The Most Crucial Resources
Amazon.com
This is of course the site where you will be selling your products. For international markets, the other sites are:
www.amazon.in www.amazon.co.uk
Alibaba
Alibaba.com is a site where you can find a near-endless supply of product wholesalers. These companies will sell you items in bulk at a discount, meaning you can then
UPS
There are countless carriers you can use in order to get products taken from the freight forwarders to Amazon’s warehouses. However, UPS comes Amazon-approved and is a very tried and tested option. They are used to working with Amazon, have a very streamlined and efficient service, and don’t charge too much.
Freight Hub
One of several freight companies that can help you get your products into the country ready to get shipped to Amazon’s warehouses.
Useful Tools and Sites
AMZSCout FBA Free Calculator
https://amzscout.net/fba-fee-calculator/
This free calculator can be used to calculate the fees that will be associated with any given product from Alibaba. That in turn can help you decide if you will actually make profit!
SnapUPC
https://www.snapupc.com/buy-barcodes/
This is a site where you can buy barcodes. Every single item listed on Amazon will need a unique barcode. If you are selling items on someone else’s listing (perhaps a book) then you won’t need to acquire this. But for every other situation, it is important that you get a barcode from somewhere.
CamelCamelCamel
CamelCamelCamel is an extremely useful website both for Amazon seller AND for customers. The idea is simple: with CCC, you’ll be able to track the price of a product, in order to watch it rise and fall. What may surprise you, is to learn that many product prices are worked out based on machine learning and actually fluctuate slightly even within a single day.
Of course, for buyers, this allows you to see when an item is at its cheapest and to receive a notification to react and buy. For those of us selling though, it is a useful option to help us respond to competition and to see what the markets are doing.
Keepa
Keepa is CCC’s big competition and offers a very similar service. However, what makes it different is that it will also allow you to view product histories. That means you can track how the prices have changed over time, thereby seeing the general rise or fall of those prices and predict market trends.
Google Trends
Google Trends allows you to see how search trends change over time, which in turn can help you to gauge the zeitgeist and see what people are interested in. This is very useful for anticipating emerging fads and trends that you can use to guide your buying decisions. Just be wary of being too driven by what’s “in” as whatever is in, is likely to be “out” again very soon – potentially leaving you with a lot of unfulfilled inventory if you mistime it.
Jungle Scout
Jungle Scout is an extremely useful tool, that will allow you to do a search of Amazon products and see which ones are selling best. This is very powerful as it allows you to choose products that people are actually buying, thereby nearly guaranteeing your success. Add a tweak, undercut the price, and profit!
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an ecommerce store you can easily add to a WordPress site. Why not sell through your own channel too?
Short.CM
A useful tool for shortening URLs. This makes it much easier for you to share links to your product in emails, blog posts, through social media and more.
Keyword Tool
Keyword Tool lets you see what people are searching for SEO purposes. It’s not cheap (at all), but it is extremely powerful. Not only that, but it also lets you search what people are looking for on Amazon specifically.
Crowdsourcing Ideation and Design
If you plan on creating your own products for Amazon FBA – which is a brilliant end goal to have in mind – then you might need some help with the design process and providing such materials as the BOM (Bill Of Materials) for your manufacturers. In that case, this list can help you get started.
Idea Bounty
A great site where you can get people to submit suggestions and ideas for how to create your products. Big brands use this site!
CrowdSpring
Get everything from your 3D model to your BOM handled by experts and again, only pay for the ideas you like.
CADCrowd
Very similar to Crowdspring.
Blender
The best free tool for creating your own 3D models.
Cadsoft Eagle
An example of a CAD program for creating circuit boards.
Useful Reads
How to Successful Market Products on Amazon & Think Like A Buyer
https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/amazon-marketing-strategy/
A fantastic guide with a lot of great tips that can really help you to sell more.
Hacking Kickstarter: How to Raise $100,000 in 10 Days
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2012/12/18/hacking-kickstarter
This article from Tim Ferriss shows how to hack Kickstarter and even provides successful email templates and more.
Kickstarter is a great option for those hoping to sell through Amazon FBA, as it can provide the funds to get you that initial big order. Of course, this works best if you plan on selling something new.
How to Write an Effective Landing Page
http://www.businessknowhow.com/internet/landing-page.htm
This post does what it says on the tin and shows you how to create a more successful landing page! This applies to us, because we’ll be making a store listing which works in a very similar way.
How to Take Gorgeous Product Photos
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/How-to-Take-Gorgeous-Product-Photos
There are many different facets to a successful Amazon business. Photography is one that often goes overlooked, which can end up really crippling sales. Read this guide and make sure that doesn’t happen to you!
