When there was a 20% off sale on Office Max, I jumped on the deal and purchased some small priced items to do Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). As I began the process to send the package to Amazon, I lost the enthusiasm that I had in the beginning.
The loss of luster began with the extra fees for shipping the goods to Amazon
- Problem: Extra shipping fees for UPS pick up
- Solution: Drop packages off to UPS or have them pick up the packages when they drop off the package at the same time
- Problem: Low margins
- Solution: sell higher priced products, but keep size and weight in check
- Paper towels and toilet paper – bad
- Electronics – good
- Solution: sell higher priced products, but keep size and weight in check
- Problem: Multiple orders from Office Max creating more cartons
- Solution: Order one package
What I bought: 8 boxes of Starbucks Keurig K-Cup Coffee.
- Cost: $9.58 / box for four
- Using TopCashBack
- Cost: $10.19 / box for four
- Using Ultimate Rewards mall. As of writing this post, still TBD if UR points will post
- Cost to ship: 3.75 + 4.74 = $8.49
- Total cost of the coffee: $82.41
- Fulfillment by Amazon Costs: $4.59 per box
- Sell price: $14.25
- Revenue: $114
- Loss: $10.29
I had seen that it was free shipping to FBA, but that was not the case for me. Thus, the loss. As of right now, I do not foresee buying and selling marginal items. It was a great lesson, but this is too much work for no gain.
Edits were made fixed the total cost from 87.57 to be 82.41
