Covid Problems Solutions - FBA - POD - Ecom

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 the first day in stock, and I usually send 10+ items per SKU )
• Prices are better than I have seen in 1 1/2 years in for me
• Returns and refunds are down 
• Amazon has suspended performance and product  defect suspensions ( they have enough of their own)

A Few Bad Points

• You cant send things into Amazon that are not essential (there is a list, though it doesn't make a lot of sense)
• Shipments take longer to reach Amazon warehouses
• Shipments take a lot longer to get unpacked once delivered to Amazon
• You will definitely do more reconciliation
• If you do RA you have to be out there ( I do but super carefully)
• OA is better but you still need to handle your packages 

Good Practices For OA RA

If you feel like it helps wear a proper facemask, never touch your face ( this is harder than it sounds) while out, and make sure you have disinfectant wipes or something to wipe your hands before opening your car or touching keys.

Rubber gloves, in my opinion, are not good, if you wear them, make sure to throw them in the garbage when done, and remember, when you take them off, at least one exposed hand touches one glove, I have seen untold numbers of folks rip off the gloves, then smoke or eat without washing those hands, and a lot just drop the gloves were they take them off, not smart.

Handle all boxes bags or goods for inspection, in a clear area away from others, store, wash hands, change and wash clothes, then forget about the stuff for a week.

The virus if on anything should be dead by that point.

Get An Online Storefront

There are so many great Ecom platforms out there that it is easy to get a store up and running in a week or so.

This is a huge and booming economy at the best of times, now even more so.

The hardest part is deciding the platform to choose.

Sell Physical Digital Products

Once you have your hookups you should already have your plan in place, I am unsure if Tees or other printable items are doing great on these other platforms or not, unless you print your own stuff I can see issues with this (at this time)

People selling digital stuff like cards posters anything that can be output through home printers will be doing well right now.

Games puzzles etc will do fantastic now.

The only problem will be shipping, you will, of course, set up in your shipping options compared to the facts of the time, so shipping time is not guaranteed.

All in all, even though this is a very terrible time in our history, but you can still make a living.

One word Please do not GOUGE we do not and it is entirely unfair and against the law, you will make money on volume.

I'm not saying work for free, we are taking the risks to bring products to market, but be fair, this will come back to you later.. KARMA is real.

As always watch out for GURUS they are everywhere right now, even people you may trust will rip you off in the online world without a thought to you or your family. Gurus are the BANE of society ;)