Hi All,
I'm exploring starting something like this up to make some side income. If I'm successful with the first product launch I might eventually add more, maybe even grow myself out of my day job. I'm financially well off with or without this success.

The basic idea is to find a niche product, or one that I could niche down, that's already selling well on Amazon, then possibly finding a way to improve the product or reposition it in the market, importing the goods from an Asian manufacturer and listing on Amazon under a private label. It's a pretty well established business model, it can be competitive, but there are plenty of opportunities given the breadth of products available through the site. I will be making data based decisions, meaning I'm not going to sell gun belts just because I relate to them.

I have experience with importing goods and I'm good with numbers, but I'm weak in working with manufacturers on improving products and marketing (marketing I'm going to hire out).

Has anyone else tried using this model? Any successes/failures worth sharing? Any major pitfalls?

I'm already considering risks such as the overseas production/shipping, importation hangups, patents, product liability/other legal, finding reputable manufacturers etc. Am I missing anything? My initial investment will be pretty small, between $5-8k (this covers legal feels, COGS, marketing, shipping, registering a domain name, etc.), even a total loss won't harm my overall financial position in life.