Amazon FBA & Drop Shipping in 2018
Received an e-mail from a subscriber the other day asking about Amazon FBA and Dropshiping in 2018, how it's changed over the past few years, etc, etc, etc.
Just wanted to make kind of a casual video chatting about the changes in both dropshipping and Amazon FBA over the past couple years.
With Amazon FBA specifically I think the fees are getting out of control, Amazon is starting to take people's products and turn them into Amazon basics and starting to compete with us sellers. Something I neglected to mention in this video is that Amazon is going the route of having a direct connect with Amazon and Chinese sellers, it's already happening but as time goes on it's going to cut out resellers and private lablers. Chinese sellers are beginning to get more of a foothold in the USA where as in the past they had longer shipping times and that was our advantage over them.
There was a time with Amazon FBA where any random product would sell on there and you could create a pretty profitable business selling random stuff. These days, IMHO, Amazon is a sales channel and nothing else. It's a way to get your product and name and brand out there, it's a way to build some reviews but ultimately you wanna be selling across numerous sales channels and want to have your own site or platform where that's the home of your brand.
In this video I kind of give an example of a product I bought and how I went to Amazon to check reviews and I think Amazon may have been where I discovered the product, but ultimately I bought the product from this companies website, the price was cheaper for me and the margins they made were better than selling on Amazon. That's essentially what I think people should be doing and what I'll be doing with any future products I sell on Amazon.
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I said it on your YouTube side as well. YouTube has people chasing one fad after another and most of the content creators are just about pumping courses, affiliate links, growing their personal brand, etc.
Anyways, after 12 years of selling eCommerce I finally took a part time job for the first job as an employee since I was a teenager. Mostly because I am trying to learn the ins an outs of the business so I can potentially open a physical business myself. No clue about you Rules but now that I am actually 30 now; I really don't want to have to completely reinvent my business every 2-3 years anymore.
eCommerce will remain a good side hustle but I am more interested in something I can control and grow. This is my honest opinion; eCommerce in general has become a race to the bottom because social media has given people trying to build their brand and courses the opportunity to give away tricks of the trade at that expense. I also believe in 2018 with Udemy, Skillshare, YouTube, etc that most college courses are now irrelevant. It is the complete commoditization of information.
To be honest it is just the new normal. I've done dozens of services on my car because of YouTube and Web Forums that would have cost me a fortune 10+ years ago. I see both sides for what it is.
It really is Darwin Theory with regards to Adapt or Die.
Excellent post, friend, good video. Regards, @rulesforrebels,