’re trying to decide if you should buy something ultimately just look at people’s motivations (mine included). The people that are hating probably have their own course or are promoting as an affiliate. Or hate the world of commerce and think everything should be free.
When you pay for something like this you’re paying for step by step training yes, but you’re also paying to access a community of 5,000+ (and counting) members of the private FB group where any problem you can think of someone has already had it. Then in our case at least you’re also paying for access to myself, Brian and the growing number of folks in our group that are successful now too.
You’re also making a commitment. It’s far easier to give up and do nothing if you have no skin in the game.
You just need to decide if you’d like to go at it alone, find some step by step you’re on your own course or join something like what we’ve got going.
The one thing you should be on the lookout for is our version 4 release of AmaSuite though. If you’re on my email list you’ll see that. I have a mini course in there about selling on Amazon but it’s not meant to be completely exhaustive because the software tools are the main draw there but that is one you should pick up.
As early as next week we may release that.
Chris
Hi Chris,
High five! January 6 will be feeedom day! Will now be able to focus all my effort to building my amazon business.
Right now I still haven’t decided on which prduct to sell. Any chance I could get a link to buy Amasuite 4 on a pre launch campaign? I read from the webste that the officia launch will be sometime in January. I could definitely use a discount for a soft launch 😉
Meanwhile, do you have any recommendations for the following tasks which I am yet to complete: get a US bank account, a US address, continue to build a list of potential products, etc. and I only have an hour a day to do this because of the current demand of my day job…
Thanks Chris. Hoping to hear another new episode in Entrepreneur Boost podcast.
If you’re on my email list you will find out otherwise you will miss out 🙂
Hi Chris,
Selling PL products using FBA is something I want to get into. I was wondering, when you outsource your products overseas, how much (roughly) do you spend for your bulk shipment? You can email me, if you want to keep that private. Do you use Alibaba? I imagine your costs don’t come cheap, but is it realistic for a guy like me who makes $2500 per month income?
Thanks,
Warren
Hey Warren,
You can start for less than $1k if you wanted to go very light on your first order and slowly reinvest. In that case you wouldn’t want to take any money off the table for quite some time. Shipping costs can be as expensive as the unit costs depending on size and weight of the item.
I of course recommend people join our coaching group because in this business it’s easy to make costly mistakes and when you can learn from others that are already where you want to be it’s much easier than going solo – but it’s not cheap (nor is it meant to be). But I know that’s not a fit for everyone either.
Chris
Like your income reports and case studies.
Keep it coming! People loves this!
Interested to look on november, december and january income reports!
Hey Chris,
Very interesting article as always! I don’t sell physical products through Amazon (yet), but it looks like you can make a lot of profit with it. I would be scared when I started to start with buying stock, because you don’t know if your product will sell or not. Did you have the same problem?
And I’m really interested in your holiday sales 😉
-Clen
Hey Clen,
I’m not really scared about it. If you do your research right you should be able to “firesale” units at cost if you really had to. Also, there is no progress without failure. If you stand on the sidelines worried about what my happen once you’re in the game then you may end up sitting on the sidelines for good.
Chris
Hey Chris! Really interesting stuff, are you going to continue doing these every month?
When choosing a product to private label, do you suggest to stay away from items with even the slightest risk of legal trouble such as competitor patents etc.? I’m thinking that could become a big problem especially for someone like me just starting out.
Yah I’ll do them every month. I can’t really advise you on legal questions other than to just say don’t do anything stupid heh e.g. “Oh hey this product looks good I’ll do that without researching patents etc etc”
Hey Chris:
I have been discussing a product with various vendors through Alibaba and feel pretty comfortable moving forward with the production of a sample. I have a few concerns though.
The first one is minor. But, the sample fee includes two variations of the item for a $100 charge. These items are not terribly big and weigh less than a pound combined. It also has a $50 shipping charge.
Honestly, it sounds a little like they are sticking it up in me, but I am sure and I don’t plan on letting this be an obstacle in moving forward.
With that said, my second concern is pretty significant. The vendor is a Gold Member and has been so for 3 years. However, I don’t buy the hype that Gold Member means they won’t screw you. All it means is that they are paying to be listed as such.
I asked the vendor if they use an escrow company and he said they do not. I am not sure if this is a deal breaker for them or for me. But, I would definitely rest easier if it were an option. They currently asked for (t/t) 30% up front and the rest before shipment.
Can you elaborate further on how your structured your payment to the supplier and point me to any advice you have written or provided via podcast that I may have missed.
My biggest concern right now is not being unable to unload the product if it doesn’t sale very well…but more afraid of it never even reaching the States and getting hosed.
On the positive side, this vendor and I have exchanged sent each other about 15 emails a piece hammering out pricing/specs/etc., so I feel fairly confident that they aren’t a fly by night operation.
Any thoughts on this aspect of getting started? It is pretty daunting to send over $3,000 for a shipment that you might never see and will really have no recourse to settle.
Hey Joseph,
They will charge you a free if you put your logo on the sample and they will charge a fee for shipping. That’s pretty standard.
30% over t/t and the rest upon completion is also standard.
Everything you said to me is in line with what I’ve come to expect. Can they take your money and disappear? Sure. But I wouldn’t suggest starting this business if you don’t have the money to risk.
Chris
Hey Chris,
First, Thank you! Your interview with Brian got me on board for this business model. Has been a bit difficult getting the correct product, but I haven’t stopped yet. One question…would you stay away from a product, if you see that the top product is shipped and sold by Amazon, but their doesn’t seem to be much other competition. It seems as a seller we can’t compete with Amazon’s extensive product description which boost sales.
If someone else is selling (and it’s going well) I will sell.
High Income….Keep It Up..
Hi Chris, do you have to go through trademarking and everything BEFORE creating a private label product to sell on Amazon? Or is that something you do later on? I’ve heard it takes 8 or 9 months to trademark a name and can be expensive. Thanks!
Hey Moe,
Replied to your email. LegalZoom and have them help you out 🙂
Chris
To Chris Guthrie:
Can one actually start making an income in taking your 10 day course? I would like to start at making $1000 per month. Is this possible with your 10 day course.?
Do you have coaches to work with 1 on 1 for me to achieve my goals. If so what is the coast of having a coach to achieve my goals?
Please reply at your soonest to my email above.
thank you.
Surjeet