The Smartest Amazon Seller

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/

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/

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/

In today’s episode, we speak with James Thomson from Prosper, an Amazon-specific conference. He was Amazon’s first FBA account manager and then ran Amazon Services, the group that is responsible for recruiting almost all 3rd party sellers to the platform. We discuss how Prosper is different from other conferences in that its main focus is education and providing networking opportunities without bias. While some conferences may try to promote certain methods, Prosper aims to help sellers get a better perspective on Amazon's current circumstances. What Sets Prosper Apart From Other Conferences? 2:14 Keeping Ahead of the Curve With Content 11:35 How Prosper Has Developed 14:11 The Show Is Only As Good As the Attendees 19:45 Choosing Speakers and Topics 23:16 “Prosper’s meant to be that place where you go and say, ‘Listen, not only are we going to learn from lots of different folks who are living in this space every single day, but we’re going to get different perspectives, and we’re going to try to strip away as much of the bias as possible.’” 7:31 Social https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In today’s episode, we do a phone interview with Danny Carlson, E-Commerce professional and founder of the Amazon FBA Agency, Kenji ROI. Danny also hosts the podcasts, Actualize Freedom Podcast and The Danny Carlson Podcast. In this interview, we get into the details of product page optimization and discuss the best approaches to structuring product descriptions. We also talk to Danny about indexing, getting Amazon’s search algorithm to work for you, and the best ways to incentivize customers to leave reviews. What is “Lamplighting?” 2:55 Prioritizing The Different Aspects of Product Description 6:15 Indexing -- Prioritizing Fields 16:30 Getting Reviews -- What’s Allowed and What’s Not 20:28 How Danny Learned About Product Page Optimization 26:20 “I think copywriting is one of the most important skills that a small business owner should learn, because it’s going to increase the effectiveness of all of your emails, all of your Facebook ads, all of your Amazon listings -- just anywhere that there’s written copy, if you can make that more effective, it’s going to make pretty much everything you do more effective.” 4:05 Social https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In today’s episode, we discuss advertising on Amazon through pay-per-click. We explain the basics of PPC, discuss what’s unique to Amazon’s approach to PPC, and talk about many different strategies to optimize your advertising strategy, including choosing and managing campaigns and determining the best average cost of sale. Introducing Topic 0:33 Why Do PPC? 3:03 What’s Unique About Amazon PPC? 5:13 Choosing and Managing Campaigns 8:43 What’s the Right “A Cost”? 10:29 What Does BuyBoxer Do for Its Advertising? 14:57 Launching Products With PPC Alone 18:54 “Fly-wheel Approach to E-Commerce Lifestyle” 19:43 Drawbacks to PPC 20:34 Learning the Fundamentals To Optimize Your Own Advertising Strategy 22:30 “If everyone is spending money on advertising, then it kind of hits all of our gross margins. You know, you kind of want to get into a space where you just don’t have to spend as much. So that’s why I say its goal is to get to organic spend, so you can actually make more money on Amazon with a reasonable margin and a modest advertising budget.” 21:10

In this episode, we share our perspective on the importance of thinking ahead by diversifying your business on Amazon. We cover the advantages of the Seller Central Program vs. the Vendor Central Program, as well as what agencies are and how we can use them to our advantage. We also discuss the current state of brands and wholesale on Amazon, as well as where they could be going and how diversification can prepare us for the future. -Intro: Where is Amazon Going? 0:20 -Negotiation in the Vendor Central Program 1:53 -Seeing Amazon’s Profitability Strategies as an Opportunity 3:46 -What is an Amazon Agency? 4:21 -How Agencies Are Helping Seller Central 5:10 -Going From Vendor to Seller 6:19 -Brands vs. Wholesale Now 7:30 -The Benefits of Diversifying 10:07 -Treat Every Day Like Day One 13:09 -Amazon is Always Changing--Think Ahead 14:47 “If I was talking to my best friend in the world who had a brand, I would tell him, ‘Sell directly yourself on Amazon.” 6:08 Social https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In this episode of The Best Amazon Seller, we talk about when to get your own warehouse, what this might require, and what type of warehouse you would best benefit from. - Meet-Ups 1:03 - When Should you get Your own Warehouse 7:25 - What Warehouses Allow you to do 13:05 - Black stocking 16:53 - Payability https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In this episode of The Best Amazon Seller, we dive a little deeper into what a mini-conference (meet up) of mine looks like and why they are so helpful. I will be starting to visit cities around America and hosting these mini-conferences for sellers so if you are interested in attending one please DM me on my social media platforms. - Introduction 1:17 - My Goals for Meet-Ups 6:59 - How I will keep it Exciting 9:38 - What you get out of the Meetup 13:57 “I think only 5% of sellers attend conferences. That’s because you have to fly, you have to take days off, and pay money. So what I want to do is take the best of a conference as close to you as I can and not even like charge you money. “ 7:44 https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In this episode of the Best Amazon Seller we talk about the different categories to sell on Amazon. There are a wide variety of categories to choose from and each one has its value. I will highlight just a few, talk about the up sides and downsides of each, and share a little on the categories Buyboxer focuses on. - Sports 2:32 - Home and Kitchen 6:46 - Toys 7:48 - Grocery 9:43 - Arts and Crafts 12:01 - Electronics 12:48 - Health 14:27 - Beauty Baby and Pets 15:03 “I’m growing more stubborn about what sells a product and I think it comes down to three things: I think it’s the reviews, the price, and the images. If you can nail all three of those, people that land on your product are going to convert.” 1:31 https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In this episode of the Best Amazon Seller, we talk about how to improve your shipping process. Some of the topics we cover are figuring out how software can help increase productivity in your business and when it’s needed. We also give examples from my business and give an overview of what we use in our shipping process, things we avoid and products we lean toward. - Introduction 0:15 - Designing your own software 5:53 - Using Amazon’s API 7:05 - Our Shipping Process 8:35 “There’s one type of inventory that we just really steer clear of, and that’s seasonal oversize.” https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In this episode of the Best Amazon Seller, we interview Albert Polanco, a founding member of Zon Product Photography. He gives us a wealth of knowledge not only on product pictures for Amazon but also on the subject of general marketing tips. - How did you start? 1:20 - The Primary Image 5:37 - Show Don’t Tell 11:55 - Good and Bad Lifestyle Photos 15:01 - Text and Badges 20:01 - Mistakes of Past 30:09 “If your product is stronger than the competition, don’t say that. Show your product doing something stronger than the competition. Demonstrate it.” 13:52 Link for 7 step framework. https://7steps.zonproductphotography.com/ Promo Code: BuyBoxer5 Contest for product photography. https://vyper.io/c/18009hhdyu https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

On this episode of the Best Amazon Seller we talk about the power of having good photography. With many people using the mobile app for amazon, people are looking for quick quality pictures that tell the story well. People often would prefer looking at a picture rather than looking at the bullet points to find information. We talk about different routes including hiring or doing it yourself. - How photography affects your business 1:21 - Few things to consider 3:56 - Rewards on Amazon 11:35 - Graphic Design 12:37 - Case Study 14:05 “Not only does a good picture increase the likelihood of selling but if you tell the story really well through some pictures, you probably reduce your return rate cause you’re showing how it’s used.” https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

On this episode of The Best Amazon Seller we talk about The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and how we can relate this to an e-commerce business. The book delves deeply into how our habits can rule our lives for the good or the bad. These habits influence practically all of our choices and understanding this can help our efforts in our online sales. - New Things within Buyboxer - The Power of Habit 2:50 - 3 Take Aways from Book 4:05 - Applying the Book to E-Commerce 9:35 “We are e-commerce professionals and have to understand shoppers behavior and tendency. In other words…tendencies is another word for habits.” https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

Refunding can depend a lot on your inventory. Depending on your inventory, this can vary a lot, but you really need to know your reports to even know if you are getting your product back. Figuring this out can impact your business, so listen in to this episode to learn more about refund percentages and how to optimize your business. https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In this episode, Scott talks about the things he wishes he knew when he started out in Amazon FBA. No matter how large their business is, even the massive FBA businesses have issues selling on the Amazon marketplace. Amazon isn't a place where you can just set something up, leave it alone, and expect it to sell while you coast. Listen in and learn about some tricks and tips that you can start applying today. https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

In this episode of the Smartest Amazon Seller, Scott interviews Alex representing Payability. They talk about when it is appropriate to take out a loan or an advance, how to work in the ecommerce world with advertising, and financial products for ecommerce based companies. They also discuss the difference between a loan and an advance. Alex - When is it worth the risk of taking an advance or loan? 4:28 - financial products for ecommerce based companies. 9:20 - differences between a loan and an advance 16:43 - Payability’s work 23:17 - Coupon with Payability 32:37 “The shorter that you can create that time of when you made a sale to when you have money in your pocket, the smoothing you can kind of do over the rest of your expenses in your cash flow.”

This episode dives into the benefits of attending conferences and how this can help you sell on Amazon. Meeting and interfacing with other sellers can lead huge growth and connections. The episode also dives into the various conferences that Scott has attended including Amazon hosted conferences. Conferences there lead Scott to insights that give sellers an upper hand. Learning From Others 1:37 Meeting New Sellers 2:37 IRCE 6:12 Amazon Hosted Conferences 8:57

Today's subject is the Marketplace Growth Program / Strategic Account Services. One of the most useful things you can do to with Strategic Account Services is getting into an account that can benefit you and getting introduced to a particular team, which can be done by talking to an account manager. If you haven't heard of or used this before, this can be an amazing way to work with Amazon in very specialized ways. Account managers have a lot of experience and can maneuver through a lot of the issues that can occur when dealing with Amazon. This can even act as an insurance or a buffer for suspensions and other issues as well. https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

Scott's full-time job is developing automation for his company's seller account, so this week he is sharing his insights about this kind of software development. The majority of the ordering processes, profitability analysis, and advertising automation is done by unique software that they have developed. What you want to consider when you hire someone to develop software or start to do it yourself is the API, or the connection point between you and Amazon. This is where you get reports, submit feeds, see your own data, and create FBA shipments. Really understanding the specifics of what is going on will inform a lot of your decisions in the long run. Listen in to this episode to get more information on the tech side of Amazon FBA. https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

What is KEEPA and why would you want to use it? Scott discusses the importance of KEEPA, the database that contains the history of products on the Amazon Marketplace. Using this tool, you can see the story of products, its prices, what happens during certain seasons, and much more. 1:23 What is KEEPA 5:30 History of reviews and analyzing competitors 8:49 Sourcing leads https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/

Today's episode features an interview with Michael Erickson Facchin, an expert in advertising, host of the PPC Den Podcast, and the founder of Ad Badger. He has spent years optimizing Google Ads for 10 years and Amazon Ads for 7 years. In this episode, Scott and Michael discuss digital marketing, confirmation-bias in ads, twin-engine strategy, click-through rates, keyword rankings, and much more. Listen in to get advice on how to optimize your products. Scott's info: https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/ https://www.buyboxer.com/ Michael's info: https://www.adbadger.com/aboutus/

Today's subject is liquidating inventory. When making a decision on what to do with products on Amazon if they aren't selling, no matter what you do, action is better than non-action. You really need to answer one question, and that is 'why is this product not selling'? There are 3 reasons for this - discoverability, click-through, and conversion. If people aren't buying, it really comes down to these issues most of the time. Listen in and learn about add ons, coupons, and other methods of liquidation. 6:50 Three reasons why something isn't selling 9:30 Add ons for investigating the product 15:25 Other methods for liquidating https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/

Is Amazon a fair marketplace? What should you think about as you enter into Q4? In this episode, Scott addresses these two questions. When dealing with Amazon, even hard work and intelligence don't make it a fair marketplace, and sometimes you just need to take advantage of the opportunities you may have and others may not while on the Amazon marketplace. https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/

What is NARF? Probably the worst acronym ever. However, the North American Remote Fulfillment Program could make a huge difference in your foreign sales. In this episode, Scott gives his opinion and analysis about what this could mean for your business. The reason this program is so great is because Amazon takes control of a lot of the hassle that is usually involved in foreign marketplaces. It gives added benefits of having the prime badge, only costing an average of $3.50 for all of the foreign shipping and handling, and has already been shown to have product sales growth in Canada. Scott has experienced a shift in his international sales perspective from this program alone. 1:00 Instant additional sales 5:06 NARF availability 11:12 Some restrictions with the program https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/

In this episode, Scott discusses Amazon Prime Day and Conversion. Amazon uses Prime Day to get as many people as possible onto the subscription. However, while Prime Day is important, conversion is one of the most important things to focus on to become a top seller. The feedback loop in Amazon's algorithm has a focus on conversion and this can have a positive or negative impact on the product being sold. Scott covers ways to measure conversion and tools that can help you increase the conversion rates. 2:50 Scott's secret to Prime Day. 5:35 Conversion 10:21 Tools to measure conversion 14:00 Product image 18:27 The last few things to focus on to increase conversion https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/

If you aren't already, you need to be using a system to be claiming all of the reimbursements that you're owed. Scott has spent hundreds and hundreds of hours researching and developing software to maximize reimbursements for his business. Listen to this episode to get more information about reimbursements on Amazon.

In this episode, Scott discusses a few of the myths surrounding Fulfillment by Amazon along with the goals he has for the podcast in general. He also talks about the excitement that is growing in the space and the developments being made by companies and individuals focusing on FBA. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/

In this episode, Scott explains how coupons work as a marketing tool and how they affect purchasing behaviors. How can you make sales from “dead” products? What are some of the mechanics you should take advantage of? 01:57 Coupons as a marketing tool 08:55 Funny mechanics about coupons

Repricing is a big topic, and there are many things that can go into it. Enjoy Scott geek out about repricing principles, algorithms, and statistics. Low prices don’t mean more sales. Learn how to raise prices and make more money. 1:06 Repricing strategies 10:39 How to find the best price for the product

Many Amazon sellers feel like they are controlled by Amazon because of their rules and possible suspension. Things you have been building can be turned into ash overnight, and that is a real risk. Scott talks about the time when he thought it was the end of his business and what he learned from that experience. 01:27 How Amazon controls sellers/ What sellers fear the most 15:04 What to do when you feel like your Amazon business is going to crash Sponsor link: go.payability.com/numberoneseller

Everyone loves getting deals, and if you learn how to use deals as a seller, you will love it even more. What are discoverability, click-through, and conversion? How is your business doing in these areas and how can they be improved? 00:50 Utilizing coupons on Amazon 11:24 How it’s applicable to everything

Listen in as Scott introduces The Smartest Amazon Seller podcast. He provides a brief overview of his years of experience in the field and explains why YOU need to listen to this podcast.