FBA Coaching with Chris Green CEO of FBAPower

FBA Coaching with Chris Green CEO of FBAPower Part 3: Retailer Secrets & How To Lower Your Costs

Already Gone Through PAC • How do I sell on Amazon? • What is FBA? • How do I use FBA? • What tools & programs do I use?

FBAPower & FBAScout Support • • • Support: email info@fbapower. com Watch the Videos http: //fbapower. com/home/fbapowervideos/ FBAPower support staff happy to help

Lowering Your Costs & Retailer Secrets

Where Did I Learn All This Stuff? I worked for Bosch Power Tools for five years Vendor for Home Depot and Lowe’s Started as a Sales Rep, then Territory Manager, then District Manager Won Salesman Of The Year in 2006 Saw product cycles, seasonal cycles, clearance items over and over again

Lowering Your Costs Resellers don’t pay sales tax Discounts, Coupons Military, Senior, Student (if legit) Rewards, Points, Credit Cards, Store Club Special Buys, BOGO CHOP SHOP Rebates Price Matches Watch for Price Drops Online tricks

How To Buy Tax Free Comptroller’s Office (Google it) Get a tax ID Ask each store how they handle tax exempt purchases Require tax ID certificate Setup an internal account Fill out state provided paperwork Learn your state’s rules and each store’s rules

When To Pay Tax Some stores don’t do this very often Can take a long time If the tax savings are not worth the time, pay and move on You can request credit for sales tax later, but I see it as better to not pay than to pay and have to file to get it back

Implications of Not Paying Sales Tax Items have to be for resale You have to collect sales tax on items sold within your state and remit to the government Items sold across state lines are tax exempt KEEP TRACK: even if you don’t collect sales tax on Amazon sales within your state, you should still pay the sales tax on those purchases to the state Sound complex? It’s really pretty easy Find a CPA to help

Discounts Volume Discounts Buy in bulk, get better rate Direct Purchase Discounts Special Order – never on sales floor Active Items – limited number on shelf, but store can order as many as they want to Simply ask the manager

Coupons can save you big bucks! #1 Easy Coupon – Lowe’s 10% off In USPS Mover’s Packet – just pick up at Post Office and look inside 10% off entire purchase at Lowe’s Accepted at Home Depot as well Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s

Special Days Military Discount – Lowe’s & Home Depot Senior Citizen’s days – thrift stores Student Discounts – computers

Rewards Stores with Rewards Cards or Club Cards Send you coupons in the mail or email Points to redeem for cash or merchandise Credit Cards points, miles, rebates Home Depot Mastercard (no longer, booooo)

Special Buys/BOGO Retailers will have ‘Special Buys’ that are in-andout special deals Usually advertised – can be ‘loss leaders’ Once sold out, no more available De. Walt radio with free 18 volt battery ($80) BOGO – Buy One, Get One (free) Grinder two-pack – split them up to sell online

CHOP SHOP This is where we made a small fortune on e. Bay Parts are worth more than the whole thing Example: Power tool combo kits We buy (with lowest cost using same strategies here) and then break it into all pieces Sell to people who just want one piece at a higher price You can do this with any product that has multiple, saleable pieces inside

Rebates Mail in rebates In-store instant rebates Manufacturer rebates Can be stacked, double-dipped, and exploited Read the details: limit per household? Email or call manufacturer to ask for exception Ryobi deals example

Price Matches Many stores will price match their competitors Many stores will also BEAT their competitors on a price match So one store wants to take a loss on an item, you then get another store to take the same loss plus an additional discount (+coupon? ) Read your local flyers and learn each stores’ policies – make a notebook for each store

Price Drops Most stores have a price drop guarantee If a price drops within 30 days (or whatever the store’s policy is) they will refund you the difference Keep your receipts! Near the end of the price drop window, call to verify prices. If lower, go get your refund!

Stack and Exploit Try to stack rebates with in store discounts and coupons Tell the store personnel what you want to do – they want to sell you a ton of stuff and will try to make it happen Keep it related to the numbers – at a certain price, you’ll buy $XXXX. If not, then it’s not profitable for you. Don’t get ‘sold’

Online Tricks Google ‘coupon code’ + website Google ‘discount’ + website Just ask! Ask for a discount (email or chat) Homedepot. com – chat popup Just ask for 10% off code and you’ll get it Can save you hundreds to thousands of dollars

Retailer Secrets How, when, and why items are clearanced How to get all the store’s inventory How to hunt with radar at other stores (Work smart while your competition works hard)

Retailer Secrets How to get your hands on all of the inventory Keep it simple – find great products (not just good) and get tons of them Easy to list one item 100 times than 100 different items

Check the Computer So simple, but even I forget to do this sometimes Almost all stores have an in-store inventory system Find an item you like? Ask someone if they have more (they WANT to sell you things) Voila! They have more in the back or overhead May be an ‘Active Item’ – order more!

Next Step: Check Other Stores Most of the large retailers link their store inventories Stores that are sold out can send customers to other stores for items Use this to find what you want! Home Depot Example – 60 stores with one hour drive. I went to the 15 stores with the most inventory. Don’t waste time going in ‘just to check’. Go with certainty!

Call Ahead - YES Tie up inventory Pay over the phone Verify on-hand quantities Verify in-store price

Call Ahead - NO Deals that are TOO GOOD Store employees may buy for themselves (even if not allowed) Store employees may alert their friends Store management may decide to not sell if price mistake (Worry about this more with technology items)

Buy & Hold Strategy Sometimes best to ‘buy & hold’ Retail clearance deals can be picked up by many people You may encounter some irrational competition Let them cut price and margin, you focus on maintaining margins and profits

Example: Ryobi Auto Hammer Bought 200 from Home. Depot. com for $20 each Tax free, free shipping, $20 cost Many other sellers did same thing (although I’d be surprised if they all got tax refunded) So many sellers competing for the next sale that price was down at $27. 95. I held my 200 for about 4 months and sold them all for $84. 95

Don’t ‘Chase the Next Sale’ Amazon marketplace is dynamic Items sell, sellers sell out Prices rise and fall Don’t get in pricing wars Don’t try to see who can make the LEAST amount of money

Ultimate Backup Plan Since you purchased items at retail, you have a receipt and a return policy Learn the returns rules for each store Evaluate inventory for acceptable profitability prior to expiration of return policy. . but don’t make a habit of this. Stay in good graces with store personnel. Buy good stuff and you’ll never return anything. Just use as a safety net.

FBACoaching Parts 4 & 5 • • Part 4: There is always gold, lazy scanners, advanced FBA Part 5: Open questions. Send them in ahead of time. No time limit; I’ll answer them all!

Questions?