Goodbye Amazon, what a ride
It is a real shame and a huge blow financially but today is the day I start winding down my operations on this platform - I cannot justify it financially anymore and I am going to call it quits, my patience has worn thin and my mental health is in tatters.
From the ridiculous 20% hike in PPC fees for non-vat registered firms last year to the cost of the vine program, unwarranted deactivations, seller support becoming nigh on completely automated, and rising shipping costs (alongside Brexit implications) - I have realised this is not a game for small businesses.
Having worked at the agency side of things this platform does not work for smaller sellers - despite what jungle scout, helium 10 and the multiple youtube gurus will tell you - you are a small fish in an incredibly big pond and you need to cough up £££ - I am not saying Amazon is a scam, it can be done but only if you have left a fat wallet job in the city of london and have money to burn.
I am literally sacrificing my salary, well-being, and time to keep products afloat, albeit with strong reviews, great listings, using all features necessary to catapault my brand - I have in effect, become quite experienced after 3 years but realised my experience is wasted when It is not backed up by huge capital. no chance I am taking out loans at 22 years old.
Yes, I am a little bitter but theres nothing personal here, I just thought I’d put my 2 cents out there to see what others think. It was never a passive thing for me because passive does not exist in reality everything requires some effort no matter how passive it may seem.
I want to sell out my inventory and get it over and done with - can anybody tell me what would be the best combination to do this with, rather than completely raze my prices… any help in adavnce much appreciated.
0 replies
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
I wish you the best and hope that you can reclaim your sanity.
But I would like to point out that I am a small business, not even vat registered, I have never spent a penny on advertising, never joined the vine program, and make a comfortable living, 75% of my income is from Amazon, I didn’t leave a fat wallet job - in fact before I went self employed I had spent 2 years on SSP, and have always lived in my small seaside town in Northern Ireland, which has been hit harder than anywhere in the UK as far as Brexit is concerned.
I understand that your business hasn’t worked out (and I did grimace when you mentioned youtube gurus, because they get it soooo wrong and so many people come to these forums after landing themself in a ton of trouble for following the incorrect advice of these people) but I don’t think you can hold Amazon accountable, or say that it doesn’t work for small businesses.
Regarding selling your stock, the easiest and quickest way is to reduce your prices, or sell them off as job lots on Ebay.
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
Sorry, but that is totally not true.
I don’t pay a penny out in advertising and make a good living on here. And I’m far from the only one.
So I get that your have had problems and so on, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad place to sell.
I wish you luck in your future endeavours, but be sure to enter into them, with both eyes wide open.
It’s the mistake that many make, when selling on here.
If you have stock to move, then you can sell off on here, Ebay, Onbuy and so on. You also have the option of the various discounters.
If however you have stock that is not your own brand, that you want to move at a reasonable price, then PM me with more info.
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
I’m the same as Neil, started small with very little capital, I started buying lots from my local auction house, I still remember my first lot which was child’s plasticine, santas keys and a bundle of prints (just the paper inserts no frames) which I sold individually on Ebay.
I started about 15 years ago now, but am a recent addition to Amazon after only starting here about 18 months ago, so I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing the good old days.
I now have a proper brick and mortar shop, sell on Etsy, Ebay and Amazon. I have dabbled in my own website over the years, but found that thats where you really sink the money, once you’ve tried to make your own website work you realise that the commission you pay to Ebay/Amazon is more than worth it.
Running a business is hard, finding the products that sell, loosing money on the ones that don’t, but I’m content being my own boss, its the best decision I have ever made.
Seller_kbHKYCKFkEQGr
i think you had unrealistic expectation especially at your age without business life experience.
life is complicated and enduring.
gurus make money by selling you dreams, other wise they would be doing it themselves.
business owners make a lot of sacifices especially in the beginning and have to jump through hurdles. Most small business owners do not have huge capital behind them, but there adapt and perservere to make it work, and make changes along the way.
you have to take calcuated risk, and sometimes, risk not knowing what will happen.
You are used to stable life and routine, and that is why you are finding it difficulty. it is a harse learning curve.
and amazon is not the be all, diversification onto other platorms. also dealing with competition and 2 face people etc.
question is do you want to continue and struggle till you make it or give up.
only you can answer
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
The beauty of online sales is you don’t need to be consistent.
I have a shop, its a greeting card shop - I can’t really start selling Milk and Compost, it doesn’t fit with my shop. But online it doesn’t matter, the customer doesn’t care that you sell screws and soil and balloons and scrap metal.
If something doesn’t work, just liquidate your stock and find something else that does. the beauty of being self employed is that you choose, you decide. And as mentioned, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, my best seller on Amazon doesn’t sell at all on Ebay, and my best seller on Ebay barely sells on Amazon…
You could also try a market stall, or car boot sales, I sell the odd thing on Facebook as well
Seller_I4ArshkoS7Na6
If you want to make a living selling on Amazon and Ebay, the first thing you need to have is the ability to add up.
Make a spreadsheet, put on your buying prices for your stock items and the selling prices the market would find attractive by researching before you start. Then subtract all the known costs - and ALL of them are out there if you look before you start. Postage, amazon fees, advertising, packaging etc.
Then you will see if there is enough margin in it to make each individual product worth doing. No point having one product that makes you good margin if ten others lose you money.
Then you can calculate how many items you will need to sell each month to make enough profit to cover your own wages and overheads. If that number is doable, you’ve got a business. If not, then no amount of working capital will help you.
If you havent got a business that will make you enough money, get a job and do this in your spare time until you build it up to the point where it will.
Every successful seller on here has had to research and read and find a market niche they can exploit. Then they have had to work hard to source suppliers, storage, packaging, postage options etc. Just because you havent succeeded the first time, doesnt mean you wont succeed with your next idea.
Its really not rocket science, just maths.
Seller_DnL3AXoQFgZKI
I am assuming you are selling Private Label stuff… you could try selling your store, contacts and stock as a package here - https://empireflippers.com/marketplace
Seller_0a8JwzVCco9bA
As an idea…perhaps you could use your experience and re-think your business model. Re-position yourself by changing your approach. Many small sellers are doing very well without big budgets by working smarter not harder. Refine your business model and don’t be afraid of trying a new approach, but if you have already made up your mind, then this may not be for you. Ebay, IMO, is the best marketplace to sell your remaining stock. Good luck whatever you decide.
Seller_08BS5LN7BHyyq
Yes, it’s sad that Amazon has got so much worse in recent years. The constant attacks on small sellers with ridiculous new policies such as no return refunds under £20 (effectively giving stuff out for free at our expense), double charging for 2 of the same items to be put in one envelope, VTR (for some people), constantly deactivating listings and messing up listings and terrible support who won’t answer questions and just copy and paste template replies.
And of course ever increasing fees and advertising costs, removing you from search engines unless you use FBA (which removes most of the profit if selling low price items), removing the buy box if you don’t use FBA.
New products are now a huge risk as you have no idea if you can get them to be seen apart from advertising.
It does work for some people if they’ve got unique products and a lot of time and money to invest in them.
Seller_77IcbQKVGdZo0
I don’t see why you need huge capital to run an Amazon business. My business does not run on a huge capital and I started it with around £100 ten years ago and built it up from there.
I haven’t used Advertising for years, I sell products cheaply on FBA between £1.99 and £20 and I can support myself and my family on the money I earn on Amazon.
A lot of sellers seem to think they have to use advertising. It is obviously pushed by Amazon as it is a revenue stream but at the end of the day if your product is a popular in demand product you will get the sales.
It does however take some management, you need to look after your costs, not overspend on stock and work through problems you get with Amazon.
