1 Email Turns 13 Years on Amazon Into Nothing

[TKDTyler]

This guy spent 13 years building up his business on Amazon. Top Christmas seller. Perfect account standings. Customer service focused. Only to be shut down with no rhyme or reason.

He is unable to log into his account. Unable to obtain any seller support. And his income cut off in a day.

Diversify your income streams and business channels so this does not happen to you. Control your business. Don't be this guy.

https://joshstankler.wordpress.com/2016/11/23/amazon-just-destroyed-my-business/

 

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[LifeTransformer]

This guy is using wordpress.com for his own blog, he knows nothing about control.

EDIT:

Look at this quote: " You’d have asked me why I don’t have a website of my own and I’ve have explained to you that with Amazon, I just never needed one."

You always needed one, you were just too dumb to realise it.

 

[ZF Lee]

This guy is using wordpress.com for his own blog, he knows nothing about control.

USING WORDPRESS.COM??? But he already had sales, sure it would be time to at least buy a domain name and have a website of his own....(and it's really inexpensive too compared to physical building rentals!)

Even the money gurus have their own websites to buy stuff from. Amazon was just a channel with reviews and everything to promote, just another face-front.

You know, I thought businesses could be toppled only by huge errors, but this small weakness....talk about Archilles' heel.
This story gives me the PAIN.....

 

[ZF Lee]

But 13 years, and good customer record...didn't the customers ganged up and complain? He was a value provider...

 

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[lowtek]

WOW - this guy just won't learn. If you read the post, he's going back to eBay.... no mention of selling off his own website. Unreal. Seems like someone bouncing around various MLM schemes.

 

[ZF Lee]

WOW - this guy just won't learn. If you read the post, he's going back to eBay.... no mention of selling off his own website. Unreal. Seems like someone bouncing around various MLM schemes.

What the----hold on a sec.

Just because you go to another channel doesn't means you're going to solve the problem. The problem of CONTROL that is.
Can't he just open his own website with his present company? I'm sure it's no hassle as he has already built stuff up!
If he's really going to spend his time jumping on bandwagons that are not his own, he might as well eat a rooster.

 

[TKDTyler]

This guy is using wordpress.com for his own blog, he knows nothing about control.

That's also the first thing I noticed.

WOW - this guy just won't learn. If you read the post, he's going back to eBay.... no mention of selling off his own website. Unreal. Seems like someone bouncing around various MLM schemes.

I wonder why he left eBay in the first place if it was going so well...

Can't he just open his own website with his present company? I'm sure it's no hassle as he has already built stuff up!
If he's really going to spend his time jumping on bandwagons that are not his own, he might as well eat a rooster.

It's amazing that he was in "business" for 13 years and failed to have any type of vision other than Amazon. If I were to guess, I bet he runs a retail arbitrage or dropshipping business. It was bound to die sooner or later.

 

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[Envision]

he said they're holding 1300 pounds of his...

I dont see how you can sell for 13 years and only have that in your account and be angry about it if you're running a legitimate business. Sure it might have been a days worth of processed sales but the way he's butthurt about it suggests to me that he would be more angry about losing the system that makes much more than that along with the inventory... Honestly sounds like he's new to selling. No website is another tell tale sign of a newbie - I had my site up the day i had my idea and it took me 5 minutes.

This story is a good reason to reiterate control but id take it with a grain of salt because he honestly doesnt seem that smart. Regardless once your business is generating a profit on Amazon you should spend the rest of your 24 hours per day figuring out how to grow your email list and create paid traffic to scale on your own site..

 

[biophase]

he said they're holding 1300 pounds of his...

I dont see how you can sell for 13 years and only have that in your account and be angry about it if you're running a legitimate business.

Yup, he should make that amount in a few hours after 13 years. He prob wasn't running a full time, self branded business. Maybe he was arbitraging which would explain why he didn't have his own website.

Maybe he got banned for selling a gated brand.

 

[Almantas]

Seller aside, Amazon should have at least provided a proper closure as to why his account got banned.

 

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[smarty]

...well, that escalated quickly!

Perfect example to never ever handle a third party full control of your business. They can turn your life-long business into dust like puffff, any moment.

 

[Waisec]

he said they're holding 1300 pounds of his...

I dont see how you can sell for 13 years and only have that in your account and be angry about it if you're running a legitimate business. Sure it might have been a days worth of processed sales but the way he's butthurt about it suggests to me that he would be more angry about losing the system that makes much more than that along with the inventory... Honestly sounds like he's new to selling. No website is another tell tale sign of a newbie - I had my site up the day i had my idea and it took me 5 minutes.

This story is a good reason to reiterate control but id take it with a grain of salt because he honestly doesnt seem that smart. Regardless once your business is generating a profit on Amazon you should spend the rest of your 24 hours per day figuring out how to grow your email list and create paid traffic to scale on your own site..

Even then it's a lesson for newbies that, if an absolute F*cking retard like that can make money, then so can them.

 

[DogsBreakfast]

I sold on eBay for 6 years. Not making much but I had a store earning between $500-$1k a month and only took 5 minutes of work per day, almost fully passive income since I had another guy sending the products. After 6 years it got shutdown. My fault though, never thought about expanding into a website. It only took a few negative feedbacks for ebay to limit my 900+ feedback account.

Never again..

 

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[TKDTyler]

I sold on eBay for 6 years. Not making much but I had a store earning between $500-$1k a month and only took 5 minutes of work per day, almost fully passive income since I had another guy sending the products.

I find that I constantly remind myself that even though $500-$1000 per month may not seem like much in comparison to what I make/what my bills currently look like, that $500-$1000 could be life changing to someone else. I always think about how a family that lives paycheck to paycheck with multiple kids would get by with an extra 1k per month. Thats $12000 a year for new clothes, better food, a vacation, or anything else that would provide better for their children.

Even if we can make that extra $1000 easily, I do not think we should take it for granted. I'm so grateful that I have had the ability to interact with other like-minded people on this forum in order to push me to a different mindset, and ultimately, a different financial level. I realize that not everybody has the priviledge of disposable income to put towards side businesses. For some, especially for those with kids, failure is not an option.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody

 

[Chazmania]

This is why I'm learning the Shopify/paid traffic route. Amazon is an incredible sales channel but can't be the only one. Same with Ebay as stated above. Imagine building something up for so long and then getting shut down overnight like that? The commandment of control is nothing to take lightly.

 

[ZF Lee]

Seller aside, Amazon should have at least provided a proper closure as to why his account got banned.

You know, you're right!

 

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[DogsBreakfast]

I find that I constantly remind myself that even though $500-$1000 per month may not seem like much in comparison to what I make/what my bills currently look like, that $500-$1000 could be life changing to someone else. I always think about how a family that lives paycheck to paycheck with multiple kids would get by with an extra 1k per month. Thats $12000 a year for new clothes, better food, a vacation, or anything else that would provide better for their children.

Even if we can make that extra $1000 easily, I do not think we should take it for granted. I'm so grateful that I have had the ability to interact with other like-minded people on this forum in order to push me to a different mindset, and ultimately, a different financial level. I realize that not everybody has the priviledge of disposable income to put towards side businesses. For some, especially for those with kids, failure is not an option.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody

Don't get me wrong it was great money, but I wasn't working at the time just studying. And my free time I wasn't doing anything productive so it didn't help me learn much. The way I fell into it was pretty lucky.

 

[Vigilante]

It is worthwhile to note that this seller was reinstated - you can read that at the end of the comments. It might have been due to the visibility of the blog post itself.

The fundamental point of the OP of diversification stands though.

 

[DBXI]

This is one of those situations that happens a lot more than people realize and especially with all the brand gating going on. Sellers are reporting each other for counterfeits like crazy right now. It's a ware zone in some categories. Amazon will literally just wack the ASINs down that got reported with little proof. Over 90% of our sales are on Amazon and I'm working towards using FB ads to drive traffic to our Bigcommere store but it's tough going so far. In the next 12 months I'd like only 50% of our sales to be coming from Amazon. I've also been trying to get into walmart.com but so far haven't qualified. I think you need to be doing a mil+ a year for them to even look at you.

 

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[amp0193]

This is one of situations that happens a lot more than people realize and especially with all the brand gating going on. Sellers are reporting each other for counterfeits like crazy right now. It's literally a ware zone in some categories.

The more competition, the bigger the target on your back, and the more dirty-handed tactics will go in your direction. This is true on and off Amazon. Converse and Keds almost destroyed a young Nike by using trickery to convince U.S. Customs to fine them 25mil.

However, it is incredibly easy to do this on Amazon, and it is one of the biggest problems that they need to address. Fake accounts --> real orders --> real counterfeit complaints --> ASIN shut down. You can defeat it, but on Amazon, sellers are always guilty until proven innocent. Ban first, ask questions later.


The 2nd lesson of this story is to never turn over and accept defeat. This dude busted his a$$, made a huge stink, gave Amazon bad PR, and magically his account was re-instated. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, as they say.

 

[TKDTyler]

I've also been trying to get into walmart.com but so far haven't qualified. I think you need to be doing a mil+ a year for them to even look at you.

Have you looked into Jet? I've been hearing some good things about their platform (although the process to get your products up can be lengthy)

 

[DBXI]

Converse and Keds almost destroyed a young Nike by using trickery to convince U.S. Customs to fine them 25mil.

This story is one I need to check out sounds interesting.

 

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[DBXI]

Have you looked into Jet? I've been hearing some good things about their platform (although the process to get your products up can be lengthy)

Not yet but I figured since Walmart owns Jet it would be the same. I'll check it out though. Maybe the requirements are not as steep.

 

[amazon joe]

I was referred to this forum by r/entrpreneur and I'm surprised by all the hate against this seller for not expanding his platform past Amazon. I started selling on Amazon at the beginning of this year with no knowledge of ecommerce or business whatsoever and as of today I'm clearing high six figures in sales each month with a net margin of 35%+. I wouldn't have been able to break into ecommerce with nearly as much success on any other platform other than Amazon, and I've looked into eBay and having my own website.

In my niche, at least, there is really no alternative to Amazon. I've weighed the cost/benefit of starting my own website but it would be miniscule compared to the volume I'm moving on Amazon. Personally, I find it far more productive to expand my product base on Amazon rather than trying to start my own website, so I can certainly understand why the seller in the OP was only selling on Amazon. Looking forward, I will be keeping an eye on Jet.com and see how the Walmart acquisition affects things, but as it stands, they are far more restrictive towards sellers than Amazon.

Most of the biggest sellers on Amazon are wholesalers with strong connections to their suppliers and they do 99% of their business through Amazon, even though they have accounts on eBay, Jet.com, and have their own website. Amazon is just way too big at the moment that spending time on your own website just wouldn't be worth it. Some of these big name sellers are etailz, Avalance Industries, Net Rush, River Trading Colony, etc. These sellers are doing tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year off Amazon and they haven't been able to replicate that anywhere else. Some business models, such as wholesale, and maybe even private label, simply work best on Amazon.

 

[jpanarra]

I was referred to this forum by r/entrpreneur and I'm surprised by all the hate against this seller for not expanding his platform past Amazon. I started selling on Amazon at the beginning of this year with no knowledge of ecommerce or business whatsoever and as of today I'm clearing high six figures in sales each month with a net margin of 35%+. I wouldn't have been able to break into ecommerce with nearly as much success on any other platform other than Amazon, and I've looked into eBay and having my own website.

In my niche, at least, there is really no alternative to Amazon. I've weighed the cost/benefit of starting my own website but it would be miniscule compared to the volume I'm moving on Amazon. Personally, I find it far more productive to expand my product base on Amazon rather than trying to start my own website, so I can certainly understand why the seller in the OP was only selling on Amazon. Looking forward, I will be keeping an eye on Jet.com and see how the Walmart acquisition affects things, but as it stands, they are far more restrictive towards sellers than Amazon.

Most of the biggest sellers on Amazon are wholesalers with strong connections to their suppliers and they do 99% of their business through Amazon, even though they have accounts on eBay, Jet.com, and have their own website. Amazon is just way too big at the moment that spending time on your own website just wouldn't be worth it. Some of these big name sellers are etailz, Avalance Industries, Net Rush, River Trading Colony, etc. These sellers are doing tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year off Amazon and they haven't been able to replicate that anywhere else. Some business models, such as wholesale, and maybe even private label, simply work best on Amazon.

Read the post a bit more carefully, they're not hating on amazon or how he started his business to grow. The problem here is that he was on amazon for so long and he didn't even consider to diversify to protect his cash-flow. I mean it doesnt even have to be jet.com, ebay, or anything but it can be his own e-commerce store that he could reffer to his consumers. He could've collected an email list and notified them that he's having some difficulties with the amazon store at the time and point them to another venue. Instead of losing 99% of his revenue in the number of months it was blocked, he couldve cut that loss in half.

 

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[TKDTyler]

Most of the biggest sellers on Amazon are wholesalers with strong connections to their suppliers and they do 99% of their business through Amazon, even though they have accounts on eBay, Jet.com, and have their own website. Amazon is just way too big at the moment that spending time on your own website just wouldn't be worth it. Some of these big name sellers are etailz, Avalance Industries, Net Rush, River Trading Colony, etc. These sellers are doing tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year off Amazon and they haven't been able to replicate that anywhere else. Some business models, such as wholesale, and maybe even private label, simply work best on Amazon.

Welcome to the forum. Hope you spend some time and read around the forum a bit to understand some of the concepts we try to follow. Particularly CENTS. C is the commandment of control.

By selling on Amazon, we violate this commandment. Yes, it is the largest sales platform in the world and you would be a fool not to have a listing on there (although some members elect to not sell on there at all). But the point of the post was to highlight how life changing and business changing one decision from Amazon can be.

What would have happened if Amazon did not reinstate his account?

What would happen if eBay decided to ban him the very next day?

By diversifying and expanding our sales channels, we are able to withstand sudden drops in sales on any particular platform, especially if those sales plummet to 0 from a ban.

While selling on Amazon, it is always wise to be pursuing the path of self-control. Use Amazon as a funnel for customer loyalty and repeat customers by directing them towards your website. Build email lists through lifetime warranties. Upsell. Add more value other than just the 1 product that they bought.

Sales are nice, but we should always be thinking of how we can provide more value to the customer while following CENTS.

Hopefully you can pick up a copy of the book soon and a lot of our philosophies will be more apparent.

Congrats on your success on Amazon and enjoy your stay

 

[amazon joe]

Read the post a bit more carefully, they're not hating on amazon or how he started his business to grow. The problem here is that he was on amazon for so long and he didn't even consider to diversify to protect his cash-flow. I mean it doesnt even have to be jet.com, ebay, or anything but it can be his own e-commerce store that he could reffer to his consumers. He could've collected an email list and notified them that he's having some difficulties with the amazon store at the time and point them to another venue. Instead of losing 99% of his revenue in the number of months it was blocked, he couldve cut that loss in half.

With the products I'm selling, I wouldn't bother bringing them off a platform on Amazon. Customers purchase them on Amazon because it's such a great platform for them. If I stopped selling these products on Amazon, other companies would still be selling them, there would be no reason for the customers to buy from my website. With private label you would have more leverage however.

 

[jpanarra]

With private label you would have more leverage however.

Then why don't you start private labeling then?

That's what leads you to build an opportunity to scale your efforts.

 

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[amazon joe]

Welcome to the forum. Hope you spend some time and read around the forum a bit to understand some of the concepts we try to follow. Particularly CENTS. C is the commandment of control.

By selling on Amazon, we violate this commandment. Yes, it is the largest sales platform in the world and you would be a fool not to have a listing on there (although some members elect to not sell on there at all). But the point of the post was to highlight how life changing and business changing one decision from Amazon can be.

What would have happened if Amazon did not reinstate his account?

What would happen if eBay decided to ban him the very next day?

By diversifying and expanding our sales channels, we are able to withstand sudden drops in sales on any particular platform, especially if those sales plummet to 0 from a ban.

While selling on Amazon, it is always wise to be pursuing the path of self-control. Use Amazon as a funnel for customer loyalty and repeat customers by directing them towards your website. Build email lists through lifetime warranties. Upsell. Add more value other than just the 1 product that they bought.

Sales are nice, but we should always be thinking of how we can provide more value to the customer while following CENTS.

Hopefully you can pick up a copy of the book soon and a lot of our philosophies will be more apparent.

Congrats on your success on Amazon and enjoy your stay

Thank you. One of the reasons I've joined this forum is to connect with other entrepreneurs and learn. I agree with you about the need to diversify, and that's one of my biggest priorities at the moment. However, my route to diversification wouldn't be to replicate my Amazon business on other platforms or my own ecommerce website, since I don't think it would work very well for the products I'm selling.

At the moment, I'm thinking that a better way to diversify would be to explore other business opportunities on and off of Amazon, such as real estate, brick and mortar, acquiring another established Amazon FBA business. It's quite possible that the seller mentioned in the OP did have other things he was doing off of Amazon, but not strictly related to the things he was selling on Amazon.

I'm no Amazon fanboy by any means, and it's not something I'm particularly passionate about. Ideally I'd like to start a green company that has a tangible impact, but I have a lot to learn in that field.

 

[amazon joe]

Then why don't you start private labeling then?

That's what leads you to build an opportunity to scale your efforts.

I actually have a few private label products, that's what got me into the Amazon world to begin with. However, I've simply found my current way of sourcing to be far more explosive in terms of growth. My private label products do around $2000 in sales each month while the other products I sell, which have big brand names, do over half a million in sales each month. My time spent on private labeling simply hasn't been as productive, and I do have to take some responsibility because I probably could have done better if I spent my time more wisely, but it still would not have been nearly as efficient.

I am however looking for opportunities to acquire existing private label brands, so I'm still open to the idea.