This Issue's TLDR...
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My good buddy Max Sigurdson-Scott from Selling from the Beach had a rock in his shoe last week. Or, maybe I should say...sand in his swim trunks? (HA!) And the name of that rock (or sand) is GetIDA. It began with a "Breakup Text From Your Ex" of sorts. He called them out for Dark Patterns in their cancellation process. Based on his recounting of GetIDA's cancellation workflow, I... agree. In fact, I tossed a comment into the post, questioning whether such a complicated and elongated cancellation process violates the FTC's new Click-to-Cancel rules. Max had more things to, uh, GetIDA off his chest though. Next, Max pointed out something that most would not have noticed in GetIDA's Terms of Service: GetIDA doesn't give credits for Amazon reversals of reimbursements. This is the specific language that he pointed to: In the final post of his GetIDA Opus, Max ran through some math on what the aforementioned policy means in terms of the effective commission that you're actually paying GetIDA. The math...isn't good. Now, GetIDA, for their part, have engaged with the posts and offered to do a webinar to "hash through all of the details at length." They've also accused Max of spreading misinformation and being financially motivated (I'll come back to this point of financial motivations in a bit). From one of the founders of GetIDA: Most are confusing and misleading, though some are valid and interesting. It's one thing to educate the market. It's another thing to continue to post misinformation while promoting a service that you benefit from monetarily. I'm curious to see how this all plays out. It's tempting to form a judgement here and then hold dearly to that first conclusion. But, I will say...everything that Max raised is in line with the broader trend of shenanigans and bad behavior that I've observed from various FBA reimbursement providers. So, to that end, and to continue Max's yeoman's work of shining some sunlight on bad practices, I'll share some more "dirty little secrets" of the FBA reimbursements industry. SECRET 1: That 3% ain't 3%
SECRET 2: The G.O.A.T. ain't the G.O.A.T.
SECRET 3: That Refund ain't your Refund
SECRET 4: That Commission ain't the "Market Rate"
* PS: Go subscribe to Max's fantastic newsletter and follow him on LinkedIn. In case you haven't noticed, he's been posted 1 Amazon hack/tip per day for the past 241 days! Talk about consistency!
BEST from LinkedInI love that Isaac compiled this list. I was tempted to comment, but I held back. I like sharing Amazon hot sauce (duh, I write a newsletter), but, only to a point. For certain shareable things, I like to keep the sharing to a smaller audience. (In this case, all of my wonderful Best@Amazon readers) Because, sometimes, when a source of "alpha" gets shared too wildly, that alpha goes away. And winning on Amazon is hard enough. So, with that said, here are my two additions to Isaac's list:
BEST from XI found this super cool.
"But Jon, how am I supposed to show customers how my product sounds on Amazon?" Through video, of course. Check out this video from Airback. It's part product demo, part ASMR. And it's a masterful way to bring another sense (sound) into a shopper's product experience.
I talk about this often. In any deal, there are 4 ways to win:
Ignoring all the complexities that go into due diligence, if you can't clearly see a path to "win" across one (or more!) of the above dimensions, then you should walk away.
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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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