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You Know More Than You Think

I had a professor in university who said the same thing before every exam. We'd be sitting there, flipping through notes, convincing ourselves we didn't study enough. And he'd walk in, look around the room, and say: "You know more than you think you do."

It always helped kill the pre-exam jitters. And now I want to pass that on to you:

Here's what I mean. If you've been selling on Amazon for any amount of time, you've learned supply chain management. Paid advertising. Conversion optimization. Catalog strategy. Brand building. Customer psychology. You've learned how to read data, make decisions under uncertainty, and operate inside the most competitive marketplace on the planet.

But when someone asks what you do, you say "I sell on Amazon." Like it's one skill. Like everything you've built lives and dies on a single platform.

It doesn't. Not anymore.

Every year someone says "it's never been easier to start a business." And every year it's a little bit more true. But this year, with where AI tools are right now, I actually believe it. Not because AI gives you new skills. Because it removes the friction that kept your existing skills locked inside Amazon.

Now think again about what you already know how to do:

You already know product research, catalog strategy, and how to read a market. That translates to any product business. You already know paid traffic, conversion, and customer acquisition better than most business owners will in their lifetime. That translates to any service business. You already know your niche deeper than 99% of people walking around. That translates to content, consulting, community, or whatever you want to build next.

The difference now is that AI fills the gaps you don't have. The design skills, the coding, the content production, the repetitive operations. It handles the stuff that used to require hiring a team or spending six months learning. Your job is the judgment. The instinct. The pattern recognition. That was always the hard part, and you already have it.

None of this means quitting Amazon. It means Amazon becomes one of your businesses instead of all of them. And the fear that keeps you up at night ("what if I get suspended, what if margins collapse") gets a lot quieter when you're not betting everything on a single platform.

You've already passed the exam. The skills are real. They transfer.

You know more than you think.

The IVS

Big thanks to my good friend @Joey Glyshaw for supplying this week’s IVS. Joey is an extremely gregarious and kind person and he’s always willing to help. Shoot him a DM if you have any questions regarding AI, Logistics, or PPC! Also, try out his awesome tool for making Amazon images, Algofuse.

You Need API Access to Your Own Amazon Data (Before It Costs You)

Amazon just changed pricing on SP-API access. Did you miss it? In January, third-party developers now have to pay $1,400/year plus usage fees to pull your data through SP-API. That means every tool you use (re-pricers, inventory managers, analytics dashboards) just got more expensive. Those costs are getting passed directly to you through higher SaaS subscriptions.

Here's what most sellers don't realize: if you register as a private developer and use SP-API for your own business, it's still free. No subscription. No per-call fees. Amazon only charges third-party developers building apps for other sellers. Your own internal use? $0.

The same goes for the Amazon Ads API. Completely free, no usage fees.

Why should you care right now?

This is the foundation for every automation and AI tool you'll want to run in the next 12 months. Custom dashboards that show real profitability by SKU. Automated PPC bid adjustments based on inventory levels. AI agents that monitor your account health, flag listing suppression, and adjust pricing while you sleep. Alerts when your Buy Box drops or your ad spend spikes with no conversion lift. None of that works without direct API access to your own data.

The sellers who set this up now will have a massive operational advantage. The ones who wait will keep paying more for less… and renting access to their own data through increasingly expensive third-party tools.

Do this today:

1. Register as a private developer on Amazon's Developer Portal @ https://solutionproviderportal.amazon.com/

2. Create an unpublished app for internal use only

3. Generate your SP-API credentials (LWA client ID + secret, refresh token)

4. Do the same for the Amazon Ads API @ https://developer.amazon.com/

Need help getting set up? This is exactly what I do. Reach out and I'll walk you through the registration, credential setup, and your first automation. Whether that's a daily P&L report, inventory alerts, or an AI-powered PPC optimizer. Don't wait until your software bills jump 20% and you're still flying blind!

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Are Amazon Returns Funding Organized Crime in CR?

I can order items into Costa Rica from Amazon in a few different ways:

1. Some items ship directly from Amazon, and I pay duties ahead of time.

2. Using a flat-rate freight forwarding company out of Miami at $7.50 per pound.

3. A freight forwarding company that handles importing based on weight and declared values.

I knew there was something unusual about option #2 and how I can ship a $1,000 iPhone for $14 or a $25 phone case for the same amount. One of those situations... okay, I’m not going to ask, but there are a lot of companies that do this, so it has to be legitimate, right?

This week, I saw a YouTube video that dives a little deeper into it, specifically the massive “bin store” business in Costa Rica. There are possibly 800 different bin stores around the country, all importing containers of Amazon returns to sell. Remember, Amazon doesn’t put your returns in the landfill; they sell them to whoever will buy them.

Apparently, there is a shady world of importing, bribery, and money laundering in the bin business in Costa Rica. At the end of the day, it sounds like there are too many packages coming in for customs to inspect them in a timely manner, so where there are inefficiencies, there will be people to take advantage of them. If you want to check the video out here is a link. The guy making the video is actually Costa Rican!

The Best Defense Is a Good Offence

Scroll down any product detail page on Amazon. Below the bullets, beneath the Buy Box, before and after the A+ Content… you'll see sponsored ads. Carousels of competitor products sitting right on YOUR listing, trying to redirect YOUR customer at the exact moment they're ready to buy.

If you're not filling those slots with your own products, your competitors are filling them for you.

What an ASIN defense campaign actually does:

You target your own ASINs with Product Targeting ads. Your other products fill the sponsored slots on your own listing instead of competitor products. A customer looking at your coffee maker sees your coffee filters, your replacement carafe, your premium model. Not someone else's.

Three layers of defense:

1. Sponsored Products (PAT) -- create a manual Product Targeting campaign. Add every one of your ASINs as targets. Don't skip variations. Bid equal to your branded keyword bids. This fills the "Sponsored products related to this item" carousel with YOUR catalog.

2. Sponsored Display -- mirrors the SP approach but hits different placements (beneath Buy Box, above fold on mobile). CPC tends to run lower because fewer sellers use it.

3. Sponsored Brands -- product collections now feature 3-10 products in a single ad unit. Point to your Amazon Store.

The economics:

Brand defense campaigns typically run 5-15% ACOS. Compare that to acquisition campaigns at 25-35%. You're paying less to keep a customer who already found you than to find a new one.

The cross-sell bonus nobody talks about:

This isn't just defense. It's offense. When your coffee maker page shows your filters and carafes, you're increasing average order value. Every click stays inside your catalog instead of leaking to a competitor.

Don’t Let Car Rental Companies Smoke You

Rental companies often impose a significant surcharge if you return a vehicle without a full tank of gas, typically charging two to three times the standard pump price. For instance, if you return a half-empty SUV, you could end up paying an additional $60 to $80 purely in markup fees. To avoid these unnecessary costs, consider using the GasBuddy app, which can help you locate nearby gas stations. There is almost always a station within a km of the airport return area where you can fill up at regular prices.

To protect yourself further, it's a good idea to take a picture of your fuel gauge and keep the receipt from the gas station. Might seem like overkill, but a few seconds may save you from a big charge.

To your success,

Rob & Max