How to Start Your Amazon FBA Business in the USA

In this blog post, we are going to be talking all about how to get started in your Amazon FBA business.

If Someone is Looking At Getting Started In Amazon FBA, What Are the Biggest Lessons and Advice Which You Could Receive?

Don't pile it all on at once. You don't need a glue tape dispenser, you don't need the fancy equipment, you only really need to start with the really simple things, for example, polybags. 

The same goes when it comes to employees, you need to gradually get there. It can be hard when you're in your basement and you are doing your own thing.

Is There Anything to be Aware of Specifically From a USA Perspective?

It is great if you are going from the UK to the US, because you gain a little lead. For example, the restock limits and the storage limits, the US got this, then it eventually was given to the UK. Similarly with the categories of essentials, if you recall back to 2020, the USA got this a couple of weeks ahead of everywhere else. 

If you have businesses in multiple locations, you are going to know what is to come to your other businesses before it hits you.

You also get an advantage of knowing how to already deal with that new thing that they are rolling.

Also, as a whole, when you think of the Amazon marketplace, the US was where Amazon was founded. When you think of the US, and the demand in the US, it is substantially bigger than the UK.

How Do You Find Your First Product?

It is a lot more than just getting the app on your phone, and scanning stuff, but that is a  huge step, because a lot of the time, when people reach out, Jake Diego just tells them that they just need a driving licence and a bank account, then you can get an account. Although it sounds very trivial, it is just that one little step, and you don't need to eat that whole horse. 

After you have the account, and you have the app, then this will basically allow you to scan barcodes of items. Once you pull up that page, it will tell you exactly what the item is, what category the item is, what the new price is, and what the used price is. One of the more important things to be aware of, is the sales rank. When it comes to the sales rank, the lower the better. For example, if an item was 1000, it would sell faster than an item which is rated 40,000. So, you need to understand sales rank.

The sales rank is a moment in time, in the algorithm of Amazon that is ranked all the products in that category. So, the number 1, would be the number 1 seller of that category, which you can understand and relate to.

But, let's say for example, you have got a toys category, which has got millions of different items, something may be ranked at 100,000, and that is basically saying that the item is the 100,000 best selling toy within that category, 

The reason that this is very useful to know, is because you can use tools like Keeper for example, and you can stretch that out over time, and the trend of the sales rank, let's us know, and we are able to calculate how many sales there has actually been.

If you are struggling to find products to sell, watch this video from Kev:

How Much Capital Would You Need To Start?

There are two forms in Amazon - FBM, for example, eBay - the seller gets the order, the seller finds a product, then the seller sends it to the buyers. Then there is FBA, where Amazon finds the product, because you have already sent it to their warehouse, then Amazon sells them the products. 

So, if you want to go the FBA route, then possibly having a capital of 1000 dollars, or possibly even 500 dollars. But if you are going to go the FBM route, you can just start with whatever you have got right now. 

For Jake Diego, he was going to pawn shops and buying gameboy games, like Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Blue. He would only have around 3 or 5 listings, but they would eventually sell, and he would just keep repeating that process. 

What Lessons Has Jake Diego Learnt?

One thing Jake has learnt is that no matter what, Amazon are always changing, so you have to be adaptable, you have to be knowing of what is going on, and when you see those little flags in your account, and when you see all the news, read them, and be adaptable, because it has definitely changed over the years, especially with the restock limits and that kind of stuff. The categories and products come and go, but the biggest thing is change. When you look back as a whole, a lot of things have changed. It depends where you are at, but starting out, one of the biggest things was making himself look like a regular customer, because stores aren't super fond of ordering huge quantities and taking all their stock. Most of them are decent, but some of them; for example, say you order 250 video games, when they do a buy one get one free, they are going to flag your account and have a chat with you.

One other thing Jake has learnt, is not switching to FBA soon enough. Jake was FBM for the first 9 months, March 17th to December 17th. Not until December 17th did Jake send things in for FBA, and when they hit there, they just sold immediately. 

What Has Jakes Experience Been When It Comes to Wholesale, From A US Point Of View?

In the UK, it definitely helps if you have a warehouse, if you have a unit, and if you represent yourself as a retail or business.

If someone was expanding from the UK to the US, what difficulties would they have?

When Jake begun out, it was a lot of going on Google, and looking through entertainment etc; the most obvious things when it comes to Google search. Yes, you will open an account, but a lot of the time, there are not going to be any products that are great, or everyone knows about them, even if you got a discount. So, unless you are going to dig deep and go to page 12 or above when you do the Google search, then that would be a good way. Otherwise Jake found some of his best luck this year, came from taking the back of a sauce, then searching for the company name, to call them directly.

He would let them know that he would like to buy these products for wholesale, then he would provide the correct information, and telling them that you would like to learn more on how he could order in quantities.

They will either do one of two things. They will either tell you no, or they would let you know that you can talk to a specific department. In either case however, it is typically a transfer, or a list of distributers and other companies who sell their products, and reach out to them. 

What is the Experience With Having a Warehouse For Wholesale? 

It is a lot better for wholesales, because it shows them that you have a commercial address, and possibly the ability to accept freight, and it is also an area in commercial area, which also helps the shipping costs a lot of the time for the suppliers, rather than shipping it to a residential or them needing a lift gate. So, a warehouse will definitely help, it just shows that you are going to be in this for a long time, that you have the tools, and that you are being real about this. It is also great because you can have the suppliers could round, and you can have a face-to-face chat.

Another great thing from the UK going into the US, is that support when you think from a prep service point of view.

What Has the Experience Been Inviting Prep Partners Into the Warehouse?

It makes a better use out of the space, because it makes better sense to also help clients and help them grow their business. Jake has the ability to accept freight, so they have a little stand-up truck, so that has been key, because it saves the clients the lift gate fee. In the beginning, they all thought that they needed the lift gate service, but Jake let them know that they have the stand-up truck, so they don't need that.

There is only so much room in your house. Even if you use your basement, the products wont be able to go so high up. In a warehouse, you have a lot of space, and they will be quite high up. 

Further reading:

How To Recruit & Train Your Virtual Assistants

Should You Just Follow Others In Building Your Amazon FBA Business?

How to Find the Right Warehouse