The Selling From the Beach Newsletter

You and 3,999 others are here to enjoy this newsletter or i’ll temporarily turn your escalator into stairs.

Welcome back friend!
And a big welcome to the +62 new readers this week!

Amazon never sits still. Fees change. Policies shift. A strategy that worked yesterday falls apart today. If you’ve been selling for more than five minutes, you’ve already felt it.

You can’t control the changes. Most sellers freeze when things move. They complain, stall, and wait for things to settle. That is wasted time. You do not have to play it that way. Every change Amazon makes is a signal. If you adjust faster than the next seller, you take their spot. You win the sale, the margin, and the customer they just lost.

Think about it like a stress test. Amazon applies pressure. The weak points snap. The strong parts hold. Each time you survive a change, your systems get sharper, your instincts get quicker, and your business is harder to knock over the next time. That is how you build durability.

This is the real game. Not chasing hacks. Not waiting for “normal” to return (whatever that means). The sellers who thrive treat change like training. Understand and enjoy the workout.

Why we recommend WISE for International Payments

Amazon has been tightening the screws on third-party payment providers. That’s forced a lot of international sellers to scramble for alternatives. The one we recommend? WISE.

Here’s the deal: Amazon will pay into almost any bank account you want, but the FX fees aren’t great. That’s why smart sellers route payments through companies like Wise, which act like virtual banks and save you money on conversions.

Yes, Amazon has its own Seller Wallet but leaving your funds locked inside Amazon? Most sellers I know aren’t comfortable with that (and for good reason).

A lot of us used OFX before, but Amazon pulled the plug on that partnership. Which means you need a new solution. Wise is the one we trust.

✅The Instant Value Section (IVS)✅

(aren't you glad you opened the email now?)

Huge thank you to Ben Leonard for supplying this week’s IVS. If you don’t know Ben, he’s an extremely sharp Brit who sold his personal brand to Thrasio, watched them light it on fire, and then bought it back when they imploded. It’s worth a look.

Making an AI Video from ANY Image is EASY!

This week’s IVS is all about making quick realistic videos from still images. It’s actually never been easier. You can repurpose for Amazon ads, social media, ads on any other platform, or just use on your website.

This system uses still images that you probably already have and brings them to life. Oh, and if you don’t have any still images, Ben’s system will show you how to make them.

There’s no excuse to have poor creative anymore. Watch below.

Seller Café at Accelerate - The Highest Value Thing You Can Do

Every year at Accelerate, Seller Café ends up being one of the most valuable events sellers can access (and that is putting it lightly). It is simple: you book a one-on-one with an Amazon employee, sit down, and actually get your problems solved.

A friend of mine had a brand registry issue that could have cost him $250K in Q4. Seller Café fixed it. My buddy Scott Needham also had a $100K issue sorted. I have heard plenty of other stories of sellers walking in with headaches and walking out with real solutions.

Now let’s be real. A lot of the problems sellers bring to Seller Café are created by Amazon themselves. But Scott raised an insightful point. If this works so well, why do we only get it once a year? Why is this resource not available all the time? Seems silly to me.

That being said, it’s not accessible to everyone. There has been stories of large banned sellers being blocked from registering for Accelerate. I guess even Amazon knows these guys are permanently gone.

Enhance My Listing - Is it any good?

A lot of noise out there with new Accelerate announcements. The latest one is “Enhance my Listing.” Let’s break down what it does and whether or not it’s worth it.

• What is the tool?

Enhance My Listing (EML) is Amazon’s Generative AI feature that reviews your product listings and suggests improvements. It can rewrite titles, bullets, and descriptions, fill in missing attributes, and surface trending keywords based on Amazon’s internal data. You can accept, edit, or reject suggestions.

• Where is it and who gets it?

For select U.S. sellers only, inside the "Edit Listing" window and only on the "Product Details" tab. FWIW, I have access to 10+ accounts and every single one has it (so you probably do, too).

• Does it work?

Kind of. I've tried this on a number of products. Generally the AI takes a pretty good guess at a missing attribute that I find myself accepting more often than not. Sometimes EML says that there are a certain number of changes but I can only find a few of them. For example, they say there are 5 suggestions, but I only see two attributes highlighted in yellow.

I tried it on a listing with mostly blank attributes and it only suggested 1 change. So it seems like the AI is pretty limited.

• Is it worthwhile right now?

As a low-level time-filler task, yes. Or if you're bad at writing listings. I would give this task to a VA and likely accept most of the AI recommendations.

• Any Gotchas?

1. There's no list to find suggested changes.

2. It only suggests edits on the "Product Details" tab (not on any of the other tabs)

3. The help page says there is a "Listing Enhancements" Section in Manage All Inventory (I couldn't find it on my account)

4. I have not seen EML make any description, keyword, or bullet suggestions yet. On stage they showed an example where the AI recommended changing the title of a tent for two different types of buyers (experts and casuals). I haven't seen anything even remotely that good yet.

Stepping away from the beach - Accelerate Recap 2025

Another great year at Accelerate! It’s always an honor to be invited and have everything “comped.” I like free stuff.

I wouldn’t say there were any earth shattering announcements this time but plenty worth noting. Dig into all of these and take advantage while everyone else is sleeping.

The killing of 8541 and the old delete-and-relist as a strategy is being removed, everyone @ Accelerate getting access to “super reps” was massive (I mentioned how good this program was last year), AWD is expanding their reach with Global Warehousing and Development in 2026 — one pool of inventory that fills every Amazon & non Amazon marketplace (not just USA), FBA regional launch means quicker, leaner product launches, Product Opportunity Explorer uses by Gen AI and literally tells you what to launch next, smarter AI Vine matching so reviewers actually fit the product (and you get better reviews), purchasable A+ content arriving, creative PPC Agent announced but not rolled out yet, Seller Assistant that can take actions on your behalf like account health fixes, compliance doc checks, listing violation cleanups, even saving you storage fees, Custom Analytics Dashboards that let you slice your business from any angle you want, Post-Purchase Support features with live chat plus the ability to send a single part instead of a full replacement and even process partial refunds or chat, & MCF expanding and getting faster while now connecting to more marketplaces.

Whew!

The Fourth Round of PPC Tools!

My good friend Anthony Nguyen over at Adscrafted has been quietly building an army of PPC tools. Here’s another one for you.

Meet the Brand vs Non Brand Report.

Find out where you’re lighting money on fire with branded keywords. Also, clean up any campaigns that have branded keywords sneaking into them.

This one is a huge money saver. Enjoy!

The Deep Dive (Premium Content)

The Business Referral Fee Reduction is OUT

Amazon rolled out a new perk for sellers who get multi-unit orders through Amazon Business (most Amazon business orders are multi-unit orders). Starting last week, if you set business pricing or quantity discounts (3%+ off), you can now get a rebate on FBA fulfillment fees when customers buy in bulk.

For anyone still on the fence about Amazon Business, know this: Business customers spend more, return less, and buy more units per order. They’re the best.

Here’s what it looks like in practice. I get a lot of multi-unit orders for one of my products. Normally, my fulfillment fee is $3.92 per unit. For a 10-unit order, that’s $39.20.

With the new system, Amazon gives me an $0.81 rebate per unit on orders of 10+. That drops my fee to $3.11 per unit. Total for 10 units = $31.10. That’s $8.10 saved, about 20% off fulfillment fees.

Here’s an average estimate for a large-standard size product (think cellphone case, garlic press, or coffee mug).

2–4 units = ~10% off

5–9 units = ~15% off

10+ units = ~20% off

And here’s the real play: since you’re paying less in fees, you can actually afford to discount your business prices even deeper. That means more B2B sales volume without eating into your margin. Sweet!

Read your Credit Card Benefits (and then use them)

Most people swipe their credit card, collect some points, and never think about it again. Big mistake. Every solid card has hidden perks that expire while you’re not paying attention.

I’m talking statement credits, fee reimbursements, random $10 a month perks that quietly add up to hundreds a year. If you don’t use them, they’re gone.

Take the Amex Business Gold. Everyone talks about 4x points on PPC, but there’s hidden value in the credits, too!

• $240 Flexible Business Credit – $20 a month you can use at FedEx, Grubhub, or office supply stores (tip, use these to buy gift cards).

• Free Walmart+ – up to $12.95 a month. That’s grocery delivery, free shipping, or gas discounts.

• Hotel Collection Credit – book two nights through Amex Travel and get $100 toward dining or spa.

• Other stuff..

Stack these! And look at all your other credit cards, too…

So here’s the reminder: pull up the benefits page for whatever card you have. Make a list of the credits. Set a calendar reminder. The banks are counting on you to forget.

Better yet: Use ChatGPT (or any other LLM’s) scheduling feature to remind you when benefits are getting close to running out.

Souvenir Mug and a Profitable Flip

Starbucks “Been There Series” mugs have been around for a while but just this year a few more Starbucks locations have opened in Costa Rica, meaning you can grab a Costa Rica version much easier.  Close to the Liberia airport is a location so if you want to grab one on the way home, ask your driver to stop and get one or maybe two.  You can easily get 2x the value on eBay! We have had people on our community chat asking when there was stock at certain locations so it is clearly a popular souvenir!

• New podcast episode! Rob speaks with William Gasner from Stack Influence

• Amazon peak fees start Oct 15th (and meltables)

Amazon to pay $2.5B for “Deceptive Prime Subscription practices.”

Amazon will pay $2.5B USD to settle a U.S. FTC case over deceptive Prime subscription practices. The FTC said Amazon used “sophisticated subscription traps” to trick people into signing up and then made it hard to cancel. $1.5B will go into a fund to repay about 35M customers. Amazon didn’t admit wrongdoing but must add a clear “decline” button, make cancellation easier, and accept third-party monitoring. This is the FTC’s second-largest restitution ever!

Special Mention: The Fair Pricing Policy

Separately, Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating Amazon’s Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy (as is the FTC), asking whether it forces sellers to charge higher prices or stops them from listing lower ones on other sites.

FWIW - Myself and many other sellers have been dealing with this one for a long time. In a nutshell, Amazon suppresses buy boxes if it finds prices for the same item cheaper elsewhere. This forces Amazon sellers to either a) sell only on Amazon, or b) match their price elsewhere to their Amazon price (which isn’t always feasible).

How was today's newsletter? Love it? Hate it? Just want to say: “Can i get another Pina Colada🍹” at the swim-up bar? 

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To your unbounded success,

Rob & Max