How This Merch By Amazon Seller Made Over $200,000 In 2021
About this video
RJ Martinez interviews Merch by Amazon seller John, introduced as having done over $200,000 in royalties in 2021 alone, per the creator’s claim in the video. John recounts selling clothes and shoes on Amazon FBA for three to four years, discovering Merch, initially struggling with no tools and no design skills, then focusing, learning simple designs himself, and later outsourcing most design work to VAs while still making fast trending designs himself. He discusses finding trends mainly on TikTok’s For You page, acting quickly, but avoiding IP risks such as using Will Smith/Chris Rock images after the Oscars slap, Ukraine tragedy designs, and other infringing content, noting some sellers buy accounts to post risky designs. Both stress keywords over design alone, editing titles/bullets when shirts do not sell, networking, and focusing on one or two passionate niches — John says one niche averages about $5,000 a month for him and that he pays yearly for rights to a keyword in it. They also cover escaping tier 10 via linked AMS/Amazon Advertising and sales, beginner design practice, hiring via Fiverr, Upwork, and OnlineJobs.ph, and John’s ad approach: spending $3,000-$4,000 a month with lifetime ACOS under 12%, using auto to manual to video ads made with Placeit, plus retargeting.
Key takeaways
- Interviewee John is presented as earning over $200,000 in Merch royalties in 2021, per the video’s claim, after transitioning from Amazon FBA
- John says TikTok is his main trend source, but he avoids designs using celebrity likenesses, tragedy themes, or other IP that could risk account suspension
- Both sellers argue keywords and listing optimization matter more than design quality alone; John edits titles and bullet points if a shirt does not sell
- John says one passionate niche averages about $5,000 a month for him, showing the case for depth in one or two niches over spreading thin
- John describes Amazon Advertising starting with auto campaigns, moving to manual, then video and retargeting ads for proven sellers, with Placeit used for video ads
Episode details: published April 4, 2022 · 44:07 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are RJ Martinez’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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