Hey, guys.
In this video, I'm gonna be discussing the eight things that you need to do before you
start selling on Amazon.
If you do these eight things, then you will easily overcome some of the common stumbling
blocks that people encounter when they first start their Amazon business.
To find out what these eight things are and how to overcome them for yourself, keep watching
this video.
One, get an Amazon Pro Merchant account.
Now, in the past, I used to recommend that people just get started ASAP by opening a
free Amazon seller account.
Now, I recommended this because of the fact that I knew that people would resist getting
a Pro Merchant account because, well, it's not free.
However, my opinion on this has admittedly changed over time and I will now recommend
to everyone that they get an Amazon Pro Merchant account.
And I will recommend this to you even if you resist my advice.
Why?
Well, for one very simple reason.
One of the eligibility requirements to win the buy box is that you need to have an Amazon
Pro Merchant account.
The Amazon buy box is that little add to cart button that appears on an Amazon item listing.
About 80% of the sales for an Amazon listing are made by people clicking the buy box.
Now, let's say that there are five sellers that are eligible for the buy box.
What Amazon will do is it will rotate those sellers around and give each of them some
buy box time.
About 80% of sales are made by people using the buy box so winning the buy box time is
crucial.
In fact, it's even more crucial as a new seller compared to being an established seller.
Think about it.
If people aren't using the buy box, then it means that they're opening up the list of
sellers and selecting one from the list.
And realistically, who are they going to pick, a new seller with no reviews or a seller with
lots of reviews?
Another fantastic thing about the buy box is that it doesn't show how many reviews the
seller being featured has.
In fact, it actually gives you very little information about the merchant at all.
It means then that as a new seller, you can use the buy box to get your initial sales
because of the fact that customers will not discriminate against you because of a low-to-no
number of reviews.
So don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
Get an Amazon Pro Merchant account.
Now, you can get a free 30-day trial to one.
Use those 30 days to make plenty of money so that when Amazon comes and rebills you
for the monthly charge, you won't even mind.
Two, have the right documents ready when applying for an Amazon account.
So I thought that I was doing people a nice deed by creating a step-by-step video tutorial
on how to open an Amazon account, which, by the way, if you wanna watch that, I will have
a link to it in the video description below.
Unfortunately, within months of creating that video, Amazon added a new step to the account
creation process, which means that my video is kind of outdated.
Amazon now require the following when creating an account.
One, photos of a national ID like a passport or a driver's license.
And two, a bank statement that has your address on it.
Luckily, preparing for this is super simple.
Just do these two things.
One, use a digital camera like the one on your cellphone to take photos of your national
identification.
Again, a passport or a driver's license is perfect for this.
And two, log into your bank and download your latest bank statement.
Then just upload these documents when Amazon asks for them during the account creation
process, simple.
Three, act fast.
Don't wait.
Here's the thing with Amazon, they are constantly changing their requirements and the honest
truth is that usually, these changes are designed to make the barrier to entry harder and not
easier.
For example, in 2014, Amazon turned the personal care category from an unrestricted category
to a restricted category.
And in 2016, Amazon changed it so that if you are a new Amazon FBA seller, that you
could not send in your first ever shipment into their warehouses during the fourth quarter.
And in 2017, of course, they made it so that you had to upload proof of your national identity
when you were creating an account.
But here is the thing, if you had been selling personal care items prior to the restriction
changes in 2014, then you would've been grandfathered into the program.
And in 2016, if you were an established Amazon FBA seller, then you would've had no problems
sending in shipments during the fourth quarter.
And, of course, if you had already created an account prior to their account creation
change process, well, then you wouldn't have to upload any of these extra documents.
They do sometimes still ask for them but that's only if they think that your account is suspicious.
My point here is that the sooner you do things like creating an account, the easier it is.
So do not wait, act now.
And don't be put off restrictions.
What these restrictions do is they make it harder for illegitimate sellers to be selling
on Amazon, which means that there is less competition out there for legitimate sellers
like you.
Four, pick your Amazon business model.
Of course, before you get started, you need to pick a business model to pursue when creating
your new Amazon business.
The most popular of these include dropshipping, private labeling, retail arbitrage, and wholesale
selling.
And, of course, each of these business models has its own pros and cons and it's important
for you to go out there and research each business model carefully so that you can pick
the one that meets your skill set and your access to resources.
For example, private labeling has many advantages.
One of them is that once it's set up, it requires very little time to manage because of the
fact that Amazon is fulfilling orders for you.
Now let's contrast that with dropshipping.
No, you don't have to pick and pack the item and ship it out to the customer, which saves
a huge amount of time but you still need to order the item for each customer when they
buy it from you.
On the other hand, private labeling has the disadvantage of the fact that it costs hundreds
to even thousands of dollars to get started because of the fact that you need to manufacture
your inventory in advance.
Now let's contrast that with dropshipping which has the huge advantage whereby you only
have to order each item for the customer after they have purchased it.
So weigh out the pros and cons.
Pick the right business model that meets your skill set, your life balance, and your access
to resources.
Five, get a credit card or at least a debit card.
When you sell on Amazon, there are fees that you need to pay and Amazon requires that you
have either a credit card or a debit card to pay them.
And when I say debit card, I mean a legitimate one that you got from a bank.
You cannot use a prepaid Visa or Payoneer card.
Now, if you don't have access to either a credit card or a debit card, do not completely
panic.
You can still create an e-commerce business.
With just a prepaid Visa and a PayPal account, you can open an AliExpress dropshipping store.
Now, it's a very different business model but it's one that you can open with just access
to those two things.
If you are interested in learning more about that business model, then you should watch
my free video on that subject, "How to Create an AliExpress Dropshipping Store With No Start
Up Money."
I'll have a link to that video in the video description below.
But the truth is is that any serious, long-term business is going to need access to either
a credit card or a debit card, ideally a credit card, which leads me on to my next point.
Six, figure out a plan to manage your cash flow.
The word cash flow probably sounds a bit intimidating but trust me, it really isn't.
When I say cash flow, I simply mean have a plan for how you are going to pay for the
items that you are selling.
This is a crucial thing to plan for because as a new Amazon seller, Amazon is going to
hold your money for two weeks.
So if you are private labeling and your items start selling super-fast, then you need to
have money on-hand to go and purchase new inventory to replace your stock.
And if you're dropshipping, then you need to have money to use in the meantime to pay
for the items that the customer has ordered while you are waiting for Amazon to reimburse
you.
Now, there are two ways to handle this.
One, you can have a bunch of money saved up in advance that you can use during this time
period.
Now, if you're dropshipping, about $500 is probably fine.
If you are private labeling, then you may need a lot more than that.
Or two, you can use a credit card and honestly, a credit card is the easiest solution.
Now, I understand that not everyone has a credit score that makes them eligible to get
a credit card, in which case, what I would say to you is use a debit card in the meantime
and make it your top priority to build up your credit score.
And remember, this is a good problem to have.
It means that you're a super successful seller so don't be put off by this, just prepare
for it.
Seven, check if the category that you want to sell in is restricted.
Now, there are lots of categories that anyone can just come in and sell in, such as home
and gardening because these categories are unrestricted.
If you wanna start selling items in these categories, then congratulations.
You can just go in and start selling them without submitting an application.
But unfortunately, there are some categories that are restricted and before you start selling
in them, you're going to need to submit an application to do so.
Now, some restricted categories like clothing and accessories have really easy requirements
but others like food and grocery have much stricter requirements.
To find out which categories are restricted and how to become unrestricted in them, then
you should be sure to watch my free video that I've created on that subject and I'll
have a link to that video in the description below.
Eight, set aside time every day and every week to both grow and manage your new business.
And finally, do not forget to plan to set aside time every week and every day to both
grow and manage your new Amazon business.
You need to set aside time every day to manage orders and to do things like answer emails.
An hour a day should be more than enough, especially in the beginning but make sure
you make time for it and make it a priority.
So for example, if you come home from work every day and you're really tired and you
don't wanna do it, then make sure that you get up an hour earlier every day so that you
can use that time to manage your business.
You'll also need to set aside time every week to grow your business if you don't want it
to stagnate.
And, well, this is kind of what weekends are for.
Growing and running a business while you're holding down a full-time job is not easy but
it's a rite of passage that basically every business owner has to go through at some point.
And trust me when I say that the rewards are well worth it.
Thanks for watching this video.
If you liked it, I'd appreciate it if you gave it a thumbs up and subscribed to us here
at Wholesale Ted for more great videos like this.
And if you have any questions, be sure to ask them in the comments section below.
Here at Wholesale Ted, we admittedly get a lot of questions but we try to answer as many
as we can.
And if you would like to start your own e-commerce store but you don't know how, then you should
be sure to download our free eBook, "How to Make $10,000 a Month Online With Dropshipping."
You'll find a link on how to download this incredible, life-changing eBook in the video
description below.