You and 4,596 subscribers are going to enjoy this newsletter or I promise you’ll hit every red light tomorrow.

Welcome back friend!
And a big welcome to the +198 new readers this week!

Know an Amazon Seller who’d love 💕 this newsletter? Share it in one click.
(it really helps us)

Amazon Says "Woopsie”

Amazon blinked.

Last week, a group of sellers got notices that credit cards were done for ad spend. Ad costs would be auto-deducted from their seller balance instead. No more float. No more points.

Word spread fast. Everyone assumed this was coming for all of us. Then Amazon-seller group MDS organized a one-day ad boycott. 700+ seven-figure sellers turned off their campaigns on April 15.

Amazon didn't even wait for boycott day. On April 14, they sent out a clarification email saying the change won't affect most sellers. "We understand this may have caused some confusion," they wrote. The corporate equivalent of "my bad."

The threat worked. Not because of lost revenue. It worked because the media picked it up. 700 of your highest-spending advertisers publicly coordinating a protest is the kind of thing that makes it into internal memos. Amazon deferred the rollout to August 1 (for some sellers) and threw in large $$ click credits for those affected.

MDS went ahead with the boycott anyway. Good for them.

Some armchair sellers (I think you know the most famous one) yelled loudly from the sidelines. I’m talking sellers with zero skin in the game. Who wouldnt dare show up at an Amazon event. Who didn’t believe the boycott would do anything. Well they were wrong. Amazon caved. And they sat by the sidelines and warmed the bench.

Am I naive enough to think Amazon is actually going to permanently reverse course here? No. BUT… now that they’ve had to publicly say that people’s credit cards are safe, they won’t be able to change that decision soon… right?

If you're still earning points on your ad spend, enjoy it while it lasts.

But MDS proved collective action from sellers still works. It wasn't about the money. It was about the message.

The IVS

Big thanks to Fatos Fatin for supplying this week’s IVS. Fatos is a global citizen and a Londoner in equal parts, loves traveling & learning new languages. You can find her helping sellers refine their messaging at Maxamaze.

Humans Learn Through Stories. Tell Yours

A high-converting Amazon listing isn't a collection of images, it's a conversion system built on storytelling. Hook with the main image, then take the shopper through a narrative that answers every question, removes every doubt, and makes them add to cart without considering alternatives.

Check out the video below!

Did an extremely good-looking friend forward you this newsletter?

Get the next one, here!

Braces in Costa Rica Cost What?

Tax season is grinding on for us but we try to sneak out later afternoon for a sunset beach walk and take a little reset, feel the sand, run into neighbors and sometimes get our arm twisted for a drink at the beach club.

This week Jackson got some more braces on his bottom teeth. I had braces twice in my life and I remember it being a pretty big financial commitment for my parents living in Canada. Here we paid about $200 to get them started and we pay $60 each month/visit for adjustments. Orthodontist speaks English (but we make sure she only speaks Spanish to the boys). Seems like she is doing a lot of different things moving around so many teeth (sorry Jax, that’s on your Dad…). That’s it, $60 tap the Amex, book the next appointment and on our way. No insurance, no go to the billing department, tap and go! How much are braces in your country?

Just Let Your Customer Keep It

Here's what actually happens when a customer returns a $15 product through FBA.

Amazon ships it back. Someone inspects it. If it's sellable, it goes back into inventory. If not, you pay $0.84-$2.27 to destroy it, the same to ship it back, or let it sit and rack up storage fees. A lot of returned units come back graded unfulfillable. Damaged box, opened packaging, cosmetic wear. On a $15 item with $4 in COGS, that's the product lost plus disposal fees.

If your return rate climbs above the category average, Amazon also charges a return processing fee of $1.78-$5.00+ per unit. At that point you might be paying more to process the return than the product is worth.

Returnless Resolutions (Refunds) skip all of it. The customer keeps the product. You write off the COGS. No return shipping, no disposal, no storage on unsellable units.

How to Set It Up:

Settings >
Return Settings >
Returnless Resolutions

Rules can be based on price range (up to $75), return reason, product category, and return window.

A reasonable starting point: returnless resolutions for items where COGS is under $5-7 and price is low (and the return reason isn't "defective" or "not as described.") Those should still come back so you can inspect for quality issues. Run it for 30 days and compare the numbers.

A 2025 Notre Dame study found customers who received returnless returns wrote more positive reviews, were more likely to repurchase, and were more likely to recommend the brand. The effect was strongest when the process was no-questions-asked.

On Amazon, you don't control the messaging. But automated rules with no manual review step make the experience frictionless.

Your Stomach Adjusts to New Time Zones Faster Than Your Brain

Your gut has its own circadian rhythm. But unlike your brain, it doesn't reset based on light. It resets based on when you eat.

Most people try to fix jet lag with melatonin and light therapy. Those help. But the real lever is your fork.

Two days before you fly, start eating on your destination's schedule. Going 6 hours ahead? Eat dinner at noon your time. On the plane, skip the meal entirely and fast until breakfast at destination time.

A study published in Northwestern showed that gut-based circadian resetting cut jet lag adaptation nearly in half.

You're already going to feel rough after a long flight. Might as well give your body a head start where it counts.

To your success,

Rob & Max