The Smartest Amazon Seller

Latest Episodes:

Episode 39: Seller Fulfilled Prime and FBA Onsite Feb 25, 2020

Show notes

Today’s episode is focused on Seller Fulfilled Prime and the Prime that you can do out of your own warehouse. We explain the Seller Fulfilled Prime program, including their trial period, as well as their higher requirements. We explain why we built an FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) into our warehouse to increase revenue, and why other businesses would be wise to do the same. We also emphasize the value of a new program called Seller Fulfilled Prime Regional. We talk about the higher requirements to be on SFP, and how they push you to be more efficient. We then discuss a very similar program called FBA Onsite, where Amazon installs their warehouse management system into your warehouse, and the pros and cons associated with it. We recommend FBA onsite for oversize and seasonal products.
-Diving Into Seller Fulfilled Prime 1:52
-Seller Fulfilled Prime Regional 7:00
-FBA Onsite 10:58
“And according to their site, we achieved 54% of the population by using UPS ground 2 day shipping. And what’s great about that is it costs us exactly the same amount of money to ship. So we were shipping these products in ground already. But turning on a Prime badge didn’t cost us anything, because, by using this service, Amazon has already determined that they know that the product will get to them in two days.” 8:21
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Episode 38: Questions To Ask Your Amazon Agency Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

Today’s topic is Amazon agencies, which is any person or entity that handles other people’s Amazon business or their problems. We discuss which brands we normally see use the agency. We give examples of businesses that have benefited from using an agency. We talk about questions you should ask an Amazon agency, including pricing, comprehensive/selective management, and services. We go more in depth about payment, talking about the pros and cons of both commission based and flat fees. We talk about factors to consider when determining length of contract. We also emphasize the importance of determining if agencies are stable and realistic, or if they overpromise. We talk about the challenges and risks of becoming an agency for other companies or brands. We talk about other factors to consider when considering third party help.
-Amazon Agencies: What to Expect From Using/Joining 1:01
-Questions to Ask an Agency 10:03
-Challenges in this Model; Other Questions 17:39
“What is the price? What do you charge? Are you offering or seeking comprehensive or a selective service? Comprehensive being full account management; everything from inventory, product pages, to marketing. You know, marketing can be the marketing on the page or the PPC.” 10:22
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Episode 37: FBA Fees Are Crazy! Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

Today, we begin the episode by telling you what we want to offer you with this podcast. We point out that instead of telling you things you could easily look up and find out online, we want this podcast to be more in depth and help make real E-commerce professionals out of our listeners. Our topic for today is Amazon’s FBA fees, including what they are, how they move, and how they affect us. We talk about the efficiency of Amazon’s FBA program and operation, including their positioning and funding of fulfillment centers. We share important changes in FBA fees and how much businesses have benefitted from those. We also share which fees have hurt our business, and how Amazon’s taking away some of these fees has saved us a lot of money. We discuss how these fees are designed to motivate efficient practices of inventory. We talk about the Inventory Performance Index and Q4 Storage fees have helped move the FBA program forward, and helps us to keep our focus on providing quality products through our service.
What This Podcast is All About 0:10
Amazon’s FBA Program and Fees 3:02
Important Changes in FBA Fees 7:17
FBA Fees Promote Better Business Practices 14:01
“I’ve taken a different approach to these fees: It’s that these fees, they actually are designed to motivate good behavior by sellers. What is good behavior? That’s where you’re not stocked too deep or too light. They want you to be mindful of sending in just what you’re going to need for the next 1 to 2 months of sales.” 14:01
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Episode 36: Brand Registry | Ryan Morgan Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we talk with one of our BuyBoxer marketing team members, Ryan Morgan. We discuss the Brand Registry Program; what it is, how to get into it, and why it’s helpful. We talk about some of the features of the program, including using it to report violations and infringement of trademarks, patents, and copyright. We also discuss how the brand registry can help you more quickly and effectively update your product pages. We cover some of the other benefits of using the program, including opening up sponsored brands for your business, giving you access to enhanced content features, allowing you to upload and manage videos, use of storefront pages, and giving you access to the Vine Program (an early review program). As we conclude, we invite you to go to smartestseller.eventbrite.com and use the coupon code, SMART if you want to participate in one of our meetups.
-How to Get Into brand registry -- Timeline and Cost 2:18
-Using brand registry to Manage Unauthorized Activity and Report Violations 7:29
-Updating Product Pages With brand registry 10:41
-Additional Benefits 12:20
“If you have one product, you can go fight all day to get the content you want onto your product page. But when we’re dealing with a few hundred products and lots of changes made across many of them, brand registry simplifies that process for us a lot.” 12:00
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Episode 35: Keeping your Amazon Account Healthy with Megan Swanton Jan 28, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we talk about compliance with Amazon policies to keep your account in good health with Megan Swanton, BuyBoxer’s compliance manager. As a disclaimer, we remind you that we are not legal professionals and that you shouldn’t take anything said on this episode as legal advice. We talk about contacting rights owners as soon as possible when dealing with intellectual property complaints and complaints about selling below minimum advertised price. We discuss what to do in case rights owners don’t respond, including the importance of invoices, as well as what info to include and how to format. We also talk about how best to respond to patent and copyright complaints, as well as dealing with complaints about products you have never sold. We recommend some online groups that talk about compliance issues. Follow this link for a free document that speaks to all the issues discussed here and more: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://docs.google.com/document/d/159lzwUYmtziOLgNmOeUdlK8d5OpHh3CE/edit&sa=D&source=hangouts&ust=1578528588216000&usg=AFQjCNGHw-WAZ4YKJxn7MbKZRYVcMQUNEQ
-Compliance: Possibly the Most Valuable Topic We’ve Covered So Far 1:44
-Legal Issues You Will Encounter and How To Take Action 5:12
-More About Copyright Complaints; Complaints About Products Never Sold 19:23
-Keeping You Account Health Page Up to Date; File Management 29:12
“So people are out there taking it seriously, and the best thing you can do is learn the skills to get on top of it, because that’s how I sleep better now. You know, there were some times where I thought we could get shut down at any moment, and that has kind of shrunk a little bit over time as we have gotten better at this and actually just have put a lot more resources into it, Megan being that primary resource.” 34:11
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Episode 34: Profiles of Other Sellers Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we talk about what we have learned from other large Amazon sellers. We speak briefly about the process of selling our business, Valence Services, our Amazon reimbursement/auditing service. We discuss the advantages of using such services, as well as the advantages and details of selling a business. We then talk about the strengths and differences of sellers such as Pharmapacks; AnkerDirect; Asurion, LLC; and Zappos. We then talk about large Amazon book sellers and what we can uniquely learn from them. We talk about the ups and downs of other companies and what we can learn from them.
-Selling Valence Services 2:06
-Profiles of Large Amazon Sellers: Pharmapacks, AnkerDirect; Asurion, LLC; Zappos 7:11
-What’s Unique about Amazon Book Sellers 15:56
-Other Seller Profiles: Juvo+; etailz, Utopia Deals -- What We Can Learn 19:02
“I think the fundamentals on Amazon is just being profitable, all things included -- all fees and all employees included -- and knowing your profit margins, and making sure you’re focusing on your highest ROI activities.” 24:59
sellerratings.com
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Special Announcement! Jan 20, 2020

Show notes

This is an invitation for our loyal listeners to set up an Amazon Seller meetup with Scott! Included below is the link to set up your meetup, as well as a coupon code to get a 50% discount off the cost!
Coupon Code: SMART
smartestseller.eventbrite.com

Episode 33: Working With Amazon Lending Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we talk about the Amazon lending program. We discuss the different parameters that determine the customized offers they make to each seller. We explain how the program works and highlight why we, at BuyBoxer, chose Amazon Lending above other services. We also explain the particulars of why we now want to switch to another service. We talk about their policies and how they are strictly enforced, as well as some of the pros and cons of using their program. We explain our experience in trying to knock out our Amazon Lending with a lower interest rate and a slower paydown, which is beneficial for both sides. This is through a company called Fundwise, with whom we’ve set up an affiliate link for listeners of this podcast, the link for which is included below.
-What is Amazon Lending? 2:13
-Amazon Lending’s Enforcement of Policies 6:11
-Replacing Amazon Lending With Fundwise 12:12
“The first thing I’ll ever suggest is that you know what you’re going to be using that money with, and that you have a very well thought out plan: you know your profit-margins, you know the interest you’re going to be paying on it for the term of that loan, and that the ROI that you’re going to be getting, because of that loan, is higher than that.” 11:12
https://apply.fundwise.com/smartestseller
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Episode 32: Getting Ahead With Jungle Scout | Greg Mercer Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

In today’s episode, we talk with the founder of Junglescout.com, Greg Mercer. Jungle Scout is the #1 Amazon product finder and research tool. Greg gives us his perspective about the challenges of starting a SAS business and he talks about how he planned and built the particular facets of his product. We also discuss the various features of Jungle Scout within the context of Amazon's inner mechanics; such as keyword optimization, promotions/launching, rank tracking, alerts, and inventory management. Today, we also go into Jungle Scout and Buyboxer’s efforts to help educate and enable E-Commerce professionals. Finally, a SPECIAL DEAL FOR LISTENERS OF THIS PODCAST is offered, just follow the link https://junglescout.grsm.io/SmartestSeller
-Greg’s Advice for Getting Your SAS Business Going 2:16
-Mechanics of Jungle Scout’s Features: Keywords, Promotions/Launching, Rank Tracker, Alerts, and -Inventory Managers 8:23
-How Jungle Scout approaches Inventory Management 23:38
-Jungle Scout’s Academy 28:50
-Jungle Scout and Amazon in 2020 35:01
Greg on Jungle Scout’s Inventory Management Feature: “What I’m really excited about with it is our data science team has built some really, really accurate seasonality algorithms that are going to be incorporated in the tool, so it’s seasonality with forecasting.” 24:47
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Episode 31: Saving Money With Ping Pong Payments | Yohan Wong Dec 31, 2019

Show notes

In today’s episode, we do an interview with Yohan Wong, Merchant Service Sales Manager at Ping Pong Payments, a foreign-exchange virtual bank account. We talk about what Ping Pong Payments does and what the advantages are of using their service over their competitors. These advantages include greater profits from better exchange rates and a 1% instead of 1.5% foreign exchange fee (EXCLUSIVE FOR LISTENERS OF THIS PODCAST). We also discuss the benefits of the Supplier Payment Product of Ping Pong Payments, as well as HOW TO CLAIM YOUR FREE YEAR OF SUPPLIER PAYMENTS (another exclusive offer to listeners of this podcast).
-What Does Ping Pong Payments Do? 1:36
-Saving Money with Ping Pong’s Competitive Rates 4:46
-Where Ping Pong is Growing and Other Services 10:32
-How To Claim The Smartest Seller Listener’s Exclusive Rate 14:02
-How To Reach Out to Yohann/Claim Your Free Year of Supplier Payments 16:02
“You know, maybe one transaction, the foreign exchange fee doesn’t feel that big, but over the course of a year, it will add up to some serious numbers, and getting the rate better from Ping Pong Payments for us represents about 4 to 5000 dollars in a year.” Scott, 6:11
www.pingpongpayments.com
Social
https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/
https://www.buyboxer.com/

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Smartest Amazon Seller

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected