By Ali Khoddami, founder of Vela K Products Ltd., a registered British Columbia distribution company selling brand-direct on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com since 2021. Updated November 3, 2026.

Short answer: because the business has to be yours. A store that someone else built and runs for you is a store you cannot run, cannot fix and cannot defend the day Amazon asks a question. When we build it with you, piece by piece, you know every setting, every brand and every number by launch day, and all of it sits in your name.

I run my own brand-direct business every day, and I build the same business with ten new people a month. Below is why I settled on building with people instead of for them, the order we build in, and what the first 30 days look like.

The two ways people usually try to get an Amazon business

A course you watch alone

A course gives you information. It does not make the ten decisions that matter in the first year: the company, the account, the category, the first brand, the first order. Most people get to decision three, feel unsure, and stop. The videos are still there. The business never starts.

A service that does it for you

The other road is a done-for-you service. Someone else opens the account, picks the products and sends the emails. It sounds easier, and it is, until something goes wrong. If the service takes a risk on your account without your approval and Amazon restricts it, you are the one who has to answer, and you do not know what was done or why. If the service disappears, the business stops, because nobody taught you how it runs. You own the problems, not the knowledge.

The third way: built with you

Done with you means every piece of the business is built together, and you learn it as it is installed. You are on the calls when the company is set up. You watch the product checks and then you run them. You send the brand emails with me beside you, so by the time you send one alone you already know what a good one looks like.

By launch day you are not a stranger to your own business. You feel like you built it yourself, because you did. We just did it together, in the right order, with someone checking every decision before it cost you money.

The order we build in

Brands do not say yes to a stranger with an Amazon account. They say yes to a real company that looks like it will still be there next year. So the order matters.

1. Online presence

Your company first. Then your website, your business email, your Google Business Profile and your business profiles on Google, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. When a brand searches your name, it finds a company, not an online-only seller. This is the step most people skip, and it is the reason their emails get no reply.

2. Product sourcing

You get more than five ways to find products with little competition, where you can be the only seller or one of the top sellers in the Buy Box. Every product goes through the same checks I use in my own business before anyone places an order. No Alibaba, no generic items, no products the brand or Amazon sells itself, nothing that makes health claims you cannot back, nothing hazardous, nothing with twenty sellers fighting over one sale.

3. Brand outreach

We were rejected thousands of times before we learned what brands actually look for. The email templates you use are the ones that came out of those rejections. They present you as a distribution company that is a reliable place for customers to buy, not as an Amazon seller. How Do You Get Brands to Approve You for Amazon Wholesale? goes deeper on this.

4. Follow-up

A brand that has not answered has not said no. Most approvals come on the third or fourth touch, so the follow-up system is built into your business from day one, with templates and a schedule, so no brand falls through the cracks.

What the first 30 days look like

Days 1 to 7. Onboarding. We get everything we need from you, lock in your category direction and begin the build.

Days 7 to 30. Your category research is completed and checked. Your products are selected. Your Amazon account is built from scratch, every page and every setting. Your tools are set up, your online presence is live, your outreach emails are written and your follow-up system is installed. The whole thing goes through a pre-launch audit, and nothing goes live until we both agree it is ready. The entire time, you are being trained on what is being built, so you understand the reason behind every decision.

Day 30. You start reaching out to brands, with us beside you. This is not you figuring it out on launch day.

What "with you" means after launch

Most programs hand you a module and a wish of good luck. Here, the year after launch is where the business becomes a real asset, so the support is built for it.

• A weekly live mastermind, a small group of sellers where everyone gets to ask their questions and help each other, with no hard stop.
• Private call days every week, and direct chat with me 7 days a week.
• Every product and every email reviewed before it goes out.
• A private community of people building the same thing, and our connections: prep centres, customs brokers and account health specialists in Canada and the USA.

What I promise, and what I do not

I promise the work. If the business we build with you is not built to the standard written in your agreement, we go back in and rebuild it. If you do your part and no brand has approved you by day 90, I add more private sessions at no cost. Both guarantees are promises of work and support, and the full terms are in the enrolment agreement.

I do not promise an income, I do not promise that any brand will say yes, and I do not promise how fast it goes. Stock can sell slower than planned or at a lower price and money can be lost, a brand can decline, and Amazon can restrict a listing or an account. The build reduces those risks. It cannot remove them.

Common questions

Is this done for me, or do I still do work? We build everything with you and train you on it as we go. Your part is to show up to the sessions, engage with the training, send the emails and place the orders we have checked together.

I have never sold on Amazon. Is that a problem? No. Many of the people I build with start from zero, with a career behind them and capital set aside. If you already sell and brands keep saying no, we start with your brand applications on day one.

How much of my time does it take? Two to three hours a day, at times you choose, is enough for the build and the outreach. Most people do it beside a full-time job.

Who owns the business? You do. The company, the Amazon account, the stock, the brand accounts and the website are all in your name from the first day.

What happens if something breaks after launch? You message me. Between the weekly mastermind, the private call days and the chat, nothing sits unanswered for long.

The short version

A course leaves you alone with the decisions. A done-for-you service leaves you with a business you cannot run. Building it with you, in the right order, leaves you with a company in your own name, a system you understand and a year of people in your corner. If you are still buying from stores, start with How Do You Move From Arbitrage to Brand-Direct Wholesale?

I build brand-direct Amazon businesses with people one to one, in a paid private mentorship, and I take ten new people a month. To apply for a call, start at academy.velakproducts.com/programs. No result is promised.

Ali Khoddami is the founder of Vela K Products Ltd., a distribution company registered in British Columbia, Canada, with operations in Coquitlam, BC and Blaine, WA. He teaches brand-direct Amazon wholesale through Vela K Academy. Vela K Products Ltd. is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon.com, Inc. This article is educational and is not legal, tax, or financial advice.