In this episode, the host interviews Brad Allen, an Amazon seller and entrepreneur, about his journey from eBay and retail arbitrage to building a successful Amazon FBA business. Brad shares how he sourced high-end European skincare products, overcame a major account suspension and $400,000 debt, and transitioned to private label. He highlights the importance of active business management, cash flow planning, and creativity. The episode concludes with actionable advice for Amazon sellers: stay hands-on, manage inventory and finances wisely, and innovate to stand out in the marketplace.

Chapters:

Introduction and Account Suspension (00:00:00)
Brad is introduced; discusses his Amazon account suspension and overcoming $400K in debt.

Early E-commerce Journey (00:00:33)
Brad shares his start with eBay in childhood, selling household items, and his early exposure to e-commerce.

Discovering Amazon FBA (00:01:11)
Learns about Amazon FBA in 2012, transitions from eBay, and begins retail arbitrage with toys and other products.

Corporate Career and Realization (00:02:19)
Describes unfulfilling corporate jobs, getting fired, and joining a friend’s epoxy flooring business in Ohio.

Entrepreneurial Mindset Shift (00:03:34)
Realizes he enjoys working for himself, which reignites his interest in e-commerce and Amazon.

Deep Dive into Retail Arbitrage (00:04:36)
Explores flipping products from eBay to Amazon, focusing on high-end skincare, and develops sourcing systems.

European Skincare Arbitrage Strategy (00:06:45)
Discovers sourcing high-end European skincare from overseas retailers, imports to the US, and sells on Amazon.

Scaling and Living Abroad (00:08:54)
Business grows; Brad moves to Buenos Aires and Africa, living a digital nomad lifestyle while running the business.

Amazon Account Suspension Details (00:10:04)
Explains the cause of his Amazon suspension—authenticity complaints and inability to provide manufacturer receipts.

Lessons from Suspension and Financial Struggles (00:11:05)
Discusses lessons learned: importance of active management, risk-taking, and not being complacent in business.

Advice on Growth and Risk (00:11:48)
Emphasizes reinvesting profits, financial planning, and the need for risk tolerance as an entrepreneur.

Financial Intelligence and Risk Management (00:13:57)
Stresses forecasting, living below means, and being prepared for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

Three Actionable Takeaways (00:14:11)
Host summarizes: 1) Active management and planning, 2) Cash flow and inventory management, 3) Creativity in the Amazon marketplace.

Episode Wrap-up (00:16:43)
Host thanks Brad, hints at a future episode, and closes the interview.

Links and Mentions:

Tools and Websites 
EZSniper

Actionable Takeaways 
Set an Annual Plan for Your Business: 00:14:11
Cash Flow Management: 00:15:04
Bring Creativity to the Amazon Marketplace: 00:16:15

Transcript:

Josh 00:00:00  Today I am super excited to introduce you to Brad Allen. I met him at Kevin King’s, $1 Billion Seller summit, and he’s going to have a lot of knowledge to share with us. I’m going to dive in like immediately to what was mentioned in your bio. You had your account suspended. You had you ran into 400 K of debt and loans, but you’ve kind of come out the other end and you’re you’re crushing it right now on Amazon. So tell me, Brad, what happened with the account suspension?

Brad 00:00:33  So I, I was doing, retail arbitrage and I got, I got really into it. it it was actually kind of unique. It started off, where I was, I, I was really into eBay growing up, so I was always selling stuff, just like as a kid throughout the house, whether it was mine or not. I was grabbing, like, antiques from the basement and, like, selling stuff out of the garage. And I think that’s where I got kind of, you know, introduced to e-commerce and kind of obsessed so that that kind of was always on the side.

Brad 00:01:11  And I was doing that through grade school, high school, and then into college. And I learned about Amazon FBA and I think 2012. and as an eBay guy, it was like blew me away because I was, you know, the guy waiting in line at the, at the post office and having to deal with customers. So the fact that you could just send a bunch of items in and Amazon will ship it and take care of customer service was very appealing to me. So I started, I just started watching videos and the easiest way to start, which I don’t know how many people really started out like this, but I’m sure some. But I was going into, you know, odd lots and Walmarts and just buying toys or whatever I could find. And essentially I was just kind of learning that process. so, you know, that was a good way to, like, get my feet wet into Amazon FBA. and then, you know, life kind of happened where that was put off to the side.

Brad 00:02:19  I was in the corporate world for a while. not doing very well. I just, was not very passionate about what I was doing, and, I got a call from a buddy. I was living in South Florida. I’m from Ohio originally, and, I got fired from one job. You know, I was working for good companies. They were, like, fortune 500 companies. And I kind of noticed right away that the people that were successful were extremely passionate about the company, and they had just drank the Kool-Aid. And I just did. I just didn’t care, really. I thought our products were overpriced, which is not the mentality that you want to have when you’re trying to sell something. so I was just kind of, just doing enough not to get fired. And my friend, in Columbus had called me and said, hey, I just bought this epoxy coating company. So what we’re doing is we’re installing, like, showroom floors in garages. You know, the the garages in Columbus or the Midwest are all cracked and spoiled.

Brad 00:03:34  so, you know, this was December and he was like, hey, I can’t pay you that much, but, you know, this will be our company. and I’ll share profits with you. So I wasn’t really doing much. You know, in terms of growing personally or professionally, although I was in South Florida, which was pretty cool for for an Ohio guy. Sure. I took him up on it, and I remember it was December. I go from this cushy sales job in South Florida. Even though I didn’t like it. And then all of a sudden, I am installing, garage floors in the suburbs of Columbus. In December, we’re using, like, heaters to keep ourselves warm. And the funny thing was, I actually was enjoying it more, because it was ours. So that kind of, like, turned on the light that, you know, the way that I’m going to be successful is if I’m doing something for myself, like, or as a team. And that kind of drew me back to this e-commerce stuff.

Brad 00:04:36  and like I was saying, I had learned about, the Amazon FBA and I had a this background in eBay. So I just kind of I remember in one of your podcasts, you were talking about how after work, you would go home and just watch videos. yeah. Because you, you know, you kind of saw that as a way out. But, you know, what you have to do is you have to put in the time. You know, even after a long day of work when most people are just watching TV or they want to decompress. I was just drawn to just scanning eBay, you know, looking at Amazon. And I was like, I was wondering if there was an opportunity for products that I could buy on eBay and flip on Amazon. And I kind of just somehow stumbled upon this, category of high end skincare. And I was noticing that there was these really, like, high end brands that were selling for, you know, almost nothing on eBay because, like, who’s going to eBay to buy, you know, their $100 Kate Somerville serum.

Brad 00:05:46  They’re going in the store somewhere else. So I started just buying a couple products and, you know, the prices were 50 to $100, and I’m flipping them for 100 to 200 plus dollars on Amazon, and I’m doing an FBA. So, you know, that person, you know, has a little bit more faith in buying on Amazon when they have the they’re buying it Prime and they have to return it if it’s fake. So I started creating some systems where, you know, I had this whole list of all the products that were doing well. I used EZSniper, which was a program that was would bid at the last minute. you know, during these auctions and I started contacting sellers and saying, hey, if you have these products, I’d love to buy them from you. So they were cutting me deals and and all of a sudden I started to see, you know, some success. And, you know, it was like amazing to me that, you know, like, because the products were so small, but the prices were so high.

Brad 00:06:45  So it was easy to ship in. And then, you know, my revenue kept growing. and then, you know, kind of the theme is I’ll become obsessed with these niches and that niche I just started to really understand. Well, and I was wondering. You know, I wonder if I can buy some of these products. you know, online, not from eBay. And a lot of these brands are, are gated because they’re big brands. but there was these European products that, that they only sell at dermatologists in the States. So I started researching on Google, and there was nothing in the first couple of pages. So then I was searching deeper, and then I’m like on 7 or 8 page, and there were these retail stores selling them in Europe. and these products were, you know, selling for 185 to $250. And I was getting them for 55 to like $75. So I contacted this guy in Cyprus. I just emailed him. He had a website. and we kind of work something out.

Brad 00:07:50  And then, I had like a couple other retailers. So now I have like 6 or 7 products that, you know, essentially Importing and then I. I hired a three pl, so I’m just shipping it to them. And then it was super easy. I mean, all of a sudden I started making really good money just on 6 or 7 products. Yeah. And the idea was that, you know, Karen or Susan goes to the dermatologist and gets this European product, and then she doesn’t want to go back there to buy it. She goes online and there’s no options because, you know, if she gets to the fourth or fifth page, she can get it from Europe but then has to wait ten days. So I’m offering it to her on Amazon Prime. you know, it’s kind of expensive, but not anymore. She’s paying a dermatologist, so it’s just like a really. It was a really creative, arbitrage opportunity. And when I eventually I started making enough money where I, you know, I was making more money than I was with the other business.

Brad 00:08:54  and then that’s I had always had a dream to to live in another country. So I, I was like, you know, I’ve made it. This is it. Like deep down I knew it was just retail arbitrage. It wasn’t a real business. But, you know, I kind of just took a risk. And I had always wanted to live in another country. So I moved to Buenos Aires and ran that business for about a year and then traveled over to Africa. And, was legitimately doing that, like Tim Ferriss four hour work week. I was working like four hours. and, you know, making good money and, you know, and enjoying traveling. but the eventually that caught up to me and, you know, like, that’s not sustainable. I moved to San Diego, and then one morning, I woke up and I got that dreaded, you know, you’re you’re selling privileges have been suspended. So, that kind of ended that whole era of just, you know, traveling and not doing much work and just benefiting from, you know, having a creative strategy that eventually was going to catch up to me.

Josh 00:10:04  What was it that caused the suspension then?

Brad 00:10:07  So they I was doing a lot of volume, and there were a couple complaints of people that said that the products were inauthentic, which, you know, they were definitely authentic. You know, I had sold thousands of products, but, Amazon said, hey, we need manufacturers receipts. And not only did I not have those, but I had retail receipts from Europe. So, you know, I submitted that. And, you know, they didn’t accept that. You know, I hired a lawyer. This was a very expensive process. I had all of this product I couldn’t sell. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been, like saving my money. So I was, like, in a really bad position. And it was, you know, kind of, my options were, hey, go back to the corporate world or like, finally buckle down and figure out private label. This was something that I was, you know, I knew about. It was just the elephant in the room.

Brad 00:11:05  But I knew that it took a lot of work and effort to figure it out. And I was, you know, I wasn’t I was too comfortable. So. And I don’t think that’s, you know, and I’ve learned that, like, if you’re comfortable, even if you have a successful private label business, there’s always changes going on. There’s always competitors that are doing different things that are going to surpass you. So if you if you aren’t constantly working on your business, then you know someone’s going to pass you by. So that was like a huge lesson that I learned. but also it’s one of those things where getting my account suspended was the best thing that happened to me.

Josh 00:11:45  What’s the lesson learned there for other sellers that are listening?

Brad 00:11:48  The lesson learned is, is don’t underestimate how much you’re going to grow or how much capital that you’re going to need. So, you know, you hear a lot of people say, oh, I everything that I make. I put back in the business.

Brad 00:12:03  And, you know, I realize that there’s a reason why they do that. Because, yeah, the you know, if we were only growing two times, it wouldn’t have been as big of a deal. But you never know. You know exactly what your growth trajectory is going to be. And if it’s if it’s in, you know, intense and you know, you don’t want to like, scale that, scale the growth back because you don’t have the funding. So financially, maybe try to figure out what your goal is or what’s realistic and make sure that you know you are putting that money back in and not spending. You know, that money foolishly because it’s it’s a long term play. as opposed to like, don’t buy that car just because you like, think, oh, I have like a 1 or $2 million business. I’m making this money. You know, all the really great entrepreneurs and, you know, they they really will not. You know, they’ll live within their means and below their means while they grow.

Brad 00:13:04  And I had always heard that. But like, I really did not obviously understand it that well. So I would say that and then also, yeah, the different a lot of people look at Amazon and you know, I have tons of friends that say, oh, I want to get into it. And, and I look at these people and I’m like, I don’t know that they have that risk tolerance where they can actually put everything on the line. And, and a lot of and that’s just entrepreneurs in general. where. Yeah. Like it’s, it’s one thing to say, oh, I want to make more money and I want to have my own business. But you also have to realize that you’re going to have to really take some risks. And you know that a lot of these billionaires, I mean, they go, you know, you hear stories, how they go broke, you know, they’re like, oh, I’ve been broke and rich a certain amount of times. And that’s because they take risks.

Brad 00:13:57  So Yeah. Realize it. Like being financially, you know, intelligent. maybe forecasting, which I didn’t do. And then also being able to to take those risks.

Josh 00:14:11  I’d love to leave the audience with three actionable takeaways from each episode. Here are the three takeaways that I noted. Brad, let me know if you think I’ve missed something here. So action item number one, in takeaway is that you cannot view your business as a passive income business. If you do, that’s okay. But just know that you’re not going to grow that brand to probably eight figures and beyond. You need to actively be managing it. And so number one is just you need to set an annual plan for your business. And then you need to go execute it. If you truly have in your heart that you want to grow your brand to the next level. you’ve got to be paying attention to it. You’ve got to be working on it on a daily basis. So that would be action item number one. takeaway number two, I think is the lesson we learned with like, cash flow management.

Josh 00:15:04  Right. And this also kind of correlates with like being actively engaged in your business. You need to with a physical products brand inventory is going to be you know, what can make or break your business in terms of cash flow. And so it’s important to understand like you’ve got to in first invest the money in the inventory before you’re going to start getting paid back on that inventory. There’s a few things that you could dive into. And we didn’t do this today in the episode, but that’s why it can be so important to create some very favorable, terms, payment terms with your suppliers so that maybe you could even start generating revenue on those, those units before you’ve actually paid that invoice. We currently have that set up with some of our, manufacturers, and it makes the world of difference there. They’re kind of financing our business and being able to launch new products more quickly. And we can, you know, more, manage the cash flow of the business to stay alive. And then action item number three, I think last but not least is you’ve got to bring creativity to the Amazon Marketplace.

Josh 00:16:15  And Brad did an excellent job. You shared a great tool. And then you did a quick demo for us of how you can identify what’s trending on other platforms that are even more creative, right? Etsy, Redbubble, Pinterest, and then how you can take some of those ideas and move them over to Amazon, because that’s where the least creative space genuinely is, and it’s a great opportunity. So I’ve learned a lot from you today.

Brad 00:16:43  Oh thanks, man.

Josh 00:16:44  Awesome. Well, thanks again, Brad. And, hopefully we’ll we’ll have another episode that we’ll record in the future and see how things have progressed in the gift space later on.

Brad 00:16:54  Cool. Sounds good. It was great talking to you.

Josh 00:16:56  All right. Thanks, Brad.

Brad 00:16:57  All right. We’ll see you.