Fantastic post...I'm going to give this a try.People who have done this the first time how much did you make in your first month?

I am also going to give this a try.

I am still researching products and trying to figure out wtf amazon.ca will let me sell.

They will not let me sell any electronics as those items are "restricted".

Very inspirational thread by the OP though, thank you for that. This made my brain work in a new way.

Question about selling on amazon.I'm new to amazon and just listed my first item for sale.My question is,under quanity,is that how many you have available or how many your selling at one time?Like quanity 10 ipods for $150.00 or quanity 10 ipods available $150.00 a piece.Sorry if its a dumn question,just want to make sure.

I tried this out last month. Rather then procrastinating about it, I just got on with it and tried it out.

As I didn't have much money to work with, I decided to sell DVDs and Video games. Also you don't need a subscription based account to sell DVD's and video games on Amazon.

I live in the UK - so for those of you that live here, I can tell you what I did:

1) Find a list of companies you can buy from, and who will allow you to ship to multiple addresses. Here are a few I found:

Zavvi.co.uk
GameStation.co.uk
HMV.co.uk

Make sure you check the "Gift" box when buying from these sellers. This way a price won't be included with the invoice.

Do not use Play - they do not provide the ability to send to mulitple shipping addresses. I sold 6 PC Games on Amazon, and shipped from Play. Play sent them all to the wrong address. They then banned my Play account when they found out I had been selling on Amazon.

2) Find DVD's and games to sell. There are a number of methods that can be use, here is one of the easier ones:

• Go to Play or Zavvi website. Check out the current top sellers for every category, i.e. DVD's, PC Games, XBox Games, PS3 Games. Write down the titles of the top 20 best sellers from each website.
• Use Google to find a price comparison site. Not the crappy ones like pricerunner, rather look for a proper DVD price comparison site, or a video game site. Take your list and type each product into the price comparison site.
  
  PM me if you can't find any comparison sites, there is a good DVD site and Game site I can share.
  
  This will give you a list of all the sellers of a particular DVD or game. Sometimes Amazon will be the cheapest, in which case move on. Other times Zavvi, or someone else will be cheapest. The important bit: You are looking for DVDs or Games that are at least £5 cheaper than Amazon! Taking the Amazon fees into consideration this will make you at least £2 profit on each sale. May not sound like much, but it soon adds up.
  
  Use this site to calculate Amazon Fees:
  
  Code:

  http://www.ezaytools.co.uk/amazon.html

3) List your item on Amazon. Try and be the cheapest, but doesn't matter if you are not. Keep an Excel Spreedsheet of all your sales and order numbers. It's important that you can later correlate your Amazon customer with who you brought the item from.

The amount of profit you can make will be determined by the amount of capital you have. You should be able to make about a 10% to 25% return on your investment each week. Keep in mind it does get expensive to keep shipping items out. But you do get the money back.

Look for the good deals. I found games that I could make £15 profit on, and I found DVD box sets that I was making £30 - £40 profit on. But if you can only make £2 profit per item, still stick with it. 50 sales at £2 profit will certainly add up!

Hope this helps those of you that are unable to sell electronics and other large scale items.

Problems: I did have a few problems where items didn't arrive. The sellers where good enough to re-ship. But it could have left me out of pocket. Mostly it works pretty well, but it's down to the individual to decide if it is worth the "risk".

Originally Posted by xbon869x

Question about selling on amazon.I'm new to amazon and just listed my first item for sale.My question is,under quanity,is that how many you have available or how many your selling at one time?Like quanity 10 ipods for $150.00 or quanity 10 ipods available $150.00 a piece.Sorry if its a dumn question,just want to make sure.

If you are drop shipping, then you have as the same quantity as your drop shipper (basically unlimited, unless they are low on stock). I always put 10 in the quantity box. But there's no real reason you can't put 100 in. But a lower number forces you to keep an eye on things, which in turn allows you to make sure the item is still profitable.

Kool....I just made it 5.Thanks for the info.

You guys who started selling on amazon your first time,how long did it take to sell your very first item?I listed 4 items that are electronics and two are the lowest price and the other two are close to the lowest price.I just wonder if it will be days or weeks to sell your first.

i couldn't make it work because of high amazon fees...
so i just had this idea.
is there a way to load everything that is listed on amazon into a file, add 20 % to the price and upload it to any other online marketplace that lets you list for free... because amazon very often has the lowest price, you would make sales!
i just don't know how to generate that list and automaticly add the 20% and reupload... any idea?
also i don't know how you would keep it organized?

Hey got a question, u have to have additional ratings for this to work?

no you don't have to have additional ratings for this to work, i just started 3 days ago and i got 4 sales already,

TIP.... on how to make money off textbooks. (i made more then $30 per book)
1.. find a website that compares prices with other websites (google is a good one to start out)
2. Find out which **college** textbooks are selling the most and plug the ISBN# to the search engine website ( it compares prices for you)
3. Find out what the lowest price is (new or used)
4. Mark it up on amazon and wait for a couple hours and you will sell a book. (try to beat the lowest price on amazon)

(to start out dont put more then 10-20 textbook until you get the hang of it)

you are going to need some money to invest but trust me it will pay off in the end and it takes about 10min per book to list it and to ship it.

Good luck, and don't give up.

I am so bummed! I was making alot of cash from Amazon but then Amazon suspended my seller account. All I did was list a new DVD for sale and the manufacturing company complained to amazon about it. I mean how did they know that it wasn't given to me brand new and sealed from my family member and I just decided to resell it! So fair warning to everyone be careful what you list as new on Amazon. I tried to get my seller account back but Amazon wouldn't even talk to me about it. Ridiculous!!!! I don't know how to get back in now.

amazon charges commissions.... 10 to 15 % how da hell are u supposed to make money with dropshipping?????

Thanks for the thread. Certainly is interesting considering stuff in such large volume.

simple beans-I will try that-I think it was all a misunderstanding.

I listed 9 products on Amazon yesterday, a Saturday, and by Sunday, I'd already sold two so far.

I'm so grateful you shared this message, Isaiah, strictly to help others.

Thank God for giving me a hot product.

I couldn't trust doing the drop-ship from another retailer, because this hot toy is selling out everywhere when it gets in stock at other sites other than Amazon.

So I called around and found out when the hot toy was coming in stock at stores around me -- drove to one about 9 miles away and bought their whole inventory for about $150

Listed 'em all on Amazon on Saturday -- and at first I had my prices a little high, not too high, but started freaking out that I wouldn't sell my inventory so I dropped them to the lowest price so at least I'd be at the top of the non-Preferred Merchant vendors and get some attention and prayerfully positive feedback.

I've yet to receive all the positive feedback I'm anticipating, so as a "Just Launched" Amazon merchant I knew I needed a little edge to get these products moving before Amazon's rules kick in about the Toys:

http://www.amazonsellercommunity.com...74243&tstart=0

"Effective September 16, 2009, we will stop accepting new sellers in the Toys & Games store. Effective November 16, 2009, existing sellers who do not meet the following performance criteria will not be able to sell in the Toys & Games store from November 16, 2009, through the first week in January 2010"

One of those criteria being "Seller must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders (do not need to be Toy-specific) during the 60 consecutive days preceding 11/1/2009"

So I wanted to get these 9 sales and plenty more moving.

Thankfully, it's working so far, pricing low.

Plus I went to my local post office to get those free "if it fits it ships" Priority Mail boxes -- the rates can eat into your profits, but I really wanted to get some sales so I advertised it ultimately as:

SHIPS PRIORITY MAIL FROM OHIO

And I think that's what help move the first two (out of many millions, I hope) only about 24 hours or so after listing them, plus the power of the Lord's favor.

Anyway, I'm eager to find deals that I don't even have to fulfill myself -- and you've already got the wheels turning and I just wanted to add on my experience.

I saw this post a few months ago and just forgot about it. But this is definitely a great way to make money and it doesn't take tons of knowledge to partake in which is a huge + I'm going to start tomorrow on this technique and hopefully in a couple of months I would have profited by a few grand Thanks isaiahz for making this great post.

How could I incorporate this aspect of selling on Amazon with a recent drop shipper (who specializes in Mobile phones, laptops cameras and video game consoles, games & accessories?)I've lined up who has MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) of 10pcs per order?

My fear is if I list say 3 products from each category and I can't move 10 items fast enough before I get the first sale and have to ship out said product? I've been banging my head for the last few days on trying to figure something out, but to no avail. End of month is fast approaching and I need to pay rent and because of a family emergency, don't have enough funds.

Any insight on how to get creative would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks!

I'm using Amazon.co.uk and have listed about 16 items from the looks of it I guess I am going to have to increase that ten fold to see any business flowing. But hopefully by next weekend I can have 1000 or so items I can profit from in the marketplace so I get a few consistent sales daily. As I can make £7-15 of each item I have found from another retailer with direct recorded tracking to the buyers home

Just hoping the items I have found have enough buyer activity for this to turn into more than just a trial run.

Is this method viable only for UK people or overseas? Everyone posting results/experiences is from the UK, what gives? Any US-based person tried this yet recently and can post results?

Originally Posted by soljahboy

Is this method viable only for UK people or overseas? Everyone posting results/experiences is from the UK, what gives? Any US-based person tried this yet recently and can post results?

US based probably have far better results than those from the U.K perhaps their busy working on their sales so don't have time to come here (maybe) I think it's easier over there because you have more competition... meaning cheaper prices even more extreme than over here in the U.K

Ok well I have tried Amazon for three weeks, and so far have made $315 total after Amazon's fees. Granted, the first week I sold stuff in my apartment, at high markups admittedly. Sold anyway. Last week my 14-day funds hold was lifted so I moved to the 'dropship' idea implemented here, which is somewhat of a hassle, though I think it pays off in the end. I would have made more, but I wanted to feel my way around it. I can confirm, at least in my case, that Amazon funds show up in your bank account approximately 3 days after disbursing. I also find the buyers on Amazon to be more patient, because I do not offer expedited shipping at all but I still get got good feedback even when it obviously took like close to 7-8 days to get them. Quite interesting, really.

Now that ship before you get paid is in the uk next week.

As for the buy when you ship it's kind of stupid what if you were to go out and post it and said person cancels the order... (I know it won't happen to me because I will say I shipped it before I do every time) but I'm sure some out there will get scammed by clever techniques.


Dear Seller,

Charge When Ship will be automatically enabled in one week in your Seller Account, and you will then be required to confirm to Amazon dispatches of all new orders you receive for your Amazon Seller Account. With Charge When Ship, if you do not confirm dispatch of an order through Manage Orders or a feed within 30 days of the date the order was placed to Amazon, the order will automatically be cancelled, the buyer not charged and you not paid for the order.

Once your Amazon Seller Account is enabled for Charge When Ship, you will see "Confirm shipment" and "Cancel order" buttons for new orders; the "Refund order" button will only appear after you confirm dispatch of an order. Just as now, there will be no "Cancel order" button for orders you received before your Amazon Seller Account is enabled for Charge When Ship.

Charge When Ship follows the current industry standard for processing buyer payments and will also help keep buyers informed about the status of their deliveries. Though Charge When Ship is new for some sellers, other sellers have been using it for quite a while. We are bringing this functionality to you because of Amazon's commitment to providing the best customer experience possible.

We strongly encourage you to sign-up and start using Charge When Ship already today: On your Amazon Seller Account home page or in Manage Orders, click the "Learn more" link in the yellow Charge When Ship sign-up notice.

Here is more information about how Charge When Ship works:

* When you dispatch an order, you confirm the dispatch to Amazon by providing delivery information in Manage Orders. If you have a Pro Merchant Subscription you can also use text-file feeds for this.

* The buyer will be charged after you confirm a dispatch to Amazon, rather than when the order was placed, providing a better buyer experience.

* Please do not send dispatch notifications to your buyers anymore. We will send them a notification after you have confirmed dispatch of the parcel. If you send a dispatch notification, the buyer may think that he will receive two deliveries.

* To keep buyers informed about their orders, we display the delivery information provided by you to Amazon in the buyer's Amazon account, and we also send the buyer an e-mail notification with all the delivery information.

* You can cancel an order, if exceptionally necessary, instead of confirming the dispatch, and then the buyer will not be charged and you will not have to issue a refund.

We think you will find managing your orders is easier and more efficient with Charge When Ship. If you have questions, contact us using the "By e-mail" or "By phone" button in the Seller Support box found on the right side of seller Help pages.

Thank you for selling on Amazon.co.uk

Amazon Services Europe

nothing I price above amazon is selling at all. Should I sell high value items rather than software and a marked up price ?

and while on the subject if you can find places tht sell items £5-10 cheaper stick to lising those sort of items up not worth selling somethiing at a higher price (Video Game/Blu Ray/dvd) sections in the Uk anyway. 5 days with 200 items listed and 0 sales for higher priced items.

Lower priced items on the other hand 35 sales.

Im receiving emails from Amazon customers asking to ship to other countries besides whats listed in there Acct information. Just want to know is that someone that is doing something Blackhat or scam?

Here's an example

hello,
I am ready to buy but I want to know if you can ship it to Algeria for my son who is studying in Algeria (shipping cost added to my pocket)

lol i get a million of those but i dont know how to figure out if its fraud

someone help me out

Originally Posted by PSPGO

I know it won't happen to me because I will say I shipped it before I do every time

Afraid it doesn't work like that (to stop scam sellers obviously).
All you are able to do is either cancel the order, or provide Amazon with a tracking number to prove dispatch and check delivery.

Which makes it worse because you have to pay extra for a tracking number for all deliveries now (and I bet they dont increase the amount you are allowed to have for postage either).

Originally Posted by wizzykid23

Im receiving emails from Amazon customers asking to ship to other countries besides whats listed in there Acct information. Just want to know is that someone that is doing something Blackhat or scam?

Here's an example

hello,
I am ready to buy but I want to know if you can ship it to Algeria for my son who is studying in Algeria (shipping cost added to my pocket)

lol i get a million of those but i dont know how to figure out if its fraud

someone help me out

Sounds dodgy as hell to me!

Do you also have a website up selling your items?
I would set one up (domain similar to your Amazon seller a/c name), put all your items on there and put the payment method as LR only (Liberty Reserve).

Then send them back an email saying that you cant ship there with your Amazon account, but if they want to place an order directly on the company website delivery can be calculated and arranged.

I bet not a single one purchases. But if they do, at lease you know you wont get a charge back (like Paypal or Credit Card does)

wizzykid23.......what you`re receiving is definately fraud.i will advice you do not respond to them.
I do sell occasionally on cl & kj locally and i also received lots of that from scammers

Originally Posted by Wikolia

Afraid it doesn't work like that (to stop scam sellers obviously).
All you are able to do is either cancel the order, or provide Amazon with a tracking number to prove dispatch and check delivery.

Which makes it worse because you have to pay extra for a tracking number for all deliveries now (and I bet they dont increase the amount you are allowed to have for postage either).




Sounds dodgy as hell to me!

Do you also have a website up selling your items?
I would set one up (domain similar to your Amazon seller a/c name), put all your items on there and put the payment method as LR only (Liberty Reserve).

Then send them back an email saying that you cant ship there with your Amazon account, but if they want to place an order directly on the company website delivery can be calculated and arranged.

I bet not a single one purchases. But if they do, at lease you know you wont get a charge back (like Paypal or Credit Card does)

Are you in the U.K Wikolia ? as I'm sure if you send via 1st class over here they have to let the payment through even if you can't provide tracking, guess I'll have to wait and see

Originally Posted by Wikolia

Sounds dodgy as hell to me!

Do you also have a website up selling your items?
I would set one up (domain similar to your Amazon seller a/c name), put all your items on there and put the payment method as LR only (Liberty Reserve).

Then send them back an email saying that you cant ship there with your Amazon account, but if they want to place an order directly on the company website delivery can be calculated and arranged.

I bet not a single one purchases. But if they do, at lease you know you wont get a charge back (like Paypal or Credit Card does)

No i dont have a website. That would make things way easier...something I have to look into.

And im glad I didnt bite because it definitely gets tempting when money is involved.

Originally Posted by daltech88

wizzykid23.......what you`re receiving is definately fraud.i will advice you do not respond to them.
I do sell occasionally on cl & kj locally and i also received lots of that from scammers

Yeah? Well thanx for the heads up. And do you know where they come from or whats the source of the scam and reprecussions?

Not that I would have the bottle to get involved in it, but scam the scammers baby! lol

Seriously if you get that many, set up a website and direct them there. Buy a VCC (using LR funds) every 2 weeks and set up a new LR a/c to go with it (no ID requirements etc).
When they want to dispatch to x country tell them there is a minimum order value ($500/$700?) to put through a special request.
Shift the money between a/c's a couple of times and let it all build up in one main account. When you have built up $50k with no-one knocking down your door your golden.

Order a PO box, and a mail forwarding address (forwarded to PO box) - Sign up to the Chinese no ID prepay debit card that is topped up via LR (I think there is only one decent one left nowadays). Go pick up your card from PO box and you have your cash at the ATM

The only people that loose out are the banks/credit card issuer, who lets face it has millions anyway!

Rinse and Repeat

P.S Jokes aside, in all seriousness... I wouldn't advise going this.

Originally Posted by PSPGO

Are you in the U.K Wikolia ? as I'm sure if you send via 1st class over here they have to let the payment through even if you can't provide tracking, guess I'll have to wait and see

That wasnt my understanding, but maybe they accept a certificate of posting for 1st class then

Originally Posted by Wikolia

Not that I would have the bottle to get involved in it, but scam the scammers baby! lol

Seriously if you get that many, set up a website and direct them there. Buy a VCC (using LR funds) every 2 weeks and set up a new LR a/c to go with it (no ID requirements etc).
When they want to dispatch to x country tell them there is a minimum order value ($500/$700?) to put through a special request.
Shift the money between a/c's a couple of times and let it all build up in one main account. When you have built up $50k with no-one knocking down your door your golden.

Order a PO box, and a mail forwarding address (forwarded to PO box) - Sign up to the Chinese no ID prepay debit card that is topped up via LR (I think there is only one decent one left nowadays). Go pick up your card from PO box and you have your cash at the ATM

The only people that loose out are the banks/credit card issuer, who lets face it has millions anyway!

Rinse and Repeat

P.S Jokes aside, in all seriousness... I wouldn't advise going this.

LMFAO!..OMG YOU REALLY HAD ME GOING!!!

Originally Posted by wizzykid23

LMFAO!..OMG YOU REALLY HAD ME GOING!!!

While it is very possible to do, if you were caught I can imagine you would be charged with aiding credit card fraud (you cant exactly have a system like that and say you knew nothing about dodgy transactions) - I can see it now... "No guv, I didn't know they were using dodgy credit cards. Honest!"


Just make sure you don't drop the soap in the shower!

I am looking to do a JV with anyone with an established amazon account let me know if your interested by pm.

Originally Posted by isaiahz

Thanks Cards...ebay traffic: 60mill visitors past 30 days:
amazon: 43 million

Same numbers I saw. What I think though is not seen in these numbers are the amount of serious "determined" buyers that peruse/visit Amazon. They are usually more likely to be looking for a specific product/item and ready to buy where the entire buying process and mindset differs as well as the ever increasing fees and hassle of Ebay. Thanks for the share Isaiahz. Applying arbitrage principles to a one stop shop like Amazon is looking more inviting daily.

So buy.com ships internationally ? I am in the U.K, would whoever I order an item for get hit with customs tax if I was to order from buy.com or would it have to be over a certain price limit.

Yo guys just a question about the Amazon account. What I was about to sign up it said there was a $40 monthly fee. Am I just seeing things because I'm pretty sure I read here it was free...

Originally Posted by handi

Yo guys just a question about the Amazon account. What I was about to sign up it said there was a $40 monthly fee. Am I just seeing things because I'm pretty sure I read here it was free...

Sign up as individual account then there's no monthly fee (do not sign up for "pro merchant")

But then you have to pay an extra "closing fee" that would be waived for pro-merchants

I start on Amazon last year with fragrances.
People buy the lowest price.
I was doing dropshipping. But Waiting 14 days was long, have to close the store every 5 days. Credit card was full very fast.
They close my account and banned for life... because I have too many cancellation orders with my ratio of sales. More than 25% during Christmas Time.
A lot of item was out of stock from my dropshippers. We don't have the full inventories of those.
When everyone was out of stock, people buy from my store. You need to be in front of the computer often and watch everything.
I was able to put 65-100 items per day by hand. Have an inventory of 7500 items.
It was my learning process last year. Don't be afraid to made mistakes. It's normal.
Have to open another account this year and restart and be more organized than before.
Thanx for the advices

You can also buy reviews from Mturk

Thanks for this great post. This is truly inspiring and I will follow up on it soon,

Originally Posted by redtide1969

Thanks isaiahz for the heads up on this method and the great information provided, I am thinking of diving into this and also wondered where we obtain the UPC codes from.

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I dive into this so I wanted to thank you in advance for your helpful updates to this thread.

I'll keep you posted how things go,

Redtide

Originally Posted by Falken

You can also buy reviews from Mturk

What? How is that possible?

this is interesting stuff

Originally Posted by windex

I start on Amazon last year with fragrances.
People buy the lowest price.
I was doing dropshipping. But Waiting 14 days was long, have to close the store every 5 days. Credit card was full very fast.
They close my account and banned for life... because I have too many cancellation orders with my ratio of sales. More than 25% during Christmas Time.
A lot of item was out of stock from my dropshippers. We don't have the full inventories of those.
When everyone was out of stock, people buy from my store. You need to be in front of the computer often and watch everything.
I was able to put 65-100 items per day by hand. Have an inventory of 7500 items.
It was my learning process last year. Don't be afraid to made mistakes. It's normal.
Have to open another account this year and restart and be more organized than before.
Thanx for the advices

You say people by the lowest price and thats what I believe. At least you have to be very competetive to sell. This posts says otherwise, and dropshippers prices are almost always higher than any of the same items on amazon. Not much profit.

I'm about to get started on this method, so I just had a query:

I called Amazon about the "Charge When Shipped" thing they're now requiring, and asked if a tracking number was always required; the fella on the phone said it's only for anything faster than Standard Shipping.

SO- Since Standard Shipping is said to take anywhere from 7-14 business days, would you say it's fine- when an order is made- to go ahead and:

1. Immediately confirm shipment with USPS, since that's the standard (UPS if it's a big package- desktop computer, etc.),

2. Get the money from the buyer, request disbursement and wait the three days to get it disbursed,

3. and finally Order from your source, shipping to your buyer's address, which should very well arrive by the 14th business day?

Of course, if your source were another Amazon seller, they could be doing the same thing you are...and then it would take about a month...but you'd be buying from the lowest source, of course, and they'd have to be an awfully stupid/incompetent BHer to be at that price.

Also- even if the package were ultimately shipped by a different service (AKA not USPS/UPS/whatever you initially said), customers aren't really going to mind, whatsoever.

I'm not in the UK, by the way- if that were to make any difference.