Real Talk #051 : RJ & Matt - Merch By Amazon And Etsy

About this video

A live Facebook ‘Real Talk’ Q&A with RJ and Matt covering Merch by Amazon and Etsy print-on-demand. On Amazon Merch advertising (AMS) for seasonal products, they advise starting with low bids and small budgets of about $2-3 to cap spend while testing, because clicks can burn through a budget in hours; Matt cites his own claim of spending $74 on AMS for $46 in royalties on 27 items, then $43 the next day for 13 sales. They discuss volatile January sales, Etsy store growth, and customer service. For Etsy, they say consistent traffic and daily sales did not come until roughly 100-150 listings, and that no sales since before Christmas suggests a pricing, niche, or keyword problem — recommending tools like EtsyRank/Marmalead, checking competitors’ price points, and not pricing far above the niche. They cover shipping (Etsy warns buyers dislike shipping over $5), priority/next-day upgrade listings, reviews as social proof and ranking help, overdue orders hurting visibility, and returns: listing a no-returns policy upfront but often refunding and letting unhappy customers keep the shirt to protect long-term reputation and avoid bad reviews. They favor niche stores over general stores for concentrated search data, multiple-item orders, and clearer diagnostics, promote testing promoted listings only on quality listings, and recommend Printful for beginners for integration and quality over highest margin.

Key takeaways

• For seasonal AMS, start with low bids and $2-3 capped budgets to test before scaling, because spend can spike quickly
• Expect to need roughly 100-150 Etsy listings before judging a store, and audit price, keywords and tags if there are no sales
• Keep Etsy shipping competitive — Etsy warns buyers resist shipping over about $5 — and check competitor prices in your niche
• Use a stated no-returns policy to make buyers check sizing, but refund and let customers keep the item when needed to avoid damaging reviews
• A focused niche Etsy store gives better search data, encourages multi-item carts, and makes it easier to spot why traffic is not converting

Episode details: published January 12, 2019 · 47:05 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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