26 Comments
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1. 

   Deepak Chopra

   1 month ago

   Reply

   Hi Andrew,
   Just been surfing your website and must admit it is very helpful. Thank you for uploading so much helpful info for all the newcomers and existing sellers.

   Wanted to ask about figures for VAT workings on sales on Amazon UK ;
   In Seller Central Amazon page shows the gross sales, expenses, FBA charges, commissions and finally the amount to be transferred into the sellers bank account.

   Is it ok to ignore the gross sales, commissions, labelling etc charges and take the amount to be transferred into the bank as gross sales for VAT preparation and submition or is there another way of processing vat returns?
   Hence in this case we are also ignoring Amazon commission and charge invoices and not claiming any vat charged on Amazon invoices.

   Or is it better to take the figures of gross sales and then claim all the commission charges

   Thanks

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      1 month ago

      Reply

      Hi Deepak,

      Thanks for your comment.

      No, you can’t do that. Your gross sales included all the money you receive in selling your items. So, for example, if you sell an item for £10 and sold 100 units per month, your gross sales are £1000. And that’s the number you have to use. Amazon fees and everything else is business expenses and need to be accounted for separately.

      Thanks,
      Andrew

      1. 

         Deepak Chopra

         1 month ago

         Reply

         Many thanks Andrew.

      2. 

         Deepak

         1 month ago

         Reply

         Hi Andrew,
         Many thanks for your prompt reply…. I am still intrigued…
         If I have sold 100 items @ £10 each I should have had £1000 in my account which I do not.
         Amazon charge 15% commission and approx 15% handling and postage charge with 0 rated Luxembourg invoice.
         Amazon have credited my account with say £750 after deducting their charges.

         Even though I have made gross sales of £1000 I have only received £750 of those sales.
         Of that I pay the supplier £500 +vat and claim it back.
         On approx £250 I have 0 rated invoices from Amazon, so I have to pay the 20% inclusive VAT on behalf of Amazon too

         Effectively on the rest of £500 I have to pay vat to HMRC amounting to £100.

         Why should I be paying vat for Amazon ? Is my argument..

         1. 

            Andrew Minalto

            1 month ago

            Reply

            Hi Deepak,

            Please speak with your account on how to properly do your VAT returns, it’s not that simple.

            I really can’t provide such detailed advice as I’m not an accountant.

            Thanks,
            Andrew

2. 

   Justin Glickman

   3 months ago

   Reply

   Hi Andrew,

   Great site, thanks for sharing all these pearls.
   Im new to the ‘import from China’ game. Many of your blog posts have been so useful in answering my many questions.
   However, Im looking to produce a new product (using silicon) and I need to get a mould (aka tooling) made.
   Can you please point me to any posts you’ve done covering this topic.
   (For e.g. the “Trip to China: £3000 vs Factory Inspection: £70” caught my eye becuase I am planning a trip to China. Would you consider this essential?

   Thanks in advance.

   Justin

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      3 months ago

      Reply

      Hi Justin,

      Thanks for your comment, it’s great to hear you are getting value out of my blog! 🙂

      But no, unfortunately I don’t have any posts talking specifically about tooling/moulds. I haven’t done them myself, so don’t have much experience with the topic.

      Thanks,
      Andrew

      1. 

         Justin Glickman

         3 months ago

         Reply

         Thanks for the reply Andrew.

         Before coming across your site, I would have said its a no brainer I need to go to China to ensure the tooling and all around that process is all clear and agreed on in person.
         What would your gut say on this?

         Perhaps, given all you’ve written about the 3rd party inspections and various QC options available, I could get away with not going back a second and third time (ie, when the mould/ tool is ready and then when all the units are produced) and rely on these?

         Warm regards,

         Justin

         PS any other resources you could think of i could refer to help me on this one?

3. 

   Martim

   3 months ago

   Reply

   Hey Andrew
   I live in Europe.
   I have an Amazon UK seller account with all the marketplaces de,it,fr, etc. Also, I am selling in the Us so my accounts are linked!
   I want to do specifically amazon fba in Germany.
   Is it better to open a Germany seller account or i can sell from my Amazon.co.uk by just sending products to Germany fba?

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      3 months ago

      Reply

      Hi Martim,

      Thanks for your comment.

      You don’t have to create a separate Amazon account for Germany, no. You can use your UK account, which is effectively one account used for all European marketplaces.

      Thanks,
      Andrew

4. 

   Nadeem Khawaja

   6 months ago

   Reply

   Hi Andrew Minalto
   Could you please let me know which products can I import from Pakistan to sell them on Amazon UK. I have very good sources in that country. Thanks.

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      6 months ago

      Reply

      Hi Nadeem,

      Thanks for your comment.

      You have to do the product research process on your own, no one will tell you exactly which products you can/should sell. Take a look at the JS app and just start doing the research:

      https://andrewminalto.com/jungle-scout-trial/

      Thanks,
      Andrew

5. 

   Karolis

   8 months ago

   Reply

   Hi Andrew.
   I was order from Alibaba IQOS HEETS. 40 blocks + 8 blocks free and 3 device free for 400$ (normal price around 1200$). They said its will be on friday and they send it. But after couple hours they told me its a new law to pay extra 350$ for ensurance and tax. And they said now my parcel stay on border and i must to pay. And every day its will growing because of delay for pay. And they not accept paypal. When im asking why they not accept they said because ours bussines accept pays until 1000$ whit WU and after 1000$ bank transfer. But when im asking to prof that they said my parcel they just send me pic of parcel but whithout adress or something else to prof that. And after im ask them about document or even his name he said you are new customer so you dont need to know that. What i need to do ?

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      8 months ago

      Reply

      Hi Karolis,

      You have been scammed, plain and simple.

      You will never see that money again nor those goods.

      Please read through my blog posts to learn how to avoid such scams on Alibaba, IF you plan on importing something in the future.

      Andrew

6. 

   Hristiyan

   9 months ago

   Reply

   Hello, Andrew

   I am Hristiyan seller on eBay.
   Could you please tell us more about email marketing. I see that you have used Aweber. Is there some information about how to add the customer emails to the list and promote them.
   I am looking forward to your response, Andrew.

   Have a great day ahead!

   Best Regards,
   Hristiyan

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      8 months ago

      Reply

      Hi Hristiyan,

      I’m sorry, but I don’t sell on eBay anymore so don’t really know what’s the latest there…

      Andrew

7. 

   Ramachandra Samartha

   1 year ago

   Reply

   Thanks for what you are offering here Andrew. I’m determined to succeed with FBA and so much of what you say rings true. I’ve looked through dozens of sites with various ‘gurus’ and ‘coaches’ who don’t offer much but a slick sales pitch and an obvious desire to part me from what little money I have. I’m doing research with various free tools and none of them seem to offer what I see Jungle Scout can provide, so it’s nice to see you getting straight to the point about what is needed and how much it will cost to get started. I’m trying to save money for the first inventory purchase and initial outlay for Jungle Scout. I like what you have to say and once I get the initial purchase amount for product and launch I look forward to getting going with your Amazon Sharks program. You’ve already helped me more with the free content you offer than any of those other coaches so I look forward to getting into your paid content.
   Regards,
   Ramachandra

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      1 year ago

      Reply

      Thanks very much! You made my day! 🙂

      Andrew

8. 

   Elliot Campbell

   1 year ago

   Reply

   Hi Andrew,

   I’m looking to start an ebay/amazon business from the very beginning, could you advise what the first steps would be? I have begun by buying a couple of cheap things on ebay to get some rep just wondering where to go from here.
   Thanks!

   Elliot

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      1 year ago

      Reply

      Hi Elliot,

      Thanks for stopping by!

      I don’t sell on eBay anymore so can’t help with that (even though I have tons of articles published on eBay topic on my blog).

      For Amazon – I recommend you watch my FREE video which covers the main principles of a successful Amazon business:

      https://andrewminalto.com/amazon-video/

      Thanks,
      Andrew

9. 

   Mike C

   2 years ago

   Reply

   Here’s another story which may make you even happier you quit eBay–and it’s from the buyer’s perspective yet. I never received an item I bought after numerous attempts so finally had to get a refund via eBay. The seller had never even shipped the item, and had loaded several bogus tracking numbers.

   Because of this experience I left a neutral FB for the seller–not a negative. Guess what the seller did? Gave away my personal contact info (phone number, house location, email etc) to online spammers and now I’m being harassed 24/7.

   I contacted eBay and they said they’ll “report” the event, which I know means nothing at all will happen. It’s not even clear that any laws were broken. But if you think you can’t get negative FB as a buyer, think again.

   I should have known not to give accurate info to eBay (but then how to get deliveries?) and especially not to use a valuable email address with them.
   Lesson learned.

   1. 

      Andrew Minalto

      1 year ago

      Reply

      Thanks for sharing this with us Mike.

      Andrew

10. 

    Mark Tankard

    2 years ago

    Reply

    Hi Andrew
    We deal with a reputable medical supplier from China and noticed that Insulin syringes with needles were a good seller on Amazon and e-bay. We watched the sales for months and decided to order some to sell along with our other products.
    They arrived and we were having good sales until suddenly our listing was removed and e-bay told us it was a restricted item and banned us stating that someone had reported us.
    This was a suprise to us as there were many other sellers selling similar items. We do not want to jepordise our other products that we sell but we cannot fail to notice that even though some sellers get removed shortly after listing other sellers seem immune and continue to sell without ever being removed.
    Amazon is the same. Our listing was removed after we sent some stock to them to be despatched FBA. We even checked with them first if it was ok to send the stock after our dealings with e-bay and they said yes but then removed our listing and now we have stranded inventory.
    What confuses me again is that there are other sellers of similar items to ours selling Insulin syringes on Amazon including FBA and have been on years.
    Why do Amazon keep telling me it a restricted item but ignore their own rules for other sellers?

    1. 

       Andrew Minalto

       2 years ago

       Reply

       Hi Mark,

       Thanks for your comment.

       Hard to say, could it be that the product itself carries some patents? OR only medical companies can sell it? Or there’s a brand name on it?

       My guess is that as this is a HIGHLY risky product, that needs to be properly certified/tested, Amazon only allows few companies to sell it or at least ones that can provide solid proof of product source, on-going testing etc.

       That’s my guess.

       Andrew

11. 

    ogai

    2 years ago

    Reply

    Hi Andrew,

    I have been looking for some face products in alibaba site i crossed a supplier who has 4 years gold and in Trade Assurance Business Type: Manufacturer, Trading Company, Buying Office
    and assessed supplier too, but i am just very surprised to see most best selling beauty products in amazon they have it not with the same logo even i found clinique face wash that currently i use it but not with clinique logo, do you think its fake site? its too good to be true,
    how can i find out if its fake, can i share the company link if you can look at it, i was almost ordering a sample,

    kind regards

    1. 

       Andrew Minalto

       2 years ago

       Reply

       Hi Ogai,

       It is most likely FAKE/scam, yes!

       You can’t get genuine BRANDED products from Mainland China- they will be fakes/copies or pure scam.

       Andrew