Feb 19, 2024 Newsletter

[SFTB] ✈️How To Get 35% Off Every Flight For Life

Guess who showed up in town this week? I got to hang out with my good buddy Vinh La from Ebb and Flow Prep, who was here for a wedding. We spent the day at the resort where he was staying, catching up on business stuff and talking about our vacations.

It looks like they’re checking the retail prices on Amazon and sometimes putting a higher value on things. Vinh advised to make sure you’re well below that limit if you’re carrying items whose prices are going up. We also discussed how storage fees for sellers have increased and how Vinh’s business is booming because more companies are choosing to keep their stock with them and restock on Amazon little by little. If you need help with prepping your products, Vinh’s company is still open for new clients.

Did you know Selling from the Beach has a complete beginner’s course? It covers taxes, prep, sourcing, tools, shipping, and more. If you’ve ever wanted to start selling on Amazon, this is us telling you DO IT!

The course is packed full of actionable and easy to understand content, and is everything you’ll need to get going. It’s also broken up into modules with both helpful video and in-depth text explanations.

Also – I don’t know about you, but people are always asking me where they should go to get started. Well… here’s a great place to point them.

Oh, did we mention the course is 100% free? No strings.

At some point in your FBA business, you will need to get rid of excess inventory. There’s no way around it. Amazon has been yelling at us for years and years that they no longer want FBA Warehouses to be storage facilities (the yelling has been in the form of continual fee increases).

So, I came up with a numbered ordered list of where try FIRST and where to try LAST.

Keep in mind, most still have fulfilment & referral fees.

If you need to get rid of inventory… Start here:

Additional Amazon fees: None

Success Level: Medium

The simplest way to get rid of excess inventory. Just start lowering your price. Try and go slow, begin by pricing yourself below the market median, and keep lowering if the units aren’t moving.

Additional Amazon fees: None

Success Level: Medium

Spend more on PPC. Driving more traffic to your listing will move units out – watch out to not light more money on fire then you need to.

Additional Amazon fees: None

Success Level: Low/Medium

Make sure the “Amazon Influencers and Associates” button is checked. The sweet spot according to Jon Derkits is 50% off. These can be quite effective if picked up by an influencer. You don’t need a social media presence or following to make this work (but it helps). Social Media Promo Codes will stack with any other coupons you have

Additional Amazon fees: $0.6/u

Success Level: Medium

Adding a juicy 25%+ off coupon can move the needle significantly. Keep in mind you’ll still be paying $0.6/u sold.

Additional Amazon fees: None

Success Level: Medium

Can be quite effective and give your listing a fancy red “DEAL” banner. Unfortunately, the majority of your SKUs will probably not be eligible. The deal will be featured on the Amazon deals page. Outlet deals will stack with any other coupons you have.

Additional Amazon fees: $150-$500

Success Level: Low/Medium

Like outlet deals, a bunch of your SKUs will probably not be eligible. Many people speak of the power of lighting deals. I personally find them a good way to light money on fire quickly.

Additional Amazon fees: $0.25-$0.4 + $0.2/lb /u (unless oversize) AND 15% of gross recovery value

Success Level: Low/Medium

Some of your units may be picked up, most probably won’t. You’ll get paid 5-10% of the value of the product (after Amazon takes their fees). Amazon says you “should” be paid within 90 days.

Additional Amazon fees: $1.04-$2.89 + $1.06/lbs /u

Success Level: High

A surefire way to get rid of your inventory. Unfortunately, it’s costly, slow, and will come in a million boxes. Use as a last resort. Oh, and Amazon rounds up your shipping weight always. So 0.56lb becomes 0.6lbs. Removal orders can take 90 days or more. I’ve seen it take longer.

Additional Amazon fees: $1.04-$2.89 + $1.06/lbs /u

Success Level: High

Say goodbye to your inventory. Very few reasons to use this. Only do if you have no other options.

If you can get your hands on an AMEX US Business Platinum, you’re about to have a really good time. The Platinum has one of the single best rewards for booking flights that we’ve ever seen.

The reward is this: A 35% redemption on points for any flight booked with the card. All your points are shared account wide between your cards, so it’s not like you even need to use the card for anything other then booking flights.

For example, we use the AMEX US Business Gold for all of our advertising spend. The points we get from there are shared account wide. Then, we book flights with the Platinum.

It’s basically 35% off of every flight for the rest of your life.

That you’ve paid for with points.

Which are also basically free.

A 35% off rebate from free? My head hurts.

Our last newsletter spoke about the best cards for Amazon Businesses – and we teased that our complete guide to getting a credit card for non-Americans would be coming out soon. It will! We’re just putting the finishing touches on it and want to get it perfect. Stay tuned!

Here’s a cool tip not many people know about: Many hotels and resorts around here offer something called a “day pass.”This means you can pay to use their facilities for the day even if you’re not staying there as an overnight guest. The cost can be a one-time fee or, in some cases, part of the fee can be used for food and drinks. The best way to find out the specifics is to directly call the hotel or resort you’re interested in, rather than talking to a call center representative, who might not have the details.

Whether or not you can get a day pass might depend on the hotel’s capacity and policies. For instance, when we went to see Vinh at the Riu, it cost $75 for an adult to use the resort from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., including all-you-can-eat and drink, and $35 for kids. Other places have different offers; Tabacon has a day pass for $81 to their hot springs, and you can add lunch for a total of $149. Casa Chameleon has a pass for $125, with $100 of that going towards food and drink. This is a great way to experience luxury resorts without the commitment of an overnight stay!

Our friend, Robin Brown is dealing with a horrible VAT issue in Amazon UK. Amazon is holding back ALL of his disbursements for the last 11 months (with no end in sight). At this point, he’s owed $500,000.

Robin tells me that without getting paid, he’ll lose his business within the next month.

If anyone has any contacts with Amazon UK — or perhaps John Boumphrey is your uncle… please let us know.

Time is of the essence.

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All the best,

Max & Rob