Thinking about Selling, should I even bother to start?
I have this idea for a new product. It hasnt been done before and I truly believe it will sell. I know its hard to imagine in 2022 there is something which hasnt been done before. ok actually there is something which is kind of similar. but I came up with my idea before I even knew there was anything, so I googled my idea to see if it was already there and its not. well there is one, but its lame and its not really like mine.
anyway. my question is…
due to the competition on amazon. the fees, the shipping, the warehouse fees,
taxes, import duties, headaches, etc etc… should I even bother?
I can only realistically sell the item for about 15 bucks id say, maybe 25 as its a new and unique item. but it will only take a 2 months before the Chinese rip it off and swamp amazon and the world with the same item. and then its a race to the bottom price… LOL…
now I could be first out of the gate and place a brand on it and try and build a brand around it and some other items , so I can have at least 5 products around it and then add some accessories. and other products with the theme.
but… after reading this forum and watching you tube, I feel trying to make decent money on amazon is a pipe dream now.
I mean like quit my day job and just sit back on my lap by the pool and make 10K a month in profit. ok… maybe 5k LOL… is it possible?
all these you tubers banging on how they make 50K 100K a month on amazon. I know they are full of it looking for subs and people to buy their courses…
what is realistic on amazon? with items under 20 dollars, can someone make 10k profit or 5k profit a month easily?
lets say I wasnt looking to sell to my unique idea, just sell already existing things.
tshirts, clothes, pants, hats, bags etc…
thanks…
Thinking about Selling, should I even bother to start?
I have this idea for a new product. It hasnt been done before and I truly believe it will sell. I know its hard to imagine in 2022 there is something which hasnt been done before. ok actually there is something which is kind of similar. but I came up with my idea before I even knew there was anything, so I googled my idea to see if it was already there and its not. well there is one, but its lame and its not really like mine.
anyway. my question is…
due to the competition on amazon. the fees, the shipping, the warehouse fees,
taxes, import duties, headaches, etc etc… should I even bother?
I can only realistically sell the item for about 15 bucks id say, maybe 25 as its a new and unique item. but it will only take a 2 months before the Chinese rip it off and swamp amazon and the world with the same item. and then its a race to the bottom price… LOL…
now I could be first out of the gate and place a brand on it and try and build a brand around it and some other items , so I can have at least 5 products around it and then add some accessories. and other products with the theme.
but… after reading this forum and watching you tube, I feel trying to make decent money on amazon is a pipe dream now.
I mean like quit my day job and just sit back on my lap by the pool and make 10K a month in profit. ok… maybe 5k LOL… is it possible?
all these you tubers banging on how they make 50K 100K a month on amazon. I know they are full of it looking for subs and people to buy their courses…
what is realistic on amazon? with items under 20 dollars, can someone make 10k profit or 5k profit a month easily?
lets say I wasnt looking to sell to my unique idea, just sell already existing things.
tshirts, clothes, pants, hats, bags etc…
thanks…
9 respostas
Seller_clloniM4qwCR3
Your post reminds me of the title of Larry Woiwode’s first book:
What I’m Going to Do, I Think
Seller_syjmYvuDww6Az
Reminds me of an expression from my previous life:
“To make a small fortune in the horse business, you have to start out with a large fortune.”
Seller_DZ1maDmp7Xt2o
Epic_Sun
If I had an epic idea and I’ve had several for a product the last place I would go ahead & launch it would be on Amazon…
there are lots of things you need to have done any type of patented it… trademarked all the names, lots of leg work…
If you’re Manufacturing in the USA I’d have that in one inch letters on your boxing, there are many people that are actually willing to pay a little bit more money for something made in the USA… or at least Europe…
I happen to like somewhat interesting vintage things… many of my kitchen appliances work perfectly well, they’re not brand new they were taken care of, Farberware where makes excellent percolaters everything from smaller restaurant size, bigger restaurants size or just the basic 12/14 cup model… excellent – they weren’t made in country that has dubious interesting ideas…
Establish your website, that’s where you’re going to first offer the product, you may want to offer it on other marketplaces also, the last thing you should do is exclusively offer it on Amazon…
And you’re right all those interesting people are going to pop out of the woodwork buy one disassemble reverse engineer it… especially if it gets any traction on Amazon…
Also registering your brand putting transparency codes on stuff is expensive and I’m not sure that brand registry within the Amazon frame of doing business actually is going to be that helpful…
Ideally you’re going to want to get the thing up running get the Prototype made, & possibly with a lot of disclosures - shop it out to sell the idea…
Having business partners is a lot like getting married, so you need to be cognizant who you’re going to be getting in bed with, especially???
When I was a kid there were some folks across the street that seemed to do very well, he owned the patent on those waxy milk cartons…
If you read some of the interesting horror stories with people that have branding on Amazon sometimes it does very little value… or protects their widgets…
Seller_Bt9DJVmk0AXTG
You would need to sell 250-500 of these items at $20 just to NET $5k-$10k. That also doesn’t account for overhead or any other costs.
FBA fees can take about 15-20%, so that’s an additional 100 or so items you would need to turn. Lets assume an additional 20% in overhead (sourcing, manufacturing, payroll, etc - and this is a generously low assumption); that’s 40% of NET out the door and not in your hands. Lets say an additional 10% for advertising dollars.
Assuming your startup costs are magically $0, you’d still need to turn about 500-1000 items every month. And like you said, there would quickly be a race to the bottom assuming this product is as revolutionary as you think it should be.
Do you think there is demand for ~750 of these items every single month? Will there be demand for ~1250 of them when competition begins?
Lets assume you’re profiting 50% on Amazon (unlikely), you’d need to sell $10,000-$20,000 worth of product a month to hit your $5k-$10k goals.
These aren’t impossible goals. People meet them every day. But will you? Can’t hurt to try I suppose. Will you meet them and be able to quit your job and lounge by the pool? Maybe after years of seriously hard work and dedication.
Seller_7Sf08PgrNUaVo
I once had a company from overseas try to purchase the company’s product line. I knew what they were up to, and we didn’t send them anything.
For something you have not yet created the time frame for that is exponentially long until you can get your prototype sample in the works. As others have stated, Amazon would be your last venue to get it out to the marketplace. While the product I’m working on isn’t “new” per say, it’s still taking me some time to work out the kinks before I can do anything on Amazon.
Have you done anything in business operations? Do you know all that is needed to know to function? Do you know how much raw materials will be? Being able to find a manufacturer to open up to the idea would be challenging as you would need to have the order volume to build once created. Having a business is not so cut and dry as to sitting back and collecting a profit while lounging around in the pool side. If it was that easy, I’m sure my spouse would be doing so right now. Unfortunately, they decided to start up not one business, but TWO businesses at the SAME time. All the while during the pandemic to boot. Frankly, it has been quite stressful.
Youtube is a great “starting” point to spark inspiration and interest. However, not so good in certain categories. Even then, you must take everything you read, see, or learn with a grain of salt until you can ultimately learn it on your own.
Seller_DZ1maDmp7Xt2o
Epic sun
Maybe you should embrase Ron Popeil as your new Idol…
RON Popeil also helped build the brand QVC with exclusive packaging & airings, QVC might be a better partner than Amazon… if QVC’s even around…
His last great fling was the Showtime oven, fantastic, even better than Costco chicken…
Also clothing has ridiculous return rates, most major brands are gated… or Amazon is selling Amazon choice they manufacture knockoffs of many major styles…
You also can’t sell vintage, used, on Amazon, no sports jerseys, single stitch rock & roll t-shirts…
Amazon might not even be your best foray into e-commerce at this time…
It’s also one of the most expensive platforms too sell-on…
Seller_1T2lQGbwtB8x9
You have a very small chance of success if you try. You have a 0% chance of success if you don’t.
I took a huge risk when I started my company. I was on the cusp of bankruptcy due to bad decisions and some bad luck. I lost my job a couple months before I started too. I had to borrow more money to start, it took 6 months from idea to first sale, all the while teetering on the cliffs edge.
To top off the white knuckle experience, I had a baby on the way. To say I had a lot on the line would be a gross understatement.
It was the best decision of my life. I will do low six figures in sales the first year with net margins that would make 99% of other business owners envious. I’m already looking at expanding because with my current capacity I can’t keep up, and there is a whole other market of B2B and distribution I haven’t even tapped into yet.
