E-COMMERCE BUSINESS

2 BOOKS IN 1
DROPSHIPPING, AMAZON FBA
HOW TO BUILD AN ONLINE BUSINESS
AND EARN A PASSIVE INCOME IN 60 DAYS. THE ULTIMATE
GUIDE TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE FROM HOME IN 2020.

LOGAN STORE
 © Copyright 2019 by Logan Store
All rights reserved.

The content contained within this book may not be reproduced, duplicated
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Disclaimer Notice:
Please note the information contained within this document is for
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to present accurate, up to date and reliable, complete information. No
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the author is not engaging in the rendering of legal, financial, medical or
professional advice. The content within this book has been derived from
various sources. Please consult a licensed professional before attempting
any techniques outlined in this book.

By reading this document, the reader agrees that under no circumstances is

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 Amazon FBA
Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: FBA and All Its Wonders

Chapter 2: The Beginning

Chapter 3: The Supplier, the Product, and the Niche

Chapter 4: Ready to Launch

Chapter 5: Keep It Going

Conclusion
 Dropshipping
Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Entrepreneurship Made Easy with Dropshipping

Chapter 2: The Good, Bad and Everything Else You Need to

Know

Chapter 3: The First Few Steps

Chapter 4: Get Clicking and Start Building

Chapter 5: Handling Your Affairs

Chapter 6: Success Is Almost Yours

Conclusion
 AMAZON FBA
A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE
BUSINESS.
HOW TO BUILD AN AMAZON BUSINESS AND EARN A
PASSIVE INCOME IN 60 DAYS.

LOGAN STORE
Introduction
Fulfilled by Amazon. FBA.

Three letters. One life-changing experience.

Taking that leap of faith and trying to start your own business is scary. It is
a bold, daring move that not many would dare to make. Making the jump
from being an employee, to become your own boss who works for yourself
takes courage. However, Amazon’s FBA service might just make the
perspective a little less daunting.

Before we begin, take a moment to congratulate yourself. Congratulate

yourself on rising to the challenge and heeding the call of entrepreneurship.
Congratulate yourself for finally taking another step towards greater
financial freedom and making your dreams come true. It is a decision that
not many would be brave enough to do and you should feel extremely
proud of yourself. You believed enough in your abilities to decide to make a
difference and that is what you are about to do right now.

The FBA process where you store your products in Amazon’s fulfillment
centers and they will pick your products, pack it for you and ship it for you.
They will even help you manage the customer service and returns for these
products. When you list your products on FBA, customers are eligible for
free shipping and qualified listings are shown using the Prime logo.
Customers browsing your site know that Amazon will do the packing,
delivery and everything for the product.

It is the perfect platform for the well-informed business owner who is keen
on catering to a larger audience group one day. In addition, if you are just
starting out with no business experience, this is the perfect platform to learn
the ropes and discover what it means to run your own business from start to
finish.

Books about the topic are in abundance in the market and we thank you for
picking ours! Every attempt was made to make sure all information is as
needed as possible! Enjoy!
Chapter 1: FBA and All Its Wonders

Living paycheck to paycheck, truth be told, is no way to live at all. From a

financial standpoint, it is neither suitable nor sustainable and the stress of
worrying about your money running out before the end of the month is
going to eventually get to you. Far too many variables involved can quickly
cause you to hit rock bottom financially if you do not have any savings, an
emergency fund, or something to fall back on if things took a turn for the
worse tomorrow and you happen to find yourself out of a job. Yikes!

Thankfully, though, it is not all doom and gloom, since the digital age that
we live in has afforded us plenty of opportunities to bounce back, generate a
passive income stream and start an online business in half the time it
normally take, thanks to eCommerce platforms like dropshipping, eBay and
Amazon FBA.

Amazon FBA Explained

Online shopping, a concept unheard several decades ago, has emerged to
become a part of life for the average consumer. Statistics from 2017 alone,
state that more than 1.66 billion shoppers made purchases online and,
within that same year, online retail sales globally accounted for almost $2.3
trillion. That number is expected to double by the time 2021 rolls around.
An unstoppable force, the online retail space is set to grow bigger and better
over the next few years. It is already showing signs of becoming the
preferred shopping method for consumers. It is fast, easy, convenient, safe
and they do not even have to leave the comfort of their own homes to get
the items they need. No more long commutes, sitting through traffic and
battling long queues at the stores just to get what they want. Now their
products come directly to them with minimal effort. No wonder online retail
is so popular, servicing everything from masses to niche markets and more.

Since Jeff Bezos founded it, Amazon has experienced growth at a rapid
rate. It is now responsible for 80% of all retail growth that takes place
online in the United States alone. By the end of 2019, the e-retail giant is
estimated to hold 53.7% of the total sales made online in the U.S. and that
is going to amount roughly $325 billion in sales. That is impressive by any
standards and with more people turning to Amazon to everything from their
daily essentials to niche products you can online get online, this is going to
be every seller’s passive income dream come true.

There are many ways for a seller to get their goods moving online, but FBA
is still one of the most profitable and popular methods by far. As one of
today’s most lucrative methods of earning an online income, Amazon FBA
has quickly become the preferred eCommerce solution, especially for those
who have been selling their products on eBay for a while. Managing an
online business has never been easier since Amazon FBA was introduced,
with the platform helping you out by overseeing all the nitty-gritty details
so you can focus on the thing that matters most: Running your business.
The platform has even made its tagline “You sell it, we ship it” to show just
how easy it can be to run a business, even if you are a beginner.

FBA stands for Fulfilment by Amazon and it is currently home to more than
2 million people, counting worldwide, who are using this platform to
market and sell their goods. It could be goods that you are selling wholesale
or in bulk, goods that you made yourself, even pre-loved items that you no
longer want can still bring in some money so nothing goes to waste. As the
name “FBA” implies, you sell your products through the platform and
Amazon does the shipping for you. Here is a swift brief of how the
complete process works:

● You send your goods to Amazon and they store it in their

warehouses.
● A customer browses Amazon’s website and when they like what
they see, they purchase your product.
● Amazon picks up the products, packs it and ships it to the customer
using the order details received.
● Amazon helps you keep track of your order until it safely arrives on
the customer’s doorstep
● You have one happy customer.
● If there is a problem with the order, Amazon steps right in and
handles any returns or refunds on your behalf.
 Picture 1

Easy, right? Almost as if the hardest part of your job is going to be

procuring the goods. FBA is doing so well that half of the platform’s sales
are originating directly from third-party sellers, all of which are using FBA
to get the job done. Once you have enrolled in Amazon’s FBA program,
you will be able to reap the benefits and perks that its other members are
already enjoying too. Like automating your order fulfillment for example.
Easily done by taking advantage of Amazon’s advanced shipping and
fulfillment services. You will be able to earn more sales when you become
part of Amazon’s Prime customer tier.

With Amazon Doing All the Work, What Does the Seller Do?
With Amazon doing all the heavy lifting, what do you do as the seller?
Procure the goods and find your suppliers for one thing, which is possibly
the most important part of the job. Without the right products and a reliable
supplier, there will be no business, to begin with. You have other tasks as a
seller (which Amazon will not do for you), include:

● Keeping Track of Your Inventory - Managing your inventory is

going to be your responsibility. Amazon will notify you when your
inventory is running low. It is your job to make sure that the items
you sell are always in stock.

● Marketing Your Products - Amazon does all the backend work for
you so you can focus on the more interesting aspects of the business.
Like marketing and promoting your products. Competition is high in
the online retail space and you need to put your product in the
spotlight and make it visible to people who want your products.
Starting a store alone is not going to be enough to drive sales that are
going to require some effort on your part.

● Pay Amazon - Excellent service comes at a price of course. You

will have to pay Amazon the necessary fees for using its storage and
fulfillment facilities. However, given the kind of service you can
expect from Amazon, fees are well worth it.

With Amazon doing all the time-consuming work for you on your behalf
(including storage, order fulfillment, handling the delivery and returns and
dealing with the customer service side of your business), the fees you’re
paying for is essentially for the stellar customer service, which is available
around the clock and for reliable shipping and access to the most advanced
and largest fulfilment networks in this world.

When it comes to reputation, reliability and top-notch service, Amazon is at

the top of its game. Not many eCommerce retailers are able to match
entirely what this giant can do (it is the best in the business for a reason).
This contributes to a big part of its success and if you are willing to pay the
reasonable fees required, you can be a part of that success too.
Is Amazon FBA the Right Service for Me?
If you have a passion for buying and selling, the yes, Amazon FBA is the
ideal business platform to consider. After all, since you already love online
retail anyway, why not take it a step further and try to make some money
out of it? With FBA, what you are doing is scouring for items (shopping)
and then reselling them to other customers. Amazon has already made the
job easier for you by taking away the worry about storage space, sales,
shipping and customer support. All you need to do is find the products you
are passionate about selling and get started.

Here is how you can tell whether Amazon FBA is the perfect online
business and passive income stream for you:

● You are looking for a long-term side hustle that is dependable.

● You are looking for extra income aside from your regular 9-5 job.
● You want an additional way of making money online, but from the
comfort of your home.
● You have always wanted to dabble in entrepreneurship without
taking too much risk that is going to land you in debt.

In addition, Amazon FBA is not going to be the perfect business model for
you if:

● You are hoping this is going to be a shortcut to getting rich quickly

(no such shortcut like that exists, unfortunately).
● You are hoping to make massive profits in a short amount of time.
● You are looking for a quick return on the investment that you put in.
● You do not have the time to commit to doing the necessary work.

Quick Stats and Facts about Amazon’s FBA Service

For those who are new to the Amazon FBA scene, here are some quick and
important facts that you should keep abreast of. One, more than one
Amazon marketplace exists and it depends on where your customers are
located. A customer’s location is going to determine which Amazon.com
store they see. The location will also determine which fulfillment service
your customers experience.

Picture 2

By far, Amazon’s largest marketplace is none other than the United States
of course, which also happens to be the most active marketplace compared
to the rest. Amazon’s marketplaces are divided into the following
categories:

In North America, the marketplaces are:

● Canada
● Mexico
● United States

In Europe:

● Spain
 ● Germany
● United Kingdom
● France
● Italy

In Asia:

● India
● China
● Japan

Each marketplace’s website address will reflect its location. Amazon in the
UK, for example, is accessed via Amazon.co.uk. In France, the address
would be Amazon.fr, in Japan it's Amazon.co.jp and so on. The location of
each marketplace would determine the specific regulations and tax laws,
which apply locally depending on the country and region, which you would
need to familiarize yourself with before you set up your FBA business.

By default, for most sellers based in the U.S., the marketplace would, of
course, be Amazon.com. However, sellers do have the option of branching
out and diversifying their products into other regions if they wanted to. The
advantage of doing that is you are expanding your services and potentially
boosting revenue, but the downside is you might have to deal with higher
costs when it comes to shipping. You will also need to have the time to
commit to managing different stores in different regions. If you cannot, you
will need to have the necessary funds to hire help in managing and
operating your multiple stores.

Now, if you are happy just with running a simple retail store with no plans
for expansion, then you will not need an eCommerce website to sell on
FBA. However, if you want to take your business a step further, then an
eCommerce store is the way to do. That decision would depend entirely on
what your business goals are. One advantage of having an eCommerce store
operating outside Amazon is the opportunity to increase the visibility of
your business and products, which means you are increasing your chances
of selling more.

Several other reasons to consider an eCommerce store include:

● More options to explore selling your products other than what is

offered by Amazon.
● You get to implement various other strategies to scale your
business.
● Opportunity to build on brand equity.
● Opportunity to increase your market reach through advertising.
● Opportunity to build a solid customer base.
● Opportunity to build an email list.
● Opportunity to generate B2B sales
● Better flexibility with products if it is your own website.

Benefits of Using Amazon as a Selling Platform

For an online business to be deemed a success, it needs to be efficient and
fast when it comes to shipping (among other things). Amazon has already
perfected this aspect into an unbeatable process, going the extra mile to
ensure that their shipping is always top-notch. They have been doing this
ever since Amazon first went live and they have only improved on their
shipping service over time. A large part of why customers keep coming
back to Amazon is because of their renowned ability to get their orders to
customers in the fastest time possible, no matter where in the world the
customer may be.

Among the primary reasons sellers want to do business on Amazon’s

platform is because when you sell on Amazon, you automatically open up
to a huge customer base with a high conversion rate. This is something you
are not going to be able to replicate on any other e-commerce platform,
eBay included. You are able to make more money by doing less work than
you normally would on other platforms. Amazon also offers significant
advantages, especially for sellers seeking to reach a large and diverse
clientele that is ready to spend money online, in a short amount of time.
Amazon has - and always will - put their customers first above anything.
The company continues to strive to create better shopping experiences;
even going so far as to try to improve their shipping times so they can
deliver products even faster than what they are already doing. It also
continues to work hard to improve the overall shopping experience
customers get when they come to their website. When you sell on Amazon,
you are selling with the best of the best. The other benefits you stand to
gain include:

● A Willing and Ready Customer Base - Amazon’s power lies in its

large customer base, all of whom are ready and willing to purchase
products that they need. By selling on Amazon, compared to many
other retail platforms, the number of potential customers is more than
triple the number of potential customers on eBay. This means you
have an incredible opportunity in your hands. The chance to reach an
ever-ready crowd, ready to buy online the minute they set up their
business using Amazon. Sellers on Amazon can reach 237 million
customers.

● Customer Spending Power - Customers love retail shopping. More

importantly, they love retail shopping on Amazon more than any
other platform. Amazon’s revenue in June 2018 surged to $81.76
billion. Consequently, eBay reported $17.05 billion in that same
period. An RBC survey even revealed that the average customer who
shops on Amazon would spend approximately $320 annually. These
numbers are very promising from a seller’s point of view. It is an
opportunity for sellers to gain depth and breadth where the visibility
of their business is concerned.

● Its Undisputed Reputation - Amazon has a credible reputation.

When it comes to credibility, no other platform can hold a candle to
Amazon, thanks to its exceptional customer service and shipping.
This has enabled Amazon to hold a large market share of online
consumers simply because of their amazing services. This is
something to keep in mind if you are deciding between eBay and
Amazon.
● The Power of Prime - Amazon Prime can absolutely increase your
revenues and increase the number of customers. With Prime, Amazon
encourages customers to spend a little bit more by giving incentives
such as two-day free shipping on plenty of Prime products. Prime
customers spent an average of $528 a year compared to $320 spent
by non-Prime Amazon customers.

● Absence of Listing Fees - While some platforms charge fees just to

list products, Amazon does not. You will only be charged when you
have made a sale. As a seller, this means you can list as many items
as you would like on Amazon and then leave them until a customer
has purchased them. The slight downside with this one is, the sales
fee is rather hefty, with Amazon taking at least 20% of the profit.
This fee is even higher if you are an FBA seller but of course, when
you become an FBA seller, you are doing less work, therefore it
balances out in the end.

● No Relisting Needed - A huge, hassle-free advantage that Amazon

has over platforms like eBay is there is no need to continuously relist
your items the way you would need to on eBay. Unless you sign up
for the FBA service though, you are going to have to handle the
shipping and customer service aspect of the business yourself.

● You Can Charge Slightly Higher Prices - Customers would be

willing to pay the extra too, for the sake of the guarantee that comes
with Amazon. Amazon, at the end of the day, is an online retailer.
Like other retailers, they make their money by selling items at
competitive rates. This process contrasts with that of a wholesaler,
who charges you the lowest possible price, especially if you buy in
bulk. eBay acts as a wholesale market and charges the lowest price.
For example, a t-shirt may cost $15 on eBay but on Amazon, the
same t-shirt might cost you $20. The reason for this increase is that
Amazon sells new items (although there are used options available
for certain products too), whereas eBay sells mostly used items.
● Home of Reliable Brands - Amazon stocks some of the most
reliable brands on the market. As one of the most trusted retail names
out there, Amazon and many of its customers are willing to pay $99 a
year to be part of the Prime service. If you sell your products through
Amazon, your business is then associated with a trusted brand. If you
are a budding brand or the average online entrepreneur trying to
make ends meet, Amazon is a good starting point. You get to access
their large customer base while you learn the ropes of the business,
before expanding to sell your products on shelves like Walmart.

● An Excellent Learning Platform - Business is a risk, but you can

minimize that risk when you sell on Amazon. You can use the
Amazon platform to test your target market for the products you plan
to sell. By selling on Amazon, you gain access to retail data that
enables you to see how your product is doing, what the demand is
and what you can charge for your product.

● Driving Awareness - Amazon can be a great tool used to drive

traffic to your other websites. Even better if you have a social media
account or blog. It can be a valuable source of buyer information,
which can give you great input on how to sell your products from
what offers customers like, what they do not like, best times to open
for promotions and so on. This should be part of your marketing
strategy, to plan for long-term and sustainable success.

● Perks of Amazon Associates - You can take advantage of Amazon

Associates services to market and promote products related to the
industry on your website. Amazon Associates is an affiliate program
that allows sellers to earn commissions through affiliate links. A
slight downside with this option here is that there will be a clash of
interest on the products you sell and the ones you promote. One way
to avoid this conflict is by selecting products you promote
meticulously and not burn your business.
● Getting A Boost in Sales of 30-50% - This boost primarily comes
from Amazon’s Prime program. Many shoppers do not like the idea
of having to pay for shipping and Prime and stepped up to solve that
problem. As a Prime user, you are entitled to 2-days of free shipping
on any Prime-eligible products. This, in turn, increases the shopper’s
probability of purchases. Combine that with the “trust factor”, where
Amazon has built an undisputed reputation for itself and your sales
are going to jump exponentially. When a customer sees the “Shipped
by Amazon” or “Fulfilled by Amazon” indicator, there is a sense of
relief and peace of mind. They know their products are safe and they
are not going to be scammed, which is a very real probability if they
were to purchase from an unknown merchant with no long-standing
history.

● You do not have to worry about Shipping - You would be

surprised at how tedious and time consuming the shipping and
handling process can be. Once again, it is a huge relief for merchants,
knowing that Amazon is going to take care of all of that for them.
Amazon is the expert when it comes to shipping and they have gone
to great lengths to ensure continued quality service, in the fastest and
most reliable way. This gives FBA sellers a wonderful and must-not-
miss opportunity to capitalize on that. Sellers get to save a lot of time
and resources, which they would otherwise have to divert towards
handling the shipping aspect. With that out of the way, you are left
free and clear to focus entirely on advertising and marketing your
products.

● You Gain the Trust of Your Customers - With products

guaranteed to arrive, customers will love any business running under
Amazon and its FBA label. It is not only Americans that love and
trust Amazon either. Customers around the world have been turning
to the retail giant for years to have their needs met. It is irrefutable
what those three simple words “ Fulfilled by Amazon” can do for
your sales figures. Even if the customer has never heard of you until
you, they will be completely comfortable purchasing from you,
thanks again to the level of trust that is associated with Amazon.
 Shoppers are more likely to purchase from a retailer they know
without a doubt that they can trust.

● You are Automatically Eligible for Prime - With 64% of

American households being members of Amazon Prime that is
almost 85 million customers who are currently using this premier
service. Those who are members of Prime are not going to buy
products that are not eligible for the Prime option. Having that Prime
logo is tapping into the trust factor once again and when it comes to
selling on Amazon FBA, Prime is definitely the way to go.

● You Get Access to the “Buy Box” - Amazon’s “buy box” is the
white box, which is located on the right, the same section where
customers can click on the “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” options. If
you are wondering why this box matters so much, here is why. On
Amazon, you will find two types of sellers. One is Amazon
themselves; the second is third party. The latter category is made up
of every company who is not a part of Amazon themselves. If you
have your own eCommerce store, this is you. Now, several of these
third-party businesses are going to be selling the same product, with
the same details listed on their site. The sellers then, compete to win
the “Buy Box”, because, with this option on your page, you become
the seller whose product is selected. Your product becomes the one
customers add to their cart or buy now. 83% of sales on Amazon
happen through the Buy Box option, which makes it a statistic you
cannot ignore. In addition, yes, you have to “win” this option and it is
Amazon who determines who the winner is. Amazon relies on an
algorithm, which then determines the seller who will be represented
in the Buy Box and for what duration. One thing’s for sure, the Buy
Box is going to give you a lot of preference as an FBA seller.
Picture 3

Picture 4
Another Way of Doing Business
There are times when having options is a wonderful thing. Amazon’s FBA
feature is one of those times. From Amazon sellers themselves to third
party and even direct-to-consumer sellers, there is more than one way to
conduct business on this platform. As business is slowly converting to
third-party sellers, wholesalers are decreasing as business start switching to
direct-to-consumer sellers. As far as Amazon FBA is concerned, this is
good news. This means that more sellers operate on Amazon as direct-to-
consumer businesses instead of getting Amazon to act as first-party sellers.
Third party selling allows the sellers to have greater control, as well as
ownership on their business. These sellers also sell on other platforms other
than Amazon.

Amazon is also giving its sellers an amazing opportunity to reach a massive

audience. For this reason alone, sellers cannot discount the power of
Amazon. It is crucial for the growth of their business and imperative to
success. That being said, it is not the only opportunity for sellers. Sellers
should also look into other platforms to maximize profits, which includes
their own blogs, websites, e-commerce marketplaces.

With the operational struggles of running a business as a third-party seller

and the competition from other sellers and Amazon themselves, being able
to sell on other platforms besides Amazon is a good thing. As Amazon
continues to launch even more of its private-label brands, there is concern
among third-party sellers in terms of the competition from Amazon. This
makes the sellers themselves a lot more likely to move on to other
eCommerce sites that meet their needs. It is, however, important to note that
these sellers are not necessarily abandoning Amazon; rather they are
diversifying their profits.

When it comes to online retail, Amazon is the go-to store. Selling on

Amazon is one of the best ways to start your entrepreneurship foray into the
business world. As a newcomer, you might be worried about staying on top
of industry developments and what is going on in the online retail space.
You do not have to worry about that when you are with Amazon though,
because there will be new technology and developments and you will
always be among the first to know. The bottom line is, there are many
reasons to sell on Amazon. With all the advantages listed above, it is clearly
the best place to begin an online business and eventually generate a passive
income stream strong enough to sustain you.

Of course, as with everything else, Amazon is not entirely perfect,

especially where its fees are concerned. However, if you decide that the
advantages are enough to line up with your business goals, Amazon could
be the place for your business to call home. The best way to see if it works
for you is to sell things on a smaller scale on Amazon so you can get a feel
of the platform, if its fees are beneficial against the benefits and if it is a
place where your target market frequents. It may not be for everyone but it
can give your business the boost you have been looking for.

Benefits of Generating a Passive Income Stream and Why You Should

Do It

It is not money that is our most precious resource. It is time. Time, the most
sacred asset you own, capable of tremendous change when used correctly.
We all have 24-hours in a day to work with. Yet, some people have reached
pinnacles of financial success with than same 24-hours where so many are
still struggling and wondering “Where did all my money go?” at the end of
every month. Regardless of your race, religion, skin color, age and where
you come from, only you can make that 24-hours count for something.
Once a moment is gone, you can never get it back again and every moment
that is wasted is an opportunity that might have been the turning point of
your life. This is exactly why creating a passive income stream matters so
much. Your time is going to be more valuable than any amount of money
you could ever make. In the wise words of author John Wooden : “Don’t let
making a living stop you from building a life”.

Money can always be earned. You can constantly acquire more money, but
you cannot get more time. You cannot expect to be financially free if you do
not put in the work for it now. That work begins by choosing the wisest
investments of your time, one of which is passive income. It is your best bet
and one of the central methods that many successful people have used to get
to where they are financial. Passive income leads you to a life where you
can make money literally, while you sleep. You put in the hard work in the
beginning and eventually you start making money without having to do
quite as much work anymore.

Passive income makes it sound like making money is easy. Creating that
passive income stream, however, is far from easy. You have to make
sacrifices in the beginning to reap the rewards later. It is going to take a lot
of hard work and in the beginning a lot of time, too. You must be prepared
to see little returns at first, but eventually, it will amount to something
substantial. Patience and persistence are going to be your best friends in
this scenario.

First, What Is Passive Income Specifically?

It is the kind of income that you get automatically, yet demands very little
of your time to maintain. Unlike your salary, which is active income that
must be earned each month, passive income keeps running in the
background, even when you are not doing a lot of work for it.

Active income works differently. Here, you need to exchange your time for
money. It could be a salaried job, or a pay-per-hour one, but at the end of
the day, the money you earn comes down to how much you work. If you do
not work, you are not be compensated. If you want money, you need to
sacrifice your most precious resource for it (time). When something
happens to you that leaves you incapable of working, you are in financial
trouble. With no active income coming in, it will not be long before you
start to fall behind on the bills and debt quickly begins piling up.

Most people live their lives depending on their active income. Very little
thought is given to generating a passive income stream. These same people
are frustrated financially a lot of the time because no matter how hard they
work; money never seems to be enough. The rich, on the other hand, live
life completely differently. They focus a lot of their energy and any
available resources they have towards generating a passive income stream
through sources that include rentals, royalties, website advertisement,
dividends and more.
Building your own passive income stream though is not going to be an easy
undertaking (but it will be worth it). Initially, it is going to involve a lot of
time invested and during this period, you will possibly receive no income at
all. With passive income, you are trading your time in the present for the
possibility of recurring income down the road. It is not an immediate results
kind of the venture; it is a long-term one. Why is it worth it? Because once
your stream has stabilized, it will keep on paying you even when you do not
do any work for it.

There are many ways to create a passive income stream, one of which is
Amazon FBA. The benefits of creating a passive income stream include:

● You Reclaim Your Precious Resource - You do not want to spend

the rest of your life trading your time for money because that then
leaves you with very little time to enjoy your life the way that you
should. Passive income will give you back that freedom. When you
have a steady recurring income, you are no longer shackled by the
need to depend entirely on an active income. No matter what
happens, you will be able to land on your feet. When you retire, you
are free to enjoy your days and your monthly obligations will still be
taken care of, thanks to this passive income stream. Having the
flexibility and the freedom to do what makes you the happiest
without worrying about money is one of the greatest forms of
freedom you will ever experience.

● Fewer Worries About the Future - The time to start thinking

about your financial future is now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not
a month or a year from now. It is now. There is nothing like the
pressure of worrying about how you are going to make ends meet to
really elevate your stress and anxiety levels. Everything that you do
today will have an impact on your future. What you do today matters
for tomorrow. Retirement may (or may not) still be a prospect that’s
far away, but you don’t want to reach that point and feel an
overwhelming sense of fear, hopelessness and desperation when you
realize you didn’t plan your finances all the way through. The stress
of worrying about finances is going to quickly eat away at your
 mental and physical health, not to mention kill any hopes, dreams or
aspirations you may have had. Having a passive income stream (or
several) takes away many of those worries. You do not have to worry
as much about your financial future when you have taken the steps to
secure it from this moment. Passive income is something that gets
bigger with time and momentum, so the sooner you get started, the
better your finances will look like one day.

● You Are Your Own Boss - Being in charge of your own life and
calling all the shots and not having to answer to a boss 9-5 anymore
is a liberating feeling. You make the rules, you hold the power and it
is up to you to steer your life (and finances) towards the direction you
want it to go. You are free to explore your creativity and your passion
without having to ask for permission or get approval. You do not
work for others anymore; you work for yourself. With Amazon FBA
for example, you oversee the running your own business and the
success of your business achieves is entirely in your hands. Not
having to depend on anyone else is freedom in its own way.

● You Can Work from Anywhere - Imagine being able to work even
when you are halfway across the world touring the sites? Not “work”
per se, but the little effort needed to sometimes maintain or check in
on your passive income streams will not confine you to an office the
way a 9-5 job would. You can work at the nearby Starbucks or cafe
when you want, even when you have a little free time on your
vacation and you feel like checking in to see how things are going.
Another freedom benefit that comes with not having to depend on an
active income stream for your livelihood.

● You Have Financial Security - No matter what happens to you or

the economy, you know your financial state is secure when you have
one or several multiple income streams coming in. If you are
suddenly let go from your steady job and paycheck, you are not as
stressed out and panicked, as you would be if you had no passive
income stream at all. Financial security is one of the best gifts you
can give your future self and the sense of relief you get at still seeing
regular deposits coming into your bank account even without an
active income is priceless.
Chapter 2: The Beginning

It all begins with a plan. A business plan, that is.

One of the very first things an entrepreneur needs to do before beginning

any kind of new business venture is to have a business plan. Yes, even when
you are running an online business like Amazon FBA. A business plan is
always useful and more importantly, it’s integral if you want to start your
business off on the right foot.

Preparing a solid business plan for your business to stand on, can take a
long time to put together. There is a tremendous amount of research that
goes into it since its imperative that you get it done right. Research is
probably going to be the most time-consuming portion of the process since
you want to be sure you have done your due down to the smallest detail
with diligence.

There is still some debate as to the usefulness of having a business plan to

work with. Not every entrepreneur seems to be sold on the idea, judging
from the Babson College study in which 116 new business were surveyed.
The results of the study revealed that having a formal business plan seemed
to make little to no difference at all, in whether a business was ultimately
successful. This assumes that the business did not seek funding from
external sources. Some even argued that spending time on developing this
business plan was stifling the startup process.

However, another study revealed that entrepreneurs were more likely to

succeed by 16% if they had a business plan. Even more, studies pointed out
that a business plan may not be a guaranteed indicator of success, but it did
indicate that an entrepreneur who was committed to taking this plan through
to the end was more likely to succeed than those who did not have any kind
of plan at all.
Ultimately, if a business plan could potentially give your business a greater
chance at success, why not do it?

How to Create a Business Plan and Why You Should Have One
Let us go through a couple of questions first:

● Do you have plans to expand your business in the future?

● Do you want to increase your competitiveness within the industry?
● Do you have certain business goals that you want to achieve within
a reasonable period?

Assuming you’ve answered yes to any (or all) of the above, then those are
the reasons why you should have a business plan before beginning your
Amazon FBA venture or any kind of business, for that matter. Ultimately,
planning and preparation are always going to lead to a better outcome when
you have something to guide your way. Think of your business plan as a
compass that is pointing you towards the right direction.

A business plan is important in many ways and here are some other reasons
why having one is a good idea:

● It Helps If You Need Financing - You are going to have a hard

time finding any kind of financing without a plan of action to show.
Banks and investors will be looking for something concrete,
something to convince them why they should take a risk on you.
Essentially, you need to prove why you are a worthwhile investment.
A business plan shows that you are committed, serious, that you have
done your due diligence and predicted where your income and profit
will come from. Having a plan allows these lenders to get a better
idea about what your business is, to see your vision from your point
of view.

● It Sets Your Priorities - Even running an online business, there will

be a lot going on. Everything you need to attend to is going to pull
your attention in a million different directions. Without priorities in
 place, it can be easy to focus too much time on the less important
aspects and spend far too much time focusing on the wrong areas. If
you’ve got business goals you want to achieve, having a business
plan will define what your priorities should be, map out a plan of
action you need to take and have a contingency plan for any
challenges you might face on the road ahead.

● It Puts You in Control - When you have a plan on your hands, you
know what is going on. You are aware of everything that is taking
place and that gives you a sense of control. You are the captain of
your business ship and it is up to you to control which direction your
business heads towards. With a plan, you are in charge every step of
the way because you know which markets you need to target and who
your competitors are. You know where you are, where you need to be
and what obstacles you need to overcome to get there. You
understand your finances, your goals and your measure of success.

● Making Better Business Decisions - There is no time to be

indecisive or on the fence when you are running your own business.
You need to be confident and you need to make firm business
decisions that you stand by. A business plan helps make that process
easier because you have got the facts laid out in front of you and your
tough decisions are going to be based on which facts will provide a
better outcome.

Getting started with a business plan is probably the hardest part of the
process. You are staring at a blank sheet of paper in front of you, wondering
where and how to begin. You do not need many fantastic ideas to begin
with, what you need are discipline and focus. It is okay if your business
plan takes a while before it comes together if you get it done right. In
addition, here is the thing; you do not have to start with a blank sheet of
paper either. A quick search online will reveal more than enough business
plan templates for you to choose from.
When preparing a business plan, there are several areas of focus that must
be included. The United States Small Business Administration (SBA)
recommends that every business plan include the following details:

● An Executive Summary , which gives an overall snapshot of what

your business is.

● A Company Description describing what your business is, what

you sell and what you do.

● A Market Analysis containing all the research information you

have uncovered about your competitors, target market and industry.

● A Marketing and Sales Plan that details what your sales strategy is
and how you intend to market your business.

● A Business Management Structure: plan of your business.

● Produce and Service details about what your business intends to

sell or provide.

● Funding Details about the amount of money needed for a 3 to 5-

year projection.

● Financial Projections with details about your balance sheet and

profit estimates.

● An Appendix, which is an optional section where you can include

any relevant resumes or permits as needed.
 Contents of a Business Plan (Picture 5)

As for writing your business plan, these are the guidelines you want to stick
to:

● Always research, do more research and do even more research about

your target market, products, competitors and more. Cover all areas
of your business from top to bottom.

● Be clear about what your plan’s purpose is.

● Create a clear profile of your company, including details about

when it started, the history, the products or services offered resources,
audience and what makes your business special. On websites, this is
commonly found in the “About Us” section.
 ● Record everything that goes on in your business, right down to the
smallest detail. Document everything from the process to your
expenses and cash flow.

● Be eager to accustomed and adjust as needed. Customers, the nature

of your business and the business environment, in general, is always
changing and you need to be able to adapt right along with it.

Amazon Fees and Costs

This is going to be part of your business plan preparation and you are going
to need to be as detailed as possible so you know exactly where your money
is going and how it is being spent. Considering the amount of work
Amazon does for you, the fees are surprisingly reasonable:

● Professional Accounts and Individual Seller Accounts - There

are two types of accounts available on Amazon, professional and
individual seller. Individual seller accounts are usually free, but there
will be higher sales fees involved. Professional accounts have a
monthly subscription fee of $39.95, but with lower sales fees
incurred. The account you choose depends on what your sales
volume would be. If you are planning to sell more than 40 items per
month, then it is better to get a professional account. If you only plan
to sell no more than a few items per month, go with the individual
seller account as your best bet.

● Amazon Fees - In exchange for doing a lot of your workload,

Amazon charges a fee for their services. This is no different from
other online marketplaces. Here is a quick rundown of the fees you
can expect to incur on Amazon FBA:

The individual seller account comes with an additional

$1.00 flat fee that Amazon charges for every product sold.

A 15% referral fee on all sales for most categories listed on

Amazon.
 There is a fee charged to cover shipping and handling cost
too, but the good news is that the fees you end up paying
are still significantly lower than what you would pay if you
shipped it yourself.

There is also a flat fee for things like DVDs and books.

Long-term storage fees when you keep your inventory a

little too long at Amazon fulfillment centers.

There are inventory costs involved too. Based on the kind

of products you choose to sell on Amazon, the costs for
inventory will vary. It is recommended that you utilize a
private label method. It is best to start with just a few
things around the house that you already own to sell on
Amazon just to get a feel on using Amazon FBA.

Diving even deeper into the various Amazon fees incurred when you decide
to go with the FBA program, here is what you are looking to spend on in
the categories below:

Fees for General Fulfilment

These are the fees you will be mainly dealing with and two things will
determine the fees:

● Product size
● Total weight for shipping

Standard products like clothing items, wallets, bags, kettles and so on are
considered standard products. The fees for these are divided into four
categories:
 Picture 6

Then you have your oversized products like TVs, microwaves and any
other large-scale items, which are also divided into four cost categories:
 Picture 7

The heavier your product, the more you can expect to pay.

Storage Fees
Since Amazon is going to be storing your product for you, they will be
charging you a fee for it. The price you can expect to pay will depend on
how much space your products are going to occupy in their warehouse.
Prices are charged monthly and it will be based on the cubic feet that you
are going to occupy.
 Picture 8

Order Removal Fees

In case you need to dispose of some of your inventory, Amazon can take
care of that for you too. For a fee incurred, of course, and you will be
charged per-item.

Picture 9

While there is admittedly a lot of fees to contend with, they are all low and
will end up costing you a lot less if you were to do all the work by yourself.

Amazon’s Referral Fee

You will have to fork out money for this one in exchange for having an
active listing on Amazon. A referral fee here means Amazon “refers” their
customers to your products once you are actively listed on the platform.
This fee is generally a percentage taken out of the retail cost, which will
differ based on the product category of course.

The Packing and Picking Fees - This one refers to the costs associated
with sending your item to the warehouses and the cost of Amazon helping
you package your products with their packing material. The fee is incurred
over the labor costs involved in Amazon’s warehouses.

Weight Handling Fees - You will need to pay the shipping cost to send
your products to the customers and these costs will be calculated based on
how much your product weighs. Amazon advertises ‘Free 2 Day Prime
Shipping’ for any FBA or Prime product, but who ends up covering the
shipping costs then? That is right, the sellers.

Preparation Service Fees - If you are relying on Amazon to apply certain

labels on your packages, like the UPC codes, for example, you can bet there
is going to be a fee involved here too. You are looking at $.0.30 per
product.

Why Sellers Are Willing to Pay to Be on Amazon FBA

It is hard to ignore the massive pulling power that Amazon has. Being a
seller on Amazon alone can do wonders for your online repertoire as a
seller. A monthly average estimates that more than 197 million people
frequent Amazon’s website and that is too big of a number for retailers to
ignore. Amazon is a clear leader when it comes to the e-commerce industry,
beating out even its competitors like Walmart, Apple and eBay. There is no
sign that Amazon is going to be slowing down anytime soon either.

Amazon is at the top of the proverbial retail food chain and this is one of
the reasons why sellers are willing to pay the extra cost. Other reasons
include:

● Amazon’s Seamless Shopping Experience - This is a big pull for

customers. Amazon has become a credible brand name, so powerful
that nine out of ten online shoppers price check a product and
compare on Amazon before making any purchases. Amazon offers
competitive pricing, reliable customer service as well as seamless
shipping. Customers who find the product that they are looking for
available on Amazon will more likely make their purchase on this
 platform compared to anywhere else, especially if they have never
heard of the retailer or merchant before.

● You Can usually Find What You Need - Amazon’s vast selection
means there is always something for everyone, even the incredibly
niche markets. Customers are sure to find the product they want at a
price they can afford, on Amazon.

● Helping Customers Find Anything They Need - That is

Amazon’s mission statement and one that they take very seriously. To
fulfill this statement, the company sells as many different products as
possible across as all sorts of niche markets and industries where
possible, so that no matter who you are or what you need, you can
find what you are looking for. Amazon’s robust platform is home to
more than 12 million products, media, fashion, wine, books,
stationary, parts and services, gadgets, electronics and tools on their
catalog. Amazon’s Marketplace even plays host to 350 million
products and counting. For sellers, this means excellent customer
prospects, but higher competition in terms of getting your product to
stand out.

● In It for The Prime - Amazon Prime launched in 2005 and at that

time, members paid $79 annually to get free 2-day shipping on
eligible purchases. Since then, Amazon Prime members have reaped
plenty of benefits. These benefits include first-look access to their
lightning deals, unlimited video streaming, free monthly e-books as
well as discounts at Whole Foods stores. By the end of 2018,
memberships for Amazon Prime reached a staggering 95 million
users in the US alone. Members not only shop on Amazon but also
pay a monthly fee to gain faster shipping and exclusive benefits.
Therefore, sellers are willing to pay more to be listed on Amazon.
Because customers on Amazon are willing to spend.
 Why Sellers Pay for Amazon FBA ( Picture 10)

Being a seller on Amazon is well worth the fees that you need to pay for
their FBA service. Having that access to tap into a huge network of
dedicated shoppers who are loyal at making a purchase on the platform is
going to make a big difference to your business and your profit at the end of
the day. If you want to give your sales its best possible chance, this is the
platform that you need to be on. Annually, Prime members alone have
recorded to spend an average of $1,400 on Amazon, whereas non-prime
members have been shown to spend around $600. Your product is going to
potentially be in front of 95 million shoppers and that number is just based
in the U.S. alone. We are not even talking about international customer
potential yet.

How to Create Your Selling Account

There are many e-commerce platforms out there, each one claiming to be
the best at what they do. Every platform does have its own strengths to
contribute and researching the pros and cons of each platform before you
get started will give you a better idea of what to expect. Choosing one
platform, like Amazon, for example, does not mean that your research ends
there, though. Far from it. Choosing Amazon is just the first step.

Once you have decided on Amazon, you are going to have to figure out the
best distribution model in Amazon that fits your business goals and needs.
For sellers wanting to strengthen their eCommerce composition and boost
their business, they would need to integrate marketplace retails into their
overall business. Strategy. Consumer habits that keep changing are a big
reason why this needs to be done. A consumer’s needs and interests also
change depending on what they are looking for. This changing need is the
primary reason why businesses simply cannot stick to just one selling
platform alone.

The biggest advantage that Amazon offers its sellers, particularly the new
entrepreneurs who are just starting out for the first step, is its name. There is
no other name as famous in the 21st century. Mention Amazon and just
about everyone you meet know what you are referring too. Sellers can take
advantage of its name to propel their business several steps forward instead
of struggling from scratch. This is a unique opportunity for both the seller
and for Amazon- the partnership that is mutually beneficial.

But First, Choose Your Partnership

Before you begin creating your selling account, look at the kind of
partnerships that Amazon offers sellers like yourself:

● First Party Partnerships - You sell directly to Amazon who in

turn sells it to the customers. This works similarly to a wholesale
partnership.

● Third-Party Partnerships - Sellers sell their goods directly to

consumers using the Amazon marketplace.

Your choice of partnership is going to depend on what you want to get out
of it. You could even opt to go for both partnerships, which then becomes
known as the hybrid business model. There are many opportunities for
sellers to leverage the online marketplace to benefit their own direct-to-
consumer (DTC) efforts. Sellers must be able to identify what is best for
their business as well as their shoppers.

Something that your shoppers never want to encounter is when they’re

excited and ready to purchase your product, only to find that the item they
want has the dreaded three words splashed across the product image: Out of
stock. Online consumers particularly want an uninterrupted experience no
matter what platform they are on. This means your real-time inventory as a
seller needs to be managed across channels efficiently and effectively. The
advantage of going with the third-party seller partnership is you have
complete control over your inventory and this level of freedom allows you
to maintain and create a multichannel strategy. You can move products
between platforms so you minimize those moments when you must inform
your customers that your products are out of stock.

Understanding How These Partnerships Work

In the first party partnership option, sellers give up their fulfillment control
and allow Amazon to decide which products Amazon will buy and how
many. Sellers also have little to no control over their inventory, since
Amazon takes care of the end-to-end process. Amazon also handles the
fulfillment and sellers under this partnership will not be able to use the
same inventory to fulfill multi-channel orders. With the first-party option,
Amazon is also going to control your product pricing. They can choose to
lower their prices, which influences the brand’s end profits. Third-party
sellers have more freedom in this sense since Amazon allows them to
control their pricing strategy.

At the end of the day, with the partnership that you choose (whether it is
one or both options), there is something you need to keep in mind. You need
to choose the method, which is going to best amplify your business needs.

Now, For Your Seller Account

To begin selling on Amazon, you will have to create a seller account. This
is very, very simple and straightforward. First, head to the Amazon Seller
Central and click on the “Register Now” button. When you have done, all
you need to do is follow the rest of the steps and fill out the fields you are
prompted to. Setting up your Amazon seller account should take no more
than a few minutes and once you are all done, you are ready to start selling.
Easy.

Step two of the process, once you have signed up for an account, is to
access the relevant tools to get your business going. Once you have set up
your account, it is recommended that you also download the Amazon Seller
App. The app is free and you will get notifications about the selling price,
the fees as well as product availability on their website. Through the app,
you can also use your cell phone camera to scan a barcode of any product
and the app will show you the price and fee information if you are
considering selling it on Amazon. By viewing the Fulfillment by Amazon
Revenue Calculator, you can get details on fee and any items.

There is a hand little tool called the Fulfillment by Amazon Revenue

calculator. With this tool, you will be able to:

● Look for any item you desire to sell on Amazon

● Insert the price and how much it will cost to ship to Amazon’s
warehouse
● How much each product will cost
● The profits you would be making on each product

It is a good idea to run through every item you plan to sell through this
calculator so you can see what fees are involved, what your costs are and
what your potential profit is. This will help you estimate your profits and
expand your business.

Here is an example of what you should see when you head to the revenue
calculator option:
Picture 11
 Picture 12

You can easily access your Amazon seller account at any time, through the
login page. You will have to go undergo a 2-step authentication process for
security purposes. Amazon will send you a code to your mobile device,
which you’ll have to key in.

If you need help along the way, Amazon’s Seller Support is available via
the Amazon Seller University site. Amazon’s Support page also makes it
easy for you to reach out to the customer support directly.

Get Started and Get Selling

All right, now that your seller account is good to go, here is what you need
to do next. In brief, these are the steps you are looking to take:

● Step 1: Choosing your business products

● Step 2: Listing them on Amazon
● Step 3: Set the selling price
● Step 4: Prepare to ship your items to the Amazon FBA warehouse
location
● Step 5: Box the items and ship them to the designated warehouse
Amazon assigned to you

Once your products have arrived safely at the warehouse, Amazon is going
to help you do the following:

● Step 1: Verify that the correct items have been sent in the proper
condition
● Step 2: Verify that your listings are activated by Amazon
● Step 3: Your seller name will appear on the product detail page
● Step 4: Your item is now listed as available for purchase
● Step 5: When an order is placed, a team member from Amazon is
assigned to ensure that your item is shipped to the customer
● Step 6: When the item is shipped, you get a deposit of your sales to
share into your account. This share is your selling price after the fees
that you need to pay have been deducted.

Each time an order is shipped from your store, you are notified. Every two
weeks, you get a deposit into your designated bank account for all the items
you have sold in the past 2 weeks. All you need to do is find items to sell
and Amazon handles the rest for you.

Let us dive into the details for some of the more important steps of this
process.

Pricing Your Products

Of course, before you can price your items, you need to choose the items
you want to sell. A good tip to determine what the competitive pricing is
now is by pricing your products at a similar level to other sellers on
Fulfillment by Amazon. Here is an example of what that may exhibit like:

Picture 13
 Picture 14

To get to this screen, you need to click the “used & new (#) from” link. Do
that and you will be greeted with a list of all the similar products available
for sale. The “#” section will be the details about the number of sellers
available for that specific listing. You can also choose to filter your results
based on Prime eligible or whether it is in new or used.

When you are fixing a price on your product, do not price them lower than
the other offers you are competing against. Doing this could potentially
cause a chain reaction where other sellers will attempt to outdo you by
pricing their products even lower than yours. The lower prices go, the worse
your profit margins are affected. Low prices are only great news for the
customers, not the business.

What you should do instead is to try to match the lowest available price that
uses similar fulfillment methods to your own. Your items should be priced
somewhere between .01 - 1% higher than what the lowest price on Amazon
is. Determining your ideal price point is something you are going to have to
experiment and play around with for a bit, to get a better gauge of what the
best prices are. This is easier as you gain more selling experience on
Amazon.

Listing Your Items

This is the exciting part for many sellers. You are just a mere few steps
away from making your first sale once you have listed your items on
Amazon. As soon as they have finalized matters from their end all that is
left to do is wait until someone makes a purchase. Now, once you have
listed your products, you need to then prepare to ship them over to the
warehouse you have been assigned to. Do not worry; this is not as difficult
as it initially sounds.

What you need to do is go to your seller account and click on the “Manage
FBA Inventory” option. Follow the prompts and fill in the details, including
your choice of shipping. Detail the number of boxes and units you will be
sent to Amazon, too. Follow all the instructions throughout each step of the
process.

When you are done with the inventory details, the “Create a New Shipping
Plan” option is where you want to turn your attention to, next. If you are
sending more than one unit or case, you need to select the “Case-packed
products” option too. When you click on the “Continue to Shipping Plan”
tab, fill in the details about the number of units and cases that you will be
sent to the warehouse. If you are sending 10 samples in one box, then insert
the number 10 into ‘Units per Case’ and number 1 into ‘Number of Cases’.

As you prepare to send your items on their journey, you want to make sure
that each product is neatly tucked away into its own individual poly bag.
Include a safety-warning label too, which needs to be prominently
displayed. If you have your own label printer, you can easily print this at
home. If you do not Amazon can do this for you for a fee (of course). You
will find your labeling options available on the seller’s account dashboard.
Select “Who labels” and then select “Apply to all” and finally, select
Amazon.
Now to choose the courier service of your preference. You have either
FedEx or UPS to work with. Once again, you will have to head back to your
trusty seller’s dashboard and select the “Work on Shipment” option to
choose the courier service you prefer. At the “Shipment Packing” option,
choose to go with “Everything in One Box”, an option, which you see from
the drop-down menu under “How Will This Shipment Be Packed”.

Measure and weigh your package per depth, height and width. Input these
details accurately, remembering to mark the box dimensions as you do.
When you are done, click on the “Confirm” button and you will be met with
two other options, which are “Shipping Charges” and “Calculate”. Here is
where you get to see how much you will be charged for shipping your
products to Amazon’s warehouses. Agree to the terms and conditions as per
usual practice and you are good to go. Should you change your mind for
any reason, you will have 24-hours to cancel your transaction. If you cancel
after the 24-hour mark, you will be charged and billed by Amazon. Do not
forget to stick your printed labels at the side of your shipping box , as per
Amazon’s guidelines.

Amazon will confirm they have successfully received your products via
email, which they will then add to their inventory. You will be able to see
this update on your dashboard, although it may take a few business days for
it to show up.

More than One Selling Approach

There are several selling options that you can choose from on Amazon,
which include:

● Retail arbitrage, which involves buying your items from

elsewhere and then selling them on Amazon for a marked-up price.

● Wholesale, which is, of course, a popular choice among wholesale

companies or sellers with larger capital to work with. For wholesales,
Amazon is often just one of their many revenue streams and they
 sometimes have a brick and mortar of their own in addition to what is
going on online.

● Private labeling, which is an option many already successful

entrepreneurs in the e-commerce space prefer to go with. This one
requires slightly more investment in terms of money and time, but the
upside is, you get to attract higher profit margins. With this option,
what happens is you take a standard, manufactured product and then
turn it into a brand of your own. In short, you are purchasing an
existing product and then slapping your own brand name and logo on
it. If you have the capital and the time to spare, private label selling
might be a good idea if you are thinking about maximum profit
potential.

Approach to Selling on Amazon (Picture 15)

How to Calculate Your FBA Profits

As much as you love the thrill of running your own business and being a
seller, something else is going to give you an even bigger reason to get
excited. Your profits.
As a seller through the Amazon FBA program, you need to understand your
FBA profits and how to calculate them. Knowing how much you will make
with every potential sale enables you to look forward and make better
decisions in your business, expand your business and work on better
strategies to maximize your profits. Remember, as a seller you always need
to adapt and change. When something is not working or could be done
better, you need to implement the necessary changes as soon as possible, so
your business is always steadily growing and getting better.

Understanding Retail Prices

Revenue figures are the easiest way to gauge how much your customer will
be willing to pay for a certain product. As a seller, you will need to carry
out what are known as split testing on your products in the future to fine-
tune your pricing strategy. In the beginning, the easiest and fastest way to
identify your best pricing option would be to see what your competitors are
doing. You will have to use your judgment in this case to review a price
point you think is suitable.

Estimating the Costs of Your Product

Here is where the FBA Revenue Calculator comes in again. Once Amazon
has identified your product, the calculator is where you will be able to see
the details of the individual and overall fees and the net profit you can
expect to take home after the sale. Here is an example of what that would
look like:
 Picture 16

Quick Recap About What You Need to Get Started Selling on Amazon
FBA
Just to make sure you have got your bases covered, let us go through the
basic preparation that you need before you begin selling on Amazon:

1. A laptop or computer, printer and a mobile phone.

 2. Your Amazon seller account and the Amazon Seller App
installed on your mobile phone.
3. Your basic supplies like a weighing scale, boxes to ship
your items, address labels and shipping tape.
4. A minimum of $500 in seed money to spend on initial
inventory.

Why $500 in inventory money? Because you need some inventory to start
selling and it is not enough to simply purchase one or two items. What if a
customer orders more than two items and you can’t fulfill that request
because you do not have it? They will turn to your competitors instead and
you will miss a sale. $500 is the bare minimum needed to get you going and
still have adequate inventory to get your sales coming in.

Once you start seeing sales though, the first few profits that you make is
going to have to be reinvested into your business. That is the smart thing to
do. Reinvesting your money into the business creates a snowball effect. Let
us say you have made $200 in profit; you do not have $700 dollars from the
previous $500 you started with. That is an extra $200 to buy stock so you
can then generate more sales by selling more products.

Amazon’s FBA program is a beautiful thing because you do not need any
kind of minimum to get started. If a few items are, all you can afford to ship
to start with, that’s okay it is better than not starting at all. You will be able
to increase that number once the snowball effect gets bigger and bigger.

● Manage your expectations, keep them realistic and you will do just
fine. You may not be making a lot of profit at the start ($200 profit
may not seem like much), but that is still extra income you otherwise
would not have if you never started this venture at all. Your business
is not going to skyrocket to success and remember that Amazon FBA
is not a get-rich-quick approach. You will be to be patient and willing
to invest the time needed until momentum for your business
eventually picks up speed.
Chapter 3: The Supplier, the Product, and the
Niche
Once you have your seller’s account all set up, it is time for the next
important mission. Sourcing your products, choosing to the perfect supplier
to work with, and finding a niche market to specialize in. If this sounds
stressful or overwhelming, do not worry, it is not as hard as you might
think; not when there are many areas you could get involved in, especially
where niche markets and products are concerned.

Let us begin with choosing the right products and niche market.

How to Choose the Best Merchandise to Market in Amazon

There are a few simple methods you could employ in this phase to make
finding the perfect products and niche markets an easier task. Finding the
right products and the perfect niche market happen almost simultaneously,
since they are both related, and it is only after you have completed these
two steps that you can begin sourcing for your suppliers. You cannot find a
supplier without knowing what you want to sell in the first place. Here are
several key points to keep in mind when you begin thinking about what
kind of niche market you want to service.

Key Point #1: Brainstorm Ideas

Always a good idea to make this step the first step of any major process.
Brainstorming is an effective measure for almost any type of process:
finding ideas, thinking about possible solutions, sourcing new methods and
even finding the right niche market and the target audience you want to
serve as part of your Amazon FBA business. Create a comfortable work
environment for yourself where you can comfortably sit for several hours to
carry out an effective brainstorming session. This can be anywhere you feel
most relaxed in. A home office environment you’ve set up to your liking,
the library, an empty meeting room at work during your lunch break or even
when you’re relaxing at your favorite cafe with a cup of coffee in hand.
Enlist the help of like-minded family or friends, someone you can trust, to
help bounce ideas off.
Designate a specific time to commit to nothing but brainstorming. A block
of an hour, two or maybe even three depending on your schedule where you
sit down, brainstorm and do not stop until the time is up. Having a time-
block commitment makes it easier to retain focus. The key with
brainstorming is to write down every single idea you have, no matter how
impossible, far-fetched, perplexing or improbable it might seem. This is the
phase where you just churn out and put pen to paper all the ideas you have
got running in your mind. You are not deciding on anything yet; you are
merely generating as many ideas as possible. You will be able to sort out
later which are the most workable ones. Write down all the niches you are
interested in, along with the most profitable ones you know of. There is no
need to rush into picking one immediately.

Key Point #2: Picking Your Niches

After you have an idea of the kind of niches you would like to focus on,
here is what you need to do to narrow that list down even further. Filter
your niches according to:

Who Your Competitors Are - Do your research and consider

other Amazon shops that sell similar products. Do your research
into what type of products are oversaturated in the market right
now (you want to avoid this because your business will be
drowned out).

Price Points - Higher product prices, the bigger the potential

profit margin. Be sure these are the products that the customers
will be willing to pay for though. A good tip is to aim for
products which are high-priced but low cost when it comes to
shipping because they do not weigh too much.

Niche Loyalty - Ideally, you want to try to stay away from

niches, which are already dominated by bigger brand name
companies. It will be hard to penetrate that market as an
unknown brand, especially if you are going against big-name
giants.
 Product Returns - To save yourself the hassle of dealing with
returns, you want to try to avoid items which come in various
sizes or styles just to be safe. Clothing items especially tend to
have a high return rate.

Key Point #3: Compare and Evaluate

The importance of research cannot be emphasized enough. Always
compare, evaluate and research the trends on Amazon. A good place to a
source of sellable items online is eBay, but avoid using this as a
determining point for your prices. That is because eBay’s prices are usually
on the lower end. However, in terms of doing your research, eBay is a good
place to start. You can use the platform to identify the products in different
niches, products in the higher-priced bracket, and the ones that are
expensive. These could be along with the $50 or $200 or $500 price point,
depending on the product.

Once you have your search results, allow it to show ‘completed listings’.
Completed lists will show you items in red or green, red being the item did
not sell and green being the items that sold. Look at the items for the
products you are considering specializing in. Take as much time as you
need to go through the list a few times, and identify anywhere from 15 to 20
products that usually sell out. You want to keep your eyes peeled for
products which sell at least 10 units daily.

This will make it easier when the time comes for you to request quotes from
suppliers, and inquire about shipping costs and storage too.
Key Point #4: Make Full Use of Amazon
As the largest and arguably most reputable online retailer, you could say
that Amazon sells almost everything under the sun. Amazon is one of the
best places to go to find a profitable niche market, and along with it, what
products you should be selling. Finding a niche on Amazon is simple:

Click on the “ All” tab, which is located to the left of the main
search bar. What you are looking for is niches or a list of
categories.
Find a type of interest, and select “ Go”.
A new page opens and, on the left, you will see a list of “ Sub-
niches”. Click on the subcategory you want to view more sub-
niches that are specific.

Easy enough. Amazon is also an excellent tool in helping you select a

specific niche and product that sells best. Simply browse the “Bestsellers”
list from the navigation bar on the right of the search bar. You will find this
at the top of the page. A simple click and you will be presented with a list
of what the current best-selling items are.

Key Point #5: Think like a Marketer

Expensive items are great for selling on Amazon. The average profit you
are looking at for those is approximately 20% of your total sales. Making a
20% profit on an item that is priced at $1000 equals to $200 in profit. You
need to do more research once again. You also need to identify potential
future competition, which are other online retailers who are selling the
items you want to sell. The downside with this one is, you have no way of
finding out how much money a retailer is making per product.
 Choosing Your Best Amazon Products (Picture 17)

How to Select the Best Niche

Choosing the right niche is one of the many key ingredients needed in your
recipe for Amazon FBA success. When choosing your niche, you have two
options to go with trending niches or evergreen niches.

Evergreen - A niche is classified as an evergreen niche when the

products are something most retailers would like to sell.
Products that withstand the test of time. Beauty and fashion and
weight loss are evergreen niches.

Trending - Trending niches have instant profits and surge but

their popularity also diminishes as quickly as it surged.

There are several tools you could rely on to help you create a shortlist of
niche ideas. From there determine if you can see any niches that show signs
of being highly profitable, or where it’s aligned with your passions. Tools
you could use to source your niche include Amazon (of course), Oberlo,
AliExpress, Google Trends, and Treadhunter.
Look out for updated product lists too. Oberlo is one such company that
regularly shares updated product lists to ensure that they are always at the
forefront of today’s most popular products. These lists can also help you
determine what you want to niche on. Blog posts with trending product lists
should also be within your sights. Blog post titles that should capture your
interest include “Best Buy Beauty Products for 2019 ” for example, or
“Must Have Summer Products”.

Google Trends is something every business owner should use as part of

their research process. What you want to look out for are niches that have a
stable growth, no matter how slight.

You do not necessarily have to be an expert niche-finder to start, but having

some experience in the matter does help. Do not worry too much if you do
not have any experience to start with, you will gradually develop it over
time. Newcomers can just as easily start sourcing for the right niche if they
know what they are doing. Social media is a good place to start about the
kind of products customers want and buy online. An example of how you
would use social media to determine your niche would be through
Facebook Search, a tool that can help you determine the amount of
engagement your posts get. You can also use this as a competitor analysis
tool to view the posts both your competitors, as well as customers, make.
Look at the brands that are within your nice. Search using specific
keywords. Your search will turn up based on people, pages, photos, videos,
links, and marketplace. When you look at these pages, you can see the
number of followers. It will also help you understand the kind of frequency
your Facebook posts need to be, which is somewhere between 1-2 posts per
day to have a competitive advantage and scale quickly.

Other popular social media platforms to search for potential niche markets
include Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. It is always better to put your
content where it is seen, heard and talked about because this is where your
audience spends a lot of time on. If you want to effectively reach your
customers, you need to be where they are. Hang out where they hang out. In
addition, all these platforms have one element in common. They are all
heavy on visuals, which means, stunning images and video reach out to
your audience faster.
Passion vs Income
Sometimes the product you maybe passionate about selling is not the one
that makes the most money. In this case, you are going to be faced with the
question every entrepreneur comes to face. Should you choose passion?
Alternatively, profit at the end of the day?

The answer to that question is, it is up to you. Some people start a business
on Amazon because they want to be doing business that they love. Others
might choose to get into this line of business to make more money, and that
is the only motivation. The latter group does not really care what they sell,
as long as the money keeps coming in. So really, it comes down to what you
want most at the end of the day.

In all honesty, every entrepreneur wants to make a profit with his or her
business. A business that is not making any profit is not a success. Your
best-case scenario would be a balancing act of pursuing your passion and
creating a successful profit line. The question is, how do you find that
perfect balance? Passion should be the one that leads the way first, of
course. To balance that out, you should select the items that have the
potential to make the most profit while still being passionate about them at
the same time. That is when having more than one niche on your list to
choose from helps. You are still running a business, and the only way to
keep a business going for long-term despite the obstacles that come your
way is to love what you do.

It helps to ask the following questions when you are deciding on a niche
market and product to go with:

If you have $500 right now to spend on something you want (but
don’t need), what product immediately springs to mind?

Which stores do you make product purchases from the most?

What type of products do you enjoy browsing and interacting

with online?

Are there any product websites or social media accounts you

enjoy more than others?
 What sort of products are you obsessed with yourself? Products
you absolutely love to buy, read about or follow on social media
that you would not mind purchasing in a heartbeat.

These answers will help you get started on your niche market brainstorming
session, giving you something to work within the beginning. Now, to then
choose a niche which is going to be most profitable, here is what you need
to think about:

What are the most popular retailers online?

What kind of products do these popular retailers sell?

Which niches have the biggest audience base?

What products from your niche have the highest profit margin by
comparison?

How to Select a Supplier and Order a Sample

As an entrepreneur, two relationships matter the most. The relationship you
have with your customers, and the relationship you have with your
suppliers. These two are crucial to the survival of your business, without
them, you are going to quickly sink to the bottom with no way of staying
afloat. Before you can begin operating your Amazon FBA store, you need
to find your suppliers. Contacting your suppliers directly is always the best
approach to go with. Once you know the product you want to sell, pick up
the phone and call the manufacturer and request for a list of their wholesale
distributors. Next, contact these wholesalers directly (again, by picking up
the phone), and inquire about opening an account with them. There is no
better way to source the selection of products you need more efficiently
than this.

Here are a couple of guidelines to follow when sourcing for a manufacturer

or supplier online:

Google - The tried and true method that never fails. Good old
Google. You are still going to have to research thoroughly
though, despite the good job this search engine does. You will
most likely have thousands of results for wholesalers, but there
is a possibility you may not find the best suppliers out there for
your business needs on the top 10 of your search results. That is
because wholesalers are not very good at marketing and
promoting their business sometimes.

Don’t Forget Your Modifiers on Google - Keywords like

‘reseller’ or ‘bulk’ or ‘warehouse’ could speed up and narrow
down your search results, so don’t forget about them.

Search Oberlo - This comes with the convenience of

automatically fulfilling your orders quickly and easily, customize
your products and even turn to automatic pricing to get the job
done. Easily import products from suppliers directly to your
online store with Oberlo, if you want to. Alternatively, you could
even choose to ship the products directly to the customer.

Do not Judge Based on Appearances - Looks can be deceiving.

Many wholesalers have outdated websites. While some
wholesalers do put in an effort when it comes to designing an
attractive and detailed website, do not be fooled by a poorly
designed site. They could be fantastic suppliers, except that they
are not so great with the technical and marketing part of the
business.

Order from Your Competitors - If your competitors are doing

well, they are doing something right. Probably one of them is
having a great supplier with a great product to sell. One creative
approach to sourcing a supplier is to order directly from the
competition. Once you receive your package, use Google to find
the return address to find out the original shipper. You can also
contact the supplier to find out.

Supplier Directories - A supplier database is another way or

sourcing for potentials based on your niche. Some directories use
a screening process to authenticate that their suppliers are legit.
This is helpful, but not a necessity. Finding major suppliers can
 be done with good old trusty research once again, especially
when you have established the product or niche you want.
Directories are merely a convenient method of doing a quick
search and browsing through many suppliers.

You could turn to when you are sourcing your supplier’s two places. Online
and offline. Let us look at some of these options and go through the pros
and cons.

Online Supplier 1 - AliBaba.com

Easily the most recognizable name online is wholesale supplier Alibaba.
The platform may be popular, but you should keep in mind that Alibaba is
your online version of the Yellow Pages. Alibaba is a listing page featuring
suppliers but none of these suppliers is vetted by the platform themselves.
This leads to some suppliers have reservations about using Alibaba, with
concerns over frauds, getting the wrong product as well as getting your
delivery late being among the major reasons why they would hesitate.
Alibaba does verify its supplier information to some point but as someone
looking for reliable suppliers, you should not be banking on the ‘gold
supplier’ badge alone and decide with absolute certainty that they are good
suppliers to work with.

When using Alibaba as a source for possible suppliers, always read the
reviews left by others. Reviews will give you a good gauge about the kind
of service and product quality you can expect. These suppliers thrive; even
depend on positive reviews because it is an excellent pull to get future
purchases from clients. When you do see a supplier with the “gold” badge,
look at the reviews to see if they justify the badge.

In terms of product quality, Alibaba has a huge range of suppliers, but

there are still plenty of intermediaries and trading companies that form
many bad apples. Research is going to be crucial to saving yourself from
the trouble of forming a working relationship with the wrong supplier.
There’s also a good chance your competitors are also sourcing from
Alibaba, and that might be another drawback to this platform since it’ll be
hard to differentiate your product and set yourself apart. Be a smart buyer
and find unique suppliers that can deliver differentiated products at equally
competitive prices. When you look into online sourcing, you need to
identify the kind of supplier you are looking for. Identifying the right kind
of supplier means considering your needs, and finding a supplier that
matches your business needs.

Ask for images or even video, and packaging before you place any sample
orders so you can see if you have any preliminary problems with the
product. You can also try asking if the product has any defects though they
may or may not tell you, it is worth asking. If they do reply, then you can
negotiate a discount for the defects.

Online Supplier 2 - DHGate

This platform usually targets smaller volume buyers. The biggest advantage
of DHGate is even lower minimum order quantities, which goes as low as 1
piece. There are also plenty of products to choose from, and it is an
excellent alternative to Aliexpress or even when you try to look for niche
items. DHGate offers an escrow service to protect buyers, but this will cost
you some extra money on top of the existing quotation.

Among the pros of this platform are the larger variety of product options to
choose from, especially in terms of niche markets. In addition, you are not
pressured into ordering in bulk if you do not want to. The drawbacks,
however, include prices usually being 25% more expensive, and you may
end up dealing with intermediaries. The dangers of dealing with the
intermediary include hidden factory information, higher prices and even
more alarming, the prospect of them doing a disappearing act. It is also hard
to establish long-term relationships with direct manufacturers. You will
need to be wary about counterfeit and defective products too.

Online Supplier 3 - AliExpress.com

Think of this as a version of eBay, but with sellers who hail mainly from
China and are shipping products to customers worldwide. Selling both
small and wholesale items, this is a great platform to test the waters with
small orders or before you start ordering in bulk for your FBA store.
Aliexpress is a great option to start with. However, if you want to build a
scalable business, you need to venture out and deal with the manufacturer
directly.
AliExpress is a platform where you will find some similar products offered
on Alibaba too. An advantage with this option is the lower minimum order
quantities to deal with. There is also an escrow service for added protection
but of course, you would need to pay a little extra for this. One drawback to
this platform is you would also need to deal with at least 25% more on
pricing. There is a possibility of dealing with intermediaries too, which
means higher prices. It can be difficult to establish long-term relationships
with direct manufacturer. You should also be aware of defective and
counterfeit products.

Online Supplier 4 - Global Sources

This company started back in 1970, which means it now has more than 45
years of experience as an international online supplier. Evolving from a
media company featuring a print catalog of Asian suppliers to organizing
trade shows in Asia, the company began their foray into the online space
back in 2003. An online supplier with a directory like Alibaba, their focus
and specialty are in fashion, accessories, mobile electronics as well as home
and gift items.

Among the advantages of using this platform, there is the fact that the
suppliers they highlight have more experience with the export market.
Global Services has an offline component, which Alibaba does not feature.
The company usually begins with organizing trade shows, which are held in
Spring and Fall and hosted in Hong Kong. These trade fairs are a perfect
opportunity to meet and build relationships with other suppliers, and an
opportunity to investigate the products they have.

One of the most distinguishing differences between Global Sources and

Alibaba is the quality of suppliers. Global Sources offers a premier quality
of suppliers than that of Alibaba. They come with better experience too,
when it comes to the export market, which automatically makes them a
better choice. It is always better to understand the buyer’s needs. Many big-
box stores use global Sources. You may need to put in initial work to build
trust. The suppliers listed on the Global Sources online directory also
highlight their offline fairs and this further adds to their credibility. Being
around as long as they have means, Global Sources has more skin in the
game. With a reputation on the line and more years of experience, they are
willing to invest the necessary money and time to purchase the booth spaces
they need.

A minor (or major, depending on how you look at it) problem, with this
platform, is the limited product selection.

Offline Supplier 1 - Trade Shows

As advanced and convenient as technology is, there are some areas where
the good old-fashioned methods work best. Seeing and meeting your
suppliers first hand is one of those moments. The conventional trade show
is still one of the most popular methods of sourcing offline suppliers, a
practice which is deeply rooted in the business world. It is one of the most
effective ways to forge friendly partnerships and gain referrals, by showing
up in person. International trade shows, in particular, allow you to learn and
gather more information straight from the horse’s mouth about the country
you are dealing with, the business climate and how they can help open up
new markets for you. You will also be able to find better target pricing,
better payment flexibility as well as better packaging and product
modifications.

Attending trade shows is the perfect opportunity to source new products

that you have never seen online. Many suppliers out there may choose not
to have their full list of products available online to protect themselves from
the competition. Attending trade shows allows you to meet these suppliers
face-to-face. Suppliers want to see that you are a reliable candidate to work
with too, and meeting them in person is the best way to inspire confidence
that you are a trustworthy seller after all. When they trust you, they will be
a lot more willing to show a more extensive catalog of options.

Regional trade shows are an excellent approach to take if you want to get a
quick look and feel of the products that are made in your own country.
Instead of requesting a sample to be sent to you, you go to the sample
yourself. Regional trade shows are usually open to the public, which means
anyone can walk around, look, feel and touch the products on display. It is
an excellent way to discover new products you may have overlooked
online, and connect in person with the local suppliers. When you are new to
the business, this direct contact can go a long way in those few steps
towards building trust and familiarity.
Offline Supplier 2 - Conducting Site or Factory Visits
The best way to determine the reliability of a supplier is to vet them
yourself, instead of relying on a platform or other seller reviews to do it for
you. How do you do it yourself? By paying a visit to their factory directly.
Once you’ve found a supplier you would like to work with, and if they are
located within vicinity to where you are, it’s a good idea to consider paying
them a visit and see for yourself what goes on behind the scenes in the
production of a product. However, before this site visit can take place, you
need to first establish some kind of working relationship or familiarity with
the supplier. No supplier is going to open his or her doors immediately to a
stranger, especially someone with no record of accomplishment of selling
online before. No, you are going to have to prove your worth before you go
knocking on those doors.

Offline Supplier 3 - Using Referrals

The referral method is another underestimated powerful tool. Want to find
the best suppliers in the business? The answer could be as simple as asking
around. Ask for referrals and potential suppliers you can reach out to when
you attend trade show visits. Ask your business acquaintances, family or
friends who might know somebody. Scour through online forums and social
media platforms to see which suppliers are the talk of the town. You will get
plenty of feedback (both positive and negative) that will give you some idea
about where to start.

Relying on referrals alone is not enough though, you still need to do your
research and dig a little deeper into the suggestions you receive. Keep in
mind too that just because a supplier comes highly recommended by
someone else, it does not automatically mean they are the right supplier for
you.

Offline Supplier 4 - Sourcing Companies and Trading Agents

Working with experienced agents or trading companies who have been in
this business for a while can prove to be a fruitful venture. That is, of
course, if you have the budget to enlist the help of these agents or
companies. The pro with this approach would be the timesaving factor and
the fact that you will have a lot less headache to contend with. You can
focus on getting your business started while the agents hunt for the best
suppliers in the business.
The agents and companies can offer you the benefit of their wide network
of suppliers. In addition, they have been the years of experience needed to
learn how to spot red flag warnings when they see it. Going with this
approach helps you optimize logistics, saving you money and time.
Sourcing agents can also help you negotiate better terms and pricing with
factories. They can prove to be extremely useful allies, but only if you have
the budget to hire their services.

Bottom Line
Finding the right supplier in both offline and online channels takes time. It
is almost like dating if you think about it. You meet with different suppliers,
engage with them and see which one fits your needs. While it takes time, do
not focus solely on online suppliers or just offline suppliers. Having a
mixture of offline and online sources helps ensure the longevity of your
inventory, and provide you with a more varied product base.

Paying Your Suppliers

There are two ways of paying your supplier:

Credit Card - Which is the preferred payment method by these

suppliers, particularly when you are new and trying to establish a
presence for yourself. Even after you have become a thriving
business, credit cards are still the best approach to take, mainly
for the convenience factor. Credit card purchases allow you to
obtain a higher volume of purchases, without having to deal with
the out-of-pocket expenses.

Net Terms - Otherwise known as invoicing. This method gives

you a certain period before you must pay your supplier. For
example, if you have a “net 30” term, this means you have
exactly 30 days from the purchase date to pay your supplier. You
can do this either by check or a bank draft. You will need to
provide credit references to the supplier before they allow you to
use net payment terms. This is common in the e-commerce
industry, so do not worry if you are asked to provide
documentation when you use net terms to pay.

What to Do Before Contacting Your Suppliers

Now, before you contact your suppliers directly, there are several guidelines
you need to keep in mind:

Guideline #1 - Get Legalized

Suppliers are not going to work with your business if it is not legalized.
Before they will agree to form a working partnership with you, they need
proof of your business before they allow you to set up an account with
them. Before you contact your supplier, you will need to be legally
incorporated with all the proper documents and necessary licenses.

Guideline #2 - Know Where You Stand

A business plan alone is not going to cut it. Suppliers need more from you.
Suppliers get many questions all the time from retailers, a lot of which take
up their time but, in the end, no order is placed. To avoid wasting both
yours and the supplier’s time, you need to know where you stand. Do not
expect them to empathize or dish out discounts before you have made any
kind of purchase with them. That is only going to earn you a bad rep, and
once news spreads quickly (which it will), your chances of working with
other potential suppliers could be hurt drastically. Before you contact your
supplier, build some credibility and be definitive about your business plans
such as launch dates, shipping dates, and quantities and such instead of
giving vague ideas. Communicate any professional success you may have
achieved in the past because it can help with your dealings with a supplier.
Your objective is to convince suppliers that dealing with you is going to be
well worth their time.

Guideline #3 - Have a Conversation

A tele-conversation, that is. Phone calls have a better prospect of securing a
partnership with your supplier more than emails do. Speak to them directly
first, then use email to recap the highlights and agreement reached during
the tele-conversation. Suppliers are used to having salespeople call them all
the time, so you will not be the first. Often, you will get a sales
representative who is more than happy to answer your questions.
 Steps to Take Before Contacting Your Supplier (Picture 18)

Bonus Tips to Finding Great Suppliers

Any retailer who aims to achieve success through Amazon FBA needs to
work with the right supplier. No question about it. The right supplier is
going to make or break your business, and it is a crucial element to this
entire process.

Here are several bonus tips to keep in mind that will help you in your quest
to source for the perfect supplier for your business and needs:

They are professional, and so are their staff. These suppliers

usually have a sales representative or staff that is equipped with
knowledge regarding industry needs, and they are trained to be
knowledgeable about industry trends and the product lines that
they are dealing with. If you are in a niche product line, calling
these sales reps and getting their invaluable insight is an asset to
your Amazon FBA business, especially when you are new.

There is dedicated support staff available and easily

reachable. When you ring up a professional and credible
supplier, you will usually be assigned to an individual sales
representative who will not only deal with the issues you have
but also ensure that they are there to guide you every step of the
way from the introduction, product information and even how to
make a sale. A good company sometimes even provides after-
sales services, which goes a long way towards developing a
great working relationship between both parties.

They are located centrally, making it easier for you to reach out
and locate them when you need to. Location is imperative and a
supplier that is conveniently located means packages can be
shipped and delivered within 2 to 3 business days. Suppliers
located in coastal areas often take a week or more to get orders
shipped and delivered, which will influence your sales.

Technology is something they invest in. Because the digital age

cannot be ignored. Great suppliers understand the benefits of
having a well-functioning website. These are the suppliers you
want to target because they are much easier to work with in
general. Suppliers with a comprehensive product catalog online
and searchable order history make your life easy too. So, while
wholesalers are not tech-savvy, to begin with, engaging with one
that does place importance in a good website helps in the end.

They accept orders through email, and they practice good

email etiquette too, including having a timely response rate.
Having to make a call or manually place orders on the website is
a tedious task. Not only is it time-intensive, but it is also cutting
back on your resources. When choosing your supplier, find one
that makes ordering through email a seamless process.

They are organized and efficient, as part of their overall

professional service. Their staff are excellent, and so is their
website. Being organized and efficient helps minimize errors,
saves time and keeps both parties happy. Disorganized
management will only result in botched orders and unhappy
customers. This is one reason why reading reviews are
important, to gauge the work history of the supplier based on the
experience of others.
Chapter 4: Ready to Launch

Almost. Now that you have your sellers’ account, suppliers and inventory
all lined up, it’s time to start listing your items on Amazon and watch the
sales start rolling in. This step is going to be straightforward enough, with
three main steps involved in the process:

Step 1: Taking plenty of good quality, high resolution and

detailed images of the exact products you plan to sell.

Step 2: Creating a new listing on your page for these products.

Step 3: Writing out detailed descriptions and using trending

keywords to help push your items in front of your target
audience and get those sales coming in.

Amazon once again proves how helpful it can be by providing a detailed

instructional video on their website about how best to go about this step,
prior to launching your products. It is an easy, systematic thing, so do not
worry too much about making mistakes or not getting it right.

The Preparation: How to Launch Your Product and the Steps You
Need to Take to Prepare

By turning to Amazon FBA to help you sell your products, you are left with
a lot more free time on your hands to focus on increasing product visibility
while Amazon takes care of the rest. When preparing to list your items, you
need to specify that you intend to use Amazon’s FBA program for your
items, and select the “Fulfilment Channel” you want to use. To view the
“Fulfilment Channel” option, you need to toggle on the “Advanced View”
settings to see it:
 Picture 19

You will see from the image above that by going with the second option (I
want Amazon to ship and provide customer service for my items if they
sell); you are effectively choosing the FBA program. It is important not to
skip this step. If you were to go with option number one where you must
ship the item to the customer yourself, your items will be available for sale
immediately. That means if someone buys it within 5-minutes of you listing
your items, you need to get to work preparing the shipment by yourself
(Amazon is not going to do it for you).

Option number two, on the other hand, means your items are only going up
for sale once the products have safely arrived in Amazon’s warehouse.
Once they do, you can rest easy knowing that your products are in the hands
of their very capable team members.

Pricing Your Product Correctly

With the FBA program, you will be matched with the lowest price listed by
other sellers who are also running their operations under the FBA program.
Prime retailers are going to be your biggest source of competition. The
good thing about pricing on Amazon is that you can edit your prices any
time you like. You could always fill in one price option now and then edit it
later once it has arrived at the warehouse.

Pricing is an important sales-driving force, and you want to be sure that you
reprice your inventory frequently. This ensures that you are offering your
customers the best possible price out there, giving them even more reasons
to buy from you. Sometimes you will need to raise your prices, and
sometimes you will have to lower them, but if you remain competitive and
reasonable, you are doing well.

Managing Your Inventory

New sellers often have questions or concerns about managing their FBA
inventory on Amazon, especially if the stock happens to be at the Amazon
warehouse. Inventory management involves several steps, which includes
order volume, sales forecasting, and cash flow. Sellers need to maneuver the
process of staying on top of Amazon’s search listing as well as promote
sales. Here is where the complaints about this aspect start to come in, with
sellers pointing out that Amazon makes it almost impossible for them to
maintain healthy stock levels, with payment having to be made twice a
month.

You need to understand and prepare yourself for the possible problems that
come with running out of inventory on Amazon. In almost every selling
situation, that operates outside of Amazon, such as through your e-
commerce site, for example, being out of stock means that you lose sales
for a specific item at a specific time. This is the biggest problem you are
going to encounter with out of stock items, but that is pretty much it. Being
out of stock on Amazon, however, is a completely different story.
Completely running out of inventory could have some serious negative
long-term implications, to say the least. Your future sales might be affected
when your rankings drop on the search listings, which spells disaster for
you if you are selling a fast-moving consumer goods item. Overall, three
things happen, when you run out of stock on Amazon:

Problem 1 - Loss of sales and loss of income. You cannot sell what you do
not have stock of, and you run the risk of driving your customer straight to
the arms of your competitors when you cannot give them what they want.
Running out of inventory is going to affect you on Amazon more so than
any other eCommerce platform. When you run out of stock on Amazon,
there is no back-ordering option for your customers to turn to. When you
are out of stock, your listings plummet.

Meanwhile, sales for the product you are selling will continue to thrive on
your competitor’s page. Until you have your products back in stock, you are
not going to be making any kind of sale and your listings are going to suffer
because of it. This is different when you are selling on your own website
because you are in control over there. You still have the power to receive
and process backorders, and your listings do not get affected. On your own
platform, you can keep your customers up to date about when they can
expect their product to arrive once it has been replenished. No such option
on Amazon, unfortunately.

It is possible to cheat the system on Amazon to your advantage by

prolonging the order process for items that are still in stock, especially if
you know that new stock is already on the way. However, this could
potentially backfire two ways:

If for some reason your stock arrival is delayed, you will end up
with orders on your hands that you have no way of fulfilling.
Longer arrival times are going to affect your rating as a seller.

Amazon shoppers have grown accustomed to waiting for a

maximum of 3-days for their delivery (unless it is arriving from
overseas). Extending your order process could cause them to
turn elsewhere for their products if they are not willing to wait
that long, which is also going to affect your ratings as a seller.

Problem 2 - No Stock Means Lower Rankings. Experiencing out of stock

situations once or twice in a period of several years is not too bad. Going
out of stock regularly, however, is bad for business (for obvious reasons),
regardless of whether you are on Amazon or not. A lack of inventory affects
your search results significantly. The Amazon algorithm depends on a
variety of factors when they calculate search engine listing results, and
among the most important criteria, the algorithm considers would, of
course, be product availability. When you are out of stock for a specific
product, your listings will not show up when shoppers search. If you are out
of stock so often, your listings are affected and as a seller, this means your
shop is knocked down in the search rankings, whether there is stock on
hand or not.
If you sell unique items that have less competition, going out of stock
occasionally may not affect your search results as much. But if you sell a
product with a huge number of competitors, then once you start ranking
lower for search results, it is hard to get back to the top again, regardless
whether you’ve restocked or not. No sales equate to no new product and
seller reviews. Reviews are the number one reason shoppers want to buy
from you. The deciding point about whether they give you their money, or
go elsewhere instead. When you are not making enough sales, your product
reviews are affected when there are no new or recent reviews from
shoppers. Ratings and reviews are extremely important to sellers on
Amazon. It is your lifeline to stay afloat and keep up with the competition.
When you have new reviews, your search results are amplified, and you are
at the top of the search result rankings. You increase your chances of
attracting new buyers, which convert to more sales. A zero Amazon
inventory literally means no new reviews and no rating opportunities. For
any seller, it is important to have smart inventory management on both
offline and online applications. For Amazon sellers, the price to pay is
detrimental when stocks run out.

Keeping Track of Inventory

Amazon has provided sellers with inventory management tools that help
you keep track of specific information that is important to your business.
You do have the option of using third-party systems to help you manage
your inventory, synchronizing the data to your Seller Central dashboard too.
Even if you do choose to use a third-party source, it is still important to
know the data and information given to you by Amazon. You can access
your inventory data by going to the Manage Inventory option, as per the
image below:
Picture 20

Picture 21
You will be presented with an overview of the relevant and important data
for your products and listings. You will be able to make the necessary basic
adjustments to the inventory manually. The adjustments you can make
include:

Price revisions
Viewing active, inactive, and suppressed listings
Changing the quantity of stock on hand
Tracking FBA shipments at every stage
Adding a product to inventory
Viewing sellers for other products

Amazon’s inventory management tool allows you to seamlessly manage

larger inventories too, allowing you to quickly change, revise and update
your bulk upload or connect your third-party software to manage it. Your
activity on the inventory manager is constantly tracked in your connected
Seller Central, and you can always view it to get an overview. It is not just a
tool that allows you to see a list of your products- it also comes with useful
information for you to sell better. It is a powerful tool for the seller, and if
you are selling on Amazon FBA for the first time, you should make full use
of this feature as you learn the ropes.

Amazon’s Selling Coach, for example, is a handy feature that enables you
to review the sales trends your product goes through, and see the estimate
projections given by Amazon. The personalized recommendations on the
Selling Coach feature will help you enhance your sales performance with
the valuable information and insight you gain from this tool. Information is
the key to accurately forecasting your sales data based on inventory
purchases. You will get alerts on low stocks to your email or directly to
your app, and using this information, you will know when you need to
reorder based on the lead times you have set for each product. With the help
of this feature, you will be able to minimize the dreaded zero stock status,
and avoid any loss in sales and subsequently, lower search rankings. Before
you subscribe or pay for third-party apps, it is always good to stick and
explore Amazon’s Selling Coach and Seller Central and get to know its
capabilities.
Planning Your Inventory Orders
As a seller, it is your responsibility to plan for enough inventory in stock to
fulfill your product orders between your shipments. However, alas, if only it
were that easy and as straightforward as it sounds. The reality of the
situation is, inventory managers always must contend with unpredictable
challenges such as raw material shortages, supplier schedules, weather
issues as well as sales fluctuations. These challenges are referred to as the
“What if” scenarios, and it is factored into the inventory order lead times as
well as inventory forecasting when they place orders with their suppliers.

There are two things which can help you better plan and manage your
inventory. Inventory order lead-time, and inventory forecasting.

Inventory order lead-time is essentially the time your inventory

takes to arrive in your location once you have placed the order.
This process is straightforward- when you order new stock, you
need to give enough time for it to arrive before your current
stock runs out. You need to know your supplier’s lead times too,
as this helps buyers manage two inventory challenges, which are
not ordering enough and ordering too late. Being aware of your
lead times prevents you from ordering excessive stock, and you
will become a better judge of time based on how often you need
to order your stock to cover your orders.

Ordering too late also presents another potential problem, which

ultimately leads to having no inventory in your store before your new
stock comes. You can easily prevent or minimize these problems by
always tracking and checking your levels of inventory and your sales
volume so that it has a healthy balance against your inventory lead
times. This is the reason why Amazon Selling Coach is an extremely
useful tool to have. It gives you low-inventory alerts so you have
time to reorder from your suppliers. The inventory alerts are created
based on the lead times you have entered for each product and the
sales volume that is tracked by Amazon. With the Amazon Selling
Coach on your side, the inventory orders you make are based on solid
data- not unnecessary guesswork.
 Forecasting your inventory is another approach to take when
planning for and predicting the amount of inventory you need
when you get ready to place your order. The forecasts are based
on your reordering quantities versus your sales trend. Amazon
Selling Coach helps you forecast your inventory reorder with
figures based on your actual Amazon sales as well as inventory
levels. You will need to apply your own experience and intuition
too when you place orders based on these forecasted numbers.
This includes taking into account trends, holidays and seasonal
demand that could affect your stocks. Consider all of this when
you forecast your numbers, together with lead times when you
make your decisions.

Purchasing Your Inventory

Getting started with an Amazon FBA store is not going to cost as much as it
would if you had to start a brick and mortar from scratch, paying for the
rental of a premise and a salary for any employees, you hire, but it is still
going to cost something. The cost is incurred when you need to purchase
your inventory. Many sellers on Amazon consider the zero-stock inventory
problem that they are faced with to be directly linked to the payout policies
that Amazon enforces. Amazon has a 14-day payout policy, so sellers are
paid at least 2 times each month. Where cash flow is concerned, it is a
problem to a business that is still in its initial stages of growth. It is a
problem because for startup businesses, it is difficult to maintain a healthy
inventory, and it is a problem to manage it in the most cost-efficient way.

When Amazon sellers have no control over their cash flow, it makes it
difficult to work on real-time inventory sourcing opportunities. With no
cash to move around quickly enough, they cannot take advantage of some
supplier benefits like early discounts or prepayment options for example.
They cannot make purchases quickly enough when they need to in order to
keep up with the demand, and without being able to manage their cash flow
as efficiently as they should be doing, it is easy for sellers to find
themselves strapped for cash. Even more so when they are new.
That is a little something you need to know before you begin your FBA
venture, and if you do not want to find yourself dealing with these cash
flow conundrums, you have options to choose from:

The Payability Option - Which is the easiest method of turning

sales into a daily profit. It is not a credit card, and it is not a loan.
Instead, the American FinTech company is here to provide
financial solutions to digital retailers just like you, by giving you
a service, which enables you to track your Amazon sales, and the
daily deposit revenues that are happening in your bank account.
With Payability, instead of waiting two weeks per payment from
Amazon, you can turn that into everyday deposits, which allow
you better control over your cash flow.

The Credit Card Option - If you need inventory fast and you
can’t afford to wait for your payout from Amazon, credit cards
are your fall back option. It is advisable that you use this
sparingly though because credit card charges can quickly stack
up, as we all know too well. The interest costs of carrying this
balance forward can take a huge cut out of your clean profits. If
you must go for a credit card, make sure you watch your balance
carefully and are not carried away. However, you can pair your
credit cards with Payability, which can help you maintain your
balances with Payability’s everyday payout.

The Loan or Lines of Credit Option - This is one alternative to

quickly funding the inventory you need. These options have one
advantage over credit cards, which is a much lower interest rate.
The downside to this though would be that it could be difficult to
acquire a loan or direct line of credit, especially when you are a
startup with no previous record of accomplishment. To secure
these options, you will have to provide your tax documents and
balance sheets, together with a statement of income before your
loan is approved. Loans and lines of credit are generally granted
only after you have logged in the adequate amount of time
 needed in a business. One more setback is that credit lines and
loans are easily spent but hard to pay back. They are best suited
for businesses that have an established record of profits.

The Amazon Lending Option - Works like a small business

loan option that helps Amazon sellers get the money they need
to make their inventory purchases. However, just like the option
above, you need to be an established seller to qualify for this
option. The loan amount you get with this option will mirror
your running sales volume on Amazon. Another thing is that
when you purchase inventory, it is only inventory on Amazon. If
you rely on this as your source of funding, you cannot use this to
fund business expenses outside of Amazon. Amazon Loans are
also applied to sellers by invitation, and you will not be able to
apply unless you get an invitation from Amazon.

Alternative Financing Options for Amazon Inventory (Picture 22)

Most sellers use a combination of these various funding methods and

options to help with their inventory when needed.
Other Tools to Help You Manage Your Inventory
Amazon has become such a popular online retail choice that it is only
natural that its presence has led to other tools and software being developed
just to make the life of a seller easier. Besides Amazon Seller Central, you
will find no shortage of other third-party apps and tools which are free to
use that can help you manage your inventory too. Apps are, of course, the
preferred choice since it allows you to conveniently access what you need
on the go through your mobile phone. Amazon has their own suite of apps
already that helps you efficiently manage your inventory if you prefer to go
with just one option alone.

The apps that you use will depend on the level of inventory purchasing and
selling you plan to do. Multichannel sellers, for example, need apps that
will make it easier for them to track their sales on Amazon, eBay, Walmart
and perhaps even their own website. Sellers sometimes turn to third-party
apps to help with inventory management when Amazon’s suite of
management tools is not enough to get the job done. If you do find later on
that you might need a third-party app to make operations more efficient and
convenient for you, a quick search online will reveal all the available
options that you can choose from based on your needs.

The bottom line when it comes to inventory management on Amazon is that

success is going to depend on several factors. This includes how you fulfill
your orders, how you sell them on Amazon, where you sell them besides
Amazon, and how well you manage your cash flow. These are all factors,
which influence the decisions you make on how best to manage your
inventory. Sellers on Amazon have different needs when it comes to
inventory, for example, a seller moving a few products has different
preferences compared to a seller who is multichannel and needs to stock
and reorder products in bigger volumes.

It is important that you understand the issues you face when you allow your
Amazon inventory to run out no matter what sales model you use. You need
to prevent this from happening and knowing how is crucial.

Marketing and Advertising Your Products

With many of the online retail aspects these days incorporating automation
into their process, it is easier for sellers to find the free time they need to
focus on branding and marketing their products, not to mention working on
optimizing your site. From your logo to the look and feel of your website,
right down to the images and product description you use, you want your
selling page to sync and flow smoothly together.

The two most effective ways to get your products out there noticed is to
market and advertise consistently. You need to stand out against millions of
other products from your competitors who are also vying for the attention
of your customers. To successfully set yourself apart, you need to use as
many viable platforms as possible, like creating your own website, writing a
blog and using Facebook to advertise.

Does Blogging Help with Marketing and Advertising?

Blogs are an essential marketing component that can go a long way towards
helping your online store. Blogging regularly about your products is going
to increase your SEO rankings, and build your brand’s reputation among
your target customers. A blog can tell the story behind your company, your
products and why they can make a difference, which makes it easier for
customers to relate to your business. Having your blog gives your
customers yet another option to reach out and connect with you through a
channel other than your FBA store.

Your blog has the potential to influence your SEO rankings too, and they
are not that difficult to set up. WordPress and BlogSpot have plenty of
ready-to-go, easy-to-build blog templates to choose from with easy and
customizable features that allow you to personalize your platform just the
way you like it. Use your blog as a platform to write, edit and publish even
more detailed and in-depth content about the products that you’re selling on
FBA, and don’t forget to link the content back to your store.

How to Improve Your Amazon Ranking

To really boost your rankings so you give your products the best possible
chance of getting in front of target audiences who are willing and ready to
buy, you need to do two things:
 One, as we have already established above, is to take high-
quality pictures of your products (think different angles and
details) for your marketing and advertising.

Two, craft product descriptions that are well written and

optimized for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

If you have a great product, you need to let people know about it.
Marketing and advertising alone are not going to cut it though; you still
need to combine that with keyword-enriched content to accompany your
stellar images. Your images will catch your customers’ eye, but it is your
description that is going to convince them that they should not wait a
moment longer to make the purchase. Before you begin designing your
content though, whether for Amazon, your website or on any other
platform, you may be selling on, there is a couple of things you need to be
clear about:

Who you are writing for (who is the target audience)?

What details are you focusing on in your description (highlight

the benefits)?

What is the story behind the product that you are trying to sell?

Is the language you are using easy and natural enough to read?

Are you using enough keywords in your content to optimize it

for detection by search engines and Amazon SEO?

That last bit about Amazon’s SEO is particularly important since it is going
to be the deciding factor as to whether your products are consistently listed
on the first one or two pages of Amazon’s search results, or the back-end
pages that hardly anyone ever bothers clicking on. You need to increase
your store’s visibility, and you need effective methods to do it.

Amazon SEO - Optimizing Your Listings

Amazon’s SEO works the same way other search engines do. The more
people search for and click on a type of product, the higher its rank is going
to be with time. Organic ranks that do well have a much better chance of
being found, which of course means the potential for sales rises alongside
that growth. One method to increase the visibility of the products that you
are selling on Amazon is to invest in Amazon Ads, which is a useful tool to
help you search for new customers. It is not an ideal long-term option
though since what you want to aim for is organically high rankings. The
return on investment for organic rankings is going to always beat that of
Amazon Ads on any given day.

Each product page that you create on your site needs to be supported by
research. This is the reason why keyword research is important when it
comes to SEO. Before you optimize your page, you must know the
keywords that are used to search for your type of product and what attracts
the most traffic. As a site owner who also runs an Amazon business, you
need to understand the best unique keywords and phrases used for your
products based on:

Relevance - Tools like Google Search Console make quick work

of identifying the top queries on the internet, while Unamo SEO
is perfect for sizing up the competition. Keywordtool.io can be
used to gain insight into consumer behavior and trends, while
Google’s Keyword Planner helps you find product page
keywords that you can target. It is all about relevance.

Descriptions - Your product names are going to have an impact

on its relevance and search rankings. Use keywords that are
going to help you create unique, yet descriptive names for your
products, as long as they remain to-the-point and include
descriptions that your customers will want to know about your
 product. The easiest way to do this is to do a Google search of
the product you are selling and see the other types of description
and product names, which are being used on popular pages.
Product descriptions are extremely valuable with SEO but only
when it is value-added. Your product descriptions that your
customers want to know about include information about the
product’s key features and specifications, major features, and
value. You can also include even more details like model
numbers, keyword variation, and brand name.

*Important Reminder
Never copy and paste content directly from the manufacturer. Your content
needs to be unique.

To improve your organic search results, you are going to have to turn to
Keyword Tool for Amazon to help you out. Operated by Amazon directly,
this is the tool you want to use for your Amazon SEO rankings to search for
all the high-volume and relevant keywords that match your product.

Picture 23
 Picture 24

As you can see, all you need to do is type into the search bar the kind of
product you are selling, select your location, marketplace language where
you intend to sell, and you’ll be presented with a summary based on a 12-
month average cost-per-click trend for Amazon ads, and what the average
competition level is for a specific keyword. Scroll downwards from the
screen above and Amazon will even present you with a list of related
keywords to match like so:
 Picture 25

The keyword tool is very useful, and you should aim to run a keyword
search before listing every product you intend to sell. There is a wealth of
information that you can get which will make a difference to your rankings.
You are not just gaining insight into what relevant or trending keywords
you should be using, but more importantly, you are getting a firsthand
insight into the kind of products your customers (and potential customers)
are keen on. Ads, an optimized website and the use of specific keywords
has the potential to drive more traffic to your store and convert more
customers daily. Your objective, then, is to get more traffic to your site so
that it can generate a good percentage of sales. SEO can help drive long-
term sales simply by having you rank high on search engine results.

Besides SEO optimization, other things you can do to improve your

visibility and rankings include:
Provide Excellent Customer Service - Do not just rely on
Amazon to handle your customer service. Take the initiative to
go the extra mile by following up with the customer directly.
People will always remember the way that you made them feel,
the experience that you provided. Offering great customer
service is one of the best ways to stand out especially if you are
selling the same products as every merchant out there. Going the
extra mile can be in the form of thank you cards included in the
shipping packages, or it could even be a gift! A speedy response
to their issues or complaints will go a long way too. Whatever
you do, make your customers feel valued and appreciated - it is
because of them that you are a success.

Coming Up with Fantastic Deals - Hardly any consumer is ever

able to resist a good deal. Sales, bundles, and offers are
something almost every consumer love! Running these fantastic
offers on your page will not only make you noticeable but also
increases traffic to your site. If no products on your site are for
sale, customers visiting your site will lack the motivation to
purchase your products. However, the right product with the
right offer to sweeten the deal will only increase the likelihood
of them making a purchase. A good tip would be to run these
offers during a special celebration or holiday festive season,
which gives them even more reason to buy it from you.

Be an Active Seller - It is off-putting to a customer to see a store

that has not been updated in months. They will even begin to
wonder if your store is operational anymore. While you do not
need to spend eight hours a day working on marketing and
promoting your site, you still need to commit several hours daily
to ensure that your store is up to date, relevant and active.

Optimize It with A Website - Amazon FBA should not be your

only selling platform alone, you still have to have an
eCommerce website to establish a stronger presence. Somewhere
your customers can go to find out more information about you.
WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace have made it easy to quickly
set up a site in a matter of minutes. For the sake of visibility, it is
crucial that your site is optimized. Crucial. Let us say customer
types into the Google search bar an item that they are looking
for, and that item happens to be in your store. How will they find
it if Google or any other search engine fails to detect it enough to
bring it to their attention? Customers cannot buy what they do
not know exists.

Proper Page Titles - The right kind of page titles can do

wonders for an optimal site listing. Your page titles must
correspond to the products you are selling, and it needs to be
attention grabbing enough to boost click-through rates. Do not
forget about including keywords into the page title too, and a
good tip would be to try to place the main keyword right at the
front of the title.

Include Unique Meta Descriptions for Your Items - While

keywords added into the meta descriptions on your site don’t do
much to affect the rankings, you should still include them
anyway, because it can still drive traffic to your page. The best
use of meta descriptors is to explain what is available on your
page and give your customers all the information that they are
looking to get before deciding on a purchase. Make it unique,
but not too lengthy. Push forth the key selling points of the
product to boost click-through rates, and use numbers, prices and
other formatting options to make your product stand out.

Paying Attention to Your Product’s URLs - URLs are

sometimes the least considered optimization element. Clean and
keyword-friendly URLs make a huge impact on search rankings.
If you have old URLs, make sure they are redirected to the new
URLs on your site. Your URLs must be user- friendly and appear
directly beneath the title in search engine results. Again, these
 URLs must be short and written all in lowercase, they must
include keywords too.

How to Get More Product Reviews

Product reviews are an ultimate must for a site. It builds trust and enables
user engagement as well. When enabling product reviews for your site,
make sure that the text is crawl-able. You need variety on your reviews too
and sometimes not all of them are going to be five-star reviews, but that is
okay. Some sellers are reluctant to approve of negative reviews and
feedback, preferring to delete them instead to give the impression that their
store is nothing short of fantastic. That approach may have worked in the
past, but customers have caught onto it now and they are not easily fooled.

A shop with nothing but great reviews that sound too good to be true
arouses suspicion. If you want to get more product reviews in, you need to
show that you are a business who cares about honesty, transparency, and
trust. Varied feedback gives your product a more legitimate reputation and
foothold to stand on. One way of turning negative reviews into positive
results is to promptly respond to the feedback and let the customer - along
with all the other customers who are reading the reviews - see just how
quickly and proactively you try to appease the customers' concerns. Offer
solutions, problem-solve and be transparent about your communication.

For customers who have made a purchase, encourage them to leave reviews
on your site by following up with them or offering an incentive for them to
share their honest opinion (regardless if it is good or bad). Like a 5%
discount voucher to share their thoughts and sales experience. Other
methods of attaining more customer reviews consistently would be to:

Provide excellent customer service of course. Make the

customers extremely happy with their shopping experience and
they will be more than happy to leave a quick review.
You also need to sell good quality products that customers
regularly purchase. Regular purchases mean regular reviews.
Use emails to follow-up with your customers, but do not make it
one of those generic, boring, standardized email. Add a personal
touch, as if you are speaking to a friend, and ask them if they
would not mind sharing their thoughts.

Reach out to your customers via social media and ask them to
share their comments or leave a quick thought about what they
thought of your products and services.

Be part of Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program, which rewards

customers who have already purchased your product to review
and share what they thought. Even if they would only give it a
one-star rating. In exchange for their time and effort, Amazon
then rewards these customers with an Amazon gift card, which
could consist of amounts between $1 - $3.

Use product inserts, which little reminders are written on cards

slipped into their packaging that reminds the customers to leave
a review once they open the package.
Chapter 5: Keep It Going
Amazon Ads may not be on par just yet with giants Google Ads and
Facebook Ads, but they are certainly no slacker in that department either. In
2018 alone, the platform garnered an advertising revenue growth of 250%
in its third quarter compared to its 2017 quarter from a year before. With the
way Amazon is going, the duopoly giants Google and Facebook could soon
find themselves with a third dominating player in the game not too long
from now. Amazon is making waves and it has no plans to slow down
anytime soon.

Amazon Ads
To be successful at your Amazon advertising efforts, you need a good
advertising strategy, which includes:

Defining What Your Goals Are - What do you hope to

accomplish out of your FBA business? Brand awareness?
Increase in sales numbers after 6 months to a year? Where do
you see your business going? Your advertising strategy needs to
align your targets and your goals together for best results.

Selecting the Best Products for Advertising - If you are selling

several different products on your store, there are some which
are going to sell better than others. To leverage the most out of
your Amazon Ads, you need to focus on the most popular
products you have, the ones with the best chance of converting
those clicks into actual purchases by the customers. These
products should be your best-sellers, competitively priced and
always-in stock. These are the ones worth investing your
advertising efforts because they draw customers towards your
store.

Compelling Content - Keywords and clear descriptions, as

mentioned in Chapter 4, are going to play a role in your
 advertising strategy here too. The details will ultimately
convince your customers why your product is the one you are
looking for. Why they consider ordering from you, and not your
competitors. Your details need to be accurate, concise, and easy
to read, keyword-rich and let your customers know why it is
relevant and why they need it.

Now, let us talk about Amazon Ads and why they matter. When you log
onto Amazon, you will type what you are looking for into the search bar at
the top of the page using specific keywords relevant to your search, click
and wait for the page to load with potential results. At the very top of the
page, you will notice some products listed right at the top have the words
“Sponsored Post”, or maybe even “Ad” next to them. These are Amazon
ads.

Picture 26

Sellers who want more exposure and visibility for their products have the
option of paying them to appear at the very top of the search results.
Amazon ads works when you make a payment to Amazon to be positioned
at the top by bidding on the specific keyword(s) needed that will increase
your visibility on Amazon’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP). You will
be charged each time a customer clicks on your ad content. To put it simply,
Amazon Ads works very much in the same way Google AdWords does.

Amazon Ads can even appear on the product page directly. You could be
scrolling for one product and you will see an ad for another product
appearing on the side, as you will notice from the image below. Somewhat
like scrolling through your News Feed on Facebook and seeing ads pop up
at the side enticing you to make a purchase.

Picture 27

Are Amazon Ads the Best Option for Me?

That would, again, depend on your business goals and what you hope to
achieve. If you are selling a product that is tangible, something that your
customers can easily purchase online, then yes, Amazon Ads is something
you should consider. Particularly in the early stages when you are still
trying to get your business off the ground and bring some sales in. Think of
it as an additional method of getting your products in front of the right
customers, on top of your already existing marketing efforts. More exposure
is always better for business.
If you have your reservations in the beginning (you want to try it out, but
you are not sure if it is going to work), try starting out with a smaller
product first. Something you already know sells quickly and is popular
among customers. Perhaps something you would buy yourself. Start with
your best-selling product (if you’ve been selling for a while that is), or if
you’ve just started, do a little digging into what some of Amazon’s best-
selling merchandise are and see if any of it is like yours. That should give
you a good idea of where to start.

Invest in advertising for your bestseller, and once the return on investment
from that product starts coming in with the ad, you can think about
expanding to promote other products that you want to sell. Amazon ads are
great if you are hoping to give your organic search rankings a boost too,
especially if you are going with the Amazon PPC option. Keywords that are
used in Amazon’s PPC ads will considerably boost your organic search
rankings, thanks to the extra sales that keep coming in because of those ads.
Your store’s sales history is going to play a big part in where you end up on
the search results page too. Products which sell better are favored by
Amazon and placed higher on the search results ranking.

To start using Amazon’s ad services, you will need to have an Amazon

seller’s account. Alternatively, a vendor’s account works fine too. First-
party sellers might prefer to sign-up on Amazon as a vendor, but this is an
invite-only type of situation. If you are selling through the Seller Central,
you are a third-party seller. The Seller Central has a few pricing options you
can work with. There is an option to pay as you go for those who are selling
independently and a pro option if you are selling at a higher volume.
 Picture 28

Amazon Ad Types
Once again, Amazon has provided options for you to choose from, so you
can go with the one that suits your business needs the best. There is a
reason why they are the best out there when it comes to eCommerce and
retail, and having some options that cater to everyone’s needs is one of
them. There are three types of Amazon ads to choose from, depending on
what you may need:

Sponsored Ad Options
If you are familiar with how Google’s Shopping Network works, this one is
similar. Sponsored ads drive your customers directly to the exact products
that you happen to be selling on your FBA store. By clicking on the
sponsored content, customers will be led directly to your store, complete
with the product details and everything else they need to know before they
make a purchase.
 Picture 29

You will typically find these sponsored contents either above or at the
bottom of the search results page, once you have typed in the keyword and
hit the search button. Sponsored content relies on keywords to hit its targets,
and if this is the option you choose to go with, you’ll need to have an exact
keyword, phrase and several other matching keyword options ready.
Sponsored content allows you to have full control regarding how long you
want your campaign to run, and the daily budget you set for yourself. You
can choose to pause your campaign at any time, but you need to at least let
it run for one full day before you do that.

Headline Search Ads

These ads appear as a banner above the results page.
 Picture 30

These ads work on a cost-per-click system, leading your customers to the

specific page on Amazon that they might be looking for. The minimum bid
that you would need to pay per keyword is $0.10. Just like the sponsored
content, these ads rely heavily on keywords. The difference with headline
ads is that they can be used to promote either three products or more
simultaneously. With this ad type, these are only two keyword match-types,
which are supported:

Using the exact keywords

Using phrases that match

You can schedule your campaigns to run for up to 4 months at a time if you
would like and if you have the budget for it.

Product Displays
This ad type works a little differently from the two formats mentioned
above. Unlike the other two ad types, this one is not so focused on the
keywords. Instead, product display ad formats are based on the product or
interest in the targeted ads. Customers are taken to the products page with
all the details listed when they click on the ad content.
 Picture 31

If you choose to go with this approach, you will need to have a long product
list to choose from or products of interest. For example, if your target
audience was women who were interested in running, then your targeted
products would be focused on the running gear you sell or any other items
of interest that are related to running and exercise. These ads will then be
displayed to customers who are interested in your products. These ads also
work on a cost-per-click system, but each campaign is only limited to a
single target type.

Product display ads can either appear at the bottom of the page below the
search results, at the top of an offer listings page, marketing emails sent out
by Amazon, and even on pages where customers leave a review.

Optimizing Your Amazon Ads

Deciding to go ahead with an Amazon ad campaign alone is not enough.
You are going to have to optimize that approach for success too. Remember
that you are not going to be the only retailer on the platform, there is going
to be a lot - A LOT - of competition. Literally thousands of other stores and
retailers that you will be competing with. There is very little chance of you
being seen, let alone being remembered if you do not do what you can to
optimize every strategy you take. You need to give your business its best
chance for success, and that includes what you do on your Amazon ad
campaigns.

Here are the strategies you need to keep in mind if you are serious about
taking your Amazon ads to the next level:

Campaigns That Are Well-Structured - If you have had any

experience advertising with AdWords in the past, then you are
probably familiar with what this process entails. A well-
structured campaign works best if you have a separate campaign
per product category instead of trying to group everything all
together. Once you have sorted out what your campaigns should
be, create specific ad groups which are more detailed, narrowing
it down even more. A well-structured ad campaign is organized
and, more importantly, it remains relevant.

Be Compelling in Your Copy - Create a sense of urgency too,

while you are at it. Being detailed in your ad copy does not mean
you have to be boring. Go ahead, add some humor in there, and
show off your creativity, because it makes your ad copy a lot
more compelling. Customers do not want to feel as though they
are reading from a generic and dry script. They will remember
you a lot more if you made them laugh or smile while they read
your product descriptions, and that is one of the most effective
ways to stand out on Amazon against a sea of other retailers
selling the same thing you are. Creating a sense of urgency in
your ad copy here can be through a limited time offer sale, or a
not-to-be-missed promotion.

Details Matter - Paying attention to detail is going to be your ad

campaign’s redeeming quality. Put yourself in your customers’
shoes. How convinced would you be about buying a product
when you are not satisfied it has answered all your questions.
The ad campaigns could be beautifully set up, yet you are not
convinced enough because it still feels like something is missing.
That is the feeling you want to avoid creating for your customers.
Detail, detail, detail. That is the mantra you need to keep
repeating to yourself when you are prepping for your ad
campaign. No matter what product you may be selling, put all
the details out there, especially the ones that many sellers
sometimes overlook. Even if you are selling something as simple
as a water bottle, go the extra mile and put in the nitty-gritty
details. How many ounces does this bottle hold? Is it BPA free?
Will it keep your beverage cold or hot? If so, for how many
hours? What is the material of the water bottle made of? You
have limited space on your ad text to work with, so draft out the
first copy with all the information on it, and then draft out a
second copy narrowing it down to only the most important
information.

Consider Your Competitors - Depending on the kind of

product you are selling, think about who your more well-known
direct competitors are. The ones who are selling products similar
to yours. Let us say for example you were selling workout gear,
so you will want to bid on terms such as “Nike sports shoes” or
“Adidas socks” for example. Yes, they are not your products, but
these well-known brand names are what commonly appear in the
search results the most when customers are looking for products
like these to purchase. Bidding on the same terms that your
competitors are using will allow you to gain some much-needed
exposure on Amazon, and give you a small window of
opportunity why customers should be buying from you instead
of them.

Experimenting with The Different Formats - It is worth trying

out all three of Amazon’s ad offerings to see which one ends up
yielding the most return on investment for your business.
Sponsored ad content might seem like it is enough to get the job
 done, but you just might be surprised at how well the other two
formats can work too. A business is always going to be a
learning process, one that is constantly evolving and changing.
What works well now, might not work as well a year from now,
and you are going to have to adapt as you go along.

Mistakes to Avoid
Moving onto some of the blunders and pitfalls that you want to try to avoid
when you are just starting out on your Amazon FBA venture. There’s
nothing worse than pouring your heart into your business, only to have it
quickly derail because of one, two or several mistakes that completely
unravel all the weeks and months of hard work you may have put in.
Nobody likes making mistakes, but, when you are running a business, they
are part of the package. While you may not be able to avoid them entirely,
what you can do is minimize the mistakes you make by learning from the
experiences of others. Alternatively, following the advice guidelines below:

Mistake 1 - Not Sticking to Your Word. If you promise

something on your store, listing or website, you should better
believe the customer is going to hold you to your word. When
you promise fast delivery, you need to live up to that promise,
along with any other guarantees or assurances you have made to
sweeten the deal. Not sticking to your word is the surest way to
drive a customer away for good. Before you promise, make sure
you can deliver on that promise.

Mistake 2 - Confusing Return Policies. Despite your best

efforts, sometimes a customer simply is not happy and wants to
return an item that they ordered. You’re bound to encounter a
customer or two eventually who will want to return what they’ve
bought, and one mistake a lot of newbie entrepreneurs tend to
make is not having a clear enough returns policy in place.
Dealing with refunds can be a hassle, but with a clear returns
policy in place, you can help your buyers make an informed
decision before they purchase your product. Should they then
want to return it, everyone is clear about what the process is
going to entail. Overlooking this aspect is only going to create an
unpleasant sales experience both ways because of the time-
consuming and tedious back and forth that needs to go on before
you and the client can come to an understanding.

Mistake 3 - Not Spending Enough Time on Listings. Without

quality listings in place, you are not giving your buyer a
compelling enough reason why they should choose you over
your competitors. In the rush to put their products up for sale, a
lot of new sellers gloss over this aspect by just providing the
bare minimum information and hope that is going to be enough
to suffice. It is not.

Mistake 4 - Not Taking Note of Changes in Policy. We are all

guilty of scrolling through the terms and conditions and clicking
“accept” without reading any of it. Who does have the time for
that? Well, you are going to need to, if you are running a
business. At least read and thoroughly understand any new
changes or updates in their policy, which Amazon sends you.
These changes could affect your business, so it is best you try to
be as thorough as you can and do not skip this step.

Mistake 5 - Your Wait Times Are Too Long. Customers are an

impatient bunch. Take too long to deliver and they will go to
someone else to get the job done. It is not just the long wait
times for the delivery of their product that is going to drive them
away either. If you take too long to respond to their queries, too
long to restock your inventory, too long resolve return issues,
providing a slow overall sales experience in general, the
customer is going to take their business elsewhere and it is going
to be nearly impossible to win them back.
Mistake 6 - Limited Logistics. Servicing within your own
country, continent or region is certainly easier and a lot more
convenient, but there is the danger of missing potential
customers too. The international market is where an even bigger
customer potential lies, and at some point, you are going to have
to think about servicing that sector for the future of your
business.

Mistake 7 - Slacking Off. You will have to work your butt off
until your business gets to the point where you can call it a
success. There is a steady stream of revenue coming in every
month, and you are getting plenty of great reviews and returning
customers too. It is easy to get comfortable, but the danger is
when you start to get a little too comfortable that your
performance starts to slip. To keep your success going, you need
to keep the momentum you built going, and falling behind on
your performance should never even be an option.

Mistake 8 - More Than One Account. Amazon is only going to

let you register for a single account, and nothing more. All you
get is one, and another mistake made by many new
entrepreneurs is trying to set up multiple accounts for
themselves, thinking they will boost sales even more.
Unfortunately, going that way is going to put you in violation of
Amazon’s policies, and they will be well within their legal rights
to either terminate or suspend your account.

Mistake 9 - Too Much Inventory That is Not Moving. This

mistake usually hits the new sellers more than the seasoned ones.
Understandable, since this is probably your first time doing it,
and you are not quite sure how much stock you need to have on
hand. It is going to take a while for you to find that balance
between having the perfect amount of inventory, so until then,
try to pace yourself with your ordering, do your research and be
realistic about how much you are going to need.
Mistake 10 - Sorry, Out of Stock. Unfortunately, sorry is not
going to be enough to pull your customers back in once they
have moved onto another seller. Customers are a fickle bunch,
and even if they have bought from your store in the past, they
can quickly lose interest when faced with an “out of stock”
situation. As a seller, you never want to have to tell your
customers that an item is out of stock, which is why having
software to help you manage your inventory is going to be a
great solution in this case.

Mistake 11 - Failing to Deliver. The whole idea of having

“fulfilled by Amazon” stamped across the products in your store
is because customers have come to expect dependability and
reliability. That is what they associate Amazon with, and things
as order cancellations or delays in shipment can seriously
damage your reputation. True, there are times when
circumstances are beyond your control, but letting Amazon
handle the shipping and handling aspect of it instead of trying to
do it yourself helps minimize instances of failed order
fulfillment.

Mistake 12 - Thinking eBay Rules Apply to Amazon. Selling

experience on eBay is going to help you in some ways, but not
entirely. Amazon and eBay have many similarities between them
but make no mistake they are two different platforms. The rules
do not apply across the board, and what works on eBay might
not work the same way on Amazon. Keep the two accounts
separate, and learn to understand and familiarize yourself with
the different nuances that set Amazon apart.

Mistake 13 - Your Shipping Costs Too Much. There are times

when a slightly higher shipping rate is to be expected (like when
you are expediting the shipping, or rushing an order, maybe even
having it shipped to a remote location that is hard to access).
However, if the cost of the shipping exceeds more than 20% of
what the item itself costs, customers are not going to be happy
about it. High shipping costs are a major turn-off, so you need to
figure out how much your base selling cost should be if you
want to make a reasonable profit, which will then allow you to
cut down on the shipping costs as much as possible.

Mistake 14 - Not Following Up with Reviews. Remember how

reviews are important to the survival of your business? Well, one
mistake that too frequently is made is sellers forget to follow-up
with their customers and prompt them to leave a review. Once
customers get what they want, they do not think twice about it
anymore, and leaving a review is not something that will even
cross their minds at that point. Which is why you need to make it
a point to remind them (without being too pushy about it) by
following up and asking them to share their experience.

Mistake 15 - Stagnant Prices. Customers always want to know

that they are getting a good deal. They take advantage of sales,
special offers and price reductions, especially when prices are
slashed at nearly 50%. As a seller, it would be a mistake to
always keep your product prices stagnant, since the minute your
competitor lowers their prices, customers are going to
immediately jump the fence over to the other side.

Mistake 16 - Trying to Add External URLs. You might have

other stores on different platforms or even your own eCommerce
store that you are eager to drive traffic towards, but trying to add
on external URLs within your product listing is going against
Amazon’s policy.

Mistake 17 - Messy Images. Keep your product images simple,

clean and crisp, with not a lot of detail going on that you end up
confusing your customers. The background of your chosen
image should not distract from the actual product you are trying
 to sell. If it does, you have gone too far and you will need to tone
it down.

Even More Tips and Tricks for Success on Amazon

As an FBA seller, you need all the help you can get to ensure your business
on Amazon runs like a well-oiled machine. Do not overlook the available
tools at your disposal, especially if you are a multi-channel seller. There is
no shortage of tools these days available to help you out in just about every
aspect of running an FBA store, as a quick Google search will reveal. One
drawback though is that some of these tools can be a little on the pricey
side, and as a new entrepreneur, you are probably still in the budget-
conscious stage of your business. But then again, even well-seasoned
businesses might hesitate to sign up for an app where you are uncertain if it
meets your business needs. Luckily, most of them come with trial periods
so you can test it out and see if it works for you.

When these tools come free though, it does not hurt to invest in them;
especially if they can help you elevate your game. Here is a list of some of
the free Amazon tools that make searching for products easier, identify
what is new in the market, and even tools that work great at giving you
updates, tips, and advice. The best part being, of course, that they are free.

AMZFinder - This powerful review and feedback management

tool are a definite must-have for Amazon sellers. Create auto-
email plans, and gain access to 500 free emails a month to
optimize your listings and increase your revenue. There is also a
transparent pricing system in place, as well as a resourceful blog
section that is updated regularly with informational articles,
product comparisons, and advice on just about any aspect of
Amazon.

AMZBase - Take your product search speed up a notch by using

AMZBase, the free Amazon product search tool. AMZBase lets
you get a hold of product ASIN numbers as well as effective
product descriptions and it gives quick access to plenty of sites
directly from the menu.

Camelcamelcamel - Created by Daniel Green, this platform

offers a host of information and resources that are extremely
valuable for any Amazon FBA seller, even if you are a more
seasoned pro. You will need to go through a quick and short
registration process but after that, it is completely free to access.
There are no other charges incurred if you want access to
tutorials and downloads. There is a tools section too, which
features free add-ons as well as downloads, and there is a guide
to price drops and popular products. Users have free access to
view Amazon history charts and sign up for alerts. The platform
has also included a useful sales rank and price history data
feature that sellers are going to find very useful.

Keepa - This Amazon price-tracking tool has its benefits.

Created by Sascha Arthur, may not be as robust as some of the
tools used, but plenty of Amazon sellers find it useful as a
browser extension because it includes an Amazon price tracker
as well as a “Deals” section, which regularly highlights popular
products and products that have a price drop.

Sonar - This Chrome extension is best utilized for Amazon

keyword research. Using complex algorithms and collating data
on the products that shoppers on Amazon are searching for,
Sonar puts it in together into a database. This is an ideal tool for
those who have not decided what it is they would want to sell.
This is also an excellent generator for ideas. Users find this tool
effective, it also includes options to optimize back end
keywords, and it gives users the capacity to develop their own
profit dashboard.
Google Trends - Simple but effective. Google Trends will let
you keep up to date on all-important trends happening in the
business. This is also an essential FBA tool that sellers need to
have, as it gives an overview list of the list of trending stories,
along with its historical data, which gives sellers a bird’s eye
view of what is trending and what is not. It also has an online
search option that enables sellers to search for products and
subjects that may not appear on the access and list data. What is
great about Google Trends is that it is updated daily and it is an
excellent site to put in your favorites list and stay on top of what
is trending on a minute-to-minute basis.

Keyword Tool for Amazon - A tool that helps Amazon sellers

easily search for a specific keyword, this is one feature you want
to make full use of. It is still free to use, even if you do not
register, and through this platform, users get to put in a 750 long-
tail keyword suggestion for every search item. You can search in
YouTube, Bing, Google, eBay, Amazon, and even App store and
you can filter it by country. This tool, while basic is still a great
tool to keep on your browser for easy and quick searches.

DS Amazon Quick View - Another Chrome extension that is

quick and easy to install, this productivity tool will allow you to
add an Amazon ranking, and provide information to check on
full product details effortlessly. It is free to install, but there are
going to be fees incurred if you need some help and support. To
avoid the fees, you can opt to visit forums for any
troubleshooting issues you may have.

FBA Calculator - Another tool that was previously talked about

was the FBA Calculator for Amazon. Calculate profit margins
faster while on the move, anytime you need with the FBA
Calculator. You can get it free from the Chrome store and users
can estimate profits on any given product and see its cost price,
estimated sales as well as the number of variables.
 Unicorn Smasher - This unique sounding tool is considered
among the best ways to supercharge your product research on
Amazon. It is a colorful website, true to its name, with tons of
useful downloads, statistics, information, and reports. Through
this tool users can integrate AMZ tracker and it offers plenty of
features from fulfillment details, monthly estimates, export tools,
revenue estimates as well as data analysis.

Even More Secrets to Success to Amazon FBA Success. If Other Sellers

Can Do It, You Can Too
Not secrets exactly, but more like things you NEED to do if you want to
achieve all the success on Amazon that you hoped for when you had that
first spark of inspiration to start this venture. Many sellers make the mistake
of either overlooking or ignoring the little details. You do not want to be
one of those sellers who is so eager to get going you rush through the entire
process and end up making several mistakes along the way. It is the little
details that will lead to overall success, not merely buying and selling
inventory alone. Many other things go into it.

Let us look at some of little details you should be paying attention to:

Optimizing Your Page for Mobile Viewing - Mobile phones

these days are designed for us to have information in the palm of
our hands and on the go. Any content you create today must be
optimized for mobile viewing first and desktop second. This
includes your Amazon FBA store (and other eCommerce stores
you have). Customers are more likely to view your newsletters,
product updates, emails, statutes, and tweets via mobile than on
their desktop, and if your store is not optimized for mobile
viewing, you are already on the losing end.

Optimal Pricing Is a Must - Every customer who goes to

Amazon to purchase something often wants to buy products at
the lowest price. No exceptions here. If you can get what you
needed for a much lower cost, of course you would want to. As a
seller, you need to think like your customer. You need to know
the kind of prices that you will be competing against, and how to
sell your products at the most optimal, competitive pricing.
Items that are priced lower show up higher on the search results
but be careful that it is not too low. Your pricing needs to be
competitive and to do that, you can use Amazon’s Match Low
Price feature to assist you in consistently matching with the
lowest pricing of the same product on Amazon.

You Need the Buy Box - The Amazon Buy Box is the Holy
Grail sellers strive to achieve. Located on the product detail page
where customers start the purchasing process by adding items
directly into their shopping cart, products listed here often see an
increase in purchases.

Always Improve, Never slack - Remember how you need to

keep the same performance and standard going? Even when you
have achieved steady success on Amazon? Using Amazon FBA
means your packaging, shipping, and even customer service are
handled by Amazon, but it does not mean you do not get to do
anything else. Your job is to make sure your store is
continuously selling and to do this, you need to consistently
improve your store’s performance and monitor it regularly. You
need to be mindful of the sales, the seller rating as well as the
return rates. You got your store to the top of its game, now you
need to help it stay there.

Never Neglect the Reviews - The best way for any customer to
know that the products that they are purchasing are good value is
by reading the reviews. Customers will click on products that
have higher ratings and the likelihood of them finalizing
purchases increases if products have good reviews and high
ratings. Never give in to the temptation to cheat on your reviews.
If you have a product that always gets bad, reviews- trash it.
When you do, let your customers know that you are
discontinuing it because this will help increase their confidence
in your site. The fact that you have heard them and you are doing
something about it increases brand trust.

Following Amazon’s Rules - Success does not come by cutting

corners. Even if you do by some luck, you are not going to stay
there for long. You can take advantage of tools and apps that
help you be more efficient and up to date. Nevertheless, the
golden rule here is to follow the rules set by Amazon and your
account will not be penalized or suspended.

Detailed Image Views- You want to entice customers to

purchase your products. Apart from a single photo, give users
views from different angles as it can show character and carry a
brand. Provide thoughtful and visually appealing imagery, and
do not just show your products from one angle either. Always
have a few different angles and views, with some zooming in on
the finer details. Images are also a way your customer gathers
information. If they love what they see, they will buy it.
Purchasing stock photos is not as effective these days.
Customers want to see the real deal where possible. If you are
running your own eCommerce store, genuine pictures
highlighting the lifestyle of your company, your employees, the
surrounding of your firm is a hundred times better than regular
stock photos.

System Integration for Efficiency - Integration allows you to

synchronize various data such as orders, inventory, customers,
items as well as shipping and tracking information between your
other systems and Amazon. If you are on other channels, make it
a point to integrate your sales channels with your backend
systems. You can automate these processes and eliminate manual
data entry, which can cause delayed data processing time as well
as errors that are costly.
Conclusion
Thank for making it through to the end of this book, let us hope it was
informative and able to provide you with all the tools you need to achieve
your goals whatever they may be.

Amazon FBA can be a great place to start an online eCommerce business or

an excellent addition to your already existing retail business. Novice sellers
get to learn what it takes to run an online store without having to bear the
burden of a massive risk that might land them in debt. The Amazon team is
there to help you every step of the way, from the payments to the
packaging, shipping and even dealing with your customer service, which is
why it is the perfect passive income option. Minimal work on your part, but
still good enough to generate a recurring income, even when you are not
actively working on it yourself.

The name Amazon will take your business further than you ever thought
possible, connecting you to a wide range of customers globally. Like most
business models, Amazon does come with its own pros and cons, but once
you start getting into the business yourself, you’ll see firsthand that the pros
far outweigh the cons, making this business model worth it. Many sellers
have already found success on Amazon by either increasing their sales or
boosting the visibility of their existing stores by branching out into Amazon
FBA. You could be one of those sellers too.

Finally, if you found this book useful in any way, a review on Amazon is
always appreciated!
 DROPSHIPPING
THE ULTIMATE STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO BUILD
YOUR E-COMMERCE BUSINESS AND START
MAKING MONEY ONLINE.
CREATE YOUR PASSIVE INCOME IN 60 DAYS.

LOGAN STORE
Introduction

Every day brings with it the possibility of something new and exciting.
That’s one of the best things about running a business of your own. Two
days are never going to be the same and if you’re someone who thrives on
this kind of excitement, then entrepreneurship could be your calling.
Making the decision to become your own boss and take control of your
destiny is only the beginning. What’s an even bigger decision is to choose
what type of business model is going to be right for you.

If you’re an entrepreneur who’s just starting out, here are some of the traits
you might be searching for in a potential business model:

● Something that is low risk.

● A business model that doesn’t necessarily require a lot of initial
capital to invest in.
● A business model that you can run online from anywhere you may
be, because all you need is a laptop and a good internet connection.
● Something that is easy to set-up.
● Something easy to implement without an unreasonably high
overhead cost to contend with.

Did you find yourself nodding yes to these statements? Then the kind of
business model that you’re looking for is known as dropshipping.

The beauty of dropshipping is that you don’t need to keep actual stock or
inventory of the items you want to sell. Dropshipping, as you will quickly
discover, is one of the easiest businesses in the e-commerce world that you
could start with. It is low-risk and low-investment which is great for
novices starting their own business. It does not involve much monetary
gamble, the way a traditional brick and mortar business would. You don’t
have to deal with the cost of the rental, utilities, renovation, employee
salaries, licensing and permits for the location that you've based it. All of
that is now unnecessary and those are just some of the many reasons why
dropshipping businesses have skyrocketed over the years, as more and more
entrepreneurs are taking the plunge and starting something of their own.
Business can be daunting for any first-timer, as well as a seasoned
entrepreneur. There’s always a risk of making one wrong decision that
could end up jeopardizing the entire business. The uncertainty of whether
your business is going to make it, the high risk involved, the pressure of
trying to get your business off the ground and how to gain market traction is
a lot for anyone to handle, especially if they haven’t got much business
experience to begin with. That’s why dropshipping offers the perfect
solution. You get to ease into the business world without the high stakes
risk while you test the market and understand how to sell online, what
drives traffic, how to turn that traffic into sales and what it takes to optimize
sales. If you were looking for a business model that was going to be the
perfect learning curve while still bringing in some profit on a regular basis,
you’ve found it.

With so many books about the subject in the market, we greatly appreciate
you choosing this book! Please know that all efforts are made to ensure all
information is useful for you!
Chapter 1: Entrepreneurship Made Easy with
Dropshipping

It’s so easy these days starting a new business in the digital space.
Technology has certainly brought about many benefits that have no doubt
enriched and empowered our lives in many ways. One such benefit is the
ability to start a new business online. Behind all those new small, medium
and micro businesses, that you see online there is an entrepreneur and
owner of that business who is working hard and doing their best every day
to achieve success.

It’s admirable, what they’re doing. It takes guts, determination, willpower

and a combination of several other factors to build a successful business
from the ground up. To take that leap of faith and follow your passion is a
decision that not just anyone can make. It takes an individual with the
winning mindset to chase their entrepreneurial dreams, even with a
seemingly easy enough business like dropshipping.

The Winning Mindset Needed

While a successful business is a combination of blood, sweat, tears and a
whole host of other factors that have come together to contribute towards its
achievement, there is one other, essential element that every entrepreneur
needs to have on their side. You’ve probably heard it being mentioned often
enough but never given much thought to it. All that is about to change
though, since it is now more important than ever that this vital ingredient
exists in the forefront of your mind. Without it, you’ll find yourself
struggling every step of the way on your rise to the top, no matter how
prepared or well thought out your business plan may be. What you need is
known as the winning mindset.

The winning mindset is the game-changer, the key to turn your vision into
reality. The ongoing state of mind that is needed to fuel your motivation and
desire to keep pushing forward, no matter what obstacles are thrown your
way. The mindset that is going to fill you with the positive enthusiasm, you
need to believe you can do this, to never give up until you’ve accomplished
what you set out to do. Every successful individual out there who has
achieved something great and made a name for themselves started building
their success from within, in their mind. They visualized it and believed in
that vision so much that they started to conceive it, make it their reality.

Mind over matter. What the mind can conceive, it can achieve. It’s all in
your mind. These wise old sayings are still as relevant today as when they
first came about because they perfectly sum out what an important role our
mind plays. How powerful our thoughts can be if we learn how to channel it
properly. An idea, when nurtured, can initiate a chain reaction of events that
bring that idea to fruition. A simple idea can build a business empire so
successful it can last through the generations. When you have a winning
mindset, you believe anything is possible and that belief is the most
powerful force you can have on your side when you’re beginning one of the
most challenging tasks you will ever take on in your life. Building a new
business.

For every one person who has achieved success, there are 9 others who
failed, even though they may have had the same dreams. Those many who
fail to make their dreams come true, is because they didn’t have the right
mindset needed to drive them to action. Without the winning mindset,
they’re not convinced that they can do this and that’s the difference between
them and those who have gone on to pursue their passions. With the right
mindset, you can move mountains and you only need to read the memoirs
and success story of those who have already gone the distance. The odds
that they had to overcome were not easy, but they believed that they could
do it, believed that they could win and that’s what they did.

Before beginning your dropshipping business, let’s take a moment to assess

your mindset. Where is it at right now? Do you believe you’re a winner? Or
are you still harboring some doubts about whether you’re making the right
decision? To build a successful dropshipping business, there’s only room
for the former and if you’re not quite there yet, it’s time to prep your mind
and starts building the foundation of the winning mindset with the
following pillars needed for success:

● A Strong Desire - Your desire for success must be so strong that it’s
all you can think about from the moment you wake up in the
 morning, until you go to bed at night. What is it that you desire most?
Let your answers be your driving force.

● Unwavering Focus - There are going to be a lot of distractions

along the way, challenges that will push you beyond your comfort
zone and test your willpower. The only thing that’s going to get you
through it all is an unwavering focus on what your end goals are.

● Setting Clear Intentions - Having clear intentions is the same as

setting goals for yourself. Be clear about why you’re doing this from
the beginning. Are you starting your dropshipping business for fun?
Or do you have much bigger plans for it in mind? Clear intentions,
along with goals, will help you with a lot of the decisions you’re
going to have to make as a business owner.

● Set Goals - Whenever anyone asks why you’ve started a

dropshipping business, you should be able to explain your reason
why without hesitation. You’ve got your intention and you’ve got
your goals, which are the directions you need, to help you navigate
the map towards success. Goals help you measure how much
progress you’re making and more importantly, whether you’re
progressing in the right direction, the way that you should be. Your
goals give you a sense of purpose, something to work towards and
each time you find yourself just one step closer, your belief in
yourself strengthens with every victory. That’s a winner.

● Being Patient - Part of being a winner is knowing that good things

take time. A business is not something that is going to instantly turn a
profit overnight. Yes, it has the potential to make a lot of money and
help you achieve your financial goals, but it takes time. Sometimes a
lot of time. Having the patience to wait for the delayed gratification is
how you set yourself apart from the others who eventually gave up
because they couldn’t wait any longer.

● Commitment - You’ve done all that you can to give your business
its best chance for success, but without the commitment needed to
stick to your action plan, it’s not going to work. A winning mindset
must be accompanied with the commitment needed to consistently
 take action, even if you don’t see instantaneous results happening
before your very eyes. Something is happening and you might not
always be able to see it, but every action taken has a consequence.
The commitment to consistent action is how you achieve long-term
results.

The Winning Mindset

Welcome to the World of Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a term you would no doubt have heard or be familiar with
if you’ve been scouring the e-commerce world, exploring the available
options and business models. Comparatively, one of the easier business
models to establish, dropshipping is ideal for the entrepreneur who wants to
get into the business game but might not have a lot of capital to invest or
business experience either.
Dropshipping is business which is focused on order fulfillment, just like
any other business would be. The difference between this and your regular
business models is that with dropshipping, the owner does not keep any of
the physical products ready stocked with them. That’s right; you’re selling
products, without owning any of the products. When a customer places an
order, that order is sent to a third-party supplier that you’re working closely
with. The supplier is the one who will be responsible for shipping your
order to your customer.

Here’s what a normal business cycle might look like without the presence
of dropshipping:

● You purchase products from the supplier so your business always

has inventory on hand.
● These products are stored by your business as you wait patiently for
a customer to come along and make a purchase.
● When they do, you package the products and handle the shipping
yourself.

Now, with the dropshipping process, on the other hand, this is what the
business cycle might look like:

● You source the suppliers you want to work with.

● You list the products for sale on your site and wait until a customer
makes an order.
● Once an order is placed, you pass those details along to your
supplier.
● The supplier then packages the goods ordered and ships them
directly to the customer's doorstep.

There’s one thing that needs to be clear before you begin, though.
Dropshipping is easy enough to understand, but it’s not a business model
that is going to get you rich quick. In theory, it sounds like running this type
of business should be much easier than the traditional brick and mortar
types, but make no mistake; dropshipping still comes with its own cons and
challenges that need to be contended with. At the end of the day, it is still a
business and like every other business, it’s going to take hard work and
commitment to get it off the ground and running successfully. This is going
to be something you must be prepared to do from the very beginning.

For the entrepreneur who’s just starting out for the first time, dropshipping
is the perfect business model, to begin with. Since you’re not physically
holding onto the inventory yourself, you’re free to sell as many products as
you can manage on your site, provided you have the reliable suppliers to
help you fulfill your orders. Sell as many, or as little, as you’d like,
although of course, the more you sell the more money you potentially stand
to gain. Another reason why beginners will love this model is the low up-
front capital that is needed to begin. Since you do not have to purchase any
of the physical inventory yourself, you don’t have to fork out large sums
purchasing products when the suppliers will be storing them for you.

The dropshipping business is made up of three main players:

● The Manufacturers - The party who is responsible for the creation

of the product you’re selling. Since manufacturers don’t sell their
products directly to the public, they rely on businesses like your
dropshipping model to do it for them. There’s a good chance you’ll
be able to negotiate the cheapest prices when you buy and work
directly with them. However, most manufacturers will have a
minimum requirement that you’ll need to purchase and depending on
that amount; you sometimes might need to sort out the storage
options yourself.

● The Wholesalers – It is the group that makes purchases directly

from the manufacturers and they do it in bulk to meet the minimum
purchase quota. If your dropshipping business is serving a selected
niche, wholesalers are a good option to consider working with.

● The Vendors - That’s you. The one with the dropshipping business.
You’re the vendor and your role in the dropshipping dynamic is to
sell these products directly to the customers at a slightly more marked
up price.
 The 3 Main Players in Dropshipping

There are also three different types of dropshipping methods for you to
choose from. Prior to this, dropshipping primarily consisted of a service
where suppliers would ship their products directly to the customer if they
had the logistical means to do so. Naturally, since technology and the
offerings of the online world evolve and change so rapidly, dropshipping
wasn’t left behind. Today, this service has grown beyond just the classic
dropshipping method, with many sellers today even utilizing Amazon’s
fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) service to get Amazon to do the dropshipping
for them. Let’s break down the three dropshipping methods which are
heavily used today:

Method #1 - Dropshipping Directly from Suppliers

The classic method is still as good as new. When dropshipping directly
from the suppliers, you, as the vendor, will need to work on establishing a
good, professional working relationship with the suppliers you choose to
retain as part of your business. There’s going to be a lot of negotiation
involved here until both parties can come to terms of the agreement that
benefit both. Once you’ve locked down the suppliers you’re happy to work
with, you’ll then move to list their products on your web stores.
With this approach, there’s very little chance that you’re ever going to see,
own or touch the products that you’re selling. You’re purely the middleman
in this scenario and the major advantage of this method is the value
creation. You’re establishing a genuine relationship with a supplier that you
know, as opposed to working with dropshipping platform giants like
Aliexpress or Amazon and these genuine relationships formed can help add
quite a substantial value to the business world. When you’re working with a
supplier in China for example, who may have the products but not
necessarily the skills, knowledge or resources needed to market it to the rest
of the world, that’s where you come in with the expertise they need and
create real value for their products. Producing a creative, professional
description for each product, listing and promoting them in an appealing
way that customers can relate to, along with the top-notch customer service
element, bridges the gap and makes online shopping a global experience.

Another advantage to this method is you get to choose the supplier you
want to work with and it is up to you to choose a partner who is going to
care just as much about your mutual business interests as you do. As the
middleman, you must be comfortable surrendering control over your
products to the supplier and if you don’t get someone with the same mutual
interests to make this arrangement work, that’s going to cause some major
problems that could potentially affect your business. For example, if you
cared about shipping out quickly and on time but the supplier didn’t, the
customer will see it as you failing to deliver on your timely shipping
promise. On the other hand, if you worked with a supplier who was
professional and just as committed to providing a great business experience
the way you were, constantly communicating and updating on the status of
the shipment or what’s happening in general with stock and inventory, that
makes for a beautiful working relationship that could go a long way. Having
a personal relationship with your supplier can make a big difference to your
business.

Of course, there are disadvantages to this method too; one of them being
that sourcing these suppliers to work with can be somewhat difficult. Since
finding a supplier is one of the most critical factors needed for the success
of your business, it’s crucial to find one that you can see yourself having a
long-term working relationship with. This endeavor, however, could take
weeks or even months of constant searching and hard work before you find
the perfect fit for your business. You want a supplier who’s not only
professional but communicates effectively and, more importantly, is a
business partner you can trust. This process can’t be rushed, so you must be
patient and prepared for the fact that it is going to take time.

Since you’re going to have to rely heavily on communication, which poses

yet another potential problem for human error to occur. When
miscommunication happens, it’s going to affect your business and possibly
your clients too depending on what happens. If your supplier fails to update
you on the availability of the stock, it’s going to affect your ability to fulfill
the orders, which is going to leave you with some very unhappy clients who
might take their business elsewhere if they were counting on your shipment.
In any kind of business, reputation is everything and when you’re a startup,
it is very risky to deal with anything that could risk jeopardizing your
reputation right from the start. Order cancellations reflect negatively on
your business, even if it is not entirely your fault and negative reviews from
customers are hard to bounce back from. True, instances like these are rare,
but they do happen every now and again, which brings us back to why it is
so important to find a supplier that you can work professionally with.

Then there’s the fact that relationships, any kind of relationship, needs to be
nurtured and attended to. Trust takes time and a lot of effort invested in
effective communication. Nurturing relationships right from the ground up
is just as time-consuming as starting a business from scratch, but if you do
it right, it’ll be worth it.

Method #2 - Dropshipping via Online Retailers

Online retailers like Amazon, AliExpress, eBay and Shopify, for example,
are some major names in the dropshipping business that have established
quite a steady reputation for themselves online. Mention Amazon and
customers immediately get the impression that products are more reliable
and value for money because of the reputation associated with Amazon.
This is an arbitrage model of dropshipping, where you as the vendor will
scout for arbitrage prices between two or more of these retailers and
advantage on the price difference to make a profit. Check out the example
we have here for you. Let’s say you found an item that you liked on
Amazon for $20 and you found the exact same item on Shopify for $30.
You will then be able to leverage this difference to your advantage by
ordering the item from Amazon for the $20 price but selling it on Shopify
for the $30 price tag. Your profit then would be $10. Instead of having a
real relationship with a supplier, what you’re doing instead is buying
products from one online retailer and selling it for a slightly higher price on
another platform. Profits are small, but it’s still a profit if you don’t mind
the margins.

One benefit of this approach is you eliminate the time and effort needed to
build a relationship with a supplier since you’re making your profits
through the arbitrage pricing difference between different online retailers.
Another advantage is that you have options for multiple suppliers when it
comes to sourcing your products. Most dropshipping platforms sell the
same kind of products, which means that you minimize the risk involved
with running out of stock. When one supplier doesn’t have what you need,
you can always go to another.

The available automation tools with this method also make life much easier
for you, taking away the bulk of your manual labor so you can focus instead
on another important aspect for a successful business. Your customer
service. ProfitSraper , PriceYak , Yaballe , Salefreaks and DsmTool are just
some of the many dropshipping arbitrage solutions that will automatically
look and scan for the best prices around, which means you don’t have to
manually do it yourself. These platforms also list these products
automatically, so you don’t have to and they even re-price your items if the
prices on the source platforms get updated.

The downside with this method, though, is that it isn’t sustainable for a
long-term business. Competition is high in dropshipping and all it takes is
one bad review or poor customer service to drive you out of business. A
quick search online is all it takes to see how high the competition is and
when a customer isn’t happy, they’re not likely to return when there are
several other vendors offering the same products that you are. Since profit
margins are very small with this dropshipping method, you should cover
any customer returns and the cost of shipping returns may be higher than
your profit margin, which then defeats the purpose.
There is also the absence of value creation with this approach. When you’re
selling an item that is easily available on several other prices for slightly
higher or lower prices, you’re not adding any value to it. A profitable
business can only be built when you create something of value that your
customers need and want. Plus, a customer might be discouraged from
buying from you ever again if they ordered an item from you through
Shopify only to receive it in an Amazon package. They might just choose to
buy directly from Amazon in the future instead of going through your site
to do it and that’s a potential loss of business right there.

Small profit margins are another drawback when you rely just on arbitrage
pricing alone to run your business. With the available automation solutions
that keep popping up, margins are getting smaller and the competition
stiffer. Imagine going up against vendors who are automatically listing
thousands of items, doing the exact same thing that you are. This just
further decreases your odds of making a profit, unless you’ve got repeat
customers who love your service enough to keep coming back to you. To
make a sizeable profit, you need to maintain a consistently large sales
volume which is almost impossible without building genuine relationships
with the suppliers themselves.

Method #3 - Dropshipping via Amazon FBA

Launched in 2006, Amazon’s FBA has been a hit with many vendors who
now use this to conduct their dropshipping business. Using this approach,
you would buy your items in bulk from the supplier and then ship it to any
one of the many warehouses Amazon has. Amazon will then store the
inventory for you and when an order comes, it ships out the item on your
behalf directly to the customer. One advantage with this method is that
you’ll be able to use Amazon’s FBA service to fulfill your orders that come
in from other sales avenues too. You could, for instance, process orders that
come in from Walmart of eBay and fulfill them from your existing Amazon
FBA account.

However, because you do need to buy and store the items in Amazon’s
warehouses, this isn’t a 100% percent dropshipping model. To truly benefit
from this method, you need to be a seller who has enough traction and
necessary experience needed to be able to predict the demand for your
orders so you’re not stuck with inventory that never gets sold. Amazon’s
FBA services are still a good option to consider though because you’re
essentially utilizing the services of one of the top logistics operators in the
world. You and your customers can have peace of mind knowing that any
orders placed through Amazon are going to be processed quickly and
delivered as soon as possible.

Listing your products on Amazon also comes with extra perks, such as
being eligible for their Super Saver Shipping, Buy Box and Amazon Prime
shipping options which are more than likely to lead to greater customer
conversion rates. Plus, Amazon will handle any customer returns for you,
so you don’t have to worry about that aspect. If you were to compare the
profit margins made with buying items in bulk from wholesalers and
individually dropshipping products from suppliers only when the orders
come in from customers, profit margins with the Amazon FBA approach
are much better, since you’ve already bought the item at a bulk price.

The disadvantage with this method, however, is that Amazon’s FBA fees
could end up eating into your profit margins more than you would like.
You’re also going to have to fork out money for the storage, which is again
going to eat into your profit margins as opposed to the classic dropshipping
approach where you don’t have to pay to purchase stock in advance.

Another drawback that not a lot of vendors might like is that Amazon’s
warehouse is home to tens of thousands of products from other vendors.
They store everything together per item type, which means that your
product is going to be mixed in with all the other products stored by
different vendors. The slight risk with this one is because everything is
lumped in together, there’s a chance that the product which gets sent to the
customer is not the exact same product you initially sent to Amazon. A
slight risk, but still a risk nonetheless.

Once you’ve determined the kind of products you would like to sell on your
site, you can begin sourcing for the suppliers needed. Since you’re not
holding onto any physical stock yourself, the images of the products you’re
going to be selling are coming directly from your supplier. Essentially, you
as the owner of a dropshipping business are like the middleman. You’re the
link between the customer and the supplier. When the customer needs
something, they go to your website, make a purchase and you pass the
details onto the supplier for them to handle the shipping. The customer
never knows the supplier and the supplier never knows the customer. The
two won’t directly be dealing with each other. They’ll be dealing with you
instead. You’re going to be the face, the representative of both parties and
that is why your dropshipping business exists.

The products that you list on your site are usually already paid for.
Dropshipping vendors generally pay for the items but at a discounted rate
since they work directly with the suppliers, wholesalers or manufacturers.
The profit margin is going to come from the difference between what you
had to pay the supplier and the price that the customer paid for it. Your job
in this situation is to stay on top of your inventory and constantly keeping
tabs on the numbers so you minimize the risk of listing items which are no
longer in stock.

This arrangement works out well since you only pay the suppliers for their
products after you have received payment from the customer. This is
fantastic in fact since it eliminates the risk of having outdated or unsold
inventory on your hands, which is something that brick and mortars must
deal with all the time.

As a dropshipping vendor, your efforts are going to be focused solely on

marketing and promoting your website and your products, since you don’t
have to focus on managing your inventory. Therefore, managing your
online presence and maintaining good customer service is going to be the
primary aspects that your dropshipping business should be focusing most of
its efforts on.

A dropshipping business is easy enough that it can be managed on the side

without having to quit your full-time job. If you’re not ready to lose the
security of a steady income just yet but still want to try your hand at
running your own business, this is the model for you. If you’re looking for a
business that is going to give you a large profit margin though, then
dropshipping might not be it, since your earnings are going to be small after
paying your suppliers. Not to mention the cost of running your website,
although admittedly, these are still much smaller costs incurred compared to
running any other type of business model.
On its own, you can rest assured that dropshipping is a business model that
is perfectly legal. Depending on which supplier you’re working with, that’s
when you may or may not encounter some legal issues. To be on the safe
side, it’s best to have a contract or Dropshipping Agreement drawn up just
to protect yourself.

Who Benefits the Most from This Type of Business?

Those who are new to the e-commerce world have the most to gain by
venturing into the dropshipping business. However, if you’re doing just
dropshipping alone and hoping to get a roaring business going, you might
be disappointed to find that it's not going to be that easy. Dropshipping can
complement an existing e-commerce store or vendor who is already well
established, but starting a profitable business from scratch is going to be a
long process which, given the small profit margins, might not happen.
Looking at the pros and cons of dropshipping, the entrepreneurs who have
the most to gain from this model include:

● New entrepreneurs who have no prior business experience and are

looking for something to learn.
● Entrepreneurs with very small capital to start and those looking for
a low-risk business model.
● Entrepreneurs who are looking to test the waters and see if there’s
potential before they decide to jump in with larger investments.
● Entrepreneurs who are not keen on holding onto large inventory
stocks that run the risk of not being sold.
● The entrepreneur who is looking for the least expensive business
model to get their start in.

Dropshipping is not going to be the best idea if you:

● Are concerned about only achieving high-profit margins.

● Don’t have the time to invest in marketing.
● Are not comfortable about having little to no control over the
running of your business operations.
● Are looking to build a brand image for your business, something
your customers will immediately associate you with. Like Nike for
example. Think Nike and you immediately think of sports
performance related merchandise and equipment.
● Are not going to be happy or satisfied with small profit margins,
which is one of the biggest drawbacks to the dropshipping model. If
you’re looking to make anywhere from 50% to 100% profit per item,
you might be better off looking for another type of business model.
Chapter 2: The Good, Bad and Everything Else
You Need to Know

Becoming an e-commerce entrepreneur can be an exciting venture. As

challenging as running a business can be, it’s also a very exciting prospect
for those who love the ups, the downs and the unpredictability that only the
business world can provide. It’s nothing like having a steady 9-5 job where
every day is just as predictable as the day before. Being an entrepreneur is
something else altogether.

Dropshipping may be one of the easier business models to start with, but
like every other business; you still have to work hard to build your business
into something substantial. If you’ve always wanted to see whether you’ve
got what it takes to make it as a business person, this is the place to test
what you’re made of. Whether you’ve got the time, energy, commitment
and patience that is needed to build this small-scale business from scratch
and one day, launch a much bigger business undertaking of your own.

The Benefits of Dropshipping

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with the basics of the dropshipping
business model, let’s take a closer look at the benefits that you can expect
with this approach and why dropshipping could be a good idea for you:

● It’s Extremely Easy to Set Up - If you’re looking for an easy

business that requires as minimal work as possible in the set-up part,
this is it. To begin your dropshipping business, all you’ll need is a
good website, reliable suppliers and products to sell. That’s it! No
renovation, no rental agreements to deal with, no scouring for good
locations to set up your business, none of that hassle to deal with.

● No Capital Needed - Even if you’re on a shoestring budget or

without a dime to your name, you can still launch a dropshipping
business. You can still get suppliers on your team without a cent since
 you only need to pay them a portion of what you make from your
sale, once the customer has paid you.

● The Low Cost of Overhead - This is a major plus point for

entrepreneurs who don’t have a lot of capital to work with and are not
keen on taking out a business loan because that’s far too risky (what
if the business fails?). Without the need to purchase any inventory
upfront, you need very little investment on your part to get started.
Even on less than $100 per month, a laptop and a reliable internet
connection, you’ll be able to secure all the essentials that you need to
get started. As your business grows, the expenses you need to incur
might grow along with it, but the costs will never be as heavy as what
you might expect from a brick and mortar establishment. Even if your
business flops, you don’t lose much and even better, you don’t have a
hefty loan to pay back regardless.

● Product Selection - Without having to purchase any upfront stock

yourself, you're to get more room to play around in terms of product
selection. Without the risk of investing in inventory that might not
sell, you can dabble in a wider product selection and experiment with
what your customers would like to see more of. The more customer
demands you’re able to cater to, the greater the opportunity to make
even more profit.

● Easily Scale Your Business - Another perk that comes without

having to invest heavily on inventory is the freedom to enjoy the
more creative aspect of running a business. Those who enjoy
dabbling in marketing and advertising will find this business model
the perfect choice for them to actively get creative marketing and
selling products that they genuinely believe in. Even better though,
no matter what product you’re involved in dropshipping, from
something as basic as stationery supplies to heavy-duty furniture or
equipment, the work that you do remains the same. What you’re
doing is acting as the middleman who transfers information back and
forth between the customer and your supplier. When one supplier
runs out of stock, there’s always another to turn to, making this
business option highly scalable.
 ● The Flexibility of Working Anywhere - Possibly one of the
biggest perks with being your own boss (which you technically are if
you run a dropshipping business), is the flexibility of being able to
work anytime, anywhere. You could be on vacation halfway around
the world and keep your business running when you’ve got a moment
or two to spare. As we continue moving towards a more globalized
world, the opportunities for you will just keep growing. You don’t
need to relocate to work with customers and suppliers from around
the world. All you need is a good internet connection.

Dropshipping Drawbacks
Before jumping in headfirst into any kind of business, getting to know the
pros and cons is the smart thing to do. Dropshipping included. It sounds
easy technically, but there’s more to this business model than you might
initially expect. It can be quite a difficult business to maintain consistently,
especially when you’re starting off virtually unknown and competing with
hundreds of other vendors who are doing the same thing. The day that you
launch your dropshipping business you can be sure that several others are
just launching their own dropshipping business too.

Drawbacks are something that no one likes to talk about, but you need to
know about it before you get involved so you know you’re walking into this
venture with both eyes wide open. The last thing you want is to be taken
aback by an unexpected con you didn’t anticipate.

● No High Profits with This One - Depending on your reasons for

getting into this business, the lower profit margins that come with this
business model are somewhat of a problem for some entrepreneurs. If
you’re hoping to make millions from this business venture within the
next several years, this might not be the right business model for you.
You’re investing less money into the business, that means you’re also
getting back less money than the higher-risk businesses out there.
There’s a lot of work that’s going to be involved in keeping your
business afloat and even more work and patience needed before you
can turn a profit.
● A Portion Goes to Suppliers - For every sale that you make, a
portion of your earnings is going to go towards paying your
suppliers, taking your earnings down even further. After deducting
the expenses needed to maintain your website, managing your orders
and the effort involved in marketing and advertising your products,
your profit is not something that’s going to make you do cartwheels
around the room in excitement. Not to mention that since profits are
determined by your traffic and customer base, it might be a while
before you actually see these profits for yourself as you work on
building a steady base of clientele.

● Tough Competition - Competition is tough with this business

model. When there’s an opportunity to start a business for next to
nothing, you can be sure that you’re not going to be the only one who
is keen to get some skin in the game. Be prepared for some tough
competition, especially if your niche is one of the most popular ones.
Smaller start-up businesses are sometimes forced to cut their profits
by a significant amount, so they can continue offering their customers
the low competitive prices that their competitors are. Bigger
companies can afford to do this of course, but for smaller start-ups,
cutting too much into the profit margins could mean business
becomes unsustainable.

● No Exclusivity - With the high level of competition going around,

you might not be the only vendor who’s got a deal with your supplier.
There’s a good chance that your supplier could be working with
several other vendors, selling exactly the same products you are.
That’s even more pressure to market your business and give your
customers a reason why they should be buying from you instead.

● Little Control - As the middleman, you’re going to have very little

command over your supply-chain. You won’t be able to determine
the shipping times, how quickly you get to fulfill an order and even
vouch for the product quality. All these aspects are out of your hands
since the supplier is going to be the one who’s dealing with the order
fulfillment portion. If you’re not someone who’s comfortable
relinquishing control, this might not be the ideal business option for
you despite its pros.
● Building A Brand Name Isn’t Easy - With little control over a lot
of the regular management aspects that happen in business, building a
brand name that’s easily recognizable is not going to be easy. Even if
you’ve sold a fantastic product to a happy customer, chances are
you’re not going to be remembered since it’s not your logo they see
being displayed on the box. Branding may not seem like a big deal
until you get to a point where you want to lock in your repeat
customers, which can only happen if they’re loyal to your business.

● Complications in Shipping - Shipping on its own is not a problem.

The tricky part happens when you’re dealing with multiple suppliers
at a time and you’ve got customers who are ordering items from more
than just one supplier. Since the customer is ordering all the items
from your shop, they would naturally expect these items to be
shipped out altogether and are sometimes taken aback when being
told that some items may experience delays in shipment. Some
customers might be okay with it, while others are less than thrilled at
this prospect. There’s definitely the danger of jeopardizing your
customer satisfaction levels when shipping complications come
about.

● Inventory Problems - Delays in shipment are one thing. What

happens if your customer orders an item and then *gasp* turns out
the supplier tells you it’s out of stock after all. You’ve got to be the
bearer of bad news and let the disappointed customer know that the
item is not available and you’ll either be left with a very disgruntled,
disappointed or angry customer. Again, customer satisfaction levels
could be a problem here.

● The Cost of Your Supplier’s Mistakes - As the face of the

business, the customers are going to know only you, not your
supplier. Which means that any mistakes on the suppliers’ end are
going to end up costing you either in terms of monetary damage or
damage to your reputation. Lost items, damaged products, wrong
items getting shipped, delays in shipment, tracking problems,
customers not getting updated about the status of their orders. All of
this reflects poorly on your business and unfortunately, you’re going
to be the one who has to bear the cost of it all.
 ● The Dangers of Fraud - The online world is no stranger to fraud
and e-commerce businesses are just as much at risk as anything else
that is online. Credit card fraud, possible issues with hackers
attempting to breach your security, fraudulent orders being placed by
customers are just some of the many realities of running a business
online that you need to contend with.

● Underprepared for Customer Support - Another thing that

newbie entrepreneurs tend to overlook is the customer support aspect.
In the excitement of wanting to scale your business, all your efforts
are diverted towards trying to grow your profits and customer base.
Meanwhile, the fact that more customers mean a bigger demand on
providing the necessary customer support facilities gets overlooked
and one of the mistakes an entrepreneur can make with any business
model is to underestimate the customer support aspect.

● When Shipping Is Too Slow - Customers are going to become very

unhappy when your products take too long to ship. No one wants to
wait for an entire month or more before they finally get their hands
on the item they ordered. Shipping times play a major role in a
customer’s decision-making process and if your competitor can offer
them a much faster shipping rate, they’ll instantly switch over to your
competitor without so much as a second thought, even faster if that
same competitor happens to offer lower shipping rates too.

The list of cons might look longer than the pros, but all things considered,
dropshipping is still a good business model to consider getting your starts
in, if you’re well and truly prepared for what’s to come. Think of it as a
fantastic learning opportunity, especially when you haven’t had much
experience running a business of your own. You get to put your knowledge
and skills to the test to see if you have what it takes to one day be an owner
of an even bigger business model with greater potential. Everyone has to
start somewhere, so you might as well start with something that is a
relatively low risk where you don’t end up losing a large chunk of your
savings and getting into debt from the business loans you had to take on
while you’re at it.
How to Get Started with Your Dropshipping Business
The key to being successful at anything you do is to love what you’re doing.
Or at least, you should enjoy the process enough to want to wake up and do
it every morning. The same principles apply when you’re thinking about
getting into the dropshipping business. Running this business needs to be
done by going into it with the right kind of attitude and approach. If you
think this is your ticket to financial freedom and making hundreds of
thousands in profit, that’s not the right approach. Instead, you need to
approach this business by seeing it for what it is, a good side hustles with
the potential to turn into something more. Not a guarantee, but a maybe.

Before you get into this business, here’s what you need to give some serious
thought towards:

● No Rushing - As excited as you may be to get your business going,

jumping the gun is one of the worst things you could do. Not just
with dropshipping, but any kind of business venture. That old saying
“only fools rush in” exists for a reason, it’s better to take your time
and be well prepared rather than rushing the entire process because
you can’t wait to make something happen. Think of it this way,
would you move to a new city or travel to a foreign country without
at least doing some research into what you can expect? The answer is
no, you wouldn’t. So why would you rush this big decision to start
your own business? Especially when there’s money at stake. Not a lot
of money, but it’s still money that you worked hard for and it should
be invested wisely. That’s the right approach to take.

● Saving Yourself from Overselling - Among the many challenges

an entrepreneur has to deal with, market fluctuations are one of the
more unpredictable factors. Order too much and you’ll run into the
risk of being overstocked, order too little and you will equally put
yourself at risk of being under stocked. This is where dropshipping
comes in handy, to mitigate that risk by letting the supplier hold onto
the entire inventory while you only pay them per order. This
approach is particularly useful when it comes to seasonal products,
where demand only spikes maybe once or twice a year and nothing
more. In this way, dropshipping is safeguarding you from the
 uncertainties of the retail space and saving you a lot of money in the
process.

● Don’t Forget About Your Research - Market research is crucial to

the success of any business, even a considerably small scale business
like dropshipping. In fact, dropshipping could be used as market
research itself. Let’s assume that you had a much bigger, long-term
goal of running your own business that you could one day turn into a
household name. Maybe even a business empire. You’ve got the
skills, knowledge and the resources to do it, but you’re still not sure if
it’s a good idea to stock up on inventory where there’s still a 50/50
chance it may not get sold, despite the research you’ve done. In this
case, dropshipping can be used as a means to an end, a tool which can
be used to help mitigate the risks involved. Test the waters and see if
there is demand for the product that you intend to sell and use
dropshipping as a way to do it. There’s a lot of benefits going with
this approach, one of them being that you don’t risk a lot of your own
money doing actual market research via dropshipping and the other
being that you’ll get a much better gauge about what the market
demand is really like instead of just making educated guesses and
predictions based on the research and the numbers you’ve gathered.
You’ll be able to text just how quickly stock moves in a month, how
frequently customers are making repeat purchases, how much they’re
willing to pay for an item, how much you could price your item at
and still make a sale and you’ll find out if it is viable to invest in the
products that you want after all.

That is just one small part of the preparation process that gets you ready to
take on the dropshipping retail space. There are several other areas you
need to look into before you can even launch your business and be ready to
take on customers’ orders as soon as they come in. Before you get started,
here’s what else you need to look into to make sure all your bases are
covered:

● Do your own due diligence and research, research, research. Do a

deep dive into what type of products would be the best fit for the kind
of business, target market, strategy and long-term business goals that
you have in mind.
 ● Do even more research into your customer demographics. Learn
everything you need to know about them: from what kind of products
they search for online to how much time they spend online browsing
through retail sites to find what they’re looking for.

● Do research into who your competitors are. What are they doing to
win customers? What type of products are they selling and how are
they doing it better than you are? How much are they pricing their
products for? Do they offer free shipping options? What are their
customer reviews like? Do so much research, until you know them
like the back of your hand.

● Keep searching until you find the perfect supplier. The one who is
the best fit for your business and has all the criteria that you’re
looking for. Don’t stop until you’ve found the one and avoid settling
for a supplier that you’re less than happy working with because
you’re eager to get your business going.

● Figure out your marketing strategy and how you intend to promote
these products. To drive sales and traffic to your platform, you need
to put yourself out there and ensure that the most important
customers are sitting up and taking notice. What details are you going
to include in your product description and why should your
customers buy from you instead of your competitors? Are your
reasons compelling enough to stand out?

What’s My Product?
Moving onto the next area that you should be looking into before launching
your dropshipping business. The products that you intend to sell. There are
definitely going to be some dropshippers who start off not quite knowing
what they should sell. They just want to start some kind of business of their
own to learn the ropes and that’s perfectly okay. You might find an idea or
inspiration for what products you should be specializing in down the road.
If you have no clue what kind of products you should be selling as a start,
choose to start with something simple that can be sold easily. Novelty, cute,
artistic t-shirts for example, or shopper bags that support a charity or a
cause. Coffee mugs with amusing, somewhat funny descriptions written on
them, or even some motivational merchandise with words of wisdom to
inspire others. Inexpensive jewelry could be a good option, although that is
mostly catered towards the female customer base. The idea is to focus on
selling items that are inexpensive, but attractive enough to garner a sale as
something to start with. You can always expand or change your products
later on once you’ve gained more experience.

What’s My Niche?
After you’ve been doing this for a while and you think you’ve got a pretty
good idea about how dropshipping works so far, consider looking into
finding your niche instead. Having a store that specializes in a specific
niche type of product is going to make it easier for your customers to
associate with you. When you need sports clothing and equipment, for
example, you automatically think Adidas or Nike and you know just where
to go to get those items. You wouldn’t go searching for those products in a
store that is selling all sorts of miscellaneous general items together with
sports clothing because you’re unlikely to find what you’re looking for. As
a customer yourself, if you would rather buy the items you need at a store
you know can be trusted to provide quality products, you can be sure that
many of your customers will be thinking along the same lines.

Choosing to narrow down your focus may seem like a counterproductive

idea since you want to aim to make as much profit as possible, but if you
put the effort into being the best in your niche, you’ll quickly start to gain
traction among customers as they become familiar with your store. You
want your customers to associate your store with being the go-to place for
the specific items that they need, just like Nike and Adidas have done.
Having customer loyalty and repeat purchases could give your dropshipping
business the needed profit boost.

Here are some of the advantages to consider which might convince you
why having a niche product base could be a good idea after all:
● You give yourself a competitive advantage against big giants like
eBay and Amazon, who often lack the necessary customer friendly
approach because they have so much going on. You, as the not-so-
 giant store, can use that to your advantage, adding the missing human
touch element to your business, which can go a long way in making
you memorable in the eyes of your customer.

● Knowing who your audience demographic is, it’s much easier when
you have less to focus on. When you’re able to focus on your
customers, crafting the right kind of advertising material that gets
noticed is easier to do. It’s like having a conversation. When you
know who exactly it is that you’re talking to, you know just what you
need to say to sway them over to your side.

● Another advantage of knowing your audience is the ability to design

better-focused marketing plans. If you’ve got big ideas about how to
scale your business, having a specific niche to focus on makes the
steps that you need to take to achieve those goals much clearer.

● Not to mention that SEO is now easier to handle too when you
know what keywords should be used to reach out to the group of
customers you’re zoning in on. Getting noticed online has a lot to do
with SEO and utilizing the right keywords in your descriptions or
hashtags. All the content in your store and marketing material needs
to be SEO-friendly, a task which is almost impossible to achieve in a
store which sells a general mishmash of products because you’re not
having anything specific to focus on. A niche, on the other hand, will
conveniently let you drop just the right keywords needed to boost
your page to the very top of Google’s results page, just what you
need to get right in front of your online customers.

What Products Should I NOT Sell?

Some products are not the right fit for the dropshipping world. The
complications involved with the shipping and the customs regulations you
might have to deal with will seriously impact whether a certain product is
worth all the time and energy you’re investing in it. Dropshipping products
is easy since the supplier handles the hard part for you, but dropshipping the
wrong type of products could land you in more trouble than the products are
worth.
Some examples of products that are not such a good idea for the
dropshipping business include products which:

● Are Too Heavy - The heavier the item, the more expensive it is to
ship, which then makes the delivery a lot more difficult to manage
and not to mention expensive. Customers are not going to be very
happy either, about having to deal with high shipping fees, even
though they know that they need your items.

● Are Fragile - The risk of the products getting broken en route to the
customer is too high and not worth it, considering that profit margins
are already low as it is with dropshipping.

● Deal with Copyright Issues - It’s too much of a legal mess to deal
with products that might have copyright issues or infringement.
Knock-off items may seem like no big deal, but they can pose a
whole host of legal problems that you simply don’t want to get
involved in. Not to mention the damage that it could do to your
business’s reputation whenever there’s a legal problem that the
customers get wind of.

● Are Too Technical - It’s never a good idea to buy any kind of
gadgets or technical products online. These items usually don’t come
cheap and you want to test them out, preferably in store, before you
spend that kind of money taking them home. Buying online
eliminates the possibility of being able to determine that you’re
getting the best gadget in the store since you have no control over
what’s going to arrive at your customer’s doorstep. They are not
going to be very happy receiving faulty or broken products and even
products that fail to live up to its promise on your website. There are
too many risks involved with dropshipping these types of items and
it’s best to stay away from them altogether.

What’s My Payment Gateway?

Customers these days want options. They don’t want just one choice of
payment method available, they want to know they have a choice to go with
the payment option they prefer. Some customers may not want to pay with
credit cards, while others prefer to pay with credit cards as their first choice.
Other customers might like the idea of using PayPal instead of their debit
cards. Customers prefer to go with the option they believe they can trust the
most and it is up to you to provide them with these options on your
website.

Setting up payment gateways which are secure and stable enough is a

crucial aspect that you need to look into. Important factors that need to be
considered with this one include:

● Ensure that your payment gateways are going to be accepting all

major forms of credit and debit card options, including Visa and
MasterCard and American Express. Don’t forget about the PayPal
options too.

● Checking if your payment gateway is going to be accessible in your

country and other international countries where your customers may
be residing.

● Is your choice of payment gateway going to offer international

currency support? Because if it doesn’t, it needs to, your customers
are not going to be based in one location alone.

● Making comparisons with the transaction fees involved. Avoid

being tempted to go for what’s the lowest cost and instead choose to
go for something that is secure.

Am I Trustworthy?
Reputation is everything in business and your customers are going to feel a
lot better about buying from you if they know that they can trust you.
Understandably, trust can be a difficult thing to come by when your
customers have never met you in person, but there is something that
enhances the trust your customer feels when they peruse your store. The
feedback and customer reviews left by others who have made purchases
from you in the past.
Based on research which was conducted in 2015, turns out that 70% of
consumers are more than likely to search online for product reviews before
they make a purchase. If the reviews on your site are favorable, you
increase your chances of drawing in new customers who have convinced by
the praises left behind by customers in the past. It is important that you do
what you can to enhance your online reputation too. When a customer
leaves a comment, return the favor by thanking them for taking the time to
do so and that you hope they’re happy with their purchase. If a customer
leaves a negative review, do everything that you can to address the problem
and make sure it has been sorted. Never leave a negative review unattended
or ignored, make it a point to respond to every comment, both good and
bad. That’s how you retain good customer service.
Chapter 3: The First Few Steps

Dropshipping commands more than 30% of today’s e-commerce industry.

It’s fantastic as a low-risk business, but it can be tough to achieve
significant success due to the low-profit margins you’re working with.
Competition is tough and you have to really narrow down your focus, both
in terms of which niche markets you intend to target and the type of
platform you want to use to run your business, to see significant results.

Dropshipping Platforms
As the industry continues to grow and expand, so too do the opportunities
and options that you have to work with. The beauty of the digital age is that
you’re spoilt for choice and you’ll never be restricted to only one method or
approach to doing something, including running an online business. Every
successful business that you see today was built on a firm foundation that
encompassed several factors which eventually contributed to the success of
the business. For dropshipping, that foundation building begins with
choosing the right dropshipping platform to work with that is going to help
you realize all the goals you set out to achieve when you decided to get
started.

The first few steps before you begin your business include three major
phases:

● Step #1 - Deciding on your dropshipping platform

● Step #2 - Selecting your niche
● Step #3 - Finding the right suppliers for your business

Once you’re ready to get going, there are several well-established

dropshipping platforms that you could look into:

Amazon FBA
Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) is the perfect choice for the savvy and
ambitious entrepreneur who has their sights fixed on catering to a much
larger target customer base. If this is part of your dropshipping business
goals, then you’re going to find this platform the perfect fit. The business
scalability options that come with Amazon FBA are impressive and it goes
without saying that the platform’s reputation precedes it. Customers trust
the products that they’re getting from Amazon and that trust leads to them
making purchases through Amazon FBA rather than taking a risk with an
unknown vendor.

Amazon FBA offers vendors with more capital to spend the option of
stocking inventory in their warehouses, which means the platform keeps
your items for you until such time when an order is made. They will then
proceed to ship the item out to the customers on your behalf. What’s unique
about using Amazon FBA as your dropshipping platform is that your items
will be eligible for the shipping promotions, like Amazon Prime and its
Free Super Saver Shipping options, which entice customers even more.
They can rarely resist the option of free shipping.
Amazon has been around for a long time and it has already established a
reputation for itself as being among the top online retail platforms for
trusted, quality products. Choosing to list your items on this platform means
you’re benefiting from Amazon’s existing pool of customers, some of
whom are repeat customers, thereby increasing your chances of making a
sale. Another advantage with Amazon FBA is the replacement and returns
policy that the platform has already set in place, further cementing the fact
that they take their commitment to providing great service very seriously.
This is a significant advantage if you hope to retain and even build
customer loyalty down the road because customers want to know that you
take their concerns into consideration and listen to them.
With the trust factor in play, you’ll have the advantage of being able to see
your products on Amazon for a slightly higher profit margin compared to if
you were to do it on your own. Customers are more comfortable paying the
asking price when they know they’re dealing with a company or a business
that they can trust, something they may not be as willing to do on less
established websites in case they get cheated or scammed out of their
money.
Since Amazon is going to take care of the inventory and the shipping
process for you, that leaves you with more time on your hands to think
about managing all the other aspects of your business and focus on your
customer service efforts.

Yahoo Store
It may not be as big a name like Amazon, but Yahoo reputation is strong
enough to serve its purpose. At least when you mention Yahoo, most
customers are familiar with the name and associate it as a reputable brand,
much like they do with Amazon. Yahoo Store works the same way as most
other dropshipping platforms, where you as the vendor would need to create
an account before you can start adding products to your store. One
advantage with this platform is that it integrates several shipping options
and accepts most payment types.

Unlike Amazon FBA though, Yahoo Store’s inventory management is a

little tricky until you’ve learned to get the hang of it. It is worth considering
this platform if what you’re looking for is the peace of mind knowing that
your business is secure and that if you need help, you would simply need to
pick up the phone or shoot them a quick email any time of day.

Shopify
Next to Amazon, Shopify is probably the next best platform when it comes
to dropshipping based on popularity. With over 500,000+ active stores on
Shopify and counting, this is one platform to consider after Amazon FBA.
Shopify was acquired by Oberlo back in 2016 and since then, Oberlo has
made it much easier to fulfill orders via this platform with its plugin tool
that makes the process a lot simpler.

Shopify’s popularity is thanks to largely to its extremely user-friendly

features, especially for vendors who are starting their own dropshipping
websites for the very first time. Sign up, log in and follow all the step-by-
step instructions and you’re good to go. One fantastic benefit that Shopify
offers its users is the 24-hour customer support that is easily contactable
through email, phone or even virtual chat, depending on what your
preference is. The platform also provides a forum for users to easily find the
help topics that they’re looking for and where other users can get together
to exchange and share information, help other users navigate the platform
and even divulge insightful tips to help make the platform’s experience
much better.

Shopify’s features are great, but they do come at a cost which starts
anywhere from $29 dollars, with the most expensive option being $299.
New vendors are encouraged to go for the basic, more affordable option to
start with until your business has gained some traction, and then you can
look into upgrading your services as needed. Shopify also provides a more
premium service known as Advanced Shopify, which is home to many of
the current top performing stores. Once your business has picked up and
developed a strong enough reputation, you could consider upgrading to
Shopify’s premium service if it suits your current business needs.

Oberlo
After acquiring Shopify, Oberlo quickly made a name for itself as one of
the world’s leaders in online retail and marketplace. Oberlo helps vendors
connect with their suppliers, the ones who are in charge of shipping the
products out to the customer.

The only drawback with Oberlo is that it only works on Shopify’s platform.
This platform also has the option of a free account, but the downside with
that is you’ll only be limited to 500 items for sale on your platform and only
50 orders a month. The limitation is, of course, going to affect how much
profit you’ll be making in a month, but you do have a choice to upgrade to
the paid option, which starts from $29.90 a month and upwards, depending
on what package you take.

WooCommerce
Aside from Shopify, you’ll come across WooCommerce as another widely
used e-commerce regular for dropshipping purposes. WooCommerce is
used worldwide and a major contributing factor to its popularity is the fact
that the platform is not only easy to use but is free too. To set up and
account and start selling with WooCommerce, you’ll need to install and go.
Running on WordPress, users of WooCommerce will have the advantage of
getting access to multiple add-ons for free.

BigCommerce
Another contender in the dropshipping is BigCommerce, a hosted platform
that currently hosts roughly 50,000 small business websites and counting
and more than 2,000 enterprise companies. It’s simple user interface and
ease of use is a big reason why the platform has quickly managed to cement
a name for itself and compared to a lot of the other established platforms,
BigCommerce is easily the more affordable option when it doesn’t charge
its users a fee for transactions.

Another perk with using BigCommerce is the unlimited discounts that the
platform offers its staff. You’re also able to get almost the same type of
customer service and support that you would with platforms like Shopify.
BigCommerce is growing in popularity and with many big-name companies
like Toyota, Skull Candy, Camelbak and more already calling the platform
home, a starting price of $29 is not a bad price to pay for a platform with
promise and potential.

Magento
Magento is a powerful e-commerce site for the more advanced, tech-savvy
dropshippers since is complex interface might not be something beginners
are keen on if they’re looking for something that is easy to use and doesn’t
involve too much hassle. To successfully use this platform, you’re going to
need at least some basic knowledge of computer programming or you might
find it a struggle. Most of the dropshippers you’re going to find here are
either those who are already well-versed in the platform’s store
development, or they have the budget needed to hire a program developer
on their team who specifically handles that aspect of the business.

Given its more advanced features, starting a dropshipping business on this

site might require that you handle some troubleshooting issues when it
comes to updating the platform or trying to resolve any errors. This is not
the platform for you if you’re a beginner, or have little to no knowledge
about software and programming.

Despite being challenging to use though, Magento has still acquired quite a
crowd on its platform and has a dedicated team of developers and software
designers who are on hand to help newbies to space. They are even
YouTube channels available, along with forums and blogs where users can
seek help should they run into any problems with the platform.

Magento is a free platform and if you’ve got a little help on your side,
you’ll be able to launch your dropshipping store quickly and start making
sales.

OpenCart
Another e-commerce platform that comes for free is OpenCart, but unlike
Magento, this one is easy enough to set up without requiring any overly
complex tech knowledge. The platform is free, but you will have to pay for
hosting it, which is still inexpensive. Designed for e-commerce use,
OpenCart offers users all the necessary dropshipping essentials like having
a dashboard, analytics and even order volume data with the added benefit of
being easy to use.

Getting onto this platform is free and users have the option of choosing
from any of its multiple paid or free themes and plugins for their
dropshipping use. Once you’ve got an account on the platform, you’ll be
able to access their forums and email them for support if you’re facing any
difficulties trying to set up your store.
 Popular Dropshipping Platforms

Other Dropshipping Related Sites That Prove Useful

Aside from these big-name platforms, here are some other dropshipping
websites and directories that you might find useful for your business:

● AliExpress - A name that many are familiar with, AliExpress is

both a dropshipping and wholesale platform that connects suppliers
and products to the dropshipping who is searching for what they have
to offer. The platform already boasts an impressive range of more
than a million products, coming from suppliers in over 40 different
niche categories and counting. AliExpress is slowly becoming a
household name and the go-to place for affordable products with a
wide range to choose from.

● SaleHoo - Another platform which helps to connect the

dropshippers to the right suppliers is SaleHoo . Connecting suppliers
that service niches in the United States, Australia and the United
Kingdom, SaleHoo is going to be one of the most powerful research
tools that are going to save you countless hours in time-consuming
research. At a cost of $67 annually, the price tag seems a little steep,
 but at least you’ll know that if you don’t like what you paid for, you
can cash in on their 60-day promise of giving you your money back.

● Worldwide Brands - If you’re looking for a comprehensive

directory where all the bulk distributors and the dropshippers come
together in one easy, convenient location, look no further than
Worldwide Brands . The site continuously updates the listings on
their page, so there’s always going to be new suppliers or new niches
to discover. In case you’re worried about the reliability aspect of it,
Worldwide Brands does its part to ensure the sites listed are reliable.

● Wholesale 2B - With the lowest prices guaranteed from

dropshippers and over a million products to choose from,
dropshipping has never been easier than with Wholesale 2B . Vendors
come here to pick their products to be sold on Amazon,
BigCommerce, Shopify and eBay, so you can rest assured that you’re
not getting any dodgy products that will end up wasting your money.

● National Dropshippers - The website sells an impressive variety of

products which range from barbeque grills to something as small as
umbrellas. With more than 250,000 products for sale, National
Dropshippers offers its users a $19.99 monthly service cost, while
dropshipping costs are $2.49 for every order.

Dropshipping Websites for Sale

Not every entrepreneur is keen on starting something directly from scratch,
even a dropshipping business. Understandable, given that starting
businesses - any kind of business for that matter - from the ground up is no
easy task, even if it is a considerably simple business model like
dropshipping. All businesses are hard work and if starting a dropshipping
business from scratch sounds too stressful, why not consider buying an
existing business and taking over the reins from there?

Sounds like something you’re more comfortable with? Well, then you’ll be
pleased to know that there are several websites you could scour to search
for an existing business to buy. Some of these platforms include:
● Flippa is where you can find just about any kind of online business,
from general e-commerce stores to dropshipping websites. Any
business that the internet can think of, you’ll be likely to find here on
Flippa. Since its inception in 2009, the platform has experienced
favorable success, establishing a credible name for itself within the
industry. A quick search online will reveal the positive feedback that
Flippa has received from those who have used this service. Before the
popular Facebook platform that we know today existed, founder
Mark Zuckerberg was running “Facemash”, which was also sold on
Flippa.

● Exchange Market Place, which is a well-established dropshipping

marketplace online and has seen many dropshipping businesses being
bought and sold since it first began.

● E-commerce Pro lets you purchase a dropshipping website which

has already been built. As soon as you’ve made that final purchase,
you’ll be ready to start running your platform almost immediately,
bypassing all the hassle that you need to go through in the early
stages with market research, finding a niche category, searching for
suppliers and more because everything is already taken care of by
Ecommerce Pro.

● Drop Ship for Sale lets you buy a dropshipping website and then
run it the same way that you would with an online store. The site
makes it easy for you to select the dropshipping websites that you
want based on niche categories and within less than 24-hours of
finding something that you like, you could be up and running with
your very own business underway.

● WooDropship is another popular site to search for your next

business venture, but this one works a little differently from the other
sites selling existing dropshipping businesses. With WooDropship,
what you’re getting is a service that helps you build your online
website. Give them all the necessary details regarding your business,
including what your niche is and your preferred method of payment
and they’ll take it from there. Within the next 48-hours, your website
 is ready to launch and once your website has been built, it belongs
entirely to you.

How to Find the Best Niches

After you’ve decided on the dropshipping platform that’s going to be the
best fit for you and your business, it’s time to move onto Step #2 of the
foundation building process. Finding your niche. Your niche here is going
to be the group of customers that you intend to target. Who do you intend to
sell your products to and why do they need them? How will you reach these
customers and is there enough of a demand to sustain your business? If
you’ve got a specific product or two that you’re passionate about selling,
how do you combine that passion to meet the needs of the niche market you
plan to target? Is this a strong enough niche to help you make some money?

They key to success with finding your niche is to choose the niche that you
have a genuine interest in while simultaneously being a niche that is
profitable and in demand too. Working on that middle ground, combining
the best of both worlds is the key to keeping your business sustainable. Do
your research into which products are in demand the most, based on
popularity and out of these products which ones are the most profitable.
From there, you can then focus your efforts into choosing the products that
interest you the most.

Another way to find a niche is to do some research based on keywords.

Make a list of the keywords which are going to be relevant to your product
and once you’re done, type these keywords into Google’s Keyword Planner
for a clearer picture about the kind of search volume these keywords are
getting. For example, if you wanted to sell pet supplies on your website,
some of the relevant keywords on your list would be “dog food”, “dog
kibbles” “cat food”, “harness”, “collar”, or “pet shampoo”. However, you
may find upon checking with Google’s Keyword Planner though, that “dog
food” might be getting more searches than “dog kibbles” do. This way,
you’ll be able to prioritize which keywords should take precedence in your
product description and work from there.
With making the final decision about what your niche should be, there are
several considerations you want to keep in mind to help you with the
selection process:

● It’s Not a Rushed Process - You cannot rush into selecting the
perfect niche any more than you can rush starting your own business.
The right niche is going to be the one that either makes or breaks
your business, so take as much time as you need to be sure that
you’re making the right choice.

● Observing the Competition - Who are your primary competitors

for the niche that you’re about to choose and are they doing well? If
your niche has far too many competitors already, it might be best to
think about choosing another niche to go with just to be on the safe
side. You don’t want to put your business at risk of being drowned
out or overshadowed, which will happen since you’re the newcomer
and they’ve been around for a while. If your competitors are already
well-established, built a credible reputation for themselves and have a
loyal following of customers, it might be tough to break into that
circle and gain traction.

● Profit Per Sale - A passion for entrepreneurship may be one thing,

but let’s face it, money is one of the major reasons many people get
into business in the first place. For the opportunity to make money
and how much profit you will be able to make with every sale needs
to be a factor for consideration when you’re selecting your niche.
Choosing a niche with a higher purchase price gives you your best
chance at making a nice profit margin that could range anywhere
from 15% to 20%, depending on the product you’re selling. Another
option to boost your profit margins is to consider a more diverse
inventory selection, while still making sure that you’re sticking to the
relevant niche that you’ve selected.

● Thinking About Future Trends - Now that you’ve found

something that seems to tick all the right boxes, here’s another
question you need to consider. Will this product continue to be in
demand moving forward? What are the predictions for the future
demand trend with what you’re about to sell? Conducting a quick
 search on Google Trends will provide some insightful information
into this area, particularly in regards to how popular your keywords
are likely to remain over a certain period.

● Think About Seasonality - Something that often gets overlooked

when selecting a niche is whether the product you intend to sell is
seasonal or not. Is this something that is going to be needed by your
customers throughout the year? Or only maybe one or twice
throughout the year? If it is seasonal, how much profit are you likely
to make during peak demand periods and is it enough to offset the
rest of the year when sales might be lower?

● Think About Repeat Purchases - Another aspect that gets

overlooked is whether your customers are likely to make repeat
purchases with the products that you intend to sell. Selling items
which are consumable or perishable for example will give you greater
potential for consistent profits if your customers have to repeatedly
buy them when they run out of stock.

Here’s what a good niche and a bad niche would look like:

● Good Niche:

Products with a lot of options

Products with variation
Products that customers need to make repeat purchases of
Products which are customizable
Products which are unique enough that customers don’t
mind waiting for (like furniture)

● Bad Niche:

Products which are personalized too much (bedding or

clothing)
Products with expiration dates (seasonal products)
Products that have a strong emotional attachment to them
Products which can cause technical or customer service
problems (electronics)
 Good Niche Products vs. Bad Niche Products

How to Find Your Suppliers

Now for Step #3 of the foundation building process. Finding the right
suppliers to work with. It is very crucial that you get this step absolutely
right because getting stuck with unprofessional suppliers can be nothing
short of disastrous for your business. Choose the wrong suppliers and your
business is going to fail even before it has had a chance to succeed. Sounds
like there’s a lot of pressure involved in this step, but it cannot be
emphasized enough just how important it is that you build a great working
relationship with suppliers whom you can trust.

When searching for the right suppliers for your business, there are several
factors that need to be considered in this phase:

● Finding your suppliers might be a bit of a challenge. In general,

suppliers don’t usually go around marketing themselves to
dropshipping vendors, so it is up to you to go searching for them.
Since they don’t market themselves much, this might take a while to
do.
● Be prepared for most (if not all) of your suppliers to be based in
Asia. Most products are made in Asia, so it would make sense that
many of the suppliers would be based in this region too. Although
they conduct business internationally, the language barrier would still
be a bit of a problem that you might need to prepare for.

● You’re going to have to be prepared to do more research yet again

with sourcing your suppliers, especially if you intend to work with
overseas suppliers. You’re going to have to do some thorough
digging into what sort of material is used to make your products, how
quickly they’re able to deliver as well as what their return policies
are, just to name a few.

● It’s best if you could contact these suppliers directly since you need
to develop a genuine working relationship with them. Even better if
you could meet them in person, although this may not be entirely
possible if you’re working with an overseas supplier. Making direct
contact is the quickest way to get all your questions answered before
you decide if this is the supplier that you want to commit to. A
professional supplier should be more than happy to accommodate
your requests and answer any questions you may have.

● If your supplier is willing, it would be great if they could provide

you with the contact details of some of their past or current
customers. You could reach out to them and see what their experience
has been like working with this supplier and if they would go on to
recommend the services of the supplier to others.

● Reach out to a few of the different suppliers you’ve narrowed down

on your list and see if they would be willing to send you samples of
the products that you intend to sell. It’s best to get a sample before
you begin selling so you can be confident about the quality of the
product that you’re selling. You’ll also be able to see for yourself just
how quickly their shipping process takes, the sort of packaging that
they use and what their customer service is like. This is the best way
to get a first-hand view of what your customer is going to be
experiencing. If you’re not happy with it, they won’t be happy with it
either.
 ● Order some product samples from your competitors too and
compare the quality of their items against the sample items that you
received from your supplier. Is it comparable? Or is the quality of
your competitors' products better? What about the shipping times and
the delivery fee incurred? If your competitors' products are better,
you might consider reaching out to their supplier and see if they
would be willing to work with you too. Ordering samples from
several of your competitors is a way of doing market research so you
can determine for yourself which aspects of your business may need
improving on. Never skimp on the quality that you provide to your
customers. If they don’t like what you’re selling and it's not at least
comparable or better than your competitors, they’re not going to
come back to your store again.

● The benefit of using a domestic supplier to fulfill your orders is the

possibility of quicker delivery times since there is a much shorter
supply chain to contend with. Choosing to work with a domestic
supplier also gives you a greater chance of being able to conduct
quality inspections, since you’ll most likely be able to meet with
them directly and see the products for yourself. Shipping rates also
tend to be cheaper without having to deal with customs or import
tariffs.

Dropshipping Suppliers to Stay Away From

Suppliers are the backbone of every single dropshipping business that is

currently running online today. Without the suppliers, you would have no
business because there would be nothing to sell. Finding the right supplier
can be hard since you won’t know exactly if they are going to live up to
everything that they’ve promised until you’ve been working with them for a
while.

However, there are certain red flag signs that warn you a supplier should be
avoided and it’s not just based on bad reviews and poor quality products
alone. The indicators of a supplier that is going to be bad for your business
include:
● If the supplier is charging a higher than average pre-order fees. It is
normal for fees to either increase slightly if the order is complex, or
decrease if you’re ordering in bulk, but when the fees are higher than
what they should be, that’s a supplier you want to stay away from.

● If they insist on being paid a monthly fee, or even an ongoing fee,

just to do business with them.

● If the supplier is unprofessional right from the start and has poor
communication skills. If they take far too long to respond to your
emails or phone calls, that’s never a good sign.

● If the supplier is not willing to charge a minimum order fee to be

able to fulfill the orders as soon as they come in. For example, if the
supplier you’re working with has a minimum order of 50 units, you’ll
pay for the 50 units upfront but the supplier will fulfill the orders
immediately when they come in from your store. Suppliers who are
not willing to do this are better suited for wholesale dropshipping.
Chapter 4: Get Clicking and Start Building
Deciding on your platform, niche and sourcing your suppliers was the first
part of setting up your dropshipping venture. The next part is going to focus
on building a reliable, professional looking website that will start driving
business in and get your products moving.

You may not have a physical shop and you may not hold any of the actual
stock, but you still need a website to run your business and this is why.

Is A Dropshipping Website Necessary?

Yes, it is. Despite the small profit margins, there is still potential in this
business model, but you need a good website to achieve this. Since neither
you nor your supplier is going to have any direct contact with the customer
and vice versa, your website is going to be the only link that will bridge the
gap between you and the customer.

In fact, having a website is going to boost your credibility not just among
your customers, but among the suppliers too. Suppliers want to work with
someone who means business and even better if they already have an
existing website that they’re keen to launch. When a supplier sees your
website, it’s easier to convince them that you mean business and that you’re
serious about developing a business partnership with them to move their
products. It’s like going for a job interview and your website is your
resume. Go in with a blank resume and you’re not going to be as
convincing. If the supplier was your employer, they’d be wondering why
they should consider working with you when there are other vendors out
there, some who are already more established even with an existing
customer base. You need to have something to show and that something is
your website.

Your competitors are going to have websites and if you don’t, that puts you
at a significant disadvantage. Your customers will be expecting a website if
you run a business, especially when it’s done online where you need to look
convincing and legitimate to avoid being thought of as a scam.
A website gives your business the credibility it needs to survive in the
online space and if you’re running an online business, you need a place to
showcase all your products for sale. Customers want shipping to be made as
easy, straightforward and as convenient as possible. They don’t want to go
to multiple locations to find what they need. They want a one-stop shop that
is going to service all their requirements from start to finish. You need a
website to be able to do all of that so yes, it is safe to say that dropshipping
is a necessary component for your business. Your niche customers need to
know where and how to find you and they can’t do that online without a
proper website.

There are benefits that come with having your very own website for the
dropshipping business you intend to run too. First thing, having a website
that is completely your own gives you the freedom and the luxury of being
able to have full creative control over what content goes onto your website.
You’re essentially your own boss and your website can contain anything
that you want it to. You have the freedom to list as many products as you
like and you can list any product that you like. Everything is entirely up to
you.

Having a professional looking site is among the many contributing factors

that will ultimately lead to a sale. Thinking like a customer, wouldn’t you
prefer to buy from a website that looks legitimate? Utilizing the available
themes and plugins that come with certain platforms, there’s a lot that you
can do to spruce up your site and it costs very little to do so compared to
having a physical business where you would need to spend money on
renovations and maintenance. The cost of running a website is next to
nothing if you think about it, which is why dropshipping is one of the most
affordable business models you will find.

Creating a Website for Your Online Business

If you’re not particularly tech-savvy, the idea of setting up your own
website might be causing you to panic a little right now. Where would you
even begin and how are you going to set up something that looks as good as
your competitors when you have no idea where to begin. Don’t worry; it’s
not going to be as tough as it sounds. A lot of newcomers to the online
business world tend to worry about the setting up a website portion of the
process, so you’re not alone in this. Contrary to what you might think, you
don’t need a lot of tech-related or programming experience to be able to set
up something impressive, all you need is a good step-by-step guide to lead
you through the process.
Website development has gone through a lot of change over the past few
years to accommodate the boom of online retail which has grown at an
exponential rate over the years, making it easier than ever for just about
anyone to build a website. With a good guide and a little patience, you’ll be
able to set something up before you know it and here’s where you begin:

● Step 1: Choosing A Platform - Some website building platforms

and companies are offering services which provide you with the
templates that you need to start designing your own website from
scratch. They have simplified the process even more by providing
specific instructions every step of the way, guiding you easy to follow
instructions throughout the template. All you need to do is fill in the
blank spaces with the relevant information. Some companies even
offer to do it all for you if needed, for a fee of course. Among the
popular platforms of choice, today include WordPress, Shopify,
WooCommerce, Wix, BigCommerce, Weebly, Magento,
SquareSpace, Volusion and more, each platform coming in at various
pricing models and each with their strengths and benefits of their
own, depending on the features that you’re after.

● Step 2: Domain Names - A domain name is a name that is going to

appear after “www.” on your website. Your domain name should
ideally be something simple, short, easy to remember and easy to
spell. It also needs to be relevant to the business that you’re doing so
your customers can make the connection between the domain name
and your business. Creating confusion among customers is never a
good thing, you’ll put your business at risk of losing them if they’re
put off by how complicated or messy your set-up seems to be. With
customers, it’s always best to keep it as simple and easy as possible.
Domain names are generally affordable, so it should be factored into
the cost of setting up your business right from the start.
● Step 3: Hosting Your Website - Hosting means your website is live
and online on the world-wide-web. You’re basically letting the whole
world know that your business exists and it’s right here for them to
discover on the internet. Depending on who your host provider is,
there’s going to be a fee incurred but again, it’s pretty inexpensive all
things considered. Most hosting platforms require an annual fee for
their services and some of the more popular hosting platforms include
the likes of GoDaddy and BlueHost. When choosing your host
provider, you always want to go for servers which have fantastic
customer reviews from its existing pool of customers. You’ll also
want to choose a host that comes with fast servers.

● Step 4: Building It - The building part is going to depend on which

platform you decide to go with. Choosing Shopify, for example,
means that you’ll need to sign up for an account and then choosing
from one of their pricing plans. Shopify’s team will then work on
building your online store for you, but you’ll be able to customize it
according to what you want. Other platforms like WooCommerce for
example, require WordPress installation first before the
WooCommerce plugin can be used. Other platforms like Weebly,
Wix, BigCommerce and Magento however, only provide you with a
template layout on their site for you to edit and customize as you see
fit. Customize your store according to theme, content and logo
placement, structure, number of pages, how many categories there
will be plugins, widgets and more.

● Step 5: Installing WordPress and WooCommerce - The

installation process should take no more than 5-minutes to get done,
depending on how fast your internet speed is. Once that’s done,
create your account so you’re now the administrator and you can start
managing your dropshipping website. After that’s completed, the
next step is to install your WooCommerce plugin and your
WooCommerce store to begin setting up the rest of your website
functions, including payments, cart, product pages, currency,
checkout and more.

● Step 6: Picking Your Theme - Time to pick a theme that is going

to entice your customers and draw them to your store. The theme that
 you choose will determine how your website is going to look overall,
so pick a good one.

● Step 7: Time to Fill It Up - Time to fill your website up with

beautiful images and detailed descriptions of the products you intend
to sell. Since you’re not going to have any physical stock of the
product, you’ll have to ask the supplier to provide you with the best
images that they have of the products you plan to sell.

7 Steps to Building Your Dropshipping Website

Why Choose BlueHost?

This reputable company has been in business for a while now and based on
their customer reviews, they’ve been doing extremely well. Since it first
began, BlueHost has today grown to host more than 2 million websites and
counting and over 850,000 blogs and this is on a global scale. For those
who choose the WooCommerce or WordPress platform options, BlueHost
has even made it easier to seamlessly integrate the installation process with
a few simple clicks.

The platform’s uptime rate is guaranteed at 99.9%, so you’ll be able to

operate with peace of mind knowing that your dropshipping site isn’t going
to be slowing down anytime soon. Other than the amount of time and stress
you’re going to save, thanks to how easy it is to use its services, other
reasons why you should consider BlueHost as your host of choice includes:

● It’s a company that is well established.

● Excellent 24/7 customer service support.
● It offers free domain names.
 ● WordPress recommends BlueHost officially and it comes pre-
installed on WordPress already.
● The company offers SSL certificates for free.

Best of all, if you’re not satisfied with the services you’ve experienced so
far, BlueHost offers a 30-day guarantee or your money back.

How Do I Know If My Dropshipping Website Is Any Good?

Creating anything great is going to take time, including your website. Take
your time with this, because you want to end up with a site that looks so
appealing even you would want to shop on it. There are several factors that
contribute towards making a dropshipping website what it is and for yours
to stand out and make an impression on your online audience; your website
needs to contain the following elements:

● Have A Title - Each product listed on your site must have a title. It
is important that the right keywords are used in your title so search
engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing can easily detect them based on
their algorithm and your website turns up on their search results page.
This is how customers get to know about you.

● Have A Description - The more details and information you

include about your product, the more convinced your customers will
be as to why they should purchase your products. Again, remember
to include as many keywords and phrases as possible so the search
engines don’t miss it.

● Label Your Bestsellers - Making your best-selling products easily

accessible to your customers lets them know which products they
should be keeping their eyes on too. When new customers see how
popular a product is, they’ll be convinced that this product must be
worth the purchase and they’ll be more likely to buy it too.

● Include Reviews by Customers - Lend credibility to your products

and services by making honest customer reviews transparent and out
there for other new customers to see.
 A Good Dropshipping Website

How to Scale Your Business

Any entrepreneur who starts off has dreams of scaling their business to
greater heights one day. To fulfill that dream of taking something that you
built from scratch and watch it blossom into something you can look upon
with pride is what every entrepreneur who dives into business, hopes to
accomplish one day. Profit margins may be small with dropshipping, but
there is still potential to scale your business as far as it can go. Scaling,
however, is going to present some rather unique, perhaps even interesting
challenges along the way if you’re up for it.

There are several factors that you need to consider when you’re thinking
about scaling your business, for example:

● Will you be able to handle the increasing demand for orders that
come in and fulfill them in a timely manner?

● Are your order fulfillment methods right now being automated to

keep up with demand?

● What about your order tracking? Is that automated yet?

 ● Can your customer service grow alongside your business so it
always remains top-notch?

● What affiliate networks can you join to boost your profit margins?

● Will you be able to keep up the relationships that you’ve built with
your supplier amid the increasing pressure of fulfilling larger order
numbers in a timely fashion?

● Would your suppliers be willing to negotiate a cheaper price if you

can promise to bring in more orders?

When it comes to advertising and marketing your product that you plan to
sell through the dropshipping method, it is no different from marketing and
promotional activities that you would employ for any type of business.

Marketing and advertising fundamentals are a must otherwise; how else

would people know about you? In this chapter, we will cover the most
important aspects of marketing your product specifically for the
dropshipping method.

The great thing about using the dropshipping method is that you can
concentrate all your efforts on marketing because the other aspects of the
business are automated. But for the other aspects of the business to run, you
first need to let people know you have this amazing product or service that
they must buy and must use.

Let’s be clear on a few of these basic elements which you must already
have:

1. You must already have or already start working on a website

2. You need a logo
3. You need a blog
4. You need social media presence

Only once you’ve covered the fundamentals, we can actually look at

optimizing your advertisement and marketing game. Here’s what you can
do:
Strategy #1- Building Trust
In this day and age, customer reviews carry the same weight as traditional
word-of-mouth referrals. You read what other people have to say about a
product and depending on their reviews; it influences you to buy or to
ignore a certain product. Ratings, reviews and testimonials all add valuable
weight to a customer’s purchasing decision and it is an excellent way to
build rapport and trust. Reviews help new visitors to your site see what
other buyers have experienced and the more positive the reviews, the higher
the potential of buying and completing a purchase.

You can encourage customer’s review by adding a form in your website or

sending them an email for a review. By encouraging reviews, you boost
your conversion rate by 14 to 76 %.

Strategy #2- Creating an Amazing Offer

Visitors to your site may still be skeptical about buying. They could be
worried about how a certain product may react or function for them. They
could even be worried that they are that 1% of users who have bad
experiences using your product or service. So how do you convert them into
paying customers? Sales are your best bet. Doing a sale for new products or
services at attractive prices allows potential customers the possibility of
testing your product without paying full price. If they like it, they’ll want to
purchase from you again. Presenting the right product with the right deal
will earn you higher converts.

Strategy #3- Preparing to Pivot

Dropshipping is a great business model for budding entrepreneurs since it is
extremely easy to start up. Despite that, it is still a business and like any
other business, you will experience obstacles and challenges along the way.
When this happens, you need to find a way to overcome adversities and
problems.

In your mission of running a profitable dropshipping business, be prepared

to pivot at different intervals as your store grows. There may be a new trend
that might come into the scene which you must add quickly to your store or
there may be a product that you are forced to remove from your store
because your customers don’t like it. You may have invested in an ad that
doesn’t seem to be performing well.

Pivoting at these instances must be viewed as a requirement rather than a

bad thing because only from our mistakes or problems do we learn how to
make our business better.

Strategy #4- Choosing ePacket

ePacket shipping allows you to sort products and it is the fastest and most
affordable shipping method for dropshippers. You will be guaranteed quick
delivery to your customers without breaking the bank. Shipping costs for
ePacket is usually under $5 and this allows for a decent profit when you sell
products at market value. ePacket deliveries usually reach customers within
a week of purchase and this not only makes for better customer service but
it is also the best delivery method dropshippers can use.

Strategy #5- Importing the First 25 Items

When you start on your dropshipping store, the focus is important.
Instead of importing 600 products in one day, you should concentrate your
efforts into 25 items within the first few hours and ensure that you upload
the right items and product descriptions to each of these items. Adding 600
items and its corresponding images and descriptions is not only time
consuming but it is also exhausting and could decrease your productivity.

Always start with a smaller collection and you would be able to launch your
business in a more focused way. From there on, you can add 10 products at
a time to build on the collection you already have. You do not need 600
products to get your first sale. You just need one amazing product to land a
good sale.

Strategy #6- Encouraging Upsell and Cross-sell Marketing

In a dropshipping business, you want to maximize your transactions in any
possible way. Utilizing product upselling and cross-selling methods can
jumpstart your transactional value. One of the ways of doing this is a ‘Buy
1 Free 1’ or ‘Buy for a Friend’ or even ‘Frequently Bought Together’
promo. Customers will be more inclined to purchase if a product comes in
bundled with something else because there is more value in it.

Strategy #7 - Market on Social Media

Social media has become virtually impossible to avoid in today’s tech-
driven society. It’s everywhere you go, in every business ad campaign you
see. Businesses, both big and small, have come to terms with making social
media a part of their marketing strategy and now that you plan to run your
own dropshipping business, social media is going to become a part of your
strategy to scale your business. Social media platforms boast billions of
users worldwide who are actively on at least one of these platforms daily.
That’s a potential to reach billions of customers just by being present in that
space alone. An opportunity to reach audiences far and wide is something
you simply can’t afford to pass up, not when it means the potential for more
business. Social media must be leveraged on if you hope to scale your
business moving forward.

Running Your Business

Did you think trying to maintain the discipline needed to survive in your 9
to 5 job was hard? Just wait until you start getting into running a business of
your own. The commitment and investment needed in terms of time and
money are going to be demanding, but if you love what you do, it’ll be well
worth it.

First things first, though, how much do you understand about the finances
of this business you’re about to undertake? Before you decide on investing
your money into any kind of venture, it is important to understand some
financial basics, specifically how much you’ll be able to reasonably invest
in your business and its future scaling efforts, your business cash flow and
how to forecast your finances. The future of your business depends on the
financial decisions that you make right from the start and every day after
that. Give this some serious thought because the future of your business is
riding on it. Seek assistance from a family member or friend, maybe even
professionally or from a business mentor you may know of, if financials are
not your strong point. Failing to get a good grasp of your finances is how
many businesses ultimately end up failing miserably when they weren’t
supposed to.

Next, you would have to give some serious thought about your goals. What
was the driving force that motivated you to begin this business in the first
place? Is that reason sustainable in the long-term or based off a short-term
impulse decision? How do you foresee this dropshipping business venture
leading you one step closer towards your goal? Dropshipping may be low-
risk and easy to start, but it is still a serious business. Serious business
requires serious commitment if you hope to get things done and see your
business going somewhere instead of just staying stagnant.

You need to commit. Commit to what you’re doing wholeheartedly and

completely. This is one something you can start on a whim one day for the
fun of it and abandon it few weeks down the road when you find it is
moving slower than you expected, or when you’ve lost interest and you’ve
moved onto the next project you set your sights on. You may not be making
massive profits right from the beginning, but you will be making steady
profits if you continue working hard at it and not give up when the going
gets tough. If you start this, you need to commit to seeing it all the way
through, so your business has a fighting chance of survival as it competes
against the thousands of other dropshipping websites out there.

You need to invest your time. Every second of our lives is precious and
once a moment is gone, it’s gone forever. We only have a limited amount of
time to spend in this lifetime, so each moment has to count and it starts with
a conscious choice of what you want to do with your time that will be most
beneficial to you. A dropshipping business needs you to commit your time
and energy to learn the ropes and understanding what your target market
needs. This business is going to ask you to invest the time needed to be
spent thinking about all the ways in which you can improve and grow your
business and how to make best informed decisions that will keep your
business a step ahead. You need to commit to the effort and time that is
needed to keep the business running because this is going to be an ongoing
thing for the next few years. Before you begin, you need to ask yourself if
this is a venture you’re willing to invest the hours for.

You need to invest some money. That’s the way business works. To spend
money you need to make some money and one way to do that is to invest in
your dropshipping business after you’ve done the proper research. True, the
sum that you’re going to spend is considerably smaller than what you
would have to pay if you were establishing a business the old-fashioned
way, but the investment is still an investment nonetheless and should never
be taken lightly. Money is a serious subject and you need to tread carefully
by doing your due diligence before each business decision is executed. Ask
yourself if the step you’re taking is a worthy investment of your money and
unless you’re 100% certain about a move to make, it is best not to make any
move at all. The wrong one can end up costing you more than you
bargained for.

Choosing Your Dropshipping Business Structure

A legitimate business needs to have a legal structure to it. You may be

running your dropshipping business online, but it is still a legal business
that you’re running. E-Commerce is just as much a legitimate business as
the brick and mortar types and here are some business entity options that
you could consider when establishing your own dropshipping venture:

● Sole Proprietorship - Planning to run your business solo? Then a

sole proprietorship is the best choice to go with. The procedures
involved are straightforward enough and it won’t take too long for
you to implement this structure once you’ve got all the necessary
paperwork prepared. The requirements you need to fulfill are
minimal and as long as you report your personal and business
earnings for tax purposes, you’re good to go. The only drawback with
the sole proprietorship entity is that it offers no personal protection
whatsoever, making you liable to bear the cost of any damages or
legal issues that might come up. Your personal assets are going to be
considered a part of your business structure. If your business is being
sued, you’re the one who’s getting sued.
 ● LLC (Limited Liability Company) - The advantage of going with
an LLC company is you don’t have to worry about your personal
assets being in jeopardy. They’ll be protected because an LLC is
going to be a separate legal entity and not tied to you personally. To
set up this business structure, you’ll be required to fulfill the
necessary filing requirements and pay any fees incurred during the
process.

● C Corporations - If properly established, this business structure

offers you more protection in terms of liability compared to most
other types of businesses. However, C Corporations tend to be a little
more on the expensive side, on top of being liable for double taxation
since any income earned from this structure is not passed onto the
shareholders.

The type of business structure that you end up choosing for yourself is
going to depend entirely on what your business requirements will be. Most
entrepreneurs prefer either the sole proprietorship if they’re going at it
alone, or an LLC for the personal protection that it offers, especially for
their finances.

Before starting any kind of business venture, you need to get your finances
sorted out. It is never a good idea to blend both your personal and business
financials together if you can help it. Keeping them separate makes it easier
to keep track of your cash flow, especially for accounting purposes. The
best advice would be to consider opening a separate bank account under the
name of your registered business to track your spending. Options for bank
accounts could include a business checking account, PayPal or even getting
your own credit card, since credit cards are the preferred method of
payment by many suppliers and customers alike.

The credit card should be kept separate and only for business expenses
alone, not personal. These cards can be used to make the purchases you
need from your supplier and if it's connected to your business account,
some credit cards even offer great reward programs for businesses.

Dealing with Sales Tax and Local Licenses

Part of running a business is going to be getting involved in the tax aspect
of it. Should your business fall into any of the following categories, you’ll
need to collect your sales taxes:

● If you happen to be living or running your business in a state where

sales taxes are collected.
● If an order is made by a customer who lives in a state that
implements sales tax.

Tax laws are beneficial for online merchants, particularly those who are
new to running a dropshipping business.

Another thing that your business is going to need is a local license, which
will require renewal on a regular basis. Business license requirements may
be slightly different for those running a dropshipping business since you’re
most likely going to be running your business out of your own home. Be
sure to check on the local laws and regulatory requirements before getting
started.
Chapter 5: Handling Your Affairs

You’re halfway through now working out the more subtle details and you’ll
soon be ready to have your dropshipping business up and running.

The next part of the set-up process to focus on, is the customer service
aspect of it, which is also a very important area that must not be
overlooked. Your customers are the lifeline of your business, without them,
there wouldn’t be any business to begin with. You need to sell your
products to someone and when you depend on these customers for the
survival of your business, you need to take care of them so they’ll always
come back to you.

How to Handle Customer Care

Competition may be tough in the dropshipping world, but one of the few
ways to really stand out is through exceptional and absolutely remarkable
customer service and support. Customers want to know that they matter and
they should since they’re giving you their money. They don’t just want to
see good quality products anymore, that’s not going to cut it. They need to
see that your store is responsive to their queries and makes an effort to
clarify or resolve issues in the fastest way possible. They want good
customer service.

Profits matter in any business medium, but not as much as great customer
service does. In any business model, customer service is the only thing that
matters. In a model as small as dropshipping where you need to maximize
every avenue that you can to secure and sale and take home your profit,
exceptional customer service is the life vest that is going to keep your
business afloat. Going the extra mile with your customer service is not that
difficult either, once you know which areas to focus on:

Handling Order Delays

Having your order delayed is something no customer ever wants to hear.
You’re not the one handling the stock, but you’re the one who’s going to
take the heat from the customer when there’s a delay in the orders. It’s
going to happen from time to time, where your supplier runs out of stock
just when your customer has placed an order.

This is bound to happen once in a while and when it does, don’t worry,
there’s a way to manage the situation and still keep your customers happy.
Manage the situation well and you minimize the risk of losing the
customers when they see that you care enough to try and find a workable
solution that keeps everyone happy. When a delay in your shipment
happens, the first thing you need to do is contact the supplier immediately
to find out what happened and the reason behind the delay in getting the
order processed. As soon as you’ve got your reason, the next immediate
action is to contact your customers and be honest about what happened.
Assure them that you’re doing your best to speed up the process and get
their order to them on time. Keep them updated every step of the way so
they’re never left out of the loop.

Handling Out of Stock Products

Keeping in frequent contact with your supplier is the only way to stay on
top of your inventory and minimize the instances where customers place
orders for out of stock products. This would be the ideal scenario, of course,
but sometimes it’s not always possible to prevent it entirely. Once in a
while, a customer may order something that, as it turns out, is out of stock.

While it’s best to prevent this situation entirely, that’s not always the case
and as a backup, you should have more than one supplier on hand who
deals with the same products. That way, if one supplier is out of stock, you
can turn to your back-up supplier and get them to ship out the order instead.
Worst case scenario would be to email your customer directly and let them
know, unfortunately, the product is out of stock and offer your sincere
apologies and a few possible solutions that they could choose from. They
might not be happy about the out of stock products, but at least you let them
know rather than keep silent about it.

Every Little Bit Helps

Offering outstanding and unbeatable customer service is one of the best
ways to stand out and set yourself apart from the competition, especially
when you are selling the same products as every other merchant out there.
Going the extra mile is always going to be worth the effort. Your customer
service can be in the form of thank you cards included in the shipping
packages. It could also be points that they have accumulated from multiple
purchases which entitle them to a free gift or redeem a voucher on their
next purchase. It can also be simple things like a speedy response to their
issues or complaints. Whatever it is, the key is to make your customers feel
valued and appreciated. Remember that without them, there wouldn’t be a
business for you to run.

A couple of other tips to provide excellent customer support and services

include:

● Hiring a professional customer service executive if your budget

permits. Having dedicated personnel specifically to respond to
customer complaints in a speedy manner and keep communication
channels open, will make your customer feel good, even if they are
unhappy about the issues faced with your order.

● Respond to them in a timely fashion; don’t wait for days or weeks

before you reply. More importantly, never ignore their attempts to
reach out to you at all cost.

● Provide a detailed FAQ section on your website which addresses the

common concerns almost every customer might have, along with
step-by-step answers to resolving those problems.

● Practice placing orders on your site as though you were a customer

and view the ordering process through the eyes of a customer, rating
your own experience on your website. Was your website easy to
navigate? Were there problems making purchases? If you had a
question, was it answered sufficiently in your FAQ section? If you
have a dedicated customer support team, how quickly did they follow
up with a reply to your query?
 ● Check on the items listed on your website frequently and make sure
all stock numbers reflect an accurate picture of the items your
supplier has on hand at the moment.

● Always try to stay at least one step ahead of your customers by

putting yourself in their shoes and anticipating what questions,
queries or concerns they might have regarding your products.

● Be as detail-oriented as possible and read your product descriptions

with a critical eye. Do they provide enough information to your
customers?

● Make it a point to personally thank the customer for leaving a

positive review on your website. If they took the time to say
something nice about you, then you can certainly make the time to
thank them for it.

How to Deal with Frauds

Running a business online comes with its own set of risks different to that
of physical businesses. One type of risk that both business mediums are in
danger of experiencing though, is a fraud. Detecting fraud online is not
always easy since these dangerous customer types often have a way of
working around the system and coming up with newer, more creative ways
to scam innocent internet users. Just when you thought you have them all
figured out, they come along with a newer scam and if you’re not paying
attention and keeping your eyes and your instincts peeled for these
fraudulent individuals, you might just become the next victim.

Dropshipping platforms like Shopify have evolved to accommodate

instances like this, with own fraud analysis approach to detecting these sorts
of problems. Say you received a large order from a client for example. As
exciting as that is, you want to double check that this is a genuine order
which has been placed and you can do that by emailing or contacting the
customer directly and seek confirmation that this is the right order that they
made. When your instincts kick in and start to warn you that something is
not right, it’s always best to listen.
When the billing address doesn’t match up to the shipping address, stay on
the alert, this could be a potential fraud order. Another example of what
fraud orders may look like is when a customer sends a payment through to
you via PayPal eChecks but cancels it once you’ve shipped out the order to
them. It’s best to wait until the payment is confirmed in your PayPal
account before fulfilling the order, just in case something like this happens.

It is always best to proceed with caution when dealing with anything online,
just to be on the safe side and protect yourself from fraud. Credit card fraud
is particularly popular and it continues to be among the more common
online scams since these tricksters are getting smarter and relying on more
sophisticated measures of pulling off their frauds. It’s not always easy to
detect either, but paying close attention will let you spot the warning signs:

● Different names from the person who placed the order and the one
who is receiving could be a red flag fraud trigger, but it could also be
a customer sending a gift to another. Better check on the orders just to
be safe.

● Watch out for differences in billing and shipping addresses.

Different addresses might sometimes occur during the holiday or
festive seasons when people shop online for gifts, but just to be safe
it’s always better to double check when you see two different
shipping addresses.

● Stay alert if the email addresses look suspiciously like it could be a

fraud. Email addresses which don’t make sense are often a warning
sign and the smart thing to do to protect yourself would be to remain
vigilant.

● Cybercriminals have sometimes been known to spend extra on

expedited shipping so merchants don’t have enough time to figure out
something might be amiss, like perhaps a stolen credit card being
used to make those orders.
● When you receive an order, which is then immediately followed by
a request to re-route the order, ask your information that clarifies this
is a genuine order and not a fraud. A cybercriminal mastermind could
be using this approach to bypass the usual security procedures which
 might flag their order as suspicious, so just be careful when you
receive such requests since you never know who might be behind it.

Dealing with fraudulent orders can be a real hassle, not to mention

unnecessarily time consuming and a waste of resources which could have
been better spent on other aspects of your business. Keeping your eye out
for those warning signs is not enough to protect you and your business
entirely from the scammers who are always looking to make a quick buck
off someone else’s hard work and the best solution in this scenario to
protect yourself from credit card fraud (or any kind of fraud for that matter)
is to consider a more comprehensive form of fraud protection. This would
usually be a combination of both manually monitoring and looking out for
the signs and some automated solutions to detect signs of a fraud that will
alert you when an order might not be legitimate.

Unfortunately, it is not going to be possible to completely protect your

business from fraud altogether and this is just part of the risk that you need
to be willing to undertake when you decide to run a business online. You
may not be able to prevent it 100%, but you can employ the following
measures to help minimize the risk of becoming a victim of online fraud:

● Require that customers’ key in the CVV numbers (the last 3

numbers which appear at the back of every credit or debit card), this
is one way of ensuring the person who is placing the order has a
physical copy of the card in front of them.

● Use payment gateway services that come with address verification

services or AVS, which is a security feature that ensures billing
addresses provided are a match to the cardholder’s zip code that the
bank has on file in their records. If the details are not a match, the
order will be rejected.

● Always remain vigilant with larger orders; these are the ones where
fraud is most likely to occur. Always screen larger orders and orders
with different billing and shipping addresses.

How to Handle Product Returns

When business is doing really great and everything is running as it should,
you’re feeling buoyant, enjoying the thrill of running your own business for
the first time (maybe). Suddenly, out of nowhere, you’re hit by one of the
few things no business owner ever wants to deal with. Product returns.
Something that no business owner or customer ever wants to deal with. It’s
a hassle for you and it’s a hassle for the customer and if you don’t play your
cards right, you’re going to be left with a very angry customer and some
potential reputation-damaging negative reviews. Handle returns well,
though, and you’ll be facing an entirely different scenario altogether.

Product returns are another norm when you’re running a dropshipping

business. There are bound to be one or two customers who are extremely
picky about their products and if it doesn’t live up to their expectations,
they’ll return it and request a refund. Among the common reasons for
product return scenarios include inaccurate descriptions that painted a false
picture of what the product was, problems with sizing, defective or faulty
products and having the wrong items, delivered to them by mistake are
among the many reasons why a customer might request a refund from your
store. Whatever the reason may be, the bottom line is your customers are
not happy and they want a refund.

Should you encounter this problem, here’s what you need to do to handle it.
First, establish strong and clear agreements on any potential logistical issues
that you may encounter in your dropshipping business. Outline these in
your contract and also have this on your website. Inform customers what to
do if they have returned. Familiarize yourself with the return policy that
your supplier has and outline this and establish standard operating
procedures for returns, damaged items and so on. Your return policy must
be in line with the one of your supplier. Be clear on what the shipping costs
are as well between yourself and the supplier and what is the expected
delivery date for your items between supplier and customer.

There’s going to be two primary focus areas that need your attention when
it comes to product returns. The first being your preparation in case a return
happens and the second is what you’re going to do once the returns do
happen. What policies do you have in place to handle situations like this
and are these policies taking into consideration your customers point of
view? Have you taken preemptive measures to set clear expectations in
place on your website when it comes to handling product returns and
refunds? With over 67% of online customers making a point to check the
returns policy of a company before making a purchase, expectations need to
be set loud and clear right from the beginning so your customer can make a
swift and easy decision about whether they want to make a purchase from
your business or not. It’s a good idea to have some kind of working
standard agreement or procedure in place when dealing with return items to
make the whole process easier for everyone in general. Customers may be
put off by your store if they find it too difficult or complicated to deal with
returns and that will cause them to take their business elsewhere. You, as
the seller, need to make it a point to listen to the concerns or complaints that
they raise, be empathetic and assure them that you’re looking into this
matter and aim to resolve it as soon as you can.

The following factors need to be considered when you’re preparing your

returns policy:

● Be sure to clearly list out any items which may be exempted from
returns and the reasons why. For example, some items might not be
eligible for returns because they’re clearance items, or for hygiene
purposes.

● Clarify the cost of your returns if they are not done for free.

● Be clear about whether your policy is to issue refunds or

exchanges.

● Be specific about the countries which are eligible for returns and
which are not.

● State clearly how long a customer has before they are no longer
eligible for free returns, like a 30-day free return policy for example.

Handling product returns is no fun, but here’s what you can do to make the
process less stressful on all parties involved:

● Keep Your Focus on Solutions Instead of Problems - It’s much

easier to let the negatives and the complaints overshadow the good
stuff, but to create a positive return experience for your customer so
 they’ll come back again to your store, it is important that you actively
choose to focus on the solutions instead of the problems at hand.
Your customer is not going to care that it was your supplier who
messed up, they’re going to care that they didn’t receive the item they
were expecting to get and they want to be compensated for it. As the
vendor, apologizing to your customer for the inconvenience it has
caused shows them that you’re willing to step up and take
responsibility. Since actions speak louder than words ever will, it is
going to be a lot more convincing for your customers that you
actually care when they see you taking proactive measures to come
up with workable solutions instead of trying to avoid blame or
pinning the blame on someone else altogether.

● Is A Return Necessary? - That would depend on the product that

you’re dealing with. If an item is not worth getting the customer to
ship it back to you (as is the case with most low-cost items), it might
be best just to let it go and save them the hassle too of having to go
out of their way just to return an item they were expecting to be
satisfied within the first place. Weigh your pros and cons and decide
if it would be better to just ship them a new one without having to
deal with the hassle of returns. They’ll be surprisingly grateful to be
saved from all that extra work involved and they’ll remember the
great customer service that you provided them with.

● Do It Yourself - Let’s say, though, that the returned item in question

was on the expensive side, it might be best to get your customers to
return the items directly to you instead of the supplier. For one thing,
it allows you to see first-hand and determine if the quality of the
product really was as bad as the customer claimed it was and for
another, when you want something done right, sometimes you just
have to do it yourself, as is the case with returns. Getting the
customer to ship the items directly to you gives you the opportunity
to get involved and sort it out for yourself, which may provide an
overall better outcome and customer experience. You’ll also get the
opportunity to witness first-hand what your supplier’s return policies
are like, how long they take to fulfill those return orders and whether
 they’re living up to the standards that they promised in the initial
agreement.

● Be Accountable - This dropshipping business is yours, something

that you chose to build and in doing so, you’re solely responsible for
the business in its entirety. If it’s a success, you’re responsible for it.
If it’s a failure, you’re responsible for that too. When a customer
requests a return, you must be responsible and accountable for it,
even if it is not your fault entirely. Passing the blame and pointing the
finger at your supplier instead is not going to resolve anything. Your
customer is still going to be unhappy and you’re going to come off as
looking unprofessional if you’re trying to pin the blame on someone
else. Own up to the mistake and focus on trying to fix instead of
blame.

● Be Respectful and Patient - There may be some customers who

push your buttons with their unrealistic demands, but as an
entrepreneur and business owner, it is your job to maintain
professional and respectful composure at all times. Reacting poorly to
a demanding customer is only going to reflect badly on your business
and, in such a competitive environment, you can’t afford any kind of
negativity if you can help it. No matter how much a customer may try
your patience, avoid being dismissive or rude towards both them and
your supplier. Things happen beyond anyone’s control every now and
then, but losing your cool is never a good approach to solving any
kind of problem. Being respectful and patient towards all parties
involved however, gets the job done and improves your chances of
trying to come up with an amicable solution that all parties involved
will be happy with.

Should I Offer Product Returns and Why?

Ideally, no vendor would want to deal with return items or refunds if they
could have it their way, but it still happens. It’s too bad the order didn’t pan
out quite as you hoped, but what would be an even bigger shame is if the
customer was put off ever making a purchase from your store again because
of the bad experience they had shopping with you. If a customer is not
happy with an item, they would rather return it and try to get their money
back or replace it with something of similar value and when you take that
option away from them, they’ll be less inclined to want to do business with
you.

So yes, you must offer product returns on your website because keeping
your customers happy and satisfied is vital. A happy customer means a
returning customer and a returning customer is a money-in-the-bank for
you. It’s going to be in your best interest to provide them with a customer
service experience they have no complaints about and having a returns
policy makes this a more viable option. As a dropshipping vendor, there’s
one other option available to you and that is offering your customers a
refund, but they don’t have to return the product to you. That’s right, what
you can alternatively do to minimize the hassle is ask your customer if they
would prefer to be sent a new product instead of getting a refund and tell
them that they can keep the product that they have right now without the
need to return it.

Here’s why that approach is a good idea. It makes your customers happy,
since they don’t usually expect this kind of service and depending on the
size of your profit margins, if it’s big enough you’ll still be able to walk
away at the end of the day with a positive revenue return too. This can still
prove to be a great workable solution unless of course the item the customer
has is either damaged or unusable.

What the Product Return Process Looks Like

For the first time dropshippers who might not be familiar with what the
product return process might involve, here’s what you can expect to
encounter:

● Step 1: The Return. Your customer receives the order but then
contacts you about making a return request. As the vendor, you
would first need to determine the reason behind the returns request.
Once you’ve determined it’s a reasonable request, apologize and tell
them you’re sorry the product didn’t quite live up to their
expectations. Let them know that you’re working on resolving the
issue and will keep them updated every step of the way.
● Step 2: The RMA. Once your customer has confirmed they would
like to proceed with the return request after Step 1 is accomplished,
you would then need to get in touch with your supplier for an RMA
number, which is a Return Merchandise Authorization number.

● Step 3: The Approval. The supplier should approve the return and
then proceed to issue you with an RMA number for the order, you
will then pass this RMA number along to the customer, together with
a return address to send it to. If your customer needs to pay for
shipping, remind them to get a tracking number for their order so
they can keep tabs on it too.

● Step 4: The Inspection - If your customer is returning the product

directly to you so you can handle the returns, inspect the item
thoroughly and see if your customer’s claims match up. In the case of
damaged goods, be sure to take detailed pictures so you can send to
the supplier for record purposes. If the customer is shipping it back
directly to the supplier, keep tabs and communicate with the supplier
to track the progress of this request.

● Step 5: The Final Step - By this stage, your customers should

either be receiving a new item as a replacement or a refund
depending on your returns policy and what the customer requested.
Follow-up with your customer to confirm that the package has, in
fact, arrived safely and they’re perfectly happy with the new item that
they received. If they requested a refund, follow-up anyway and
check if they received the correct refund amount. Ask if there is
anything else that you can do to assist them and let them know that
they can contact you at any time if they have more questions or
concerns.
 The Product Return Process in Dropshipping

Other Considerations to Keep in Mind

Dealing with matters like refunds is another example of why it is so
important to find a good supplier to work with from the beginning. You
want a supplier who is professional and willing to accommodate refund
requests patiently for the customers the way that you want to. Since you’re
not likely to be the one who handles the returns part as the vendor, you need
to find a supplier who does accommodate returns and refunds as part of
their standard operating procedure.

Before committing to any supplier, get to know their return and refund
policy in greater detail and see if it lines up with the policy that you hope to
offer as part of your dropshipping business. Be sure to outline the terms of
the agreement clearly in your contract before signing any kind of
documents with your supplier as a precaution to protect yourself against any
possible liability issues.

Working with a supplier who is not willing to offer any kind of return or
refund policy is a very risky move on your part. It’s advisable to stay away
from suppliers like this since your customers are not going to be very happy
knowing that they can’t return a product if they’re not happy with it. No
customer wants to be stuck with something they don’t want and every
business needs to offer the option of a return, even if it may be a hassle.

If you’re concerned about the logistics of it all, it could be something to

consider when you think about whether you want to work with a domestic
or overseas supplier. Of course, handling overseas returns is a lot more
complicated and sometimes expensive for the customer if they have to be
the one who foots the bill, something they won’t be too happy about. When
you’ve been in business long enough, you’re bound to deal with a refund or
several and ignoring such requests is just not an option if you want to
maintain the reputation of your business. Some customers might not be too
happy dealing with a delay in returns either if they have to ship the products
overseas back to the supplier. These are just some of the considerations to
keep in mind when you choose which suppliers you would prefer to work
with.

Returns will happen, even when you’re working hard to make sure your
business runs perfectly, therefore don’t be too discouraged by it when
you’re hit with a refund or returns request. This is part and parcel of what
it’s like to run a business. Even retail establishments have to deal with
product returns on a regular basis, so don’t worry too much about it, it’s not
a negative reflection of your efforts in any way. Every business comes with
its own challenges and drawbacks and in the e-commerce space, returns are
normal. It’s a drawback to be sure, but since it rarely happens (unless your
store provides really terrible products and services), the benefits that you
get from running your own business are still going to outweigh the
drawbacks that you face.

Since refunds are something you need to consider, it’s best to be very
careful with the profits that you make from your business. Avoid spending
it all at once, especially in the early stages of your business. You might need
to hold onto those profits for a while just to cover any instances of a product
return or refund. It may not happen all that often, but at least when it does,
you’re well and truly prepared to deal with it.
Chapter 6: Success Is Almost Yours
We’re nearly close now to finalizing your dropshipping business set-up.
Now that you’ve covered some of the important basics, it’s time to look at
how to successfully fulfill the orders that come in from your customers. As
a business owner, you want all your customers to walk away feeling happy
and satisfied like they had the best shopping experience on your website
from the order process to the customer service follow up. It has to be so
good that they can’t wait to come back and do it again. That’s the kind of
experience you want to aim for. To do that, you need to perfect the order
fulfillment process.

Order Fulfillment - What Is It Anyway?

This side of the business basically involves the steps that get taken by you
and your supplier to get the product shipped out to your customer. The steps
that take place from the time they place their order with you and everything
that happens in between until the order arrives safely on their doorstep.
Once you’ve established your niche and locked down the suppliers that you
want to work with, it becomes easier to fulfill the orders that come in so
your business can build a sustainable momentum that keeps it going.
Hopefully with an increase in profits over time, if you play your cards
right.

Dropshipping is a service which you are providing and the order fulfillment
process is part of that overall service. The very critical role that you are
playing in the dropshipping scenario is ensuring that the products which get
ordered through your website are shipped out in a timely manner. That your
customer is getting what they want. Seeing your first few orders come in
after your website has been successfully launched and your business finally
going live online is exciting, but what you do after those orders come in is
what really matters most. This is when you determine if your business is
going to leave a positive impression in the eyes of your customer or leave
them with a sour taste in their mouth and the determination never to buy
from your store ever again.
What happens next is crucial to building a positive reputation for your
business and when the competition is as high as it is in dropshipping, the
image is going to be everything. Before getting to those steps and what you
need to do is start cultivating that positive shopping experience through
your order fulfillment, here’s a brief overview of what the order fulfillment
process is going to look like:

● Customers’ places order on websites created for your website.

● Payment is made and confirmed. The customer then gets an email

notifying them that their order has been successfully placed.

● You send the details of this order to the supplier.

● Once the supplier has confirmed that the items are in stock, the
wholesaler will box and ship the items directly to the customer.

● Once the shipment has been finalized and sent out successfully, the
supplier will then email you a copy of the invoice with the tracking
number and all the relevant details. Depending on the supplier that
you’re using and stock availability, some suppliers will ship out
products within a few hours of receiving the order, which will give
you the advantage of advertising same-day shipping or 24-hour
shopping.

● Once you have received the shipment tracking number from your
supplier, you will need to send these details to the customer. You can
do this either directly via email, or automated through the built-in
feature on your e-commerce site’s interface.

● Once the product has been shipped out, the payment received and
collected and the customer has been notified, only then is your order
considered fulfilled and complete.

Your profit from this order fulfillment will depend on the difference which
was charged to your customer and how much you had to pay your supplier.
You will be the contact point for the customer if they need to reach out to
you for anything. If they receive the wrong order, you will be their point of
contact, not the supplier. Your role is to merely coordinate with your
supplier to ensure all the order details get fulfilled the way that they should.

To your customer, the supplier does not exist in this sales scenario. It is just
a transaction between you and them. Therefore, in the order fulfillment
process, it is going to be entirely your responsibility to ensure the success of
the sale. You will be doing everything from advertising on your website,
marketing your products, providing the necessary customer service needed
and more.

Creating a Positive Sales Experience for Your Customer

Whether your customer walks away happy and satisfied with their overall
sales experience with your store is going to be entirely up to you and what
you do during the order fulfillment processes. Delays and hiccups along the
way with orders getting fulfilled can sometimes set you back and put the
customer off, so you want to do everything that you can to make sure the
transaction flows as smoothly as possible.

To create a positive sales experience for your customer, you need to:

● Check Your Settings - Have you set up your order process to be

fully automated? If you haven’t, you should. Check your settings and
activate the options which allow you to mark orders as being
“processed” and “shipped”. You can rely on the manual way of doing
things, but that’s a bit risky since you might forget to do it if you’ve
got other tasks in your business that need attending to.

● Not Procrastinate - As soon as the order comes in, get to work.

Don’t wait and don’t procrastinate. The faster you get things done,
the faster your order gets shipped out and if you want to keep your
customers happy, there’s not a minute to lose. Ideally, you want to
have your orders shipped out within 24-hours after the customer has
placed an order and any delays on your part could prove to be costly
affairs.

● Confirm the Shipping Details - Always check the shipping

information listed on your package before your orders get sent out. It
 simply won’t do to have the items shipped to the wrong person, this
would only cause further delays, complications and most likely
you’re going to have to spend out of your own pocket replacing the
order for your customer. Check that the names are written and spelled
correctly, check that the addresses are written correctly and check
that the contact information has been written out correctly. Check,
double check and then check again just to be safe.

● Use Message Templates - Information is everything to your

customer and when they’ve had to pay for something, you can be
sure they want to know what’s going on. Consider using message
templates that keep your customer updated about the status of their
order from the time they make the payment and all the way up to
when their items are out for delivery. They’ll appreciate being kept in
the loop and it helps if they don’t have to keep emailing you or
following up about what’s happening with their orders.

● Keep Things Simple - Your main goal is to create profits, right?

That should be your focus. Do not get carried away by flashy
graphics and so call ‘must-haves’ for your website or even long
content that apparently ‘speaks’ to your audience. Make it as easy as
possible for the customers to purchase your products. The idea is to
get them to your site, browse for what they want, click on the
product, read a short description and click on Add to Cart > Proceed
to Checkout. That’s it.

● Tracking Your Traffic - Always keep your eyes on the traffic

coming into your website and who is placing orders for your
products. You might be surprised to find that every now and then you
might receive an order that comes from a customer outside your
target demographic. Perhaps the target audience is changing or
expanding and if you’re not on top of things, you might miss out on
the opportunity to broaden your reach.

● Be Organized - A merchant who is organized keeps their

customers happy because this merchant knows exactly what is
happening every step of the way. An organized merchant keeps their
 order process just as smooth flowing and as organized as they are and
that inspires confidence in customers.

After your orders have been placed, you need to mark your orders as either
“fulfilled” or “completed”. And that is how you successfully complete the
order fulfillment process in your dropshipping business.

What to Do When You Can’t Fulfil Your Orders

Luck may not always be on your side sometimes and despite doing
everything that you can to make sure it all goes well, you may find yourself
on an occasion or two where you’re simply unable to fulfill the orders as
you promised. Moments like these are sometimes beyond your control and
that’s okay. Understandably, it’s distressing when you feel like you’re
failing to deliver on a promise to your customer and you’re worried and
stressed over whether this is going to negatively impact your business. You
don’t want to lose your customer forever and you don’t have to, not if you
handle the situation correctly.

If you find yourself in a position where you’re unable to fulfill an order, you
need to address the problem as soon as you become aware of the situation.
Don’t wait a day or two before you let the customer know, let them know
immediately and let them know what’s going to happen from there. A
simple “Dear customer, we regret to inform you that we’re unable to fulfill
your order at this time. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this
may have caused and we will be issuing you with a full refund” is an
example of a professional yet courteous correspondence that lets your
customer know what is happening. Since you’re acting in a professional
capacity, you want to avoid adding too much of a personal touch into the
mix.

The customer may have some questions about the reason for the delay.
Answer them patiently and professionally, being mindful that you want to
appease the customer and keep them happy since the inconvenience is
coming from your side.

Tips for Success

Like every other entrepreneur who first began their journey with hopes and
dreams of achieving business success, you want to do everything you can to
give your business its best chance of success.

Let’s look at some of the following tips for success that you can employ to
boost the success of your dropshipping business before we move onto the
mistakes you need to avoid:

● SEO Matters - This should be an integral part of your marketing

strategies. Yes, there is going to be marketing involved, even with a
business model like dropshipping. Despite the many claims online,
SEO is not dead and as long as keywords are still used to search for
anything and everything on the internet. SEO must be incorporated
not only on your website but also on your social media which is from
content, titles, tags, image tags, descriptions to increase its chances of
getting picked up by search engines.

● Don’t Underprice Your Products - A business needs to make a

profit, even if it’s not a lot. But profits still need to be made and if
you underprice your products too much, you’re going to end up on
the losing end and find yourself struggling to maintain your business.
It’s tempting to keep your prices low to match what your competitor
is doing, but if it’s not feasible to sustaining your business, it’s not a
good idea. It’s best to offer quality products at a fair price, so even if
your prices might be a little higher from your competitors, if the
quality is significantly better your customers won’t mind paying that
little bit extra for something that lasts longer.

● Think Like Your Customer - You’re going to have to think like a

customer and put yourself in their shoes. If you were to go to a
website where you would like to make a purchase, what do you
expect to see? What sort of buying process is going to make you feel
happy and satisfied with making a purchase? What are the features
that you personally like from some of the websites that you have
purchased from in the past? Give the customers what they want and
they will be more likely to keep returning for more.
● Provide A Contact Number - If you can list a contact number on
your store, do it so your customers can reach you if they desperately
need to. They might not, but they will like knowing that they have
that option to do so should they need it. It’s one way of building trust
and transparency with your customers, if they know that there’s a
way for them to reach you directly, they’ll feel a lot more confident
making a purchase from you as opposed to someone they have no
way of getting in touch with.

● Learn to Love Reviews - There’s that brief moment of worry when

you wonder if you’re going to be hit with a bad product review that
could put a damper on sales, but if your service is good, you don’t
have to worry too much about it. Don’t be afraid of product reviews,
because this is the weapon that you need to encourage other users
who have not purchased from your website before to want to buy
from you. Honest product reviews help to convince new customers
that they are making the right choice in choosing to purchase form
your platform instead of your competitors.

● Using Unique Photos - A lot of dropshippers are going to be using

the same supplier that you might be, which means the photos and
images of the products which are going to be displayed on their
websites are going to be similar stock images. Building a good
relationship with your supplier is going to come in handy here. Ask
your suppliers if they could provide you with some unique pictures of
the product so your website is going to stand out against your
competitor’s. When your customer comes across something that
looks different, they’re going to be intrigued and linger on your
website long enough to want to make a purchase hopefully.

● Give Your Customers Options for Payment - Customers love

knowing they have options. The more options you give them, the
happier they will feel making a purchase from your store because
they have the option of choosing what they feel more comfortable
with. PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon Payments, Shopify Payments,
Stripe Atlas, Visa, MasterCard and more, spoil your customers with
choices and you’ll be their first choice the next time they need to buy
something.
 ● Mixing It Up - There are many ways to reach your customers
depending on who they are and what they do. For most drop shipping
marketing methods, social media marketing and email marketing is
the way to go. But you should not rely on it entirely. On and off, it is
also good to meet with your customers and see who they are. Give
product giveaways, hold online workshops or seminars, have an
online meet-and-greet, feature your customers using your product.

● Product Strategy Communication - Strong product descriptions

ensure higher success rates of purchasing. This information is critical
to your customer- they want to know what they are buying and the
better you describe your product, the faster it would be for your
customers to make a purchasing decision. Avoid long and vague
descriptions and also do not put on duplicate content, because this
will be penalized by the search engines.

Dropshipping Mistakes to Avoid

Protect your business even more by staying away from the common
dropshipping mistakes that become the pitfall for many new entrepreneurs
who are doing this, especially for the first time. Even the more experienced
vendors are guilty of making these mistakes when they get too comfortable
with the process and overlook a lot of the little details which are crucial to
the survival of the business. Just because this business model is easy,
doesn’t mean that there’s no room for mistakes to be made. There’s always
room for mistakes when you become too complacent and start taking a lot
of things for granted.

If you want to succeed, you need to maximize your chances for success and
minimize your chances of mistakes. This is the only formula you need to
remember, the only one that works. Great success efforts, fewer mistakes
and slip-ups. Whether you’re new to this space or you’ve been
dropshipping for a while now and you’re looking to take your business a
step further, if you’re guilty of any of the following mistakes, it’s time to
put a stop to them:
● Relying Entirely on Your Suppliers - Relying 100% on your
suppliers can be an invitation for plenty of problems ahead. Having
one supplier alone, for example, can mean that they may raise prices
for you or if they go out of business, or the items run out which
means you may also go out of business. What would you do then?
Having a backup supplier is what you should do. Working with one
supplier alone is never a good idea, you always need to have backups.
Have a Plan B for your Plan A and also have a Plan C for when Plan
A and B don’t work. When doing business in dropshipping, always
have a written contract with your suppliers to ensure that both parties
know what they need to do to keep their end of the bargain.

● Fretting Too Much About Shipping Costs - Yes, the cost of

shipping can be a pain, but worrying never achieved anything
productive. Your priorities need to be strategically aligned to increase
sales and depending on where your orders come from, your shipping
costs will be in a different range. So in the spirit of increasing your
profits, a good thing to start with is setting a flat shipping rate that
will reduce this worry for you. It is straightforward and easy for your
customers and it will be easier for you.

● Selling Goods Which Are Copyrighted or Trademark - The last

thing you want to do, is invite into your business potential legal
problems. The situation is simple enough. You cannot under any
circumstance sell goods which are trademarked or copyrighted unless
you have the legal rights and permission to do so. You need a license
to sell these and if you don’t have one, don’t sell them. It’s really as
simple as that. It’s not worth the legal hassle of resolving these
problems and it could end up costing you quite a fair amount,
depending on the severity of the situation.

● Starting This Business Because You Think It’s Easy Money - It’s
not. It’s an easy business to start, but it’s not easy money. As we
already know, drop shipping does provide a good level of
convenience that does make your job a simpler one. Despite that, you
need to be aware of the competition ahead of you and how important
it is to market your product. This needs research as well as a unique
approach that makes your product stand out among the masses. Don’t
 expect money to roll in without putting in the work needed and time
as well to see your product and your site lift out.

● Being Too Optimistic with Your Shipping Estimates - If you’re

going to post on your website that you deliver the next day, you better
believe that’s what your customers will be expecting. If their package
has not arrived on their doorstep by the next day, they’re not going to
be happy. As much as you want to entice your customers to purchase
from you with the promise of delivering their items as soon as
possible, you need to be realistic about the shipping times. Especially
if your products are coming in from suppliers overseas. A supplier
won’t be able to give a guarantee about how long a shipment is going
to take either since anything can happen to the package when it’s en
route. Delays happen, items get held up at customs and posting a
delivery time frame of 2 days is not feasible if you can’t manage it.

● Difficult to Find Information - Ease and simplicity are the two

keywords you need to keep in mind when you think of your
customer. Keeping your customers informed about the product they
are buying, the way they make payments, the information they are
keying into your site as well as how long they will need to wait till
their items arrived are all the things you need to put in “Black and
white”. Not only will this help you troubleshoot problems but your
customers will be happy with the information they can access.

● Having Different Shipping Fees - Customers are not going to be

happy if they have to fork out extra money for certain items on your
website. If they’re buying several different products from you,
they’re going to expect the same shipping costs (maybe even free
shipping) for one simple reason. They buying from the same website.
There’s an expectation that the shipping is going to be standard
across the board no matter what item they buy since it’s coming from
one website, so having different shipping fees is never a good idea.

● A Lack of Branding - For the customers who are brand conscious,

not having a prominent brand name or label to identify with is
something they see as a problem. The one major drawback of
dropshipping is that it can be hard to ensure that your brand is
 prominent to your customers not only in the look and feel but also the
entire customer experience. You don’t want your customers to forget
you and you need to work extra hard to insert your brand as much as
possible in every corner you can. One of the best things you can do is
to ensure you develop a good working relationship with your supplier
and get them to insert custom packaging for you to remind them of
your business and show them you care about their experience at the
same time.

● Policies Which Are Too Vague or Generic - This one works along
the same lines as having product descriptions which are too vague,
generic and severely lacking in important information. You need to
have a policy that is going to fit the image and level of service you
want your business to provide. Avoid the temptation to just copy and
paste policies directly word for word from other websites, since their
policies might not be in line with your standard operating procedure.
It’s okay to use some of the information, but you need to rewrite and
reword the content to reflect the kind of service you intend to provide
with your business.

● Poor Handling of Lost or Damaged Items - The minute a

customer experiences problems with their order, their frustrations are
immediately directed at you. When this happens, you need to be
prepared to offer your customers an easy and quick solution. Be sure
that you create a process for managing and handling problematic
orders so you can keep your customers happy.

● Poor Handling of Order Cancellations - Your online customers

change their minds faster than the ones who shop at regular stores.
This is bound to happen and for this, you need a backup plan as well.
You want to ensure that your customer is efficiently and accurately
refunded. Some vendors will immediately go ahead and make the
order and you’ll end up with a negative review on your site. To avoid
this, speak to your vendor first before confirming things with your
customer. While your customers wait for confirmation, let them know
you have received their request and are working on making the
necessary refunds or changes.
● Complications with Return Items - Setting up a system for returns
will be beneficial not only for your sanity but also to lessen the time
your customers need to wait for a result. Organized and systematic
approaches to problems not only keep your customers happy but it
also shows you are professional. All it takes is one bad experience
with your store to turn your customers away and that’s not the only
thing you need to worry about. Customers talk and word of mouth
spreads. If they’re unhappy enough with your service, they’ll be
telling everyone that they know not to make purchases from your
store and that puts your business in danger of losing customers fast.

● Not Taking Holidays into Account - Holidays can cause major

delays in shipping and delivery and whenever there’s a holiday
coming up, you should be posting these updates about possible delays
in shipment so your customer is fully aware when they place their
order. That way, they can’t come back to you and complain about a
late delivery in their order because you’ve already done your part by
keeping them informed. Choosing to proceed with the order despite
the delay notifications will be their choice.

● Not Having a Strong Enough Relationship with Your Suppliers

- Without a good working relationship, there’s going to be a lot of
problems down the road. This works the same in any kind of
professional or working relationship, if there isn’t a good working
dynamic, it makes it harder to get the job done well. Find a supplier
that you’re completely comfortable with, someone that is easy to get
along with, accommodating and willing to compromise and negotiate
until you can come to an agreement that you’re both happy about.
Being able to communicate effectively with them makes it easier for
you to stay on top of all the important information that you need to
know about to keep your business operations running smoothly. This
relationship is important and you need to bear in mind that you’re not
the only vendor that they’re working with. If the supplier doesn’t like
this relationship or think it’s not beneficial enough, they can
terminate their ties with you at any time, too. You’ll be left
scrambling trying to find a replacement supplier and, meanwhile,
you’re unable to fulfill any orders in the process.
 ● Not Checking Your Shipping Logistics Before Deciding Which
Countries You Can Ship To - Assuming that your business is going
to be able to handle global shipping is a big mistake. Yes, there are
many businesses these days that are going global, but only if they can
afford to. You need to have the available resources to be able to pull
this off for an affordable price, some countries can be pretty pricey to
ship to if you’re not careful. Always check on the shipping costs and
how much time it would take to deliver items to certain countries
before immediately listing that your store can ship globally without
so much as a second thought. As a beginner to this space, your best
bet would be to focus on shipping domestically and perhaps start with
one or two overseas countries and see how things go from there.
Some countries may take longer to ship than others, not to mention
the customs issues that you need to deal with which might cause even
more delays or make the shipping costs too expensive overall.
Remember that your profit margins are small with dropshipping and
you don’t want to be spending too much on your shipping costs. You
don’t want to put too high a shipping fee on your products either,
since your customers are going to be put off by that too.

Bonus Tips to Keep a Good Relationship Going with Your

Supplier

It’s easy to get along with your supplier when you make an effort to
cultivate and foster that kind of relationship. Keeping things on good terms
with the supplier is not difficult and the following measures are enough to
start building the foundation of a long-term working relationship:

● Always treat them with respect and act professionally at all times,
even when you’re having a disagreement with them.

● Pay them on time and maintain a good payment history with your
supplier.

● Make an effort to work together instead of immediately pointing

fingers or putting the blame entirely on the supplier. Sometimes it
isn’t their fault and it’s best to give them the benefit of the doubt.
 Playing the blame game never helped to resolve anything, so try to
find a working solution instead is a much more productive approach
and your supplier will appreciate your effort.

● If they’re domestic-based, try to arrange to meet them in person

every month or so. It helps to be able to put a face to the name you’re
working with and people always make a much better impression in
person than they do online. You’d be surprised at just how well the
personal touch element still works in today’s digital age.
Conclusion
Thank for making it through to the end of this book, let’s hope it was
informative and able to provide you with all of the tools you need to
achieve your goals whatever they may be.

Now that you’ve got all the power-packed information that you need to
start, build and run your store, it’s up to you to keep that store running by
avoiding the common mistakes that ordinarily get made. More importantly,
you’ve now discovered everything that you need to know about sourcing
the right suppliers for your business. Like with any business model, getting
started on the right foot is going to be the essential driving force of your
success. The dropshipping industry is a competitive one, but now you’ve
got all the techniques that you need to set yourself apart from the rest of
your competitors.

For the entrepreneur who has always wanted to have a business of their
own, but has always been afraid of the risks involved and the possibility of
losing it all should the business fold, dropshipping offers the perfect
solution. The simple, inexpensive retail model is ideal for even an
entrepreneur with no experience to start learning the ropes and even if you
fail don’t worry about it. Since the costs involved in the start-up is minimal,
you won’t find yourself knee-deep in debt and you’ll be able to use that
experience as a learning curve.

You’ve already got everything that you need to get started, all that’s left is
to commit the necessary time, effort and resources needed to get your
business off the ground.

Finally, if you found this book useful in any way, a review on Amazon is
always appreciated!