POD Man

PODS Down Or Slow Sales Though these are very horrifying and dark days in any person`s life, and I sincerely hope anyone reading this has suffered no losses, that being said: there is always an opportunity. Amazon is booming, but Merch by Amazon has been shut down completely. Allowing only drafts to be created and saved. If your income depends on Merch you have hopefully already branched out to other PODS such as Redbubble, Teepublic or KDP journal publishing ( I can't speak to KDP as I don't publish journals there) Hopefully, since all PODS are super slow you have or will branch out. Amazon FBA As mentioned I hope you have expanded to other Ecom areas, if you weren't this should be your time to act or make a plan of action. Other Pods for me are now also affected and sales are so low it's not worth mentioning. Luckily I am doing FBA as well, and am selling essential goods so my business there has been very good.  A Few Great Points  Velocity is crazy (some items sell t...

 Diving In Lately, as Amazon  FBA has started to fall a bit, it always seems like a race to the bottom, no kidding there, I have started to look at PODs again as a viable supplement to FBA..or vice versa. Etsy has crossed my mind a lot this past month. As mentioned in an earlier article, I had a start on a store, tees, not niche related. This store was gaining traction but was time-consuming, so I put it to bed. As did I rest quite a bit with my other PODS. Looking over Etsy this past month, I see a lot of changes and possibilities that were not there before and a few I did not notice. Why Etsy                    Etsy is a very attractive platform, like Amazon it has a built-in trust factor and huge consumer base. Most users are women, looking for things they want or are attracted to in some way or another, in the "handmade" genre. It is scaleable, but there is a learning curve.  Custom...

Merch By Amazon Going Downhill Well, I decided to write this about things in the first two months of 2020 POD. While there seems to be a huge slowdown for Merch by Amazon, Redbubble stays pretty constant with sales every month. I don't follow the community anymore since they all went GURU, yes it happened, so I can only guess there is something new that is in the works or being implemented. Down by 90% since Dec 2019, I haven't seen this since the big throttle of 2018. End Of 2019                           The 4th quarter of 2019 by far was the best we (my wife's account and mine) have ever done sales- wise on Merch. All of our sales were actually generated by only a few designs, with both accounts doing well with pop sockets. Redbubble was as usual steady with no surprises. And definitely outperforming Merch by miles for the first part of quarter 1. Teespring and Teepublic wer...

FBA Bad Actors Well, it seems we all have our problems with FBA and seller support. From getting different answers from different support workers to outright seemingly fraudulent activities by some workers or Admin. as reported a couple of years ago. Amazon has always had warts, its way to big not to, but this past month, the beginning of 2020 wow. I have problems every day. And very little help from seller central. This is not to dissuade anyone from selling on Amazon, I still believe that it is still a fantastic way to make money and get in and learn eCommerce.  It is not a rant, though it sounds like such ) This is a reality check for any that think it's easy! Read on... Black January FBA                                                                       ...

App Tips I thought I would get this up so new folks into the business would have a bit of guidance. There are a few things you should do and know. This is all pretty common and can be found anywhere I think but I'm adding it anyway. Without further ado here we go.. Configure Your App This is downloadable from the play store for android or from the app store for iPhone. After you download and do your log on you will need to set your app up. To do this open your app. You will be on the sales page by default.  In the top, left corner set your country if your selling on .com or .ca or even .com.mx by tapping the 3 bars a drop-down appears.         Hit the gear to your right Next hit Product search Preferences From here you will set up a few preferences.                                          Product con...

What IS Scanning I figure if your new to this all you're probably scratching your head wondering "What the heck is scanning" I thought I would bang this out as a quick tutorial or explanation. There is a camera icon in the top right of your seller central app. Press this and a bar code scanner comes up. You scan the bar codes on the products. You can also scan the product itself. All of this on your smartphone. What's This Have To Do With FBA?                              Everything.  What you are doing here is the very basics of getting going and continuing especially for RA and OA.  What you are doing is looking for products that are already listed on Amazon!  That's why the seller central app setup is important. This is where the app or Amazons logarithm tells you if your eligible to sell the product. What DO I Look For In the beginning everythin...

 Amazon Quick Look This is entirely written with a pure beginner in mind. If you are kicking tires thining about FBA or are just starting FBA read a bit this may help you. This is still the easiest way to get into online eCommerce that there is. I wish there were a truely easy let's go when I decided, only 1/12 years in I have made so many mistakes it's not funny. There are a lot more to come :) My business model is RA and OA Retail Arbitrage and Online Arbitrage, and moving some into wholesale in late 2020. I will give you a bit of help here, I won't give the farm away, but will help you a lot, at least this will point you in the direction you want to head. Things To Know You don't need a sellers pro account to start. But at the price and with the hassles and cost of any mail or cartage in Canada its the best way to go, even if you're just trying it out. USA carrier rates are way better and so it easier to start as a free account, but the...

I thought I would bang this out for any people that were reading my POD articles. I have been so busy with FBA and other projects plus working full time to write anything. The pod world has changed and I admit I have not had the time to follow the rabbit holes. I am still involved in Merch, Redbubble and Tee Public. Competition in all levels of eCommerce including Amazon Fba and POD is growing, everything is moving online, and more people from around the globe are joining the spree so it's gotten a lot more competitive (and Dirty) out there. 2020 should be an interesting year. Changes                                There are so many changes in Merch and other POD platforms this year I would have a hard time trying to go back and recount them all. From Merch outwards design choices. More product choices. A little better but still disappointing USPTO response to frivolous trademarks for comm...

My Amazon FBA Journey I thought at this point I would talk about Amazon FBA and some of the fun and heartbreak I have had and am still having to try to learn the business. Back when Amazon started, they had a few books, I was there trying to see if there was a way to make money. I failed at a lot of stuff and eventually gave up. My last serious blog was a digital download site/ software reseller that was in 2003. It failed, a bit ahead of its time. I quit and actually was offline for around 10 years. Finally coming back and starting to look at building an online income, out of necessity. getting old sucks if you're not prepared for it. So here's a bit of my journey, and you will see why it intertwines with POD and FBA for me. And maybe for you too. Some of my mistakes past, present, and future. This will be a journal of sorts, I will try to share the good, bad and ugly here, and hope it helps someone, from making t...