OP’s approach makes sense to me. They don’t seem to expect to actually make money, rather they view the whole thing as paying for a valuable lesson. You seem experienced in the work OP is doing, how did you learn?
When I started, I would read through several FBA related forums on my commute home from work, including a few Facebook groups and the official Amazon forums. There is also the official "Seller University" videos by Amazon and the accompanying help docs. (Some people buy courses, I did not, but to each their own)
When I was confused, I would search various forums. Almost every single time, I would find the answer asked in almost the exact same phrasing I would have used, and when I couldn't, I just asked.
My response was partially because it would have saved OP a lot of headache. Simply searching "what should I budget for advertising" leads to a huge number of fantastic insights.
Thanks for the question. I could definitely stand to be more constructive, and I appreciate you giving me the chance.
Buy name brand things at the grocery store and resell them. Don’t put a ton of money into brandless Chinese crap expecting to make money.
I'm involved in selling high volumes of name brand, licensed manufacturer products on Amazon. Zero advertising and we move a lot of units.
We compete with Amazon, but we're also well rated enough to be in the Buy Box. People know the products and will buy it if they want it.
Getting this kind of product can be more challenging, but as a starting point, it makes more sense.
All I do is list the products with inventory, and between Amazon FBA and Seller Fulfilled Prime, we mostly just worry about product selection, availability and pricing. Of course, accurate SKU details, descriptions, images, etc are important, too.
we do use one of the SaaS tools out there for research and data though.