Question:
​Hi Jason, Would be grateful to have your thoughts on whether there are any particular issues we need to watch out for when researching, sourcing and launching a new product in this Covid-19 pandemic season? For example: shipping times, escalated shipping costs, categories of products to avoid, using the warehouse facilities,etc Thanks

Answer:
​Some things to watch for:

1. Restrictions on products related to combating COVID-19, such as masks and sanitizers. Both government authorities and online marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, etc.) might have restrictions on various items. These might include certification for products with claims, such as N95 masks, etc.

2. Shipping. Air freight is extremely expensive now because of the lack of supply due to the drastic cuts in air cargo capacity that's usually provided by commercial passenger flights. Sea freight is also experiencing delays due to workplace restrictions, stricter checks, etc. Anecdotally, several people I know have experienced a 2 month delay due to slower customs clearance at US ports.

3. Listings that are classified as non-essential by Amazon are still facing the temporary inbound shipping quantity limits or completely blocked from shipping to Amazon fulfilment centers. It is not known how long the temporary limits will last. More additional listings are gradually being allowed to send in inventory as Amazon scales up staffing to cope with the massive shift to online shopping due to lockdowns. Amazon has hired 175,000 new staff for FBA in the last month. A solution is to list FBM as well on the same listing and use a 3rd party logistics (3PL) to store and fulfil orders. I'm scheduled for a call to discuss this with a 3PL company tonight (10am EST).

4. Product Research. When looking at keyword search volume and sales velocity and revenue estimates, be aware that some results might be skewed. For example, any keywords related to toilet paper, masks, gloves, etc., would have abnormal spikes. Conversely, some listings might look like sales have dropped, but this could possibly be partially attributed to the longer delivery times (over 1 month instead of the usual 2 days for Prime), which cause customers to not buy. Check historical sales charts (1 year, all-time) to get a better gauge of what sales would be in normal times.

This question is from a seller in Singapore.

Q: If I want to make homemade potato chips and package them, am I allowed to sell? Or do I need govt approval?

A: I'm not in F&B myself, but I have read up and sought professional consultation about importing and selling food in the US. I also have a corporate client (and coaching students) whose Amazon account I manage that sells coffee and have helped them with FDA registration and shipping into the US.

Anything food and drink related (ingested) that is imported into the US needs to first be registered with the US government (FDA). This is a US food safety and Homeland Security legal requirement. Not an Amazon issue, although Amazon might ask for your FDA registration certificate to be submitted if you need to be approved to sell in the Grocery category.

In order to be FDA registered, the FDA will require all the food safety information to be submitted, the package labeling must adhere to FDA food labeling requirements for ingredients and nutritional values, and you must appoint a representative that is located in the USA. You then need the FDA registration number to file FDA Prior Notice for every shipment before it leaves the port or origin, meaning if you are shipping from Singapore, you (or your shipping service) must submit FDA Prior Notice to the FDA before the shipment leaves Singapore.

I always refer my corporate clients and coaching/training students to registrarcorp.com who can help them get their FDA registration done and act as their representative agent (annual paid service).

Is all this worth it for homemade potato chips? Not to mention actual food safety liability in case anyone falls ill and blames the chips.

This post originated as a reply to an email. I spent over an hour replying and felt the info was worth sharing here.

The email had over a dozen questions on several topics:

1. Sourcing and shipping
2. "Launching" a Test Product Listing
3. PPC Campaigns
4. Indexing
5. Product Launches
6. Others

Q2a:  Project X recommends we do a PPC testing on an identified product with a “test” listing. Tim Jordan’s idea is to get data for impression and cost per click, suggested we just buy similar product from other platform (E.g: Esty) and send in to amazon FBA.

​Is it relevant for sellers in SG (like us)? Would you recommend to create a listing (focusing primarily on keywords, and “neglect” imagery, sales copy etc) just to get data, and subsequently create another listing for the actual product?

A: You can. It's not wrong. I don't personally start specifically with a "test only" listing that I do not intend to use as the actual listing. But my actual listing is also effectively like a test listing, since I only do basic or minimal packaging and images. I only bother to improve images after sales are proven. However with the new product photography and image service in Singapore by GS1, there's no reason to not get at least 7-8 good images for just SGD40! Click the link for details about this service and other product image tips.

I also do not order more than what I realistically expect to sell in 1 to 3 months depending on a combination of weighing the velocity of similar listings with low social proof (less than 10 reviews), cost of products vs the initial capital I am will to spend (and lose), production and shipping lead times.

I do NOT set a high price to discourage sales, as done in Project X. I usually start with a very competitive price, including the use of Amazon discount coupons to encourage more clicks and sales conversions. My reasoning is that a new listing starts with zero reviews (no social proof), therefore it needs other push/pull factors to convince potential buyers to buy it instead of other alternatives. And my objective is to both test keywords, as well as proof of concept that it sells.

I do however do very thorough keyword research and optimize the copywriting for keywords and conversions. I then also target Amazon Sponsored Product Ads aggressively from the start for multiple objectives:
1) Gain rank from sales attribute to keywords targeted.
2) Mine keyword data to find high conversion keywords and discover possible new keywords.

Q2b: One possible scenario is the test listing may have bad product review. Will product review affect seller’s rating/score?

A: I always only sell good quality products. Or in other words, I do not sell poor quality products that I would not be happy to use myself. This mitigates getting poor product reviews. However there are always occasional nasty customers who give bad reviews. For example I have had reviews which said, "Good product", or "excellent quality" and rate as 1, 2 or 3 stars! 

If your first handful of reviews include one or more that are negative, that can leave you with a listing that is dead in the water. Since nobody would buy something that had only one 1 star review! In such cases, if the poor review is for a high quality product but given by a nasty buyer, then I would recommend creating a new listing and moving the inventory over to start on a clean slate, rather than try to flog a dead horse with the original listing. Amazon Seller Central has an option to copy a listing. Or if you have saved your listing in a document or in Helium 10 Scribbles, that would make creating a new listing a breeze too.

Or more accurately, Amazon Sponsored Advertising, which uses a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) system.

Q: Do you have a recommended approach/split in terms of timing and budget allocation between Exact Match, Broad Match and Auto Campaign? I got confused watching Project X, and doesn’t know the priority/allocation of budget. It seems that Project X started with exact match campaign for two weeks, to be followed by another two campaigns for broad match and auto campaign. However, they didnt really explain the rationale, or circumstances which trigger the subsequent campaigns. Or would you recommended that we concurrently start all 3 different campaigns? 

A: ​Yes I do. I do not use the same methodology as in Helium 10's Project X. I have a much more extensive (and complex) Amazon Ad strategy. For example, my top selling listing currently has 42 active ad campaigns!

Probably would take many hours to explain! I might have to do a video course so that you can watch and follow the steps over and over again, as it is definitely not possible to grasp and implement it from hearing or seeing it one time.

Q: Is my understanding correct that Amazon’s algorithm for indexing keywords is a blackbox and we can only make a guesswork by mentioning the keywords in the title, bullet points, description etc? Is Helium 10’s Keyword Tracker the only tool to ensure our key words are indexed?

A: All search engines have a complex ranking algorithm that no human can fully decipher. However it is not a totally black box. Like Google, Amazon does provide official guidance on some key indexing and ranking factors. For example, it is clearly stated that words in the title carry the most weight out of all the words in a listing.

No, I'm sure there are several tools and ways to check for Amazon keyword indexing. However since I subscribe to Helium 10, I don't need to use or pay for any other tool. And the Helium 10 tool to check for indexing is called Index Checker, which I think is one of the free tools. Keyword tracker can also be used to check indexing, but it is much more powerful as it checks keyword rank position in search results and also keeps track the rank daily history. It also has a notes function where you can insert notes on dates where you make changes, such as adding a discount coupon, running a new PPC campaign, changed images, edited copywriting with a new keyword, etc., this then allows you to see if there is any impact on the ranking for whatever keyword terms you want to track.

Q5a: Any thoughts on the usefulness of Early Reviewer Program to improve the organic ranking?

A: I ALWAYS enroll in the Early Reviewer Program for all my new listings. I think it is a great value-for-money way to try to get reviews early on. Much better than the incentivized review programs that cost a lot more and are a violation of Amazon terms of service which can get you in trouble. Note that reviews don't directly affect ranking, though it has an indirect effect. Keyword ranking is affected by optimization, Ads, sales attributed to keywords, competition. However reviews do affect clicks and conversions, which then affect sales, which in turn affect a listing's rank for various keywords.

However, you still need to first rank (get impressions), so that you can be seen, and therefore potentially get clicks and conversions (sales). This is explained in this post about the 3-Step online sales funnel. This is because you can only get reviews if there are first sales. And you can only get sales if you can first get clicked on, and you can only get clicks if you first get impressions (seen by being found in search results organically and/or through advertising).

So the optimization of the right keywords and running ads well are key to getting impressions.

Once that's done, I also use Amazon coupons to attract more clicks and conversions. This page explains how to create and use Amazon coupons.

Q5b: Project X recommends Search-Find-Buy service providers like Rankbell and AZ Rank, as compared to free giveaways to improve organic rankings. Any thoughts on this?

A: I can't comment as I don't use them and have never found a need to. I suggest doing your due diligence and assessing your own comfort level in using such services as they do violate the spirit, if not the letter of law in terms of Amazon policy and could potentially come to bite you down the road as Amazon has a track record of taking action retrospectively.

Q6a: From Freedom Ticket – free one week preview. Do we need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) if we intend to start selling using individual name (instead of company)?

A: This applies typically only if you are a US business entity. You can get a free EIN easily by applying over the phone with the US tax authorities. I did that some years ago but have never ever needed to use it, so it is pretty much redundant.

Amazon allows sellers from over 100 countries to sell on their various marketplaces.
(https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200417280, I found this in 2 seconds by Google searching for countries eligible to sell on Amazon). Sellers can also register a seller account as a personal or business entity. If you register your seller account as a non-US entity personal entity, your ID number would be your national tax identification number. For Singapore, that would be your NRIC number. If you register as a business or company, then you would use your business registration number, such as a UEN in Singapore or ABN in Australia.

Q6b: With the recent disruption on Amazon's US marketplace, do you recommend we wait a while for the product research?  I am looking at when to start the paid Helium 10 subscription.

No. The best time to get started is always now, not later. Online sales are exploding with many countries in lockdown. This is also creating and changing shopping habits with many people forced to buy online who have never done it before, or increasing online orders significantly. It's a catalyst that's making online shopping more mainstream than ever before.

The only thing to note is that some short-term keyword search volume and trend data will be skewed, such as a multiple times increase in searches for masks, sanitizers, and virus related products, while demand for products related to gatherings such as weddings and parties is down.

Remember to use the discounts when you subscribe to Helium 10.

My Reply:

Hi XYZ, sorry was in a meeting the whole of yesterday.

I often tell people that 90% of any questions they have, have already been answered before by me either on my website  or in my facebook group.
https://www.jasontayonline.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MySilentTeamSG

You can use the search functions to search for keywords related to your questions/topics you want to find out about.

As I get up to 21 private messages per minute from people asking me questions, I would deeply appreciate it if you search those 2 resources for answers first. Then if you cannot find existing answers, post your questions in the Facebook group as the group can potentially provide more and faster answers, and it also helps others who might have similar questions. If the questions are personal/private/confidential, then sure, send them privately to me.

This will help tremendously as I am currently replying to 8 people concurrently and also have my own business to run.

1. I do not know what an SSM stands for, but assume it's a Malaysian business entity. However, you don't need to register a company or business to register a seller account on Amazon. You can register using your own personal identity as the business entity. If budget is an issue, then you can start selling as an individual, however I would recommend operating as a company in the mid to long-term.

2. I shared my opinion about taxes on my website on this page: https://www.jasontayonline.com/amazon-tax

3. You don't sign up for FBA. You sign up for a seller account. To make use of FBA, you first have to register for a seller account (and be approved), then create listings (as part of the listing creation process, you select if this listing will be using FBA or if it's merchant fulfilled), then create a shipping plan based on the listings. Only then would you have a shipping address so you can ship inventory to Amazon, and be able to download the Amazon shipping labels to print and paste on the cartons.

4. Private label is simply creating and selling your own brand(s). When you create any listing on Amazon, one of the fields is the brand name. So if you enter DurianBoy as the brand name when creating the listing, that would be the brand name shown on the listing page. Branding is nothing to do with dropshipping. Dropshipping is a logistics model. If you use FBA, it would not be dropshipping since FBA is where Amazon is storing and shipping the inventory. In dropshipping, the inventory is shipped by the supplier, no stock is held by the seller (you), and no stock is sent to and stored at Amazon, therefore the listing will not be prime eligible. 

5. Not really. It's not that you have to label "Made in China". It's that the legal requirement in many countries is that the country of origin must be labeled on the product. For example if your product is made in Malaysia, it should be labeled "Made in Malaysia".

6. I Googled "FBA packaging requirements" and found this page. You might need to have and be logged in to your Amazon seller account to view it. https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=200141500&language=en-US&ref=mpbc_200243250_cont_200141500

Sounds very complicated, but it is no big deal, and pretty common sense once you do it. More important is to make sure your products and shipments are properly labeled as that is the only way Amazon can identify whatever you send to them for FBA. I wrote about it here: https://www.jasontayonline.com/code-confusion-understanding-amazon-gtin-upc-barcodes.html

7. If you go to most product pages on Amazon, you will see a box with a light grey outline on the right which contains the Buy Now/Add to Cart buttons. That is what is referred to as the buy box.

8. I would need about 6-10 hours to explain this. But the essentials have been shared multiple times on my website (https://www.jasontayonline.com/how-to-increase-amazon-sales.html) and in the Facebook group. Just search for ranking, organic rank, seo, rank, etc. in the MySilentTeamSG facebook group.

9. You are referring to 2 different and separate things. To sell anything on Amazon (or any ecommerce site), you typcially have to create a page for the product with the title, price, product info. This is a listing. To increase traffic (get more people to see the listing and therefore potentially buy), you can run ads. Ads can be run on and off Amazon (eg. Facebook, Instagram, Google). Ads can also be targeted using keywords, demographics, other similar products, etc., depending on the features of the platform you are running the ads on.

10. Google trawls and indexes all public pages on the world wide web, including Amazon pages such as listings. Your listings should already be search engined optimised because Amazon is a search engine (that's how customers find things to buy - by searching on Amazon). If your listings have good Amazon SEO, then they would also be well optimised for Google.

One huge key to selling on Amazon is to realise that Amazon is a search engine. To do well as a seller on Amazon, it is therefore not so much about products as about researching and optimising for the right keywords so you can be found by Amazon customers.

Hope that helps.

Jason

​Hi Jason, I have a business entity (UEN) as a sole proprietor in the past and it is still live in Singapore. I am a graphic designer so the nature of the business is to provide website and graphic design services.

My question is Amazon platform is an online business so can I use this existing UEN to upgrade as a professional seller in the near future? I have called ACRA today that I can add on a secondary business activity on this existing UEN. 

At this moment, I am thinking to register as an AMZ Individual seller. If this Amazon online business has kick off successfully in 6-8months to next year. Then I can add on a secondary business activity and maybe will change it to LLC or PTE LTD. please let me know what’s your thought?

My Reply:

I think you can choose to use your sole prop to register for an Amazon Individual or Professional account. Since your business is registered in Singapore, you can easily edit and add on a secondary business type through ACRA's bizfile online. Anyway, I don't think Amazon cares what your business was originally intended for. They mainly verify the entity name and address. 

Amazon Individual and Professional accounts are just bad names that confuse people. It doesn't mean the Individual seller account is for individuals, just that Individual seller accounts can't do several thing a Pro account can do, such as:

1. Only professional selling accounts can apply for approval to sell in restricted categories and run Amazon sponsored advertising.
2. Individual accounts will be much more difficult for Amazon account managers to help if there is any problem with the registration as they can only search for Pro accounts in their database.
3. USD 39.99 monthly subscription fee for pro vs no monthly subscription fee for individual account. But the individual account has an extra $0.99 fee per order, so once you have 40 or more orders a month, it is more cost-effective to have the pro account.

Amazon management recommends registering for a pro account from the start, then immediately downgrade to individual account if you want to save money and don't have enough sales yet. This way, if there is any account verification issue, at least you can escalate and they can look into it.

Refer to this page for more info about seller account registration suspensions due to Seller Identity Verification or Seller Performance Review and how to escalate to the Amazon Global Selling Team.

Finally, yes, you can change your business info in Amazon Seller Central by going to Settings>Account Info>Business Information.