Guest blog by Chris Dunne from FeedbackExpress

When it comes to selling on Amazon, reviews matter.

According to a study by BrightLocal in 2016, 84% of us trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations and 92% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.

With statistics showing that a mere 5% of customers that make a purchase on Amazon leave feedback—having a process in place for collecting feedback and dealing with negative feedback is crucial for all sellers, particularly established ones.

Feedback on Amazon is ranked from 5-star (excellent) to 1-star (awful).

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Smart FBA sellers are concerned with every business and product metric they can get their hands on, and one of the most talked metrics about is sales rank.

Products with very low sales rankings (#1 is the absolute best) get extra exposure by being listed in Amazon’s bestsellers list and by showing up higher on the page in niche categories.

What is Amazon sales rank

Amazon sales rank is a number given to each and every product on Amazon. Sales rank shows how well the product is selling relative to its category, but is not intended to help buyers or sellers compare similar items.

Rankings can be in the single digits or in the millions, and each products’ number is updated hourly.
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The world’s most successful entrepreneurs are all avid readers, and so are the top Amazon FBA sellers.

Doesn’t matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, reading is essential. Picking up a book is the easiest way to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, which is something you as a business person know you must do.

Here are the best books for Amazon FBA sellers, books that will give you insider tips, help you operate your business more strategically, and even inspire you to set bigger, better goals.

Amazon Selling Blueprint – How to Find and Launch Your First Private-Label Product on Amazon in 90 Days or Less by Scott Voelker

There are lots of Kindle books about selling on Amazon, most of them too bland and too basic. Amazon Selling Blueprint is a top pick for learning the ins and outs of private labelling, whether you’re looking to move away from arbitrage or haven’t had the success you hoped for with your first product launch.

Scott Voelker covers a lot of the info (choosing a product, getting it made, optimizing your listing, launching, advertising) in various segments on his podcast but this book gives a great overview and breaks the process down step-by-step.

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It’s still December, but not for long. Now’s the time to look forward into 2017. What do you hope to achieve in Q1? It’s important to know, since starting off with a bang can set you up for success in the remainder of the year.

As we all know, changes in FBA selling happen quickly.

The point of setting business goals is not to predict the future but to try and alter it as best we can. To improve our own entrepreneurial mindsets.

So let’s set Amazon FBA business goals that will hopefully not only be realistic and achievable but also inspiring. Even though Q4 is a busy time, you can’t afford to go into the new year without clear objectives in mind. Procrastinators, not allowed.

Step 1: Review all 2016 stats and any goals you may have set

Inside of the business reporting section of Amazon’s Seller Central, you can get access to a variety of reports that will help you calculate turnover for each quarter of 2016, as well as the entire year.
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Amazon FBA is a terrific way to sell online. It automates almost everything for you, right down to collecting the right amount of sales tax from your customers. But for U.S. sellers, what to do with sales tax beyond collecting it from your Amazon customers can be a bit of a mystery.

This post will help you ensure you’re collecting the right amount of sales tax from the right customers, and then demystify what to do with that sales tax once it’s been collected.

From Which Customers Should You Collect Sales Tax?

Forty-five U.S. states and Washington D.C. all have a sales tax. States use the funds they collect from sales tax to pay for budget items like roads and schools.

As a retailer, you are required to collect sales tax from your buyers in any states where you have sales tax nexus. Sales tax nexus is just a fancy legalese way to say “significant connection” to a state. If you have nexus in a state, then that state considers you on the hook for charging sales tax to buyers in the state.

You’ll always have sales tax nexus in your home state, but you may find that certain business activities create nexus in other states, too. They include:

• A location – an office, warehouse, store, or other physical place of business
• Personnel – an employee, contractor, salesperson, installer or other person doing work for your business
• Inventory – Most states consider storing inventory in the state to cause nexus even if you have no other place of business or personnel. This is where many Amazon FBA sellers find themselves with sales tax nexus in other states.
• Affiliates – Someone who advertises your products in exchange for a cut of the profits creates nexus in many states
• Drop shipping – If you have a 3rd party ship to your buyers, you may create nexus
• Selling products at a tradeshow or other event – Some states consider you to have nexus even if you only sell there temporarily

To help you determine whether or not your business activities give you sales tax nexus, you can find out what every state’s laws have to say about nexus here.
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It’s hard to wade too far into the marketing waters without hearing about giveaways, and how they can drastically increase your social media following and awareness for your brand. For FBA sellers with branded products, giveaways are a worthwhile investment that can help build up your fan base.

Giveaways are simple contests in which users take action (follow you on Twitter or watch a YouTube video) in the hopes of winning a prize.

The basics: how Amazon Giveaways for FBA sellers work

You can promote any of your FBA product offerings. In the promotions tab of your Amazon Seller Central, simply select giveaway, the product you want to choose (keep in mind that you will pay for shipping to the winner and your typical FBA fees), and configure the settings.

The main things you have to decide are how the winners will be chosen and what users must do to enter.

There are three ways to select winners:

• Random Instant Win
• Lucky Number Instant Win
• First-come, First-served

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Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts!

It’s almost 2017, and if you don’t regularly listen to at least a couple podcasts each week, then really…where have you been?

Audio content is a great way to learn new skills and strategies during a long drive or even while doing the dishes.

And of course, as an FBA seller, you’re looking for skills and strategies that will help you grow your business.

Here is our top selection of podcasts for Amazon FBA sellers that were created by sellers. Because private labelling is a whole lot more complicated than retail arbitrage (yes, arbitrage is a skill, but building a brand is a skill on a different level) most podcasts are aimed at sellers with bigger, long term business needs like branding, advertising, and possibly multi-channel selling.

The Amazing Seller Podcast

Regardless of what content Scott Voelker has planned for his show, when big news happens, he pivots quickly so that his listeners can get the best insights. When Amazon announced that it was no longer ok within their TOS to give away products for free in exchange for reviews, The Amazing Seller Podcast didn’t buy into the panic. Instead, Scott had the CEO of the now reimagined ReviewKick on the show to share what he learned directly from a phone call with Amazon attorneys.

In addition to interviewing quality guests, Scott holds Q&A sessions multiple times per month. If you have a question, you can easily record it on the Amazing Seller site.

Find the podcast here.

The Ask Jordan Podcast

Unlike most podcasts, which are often upwards of 40 minutes long, the Ask Jordan Podcast is made up of 8 – 20 minute long responses to questions that host Jordan Malik has heard from sellers in person and online. You’ll find nitty gritty details and advice for both arbitrage and private labelling, alongside entrepreneurial motivation and the inspiration needed to help you succeed.

Jordan is just as likely to cover why sellers shouldn’t get discouraged or compare themselves to other sellers as he is to divulge tips for thriving during Q4.

Find the podcast here.

FBA All Stars

With ample cuss words but no BS, Matt Ward gives FBA advice to you straight. He’ll do everything from rant on why money-making e-courses are so lame to interview business coaches and consultants whose on-air advice is nearly as good as a private session.

Like many FBA sellers who create content for other sellers, he seems to be doing it for the sheer joy of sharing his experience. Matt covers primarily tips for large scale, private label sellers with 7 figure goals. He goes into details about his own business’s successes, always framing it into actionable advice for sellers.

Find the podcast here.

The Private Label Podcast

On The Private Label Podcast, Kevin Rizer puts out multiple, high quality episodes each week, and as you might have guessed, his content is the place to turn if you’re building a profitable private label business on Amazon. The whole point of his show is that you’re not just creating a business, you’re creating a brand. The beauty of private labeling is that the successes can last beyond individual products as you build up brand trust.

Kevin is known for the quality of his guests, and primarily interviews successful sellers, CEOs of companies that work within the great Amazon seller industry, and entrepreneurs who’ve had success with other types of ecommerce. There’s good, honest advice delivered humbly in just about every episode. You can also ask Kevin a recorded question directly on his site.

Find the podcast here.

AM / PM Podcast

Why do most people start building businesses out of their garage? Because they’re trying to break out of hourly or effort based income. The name of the AM / PM Podcast is inspired by helping people scale business that make money in every hour of the day (including while they sleep).

He covers brand building and marketing for private labeling on Amazon FBA. Interspersed with longer interviews, Manny Coats includes short episodes about his personal successes with FBA and real life stories. His inner network includes FBA sellers doing 7 or 8 figure sales EACH MONTH (whoa!). Sometimes he interviews successful sellers, and other times he shares things he’s learned during conversations with them at networking events. Plus, he goes into his own business stats in terms of orders and sales.

Find the podcast here.

Check out the first post in our “5 Best” Series:

The 5 Best Blogs Created by (and for) Amazon FBA Sellers

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When we have a problem, a burning desire, or an idea we need validated, we turn to Google. And if we’re lucky, Google sends us to amazing blogs, the kind that answer our query and keep us coming back for more.

FBA seller blogs should do more than make you feel like you’re not alone. They should set you up for success, help you track your goals, and give you clear operational tips that you can employ. Here are our favorite FBA seller blogs made by and for Amazon FBA Sellers.

The Selling Family Blog

Jessica Larew is a top FBA seller blogger. Her blogs, courses, and closed Facebook group are heavily credited by other sellers for their success with FBA. On The Selling Family Blog, she and her husband Cliff deliver honest advice.

In addition to tips, tutorials, and how-tos, this blog covers new updates to the FBA program just as soon as they’re announced. If you ever get an email from Amazon that sends you into a panic (like the addition of more restricted brands or the temporary closure of the Small and Light Program), then chances are that The Selling Family can help you understand the news and what to do about it.

Full Time FBA

In need of incredibly detailed step-by-step tutorials for all the nitty gritty tasks that come along with FBA? Stephen Smotherman has you covered. Over at Full Time FBA, he’s recently presented tips for providing box level details, prepping shoe inventory, and how to improve your skills at fee calculations—all with an incredible amount of precision.

Plus, Stephen often films YouTube videos and embeds them in his posts, which appeals to all the visual learners out there.

Side Hustle Nation

Side Hustle Nation isn’t just for FBA sellers, which isn’t a bad thing. Put some FBA-only blogs on your regular reading list to make sure you’re keeping up with news and updates, but also incorporate more widely focused entrepreneurial blogs like this one, which can help you develop long term strategies (especially if you’re a multi-channel seller).

To get the content you’re looking for, simply select “Amazon FBA” from the sidebar, which asks “What’s Your Side Hustle?”, and you’ll see all the posts in that category.

You’ll get updates on the progress of real sellers, interviews with top sellers, and growth hacks that can apply to FBA and beyond. There’s tons of content on every online entrepreneurial side hustle imaginable.

Seek, Buy, Sell!

Just like it sounds, Seek, Buy, Sell! is the perfect resource library for sellers who engage primarily or exclusively in retail arbitrage. There are some great insights for sellers looking to expand their product categories, but for the most part this blog is a starter resource. If you’re just getting into FBA, or are wanting to increase your arbitrage skills, this husband and wife blog is a go-to.

Online Selling Experiment

Ryan Grant from Online Selling Experiment is a godsend for so many FBA sellers. Why? With extreme transparency, he covers topics in so many different product categories using a variety of FBA strategies. His blog (with tons of graphs and number crunching) showcases the fact that he was once an accountant.

Ryan not only posts his own financial results but guest posts others’ as well. In addition to basic tips and advanced tutorials, he enjoys making predictions on the future of selling with Amazon, instead of just trailing behind the changes.

If we missed out on any of the top blogs for FBA sellers, please let us know in the comments below!

This post is the first in a series. Stay tuned for our top pick of podcasts, books, and other resources for sellers.

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