I thought I would let you know how my experiment with an Amazon.com seller account went. Hopefully I saved you $17 on that Matt Bacak thing.

How I Made $4.37 Profit in Only 1 Week!

Here’s how I made $4.37 profit. How Matt Bacak managed to pay all his bills doing this I’ll never know.

I uploaded 6  books following the instructions at Amazon. It took about a week before any sold and then I got a notification from Amazon – Do Not Ship. My first order ended up being cancelled because there were payment problems with the purchaser.

Then lightening struck and I got 2 orders on the same day.

Book One

This book, "The Irresistible Offer" by Mark Joyner, sold for $7.38 [Remember this is a used books - Condition - Very Good - Amazon provides guidelines for describing Condition to the customer] + $3.99 Shipping Allowance = $11.37 Charged to Customer.

Amazon Fees: Variable Closing Fee = $1.35, Fixed Closing Fee = $0.99, Commission (minimum 15% on books) = $1.11.  Total Amazon Charges: $3.45. Bubble mailer = $1.39 and Postage = $2.38 (Media rate). Total Shipping Cost = $3.77.

Net: Total Charged to Customer – Amazon Fees – Shipping = $11.37 – $3.45 – $3.77 = $4.15 Pure Profit!

Book Two

This book, "After the Affair", sold for $2.75 [Remember this is a used books - Condition - Good] + $3.99 Shipping Allowance = $6.74 Charged to Customer.

Amazon Fees: Variable Closing Fee = $1.35, Fixed Closing Fee = $0.99, Commission = $0.41.  Total Amazon Charges: $2.75 [Same as the book price!]. Bubble mailer = $1.39 and Postage = $2.38 (Media rate). Total Shipping Cost = $3.77.

Net: Total Charged to Customer – Amazon Fees – Shipping = $6.74 – $2.75 – $3.77 = $0.22 Pure Profit!

So I banked $4.37 net. I would still have a ways to go to earn the $17 for the Matt Bacak course if I hadn’t asked for a refund. I commend Matt Bacak’s organization for the courtesy and promptness with which they attended to my refund request.

If this is your idea of how to Make Your First Sale Online, go for it. If nothing else, you will gain some experience and confidence. Just don’t count on paying your bills this way.

Meanwhile …

The other 4 books are still sitting in my inventory at home awaiting notice from Amazon that I should ship them.

Wait – another ship notification just came in and I stand to make $0.40 on this order so bye for now – I have to get "The Case for Christ"  shipped.

All the best,

Ed

I can't tell you how many times I've been baited with that line about No Product – No Problem. Yeah, I've tried more than my share, and guess what. If you don't have a product, you don't make any sales. It's simple – You have NOTHING to sell!

Here's an example. This product is advertised with the "No list, No experience, No technical skills, No product – No problem" marketing mantra by Matt Bacak, who is by the way, a really enthusiastic marketer who talks really fast.

"This Secret Money Getting Method Is Your Shortcut To Success – It's The Only Way I Know How Anyone Can Make Sales In the Shortest Amount Of Time. Faster Than Anything I’ve Ever Seen!”

• Can you really do this without a list – Yes you can.
• Can you do this without experience? Yes it's so easy, experience comes naturally.
• Can you do this without technical skills – Yes you can.
• Can you really do this without a product – No you can't.
• Is it really no problem? No problem to list a product. Making money is another issue.

WHAT ARE PRODUCTS?

Most of the time when I see the claim that you don't need a product, it generally means the product isn't something physical. You could be selling yourself, your knowledge, your expertise. Well, those are all products in the business sense of having something to sell. But the product here is physical stuff … namely – YOUR STUFF!

MAKE YOUR FIRST SALE ONLINE

What's the "secret" Matt is selling for a measly $17? How to sell products on Amazon.com. Here's the link.

And Yes you must have a product to sell or you aren't going to make any money. Here's the funny part – I didn't know that selling products with Amazon was a secret!

Well if you just listen to Matt's marketing video, you won't know he's talking about Amazon until after you charge the $17 on your credit card and find out the secret to how his young daughter made her first sale in 24 hours and continues to make 1-3 sales almost every day. But don't worry – it's easy to get a refund. You just have to wait til your next credit card statement. The refund guarantee is good for 90 days.

THE 8th STEP

Matt gives you 7 incredibly easy steps to sell your books with Amazon. The 7th step is to click the Submit button. What that does is complete the listing process. You're not done yet, assuming someone buys the book you listed.

You are responsible for "fulfillment" – you have to package it and post it. Matt's product gives you details about how to conduct the 8th Step though his product doesn't list it as one of the steps you have to do. I guess Matt thought it was just too obvious.

THE 9th STEP

Oh yeah, you are responsible for refunds and adjustments and keeping your customers happy just as in any other business transaction.

TAXES

 Matt doesn't give any guidance about whether you have to collect taxes on your sales. Amazon's guidance – it's your problem.

DOES IT WORK?

I was not registered to sell on Amazon and I found the registration process pretty easy. The fill-in-the-blanks kind of easy. Following directions just to try out the process, I pulled "Podcasting for Dummies" from my bookshelf, entered the ISBN number and … no results. Amazon couldn't find my book. Short story – the current edition is the 2nd edition and mine is the 1st edition so Amazon didn't have it.

Second try. I grabbed "Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?" and entered the ISBN number. Amazon searched and returned … the updated 2nd edition. Amazon didn't have my 1st edition copy. Matt Bacak didn't mention this problem.

ALERT If you give selling books with Amazon a try following the directions in the Get Your First Sale Online product, be aware of the multiple editions problem.

Third try, I listed Mark Joyner's "The Irresistible Offer" and that one worked as predicted. Fortunately, Mark hasn't published an updated 2nd edition!

Passive Selling

This approach to making money online is what I call "passive selling". You list the product and then wait for someone to buy it. You don't do any marketing so don't need any marketing skills. First you list, then you wait, then if you are lucky you ship and get paid.

DID I MAKE ANY MONEY?

Not Yet —- Amazon's calculations said I could make $7.92 if someone bought Mark Joyner's book from my Amazon listing. If I could just sell one book a day for a profit of $8, I could make about $240 a month. I listed "The Irresistible Offer" on November 13. It's November 15 and the Mark Joyner book hasn't sold even though I got the green check mark for lowest price. I guess I'm not as lucky as Matt's daughter Taylor. I'll try some more books and I'll let you know what happens.

DON'T EMAIL MATT

I tried that and one of his support people sent me this message in reply.

"No problem. I have forwarded your email to
him. I won't promise he will respond becasue
he gets tons of emails every single day."
 

Recommendation - Not Recommended

I could not detect any "secrets" exposed by Matt despite his contention that his way is better than anybody else's way to sell books or whatever with Amazon. But if you need or just want hand-holding to learn this process, $17 is probably not too much to risk. Just skip the more expensive One Time Offers.

My guess is you can make the $17 back if you sell 3 or 4 books (Amazon is after all a DISCOUNT book seller). The message is, "If Matt's daughter Taylor, a 12 year old, can make money doing this, then surely you can too." It's just a question of when and how much (hope springs eternal).

If you want to sell with Amazon, go here Sell Your Stuff. You don't really need Matt's product, Amazon's instructions are easy to follow, and Matt's Tips are trivial so I don't recommend this product.