It’s already 2024, are there still people stepping into these Amazon pitfalls?

Let's take a look at the pitfalls we've stepped into during our operations in those years, as follows:

1、 A pit for stocking up

1. Having a large amount of inventory, low turnover rate, and high long-term storage and over capacity fees;
2. After the account died, it was not promptly withdrawn from the warehouse and the inventory was destroyed;
3. Pay attention to the latest abandonment/destruction policies in the notice (there is a free disposal activity every year, keep an eye on the news in the seller center);
4. Stock up is high, profits are squeezed on inventory, the funding chain is tight, and cash flow is less than profit;
5. Multiple SKUs, high inventory, and after product updates and upgrades, "products" become "scrap";

Response strategy:

1. It must be sold out within 3 months after being put on the shelves;
2. Products that cannot be sold out within 3 months, starting from the 4th month, will be depreciated by 10% per month based on the remaining inventory amount;
3. Every month, there should be a fixed day to deliberately take inventory and cultivate good habits.

2、 Operational pitfalls

1. Updating account information, resulting in account restrictions: payment information, address information, adjustment of company information after the change of company business license, etc;
2. Abuse of variants leads to account restrictions: the splitting and merging of variants requires compliance and restraint;
3. FBA requires category review or product review after shipment: testing release before ordering; Avoidance of sensitive categories, etc;
4. The conversion of product generic terms into trademarks resulted in infringement incidents: air mouse (flying mouse function, wireless keyboard with flying mouse function, changed to fly mouse), Sleep Sack (sleeping bag), Velcro (Velcro, Self-adhensive）, Bluetooth；
5. The product has been secretly labeled as adult by competitors;
6. "Yirong" products are forcibly abandoned;
7. Promotions and coupons are set incorrectly and used interchangeably, resulting in huge losses;
8. Selling prohibited products: firearms, insecticides, pandemic card covers, masks, hot air combs, etc;
9. Customs seizure, requiring FDA certification: tongue coating device, dental tool set;
10. Multi site synchronization, currency miscalculation;
11. Employees or factories may label the wrong products or boards, resulting in a large number of returns and inability to continue normal sales;
12. Seeking service providers to follow up on sales, the service provider used inappropriate language and was counterattacked by the seller, resulting in account restrictions;
13. Brushing orders leads to threats from the evaluator.

answer:

1. Adhere to platform rules, and if you want to stay in the long run, don't engage in "crooked ways" to avoid Amazon's future accounting;
2. Do not engage in any infringing, sensitive, or platform prohibited products. Before shipping any products, conduct pre order testing and release to detect any issues as early as possible. Do not sell products together, and do not use other trademark terms when publishing products; If you sell infringing products without knowledge, are complained about, your account is restricted, and your funds are frozen, you can choose to appeal yourself or find an intermediary to appeal, but you need to evaluate the input-output ratio;
3. One store, one brand, to avoid association and brand abuse. If you are looking for a service provider to rush and sell, be sure to ask the service provider how to rush and sell, and avoid using insulting language to restrict your account; When clearing inventory, it is also important to ask the service provider which third-party platform they are looking for to attract sales and avoid blind clearance, which may result in account restrictions; So it is important to accumulate reliable service provider resources in daily life and not to casually seek service providers to handle your own problems;
4. Be extremely vigilant when setting up any high-value coupons or discount coupons, double check, avoid buying for 0 yuan, and clear inventory;
5. If you ask someone else to label on your behalf, be sure to give advance notice and check afterwards to avoid labeling errors. It is best to prepare only one label for each item at a time to avoid confusion.

3、 Financial (financial) pitfalls

1. Breakage in the funding chain: "How much capital is needed to accomplish big things", "Don't put eggs in one basket", low cost

Rapid replication and iteration of trial and error+successful experiences; Rolling development requires both pressing the accelerator and the brake.

2. Earning sales but not making money, with funds pinned on inventory;
3. Financial uncertainty: Operations should learn to calculate the general ledger and develop the habit of paying salaries as reserve funds;

4、 Management pitfalls

1. Blindly expanding and dying in a broken capital chain: small teams make money, but after expansion, they don't make money. "Three people do five people."

Live, pay four people's wages;

2. Management chaos: Employees privately follow sales and create cases of multi-channel shipments; The boss should not be the shopkeeper of the top project. The story of Jacky Xue; Management is a science that requires dedication and learning.

5、 The biggest pitfall on the entrepreneurial journey

1. Blind optimism and crazy expansion;
2. Language giants, action dwarfs.

Response measures:

1. Quick action: take action as soon as possible; Take action first, think later;
2. Completion is greater than perfection: "prepare, shoot, aim";
3. Anti fragility mode: investment as a bottom line, endless returns;
4. Low risk entrepreneurship: low-cost trial and error (failure: review+systematic thinking; success: replication+iteration);
5. Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset

Summary: When we choose entrepreneurship, it is a path that brings both rewards and risks. All we can do is to do everything well and maintain a mindset of learning, action, thinking, and reflection.