Ever wonder how to people make money selling wholesale on Amazon? Andrew trawled Quora and found someone to teach us how to do it. Eddie Lichstein has been in the e-commerce business for 13 years selling wholesale on Amazon. He has always been a car nut and runs a site, TH Motorsports, which is the Amazon of car parts. He also runs Rejoiner, a site to help e-commerce business owners improve sales. Eddie has been very generous answering questions on Quora and he came here today to answer our questions. America Was Built On Small Business Small business makes up 99.7% of US employer firms. America has always been a country that fosters small business. And right now, certain sectors like e-commerce, are like the Wild West. In 20 or 30 years, people will look back with amazement at how easy it is to make money right now. So why aren’t more of us starting small businesses? Because we get caught up in the details; how do I incorporate? I’ll need an accountant, a lawyer. I’m just a regular person, I can’t deal with all that. Stop thinking that way. You can jump into e-commerce like we’re going to describe with no capital. All you need is a credit card (that you pay off in full every month!) and enough time (but it doesn’t take too much) to do some research and leg work. If You Have An Awesome Dildo, It Will Sell Eddie said that I had couldn’t resist using it as a headline. It’s not quite that simple. You have to love dildos, but really, who doesn’t? The barrier to selling through e-commerce is very low but you will be more successful if you sell something you love because the things you love, you know a lot about. Look around you right now. There are probably half a dozen small things in site that are not terribly expensive that you know a lot about. Choose three or four things and we’ll move on to the next part of the plan. Jungle Scout Jungle Scout is a site that allows you to do research into what sells on Amazon which is what every e-commerce seller wants to know. We used carrot/potato peelers in our example. You research the peelers and you want something that sells somewhere in the middle. If you choose top sellers, you won’t be able to compete with the sellers already peddling those. If you choose those at the bottom, there aren’t enough people buying them. Eddie figures that you will spend about 48 in total researching the product you want to sell. Ali Baba Ali Baba is China’s version of Amazon. But you can get a lot of items there very cheaply because it costs less to manufacture in China than in other places. So you buy 100 peelers. Remember, you are still not really spending money. You’re financing this on net 30 terms because you’re charging it and at least for your first foray into this, you should choose an item that is inexpensive so that if it doesn’t work out, you’re not out much money. You also aren’t taking much risk because you know what will sell after your research on Jungle Scout. Become A Detective You know how to make this whole thing cheaper and more profitable? Cutting out the middleman, Ali Baba in this example. Ali Baba isn’t making those peelers. They’re are getting them from a supplier. You want to see if you can track down the supplier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices