The Search

AMAZON FBA and SHOPIFY?

July 1st – August 1st, 2020: During this time, the world wide web was my only friend. I searched for new jobs, opportunities, gigs, etc.; I was doing the same thing so many people during this time was doing. Millions of people are unemployed during this pandemic, and everyone was searching for a way out. Amazon FBA people were running a bunch of Ads on my social media page. People were showing off their fancy cars, houses, etc. and are offering to build the whole amazon fba FOR you, you just have to invest the money. I\’m sure there are plenty of people that fell for that, heck, if I had the money to give them to do it for me, I would! Good thing was, I didn\’t have the money.

DOING THE RESEARCH

All me and my wife had were the money given to us on our wedding, and we\’ve already put that into our first ever stock for long term investment; we have no experience at ALL with stocks. No worries, it\’s in a safe stock, not one of those risk it all stocks. I took whatever money the government was handing to me on unemployment during this time to build my online Amazon FBA gig. I spent a couple weeks researching online, going on youtube to follow people to watch their \”How to build your Amazon FBA\” videos. At the same time I was going to go with the drop-shipping method many people are setting up on Shopify. I found my niche. Dog clothes. My wife owns 3 dogs, in which she leaves with her parent\’s place to care for, since we moved in with my sister\’s family. She dresses up her dogs, which I would have to agree, as well as many people that pass them on their walks, that they are pretty darn cute when they are dressed up.

Suppliers from China

I contacted suppliers from China using Alibaba. As much as we don\’t want to use China\’s product, we really can\’t go anywhere else that matches the bargain they give you. I tried looking for Japanese products, but it was just so expensive that there\’s no profit for resale. I ordered a few sample products, in which I find that the shipping cost would be MORE expensive than the product themselves! It took about 3 weeks to get all the samples I wanted from different suppliers.

To set us apart from other shopify dropshipper store or Amazon, I designed a logo for the product to brand our product via FIVERR. \”QTPetApparel\” is going to be our brand. Using our logo, I also contact a couple custom design packaging company through ALIBABA to make me packaging for the dog clothes product. After doing price comparison, product quality, and LOCATION. I decided to go with 3 companies that is in the same region. Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. All my suppliers are in the same area. That helps with shipping cost, as the suppliers are willing to drop off their product to one picked warehouse without me paying a logistic company to ship stuff around to be combine together.I\’ve set up everything, now I just need to wait for my money to be release from escrow to fund the plan.

Applying for an LLC Business License

During all this, I applied for an LLC business license. I found out that you can just go straight to your state\’s website, search, apply, and pay the fee. I did mines through ZenBusiness though, they charge the state\’s fee and also they need to make money too, so there was a fee on top of that. They also tried to sell me other stuff but I kindly refuse by clicking \”NO\”, like 10 times. Be sure to file the \”State\’s Statement of Information LLC\” after you file your LLC business license. It take a few days for the state to process you LLC business license requests and AFTER that they will asks you to submit your Statement of Information. If you don\’t want to go through all the hassle, just pay a third party to do it for you (if you can afford it). Meanwhile, I was setting up the shopify store and Amazon FBA account.

AMAZON FBA Might Not Be Best

August 1st – 9th, 2020: as I waited to get the funds I need to put this plan into action, I did more research and dug deeper to find estimates of how much \”potential\” profit I can make. I calculate this by using an online widget Amazon FBA calculator. But the calculator was off, it did not adjust for the shipping fees the product cost from china to my house, import customs fees, cost to ship from my house to Amazon FBA warehouse, and on top of warehouse FBA processing fees. I was starting to get skeptical. Will I able to make any profit? My plans and determination diminishes after my doubts. CONTINUE…