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Massive Scale Cross-Border Amazon Arbitrage

GoldFibre

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Jul 1, 2023
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Today's Stats​

1700072134372.png

Weekly Goals

Complete at least two of the following:
  • Lower my prices by lowering my logistics costs
  • DONE Solicit reviews for my store to make customers more likely to buy from me
  • Source products from multiple places to try to lower the cost of procurement
  • DONE Run my selling applications automation on both country 1 and country 2

Transactional Time Under 30m​

Total transactional work was 34m:
1700072171552.png

Relationship Work (November)​

  • Amazon Office Visits: 0 / 1
  • Warehouse Visits: 1 / 2
  • Account Manager Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • International Vendor Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • Local Delivery Vendor Phone Calls: 1 / 4
I called everyone in the morning and nobody picked up AGAIN. Hmm...

Although two of them called me back and promised to get back to me by tomorrow.

Update​

Only a little bit of coding today and I used it to automate some of the account health manual work that I do.

I made a puppeteer script that scrapes all the ASINs in the account health section of the seller portal and then prints them out in a format that I can copy and paste into my blacklist.

In the next iteration of this script I can also submit any appeal forms that are in the correct state to erase the violations from my account.
 
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GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1700156907450.png

Weekly Goals

Complete at least two of the following:
  • Lower my prices by lowering my logistics costs
  • DONE Solicit reviews for my store to make customers more likely to buy from me
  • Source products from multiple places to try to lower the cost of procurement
  • DONE Run my selling applications automation on both country 1 and country 2

Transactional Time Under 30m​

63 minutes
1700156517919.png

Relationship Work (November)​

  • Amazon Office Visits: 0 / 1
  • Warehouse Visits: 1 / 2
  • Account Manager Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • International Vendor Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • Local Delivery Vendor Phone Calls: 1 / 4

Update​

I improved my documentation script to segregate the orders by country and then do the right thing with each list. This prevents me from having to manually split the orders and run the script two different times.

I then similarly improved the script for getting account health violation ASINs to read from both marketplaces.

I'm consistently getting internet issues that cause my bot to stop, but I think it is actually caused by my bot. It's possible there is a memory leak or something that is keeping too many connections open. It will take more investigation to isolate the issue.
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

Screenshot 2023-11-17 at 11.51.34 PM.png

Weekly Goals

Complete at least two of the following:
  • Lower my prices by lowering my logistics costs
  • DONE Solicit reviews for my store to make customers more likely to buy from me
  • Source products from multiple places to try to lower the cost of procurement
  • DONE Run my selling applications automation on both country 1 and country 2

Transactional Time Under 30m​

1700250747388.png

Relationship Work (November)​

  • Amazon Office Visits: 0 / 1
  • Warehouse Visits: 1 / 2
  • Account Manager Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • International Vendor Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • Local Delivery Vendor Phone Calls: 1 / 4

Update​

No coding time today.
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1700331854269.png

Weekly Goals

Complete at least two of the following:
  • Lower my prices by lowering my logistics costs
  • DONE Solicit reviews for my store to make customers more likely to buy from me
  • Source products from multiple places to try to lower the cost of procurement
  • DONE Run my selling applications automation on both country 1 and country 2

Transactional Time Under 30m​

1700331882366.png

Relationship Work (November)​

  • Amazon Office Visits: 0 / 1
  • Warehouse Visits: 1 / 2
  • Account Manager Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • International Vendor Phone Calls: 3 / 4
  • Local Delivery Vendor Phone Calls: 1 / 4

Update​

Every now and then I get inquiries for bulk buying offline. People see my listings and then message me on WhatsApp to ask about pricing to buy from me directly. Sometimes these are relatively large inquiries, like ten sets of patio furniture.

Usually my price even after subtracting Amazon fees is too high for these buyers, because I don't purchase wholesale myself, but today one guy agreed, so I had my first non-Amazon sale. It wasn't too big - only about $120.

The guy wired me the money directly and said he didn't need an invoice or receipt, and I gave him a delivery estimate after I ordered from Amazon US.

But all my order tracking is set up to work over the SP API, and that order isn't there. So my coding time today went into some basic setup for supporting 'offline' orders. I created a script that I can use to import the order details and import them as if they had come from Amazon.
 
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GoldFibre

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Weekly Update​

1700365673481.png

After a decline in the previous week from losing the buy box eligibility, this week is back to the positive trend. It's the most orders and the most profit of any week. And I think that due to all the automation work I've done recently, I've actually spent less time on procurement and fulfillment than in the past couple of weeks. So that's a good sign for scalability.

The key to the current growth is still increasing my active offers. And this is totally on autopilot for at least several weeks because of all the brands I have in the queue.

The other big lever for growth is to lower my international logistics cost, which is the matter of nailing down my partner and forcing a negotiation. Somehow I rarely get ahold of him, and when I do he is able to put off these discussions, maybe not for the obvious reason but nonetheless I'm not making progress. With one word he could lower my overall costs 10%, which should allow me to lower my costs without sacrificing profit per item, which should have an exponential effect on my overall profit.

There are also some speculative growth levers:
  • Opening country 3
  • Using Amazon Ads
  • Opening an independent online store
Among these, I would say that Amazon Ads is the highest leverage option, because it's just a matter of configuration and it can be highly automated. However, my account has been blocked for a long time and my account manager in Amazon is not giving me the attention I need to make progress.

It seems I've got a common theme with my relationships in that I'm not getting what I want out of my suppliers.

So this coming week I think I'm going to commit to solving these two problems:
  1. Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. Get Amazon Ads account unblocked
Even if I get zero coding done, if I complete these two business tasks I'm guessing I can double my current profit figures.

I've got a magic number in mind - this number is 1,000 USD in gross profit per day. If I can hit this consistently for a few months then I will consider dropping my full time job and focusing entirely on my own businesses. This week I made 319 USD per day. It's crazy to think that this magic number is not too far away.
 

msufan

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Weekly Update​

View attachment 52534

After a decline in the previous week from losing the buy box eligibility, this week is back to the positive trend. It's the most orders and the most profit of any week. And I think that due to all the automation work I've done recently, I've actually spent less time on procurement and fulfillment than in the past couple of weeks. So that's a good sign for scalability.

The key to the current growth is still increasing my active offers. And this is totally on autopilot for at least several weeks because of all the brands I have in the queue.

The other big lever for growth is to lower my international logistics cost, which is the matter of nailing down my partner and forcing a negotiation. Somehow I rarely get ahold of him, and when I do he is able to put off these discussions, maybe not for the obvious reason but nonetheless I'm not making progress. With one word he could lower my overall costs 10%, which should allow me to lower my costs without sacrificing profit per item, which should have an exponential effect on my overall profit.

There are also some speculative growth levers:
  • Opening country 3
  • Using Amazon Ads
  • Opening an independent online store
Among these, I would say that Amazon Ads is the highest leverage option, because it's just a matter of configuration and it can be highly automated. However, my account has been blocked for a long time and my account manager in Amazon is not giving me the attention I need to make progress.

It seems I've got a common theme with my relationships in that I'm not getting what I want out of my suppliers.

So this coming week I think I'm going to commit to solving these two problems:
  1. Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. Get Amazon Ads account unblocked
Even if I get zero coding done, if I complete these two business tasks I'm guessing I can double my current profit figures.

I've got a magic number in mind - this number is 1,000 USD in gross profit per day. If I can hit this consistently for a few months then I will consider dropping my full time job and focusing entirely on my own businesses. This week I made 319 USD per day. It's crazy to think that this magic number is not too far away.
$319 per day is 3.19 x the $100 per day you were doing just a few weeks back. If you do another 3.19X, you'll be just over $1000 per day. Not at all hard to envision at this point.
 

maverick

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Those margins are insane though for arbitrage. If you can hit 20-30% margins on products, why not highlight the best sellers and source them directly yourself. You could easily hit 40-50% margins then.
 
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GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1700420356069.png

Weekly Goals

  1. NOT DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. NOT DONE Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

Neither of my goals this week are dependent on coding, so I need to force myself to work on the business side of things. I blocked daily time in my calendar to focus on this and also allocated time to do a warehouse visit in which I can hopefully negotiate my rates down.

Thursday-Sunday I will be traveling, so I need to get the face time in before I leave.

To try to fix my internet problems I switched my router, but the issue continued. I guess that the issue is my bot so I can either try debugging it or I can move it onto AWS, which costs money but has other benefits.

I started working on a few different angles, logging open connections and turning off certain processes to try to isolate the issue but haven't fully figured it out yet.
 

GoldFibre

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If you can hit 20-30% margins on products, why not highlight the best sellers and source them directly yourself.
Eventually yes, but I still have a lot of value to extract from the current model and I don't want to dilute my efforts right now.
 

maverick

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Very true. Keep killing it!
 
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GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1700505977461.png

Weekly Goals​

  1. NOT DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. NOT DONE Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

I bit the bullet and decided to move my setup from a home laptop to the cloud. I'll have to pay some monthly fees, but hopefully it means the bot will run without connection issues from now on. The dumped SQL file was 22 GB and it's still uploading now, so I don't have access to all my data at the moment.

Today I worked on my goals:
  • I finally got some lower rates to country 2 after chasing the vendor for weeks. Signed and stamped the contract.
  • I called everyone I know at Amazon to push to get my ads account unblocked.
  • I chatted with advertising support to open another ticket.
  • I called my guys at the warehouse to figure out where the CEO is so I can try to pin him down.
  • I decided I'm going to shoot for $3 per pound on the primary international leg.
My ads issue got escalated internally at Amazon, so there is some progress. I will keep pushing to get this done within the week, despite it being a super busy time of year there.
 
Last edited:

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1700591346332.png

Weekly Goals​

  1. ALMOST DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. WIP Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

Yesterday I bit the bullet and decided to move my setup from a home laptop to the cloud. Today I un-bit the bullet and returned to my home setup.

While migrating to the cloud I accidentally discovered the reason for my internet woes and immediately fixed it. In short, my wi-fi router was too far from my laptop. I had my laptop in a corner of the room that put too much concrete in between it and the router. So I just moved the laptop to the other side of the desk and now everything is working beautifully.

Not going cloud saves me at least 200 USD per month!

I also made progress on my goals:

I went to the warehouse and did a tit-for-tat with the CEO. I got his digital marketing up and running and then I pushed him for my target rate on the international logistics. He verbally agreed and promised to send me an email confirmation by the end of the day, but I know this is going to take more chasing to get over the line. I'll stay on him for the rest of the week to get it in writing.

For the ads accounts I spoke with my account manager over the phone and she has escalated my issue internally to a specialist and if they don't come back with a positive response by tomorrow we will further escalate the issue.
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

WhatsApp Image 2023-11-22 at 22.53.16.jpeg

Weekly Goals​

  1. DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. WIP Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

I updated my pricing to reflect my lower costs on the international logistics, and it will take 2-3 days to finish updating all my listings. I think my final prices should be 10-15% lower, depending on the weight vs product cost of each item.

My automated rating requests are working well. I had zero ratings on my entire account up until I started this, and now I have three five star reviews, which should hopefully influence buyers to choose me over some competitors that have terrible reviews.

I'm thinking about improving the customer experience even more by automating shipping updates. Customers often don't understand why the item is not marked as shipped, even though they ordered it a week earlier. I can make this clear in the automated mail and also give them more accurate delivery estimates.
 
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The-J

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Today's Stats​

View attachment 52619

Weekly Goals​

  1. DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. WIP Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

I updated my pricing to reflect my lower costs on the international logistics, and it will take 2-3 days to finish updating all my listings. I think my final prices should be 10-15% lower, depending on the weight vs product cost of each item.

My automated rating requests are working well. I had zero ratings on my entire account up until I started this, and now I have three five star reviews, which should hopefully influence buyers to choose me over some competitors that have terrible reviews.

I'm thinking about improving the customer experience even more by automating shipping updates. Customers often don't understand why the item is not marked as shipped, even though they ordered it a week earlier. I can make this clear in the automated mail and also give them more accurate delivery estimates.

I knew this would be a good thread to watch. Keep going!
 

msufan

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Today's Stats​

View attachment 52619

Weekly Goals​

  1. DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. WIP Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

I updated my pricing to reflect my lower costs on the international logistics, and it will take 2-3 days to finish updating all my listings. I think my final prices should be 10-15% lower, depending on the weight vs product cost of each item.

My automated rating requests are working well. I had zero ratings on my entire account up until I started this, and now I have three five star reviews, which should hopefully influence buyers to choose me over some competitors that have terrible reviews.

I'm thinking about improving the customer experience even more by automating shipping updates. Customers often don't understand why the item is not marked as shipped, even though they ordered it a week earlier. I can make this clear in the automated mail and also give them more accurate delivery estimates.
BIG TIME update right here. Automated shipping updates are huge, good ratings are huge, $500+ in a day is huge.
 

msufan

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I knew this would be a good thread to watch. Keep going!
This is so different from the "I want money, I need ideas, I'm going to be rich, ME ME ME" threads out there. Just relentless tactical execution.
 
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GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

I'm guessing profit of about 380 USD

Weekly Goals​

  1. DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. WIP Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

I'm traveling from now through Sunday and maybe it was a mistake to leave my bot at home. Today my remote desktop setup initially worked, but now it isn't connecting. That's why I'm not sure of the profit. I can still do all the critical business tasks without accessing that machine, but my profit calculation isn't one of them.

I'm running out of credit on my Amazon business AMEX card and they rejected my request for a credit limit increase to handle my growing sales. I can use other ways to procure, but the 5% cash back I get on that card makes a big difference.
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

I'm guessing profit of about 380 USD again

Weekly Goals​

  1. DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. WIP Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

Still traveling. Followed up on the Amazon ads issue with my account manager and she followed up with her POC in that team.

Don't have access to my bot because remote desktop still doesn't work. I probably need to enhance my web UI before I travel again. Even though it's a minor headache, I still want to be in full control of things.
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

I'm guessing profit of about 670 USD.

Weekly Goals​

  1. DONE Renegotiate international logistics rates
  2. WIP Get Amazon Ads account unblocked

Update​

Still traveling. Will be back home tomorrow evening.

It feels a bit odd to continue making money while I'm on vacation. But maybe this is a preview of what like would be like if I left the full time job and still made enough money for a vacation-like lifestyle.

A few things are bouncing around in my head:

At what point do I look into getting a VA to handle customer service and other things that aren't possible to fully automate?

I looked at salaries for VAs in the Philippines and I'm looking at ~1,500 USD per month for a full-time employee. Right now I definitely don't need full-time. So maybe another option is to find part time and pay through an agency. Probably I will end up with a higher hourly fee but lower overall cost.

I think the correct answer here is to wait as long as possible and automate as much as possible before committing to going from zero to one employee.

Should I switch country 2 to the more expensive, but faster shipping to see if it will improve sales, which are only 10% of country 1?

Alternatively, I can provide multiple shipping options on Amazon itself. That would complicate operations a bit but will probably be an improvement over what I have now.
 
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msufan

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At what point do I look into getting a VA to handle customer service and other things that aren't possible to fully automate?

I think not yet. Personally, I think you will be hitting $1000 a day in a few weeks, and then you can move toward focusing on this exclusively, and then as it grows from there you would have time to train a VA properly. Otherwise, without very clear training, I personally think the VA could cost you as much time as he/she saves you.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Upgraded to gold, the consistency and process is off the charts. Your treating this like a science, which many fail to understand that is what business is.
 

GoldFibre

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Weekly Update​

Rough profit calculation for the week: 2,750 USD (+23%)

I think that lowering my costs and thus my prices is the main catalyst of the improvement this week. I actually stopped adding new listings for most of the week because I wanted all my pricing to update quickly.

I also benefitted from Black Friday on the procurement side because a lot of the items were discounted when I purchased them. There is an eCommerce peak season in November and December. Once we get into January we will see a 'normalized' profit figure.

Even though I have more and more profit each week, I'm actually in a cash-crunch because I ran out of credit on my business credit card, which puts a working capital burden on the business. I've managed to avoid putting additional cash into this business after the initial company registration, and to maintain that I'll need to come up with a solution to this.

Here are my goals for the coming week:
  • Solve working capital issues
  • Speed up new listing processor (add more API keys)
  • Add more remote working features to web app
  • Unblock Amazon Ads accounts (carryover from last week)
 
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GoldFibre

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Upgraded to gold, the consistency and process is off the charts. Your treating this like a science, which many fail to understand that is what business is.
Thank you!

I was actually quite inspired by your book and I am always thinking about how I’m trading my time.

This is on the wall of my office and I look at it every day:
image.jpg
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1701023001064.png

Weekly Goals​

  • PARTIAL Solve working capital issues
  • PARTIAL Speed up new listing processor (add more API keys)
  • Add more remote working features to web app
  • Unblock Amazon Ads accounts (carryover from last week)

Working Capital​

I called AMEX to try to raise my limit, but the request was rejected. So I asked what other options I have and I was able to transfer some credit limit from an old credit card I never use to the Amazon one. Now my credit limit is about 5k USD higher than before, but I actually need about 50k if I stay at my current monthly revenue without growth. With growth maybe I should have at least 100k.

But then I realized that the 5% cash back deal is only applicable on the first 120k USD each year, so I don't even want to use this card after a few months into 2024. I need a hierarchy of cards to use that maximize the benefits of the spend.

I have other credit cards that I don't use and they have plenty of credit. I just keep the accounts open because it is supposed to improve your credit score to have long-lived accounts. I made a spreadsheet of the cards, their credit limits and their benefits to create a sequence of which one to use. After the Amazon card benefits are used up, my next best option is 1.5% cash back.

I also researched other cards that have Amazon-specific benefits and applied for the Prime Visa card. It looks like this one has the 5% cash back offer with no spending limit. This is with Chase, where I have some other cards. So if I get that then I can transfer my limits from existing cards to the Amazon one and hopefully have plenty of credit to finance the procurement.

New API Keys​

To get more API keys I need access to more Amazon Seller accounts. I have six of them connected to my bot now, but the last time I tried to register a new account it was rejected without reason.

I tried to sign up again and should know within a day or two if it worked.

Performance Update​

When I got home I updated all my order information and got my final weekly stats, which were a bit higher than my earlier rough estimation:
1701009532893.png
 

El1mination

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Today's Stats​

View attachment 52678

Weekly Goals​

  • PARTIAL Solve working capital issues
  • PARTIAL Speed up new listing processor (add more API keys)
  • Add more remote working features to web app
  • Unblock Amazon Ads accounts (carryover from last week)

Working Capital​

I called AMEX to try to raise my limit, but the request was rejected. So I asked what other options I have and I was able to transfer some credit limit from an old credit card I never use to the Amazon one. Now my credit limit is about 5k USD higher than before, but I actually need about 50k if I stay at my current monthly revenue without growth. With growth maybe I should have at least 100k.

But then I realized that the 5% cash back deal is only applicable on the first 120k USD each year, so I don't even want to use this card after a few months into 2024. I need a hierarchy of cards to use that maximize the benefits of the spend.

I have other credit cards that I don't use and they have plenty of credit. I just keep the accounts open because it is supposed to improve your credit score to have long-lived accounts. I made a spreadsheet of the cards, their credit limits and their benefits to create a sequence of which one to use. After the Amazon card benefits are used up, my next best option is 1.5% cash back.

I also researched other cards that have Amazon-specific benefits and applied for the Prime Visa card. It looks like this one has the 5% cash back offer with no spending limit. This is with Chase, where I have some other cards. So if I get that then I can transfer my limits from existing cards to the Amazon one and hopefully have plenty of credit to finance the procurement.

New API Keys​

To get more API keys I need access to more Amazon Seller accounts. I have six of them connected to my bot now, but the last time I tried to register a new account it was rejected without reason.

I tried to sign up again and should know within a day or two if it worked.

Performance Update​

When I got home I updated all my order information and got my final weekly stats, which were a bit higher than my earlier rough estimation:
View attachment 52671
Wow all of this stuff is very impressive, I just finished reading the Millionaires Fastlane and I want to do something along the lines that you are doing. Right now all I know is C++ for Unreal Engine (The tool used to make movies and games such as fortnite) and I want to learn more. How did you learn about all of this API stuff and how to make bots? I am clueless to all of these things and I want to learn more about things like these. I was planning to start learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript so I know how to make websites and things of the sort but I don't know where to go from there, I am just looking for some guidance as to how you learned about Amazons API in a week, and how you learned to write scripts that automate your processes. What languages did you use to make these? What is your education background? What education platform do you use to learn things (e.g. Udemy or YouTube)? And how much time did you put in to this? As for me, my education right now is highschool level. I have yet to learn about MJ's list of things that everyone should know:

"• Interest rates
• Taxable and non-taxable yields
• Amortization of mortgages
• The balancing of a check book
• Basic percentage calculations
• Calculating return on investment
• Why stocks rise and fall
• Why a guaranteed 15% return on a bank CD is screaming, “scam!” • How stock options work, such as calls and puts
• Why insurance exists
• How a mutual fund works • What bonds are and how they rise and fall • Global currency"

So this is something I should get to learning. MJ also mentioned C corporations, S Corporations, and LLC's, which are another thing that I don't know about. So I just have a lot of stuff to do and I don't know where to start, I guess I'll just start by learning the things that MJ thinks everyone should know. I didn't mean for this to be a personal dump of information that most of you don't care about, I'm just trying to request some guidance as you seem you know what you're doing. Thanks
 
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Last edited:

BizyDad

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Wow all of this stuff is very impressive, I just finished reading the Millionaires Fastlane and I want to do something along the lines that you are doing. Right now all I know is C++ for Unreal Engine (The tool used to make movies and games such as fortnite) and I want to learn more. How did you learn about all of this API stuff and how to make bots? I am clueless to all of these things and I want to learn more about things like these. I was planning to start learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript so I know how to make websites and things of the sort but I don't know where to go from there, I am just looking for some guidance as to how you learned about Amazons API in a week, and how you learned to write scripts that automate your processes. What languages did you use to make these? What is your education background? What education platform do you use to learn things (e.g. Udemy or YouTube)? And how much time did you put in to this? As for me, my education right now is highschool level. I have yet to learn about MJ's list of things that everyone should know:

"• Interest rates
• Taxable and non-taxable yields
• Amortization of mortgages
• The balancing of a check book
• Basic percentage calculations
• Calculating return on investment
• Why stocks rise and fall
• Why a guaranteed 15% return on a bank CD is screaming, “scam!” • How stock options work, such as calls and puts
• Why insurance exists
• How a mutual fund works • What bonds are and how they rise and fall • Global currency"

So this is something I should get to learning. MJ also mentioned C corporations, S Corporations, and LLC's, which are another thing that I don't know about. So I just have a lot of stuff to do and I don't know where to start, I guess I'll just start by learning the things that MJ thinks everyone should know. I didn't mean for this to be a personal dump of information that most of you don't care about, I'm just trying to request some guidance as you seem you know what you're doing. Thanks

This is the kind of thing that you should start your own thread about, not try to get a busy person to teach you every little factor of business.

Most of the answers to this can be found with Google searches. Start there...

And in all of this, I think you missed one of the most basic things that MJ teaches.

What value are you bringing to the world? What is a problem that you can fix for other people that they will pay you to fix?

If you don't have an answer to that, you don't have the start of a business and the rest of this stuff doesn't matter as much.

Hope that helps.
 

El1mination

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This is the kind of thing that you should start your own thread about, not try to get a busy person to teach you every little factor of business.

Most of the answers to this can be found with Google searches. Start there...

And in all of this, I think you missed one of the most basic things that MJ teaches.

What value are you bringing to the world? What is a problem that you can fix for other people that they will pay you to fix?

If you don't have an answer to that, you don't have the start of a business and the rest of this stuff doesn't matter as much.

Hope that helps.
Thanks for this, sorry, next time I have big things like this I'll create my own thread.
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1701111978162.png

Weekly Goals​

  • PARTIAL Solve working capital issues
I called the bank to see if they can just convert one of my cards to the Amazon one, but they said they can't.

I checked with my account manager to see if they can reduce the reserve that Amazon keeps on my payouts. Right now they are holding about 6,000 USD and freeing some of this up would help alleviate cash concerns.
  • PARTIAL Speed up new listing processor (add more API keys)
Waiting on the outcome of my latest Amazon Seller account application.
  • PARTIAL Add more remote working features to web app
I converted my order update UI to use a Next server action, so that it can be done from a remote PC. I wasn't familiar with this feature when I was building the UI, but it shortened my server code from twenty lines of code down to one.
  • Unblock Amazon Ads accounts (carryover from last week)
No action.
 
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GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1701199888009.png

Weekly Goals​

  • PARTIAL Solve working capital issues
I discovered I have some 20 year old Amazon card that I never use and don't have access to. This one has 3% cash back. I need to see if I can convert it to the prime card that has 5% cash back and then move some of my credit limit to it.
  • PARTIAL Speed up new listing processor (add more API keys)
My Amazon Seller account application was rejected - I suspect because it is using the same company or personal information as my other accounts.

I will try to sign up one more time but from a different marketplace and see if it gets through.
  • PARTIAL Add more remote working features to web app
I added a form for quickly navigating between orders in my web app, which will speed up my procurement.
  • Unblock Amazon Ads accounts (carryover from last week)
Got a typically ambiguous 'resolution' email from Amazon and called my account manager who told me that she has re-escalated the issue again today.
 

GoldFibre

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Today's Stats​

1701281412269.png

Weekly Goals​

  • DONE Solve working capital issues
Buried in my promotional emails I found a message from the bank regarding the Amazon Prime Visa application. I called them and verified my identity and got the card approved.

This one has a much higher credit limit and I have other cards at this bank from which I can move credit limits. So my working capital issues are handled even if the business doubles or triples again in revenue.
  • PARTIAL Speed up new listing processor (add more API keys)
No action.
  • PARTIAL Add more remote working features to web app
I converted my keyword/brand adding form to use a server action, which allows me to do this remotely.
  • PARTIAL Unblock Amazon Ads accounts (carryover from last week)
I reopened my support case THREE times after Amazon support associates kept closing it without answering my questions. Finally they came back with a morsel of information that they detected 'fraudulent activities' in my 'account', without specifying if it is my seller account or ads account. I forwarded this to my account manager to help with her escalations. I also reopened the case again because they still hadn't answered my questions.

I also finally scheduled a recurring meeting with my account manager for tomorrow and sent a list of my top priorities, with my ads account being number 1.
 

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