You and 2,594 other readers will be enjoying this newsletter or I’ll start texting you Severance spoilers. I’m a monster.

Welcome back Bogdan!
And a big welcome to the +90 new readers this edition!

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Sponsored by Insiders

✅The Instant Value Section (IVS)✅

(aren’t you glad you opened the email now?)

A big Thank you to Peter-Paul Maan for supplying this week’s IVS. Peter-Paul is a very smart and direct (ahem, he’s Dutch) CTR and CVR expert. I highly recommend following his musings on LinkedIn or trying out his software, Intellivy.

The A/B Image Scientist Shows You How To Research For New Launches

This isn’t your grandma’s A/B testing.

🧪 The Experiment:

I ran a Basic Poll with 60 responses to quickly understand what drives consumer decisions.

🎯 The Goal:

Uncover hidden needs from buyers to create an awesome new product launch.

Step 1:
Find a product you’re looking to sell — let’s say a new bike seat. Next, think about what the most obvious buying factor might be. In the case of the bike seat, let’s assume it’s “comfort.” If you need help coming up with an idea, we built out a GPT for you.

If you aren’t 100% sure what’s the most obvious thing a buyer’s looking for when buying your product, use the GPT above.

Step 2:
Now that you have the most obvious buying factor, it’s a great time to run a poll to find even deeper decision factors a customer might want.

Step 3:
You don’t have a product yet, so you don’t have a picture. Don’t let that stop you – choose:

• A real competitor’s product.
• An existing image from a sample or prototype.

With Intellivy you can easily fetch any ASIN to be your mockup – and then change whatever you want.

Step 4:
Let’s define who’s taking the poll. There are many ways to segment your audience, so think carefully about what makes the most sense for your product.

If you want broad insights and have no idea yet about key demographics like gender or age, keep it simple:

• Set 50% male, 50% female
• Use a wide age range

However, if you already know certain age groups or genders are unlikely to buy your product, exclude them. Keep your focus on the most relevant audience.

Beyond that, you can apply more advanced segmentations that directly relate to your product. Take a look at the options available—our platform offers many possibilities to refine your test.

🥇 Final Result:
Using ChatGPT to analyze my Poll results, (see here) I was able to uncover two new products that went far beyond traditional “comfort-only” buyer needs.

For only $50 – you get real consumer perspectives that can shape your marketing and product positioning, fast and affordably. Give it a try!

Instant 3D Modeling/Renders like you’ve never seen.

This actually works. Chat GPT Model 4o. Here’s my original image, and the image Chat GPT produced. Thanks to @Sean Walsh for the heads up.

And the prompt & final render…

P.S. Here’s a few more detailed prompts from Andrew Bell to try. Reminder: the model you want to use is ChatGPT 4o.

Max @ MDS Inspire & Prosper Show

I was in Vegas last week for MDS Inspire!

Everyone has a different reason to go to conferences.. here’s mine:

Conferences never cease to ENERGIZE me.

In a business like ours, it’s easy to feel isolated and lonely, working behind screens and handling challenges independently.

But when I attend conferences, I get the chance to connect in person with motivated, creative entrepreneurs who are building incredible businesses. Seeing firsthand the amazing things other sellers are accomplishing refills my “motivation bar.”

Sure, there’s the inevitable pitching and sessions you might not always find exciting. But those are small trade-offs when it means meeting and learning from extraordinary founders and innovators face-to-face.

If you’re someone who attends conferences too, I’m curious…what’s your main reason for going?

Upcoming Webinar: Your Tariff Questions Answered

We heard you! We’ve had many questions and concerns about Tariffs lately. And in our rapidly changing world (seems faster than ever). So… we reached out to our friends at Gembah to see if they could create & run a webinar where all of our tariff questions could be answered!

To that end…

Tariff changes are creating new challenges (and opportunities) in global manufacturing. Join Gembah on April 9 at 1 PM ET for a free webinar exploring the latest tariff updates, top manufacturing alternatives beyond China, and strategies to build a more resilient supply chain. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain expert insights and actionable strategies for your business.

The Deep Dive (Premium Content)

All you need to know about Amazon’s Coupon Change

We broke down the before/after changes for Amazon’s new coupon rollout: The break-even price? $22.

Starting June 2, 2025, there’s going to be a new fee structure for all coupon types (Standard, Subscribe & Save, Reorder):
(SET YOUR CALENDAR ALERTS)

Old system:
• $0.60 per redeemed unit
• No upfront fee

New system:
• $5 upfront per coupon
• Plus 2.5% of coupon-attributed sales

Example: 100 coupon redemptions
• $10 product = $5 + 2.5% of $1,000 → total cost: $30 (or $0.30/unit)
• $20 product = $5 + 2.5% of $2,000 → total cost: $55 (or $0.55/unit)
• $24 product = $5 + 2.5% of $2,400 → total cost: $65 (or $0.65/unit)
• $30 product = $5 + 2.5% of $3,000 → total cost: $80 (or $0.80/unit)

It looks like the breakeven is around $22/unit.

Below that? You save money.

Above that? You’re paying more than before.

But here’s the insidious part:
The breakeven isn’t just about price… redemption volume matters too.
• At $10, the new model only wins if you get at least 15 redemptions.
• At $20, it’s 50 redemptions.

A good rule of thumb: If you get at least 1 coupon sale per day, and are ~$20 or under, you’re probably going to save money with the new system.

…but If you have a high-priced product You’re now paying more. A lot more.

Standard Coupons (All Customers)
• Max duration is still 30 days
• Still can’t overlap with other coupons
• Visibility unchanged

Subscribe & Save Coupons
• Max duration still 365 days
• Now can overlap with Reorder coupons

Reorder Coupons
• Max duration still 180 days
• Targeted to past buyers

Key Takeaways:
• The $5 + 2.5% model is selling price-based w/ a flat fee.
• Products priced under $22 benefit from lower costs
• Products over $22 now cost more per redemption
• Redemption volume now plays a critical role in whether the new model saves or costs you more
• Only one Standard coupon allowed per ASIN, but you can stack Reorder + SnS on the same SKU

P.S. Our friend @Niki Techen made a calculator so you can check your own products!

Use Plastiq to Pay Everything (Get Infinite Points)

The two biggest expenses in most typical Amazon businesses are inventory & PPC. We can put our PPC on our credit cards and get a ton of points. But many people aren’t able to put PPC on a credit card because suppliers only take wire/ACH.

How can we pay our suppliers using a Credit Card?

Using a payment provider like Plastiq (there are others like Melio), we can use our credit cards to pay supplier invoices and the supplier will receive a wire/ACH.

What’s the catch?

Most of these providers charge at least a 2.9% fee. So on a $50,000 payment to a supplier, you’re paying $1450 to Plastiq (which kinda sucks).

But… depending on the type of spend and if you’re using credit cards correctly, you can get around 2% back in credit card points (or around 2 cents per dollar spent) making this still a net loss of -0.9%.

And here’s the fun part: If we strategically redeem these points, we can sometimes achieve between 3-4.5 cents per point (CPP)

So… some quick math: If we redeem at around 3 cents/point (2 points/dollar x $0.03) we effectively get 6% back in value (and only pay 2.9%). If we redeem at an even higher cents per point, like 4.5 cents/point – our return rises to 9%

The Break-even Point: The critical number is redeeming at least 1.5 CPP. If you redeem your points at less than this rate, you’re actually losing money (net negative). If you exceed 1.5 CPP, you’re in positive territory, making Plastiq worthwhile.

TL;DR

If you redeem your points strategically at high values (ideally 3-4.5 cents per point), using services like Plastiq becomes profitable despite their fees. If your redemption value is below 1.5 CPP. it won’t make financial sense.

P.S. – I learned all this from a group called Freedom Travel Systems
(let us know if you want an intro)

The Only Thing Worse than a Snake

What’s worse than a snake? A water snake. That’s my nightmare. I already don’t like snakes, but sea snakes are on a whole different level.

The first time I saw one was in Costa Rica. The boys were doing karate training on the beach when suddenly everyone started moving away from the water pretty quickly. I didn’t know what was happening until I spotted it. Long, dark, and… slithering.

Thankfully, a local guy sitting nearby, almost like he had been waiting for this moment, casually stood up, walked over, grabbed it, and took it away like it was just another Tuesday.

There are plenty of snakes around the country, but the Fer-de-Lance is probably the most well-known and feared. It’s venomous, and not something you want to mess with. The first time I saw one, about four feet long, being taken out of a shower near the beach… it blew my mind.

When I told a few locals, the first thing they asked was, “What did it look like? What kind of snake was it?”

Honestly, I wasn’t getting anywhere close enough to figure that out LOL.

And apparently, having non-venomous snakes around is actually a good thing. Why? Territorial overlap. Venomous and non-venomous snakes often compete for the same food, like frogs, rodents, and lizards. So if a non-venomous species is thriving in an area, it might mean there is less space or food for a venomous one to move in.

The locals say to leave them alone…Yeah, no shit.

• Navdeep asks about identity reverification
  
• Meltables are two weeks away (April 15th)

“No new fee increases!” (JK, F*** you, Amazon Seller)

Our good friend @Jon Derkits recently mentioned there has not been a month yet in 2025 that Amazon has not increased a fee in some area. 🥹

1. Amazon changed its FBA inventory reimbursements policy such that, beginning on March 31, sellers only get reimbursed for lost/damaged inventory based on “Manufacturing Cost” rather than Retail Value.
2. Amazon eliminated the “middle ground” option in its Inventory Placement Fees program, forcing sellers to choose between Amazon Optimized Shipments (i.e., no Inbound Placement Fees, but bear the cost to ship to 5 locations) or No Splits (i.e., send to one location but pay high Inbound Placement Fees).
3. And, most recently, with these performance-based deals, deals on high-performing ASINs will cost more.

All of this is after Amazon promised “no new fee increases in 2025.

Speak Up! Community Comments & Questions:

Want to have your question answered in the newsletter? Want to give us a piece of your mind? Send us an email at info@sellingfrom.co

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If you liked this newsletter, here’s where we share more stuff like it:

1. 🤓 Just getting started? Check out the Free Amazon FBA Course
2. 🎙️ Listen to the latest episodes of The SFTB Podcast
3. 💸Increase your income today with Online Arbitrage Training
4. 👔 Need an Accountant? Accounting Services
5. 📧 Want some 1-on-1 time? Rob & Max
6. 📣Interested in sponsoring the newsletter? E-mail info@sellingfrom.co

All the best,

Rob & Max