Mentor platforms for selling on Amazon &/or your own Webstore

Hello,

I have sold on Amazon for about 14 months. I know all of the courses you spoke of. AMS and Ryan are super star marketers that is for sure. I doubt their course will lead up to the value. There is plenty of info for free online. You just have to be patient and look for it. The Amazing seller is a good free source, but I think they're all full of shit to be honest. The real problem with selling on Amazon is China and having to compete with them directly. You will compete directly with factories because there are no import tariffs that are substantial enough to stop them. Now that they have figured it out, it is very difficult. The other problem with competing with the Chinese is their culture. In their culture, if they're not cheating, they're not trying. My neighbor is Chinese and she explained this principle to me. Where this comes into play is, they are definitely manipulating Amazon's search, they don't follow the rules for photos, ad copy or anything else. If they lose there account, they simply open another one and Jeff Bezos doesn't care as long as they keep making him money.
Another problem with Amazon is that the fees are way too high. The paid advertising is very competitive and there is no way to rank your product like before with giveaways, but that doesn't stop the Chinese. They clearly have a list of Chinese buyers that are glad to leave 5 star reviews, it's so obvious. At the end of the day, on Amazon you are not building a business because the customers are not yours, but they are Amazon's. You are not allowed to contact them any more via phone, and most have opted out of receiving an email from 3rd party sellers on their message system.
So, after a year of spinning my wheels, I am moving out of Amazon. It did help me get into the online business, and for that I am grateful as I may never had the courage if it weren't for them and those terrific internet marketers you mentioned. My goal was to never stay just on Amazon, I wanted to create my own e comm website. I did it, and you can too. I attended my local Meetup for wordpress, read a lot here and watched many Youtube videos. My next task is to round up people to come to my store. It is stocked with physical product that I have in hand so we are almost ready to go. I am certain that selling from my own site will be more pleasant and profitable then my time with Amazon and I won't have to hold my breath worrying about getting suspended by them.
Which ever way you go, believe it is already yours and you will have it.

Best wishes

I strongly recommend Jim Cockrum's Proven Amazon Course. This is how I began as a successful Amazon seller. Jim's course is very comprehensive, covering many many topic.It is sort of a cllection of various courses. It is also expanding all the time as he routinely adds new and valuable content. There is also an extremely helpful forum where you can get your questions answered by experienced AMZ sellers.

The course is very reasonably priced but I have heard they plan to raise the price soon.

@valencia99 has a viewpoint based on selling what everyone else is selling on Amazon, but there are thousands of people successfully making good money on Amazon and they don't care about the competition from Chinese vendors.

The big problems encountered by sellers such as valencia99 are:

• They try to compete on "hot selling" items, with hundreds or even thousands of competitors.
• They buy from the thousands of traders masquerading as manufacturers on sites such as Alibaba.

The really successful sellers on Amazon are private labeling. Some do it quite successfully just using their own label to differentiate, but others use brilliant labeling such as I teach in my new book on the subject, and by doing so they create a great brand. This can lead to repeat business and word of mouth advertising.

It is important to avoid paying too much for the products and the best starting point for that is to only deal with genuine manufacturers. It is also worth learning how to be sure you really are getting the best price.

With experience in importing from China since 1987 I am able to teach those things to my students.

Walter,

That was a lot of assumptions on your part only to work in your plug for a new book. Well done.

#1. If you choose a product with few sellers, almost always that is because of low demand. It pays no dividends to sit on product at the FBA warehouse, their rent is too high, especially October - January. Therefore, you have to go after products that have consistent demand that is demonstrated and verified over a period of time. This is precisely where you will but heads with the Chinese.

#2. I dealt directly with manufacturers. I don't agree that you cannot find manufacturers on Alibaba. I bought your book and your "secret website" is no secret and no better than Alibaba, just a competitor. You can spot traders from a mile away, you just need a few days doing research to develop an eye for them.

#3 I private label our products. Big deal? It will not separate you from the Chinese, nor will your perfectly written copyright. Improving the product, which will cost a substantial investment on most products, is the only way to differentiate, and then they'll just copy your idea and your back to square 1 again.

At the end of the day, if Chinese manufacturers and traders are going to compete with you, you will lose every time because they have the advantage of cheaper costs and that any American can obtain. The game is up, they have figured it out that they no longer need us to move there product.

I have no book to sell, no course to teach. I just call it as I see it and this is my opinion. I am sure of 1 thing though, if I were doing great selling on Amazon or anywhere else for that matter, I don't think I would have reason or time to create a course or a book on how to do it. I'm just sayin.

I am not even in the game but looking to sell a product I design online.

Do all these answers/this thread applies to buying and flipping products from China/Alibaba or original product made in the USA or both?

Im curious how likely the Chinese may see my product on Amazon and decided to mimic?