Building a Brand on Amazon

What items are you selling? That will affect the answer.

ETA: Also, are you a manufacturer or retailer or both?

Seems like something super easy when you read but reality is it takes a lot of different skills to really stand out.

Photography is key. Photo editing also important but the amount needed is directly proportional to how well you create product shots.

Then there is the sourcing and logistics. Amazon will do the real heavy lifting but you have to get it to them and be confident you are sending exactly what you say.

Sending the wrong product too many times and boom you're no longer selling on amazon.

Then you need some good explanatory copy for to fill out your products.

Also consider sending out free product to amazon reviewers to get more ratings which will drive your initial brand growth and search positioning if you get positive feedback. So that's capital out the door immediately.

Oh then you need to keep the supply chain going because you need to meet amazon fulfillment numbers selling out and staying that way hurts you.

I'm guessing you saw that reddit post from earlier this week?


It looks really tempting and "easy" money, but I have to believe that for every person who's able to make 6+ figures a year doing merch sales on Amazon, there's 5000 who spend hundreds if not thousands with nothing to show for it.

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Anyone doing drop-shipping of items on Amazon? IE-warehousing super-popular items on Amazon and then-when an order is placed-Amazon contacts you, you ship it to the customer?

You're basically a warehouse for Amazon and you net the profit from the sale.

I have read a few folks doing it online but they all work from home already and its a supplement to their existing work.

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Where have you read about this? Is it something that Amazon publicizes or do you contact them directly?I would imagine margins are very, very low, and this would only be profitable in a case where you already have a warehouse with extra space and personnel, maybe even some software to go along with it, but I'd still be interested in reading further into it.

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How much of a cut does amazon take for handling the shipping/fulfillment?

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If you're having Amazon stock the product at their warehouse ("Amazon FBA") they take 15% including credit processing. However there are some other charges involved such as customer returns, inbound freight, etc.

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I'm guessing you saw that reddit post from earlier this week?

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There are thousands of Reddit threads about this.

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So factoring a flat 20% for amazon fees is a pretty decent estimate? That includes shipping, right?

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Yep, I would say that has been a good number to use in my experience.

I'm not completely familiar with the new review rules. I sell on Amazon but I sell manufacturer branded products not private label or my own products so I don't have any focus on product reviews at this time.

Sure, I'll do my best to direct in the right place. I don't do any private labeling on Amazon but I'll answer what I can. From what I understand it is a bit harder to do food products. Certain categories are "gated" and you need to be approved by Amazon. I believe food is one of these.

nolanola.td a t gmail

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They also pass through their S&H costs to you if you use FBA

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If you are an FBA seller (meaning Amazon stocks and ships on your behalf) you only pay the inbound shipping to Amazon. You would also cover the shipping costs for returns if the buyer says there was an issue such as a defect. Amazon covers the cost of shipping the item to Prime members.

Wholesale?