An update on my Amazon private labeling gig

Introduction

Over a year ago, I had written that I was going to pursue private labeling as a way to make some side income.  A few people have asked me whatever happened with that, so I’ll give you a quick update.

Product was nicer than expected

I paid ~$85 for my product to be shipped over by DHL, and it took less than a week to arrive.  This amount is usually refundable once you make your first purchase order.  Since I have no desire to private label this product anymore, I’ll link you to a similar item that I just found on Amazon here.  It’s essentially a self watering pot.  I think bulk purchase would have been less than $5 to buy.  Yes, I know it’s a seasonal product, but I figure it’s pretty enough that people may buy it year-round as a window-sill pot.  At the time, this item did NOT exist on FBA.  There were similar units, but none with the water meter and vibrant colors.  Now there is.

Where things went wrong

After I got the item, I was ready to buy my first case from China.  The problem was that the manufacturer didn’t have a shipping contact.  A couple of resellers gave me a company to contact called Forest Shipping, who never returned my calls or emails.  After that, I just gave up.  I could have looked for a different shipper or pushed my manufacturer to find a shipper, but I didn’t bother.  I think the realization was that these shipping companies would just ship over your container.  You would then have to find a house to store your items.  They don’t do door-to-door delivery (or at least not back then,) so I was trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to transport 100 of these units from the ship dock to my garage.  Or maybe find a warehouse to rent to store the items.  It was just too much hassle for me and so I gave up.

Lessons Learned

Since then, I do know a couple of resellers who have private label’ed a product, but I haven’t probed them further.  I think the problem with my product was that it was too “big” to store.  If it was a stupid fidget spinner, it wouldn’t have been an issue right?  But 100 of these things stacked would barely fit in a U-haul no?  Will I ever look into private labeling again?  I’ll never say never, but it’s definitely not on the horizon.