This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Welcome to "Sign Us Will School." Chris Guillebeau here. In today's episode, we're joined by Rob from Denver. He has been inspired to explore the e-commerce world, particularly through Amazon's Fulfillment by Amazon program. Amazon's Fulfillment by Amazon, crazy how that works. FBA, also as it's known, he's wondering how to get started with FBA, what to know as a beginner, any potential pitfalls to watch out for.
So these are all good questions. So many things are being sold using this program now. And just as a consumer, if you buy stuff from Amazon, you're often not buying it from Amazon. Like Amazon is the platform, but there is a third party seller that has either created that product or otherwise gotten that product to Amazon somehow. There's a whole process to it.
And lots of people are doing this kind of business, some of them quite successfully. So let's jump into the world of FBA, uncover some tips for getting started. As a little bonus, I'm also gonna share some potential markets that Rob could go into. I don't think he actually asked about that, but I did make a short little list, some things that he might consider selling. So hopefully that'll be helpful to him and also somebody else out there.
There's room for a lot of Amazon sellers, okay? So you don't have to worry too much about competition, at least that's not your primary concern. Your primary concern is how to get up and running. So let's talk about it right after this quick sponsor message. [Music]
Hi Chris, I'm Rob from Denver.
Your podcast has inspired me to delve into e-commerce and I'm particularly interested in Amazon's fulfillment program. Could you guide me on how to get started with FBA? What should a beginner like me know before diving into this platform? And also, is there anything in particular I should be careful about? Thanks so much.
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Rob, as noted, delving into Amazon, fulfillment by Amazon specifically can be a promising venture. Obviously no guarantees, some people try it. It doesn't work out super well, but there are so many sellers on Amazon that are building sustainable businesses. So I certainly wouldn't write it off. Here's a streamlined approach.
Here are a few things you need to do. And of course, there'll be more here to do as well. But to get you started, first and most important, you want to do some market research and product selection. I'll give you some ideas at the end of the episode here, but begin looking around, look for products with a steady demand, but not swamped in competition. So how do you do this?
Well, there are some tools. One of them is Jungle Scout, no affiliation, but check it out, Jungle Scout can provide insights into market trends and potential profitability. If you already have an idea, of course, that's great. But if not, those tools can be helpful. Next, you want to make sure you understand costs and fees.
Just so you know, when you do your calculations, like making sure how to set your prices, you want to make sure you're familiar with the fees, including storage and fulfillment charges. So all that is publicly available. Amazon is actually pretty helpful in making sure sellers understand all that stuff. So do some research on that. And then do some research on effective listing creation, like how to better write the copy for your listings, how to take the photos, how to present the photos, how many photos, how do you optimize for keywords, what is important to communicate.
This is absolutely critical. And just think about it, again, as a consumer, if you're a shopper on Amazon, you're always comparing stuff. So you want to make sure that you devote significant attention to not just the product, but how do you message about the product, right? So Amazon, again, has a lot of free tools, a lot of information about this. You want to watch some videos.
You definitely want to kind of take this seriously and plan to spend a good amount of time over the course of a few weeks, perhaps, just kind of delving into it, because the more you do that, the better your odds of success, like the more prepared you are. And that's probably true for lots of things in life, but I think in this case, it's absolute. Okay, so to go back to the first point about product selection, I mentioned I would give Rob some ideas. These are just ideas, okay? But I'm just gonna throw them out there.
It could be lots of other things too. But maybe this will be helpful for somebody out there who is thinking about selling on Amazon. So, I'll give you seven different categories here. Number one, sustainable kitchen products, like beeswax wraps or silicone lids. Number two, compact fitness equipment, like resistance bands or ab rollers.
I've actually bought resistance bands on Amazon myself multiple times. Number three, craft kits for adults, craft, like arts and crafts, DIY candle making, embroidery sets. There are many options. Number four, I think it is pet wellness items, including natural treats, interactive toys. Big, big market.
Number four, portable tech gadgets, solar chargers, USB chargers, hubs, et cetera. Many projectors, also a big market. Whatever number I'm on now, organizational tools for home offices, such as desk organizers or cable management solutions. I need to get some of that. My desk is a mess now, like the top of my desk is clean, but underneath it looks terrible.
So I need to figure that out. And then lastly, travel essentials, like collapsible water bottles or lightweight backpacks. Every one of these ideas has a built-in buyer base. Like there are people every single day, lots of people searching on Amazon to buy these things. And those are your ideal customers, because again, if they're searching on Amazon, this is the key point.
They want to purchase. They're not just searching on Google to like learn about this stuff. They're like, I want to buy a desk organizer, a mini projector, an ab roller, whatever it is. So there's some ideas. We can do more of them in another episode, but I hope it is helpful.
As I said, listeners, I really want to get you going this year, whatever it is you want to work on. I really want you to have a project by the end of the year, if not sooner. So let's do everything we can to work towards that. If you have a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Otherwise, a new episode every single day.
I'm excited. I hope you'll continue to tune in. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
