Merch By Amazon | Tiering Up Tips

 

Tiering Up Tips | Merch By Amazon

One of the biggest challenges in MBA is the system of tiering your account up.

Tiering is basically hao many live designs you can have at one time on the platform (Amazon)

It's frustrating, mind-bending and at times so depressing you feel like just stopping and throwing the towel in.

I decided to write this part because I remember how bad and how I felt it really was trying (and still trying) to get there.

In this article, we will discuss a few tips and tricks that will help you navigate your way to higher tiers in Merch By Amazon (MBA)

Some History         

When I stared in 2017 it took me close to 8 months to get approved for my MBA account, then I threw up some designs (really bad ones) without thought and without checking for TM`s,

I got very lucky with the trademark stuff, I knew enough to stay away from brand stuff like coke or Disney but did not know that a lot of words were trademarked.

But common words are Tm`s in the apparel industry, most of which are frivolous (meaning they are not a brand name, but merely to keep competition out)

Tiering was so hard, start at 10, sell 10 get to 25, sell 25 get to 100 and son on brutal.

That changed and tiering became sort of crazy some tiered to the next level with just a few sales some it took longer. Then they changed things up again this year, 2019, I'm not sure at this writing what the criteria is, it seems really random.

You Could Not Compete

The folks who got in early in 2015-16 (it closed down for a time in 2015) didn't have tiers, just upload as many as they wanted. And you had to be a citizen of the USA as well.

So when they opened the door for us new people it started to get flooded, and still, this is happening with new designers.

The old designers had thousands of designs up, so it was very hard to get yours seen.

Then a freeze came from I think late Nov, Dec, that no new listings were created, this hurt a lot. 

Then the tier system and other things started to change, which was a good thing, making it a bit easier to a least get your designs seen.

Fast Forward

I'm not sure just how many designs over the whole platform are live and how many designers there are. But competition is fierce again, and tiering is hard again, I think?

AMS ads (PPC) are in play on all accounts, and still, the big accounts get everything (New Stuff) before the rest of us. Thereby saturating and leaving not a lot behind, BUT, you can still win.

It's unfair yes, it`s an unfair advantage, yes, will it change, doubtful. Does it hurt your overall performance, yes, but only to a point.

Some Tips 'N' Tricks              

Ok, so as promised a few tricks we can employ to help our MBA tiering and success.

1. Look at  Top selling designs can you improve them, if so make it better, without copying anything and list
2. Look at top-selling bullets and keywords, check for TM, and copy Keywords
3. If you cant design source to a good designer use 1 design 50 times for different variations, even niches
4. Use AMS ads (learning curve go carefully)
5. Go for trends or holidays (at first) this does not work for everybody, but worth a shot
6. In the beginning, you only have 10 live slots, put all in whatever niche you are going for (fishing all 10 designs)

I do not condone or promote copying, but improving and keyword stuff, go for it, even all the top people do this, don't listen to those that say they don't, I  know they do.

HINT: From Tier 10-25 try to split or keep all designs in one-two niches max.

Easier And Less Headache Way | Ninja Style

This is cool, now when new users get their accounts, there are certain things that are included, we had to wait.

Access to 3 markets USA, Britan and Germany, Pop Sockets and AMS ads.

Resist the temptation to go on the other 2 markets, the US one is way better and is more productive, so far. 

Wait on Britan and Germany till you are at the LEAST tier 500, they are slow-moving and the big accounts had months of first access so they are getting pretty saturated and hard for sales, they are not the best market for tees anyway.

 HINT: POPSOCKETS

Pop Sockets                    

This is probably, at this time the easiest and less work intensive way to get listings up.

You can use photographs, images, vectors, Png, Jpeg anything you want as long as it fits and is of good quality.

See It Live

Try not to STRECHHHHH things, as they won't, look good right.

They are hot, they sell and you can start them out with a $12.99 price tag any day and go up to $14.99 from there. Its about $2 bucks royalty or so. 

Remember the 10x theory if the number seems low.

People buy multiples, the most I have had is 2 (multiple times)      

Remember any sale is a sale toward getting your live slots opened up (tiers) volume is key.

In Closing

All in all if you sort of use this as a guide it will help you out.

 Remember that what works for one might not work for all. 

But it`s groundwork and a bit of knowledge, that you will build on, eventually getting the formula right for your own business.

Don't stretch yourself too thin, and if you are waiting for approval, get on Redbubble or Teespring or any POD of your choice, and start building your portfolio/brand.

Patience is a virtue, keep your slots full, upload daily on other PODS, it seems to help. Especially on Etsy where interaction with the platform and your account daily is part of the ranking algorithm.

I hope this will help in your POD journeys and make things a bit easier.

If you have questions or comments feel free to leave them, I will try to respond as I have Time.

All the Best in your POD business and in general

EJ