The FBA Experiment (Part 2)

Make Money

The Fulfillment-by-Amazon Experiment, Part 2 A couple of weeks ago I decided to try selling on Amazon (using the Fulfillment-By-Amazon service, to be exact).

My first step was to do a little bit of research. I spent some time learning the basics of how it might work, and what I might purchase to resell on Amazon.

Next up was doing the shopping.

The shopping

I decided to focus on the things I knew best (In other words, categories of things I typically buy.) so that I would have a better shot of recognizing a good deal when I saw it. That meant I was looking for:

  • Things for the house
  • Art & craft supplies
  • Pet food & toys

So I hit up Home Depot, multiple Targets, 99 Cents Only, Hobby Lobby, Joann’s, and PetSmart to start with. Altogether I spent about 3 hours shopping. (I’m not sure I’d want to spend that much time shopping on a regular basis each week, which is something to consider if you’re thinking of doing this.)

My haul

I wasted the most time at Target, where it took me forever to look things over and I came away with nothing. The ones I checked had almost nothing on clearance, and the items they did have didn’t seem like all that great of a deal to me. I was looking for things I could resell for at least 3 times as much, and that wasn’t happening there.

I didn’t find anything at PetSmart or Hobby Lobby either (well, nothing to resell, at any rate!) but at least hitting those stores didn’t take much time.

I had success at Home Depot, 99 Cents Only, and Joann’s, and came away with 4 different types of items to resell. (Blinds, reusable grilling sheets, grip liner for drawers, and chalk. Total cost? $180.89.) I felt a little silly buying large numbers of those items, but oh well! Only one person asked what I planned to do with them.

I also tried to buy some Styrofoam craft balls, but it turns out they were $2.97 for a pack of six at the 99 cent store, so that put them out of my “good deal” range and I put them back.

Next steps

My very next step, of course, is to actually get it in gear and sign up as a seller. Then I’ll need to ship everything off to Amazon and hope it sells. I’ll report back again on this once I’ve made some progress there.

Update: Read more about the FBA experiment below

The FBA Experiment: Part 1
The FBA Experiment: Part 2
The FBA Experiment: Part 3
The FBA Experiment: Part 4

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