How do you find a profitable product to sell on Amazon?

There's no guaranteed method, but the modern approach combines judgment with data: use research tools like Helium 10 or Jungle Scout to estimate demand and competition, lean toward categories you know, look for healthy margins after all fees, and validate with a small sample order before committing capital. Treat the data as an input, not a certainty, and minimize your risk on the first order.

How do you negotiate with overseas suppliers?

Don't haggle on samples; big buyers simply order and wait. On bulk orders, a useful tactic is to position yourself as the purchasing agent rather than the final decision-maker, which gives you room to step back ("I'll check with my boss") or push back on price without straining the relationship. Negotiation is situational, so the fastest way to improve is to do it repeatedly.

Is private label still a good business model on Amazon?

Yes, but the bar is higher than it was a decade ago. Amazon professionalized the space with Brand Registry, stricter compliance, GS1 barcode enforcement, and higher advertising costs, which makes casual "me too" products much harder. Differentiated brands with healthy margins and a real value proposition continue to do well.

Best of FBA: AMA with Will Mitchell from StartupBros.com

Will Mitchell from StartupBros.com did an AMA on Reddit, and below is the information I found most helpful, lightly edited. The mindset advice here has aged well; I've added 2026 notes where the tactical landscape has shifted.

Is it viable to start an import business on a tight budget?

Far beyond realistic. I'm big on minimizing risk and applying lean startup methodology to any venture. You can get started with a modest budget to bring in your first set of samples and get the ball rolling. The higher your bankroll and risk tolerance, the quicker you can grow, but it's not unrealistic to start small. This business gets expensive mostly because people make the same few mistakes early. 2026 note: budget more for advertising than you would have a decade ago — the cost has shifted from "getting in the door" to "getting seen" once you're listed.

Doesn't the real investment come in marketing?

It's all about how you grow. There's a lot you can do between the sample stage and a full brand launch. I'd never recommend a client make that jump too soon. Start simple and build complexity as you go. My number one job is helping clients work on the right things at the right time, because you can Google yourself into an abyss with importing, FBA, and ecommerce. 2026 note: this is truer than ever — the amount of (often outdated) information online has exploded, so sequencing matters more than raw knowledge.

Any way to know for sure if a product will sell?

Anybody who tells you there's a sure-fire way to find a profitable product isn't being honest. There's no way to know without taking some risk and making things happen. I'm all about minimizing risk, so I recommend starting with what we call the sample-selling process. Buying and selling a sample is what separates the winners from the losers. 2026 note: data tools (Helium 10, Jungle Scout, and similar) give you far better demand and competition estimates today than we had then — use them, but treat them as inputs, not gospel.

Advice on the first order and negotiation

For samples, don't haggle at all — big buyers place sample orders and wait for them to arrive. On your first bulk order, negotiation is abstract and situational. One hack: never be "the boss" during negotiations. Be the purchasing agent. That gives you room to leave the table ("I'll ask my boss and get back to you") or push back without damaging the relationship. The best way to learn negotiation is to get in there and do it.

Will Amazon crack down on private label brands?

People have predicted the death of private label for as long as I've been doing this, and it hasn't happened. When I started, people were already screaming that the sky was falling. A good mentality is to stop worrying about the competition and get obsessed with winning. 2026 note: what has happened is that Amazon professionalized the space — Brand Registry, stricter compliance, GS1 barcode enforcement, and rising ad costs raised the floor. Casual "me too" private label is much harder; differentiated brands still do very well.

The most common mistakes new sellers make

By far the most common problem is mindset. So many people come from the get-rich-quick space, and the first job is replacing that with a flexible, entrepreneurial one. People obsess over the wrong things — which product to sell rather than how to sell it. I obsess about selling. A lot of people also get scared and never pull the trigger, which again comes back to mindset. 2026 note: add one more modern mistake — underestimating total cost. New sellers routinely ignore FBA fees, storage surcharges, returns, and advertising when they model margins, then get surprised when a "profitable" product loses money.

Need a hand with this?

If you'd rather have an experienced team handle this part of your Amazon business, explore our Amazon seller consulting services from Goat Consulting.

Amazon seller consulting →

The throughline of this whole AMA holds up a decade later: minimize risk, work on the right things in the right order, get obsessed with selling rather than tinkering, and just start.