AF271 - Crushing Black Friday on Amazon with Stephen Smotherman

If you sell on Amazon, capitalizing on Black Friday can bring in thousands of dollars every year. Learn the strategies you need to crush black Friday and bring in some serious cash 💰 by Christmas.

These are some of my favorite times of the year. Q4 - it is the end of the year, and the holidays are coming. 

It is the best time to be an Amazon seller because sales are coming in, all the products are available, and everyone is opening their wallet and talking about crushing Black Friday.

This episode is a little different. It is a snippet of an interview with me by Stephen Smotherman about retail arbitrage. I started doing retail arbitrage a long time ago but found a better and easier way to make money on Amazon…WHOLESALE BUNDLES!

But,  occasionally, I can’t help myself going back to retail arbitrage because it is fun!

Retail Arbitrage is not the business model I use to make a living, but it is a business model that still works. 

With the right strategies, you can capitalize and make a ton of money. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you have to be strategic by planning ahead and being careful about your purchase. There is a ton of money to be made on straight up single unit items. Retail arbitrage sold below wholesale value so that stores can bring you into their website or their physical store.

​​You can dig into Black Friday and learn how you can crush and cash in with our Black Friday masterclass or the reseller's Guide to Black Friday. 

Today, we talk more about the strategies and different things regarding Black Friday. We do a live masterclass where you learn all the strategies of Black Friday sales, along with the book. If you're already a student of this, you already have access to all of the updates. If not, go to mommyincome.com/BlackFriday and check out the masterclass that it's coming up in just a couple of weeks. I will be teaching alongside Stephen Smotherman from Full-time FBA.

I started Black Friday shopping when my kids were little, trying to get toys with a small budget. Thinking that could get some deals. 

I would wake up at four in the morning and wait in line for a Nintendo product. While I was there, I realized, as an eBay and Amazon seller, that I could buy the toy for free if I sold some and made money. 

And so, I started looking more into the deals going for the big purchase.

How I turned three hours into $15k in profit is one of Stephen Smotherman’s favorite stories. 

Back in 2016, it was more of our full-time gig. It was a little bit after our foreclosure, my husband was back to work, and it was more of a family business that was growing. We had too many vans with a crew of four in each one. There was this hot product at Target for Black Friday only and in-store only. 

So, we loaded down a trailer and two full minivans of this one product. The product was a razor scooter with light-up wheels for a $15 deal. 

We went from one Target store to another for about three hours, filled as much as we could, and spent almost all of our money. And this product was gone in two weeks. They all sold out! 

Another was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure, which was $50 or $60 profit per piece. Selling on Amazon through FBA, which I always do because it is faster at checking in and making it available than merchant fulfill and can bring you instant profit. 

However, you could list things merchant-fulfilled on your phone on Black Friday and get sales instantly. I had this one product, a laser western toy that was restricted to list on FBA. So I listed it via merchant-fulfilled. It was very popular and hard to find so while I was listing them in line, the orders already coming in and needed to ship. 

The interesting thing is that last year, and so far this year, there have been no warnings of toys being gated when it comes to merchant fulfillment during the Q4 selling season. It is possible that it will be open again this year. 

Amazon is, at first, always about the customer, especially when it comes to deadlines. Due to the increasing number of prime customers and removing many Amazon sellers, Amazon removed the restriction to encourage people to do the fulfillment because their drivers can’t keep up with the prime deliveries. 

So always check your emails and check Amazon’s guidelines and rules to stay up-to-date. . 

Black Friday deals can make you so much money in a short period of time. You just have to know what to do to dig those diamonds in the rough. 

One of the strategies I can share is to start early. Be an early bird shopper!

Scheduling scouting trips to stores, but don’t buy yet. Look at the empty shelves, where there are, and focus to see if there is a specific brand or end caps that are sold out or running low. Pay attention to what is hot and trending. Do a lot of pre-research before purchasing any products. Know what is going to be in short supply on those steady products. Do your sourcing early, during, and after.

And don’t forget that doing both FBA and merchant fulfillment is the best option! You have to pay attention every now and then to your check-in times. Because Amazon is having shortages of staff, here and globally, you have to strategize to avoid sending in your Christmas-related products the first week of December. 

WHY? 

Because then you risk your items not being checked in until January and you don’t have a choice except to liquidate. You have to do it earlier for FBA. 

Don't give Amazon any reason to hold up your inventory! 

Make sure all your products are labeled correctly and in the right quantities. You can’t control Amazon, but you can control the time you send in your inventory. Pay attention to time because time is of essential this time of the year. 

Ready to start planning your Black Friday strategy? We’ve got you covered. In my interview with Stephen Smotherman, I share more tips and tactics for crushing Black Friday and earning thousands of dollars in extra sales. Listen now to get started!

WATCH: 

LISTEN:

QUOTE:

“You are resellers. This is the busiest time of year, so you are either reselling and making a lot of money and celebrating holidays in a different way, in a different time.  Or you're doing one or the other. It's just a busy time. And so you have to expect that you're going to work a little bit more in Q4. You're earning more, and there's more potential to increase your income. You have plenty of time to rest in January and February while you're gathering your riches right now. Be prepared to do a little bit of extra and maybe ship a little bit more packaging.”   

- Kristin Ostrander.

RESOURCES:

• The Reseller’s Guide to Black Friday by Stephen Smotherman and Kristin Ostrander  use COUPON CODE BFSALE

• Top 3 Apps for Black Friday Resellers
• Black Friday Arbitrage Prep Guide for Amazon Sellers
• Why I Still Shop Black Friday as a Wholesale Bundler
• What to Sell on Amazon: Decode the Customer

In our book, The Resellers Guide to Black Friday, really is a manual for Amazon sellers. 

If you're doing it for the first time or last year you did it or a few years ago, and it didn't work out for you, and you're just not sure, being prepared is the key. 

We devour the possibilities when it comes to Black Friday. You can find out more about it at fulltimefba.com/blackFriday. The course has just recently dropped. Use the coupon code BFSALE.

It's only open for a short time! We only open this up once a year for a week and a half or two weeks, and then it's closed. Get the link to the masterclass, ask your questions, and finally, be prepared! There are opportunities, and you can smash so much of the profits around you on Black Friday by having a plan. We walk you through all the things that you need to know to get ready for Black Friday before, during, and after. 

I love hearing Black Friday stories after the fact, so make sure you join my free private Facebook Group - the Amazon Files with the code word: BLACK FRIDAY. Post your comments, and your notes, and tag me so I can celebrate your success with you. 

Now go and take some action in your business! 

Get the class, get the Black Friday reseller's guide and crush it on Black Friday >> www.mommyincome.com/blackfriday

That’s all for now, friends. I'll see you guys same time, same place next week on the Amazon files. 🎧

-KO