JAS Fam!

Again, thanks for giving me the time and attention to intrude on your inbox. Before this value packed version below, a little about what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks.

Without a doubt, most of you have been hearing from me via my welcome flow. But now I'm back and happier than ever to show you guys what I've been up to all August and September.

What I've prepared for my beloved subscribers (because that's what you truly are, really, I promise) is a mini series on the destinations I was flown out to, presentations I gave and the people I met over the last couple months.

Again, my purpose is to give you a window into the like of Just a Seller [JAS].

Throughout this issue you'll see how ridiculous seller feedbacks are on Amazon, despite their overhaul of the feature in August. I'll sprinkle some throughout this edition of JAS. Stay tuned, a fan causes number two. (Kevin King had an awesome breakdown of the feedback overhaul).

Guess what this person bought from me?

Let me take you back to June of this year.

I released a post on LinkedIn that went pretty wild. I asked my community why would I want to pay for community? No knowledge stays in any group, and if you go to enough events, you see all the members you want to absolutely free. Then, oh baby did MDS members come for me.

Long story short (you'll find out the long story soon enough), not only did I join MDS, I am writing to you on the flight back from their conference in Milan. If I had to sum it up on one line, it would be I was so happy to be stupid.

That ability is priceless. But the cost to join is steep. I am still assessing if it’s worth it for me to promote to you guys who fit the qualifications. Stay tuned.

Voice of the Customer Seller

I couldn't believe it when I was hearing it. Most experienced Amazon sellers know, abhor, and hate the "Voice of the Customer" page for misinterpreting customer comments that can singlehandedly take down our listings.

Amazon reached out to me saying they want to launch this initiative to hear from sellers. I quote "we know we lost the trust of sellers and need help getting to them."

So they asked me if there are any sellers willing, they'd like to speak to you. Better yet, they'll pay!

For the first time out of my 15 years of selling on Amazon, I went to their own show for the first time. I mean I thought it was only logical to make it to the show that the actual platform puts on the first priority on your list of shows to attend.

But to be honest, the value was never there. They offer a free livestream option and the networking seemed to always be overblown.

Well this year I got my ticket sponsored so how can I say no then? I’ll let you guys know if it actually is worth it. I’ll tell you what though, there are definitely plenty of agencies and groups clawing to get as many brands as possible into their dinner/happy hour. Talk about being sought after.

This update is huge:
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Own Audience polls: now free for everyone

Big news – Own Audience polls are now 100% free. That means anyone can test directly with their own customers, followers, or subscribers without a subscription.

Why this is a win for you:

• Creates a compelling “free tool” talking point
• Great way to introduce people to PickFu by giving them a free way to test
• You can also take advantage of this feature to get feedback from your followers or subscribers via PickFu!

Guess what this person bought from me?

So I don’t know where you are in the Welcome flow to this newsletter but I presented the 10th (and final) email of that welcome flow at BDSS last week, Kevin King’s premier online event. Kevin recognizes not everyone has awesome partners like me who actually work while I run around to Seattle and Milan, so he throws events like these bringing you the best speakers in the space on a really out of the box format online.

If you want to hear how I manage my money, make 4% interest while keeping it 100% liquid, and get unlimited same day international wires, and unlimited international transfers (btw SWIFT charges the banks like $20/wire but I found a way around it) fill this out, I’ll send that email to you early if you didn’t get up to that email in the welcome flow.

Freakin Walmart:

I cannot (but can) believe that they expanded the tiles on their SERP grid from 4 to 8 tiles.

Meaning when you search for a product you see eight listings bidding for the keyword, then the NINTH tile is organic rate #1.

Are they freaking kidding? Sure that’s probably a great move for their PPC revenue, but I guess this is their final squeeze of sellers for conventional PPC bids before their AI bot Sparky takes over search. Organic ranking got that much less of an achievement on Walmart. There are literally sellers jumping ship on that platform left and right.

I’m keeping my ear out as to how their conference went a few weeks ago. I’ve only gone to the first conference, where they delivered so little value, I’ve never gone back. Like Prosper, I’m willing to give them another chance. But they have to prove themselves for me to take the time and expense to go and hear them out.

Guess what this person bought from me?

Applying for the newly hyped Chase Sapphire for business.

In a June version of JAS I covered the release of the new Chase Sapphire card giving you about 3% (valued at 3x points at Chase) on your Amazon PPC ad spend. I ended up applying for the card since I maxed out the open AMEX Gold returns I had operating on my account. Only after the application went through Chase called me and told me I was accepted, but they can only give me a $30,000 limit. I can hear your reaction through the email. Anyone knows $30k in ad spend is nothing.

So I reach out to my banking contact at Chase and ask what’s going on. On a call with credit risk evaluator I learned Chase has about a $250,000 threshold per person, per business (more on what this means in a minute). If you want to go above that $250k in available credit, you’ll need to show Chase financial statements and go through a review process.

Once the credit eval dropped from the call, my banker told me privately that I should only proceed with the evaluation when I am financially strong. If they see anything they don’t like not only will they reject your application for a credit increase, but they’ll slash the credit they already have available to you.

Further points I learned about this card. Unlike all the other Chase cards (except for the Ink Premier) you cannot transfer credit line TO this card, you can only transfer credit line FROM this card. On the bright side, applying for a credit limit increase is just a soft inquiry on your personal credit.

The best part of this story though is right after I opened this card, I got three new welcome offers for opening a new Amex Gold.

Again, it's so funny to be split tested ... against myself???

So I get a FBM (merchant fulfilled return authorization like this. Of course, if the item was damaged in transit, I'd like to let the customer they don't need to return the item to me. Save me the return shipping why don't ya. I'll give them a returnless refund. All I need are images of the damage. So I click contact the customer...

But that takes me to ask the buyer to change the feedback thaty left for me as a seller

Ready for the typical Amazon humor? They never even left me a feedback (bottom right). Better yet, Amazon restricts me from even contacting this buyer through their mandated buyer messaging system (look at the top highlight where the buyer's contact information would normally appear). So I got around it.

I sent the buyer a "request to update their feedback" then after that ridiculous and unnecessary message was sent to the customer, I went to my sent folder and followed up with a professional version of "yo, just send me pics of the damage and I'll refund you. No return necessary."

Email platforms/Senders who think this is even remotely acceptable as an opt out form should taste all foods as salt for the rest of their lives.

Like really? This customer entered gibberish to get a free return! Come on guys!

Steve is someone I met in 2018 as a teacher. He's become someone I am very thankful to call a friend. He just launched his podcast on YouTube.

He has the #1 podcast in the space (seriously, check out the rank on iTunes) of e-commerce/Amazon and is running a free and worthy campaign to get traction on his video podcast launch. He is the guy I point people to the second they tell me they want to learn more about eComm and selling online.

He is trustworthy, humble and a classy guy. He doesn’t need to be. He’s an accomplished family first entrepreneur.

SO there you have it. You see? I actually work and get too consumed in real work to write this bad boy up. But I guess that’s the price of growing in public with you guys by my side. Always appreciative of you.