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ZERO investment Amazon FBA! ( wtf? You kidding me?!) (33)

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Nope, I am not kidding at all! It's a general consensus that starting an Amazon FBA business would need an investment of at least $5000 or more (some say $500, $1000, whatever!), $10000 to $20000 to make a decent recurring income. And my personal estimates were atleast $50000 whenever I get started. While researching the ecommerce space I stumbled upon something... it's called FBM ( I know that you know. It's jus that I didn't know!) - the only difference is that in FBA Amazon fulfils it while in FBM the fulfillment is done by the merchant or a 3PL. People shy away from FBA because one has to preorder the merchandise and send to Amazon(technically speaking Amazon never requires a minimum amount for FBA either), then there's the risk of the items not selling. That risk is mitigated in the case of FBM where one can buy and send the product only after an order is completed. The downside is that Amazon does not give as much exposure. But why bring FBM here? The point I want to make is that there's absolutely no restriction on the number of listings one can make! And that's the crux. If one does all the research for FBA using potent tools like Helium 10, Viral Launch, etc. and then list the products as FBM with all the quality images and keyword optimization, they surely stand a good chance to sell. And say for 10 FBM listings, even one clicks and makes good sales, after making some profit it's possible to bulk order that item and then convert that listing to FBA! And Viral launch does have a 14 day trial. I will complete all the research before the trial ends. So, yes, it's indeed a zero cost FBA. I am registering with seller central on or before Thursday and update here as soon as I make my first sale, then subsequent sales, and progress

P.S. Traffic will be from Pinterest (again for free!).

P.P.S. It's simply scary I still see scores and scores of high ticket courses (even endorsed by Shopify) that preach FB ads plus aliexpress dropshipping and high ticket FBA courses of $5000 and further upsells are no exception! One can get started with ZERO money to start with ecommerce.

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Didn't want to edit the last post. So posting here... just want to add that again registration to the seller central account will be for the free version. Will upgrade to the professional account and run ppc ads only after making sales and use that money.

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GL Looking forward!

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Thank you.
You too!

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So in this case is the merchant somebody like AliExpress?

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Sounds interesting man, curious how it goes.

It´s great to follow your progress when I remember how you started and what you did in the time since then.

All fingers crossed for you

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Looking forward to this!

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No way! That site is banned in my country anyways. I am avoiding suppliers from outside the target country as far as practicable and clear customs, taxes, complications. Only in exceptional circumstances where I would a product is at a rock bottom price and I get a good quality I would source from outside the country be it China. Alibaba, or any other country. Let's keep things simple! By the way there are way cheaper suppliers within the US than Aliexpress that deliver in 2-3 days and way better quality. What surprises me is the whole world is bent towards Alibaba and Aliexpress! But here's something - suppliers within the US and most other countries and pretty bad at something... it's called Search Engine Optimization. So, it needs a bit of digging to locate them. I have a cool hack... I just find one good supplier and then use the site sitelike.com and locate other suppliers that are equally or highly valued. Some with $0 value are good too... no point ignoring them. I use the same trick to find good software, and many other things online... No one taught me this. It was a self discovery and works for me quite well. Let out a big secret. Shhhhh

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@theaffableaffiliate it's sitelike.org not sitelike.com Also, for your information if you use Aliexpress or Chinese suppliers to directly dropship on Amazon your Amazon account has every likelihood to get suspended/banned. Aliexpress is pretty bad for dropshipping on your website too because there are tonnes of suppliers...most sell crappy products. You cannot private label your products for single units, the cost isn't as cheap as it may seem, the suppliers will include invoices on the pretext that they need to put that data for customs, etc. etc. The delivery times are awful too and soon your FB ads account will get banned for that. A few get lucky with these "stupid" courses and make a "chunk of change" if a particular product just works out. The course creators use their tesimonials and sell even more. Then only 10 percent of those who enrol in these courses actually complete the course and 5 percent take action, and 1 percent do well. That one percent would do well with any course they buy. That's my understanding of how the courses market works.

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I am not thinking about that anymore. No looking back. Been that way in many aspects of my life and career. Time now to live a good life and shoot for the stars. It's a short life anyways. And time flies...

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Cheers.

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So you're using local merchants to fulfill. Fuck that's cool. I'll be following. +

Sent from my SM-N986W using Tapatalk

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This must be one of the most valuable ecom insights of the year!

And sitelike.com is a gem - thank you!

I know you're only using US suppliers, but for those that are interested in importing, I recently came across a really nice database:

https://www.importyeti.com/

Thanks so much for starting this follow-along - will be keeping my eye on further developments!



Amy

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@vortex I'm checking importyeti later today. I am fine with importing as long as the prices are low, delivery is quick, and there are no other hassles - customs, bureaucracy, etc. I found a supplier in Thailand that ships for free with Fedex ( no further duties as they have a business and warehouse in the US)for orders above $599 and their prices are super competitive. And by the way I have a call with udroppy agent too ( the aliexpress substitute your suggested a long time back if you remember). They have a private label service for their higher plans but I actually need them to unpack bulk orders and pack them to boxes with my private label. I will check with them what exactly they can do. One US based supplier will charge $7 for shipping, packaging (everything included) per order and $8 a month for customization. But they don't seem to have all the products I need at one place. I got in touch with them if they can receive packages from elsewhere and package and send to customers directly or 3 PL. If they agree to this, the Thailand supplier should be the best. So yes, open to imports. Things moving forward slowly but steadily

P.S. It's sitelike.org by the way. I corrected it later.

P.P.S. When I have the time I will put importyeti into sitelike.org and see what comes up too. Can replug valuable results again into that website to get more - rinse and repeat.

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@vortex quick update on udroppy - they said it's possible in Europe but not possible in the US as they don't have a warehouse there. But I think CJ dropshipping can do it in the US. I am checking with them. The only thing is that I need to check Amazon isn't upset. Amazon does ban instantly for FBM products directly shipped from China and CJ dropshipping has a US warehouse. Just need to confirm Amazon will be fine with that. I will be using my USA PO box address anyways.

Update - just checked importyeti. This CRAZY!!! I remember now someone mentioning that it's possible to check any US company's supplier from a USA library. I could never put this in context and wondering how this information would help me... NOW... this is DYNAMITE!

Update on fulfillment/storage - There maybe issues with importing from China, but who's stopping me from using dirt cheap fulfillment (free if I use their sourcing), free storage from Chinese warehouses within the US udroppy has a monthly fee for private label...cj dropshippng is for free! I'm obsessed with FREE but surely the customers won't have my products for free

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You can drive around in your city or an industrial zone closeby, enquire what they are selling and check the prices. If they can dropship for you that's good. Do the product research with a good software be it helium 10 or viral launch or even any aliexpress trendy product software with their free trial , confirm with a free Google SEO tool like uber suggest, check with Google trends about the seasonality/trends and finally order the lowest MOQ ( from my experience it can go as low as $50) and send to a warehouse, and store it there for free. There's a free Chinese warehouse in the US called cjdropshipping. Use it! Even your local factory can have their own warehouse and store it for you till you sell. There are Chinese manufacturers (including cjdropshipping) who can do the sourcing for you and you can personally visit their warehouse (given that you are US ) and monitor the quality, etc. if needed. Make your overseas manufacturer handle all the headache of customs, shipping, etc. if you feel the need to import. Your only concern should be topnotch quality and fast delivery, so you have the reputation from day 1. Just a couple of thoughts. And there surely ways out instead of going the "traditional route."
If you do the online store with woocommerce it should be almost free and no monthly fees like Shopify. On a personal level I am with Shopify though.

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@wisdompower - I'm extremely impressed with your obsession with free and low-cost options! I'm learning so much new information from this thread so far. I have some experience with ecom and have always planned on doing more of that at a later time. It takes superb self control to stay on course with current projects. Quite a shiny object you're dangling here!

LOL I didn't even realize the sitelike extension was incorrect. I just typed "sitelike" into google and clicked on the first result.

Real glad you're finding importyeti useful!

I'm really excited by what you're doing. Everyone is saying dropshipping is dead. In reality it's not dropshipping that is dead - customers don't need to know whether you're dropshipping or not. What's "dead" are slow shipping times and subpar-quality products, because a lot more people are doing ecom these days compared to before, plus consumers have become wiser.

Like you said - as long as products are cheap (and may I add, has decent quality), shipping times are cheap and fast, and there aren't hassles like with customs, few people will care where the products are from and how.

It's like turning the clock back to a few years ago when everyone was making easy money doing dropshipping. Very exciting!



Amy

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Ah, well... money from dropshipping a few years back was the same as making money with Google SEO in 2000/2001 (for those who knew how to game the system). But my understanding is "the whole world is dropshipping" in one way or the other. Look at retail stores in the neighborhood... do they manufacture? Rarely do manufacturers sell their own products. It's always convenient for them to let someone else do the work. I had a chat with one of my suppliers and they said they have had dropshipping clients since 2001 and still with them!
But for sure when I first heard about "dropshipping" in early 2017 and the megabucks associated with it, that was always connected to oberlo +aliexpress +Shopify + facebook ads = the only "formula" for success with "dropshipping." And I was dumb enough to think dropshipping minus oberlo is impossible! Now I understand it's as easy as downloading the list of customers for the day and just send it to the supplier.
Dropshipping existed and will continue to exist till eternity. Noone's dead.
This thread came from nowhere and "just happened" after a conversation with @shishev but now I am super obsessed to make this happen. And now putting up a timeline here with constant updates.

Here's my plan of action:

1. Today - Setting up Pinterest boards and getting the account ready (On the task right now).

2. Later today upto the next three days - Amazon seller central account registration ( I read the EIN number may take several hours over phone to get processed for international applicants).

3. First few listings within a week.

4. Tweaks to Pinterest account and ensuring the posts are optimized for Amazon product sales from week 1 to week 2.

5. Week 2 to Week 4 - wait for the first sale

6. Let's see how it goes after the first sale and I will tweak and scale accordingly.

I will be contantly updating here till the first sale about any new developments. Then after the first sale I'll update here everyday or a few times a week, or every week as required as I scale from FBM to FBA.
Amen. Fingers crossed.

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CJ dropshipping is okay if you're just starting out and testing waters. There are public records of global shipments/containers etc. in multiple sites yep, ImportYeti's great. Dropshipping is simply a shipping method -- commerce isn't going anywhere, ever.

It's simply all about having a good product -- have you validated yours yet? I'd focus on validating as quickly and as easily as possible without wasting any time.

Re EIN -- can't you just fill a W-8 form? Why go through interviews?

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W-8 form? Let me check. If that makes life easier... why not?! CJdropshipping I agree and I was aware of them for a year now when I found them just after aliexpress was banned in my country. It was a mere coincidence I got in touch with them again for some other reason. I found a few products that were dirt cheap in the US, but that particular supplier didn't agree to break them down to smaller units and pack with my branding, so I started looking elsewhere to do that. First checked with udroppy and then got in touch with cjdropshipping. They said they offer these services at $1 a piece if I don't source from them and happy to store my products for free. I had asked shipbob earlier and they gave a canned reponse that they don't offer such services.
I am also having backups ready just in case something goes wrong with CJ in the future. One supplier is ready to receive similar products from others and do the packaging if they themselves don't have that product.
Coming to product validation - I am more into a niche than a particular product. And yes I have validated the niche already. Each product however should show promising results with Amazon tools - Viral Launch (to start with) and Helium 10 and the listings optimized for keywords. If a particular product does well, I will just scale it. That's when FBM will turn to FBA.

Update - W8 seems like a different thing. Someone said it may take a few minutes and not several hours. But I've heard it takes several hours for international applications. I'm trying the number tomorrow anyways.

Update - 14 September - things slightly delayed as I got a bit busy socially. Will update again as soon as the seller central registration and the first few listings are done. Almost done with the initial set up the new Pinterest account set up for this follow along.

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Update - The pinterest set up is over and I started a new Shopify store just for this. And the suppliers, warehouses, everything is in place except one most important thing! I still feel blocked about calling the US and stay on hold for several hours for the EIN. And I have been postponing it and kept doing other things except sorting this crucial first step to just get started. Now I had made a "final decision" to do it on the upcoming Monday ( after a several "Mondays" that have already passed). Yet have the flow and focus on work. Touch wood. Yet today a couple of hours back my computer crashed and I am super pissed and upset and don't feel like doing anything even I have another back up laptop sitting on my table. My mental excuse is the other computer is older and I am just not comfortable and I use it only for skype. wow awesome reasons
But here's a good news I am experimenting on a new free traffic source... super powerful... the whole world knows it but few are doing it. I will start a follow along only after implementing everything and share if it's success.
And yes, I got $100 of free pinterest ads credits and close to a verified merchant of this amazon store. Pinterest came back with a few recommendations to change on my website - like disabling pop-ups etc. to get an approval within 24 hours.
What else? please anyone kick my butt for the amazon EIN phone call and also help me out with my current computer issue. I have posted a separate thread for that.

P.S. wait let me spill the beans on this "secret" free traffic... it's quora... I was just stunned looking at the stats. Like we use seo tools that spit out quora questions or popular quora posts... how about answering them and pulling traffic for similar contents on your blog. This is super powerful. And I assume quora traffic is cheap too for retargeting. Reddit is similar in many respects, but the stats I saw was pretty bad for paid traffic.

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Are you getting any results from replying to Quora questions? I have tried this a month or two ago, but got barely any clicks. Reddit works better in terms of "free" traffic for me. When I post a good photo or video in the right subreddits, I get some clicks, video views and even a bunch of subscriber on my youtube channel.

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Reddit for sure is great for youtube. I have just started on the quora journey. See the potential, but it's all speculation. Too many things on my plate. Need to tackle one after one. I wanted to stay silent on Quora but just typed it out. I will start a follow along only if it's successful. But honestly, I cannot see any reason why it should not succeed if I am targeting the right questions with the right answers and doing it everyday. I am just waiting for the financial year to be over, so I can hire people I can trust, and I relax on the beach instead of working my butt off living by the beach!

P.S. Worst case scenario it will be a failed experiment and I move on with life!

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Nice tip about quora! And nice progress in spite of the electronic woes!

Just went and dropped some suggestions into your other post.

What version windows is your laptop using? I'm very lazy and don't update stuff unless/until I absolutely have to, and most things are still working. Have you actually fired up your laptop to see if there's anything restricting you from using it for work? How much storage does it have?

As for making that amazon EIN phone call: I've just put a reminder on my phone to remind me to check in with you next Monday. If you don't make the call by end-of-day Monday, I'm deactivating your forum access.

(Just kidding! But I'll openly voice my disappointment - how's THAT for driving fear into the heart? )





Amy

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@vortex just feel someone kicked my butt. ouch!

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@vortex what is the best time to call to the US for this? Please can you revert with Indian time or GMT. The time zones in the US leave me even more confused. Anyways it's 11 pm and I have slightly deviated from my routine and waking around 5:30 am these days. But resetting the clock tomorrow and going to bed sharp at 9 pm and wake up at 4:30 am.

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Update - By the way Pinterest is going great! I may do a post soon specifically on Pinterest traffic and why it's the cheapest, quickest, best - WITH EVIDENCE.

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Would love to hear more about this. Even in private if you don't feel like going public with it yet!

I'm actually 100% sure it can work, when done in the right way and given that you don't give up.

BTW: a tip I received from someone "spamming" quora for traffic - Do not drop links in every post you make, the guy suggested that no more than 25% of the posts you make on quora contain a link to your web properties.

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Wait - what exactly are you wanting to ask them? Are you wanting to apply for an EIN number? If so, wouldn't you need to contact the IRS for that?

Wherever it is you're planning on calling, can't you look up their hours of service? I'm a bit confused.


That would be AMAZING!!! Can't wait!!!


Partly inspired by your follow-along (thank you!), I've also started a strict sleeping regime. Actually it's way more than that - it's a complete daily routine from waking up to going to bed. My partner and I started on this routine a week ago and have been sticking to it. Our productivity and health have improved even just in the short week. I'll write a post on this sometime - maybe after we manage to stick to the schedule successfully for 3 months.




Amy

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Re: the discussion over Quora up above... I actually used organic Quora question answering stuff to generate quite a few clicks back in the day... so it definitely works... the downside is that the traffic declines over time, so you gotta keep doing it and keep doing it... its not like YouTube where a video starts slow and then explodes 6-12 months later in some cases...

But yeah, apart from that, for free organic traffic I'd say Quora is one of the best options...
@wisdompower love your enthusiasm as always! Hope you find much success and look forward to following along

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Update-
I have created three listings, but still nervous about sending paid traffic there ( minus retargeting pixels or shopping catalog which I can for my store). Currently, focusing on Pinterest, Tiktok, Youtube, and miscellaneous traffic. Will update here as soon as I get a sale(s). However, if nothing happens my trump card is the "Amazon month." Well... I have my entire year planned out and there are focus topics outlined for every month. Amazon is at no. 4 when I will have around 120 to 180 learning hours dedicated to that topic. So, if I not getting sales before that I WILL make it in the "Amazon month."
Here's my plan for 2022:
Month 1 - Misc. Traffic
Month 2 - Google
Month 3 - Facebook
Month 4 -Amazon
Month 5 - Programming
Month 6 - Membership sites and webinar
Month 7 - Stock Markets (possibly forex too) and Crypto
Month 8 - Real Estate
Month 9 - Accounting and Outsourcing
Months 10 to 12 - Team building, leadership, management, and recap of month 1 to 9.

If everything goes according to plan 2023 will be packed with leadership, management and scaling to the moon!

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Wow that's quite a list you've got there!

A part of me is thinking "he's spreading himself too thin across way too big an area", but your intuition may be saying something else.

So my main suggestion is this: If at any time, you're finding that you want to drill down further into one area instead of jumping to the next topic for the next month, at least consider letting yourself do that - even if it means deviating from your original plan.

Ultimately: Exploration of all those areas will be interesting, but only spending a month on each probably will not get you much result.

Finally: If I were you, I would JUST stick with Amazon for the next few months. Reasons:


1)You've built some good momentum.

2)You've built a foundation and things are JUST getting interesting.

3)You've probably reached the point where you're about to see results.

4)You've also probably reached the point where the novelty is wearing off.


That last point is especially important: Many people - myself included - seem to have a fear of either success or failure, or both. There's the tendency to ditch something just when things are heating up.

This is also typically when hurdles start to come up - coupled with the novelty wearing off and you're tempted to start something else instead of sticking with the original project.

IMO, NOW would be the time to push through, and strike the iron while it's still hot.

All those other plans are very interesting indeed - they will result in a TON of learning for sure. It's just that you won't know how much of it will benefit what you'll be doing ultimately.

But if you're fine with spending a year just on learning and not focusing on any major action, that would be OK as well. Your choice 100%, as always.

Have fun my friend!



Amy

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@vortex action is no. 1 on my list and that's from 7 am till 10 am and in the evening (if needed). Learning is for rest of the day besides beach side walks and nice food if my body allows me.
It's not a rigid "have to do" list but about learning all I can this year ( Plus action - first priority) and going through all the courses I have bought! I don't think I have to buy anymore though have a plan to join Ezra Firestone's blue ribbon mastermind during black friday this year. Let's see...
Anyways I am already late by 30 minutes today for my 6 am to 7 am meditation. Gotta rush now.

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