Like with everything else, there are potential pitfalls and rewards waiting for you. I will be giving examples of my own experience as a designer for people who have been selling their products on Amazon.

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There is no doubt that a large proportion of products sold on Amazon originate from small companies or individuals. Even a number of products made by large Chinese companies are marketed on Amazon by individuals.

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New Original Product or a Copy of an Existing One?

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The main consideration is whether you want to have your own unique product or whether you want to join the competition with a ‘me too’ product. Both approaches can be valid. I will cover both methods in this paper.

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A well-designed and good quality original product can get you an exclusive market for a good while—at least until those pesky imitators manage to make an imitation product they can sell for less. But you can still have a defence against that, as I will explain. You will see that there are many similar products on Amazon. However, you have to bear the cost of development and manufacture.

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In terms of non-original products, as an Amazon seller, you have three options:

1. To manufacture your own product, which is based on one that you know is selling very well (that is, a copy).

2. To seek out a product already being manufactured abroad (e.g., on a platform like Alibaba) but which does not yet sell in your country. You then buy the product from the manufacturer and sell it on Amazon, perhaps asking for exclusivity.

3. To seek a product already being manufactured and ask the manufacturer to make a modification (customisation) so that it becomes your own product.

 

However, no product is 100% new or an invention with no precedent. There are many cases when making a new product based on an existing one (which could even be patented) but which has substantial improvements in the design is justifiable and could even be patented under ‘improvements to the original one’.

I am often approached by clients who tell me that they have seen a product on Amazon which they want to improve and sell as their own product.

 

Intellectual Property

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On Option 1 above, a product that is a copy of another one that sells well can allow you to ‘pinch’ some of the market. But beware: the owner of the product you are copying can file a complaint with Amazon and, if they manage to convince them, Amazon can remove your listing. You will then be left with stock and costly tooling for a product that you will find difficult to sell elsewhere. I have been approached a number of times by sellers who have encountered this problem, asking me to change the design of their product so that it cannot be identified as a copy.

On Option 2, the only risk of invading somebody’s intellectual property on Amazon is if the existing product from abroad looks like a copy of one already selling on Amazon. Perhaps that could be the reason it does not already sell on Amazon...

On Option 3, it can work where the manufacturers market that product with the specific idea to offer customisation (for instance, blank t-shirts for printing). You send the artwork you want printed on the shirt, and they print them to your design.

However, with products that require design development (like kitchen or electronic products), I have come across instances where the manufacturers do not want to make any substantial changes that will stop it from being ‘their product’. Added to this, they resent the buyer who wants the changes appropriating the rest of the design of ‘their product’. Oftentimes, they only offer to customise it by adding your logo or making it in a colour of your choice, and they tend to ask for large order quantities.

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The disadvantages of this method are:

• A. It is still ‘their product’, not ‘your product’.

• B. They can do what they want with it, like ending production or stopping selling it to you (for instance, if they decide to sell it directly after you found the market in your country).

• C. The product might still not be different enough from other products selling on Amazon.

• D. If they give you a minimum order quantity (MOQ) which is large, this option is not much better than having your own design made by subcontractors.​

In a project I worked on for a client who wanted Option 3 (a lunch box for children), I spoke to and tried to negotiate changes to ‘their product’ with several manufacturers. I got nowhere with them. In the end, my client opted to make the whole product to his own design. I developed the product and found an independent manufacturing subcontractor—who did not even make products in the same field—to make it.

Copying an existing product steps into the field of infringing Patents and/or Design Registration. However, not everybody seeks protection in the form of a Patent or Design Registration because of the cost of doing so.

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Your Original Product

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The reality is that many people who want to sell their products on Amazon have had an idea for a new product. Therefore, they want to have it made and to sell it because they believe in the product itself, not just because they want to sell something on Amazon.

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The Costs

In terms of the cost to take a product to the market, let us look again at the options:

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A) Original Product

This includes the case where the client wants to make a better version of an existing product, so they really have to re-do the design, development, prototyping, and tooling. Designing, making, and selling your own product is the most costly way to reach Amazon, but it has its rewards, as explained above, apart from the fact that potentially the profits will be better.

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The main costs will be:

• Design and development of the product.

• Prototyping and testing.

• Certification (compliance such as CE marking) where applicable.

• Moulds or tooling for manufacture.

• Minimum order quantity to start the manufacture.

• Patent or Design registration if you go that route.

• Transport from the place of manufacture. (e.g., the cost of shipping to the port nearest to the warehouse where you will store your goods).

• Promotion, if what Amazon does is not enough for you (for instance, reviews on YouTube).

• The hefty one: Amazon charges. Yes, their charges are rather high, and I have yet to find a client who sells on Amazon who does not complain about their fees.

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Amazon costs can be so high that a product like a simple cup for babies that costs you £1.50 to make in China, you may have to sell for £10.00 on Amazon to make a decent profit. The people who make a real profit on Amazon are those who sell in fairly large quantities.

Amazon itself gives you a calculator of their charges, and there are people who also have calculators and information on sales of competitors’ products. In fact, a number of clients have told me that they will not sell their products on Amazon because of these charges, opting instead to sell through their own website or on outlets like Etsy. However, there is no denying that the market on Amazon is huge.

 

B) Customised Existing Product

• Reduced design and development.

• Reduced prototyping and testing.

• Reduced certification, especially if the vendor already has certificates of compliance.

• Reduced moulds and tooling.

• No patent or design registration unless the customisation justifies it as an ‘improvement’.

• From Transport to Amazon charges, the costs are the same as Option A.

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C) Copy of an Existing Product

In terms of costs, the differences with Option A are:

• Reduced design and development. Just the work to create the CAD data to make the product.

• Prototype and testing are still needed prior to manufacture.

• Certification (compliance such as CE marking) is still needed where applicable.

• Moulds and tools for manufacture are still needed.

• Minimum order quantity to start the manufacture still applies.

• Patent and Design Registration do not apply on a copied product.

• From Transport to Amazon charges, the costs are the same as Option A.

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D) Already Manufactured Product

In this case, you are really just a re-seller. You will have to share the profit with the manufacturer as they will not sell it to you as if it were your product, and they are only manufacturing subcontractors. They incurred the costs to take the product to manufacture.

So, on the list of costs, the items relating to taking the product to manufacture do not apply. The items on the list that count are:

• Transport from the place of manufacture.

• Promotion, if what Amazon does is not enough.

• The hefty one: Amazon charges.

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So there you have it, food for thought. Have a look at other pages on this site, under the INFORMATION and INVENTORS tabs, where there is more information on the matters I have covered.