How To Find An Amazon FBA Product in 12 Minutes | FREE Amazon FBA Course | Module 11

Hi everyone! Welcome back to our Seller Assistant Academy. 

In this module, we will together learn how product research with Seller Assistant looks in real life. 

Let’s go!

Choosing a resell-friendly brand

Before you start looking for a profitable product for Amazon, you must choose a brand that will not create problems if you sell it. That means it must match specific criteria (we’ve discussed it in Module 2). 

After you’ve selected a brand, you can then choose from its portfolio the products that match your research criteria.

Let’s see how it works.

You can find the link to the Module 2 Brand research.

We selected the brand TablerCaft in the Kitchen and Dining category. 

A brand must have a U.S. zip code. 

We open the TableCraft’s website and see that it’s headquartered in Illinois, USA.

That means it has a U.S. zip code.

A brand must have at least 200 listings. 

We enter the brand name on Amazon and scroll down to the end of the search page. We see that there are more than 5 pages with over 60 listings on each page, which is more than 200 listings. 

TableCraft is a big brand with a wide range of products, and that gives us the possibility to select from a variety of products.

The brand itself must not sell on Amazon. 

When you open any product listing, you see a brand name. If you click on the brand name, you will be redirected to the search page, and not to the brand’s storefront. 

That means a brand doesn’t have a storefront on Amazon.

A brand must not have an exclusive distributor on Amazon (no sole legitimate brand reseller). 

In the left-side menu look for the section Seller. There are 7 sellers in this section, including Amazon. That means many sellers sell the brand and there is no sole brand reseller.

Amazon must not sell more than 30% of the brand’s products.

We scroll through the listings and make sure that Amazon doesn’t sell on one-third of the listings (on more or less every third listing).

You can see that with Seller Assistant.  It shows an orange Amazon icon on the search pages if Amazon is a seller.

Check the brand’s alerts with Seller Assistant.

If you open this brand on Amazon, Seller Assistant will show you an IP alert and its type - Automated Brand Protection complaint. This feature, showing the type of an IP complaint, is unique for product sourcing tools. You can see that this type of complaint is automated. Typically, such complaints can be removed by showing Amazon an invoice or a purchase order.

If you receive an Automated Brand Protection complaint from Amazon, you can provide Amazon with the invoice or get a reseller certificate to remove the complaint.

Practically, you can buy a small number of products from this brand and see if you can successfully remove the complaint, or you can get a reseller certificate from the brand before you start selling its products.

 Looking for a product to resell

When you’ve chosen a brand and ensured it’s resell-friendly, it’s time to look for a product you will sell - do extended product research (we discussed it in the module 6).

You can find the link to the Module 6 Extended product research. Product research checklist.

Extended product research checklist 

An extended product research checklist is a set of criteria we developed at Seller Assistant to help you make sure your deals will bring money. 

Product research checklist includes:

• Checking a brand for PL;
• Number of FBA sellers - 3 to 15 (checking PL and competition);
• Is Amazon a seller;
• How old is the listing;
• BSR and seasonality;
• Buy Box stability (competition);
• Are variations compliant;
• Reviews - must have reviews, not many negative;
• Eligibility and restrictions;
• Product flags (oversize, fragile, meltable, adult...);
• Estimated sales?
• ROI over 10%.

You can find more information about the extended product research checklist in the link on the video description.

Let’s go through each point and learn how to do all that.

Our example

We will take the example of Tablecraft Beverage Dispenser Replacement Faucet and see if it’s good for reselling.

Before you start product sourcing with Seller Assistant, you must do two easy but important things. First, in the Deliver to field on the Amazon page enter the country and zip code (for the U.S.) where you want to sell. That affects the count of displayed FBA and FBM offers and delivery options. 

Second, make sure the product link you use doesn’t contain a referral to avoid getting the wrong information. A referral is the part of the link, starting with ref=. Remove the referral link by clicking the ASIN in Seller Assistant.

The number of FBA sellers - 3 to 15 

The number of FBA sellers shows if a product is sold by a private label seller (we discussed that above) and the overall competition level.

The good number of FBA sellers must range from 3 to 15. 

You can see the number of FBA sellers with Seller Assistant. It shows the number of FBA and FBM sellers on the product and search pages. The number on a blue background is the number of all FBA or FBM sellers. The number on the white background next to it is the number of FBA or FBM sellers offering the Buy Box price +5%.

In our example, the product is sold by 3 FBM and 2 FBA sellers. It's not a private label (1 seller) and not too competitive (more than 15 sellers). It’s ok to sell. 

Is Amazon a seller?

If Amazon sells a product and dominates a Buy Box, or stopped selling on the listing less than 2 months ago, the product is not suitable for selling. 

You can see if Amazon is a Buy Box seller with Seller Assistant. It shows the Red Amazon icon on the product and search pages. If Amazon has been selling on the listing and left it, you can see when that happened on the Keepa chart. 

In our example, Amazon doesn’t sell a product and hasn’t been selling it for 3 months (the built-in Keepa chart shows it).

How old is the listing?

The product listing must be old enough so that you can see how the product behaved over time. The good listing age is half a year or more. 

To see the price history, you can use a Keepa chart that Seller Assistant shows on the product pages. Click the 365 days on top of the chart. That will show the product sales history for 1 year. If the data is there, the listing is at least 1 year old.

In our example, the listing is older than 1 year so the product is OK to sell.

BSR and seasonal products

Best Sellers Rank helps estimate how well the product sells. You can see BSR figures with Seller Assistant. The product’s BSR is 328 167 which lets all sellers potentially sell 52 pieces per month.

The current BSR is now lower than the average during 90 days (it was 634 533), which means that right now the sales are increasing (the green arrow downwards shows that). 

However, the average BSR during 30 days is lower than the average BSR during 90 days - 328 167 vs. 522 944, which means that generally, the sales grow.

Top helps understand the product’s sales velocity as a percentage. If the Top equals 0.5% or less, the product sells well. If the Top equals 1% or more, a product is a slow-mover. Our product is 0,26%, which means it sells fast.

BSR also helps see if the product is seasonal. That means it sells only in specific seasons, not all year round (for instance, summer or winter shoes). If during specific periods product’s BSR goes down to zero, that may be a seasonal product (you can see that on the Keepa chart). 

You can find more information about BSR in the link in the video description.

Buy Box stability 

The product’s Buy Box price must be more or less stable, it shouldn’t go up and down all the time. If it does, it is a sign of very intense competition. That typically means a price war, price dumping, and low margins.

You can see how the Buy Box behaves overtime on the Keepa chart. The magenta diamonds show the Buy Box price at a specific time. 

If you look at the Buy Box prices, they range from around $27 to $44 with some exceptions. That means moderate competition and no price wars.

You can find more information about price wars and how to avoid them in the link in the video description. 

Are variations compliant?

Amazon variations are different attributes of the same products such as size, color, style, etc. grouped on one listing. Amazon is very strict about variations, and you must check if the variations are different kinds of the same thing. 

Also, you must remember, that not all variations sell equally well. The BSR doesn’t show which sells the best because it is calculated for the whole variation family.

Seller Assistant’s Variation Viewer lets you quickly see the offers and essential data for all product variations. It shows all variations' rating share, total ratings, and the rating percentage per variation and helps select the most profitable ones. It also shows if a variation is out of stock.

When you click on the Parent in Seller Assistant, you can see that our product doesn’t have any variations.

You can find more information about Amazon variations in the link on the video description.

Reviews

A good product must have reviews. If it doesn’t, it has too recent sales history or doesn’t sell. The average rating must be 4-5 stars, and it must not have many negative reviews.

We can see the review rating from the product listing (below the brand name). In our example, it’s 4.4. That’s a very good review rating.

Eligibility and restrictions

You may not be allowed to sell specific products on your account. That may be because you are a new seller or your seller performance is insufficient. 

You can find more information about restricted products on Amazon in the link on the video description. 

Seller Assistant shows if a product is restricted or you can’t sell it for other reasons. If you see a green open lock icon, you can sell it. If you see a red closed lock, you can’t sell a product.

In our case, the product is restricted by brand and we can see a red closed lock. To sell it on our account, we need to get approval from Amazon.

To do so, go to add a product, find it by ASIN or title, and click Apply to sell.

Product flags 

Product flags are alerts prompting that a product can create problems when you sell it on Amazon. 

Seller Assistant shows all product flags directly on the Amazon product and search pages. 

Our product doesn’t have any flags. It only has a red triangle that indicates an Suspected Intellectual Property Violations complaint. Typically, such complaints can be removed by showing Amazon an invoice or a purchase order.

If you receive an Suspected Intellectual Property Violations, you can provide Amazon with the invoice or get a reseller certificate to remove the complaint. (we discussed it when we researched a brand).

Estimated sales

Estimated sales are how many product units you can sell per month. Your target estimated sales depend on how much you plan to make to cover expenses and make enough profit.

Seller Assistant calculates estimated sales for each product if you become one more seller on the listing. The figure appears in the ‘Est’ line. This helps you understand if you can sell as many units as you expect.

In our example, you can potentially sell 26 units per month for $ 313.

Looking for a supplier

Since our product category is Kitchen and Dining, one of the best retailers for such products is Webstraunt.

We open our product on Amazon and launch the Side Panel View in Seller Assistant that helps you research and find a match for your Amazon products on any supplier website.

Then, we use a Quick Link feature in Seller Assistant and get to Webstraunt to find our product suppliers. We go through search results and compare different options available with our Amazon product in the Side Panel View. The best option we get is this one.

Calculating product profitability

When we find the best price offer, we must calculate product profitability to know how much money we will earn. We will calculate profit, ROI, and profit margin.

ROI (Return on Investment) shows how profitable is your Amazon business. Typically, anything above 10%  is considered a good ROI for your Amazon business. If your ROI is more than 10%, the product is OK to sell. A good profit margin is above 10% as well.

Generally, to know your profit, you must deduct all costs from your selling price. The costs include Amazon fees and logistics. The costs depend on what type of seller you are: FBA or FBM.

FBA fees include Amazon fees (referral fees per unit sold, FBA fulfillment fees, and storage fees). There’s also a shipping cost from the supplier to the Amazon fulfillment center. Some sellers also pay prep center fees to prepare and package products before shipping them to Amazon.

FBM fees include Amazon fees (referral fees) and logistics costs - 3PL (third-party logistics costs — prep and shipping to the customer). 

You can quickly calculate all these numbers with Seller Assistant’s FBM&FBA profit calculator. It will be displayed on the Amazon product pages. To do that, you must enter Cost of Goods Sold (COG, the product price at the supplier), and other expenses.

In our example, COG is $12.99. Our profit will be $12.05 per unit, which is great. In that case, your ROI is 76.46% and Margin is 31.37%.

Outro. That’s it for now. 

We wish you good luck in your Amazon sales and hope that Seller Assistant will become your best assistant in your product sourcing.