ABCInc at Amazon.com

Notes, on establishing a seller account on Amazon.com...

... November 10, 2017

I'm opening the door to create passive income. It feels like a steep learning curve, but fortunately YouTube offers lots of tutorial videos.

I currently own only one corporation (A Better Computer, Inc.), and I've registered ABCInc as a fictitious name in the state of Florida. I created my Amazon Pro reseller account as ABCInc because I expect to sell merchandise other than computer-related products.

I expect to follow two business models:

• Arbitrage - This is where I purchase products on the cheap, then mark them up.
• Private Label - This is where I source a product and put my own name on the box (Hence DBA ABCInc)
• I've signed up for JungleScout's web app to help me research niche markets on Amazon.
• I've created an Alibaba account to source private label products from China. 
• I'm exploring my own brand of coffee 😎 because this is something I think I can market in a relatively short time.

To be continued....

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... November 21, 2017

I've been distracted for most of the last two weeks, and have not made much visible progress. A lot of it has been reading and learning about the big steps, and I'm starting to work on the nuances.

Expenses

So far I've paid $40 to Amazon to become a "professional seller," and I've committed to pay $40 per month in the future. Apparently Amazon normally has a $1 charge per item. This charge is capped at $40 on any one given month. So, if I sell more than 40 items then the "professional seller" status is cost effective. And, of course, I need to sell much more than that.

Products to sell

Categories

Amazon divides products into several broad categories. They are listed here.

What's significant is that some categories require "approval" to sell into, some have requirements, and some are open all the time. Examples

• Approval is required for "fine art" and appliances.
• The "Grocery and Gourmet Foods" category has a long list of requirements for seller (includes requirement to be a "professional seller"), for product, for storage. This is too much to quickly get into; hence my private label coffee idea is delayed
• The following are examples of categories that are open: 
• Home & Garden
• Office Products
• Pet Supplies.
• Unfortunately, some that do not require approval are closed right now. I tried to list a few CDs and was told I couldn't because that category was currently closed, presumably for the holidays.

Brand Names

Another consideration is branded merchandise. I tried to list some household appliances that I found at Wal-Mart. Couldn't. I tried Black & Decker and Hamilton Beach. Apparently the manufacturer wants their product to come through legitimate channels. I didn't have enough interest to pursue it past the first roadblock.

Practice (for me)

I learn best by doing. I missed an opportunity to pick up a dozen new camera tripods at my favorite thrift store. That would have been an excellent arbitrage opportunity. 😒 My latest lessons are centered around learning how to do that in the future.

• I purchased a $20 knife sharpener at Wal-Mart
• It was already listed for sale under its UPC on Amazon, so I followed the "Have one to sell" link on the existing product price.
• I created my listing, and went through all the steps up to and including printing the shipping labels. This was tedious, but not difficult.
• I boxed the sharpener, affixed the labels, and dropped it off at the UPS store 2 miles away.
• Status today: in transit to FBA warehouse in Charlotte, NC.

To be continued....

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... November 28, 2017

• My knife sharpener arrived at the FBA warehouse on Nov 27th. I received 3 emails in a row, about 10 minutes apart, notifying me that
1. The UPS trailer with my shipment has arrived
2. My shipment has been received
3. My box is open and product inventory has been verified
• I visited the Amazon listing and found my name!! The listing says "Back-ordered. Due in stock December 1 -- order now to reserve yours" - that's the Friday after the item had been received at the warehouse on Monday. 
  

I discovered that I can type "ABCInc" in the search box at the top of the Amazon page and it will find whatever products have. My "seller profile" is pretty plain:

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... November 29, 2017

My product is in inventory, and now available for sale!

Remember, my package was received on Monday, and my listing was tagged with an inventory date of Dec 1, Friday. It actually became available on Wednesday!

To be continued....

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...   well, not yet...