I'm a former Amazon marketplace leader and current 8-figure seller. I write about advanced strategies and tactics for Amazon brands, that you won't read about anywhere else. Not for beginners.
βΌοΈ 10 Custom GPTs for Amazon Sellers
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I'm a heavy user of custom GPTs. I suspect many of you Best@Amazon readers are too. They truly produce significantly better outputs than the various generalized ChatGPT models. And, the crazy thing is...custom GPTs are super easy to create and basically accessible to anyone, whether or not you have a software development background. But, that wasn't always the case. A Quick Failure Story...Way back in early 2023, OpenAI / ChatGPT hadn't rolled out the ability to create custom GPTs, let alone even introduced the concept. But, nevertheless, I had a thesis that fine-tuned LLMs, working off a more narrow and specific "corpus" of knowledge, would produce better outputs. So, for the first 4 months of 2023, I charged hard in the direction of building a custom GPT for Amazon sellers, which I called "Ask Jeff". I essentially wanted to train a GPT on the rich repository of Amazon information that I had, and the sources that I constantly used to stay up-to-date. And, I actually developed a working prototype that felt like an MVP to me. But then, I scrapped it. I realized that it 1) was going to be A LOT more costly to run than I had expected and 2) might not have a clear path to revenue. I came to this realization after seeing a similar custom GPT hit the market at the same time that my prototype was ready (shout-out to www.frequently.ai), and simultaneously loving that tool and questioning whether I would have paid for it (I decided that I wouldn't). Because of that, it didn't feel like a good use of my time or capital to continue. I spent ~4 months on the project, and dumped about $3k into it. I don't regret any of it, but I have to call it for what it was...a failure. My own failure aside, I've tested 100s of custom GPTs, but I keep coming back to the same 10-12. So, to save you all that same amount of trial-and-error, here's a list of my Top 10 custom GPTs for Amazon sellers: Top 10 Custom GPTs for Amazon Sellers
*** Special shout-out to Andrew Bell, who is churning out custom GPTs for Amazon sellers like a machine. He is the author of THREE of the above custom GPTs, and countless others. Keep 'em coming, Andrew! BEST from LinkedInMost people blindly recite that Amazon's Brand Referral Bonus is 10%. And, that's not exactly true. Truth is, the BRB varies by category and sale price; but, on average, it amounts to 10%. At least...that's what Amazon has always told us. And, is the reason that we all have been so trained to rattle off the 10% figure. Anyway, my Pinterest-to-Amazon guy and new LinkedIn friend, Brendan Steele, is a man of precision and went ahead and created a handy calculator for brands to quantify their exact BRB. Thanks, Brendan. BEST from XWhen I first read the news that Amazon is beta testing a feature that would direct customers OFF of Amazon to complete their shopping journey, I did one of those spit takes and laughed in disbelief.
After checking the calendar and confirming that it wasn't April Fool's Day, I dug into the announcement and started to game out the 3D chess move that Amazon might be making here. Actually, before I did that, I had to tweet about the news. But, after that, I started thinking this through. Here's where I'm at: Amazon's Strategic Playβ Reclaiming Its "Everything Store" Legacy. Amazon's original vision was to be the Everything Store, but over time, gaps emerged in its catalog...luxury brands opted out, certain DTC players stayed away (π, All Birds), and competitors like Shein flooded the market with ultra-cheap alternatives. By showing products it doesn't even sell, Amazon is positioning itself as the definitive starting point for all shopping. β The Final Nail in the Coffin for Resellers. Amazon has spent years making the platform more inhospitable to grey market resellers, restricting arbitrage, enforcing brand gating, and favoring direct brand relationships. By routing shoppers straight to official brand sites instead of letting resellers fill the gaps, Amazon is doubling down on its "brand-first" strategy. If you're a grey market reseller, your time is up. β The Data Play No One's Talking About. Amazon doesn't just want traffic; it wants intel. Every off-site click gives Amazon a real-time pulse on what shoppers want but can't find on its platform. Expect this to inform future advertising products, product expansions, and even private-label plays. Implications for Brands & Advertisersβ‘ New Traffic Stream, But With Strings Attached. Brands that never wanted to sell on Amazon might now benefit from its reach. BUT, they'll need to think carefully about how much data they share and whether this move helps or hurts their DTC strategy long-term. β‘ A New Era for Retail Media & Attribution. If Amazon monetizes external listings (which it almost certainly will), this could fundamentally change retail media, making it harder to track conversions and forcing brands to rethink how they allocate ad spend across Amazon, Google, and their own channels. * Bottom Line: As always, Amazon is playing the long game here, and every brand needs to ask, "Are we gaining traffic, or just handing Amazon more control over our customer journey?" β
Personally, I don't love SBA loans for pure Amazon FBA businesses. Too much platform risk and concentrated volatility. But, for more omni-channel eCom businesses, or any other business type, I love them. And, truly, they might be the biggest unlock for you to earn generational wealth over a 5-10 year period. Of course, not all SBA lenders are created equal, and the wrong lender can either kill a deal, or make a good deal less good. Great tips here from Eric on how to avoid the wrong SBA lender.
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Best @ Amazon
I'm a former Amazon marketplace leader and current 8-figure seller. I write about advanced strategies and tactics for Amazon brands, that you won't read about anywhere else. Not for beginners.
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