The 100 Things I Wish All Amazon Sellers Would Know

It’s been an interesting couple of days. I have been taking my #techfast and I am starting to realize a few things about my personal and my business life.

So instead of focusing on some great “how-to” guide or an in-depth look at a new tool, I want reflect on some of the things I have learned over the past 2 years and I hope you have learned as well.

Here are the 100 Things I Wish All Amazon Sellers Would Know. Each of these items link back to a post one of us has written that goes into more detail (if you are interested in learning more).

1. Testing is the only way you are going to learn if a product sells or it does not. 
2. Everyone has a story. Before you judge, you should ask about it. 
3. If you are shipping a lot of one item, case packing is your friend. 
4. The sales rank of an item is it’s demand at a given point in time. 
5. A great site to start your online sourcing journey is The Tracktor. 
6. Certain Chrome Extensions can make your life a lot easier. 
7. This is the video that got FBA Master on the map. 
8. Movers and shakers is a a place to start looking for rabbit holes.
9. You will get addicted to looking at your sales numbers. 
10. Offering free shipping will help attract new customers. 
11. You can literally flip toilet paper from Walmart to Amazon.
12. Twitter can be powerful for those who use it correctly.
13. There is more to a book than meets the eye.
14. Free UPS Smart pick-up is the bomb!
15. Don’t let your nerves get the best of you.
16. Mistakes do happen. 
17. One of Chris’ favorite stores is Walgreens. 
18. There are such things as gated categories on Amazon. 
19. This page should be saved as your home screen 🙂
20. Anyone who sources online should love Keepa.
21. If you don’t know how to use Keepa, you need to learn.
22. Anytime Chris Wilkey does a Hangout, you should join. Period.
23. The real pros take Keepa alerts to the next level. 
24. Rabbit holes are where are the fun happens. 
25. Legos are the building blocks of a good long term strategy. 
26. You can even find deals from places like the Dollar Tree. 
27. Sometimes if you piss enough people off, you will get noticed. 
28. Each Amazon business needs a business model. And one business model is not better than another. 
29. Ignoring sales tax doesn’t make it better. 
30. Using merchant fulfilled shipping can allow you to make money on hot items before the price tanks.
31. Exclusive toys (at any store) should always be scanned.
32. It is 100% ok to buy and resell on Amazon…if you follow these rules.  
33. You need to understand what dimensional weight is and how to minimize it. 
34. There are extremely easy ways to increase your ROI by 10%.
35. The real money goes to those who take the extra step.
36. There is more that one way to move slow moving inventory.
37. It’s never too early to plan for Prime Day 2016.
38. Economics drive the Amazon marketplace.
39. Sometimes it is better to hire help than to do it all yourself. 
40. Refer to #2. Everyone has a story.
41. Poor feedback is killer. You need to make sure to take care of it.
42. Sometimes saving money is as easy as pie.
43. Never ever assume you know what someone else paid for an item.
44. There are some things that stop new sellers in their tracks.
45. No magic is needed to become an FBA Master. Just an awesome support team.
46. You can really source in your underwear.
47. Never give up. And have the patience to keep with it.
48. Time is money and the more you save, the more money you will make.
49. There is a ton of money in used books.
50. Marketing can help you land at the top of Amazon search results.
51. Advertising your products can boost sales.
52. Long term storage fees suck. So have a plan.
53. Once you buy something (unless you can return it), it is a sunk cost.
54. Ungating used to be easy. Don’t expect it to be now.
55. Prepping for Q4 starts as early as May.
56. Amazon will lose your items. And they can’t count. 
57. There are some great tools to answer those questions you have a beginner.
58. There is a science to creating listings.
59. You will hit a wall. And this is how you get over it.
60. Rule #29 isn’t a joke. We even created a how to guide.
61. Struggling with Sales Tax? TaxJar can help.
62. If you haven’t opened an Amazon seller account, that is your first step to selling. 
63. As we look back at rule #2, #63 takes the ante up a little higher. 
64. You will need to train your eye to look for specific criteria in an item.
65. You need to be careful when buying groceries.
66. Always learn from those smarter and more successful than you.
67. Refer back to #16. Mistakes do happen. No one is perfect.
68. If you didn’t find an answer to your beginner question in #57, proceed to this rule.
69. Still no luck with your question? Try this. 
70. Time is valuable thing. Watch pass by as the pendulum swings. (thank you to all of you who just sang this line)
71. You should really stop selling on Amazon.
72. Did you actually read #71? If not, you should really quit selling on Amazon.
73. Ebay is a gold mine for product souring if you know where to look.
74. Sharing is caring….REALLY! 
75. Packing and prepping will take some serious time unless you are smart than the average bear.
76. Each category has it’s own rate of sale. Use it to your advantage while sourcing.
77. Searching through drug store clearance is an art.
78. If you haven’t created a shipment yet, do it right now!
79. If you break the rules, you will get punished.
80. Seriously. Don’t break the damn rules. 
81. Q4 is bigger than you can imagine.
82. Networking will take your business to the next level.
83. Sometimes you will have trouble finding items. If so, think outside of the box.
84. Returns happen. Letting them sit in your garage doesn’t have to.
85. You shouldn’t clear the shelf on every item you find (even though it is fun).
86. Being nice will get you farther in life than anything.
87. Analysis paralysis helps nobody.
88. You can sell across the world in just few clicks.
89. Some people prefer online arbitrage to private label and vice versa.
90. Treat Amazon like the stock market.
91. A repeat of #66. Learn from those who are smarter than you. 
92. Replens don’t always come out of the grocery aisle.
93. Stop doubting yourself.
94. If you won’t quit, at least set goals. 
95. Selling on Amazon is possible from anywhere. 
96. Getting ungated in shoes, clothing, and luggage is really easy (for at least right now).
97. What happens after you break the rules? This.
98. If you sell a product with no reviews, here is how to fix it (and get some seller feedback in the process).
99. Amazon doesn’t follow a regular calendar when it comes to Q4.
100. If the first 99 rules didn’t help, try this.

CW