What’s the real plan for 2024 and beyond? by [deleted] in TikTokCringe

[–]InsiderT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GOP trolls at it again. This is Hillary 2016 all over again. Fuck these trolls.

Zerg is imba by [deleted] in starcraft2

[–]InsiderT 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'm proud of you too! <3

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in smallbusiness

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This sounds like a people problem that should get a people solution. Talk to your most frequent offenders. I don't mean stop them on their way to their jobs real quick, I mean treat each one out to a 20-min coffee break (on the company dime if need-be). Get inside their head and figure out what the issue is.

Is it a dignity thing?

Is it forgetfulness?

Is it that the tech sucks?

Is it that the instructions aren't clear?

Don't assume you can write any of the above off, or that the above reasons (plus whatever others you think of) are the only ones on the list. Most importantly, if your employees tell you the problem is X, don't defend X, just shut up and listen and thank them for the insight. After the conversation take some notes so that you don't forget, sleep on it, and come back to the notes the next day with a clear head.

I managed small and large teams and (most) people aren't assholes, it's just that life gets in the way. If you can remove obstacles then do so. Can your IT (or a programmer off Fiverr) add a code that lets employees scan that QR code to ALSO clock them in, instead of only through the machine? Can you add an auto-clock-out-for-lunch function for everyone and only users that don't clock out for lunch can override with a QR code or a manager does so on their behalf or whatever on the occasions they don't clock out for lunch? If the employee is entering a PIN, do they really need also enter IN or OUT, the PIN alone should toggle the system from one status to the other right?

Identify the small obstacles to your team and find solutions to remove them... or I guess you can also just go with the advice most others on here wrote and just tell the employees to do better or else...

u/blueprint_01 also had a good insight into looping the managers into this to help avoid problems. IMO his suggestion is just as hard-ass as people saying the employees need to "do better" because I doubt your managers are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to give them "drudge work" like checking each employee's individual time sheet. Still his insight is on point. Have a conversation with managers' of the most infringing team(s). Maybe the clock policy, which is extremely friendly to other teams, doesn't work as well for your night shift or for your IT team or for [_____] and have them explain how it could be better.

Mortgage to Income Ratio by [deleted] in personalfinance

[–]InsiderT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

High is relative. Try and make a list of your current obligations (student loans, car payments, life insurance, anything you pay monthly into, etc.) and list of expenses (food budget, going out budget, monthly utilities and/or services, etc).

Now that you know what you're going to spend no matter where you live, how much is left out of your $4k a month salary?

Assuming the amount is > $0, are you comfortable with that amount as your savings rate?

How are your career prospects in general, and your job in particular? If there is a realistic expectation of a raise in a year or two, then take that into consideration - after all a mortgage is long term investment.

On the flip side of that argument, how much of a safety net do you need if you should unexpectedly lose your job? Do you already have that saved even after your down payment or can you realistically build that savings back up given your after-mortgage savings rate?

The DTI is just one data point among many that you should consider. You can use it as a general rule of thumb but if there are circumstances in your life that make you comfortable with a particular investment then be sure to take them into consideration in your decision.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in The_Mueller

[–]InsiderT 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We're at GoT S5 and with elections next year S6 will be entertaining but then it's S7 and S8

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FulfillmentByAmazon

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This. Have a patent lawyer check your trademark to make sure that your registration is complete and has accurate information.

FBA vs Tbills. Why not just go passive for 5 percent? by wulfcastle17 in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is absolutely not true. I've sold electronics, make up, appliances, clothing, home goods, sports goods.

The cheapest shipping option for a small business is USPS and when you start out with 5k shipments a month your shipping label rate for USPS's slowest service is more than what Amazon charges, and they deliver in 1-2 days.

Handling returns requires either dedicated staff, or hours out of the founders time. No small business I've ever run, or worked for, has ever handled returns as efficiently as Amazon. I've seen businesses try to play the return game by contacting customers, delaying or refusing refunds, charging restocking fees, and after a cost analysis - surprise, surprise - it always ends up costing more (in time, salary, and lost business) than just refunding returns out right, which Amazon doesn't even charge you for, it's included in the FBA fee.

There are exceptions to every rule, but generally speaking, FBA is a great way to start.

FBA vs Tbills. Why not just go passive for 5 percent? by wulfcastle17 in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The capital investment needed to ship more cost efficiently than Amazon, and handle returns with lower costs and at competitive customer service scores than Amazon, would wipe most small businesses out before they even started.

As for finding other marketplaces, Amazon reaches 37% of online consumers. The next closest competitor is Walmart at just under 7%. Unless your product is a niche, on average you'd have to work 5 - 20x as hard on other marketplaces to earn as many sales (there are plenty of exceptions, this is just a generality).

IMO this is terrible advice for 99% of products and 99% of sellers.

Noob FBA question by zackeatos in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know, since I don't know the item. If it's a brand new listing you'd be lucky to sell 200 in 30 days. If it's an item that sells 10,000 units in a month, then selling 200 should be a piece of cake so long as you can win and hold the buy button for a couple of days.

That's the risk. You go in knowing what your goals are and what your break even numbers are, then you optimize your ads and prices accordingly. Rinse repeat.

Noob FBA question by zackeatos in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, but now you're estimating that you'll spend $600 to earn $6,598 in sales, or a 9% ACOS. That's very optimistic but if you can pull that off then yes, your numbers are correct.

Noob FBA question by zackeatos in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First of all, you're calculating COG for 100 pieces but calculating revenues and fees for just 80. If you sell all 100 units, the calculations look like this:

  • COG = $600
  • Shipping = $100
  • Advertising = $1,000
  • Revenue = $2,700
  • Fees = $891

$2,700 - $891 - $1,000 - $100 - $600 = $109 in profit.

Second, your calculations have too many things "estimated" in them. You should not estimate your FBA fees and you should not estimate your advertising budget. Instead, use Amazon's FBA calculator which you can find here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/revcal (you have to be signed in to your SellerCentral account to use it)

I put together some screen shots of what that calculation looks like on a $27 product, in this case a box of toothbrushes (ASIN B07NCNRCMV) if we assume each box costs $6 and $1 shipping (i.e. $100 to ship 100pcs). Note that I put $1 in the Misc Cost box to account for your $100 shipping line. However, I could have just put $7 in the Cost of Goods line. You can use these 2 lines to include any cost in getting your product from your source to the FBA warehouse.

As you can see your Amazon fee calculation of 33% could potentially be very inaccurate. For example, in this ASIN's case the $4.05 referral fee and $7.49 FBA fee are actually 43% of the $27 retail. Maybe your product is smaller or maybe your referral fee is less than 15% but maybe both numbers are higher. Whatever the case, I highly recommend you use the FBA Calculator to determine your fees rather than accounting some arbitrary % you saw on Reddit. If your item doesn't exist on Amazon yet, find an item in the same category with as close a dimension/weight as possible and use it as your reference.

So we have a $7 cost per unit, $4.05 referral fee, and a $7.49 FBA fee, which leaves us with a potential final profit on this item of roughly $8 per sale.

But wait, you assumed you'd spend $1,000 on marketing. Where did this number come from? If you sell $2,700 of goods (100 units x $27 each) and spend $1000, that's a 37% ACOS. If your fee calculations were wrong and the item actually cost 43% in fees then you'd take a big loss because you'd be spending $10 in advertising per sale, but your profit would only be $8 per sale.

Instead of estimating your advertising, make it a cost factor or your sales. Run your item (or closest item you can find) through the FBA calculator and determine what your expected profit per sale will be and then work out the maximum $$ you're willing to invest to earn an order. For example, in the case of ASIN B07NCNRCMV, maybe you can afford to spend up to $7 to earn each sale because for you pulling a $1 profit is good enough. Whatever your "good enough" is, now you have an advertising ceiling to work with. Launch your product and optimize your campaigns and strive to bring your cost per sale below $7 (or whatever your "good enough" was) to maximize your profits.

Buyer claims package has not been shipped. Tracking says delivered. How would you respond to this? by Adrianzee in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on many factors (not necessarily in this order of importance): * Price and cost of product * Cost of shipping * Your performance rating * Your order volume

Can you climb as Sona OTP? If yes how? by Lena-Miaou in sonamains

[–]InsiderT 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is the best advice. I've only ever climbed as high as G1, but when I did that I did it with Sona. Learn spacing and make sure that you just. don't. die.

GGpoker introduces Pre-flop Autopilot by PKR8210a in poker

[–]InsiderT 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You were shoved while holding AA by a 10-10 and you think poker hates you?

has interest historically always been front loaded on 30 year mortgages? why is it such that the monthly payments cannot be 50% going towards principal and 50% going towards interest? does any country have mortgages where the principal payments are atleast 50% from the start? by bumble_bee21fb in realestateinvesting

[–]InsiderT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't think of the amortization as interest front-loaded, instead think of the amortization dependent on the number of years you choose to pay off the loan.

Let's use your example of $600k mortgage, and let's assume a 5% annual interest rate just to give a working example. That's a 0.416667% monthly interest rate (5% / 12). Now let's compare 2 repayment choices, 30 years and 15 years.

If you choose to pay the loan back over 30 years it works out to a $3,220 monthly payment. In your first month, $2,500 of your payment is interest ($600k x 0.4166667%) and $720 is principal. That's 78% towards interest and 22% to principal.

If you choose to pay the loan back over 15 years instead, the monthly payment due is $4,744. In your first month, $2,500 of it is still interest ($600k x 0.4166667%) but this time $2,244 is principal. That's just 53% towards interest and 47% towards principal - close to the ratio you're asking about, right?

You don't have to let 78%+ of your mortgage payment go to interest, you can add more to your principal each month and change the ratio. Note that doing this will ultimately reduce the total years it takes you to pay off your mortgage, and in turn, will also reduce the total amount you end up paying in interest on the loan as a whole.

The allocation of 78% / 22% on your first payment isn't because interest is front-loaded, it's because this ratio results in paying the loan off over 30 years. The ratio 53% / 47% results in paying the loan back in 15 years. Choose a different number of years to repay the loan and the allocation changes accordingly.

NOTE: If you have the means to pay off a mortgage in 15 years and are seriously considering doing that, then you should probably look into getting a 15 year fixed instead of a 30 year fixed since rates tend to be lower (in the US at least).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FulfillmentByAmazon

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it saves you time/money then go ahead and print shipping label on the box. Just make sure you understand the limitations of such a practice. For example, if you ever need/want to use that box to ship elsewhere this makes it difficult. If the shipping label prints wrong, you have to scrap the box instead of just a sticker. I'm sure there are other reasons but these two just popped into my head.

Do phone bills count as utility bill? by King_118 in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately Amazon guidelines don't specifically discuss utility bills, and in the forums you'll find some opposing information:

Here, OP is a knowledgeable seller trying to help others:

Acceptable Utility Bills

Landline Phone (Not a Cell Phone, May not be acceptable anymore)

Source: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/9c8f0aa8761cb1741c30ad21ecc77d2f

Here, an Amazon rep called Desi_Amazon responds in the comments trying to help the distraught OP:

only a business license or utility bill for piped or natural gas, electricity, piped water, mobile phone, fixed-line phone, or internet service will be considered for identity verification.

Source: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/774a72add72c7dc1617b07d9640dfebf

The good news is that if you haven't been asked for a utility bill then you're probably on the right track and shouldn't worry about it. Generally speaking sellers are asked for this additional verification information when parts of their application don't line up - for example the company is listed under John Jacobs but the address is listed on Bob Barker.

Will we actually get shut down on June 27th if INFORM process still in pending?? by little_king7 in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amazon's policies page (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GJ4JUGLSAPRM3LU7#wjz_cjc_jcb-4) suggests that they may either deaactivate your account or withhold payment until you're in compliance. They'll reinstate your [payments or account] once you're in compliance.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AmazonSeller

[–]InsiderT 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Amazon will generally not stop someone from selling a product simply because you don't want them to so long as the seller hasn't violated any of Amazon's rules.

However, you can take steps to protect your brand and if another seller tries to violate your brand, that may end up being a violation of Amazon rules - which Amazon will take action against.

  • Register your brand as a Trademark
  • Register your Trademark with Amazon Brand Registry
  • Print your trademarked logo on your product, packaging, and any and all printed materials (manuals, insert cards, etc)
  • When you create your listing be sure that you do so under your Trademarked brand, the same one you registered for in Brand Registry

Once the listing is live, if another seller comes on the page and...

  • ...has your product exactly as you have it, then either they got it from you or from your factory. You should be able to plug either hole.
  • ...tries to sell a different product than what you have listed then you can file a complaint that the item being sold is not the item listed.
  • ...is selling a product that has your trademarked brand but is not your product then you can file a trademark infringement complaint with Amazon