Ep 30People Say They are Making Millions on Amazon - Here's the Real Story
Black Friday 'deals' that are priced exactly the same
Eytan Wiener, Pearl Ausch & Eddie Levine
People Say They are Making Millions on Amazon - Here's the Real Story
with Eytan Wiener, Pearl Ausch & Eddie Levine
I sell whatever sells. I don't care what I sell because at the end of the day it matters more what the consumer wants.
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Quotes
“Coming home with your wife saying you made 100 grand, that same person will probably lose 100 grand in the next two, three weeks.”
“If it's something that just solves your need and no one else cares, you've got a problem.”
“If you want to sell a business and the only value is you, it's not worth anything.”
“You want to be on, not in. (working on your business, not in it)”
“You can save 100% of your money if you don't buy something you don't need.”
“Everybody has a book... You're seeing the cover and you're seeing the back page. Don't forget, there's so many chapters to get to the end of the book.”
Takeaways
- 1 Amazon is now very competitive and built for brand owners. Reselling store goods led to price wars and brand complaints, so private label (your own improved product) is the main model today.
- 2 White label (your logo on an existing product) isn't private label. Real private label changes or improves something, ideally in a way you can protect.
- 3 Copycats are a given. Trademarks and patents help but are slow to enforce, so watch the market daily and compete on keywords, niches, other countries and your own channels like a Shopify store.
- 4 Ads now drive most Amazon sales, often costing 10-30% of the retail price, and are part of the cost of doing business.
- 5 FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) moves your stock between warehouses to meet fast-shipping expectations, and it gives buyers Amazon's return guarantee.
- 6 Selling in other Amazon countries (Canada, UK, Japan and more) can mean less competition and better margins. You handle shipping, customs and compliance yourself or through a provider.
- 7 Costs can change fast. A shipping container from China went from about $3,500-6,000 before COVID to over $30,000 at the peak, and is now about $7,000-12,000.
- 8 Opening a seller account and listing is free and quick. Amazon earns through referral fees (roughly 8-18% by category), FBA fees and storage.
- 9 The panel was against buying groups: pooling inventory creates competition among friends and mixes people with different risk levels.
- 10 Build the business so it doesn't depend only on you. It's easier to go from zero to a million than from a million to ten, and a business that runs only on the owner can't be sold.
- 11 Expect to fail many times. Step away from your daily work now and then to think about the next move.