Hey Just a Seller Fam,

I write this to you on my way back from an awesome trip to Kevin King's Market Masters in Austin (I'll cover that later). Welcome to those of you who joined from then. But for now, there were a few developments I wanted to let you guys know about from running the business day to day.

There can be tons of follow up to ask, you know what to do, reply, I see every one of those. I'd be more than happy to engage with you further.

🛒 Walmart’s New “Brand Manager” Feature — And What They’re Not Saying

Walmart just introduced a new Brand Manager tab in Seller Center.
In theory, it allows sellers to apply to become either:

• Authorized Resellers, or
• “Acting Brand Owners.”

The messaging around this is neat, tidy, and reassuring.
It reads like Walmart is creating structure, protecting brands, and cleaning up the marketplace.

But here’s the part they don’t address:

What happens to sellers who source legitimate branded products through authorized distributors — but don’t have a direct brand authorization letter?

Because that scenario is not fringe.
It’s not shady.
It’s not “gray market.”

It’s how the entire wholesale supply chain works.

And yet, Walmart’s update is silent on a critical question:

No answer.
No guidance.
No clarity.

This silence tells you exactly what’s happening:

The control is shifting from product legitimacy → to brand preference.

Meaning:

A seller can move hundreds of thousands in volume, clean up listings, take returns, fix fulfillment, and deliver a better consumer experience…

…but if they’re not on the brand’s chosen list, they’re suddenly “unauthorized.”

And yet, the course of business they’re engaged in is:

• Lawful
• Standard
• Economically necessary
• And has existed for decades

This isn’t about counterfeit prevention.
It’s about selective permission.

So here’s the real takeaway:

If you are buying from legitimate distributors, with clean inventory and full chain-of-custody paperwork:

You are still operating a valid, legitimate business model.​
Walmart’s terminology does not determine legality.

Let’s be clear:

Resale is not a moral offense.​
Resale is a market function.

If Walmart wants to rewrite how supply moves in the U.S. marketplace, fine — but they owe sellers a straight answer:

Are legitimate distributor invoices enough?
Or is the only path now direct brand favoritism?

Because until that question is answered, this rollout isn’t order.
It’s ambiguity disguised as structure.

🚚 Shopify x FedEx: “Skip Holiday Surcharges” — Or Just Shift Them?

Shopify sent out an email this week promoting FedEx labels purchased through Shopify as a way to avoid peak season surcharges and even “save up to 50%” on handling fees.

On the surface, that sounds like a win.

But let’s not forget what we talked about last week:

Shipping carriers will happily under-communicate surcharges at the front-end, and then surprise you on the invoice 30 days later.

Especially FedEx and UPS during Q4.

This is not theoretical.
This is the business model.

So when Shopify says:

…what they’re really saying is:

Because every platform that offers “discounted labels” is not doing it for fun.
They get kickbacks on volume.

None of this is unethical.
But we need to call it what it is.

The bigger point:

Discounts don’t matter if the invoice reconciliation later tells a different story.

So if you test this (and you should test things, not just trust or dismiss them):

1. Track your shipments by tracking number + estimated charge at time of purchase
2. When FedEx invoices hit, check for:
   • Residential surcharges
   • Oversize fees
   • Dimensional adjustments
   • “Additional handling” (the wildcard surcharge bucket)
3. Compare what you thought you paid vs. what you actually paid

If Shopify’s program truly waives peak fees, the reconciliation will show it.

If not?

Then this is just another case of:
​Upfront marketing → Backend adjustments.

And that’s where most sellers get burned — not because the rates are bad, but because the variance is unpredictable.

So my stance remains:

• Run the experiment
• Track the data
• Trust the invoice, not the checkout rate

Resellers who stay in business don’t just hunt good prices —
​they hunt predictability.

And predictability is earned through measurement, not marketing language.

Reduce your ACOS by 4.4% Guaranteed

So many of you know I've been at Kevin King's Market Masters this weekend, and presented this as my hack, hoping to win a thousand bucks. While I didn't win it, here's the hack.

If you follow my guide on credit card stacks, you should have the AMEX Business Gold to give you 4x points on your Amazon and Google ad spend (Walmart does not qualify at this time).

So losers redeem those points at the standard .6¢/point cash back. We aren't losers. You subscribe to this newsletter 😁.

That's where I give you the formula to get 1.1¢/point. Note, that is almost doubling the valuation of your points, converting the expected cash back from 2.4¢/PPC dollar spent to 4.4¢ back in cash for every Dollar you spend in ads.

Enter the AMEX Platinum by Charles Schwab. Follow the steps in this video, and open that card up. You'll need a free brokerage account to get started.

​

Once you follow that video, and have your starter kit funded (and got a free $50) you follow the below video to open the Scwab AMEX Platinum.

​

Then ta da! In your AMEX dashboard, your button will turn from this to THIS:

Then just like that, you get 4.4% off your ACOS. Enjoy the extra cash liberty in your business 😁. Note, there is a cap on how many points you can redeem per calendar year, but that's only after a million bucks in ad spend, then you just wait for the calendar to flip to 2026, and redeem it in a month or so. Just be sure to check out the terms and conditions of the cards.