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INTERVIEW WITH AMAZON FBA MASTER CHRIS WILKEY

By Adam Snyder

In this blog post I am going to share with you the interview that I did with Chris Wilkey. Chris has a lot of great advice and information for all sellers, not just new sellers. This interview covers a lot of different topics. If you want to get my take on all the questions and answers, then make sure you watch the video below. Underneath the video is the exact question and answers that Chris gave.

How long have you been selling on Amazon? Do you think Amazon FBA will be a safe business to get into for long term success? One piece of advice for somebody on the fence about Amazon FBA and not sure about risking their money.

I have been selling on Amazon for just over 3 years and have learned a lot over those years. That being said, one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that Amazon is always (and will always) be in a constant state of change. Long term success is possible with Amazon FBA, but it shouldn’t be your end goal. Your end goal should be to learn how to see opportunities to make money in all areas of online business and to build a portfolio of passive income streams (with one of those streams being FBA). If you are worried about jumping in, remember that some of you paid thousands of dollars for a college education with no clear end goal. A few hundred to get some real world experience should be a no brainer.

We all know that retail arbitrage and online arbitrage are not going anywhere. Yes, they may be harder than they were a year ago, but they are both still profitable. What would you say is your biggest piece of advice for somebody who is just getting into retail arbitrage and online arbitrage and has never gone through Q4 before?

Don’t listen to all the negative people out there. Get your butt out and start sourcing. The more you source, the better you get. The more mistakes you make, the more you learn. Find your niche and stick to it. You might not be a toy seller, but you may rock at video games. This Q4, really really rock at video games. If you are just starting, go with what you know. Don’t think you have to be some crazy successful seller who gets multi-million dollar deals. I started out with 5 toys at a local Walgreens. Just hustle and make your own destiny.

From your experience what category is the riskiest in terms of Q4 returns? Where should newer sellers limit their sourcing?

The riskiest in my opinion are high dollar electronics. If someone is paying top dollar for a present, they will want to make sure the person receiving the gift gets exactly what they want. That equals a lot of returns on big ticket items which will make a new seller cringe.

I have always been a big fan of bundles and utilize them quite a bit in my business. Do you do many bundles for Q4? If so, are you creating your own bundles or piggy backing off others? One tip for finding the best bundle ideas or bundles already on Amazon?

I’ll be upfront. I don’t do a ton of bundling, because I invest my time into other things such as trade-in opportunities, other marketplaces, etc. People who bundle have a great advantage because the average seller won’t take the time to make it happen. The biggest lesson here is that the money is to be made doing what no one else wants to do.

How do you plan for Black Friday? Are you hiring people to get items for you since you can only be in one place? What is your advice for people wanting to shop the Black Friday deals?

My plans for Black Friday…This is a fun one. This year (like the last two years), will be the exact opposite of what most people will do. I will only go to two local stores: Walgreens and Rural King. That’s it. I don’t like messing with all of the people and can make more money sourcing online with a beer or glass of wine instead of waiting in line. And I have a kick-a@# Black Friday I have to prepare for that evening.

One of the tactics that I use for Q4 is I find toys and tools that have a sales price history that is more of a roller coaster during September and October and then I price these rather high and wait for the sale. Would you recommend this strategy to somebody who has never gone through a Q4 before or what would you recommend being that many people struggle to find profitable inventory on a consistent basis?

That’s a great strategy, but I do it a little different. I’m going for sheer volume and I’m willing to take a lower ROI to have it turnover quickly. I look at Q4 as a time to flip items as quick as possible. It’s the whole notion of compounded interest and time periods. I would rather sell an item 10 different times at a 30% return than sell it once at a 300% return. For example:

If I sell a $10 item for a 300% return and it takes 3 months, I make: $30.

If I sell a $10 item for 30% return 10 times in 3 months, I make: $179.

Now this is great in theory, but the second part of your question shows some light on the real world issue: Not being able to find enough profitable inventory.

Well, I’ll say this: The lower you go with ROI, the more opportunities there are out there. Volume might be an issue, but as you source more and more, it becomes less of an issue. Trust me on that one. I used to have trouble finding anything to sell. Now I leave a ton of items on the shelf because I have better ROI items. It will happen with practice.

Do you do much in regards to merchant fulfilled during Q4? If so, is it mainly to get your items onto Amazon faster than having to wait for the warehouse to process your inventory? Do you have any advice on doing merchant fulfilled that people who do primarily FBA need to know?

Oh yeah. I merchant fulfill (MF) from now until the end of the year. There is no better feeling than listing something in the store and having it sell before you check out. I have MF’ed small toys, hard to find items, and even Frozen bicycles over the years. If you are going to MF anything, make sure you have the boxes on hand and make sure to ship it ASAP. That is where you will have your biggest issues. When I sell MF items, they go to the top of my list for pack and prep and I get them out within 24 hours.

Used video games, used books, or used electronics. If you had to choose one of these items which one would you choose to sell in Q4 and why?

Used books. Amazon started off as a bookstore and the sheer volume of books sold during Q4 astounds me. If they are a good price point, I would sell books all day and Q4 long.

I currently sell any item with a ROI above 25%, good ranking history, and limited sellers. Is there a minimum ROI that you go after? What should people expect from Q4 in regards to ROI? Do you find the ROI goes up around this time of the year?

My minimum ROI and sales rank requirements are on a complex three dimensional matrix that is extremely difficult to explain to anyone but myself. It sounds really complicated, but each judgment I make takes in all of the information available and then I throw my gut into it to come up with my final answer.

In simple terms:

I’m willing to take less of an ROI if the sales rank is extremely low.

I’m willing to take a high sales rank if the ROI is out of this world.

Sometimes I see sales rank as a made up number and decide that the item will sell, so I buy it.

Sometimes I decide that I would rather spend my money on other items and leave a good item on the shelf. It just happens.

Do you do all your research before you go to the stores or do you spend a lot of time scanning? Or Both? How important is research beforehand in your business?

I do a little pre-sourcing research, but I am a scanner through and through. I learn by doing and I love to scan stuff just for the hell of it. I’m blessed with a semi-photographic memory and I am constantly adding in new product prices and deals into the rolodex in my head.

In regards to online arbitrage. What is your favorite tool/extension that you didn’t create? What is your favorite tool/extension that you did create and how will it benefit sellers during Q4?

This is an easy answer. The two tools I couldn’t live without are OAXRay and Tactical Arbitrage (both of which I did not create). These two tools make online arbitrage so easy it’s stupid (once you know how to truly use the tools). These tools are a little pricey, but I have made my money back time and time again without batting an eyelash. A full comparison between the two can be seen here: http://www.fbamaster.com/oaxray-or-tactical-arbitrage-the-battle-of-the-online-arbitrage-softwares/

Now for the tools I built, I have two personal favorites:

1. Variation Checker – This is a free tool that I built to help people quickly figure out which product variation is on sale on an Amazon product page. https://gumroad.com/products/HMRXB
2. Textbook Arbitrage – This one was literally built because I thought it was an awesome idea and it is now loved by over 600 other users. As the semester ends for most college, I hit this one hard to find textbook flips and make some easy money for Christmas shopping on Amazon. https://gumroad.com/products/PMEs

Many of my viewers tell me they can never find any books that sell well on Amazon. As somebody that has only used bookscouter a handful of times I am hesitant to tell them to try it. I know you use bookscouter, so what is one piece of advice you have for people that are looking to flip books using bookscouter? What is the best way to find profitable books to sell to bookscouter? Do you sell any books on eBay?

This is actually how I got started back on Amazon while I was in college (and I didn’t even realize it at that time).

There is some money to be made on textbook flips, but it’s a heck of a lot easier to get out there and source for other items. If you live close to a college campus, hit it up around the last week or two of the semester and you will be amazed at the deals you can find.

So the short answer would be: Don’t get fixated on this idea. Get your feet wet in arbitrage and then expand once you have some experience under your belt.

How important would you say Keepa and CCC are to choosing profitable inventory during Q4?

Anytime you scan an item, you are just getting a snapshot for that current moment. With Keepa and CCC, you get to see the whole picture. Imagine it like this: You look up the stock quote for Apple and you see that it is up 15% in one day. Does that make it a good stock? Well, it depends. It could have just crashed and is starting to recover or it might have just released an awesome new technology. Seeing the stock price doesn’t give you that info, but the historical data and outside factors can, thus why something like Keepa and CCC is extremely important.

What would you say to all those people that are worried about brand restrictions? Are you going deep on many products or just very wide?

Scan every item, ship quickly, price competitively, and repeat. I haven’t changed a thing that I do in terms of sourcing or quantity of each item due to brand restrictions.

Are you currently using any prep centers for your business? Why or why not? If so, how important has using a prep center been for growing your business?

I use a prep center for all of my online arbitrage and it has allowed me to focus on only processing my retail arbitrage sourcing (which has given me a ton of time back). During this time of year, I usually hire one or two workers to take the prep and pack side of the business over and I solely focus on sourcing as much as humanly possible.

If you are looking for a prep company, I recommend checking out: http://www.simplepriceprep.com/

Do you sell much grocery, health & personal care, or beauty? Would you recommend new sellers attempt to get ungated as soon as possible or wait until Q4 is over? Roughly how many listings do you have that are gated replenishables and how long did it take to build up to that?

I sell a good bit of health and beauty, but there are so many products out there that I tend to sway more towards sports, toys, home, and clothing/shoes. I think the whole idea of people being worried about being ungated is crazy and they should focus on the categories they can already sell in.

On a percentage basis, 15% of over sales comes from health, beauty, or grocery combined.

Will you continue to offer online arbitrage lists during Q4?

Oh yeah. Q4 sellers are short on time and always looking for product leads. We will keep pumping out the lists all Q4 long at https://gumroad.com/fbam.

I got the email about Score In Q4 and it looks incredible. I wish I had that available a few years back when I got started. You said that this group is for people who are not strapped for cash, but based on what you know will be inside this group what would you say is a good amount of money people need to have to get the most benefit from this group? In your opinion what would you say will be the two best parts about this group?

As for money, this group is designed for people who have around $2,000 – $3,000 to spend in inventory per month or up. If you are just getting started, an investment into your business is better spent with trial and error with your own sourcing. If you just really want to ramp up quickly, you can still be successful with the group with $1,000 in sourcing funds, but you are going to have to hustle and really leverage the group and get your products into Amazon superfast.

My favorite two parts are:

1. The Facebook live session and coaching. We have brought in experienced sellers with skill sets outside of our comfort zones and that means even I am learning things in this group already (and it’s only be live for 3 days).
2. The community aspect of the group. A single connection in the Amazon community can be more beneficial for your bottom line than any product out there. You have no idea where that connection will lead you.

You can learn more about the Score in Q4 program here: http://www.fbamaster.com/make-the-most-of-your-q4-2016-fba-master-score-in-q4/

CONCLUSION:

I hope this interview shed some light on where Chris’ business  is coming from and where mine is as well. We both have similar strategies for sourcing, but these are not the only strategies out there. Even though we both source similar ways, there are still many differences to the way we run our businesses and where both are headed.

If you have anything to add to this email interview that I had with Chris then please comment below.

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