Show HN: I spent a few weeks building a private label brand for Amazon – AMA
So for the last few weeks I decided I wanted to learn more about selling on Amazon and FBA - so I did what any normal hacker would do. I bought a website - https://www.chargeduck.com - Wrote some funny copy (Well I think its funny, but I suppose thats subjective) and then I went a step further.
I called up suppliers, had samples made, designed packaging and even through some of that cheeky copy on the box.
As I've been talking to people over the last week or two - especially other entrepreneurs its become apparent that this is a world a lot of people don't understand all that well or even at all.
So I figured why not Show you guys what I did and open it up to questions if you're interested.
I'll hang around for the next few hours and if you're interested I'll even tell you about what my plans are for the future with this and other products!
Looking forward to seeing what you all have to say
26 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 67.0 ms ] threadhow much money did you make?
What was revenue and what was cost?
How many units did you sell?
How did anyone ever hear about the product?
After Amazon fees, Shipping, etc I will Net about $37k in profit
Revenue will for the first run be just about $60k and Cost was ~$11k out of pocket + Amazon fees, ads etc.
So far only a couple thousand have been produced (More on the way soon!) and most of it started as word of mouth then sort of ballooned! I still don't have any reviews even yet but hope they're coming soon!
So even at $30/unit, you sold about 2000 units over a few weeks which is (to my mind) pretty good for a brand new product.
You mentioned ads, so what was the ad strategy and were they productive?
The main reason I think they worked is that most other chargers did not take the time to build any sort of real brand or spend time on packaging etc. when you order most of them it feels like an afterthought but when you order one of mine I think it feels more like an experience for the consumer.
That part was really important to me and I think it probably shines through because people tend to buy the product when they click on the ad form what I can see on the reports
What timeframe was that profit made in?
1. no reviews:
Be the first to review this item 0.0 out of 5 stars
2. Next not a very good sales rank:
Best Sellers Rank #85,355 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)
3. When I plug the sales rank in to get sales per month I get: 21
https://www.junglescout.com/estimator/
I'd be interested to see how it goes in 6 months if sales per month go up.
I am also interested with the answer to this question, thanks
Where did you find the suppliers? How did you pick your product? How did you know they could make them? Did you trust them to deliver directly to Amazon? Did you inspect them first?
In other words, if I want to start, say, my own bitcoin branded fidget spinner (that was my idea folks! Back off!) how would I go about doing it?
I started where most people would I think! Alibaba! I sorted and filtered for suppliers that said they could do OEM and I originally contacted about 10 of them - eventually ordered samples from 6 and then when they came in I actually took all the samples apart and examined the boards, the soldering, the wiring etc so I could find which ones were made with higher quality parts and better construction practices.
I had the first shipment sent to my house because I was still afraid after wiring 10k to China I was just going to receive boxes of coal - My next few shipments however are slated to go directly to Amazon because I now feel I can trust my suppliers.
I'm happy to go into more detail if this is helpful?
I wish I could upvote you more so you get a boost but I don't think I can.
So after you went over the parts, you had to come up with labels and branding and packaging. Was the manufacturer able to do all that for you? And this was included in the $11k/2000 = $5.5/unit?
Did you hire someone on upwork to do the packaging?
1. list on other sites: ebay, walmart, newegg
2. advertise on google
3. deal of the day
4. give single use coupon codes to amazon affiliates
5. create a coupon code and give it to various sites.
6. approach review sites, blogggers
7. youtube reviews
For me in particular, I am working on a product, I have the oem hardware, and custom software, but need a custom case and packaging made. Would love to pick your brain about that.