My Amazon Story: How I Stumbled Upon Amazon FBA and Where It’s Taken Me
In this post I’m going to talk through my Amazon selling journey. There will be no tips, promotions or anything alike. It will purely be me sharing my story, which will hopefully be not only interesting, but also motivational.
How I got into Amazon
I have always been entrepreneurial. At the age of 11, I opened a second hand shop. Combine entrepreneurial tendencies with a crazily long University Summer, and you get an Amazon FBA business. Funnily enough, I didn’t even remotely consider selling on Amazon.
So how did I find Amazon?
Being an Accounting and Finance student at the University of Leeds, naturally I looked to the stock market. One day, whilst browsing YouTube for investment guides, I stumbled across a video on passive income models. One of those models was creating a Private Label Brand on Amazon… Fast forward a couple weeks later and my mind was set on Amazon Arbitrage.
First Purchase
The first product I ever sourced was an ink cartridge from Coolshop. Due to having no experience, I seriously over analysed this product, spending over 2 hours checking it and sending a friend the product details to make sure I wasn’t missing something obvious. Turned out to be a good find and I placed my first order during the early hours of the morning on the 6th August 2018. My excitement was soon replaced with disappointment however, Coolshop cancelled the order due to being out of stock. I was seriously frustrated and the email I sent to Coolshop is now quite amusing on reflection.
First Sale
Similarly to the first product I purchased, the excitement of my first sale was soon lessened when I realised I had sold it on the Spanish Amazon Marketplace. I had not adjusted my prices in the European Marketplaces, as I was not aware of the significantly higher European Fulfilment Network (EFN) fees. Nevertheless, this sale on the 28th August 2018 marked a huge step in my Amazon journey, and I ended up doing over £100 in sales on my first full day of stock going live!
Product Approval Request - Toys
2 Wholesale orders and over 20 Amazon cases later, on the 10th November 2018 I was finally ungated in the toys and games category. This was perfect timing as sales were just starting to spike in the heart of Q4! I learned how important persistence is with Amazon Seller Support.
Secret Wealth Project Christmas Meal
December marked the Secret Wealth Project Christmas Meal, and with it, my first interaction with fellow Amazon Sellers in real life! It was awesome to put faces to names and meet a bunch of like-minded people.
Facebook Group
I did not spend any money learning how to do Amazon Arbitrage. My learning process consisted of watching free guides on YouTube, and then asking any specific questions I had in Facebook Groups. Thankfully there were people kind enough to support me throughout my journey. In January, I decided I was going to create a Facebook group to help share what I have learned. I was by no means an expert, and I still don’t claim to be an expert. However, I do believe that the knowledge I have can help others get started. Without those that helped me, I don’t think I’d have progressed as much as I have today.
Online Arbitrage Summit UK
Early in April 2019, I travelled to Lincoln for the first ever Online Arbitrage Summit in the UK! The day consisted of highly knowledgeable speakers, a meal and then networking.
By 5pm I had developed a serious case of shiny object syndrome. I had so many ideas which I’ve documented and plan to explore further. The talks really motivated me and also provided multiple tips which I have already implemented into my Amazon Business.
The networking (AKA drinking) followed a meal with fellow attendees. To me, the networking is by far the most valuable part of these events. I was fortunate enough to meet Facebook Group Members, people I’d never spoken to before, and even people who spoke at the event. Here are a few examples of the benefits I’ve experienced from the networking:
- Meeting Andy Lawrence (speaker) from Wholesale-Help who I recently interviewed during a webinar
- Meeting Luke Pastore (speaker) who is the expert when it comes to used book selling. Previously I had not even considered selling used books. Following Luke’s talk and a conversation with him, used books is definitely on my list for the future. Luke has also agreed to be interviewed in the near future.
- Meeting Mark Horley (speaker) who is now my accountant.
- Meeting someone who I am have been working together with to jointly hire a VA
I could talk about this event, and the Christmas Meal, in far more detail. The key message I learned though is that relationships are so important. It’s also just awesome to meet and chat to people!
A Busy May So Far:
May has been an extremely productive month for me so far. This productivity has been facilitated by my decision to drop out of University, which has freed up a lot of time. This was a very difficult decision to make, however I am excited at the freedom I now have to pursue what I would like!
During May I’ve begun trading as a limited company. Previously I was trading as a sole trader. This change came as a result of my revenue imminently approaching £85,000, the VAT registration threshold. Forming a limited company now means I can continue to trade without being VAT registered until I get close to that threshold.
(This excludes eBay and Amazon European Marketplace sales)
If you’re in the Facebook group, you’re probably familiar with the box photos (see example below). However, use of a prep centre means that these photos will be no more. Now that I am using a prep centre, I have freed up a lot of time (and also just a boring task), which I can spend on other areas of my business.
Mark Horley of Passive Tax is now my accountant. This is now another area of my business I can be confident is operating effectively, saving me time and money.
Finally, May has seen the recruitment and training of a Virtual Assistant (VA). This has been by far the most time consuming task, and is an ongoing process. I am optimistic that this short term investment will result in rewards long into the future. The training and recruitment infrastructure I put in place can be used and improved upon again and again going forward!
The Future
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you’ve gotten this far, I appreciate it!
Going forward, the aim for the Amazon Business is to continue to implement systems that will automate the Online Arbitrage aspect of my Amazon FBA business, whilst also delving into wholesale more. The time that this frees up will mean I can travel, develop new income building strategies, and spend time on more meaningful projects. I enjoy Online Arbitrage and Wholesale as a cash generating models, however they aren’t particularly rewarding. I am hoping that in the future it will facilitate me with the means to pursue a more rewarding project.
Following my emphasis on the importance of networking, in the near future I will be going to the Amazon Sellers Conference in Manchester, and the Amazon Academy Manchester 2019. I’m looking forward to these events, and hopefully i’ll see you there!