How Much Does It REALLY Cost To Start An Amazon FBA Business?

hey everybody welcome back to the left
business channel in today's video I'm
going to share with you how much it
actually cost to get started with Amazon
FBA so I know a lot of you have asked
this because you're never really gonna
get a straight answer because it is
gonna vary dramatikally from person to
person it just depends there's always
the more inexpensive way of doing things
and there's more of an expensive way
which is usually a higher quality so
it's up to you I know personally for me
when I first started my Amazon FBA about
two and a half years ago I definitely
did everything myself anything that I
could do myself I did myself even things
that I probably shouldn't have done
myself like graphic design and Photoshop
which I'm not good at I tried to do
myself so I could save money now looking
back at that I would recommend to
actually outsource those things you can
do that fairly inexpensively nowadays
and it's just smarted to do it because
you're gonna get a better quality image
better results quicker because
eventually you're gonna have to upgrade
and you're gonna have to get
higher-quality things done as your brand
expands so sometimes it's good to do
that from the beginning but fancy tools
and fancy gadgets you don't necessarily
need that stuff when you're first
starting with Amazon FBA I would hold
off on a lot of these extras until you
actually are making a profit with your
your product so that you don't have to
take that money from your pocket so
right now what I'm gonna share with you
are some expenses that you're gonna have
to really account for when you're
starting your Amazon FBA business then
I'm going to share with you a few extra
extra tools that you'll probably
eventually have to pay for after you
start your Amazon FBA business so the
first thing you're gonna have to pay for
is your Amazon professional selling
account you actually don't have to sign
up for this account until you have
inventory at Amazon you can start with a
personal account and then later upgrade
personal account is free the reason that
you would upgrade though is because the
professional account allows you to use
Amazon ads and you're gonna need that
when you start selling your products
online when you start your launch and
this costs $39.99 US per month so once
you start selling and you earn a profit
about 39
9 will come out of your profits it's not
gonna be a separate fee that you'll see
on your credit card statement it's just
gonna come out of the money that they
would owe you from your orders okay so
the second fee would be your logo design
your logo was obviously very important
you're building a brand but there's so
many people on fiverr.com which is a
website where everything used to be $5
now things seem to be increasing quite a
bit but you can get a logo done for
anywhere from five to fifty dollars and
these logos are great I mean all of my
logos are from fiber comm and I'm very
happy with them I don't think it takes
you know too much time to create a logo
and so that's why you can get them done
relatively inexpensively you do want to
make sure that when you buy your logo
for the first time you should make sure
that you get it not just in jpg format
but in the actual PSD and PNG format
because you want to be able to edit it
later down the road others what you'll
have to do is if you do need to edit the
logo you'll have to go back contact the
seller and put in a new order with them
just so you can get those extra formats
the third class will be your labeling so
your product label so whatever your
product it might be say it's an iPhone
if this is your product then you're
gonna have through packaging and then
your nice labeling and that's also gonna
be artwork so you can get that done I
would say get it down on upwork.com
that's a place where you can find
freelancers as well you can also get Ad
on fiverr.com or you can go to 99 design
so 99 designs is basically a platform
where you can have you submit your
tiket of what you want done you will
create you tell everyone this is what I
want this is how I want to look and then
you have maybe hundreds of designers
send you a mock-up of what they could do
for you and then you eventually select
one designer it is very expensive though
so that's definitely on the higher end
that can cost you up to $1,000
but if you're just hot getting a label
done on Fiverr calm it will probably
cost you anywhere from 50 to 150 dollars
so the next thing that you have to
account for is your samples
so when you're starting Amazon FBA
business you basically do product
research and then you find products that
are selling well in Amazon and then you
go and look for manufacturers and then
when you find those manufacturers you
have to request samples because you have
to physically hold touch see smell the
product yourself to make sure it is what
they say it is and to make sure that
it's up to par with the quality that you
want for your brand so this is so
crucial it's very important and it's
very costly because a lot of people are
gonna source their products from
overseas shipping overseas is expensive
it doesn't matter how small your product
is even if it's this size if you ship it
overseas it's probably gonna be around
60 bucks
so it's very expensive usually the
suppliers might give you the sample for
free but I find that nowadays there has
tend to do that because a lot of people
just try and get free products from
these suppliers so they might charge you
a sample fee as well which will later be
deducted from your full order so if you
place an order you get a refund for the
sample and probably the shipping as well
but you can account about $300 for that
because you're gonna have to get at
least three samples so if you decide on
an iPhone case you want to get three
samples from different suppliers and you
can account about $100 you know 60 to
$100 per sample so that could add up to
around $300 okay so next you have your
Amazon listing photos so obviously your
Amazon listing is very important this is
the place where customers will see a
product for the first time depending on
your listing they will decide whether or
not they want to buy your product and a
big part of that is the way that your
photos look your photos are a huge
representation of your brand and your
quality and you want to make sure that
you really over deliver with those
product photos so I would definitely not
try to skimp out on this I know for me I
am I did my own Photoshop for my photos
basically what I did was I took photos
on my phone of the product this is what
I did in the beginning I had a white
piece of paper that I would lay like
this and
like this I put my products there and I
took a photo of it on that white piece
of paper so it looks like a white
backdrop and then I got Photoshop
somebody who's an expert in Photoshop on
Fiverr for $5 to Photoshop it to make it
look like a rendered product and it
actually worked with for me for several
months with my first product but now um
I don't recommend doing that it's it's
not you know people are really upping
their game on Amazon you want your
photos to look really awesome so you for
product photos like that you could still
take your own photos but just send them
straight away to someone to Photoshop or
you can send or you can send your
products to a designer they can take
professional photos for you because they
have a whole setup for taking photos and
they can Photoshop them for you and then
send them back so this is gonna really
be dependent on the quality that you
want I would say it will range from
fifty to three hundred dollars because
you need eight photos for your Amazon
listing all right let's get into the
inventory cost so inventory cost also is
gonna vary dramatikally from person
person it just depends on your product
so if you're picking a product that
costs under a dollar your inventory
costs are gonna be much lower you could
maybe spend even three hundred dollars
on inventory my first product costed
around twenty cents and my first
inventory including shipping was around
three hundred dollars from China which
is extremely cheap my second product
which was around I think maybe eight
dollars the inventory costs increased in
my third product which is much more
expensive because it's a premium quality
product now it costs me you know four it
depends on the size of inventory too so
it's just really gonna depend I would
say now to account for around 500 to
1500 dollars for your initial inventory
so this is money that you need to have
you know in your pockets right now that
you can spend on inventory and just make
sure guys that your product is not heavy
because you don't want to underestimate
the cost of shipping especially overseas
it's very expensive trust me and with
your first inventory shipment you do
want to ship at the air not by boat so
make sure that you're not
I'm really heavy product or it's gonna
put a hole in your pocket and you're
gonna end up spending more money in the
shipping then you built on the inventory
which is not right I'm gonna go into
another video for you guys
about what you should select for a first
product and the things that you do not
want for a first product that's gonna be
a separate video though
okay next cost is barkos so there are
different kinds of barcodes that you can
get you can go to speedy barcodes calm
and get barcodes for maybe like $25 for
ten barcodes or 30 barcodes whatever it
is these are called the cheap barcodes
and they're cheap because their resale
barcodes they're not barcodes bought
directly from gs1 just one is the only
place that you can really trust for
authentik barcodes because when you buy
a barcode it is going to be registered
under your name or your business's name
and on Amazon they want you to have
barcodes from gs1 you can get away with
barcodes that are you know resale
barcodes from these other cheap sites
but you do risk having your product and
your listing taken down so you know if
you're just doing one product you don't
have a product with 30 variations
honestly it's worth the investment it's
a long-term investment you're gonna have
that product probably for a really long
time so it's worth investing the money
it costs two hundred and fifty dollars
for one barcode I know it's super
expensive but you know it's up to you
whether or not you want to risk having
your products removed so the next cost
is shipping so you know if you're
shipping from you local within North
America if you live in North America
obviously shipping is gonna be a lot
less expensive but if you're shipping
overseas like most private labeling you
know people do then it's gonna be more
expensive
so from China air shipping is extremely
expensive but by boat it's not very
expensive at all the thing with the boat
is it takes 30 days plus to arrive at
the Amazon warehouse 30 days you know
just in the water it takes around 21
days customs can all you know I always
have issues with them being held up
gyms and then also transporting it from
the docks you Amazon can take you know
maybe seven days so these are its a time
factor but also if you're shipping by
boat you do need to get a bond you can
get a continuous bond which lasts one
year and it's about five hundred dollars
I do that because I ship you know large
quantities and I ship every month by
boat but you don't have to do that in
the beginning it's not worth it you know
you don't even know you know how your
products gonna do in the beginning so
that's what your first shipment should
be by air by air it's probably gonna
cost you anywhere from 200 to maybe $700
for your initial shipment so just
depends on the weights of your product
and the quantity a lot of times people
might want to order a larger quantity
because they'll save money but I would
actually recommend ordering the smallest
quantity possible for your first
shipment just because you need to test
out the market you need to make sure
that the products gonna do well and if
it doesn't at least you don't have a ton
of inventory to sell off so I would
always recommend going with the smaller
shipment even if it's a little bit more
expensive for the first order so as far
as shipping goes you'll also need a
freight forwarder or broker I know that
a lot of times these Chinese
manufacturers they say that they'll
handle the costumes and they'll handle
all the shipping for you um it's up to
you whether or not you want to trust
that I personally without having a
relationship with initial supplier I
would actually arrange the shipping
myself I would get a freight forwarder
and a broker by myself because you don't
have that relationship you don't know
how they operate and at this point in
time it's too early to give that much
responsibility to your supplier just
have them make your products package
your products and then you can handle
the shipping on yourself but the
Freeport broker is gonna be maybe around
two to three hundred dollars so you'll
have to account for that as well things
are adding up okay so as you know
probably with your first shipment you
don't just want to
from your supplier direct leads the
Amazon warehouse the reason for this is
because again you don't have that
relationship with your supplier you
don't know if what they packaged in the
products is exactly what they sent me
was a sample I know that I don't want to
be a debbie downer but you don't have
that trust yet so I always like to be
safe than sorry
also you don't know how they package the
products maybe they didn't pack them
well enough maybe they broke during
transit by the way you don't want to
have fragile products for that reason
but you never know so the best thing to
do is to actually ship that inventory of
Debrecen to your house so you're gonna
have your products sent to your house
and then from your house you inspect for
the products if everything is well then
you seal it back up but instead of just
going to the post office and shipping
them yourself what you'll do is take
advantage of UPS amazon's discounted UPS
shipping rates so how to do this is you
would go to your product on Amazon
seller central go to your listing click
on the product click on send inventory
and then basically what that does is
you're creating a shipping shipping plan
so the shipping plan will be from your
home address to the Amazon warehouse
wherever Amazon wants to send it and
then Amazon will create a shipping
receipt an FBA label and a carrier label
you print it put it on the boxes and
then drop it off at the post office so
this is a prepaid label the money comes
out of your seller central account but
the amount that you'll pay and shipping
is so much less than what you would have
to pay if you were to go to the post
office on your own because Amazon
obviously has a great relationship with
UPS and they get discounted rates and
they pass that on to their sellers so
the cost of this will greatly depend on
again how much inventory you app and how
much it weighs I would say anywhere from
fifty to four hundred dollars and that's
a huge gap but I can't really quote you
specifically on that it next fee is your
Amazon ads so you will have to account
this honestly Amazon ads I it's a
love-hate relationship they're really
bloody expensive but they are worth it
especially when you launch your product
for the first time so you will have to
invest
Amazon ads this is the only way that
people are really gonna get to see your
listing because when you first put your
listing on Amazon it's gonna be on like
page 16 or 26 and nobody's gonna click
that far to see it so in order for
people to actually have their eyes
abused your listing you'll have to put
an Amazon ad so that it pops up in front
of them and this can cost you anywhere
from 200 to you know honestly it's as
much as you want to spend but I would
say at minimum per month $200 okay so at
this point I mean the bare minimum that
you would need to account for to invest
I would say is about $1,500 there's also
additional things that you can get
jungle Scout is a plugin which I
absolutely recommend because this is
going to help you with product research
this is gonna help you figure out what
product to sell on Amazon without really
manually doing all of this calculations
I'll link it down below for you guys if
you're interested that one is gonna cost
you an additional money per month it's a
membership they have a Chrome extension
and they also have a membership that you
can get I'll just give you more
information in the link down below in
addition to that you can pay for a
trademark so if you know that this is
the brand that you want to pursue and
you're not you don't have any plans on
changing your brand name then I would
encourage you to get a trademark I
wouldn't worry about that in the
beginning because honestly in the
beginning nobody's like after your brand
nobody knows your brand nobody's trying
to you know copy your brand but once you
get traction and you have some extra
money that's when you can pay to get a
trademark done you can actually
trademark things yourself it's not that
hard I know that people get very
confused and they feel like they need to
hire a lawyer but that's only because
the verbage that they use on these sites
is very complex but it's really pretty
basic and the website tes org actually
gives you step-by-step tutorials on how
to trademark so if you trademark by
yourself it'll cost you around three
hundred and fifty dollars u.s. if you
hire a lawyer the lorros lawyer will
probably be around $1000 plus need $350
to actually
pay for the trademark in addition I
would highly recommend this is the first
thing that I would recommend you invest
in and that is a course I know I say
this time and time again but this is so
valuable because I have a lot of people
that come to me for coaching and they
have you know I already try to create
their product on their own they spend
lots of money on their products and they
make such common mistakes mistakes that
they wouldn't have made had they taken a
course so I highly recommend that you
take course the course that I took I'll
link down below for you it is an
expensive course ok it's a very
expensive course because it's the best
course and you do get what you pay for
when it comes to education like that if
you can't afford that course I do have
an alternative course that is 1/4 the
price it's still a great course but it's
not as in-depth as the more expensive
course and that makes sense so a course
can range from $1,000 to $5,000 so yeah
that's a lot of money too but this is
like one of the most important things to
invest in because again otherwise are
gonna end up wasting money and wasting
time in the long run and I've seen it so
many times so I just want to make sure
that you guys know before I end this
video that this Amazon FBA business yes
it does have an initial investment it
costs money to start it but it does pay
off you know within you know I don't
know any other businesses that you know
within the first year you're already
profiting a lot and that's common with
the Amazon business you know if you if
you follow all the steps with the
training program and you and you aren't
you know super slow with your approach
to selling on Amazon then you can start
making money within the first couple
months that you have your product up so
if you know your members right you can
actually turn a profit real quick and so
everything kind of pays itself off in
the end
but I always encourage you please don't
you know take out loans and go into debt
for something like this I would never
recommend it even you know I when I
first
I was a broke college student I kid you
not I had not much money at all but I
was working part-time after school as a
server and while I was working as a
server I saved up all my tips so that I
can invest in this business and there's
always a way remember it's your mindset
if you want to figure something out
you'll figure it out but don't go the
easy path you know the easy path is to
get a loan and or to you know borrow
money from someone don't do that you
know work hard for the money save it and
when the time is right invested into the
training and invested into the business
nothing has to happen right now if you
can't financially afford starting the
Amazon business this minute then don't
get compulsive and trying to start
something it's not the right time for
you save up money and the business will
always be there Amazon's always gonna be
there it's only growing bigger and
bigger you're not gonna miss the boat
but just be smart about it because you
don't want to go into debt and you don't
want to put your family into trouble or
anything like that for a business like
this um yeah so that's just kind of my
words advice I just I don't like seeing
people who are five thousand dollars in
debt because they want to start this
business yeah so that's it guys I hope
that you enjoyed this video please
comment below if you have any questions
about Amazon FBA I'm taking all of your
comments into consideration for video
requests I'd be happy I mean this whole
channel is about Amazon FBA so I'm more
than happy to record videos form you
again the link for the jungle scout is
going to be linked down below link for
the Amazon course that I recommend is
going to be linked down below and if you
have any questions let me know and I'll
see you in the next video guys tok to
you later