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Merch by Amazon Success: Interview with Michael Essany

November 13, 2017 Merch Informer Interview Series 4 comments

Today’s guest on our interview series is someone I have never actually met in person but I feel like I almost know since we have been corresponding for so long. This is none other than Michael Essany. The first time I actually came in contact with Michael was fairly soon after we released Merch Informer! It just so happens that Michael is a very prolific writer and always has a ton to say. On that specific day, one of the websites that he writes for, decided to cover our platform. Essany’s claim to fame so to speak is in scaled designs. It boils down to finding a winner, and spinning off that winner in other directions to capture more sales. […]

100k School Debt to Financial Freedom – Merch by Amazon Update 6

November 6, 2017 Merch Informer Case Study 21 comments

It looks like I might finally get this article out before a week has passed into the next month! There has been some consistent work being done this month, but first I need to address the image that I use for this case study series. I have had numerous people ask me about the image used, if it was my girlfriend, if it was supposed to “motivate” them, or if it was family friendly. It is NOT my girlfriend, and I have no idea if it will motivate you or not. Family friendly is up to you to decide, but I can tell you one thing. It gets a very high CTR (click through rate) and that is exactly why […]

Avoid The 30% Tax Witholding For Non-US Amazon Sellers

November 3, 2017 Merch Informer Amazon 51 comments

When it comes to US Tax Law, a lot can be really confusing. Putting it simply, the law requires companies such as Amazon to withhold 30% of any non-US sellers royalties. If you are an American, then there is really no point in reading this article. However, if you are not an America and have just got accepted to the Merch by Amazon program, you have probably just filled out the tax form and got hit with Amazon automatically keeping 30% of your earnings for tax purposes. Keep in mind that this is not the portion of each shirt that Amazon keeps (base cost + 15%), but 30% of your total royalties that you have earned that you will never […]

Merch by Amazon Success: Interview with Yong Chong

November 1, 2017 Merch Informer Interview Series 8 comments

Today we are bringing back the interview series with none other than the Yong Chong! I have had the pleasure of both meeting Yong on multiple occasions both in Seattle and at a conference in Denver Colorado where I gave a speech on how to essentially “franchise” a Merch by Amazon business. The names Yong and Glen might sound familiar to you if you have been around in the Merch space for any amount of time as these are the guys who started the ever popular (and first!), Merch by Amazon podcast! You can check out their podcast here: http://merchminds.libsyn.com/ where they discuss their Merch business and interview authority figures in the space (many of which you have seen in our […]

Merch by Amazon Ignoring Counter DMCA Notices

October 25, 2017 Merch Informer Amazon 11 comments

Since late 2015, Merch by Amazon has been one, if not THE biggest opportunity for content creators and graphic artists to turn their hard work into cash by selling print on demand t-shirts (and soon other products!). Since the launch of the program, a lot has changed and almost all of it for the better. Pixel for Pixel copycats are now at a minimum, fulfillment capacity has increased, and tiers have also increased (although slowly). One of the biggest problems on the platform though has been the blatant abuse of the copyright system. If someone copied your design (and remember, Amazon is getting a lot better at detecting this with the release of their image recognition software on the backend) […]

Design Rotation While Waiting To Tier Up

October 23, 2017 Merch Informer Beginners Guide To Merch by Amazon 13 comments

Amazon Merch can sometimes be very confusing and often times frustrating when you have figured out what is going on. With all the faults that the program has, we all love it, and for good reason. We can all take advantage of the biggest marketplace in the world and sell to all their customers with no up front investment. With all the tier ups that went on yesterday (congrats to each and every one of you!), there are still a lot of people out there feeling frustrated. Here we are in Q4, sales are picking up, and many of the lower tier accounts that have far outsold their tier level, got passed up for a tier up. Do we know […]

100k School Debt to Financial Freedom – Merch by Amazon Update 5

October 9, 2017 Merch Informer Case Study 20 comments

I seem to be getting into a bad habit of writing these case studies a bit late. Last time my excuse was that I had spent the weekend in Seattle attending a Merch by Amazon conference and this month my excuse is similar by attending a meetup in Denver talking Merch with the Merch Minds group. Following the eating a bunch of seafood theme, the girlfriend and I ended up grabbing sushi at Blue Sushi and it was top notch if you are ever in the Denver area! This now marks 3 months in a row that I was away at a conference. Seeing that we have now moved into Q4, things have been a bit more quiet as everyone […]

How To Run Reddit Ads To Sell Merch by Amazon Shirts

October 5, 2017 Merch Informer Paid Merch Marketing 26 comments

If you have been reading the Merch Informer blog for some time now, you may have picked up on two things. The first being that I come from an affiliate marketing background and love to drive traffic, and the second being that I love Reddit (almost to a fault). If you are not familiar with Reddit, it is currently the 13th most visited website in the USA and the 36th most visited website in the world with around 1.5 Billion page views a month according to Similarweb. Essentially a social network that behaves similar to a forum, Reddit is a great place to get your news, find new hobbies, and connect with people that are interested in similar things. Reddit […]

Sell Your Amazon Merch Designs On Etsy With The New Printful Integration

September 19, 2017 Merch Informer Etsy 104 comments

When we all jumped into Merch by Amazon 2 years ago, we had no idea how far the rabbit hole went! As some of you know, we stayed away from the Merch space because it seemed that everyone was starting a t-shirt business and that most of those failed. This ALL changed when Merch by Amazon came out and it became obvious that a winning strategy was creating great designs for a market that was already there and hungry for our products. If we did not have to figure out how to market the shirts outside of a platform (like Teespring), and customers would just find products organically and purchase them, this sounded both lucrative and easy! After making hundreds […]

100k School Debt to Financial Freedom – Merch by Amazon Update 4

September 12, 2017 Merch Informer Amazon, Case Study 43 comments

Once again I am a bit late on writing this case study so I would like to appologize. I just spend the weekend in Seattle attending the Merch by Amazon conference and eating a LOT of fresh seafood! I guess that marks 2 months in a row that I was away at a conference but this was one particularly great. It was the first Merch by Amazon conference ever and I got to meet a ton of really great people in the community. Special shout outs to Lanelle Barber, Ken Reil, Michael Essek, Stephanie Witham, Chris Green, Joel Barnett, Carrie Hitchens, Brandon Ortega, Thomas Smale, and Josh Brown who I met all in person and had some really interesting conversations […]