Hundreds of accounts were blocked but still making a lot of money! A group of sellers no longer "fight to the death" with Amazon

On the one hand, Amazon’s dominance in the cross-border circle is unshakable! On the other hand, Amazon is not the only cross-border seller. “The one that suits you is the best” has become the consensus of more and more sellers...

When it comes to cross-border e-commerce, many people's first impression is often the three words "Amazon". With its great reputation, countless overseas sellers have crowded into this platform. However, a closer look at the huge group of people going overseas to make money reveals that the diversity of the cross-border e-commerce seller group and the inclusiveness of the e-commerce platform are far beyond imagination.

There is a group of people who are loyal fans of Amazon. They don’t consider any other platforms except Amazon. There is a group of people who feel increasingly insecure about only doing business with Amazon and start to expand to other platforms. There is also a group of people who do business on all platforms except Amazon.

Are other platforms more attractive besides Amazon?

Yienjun learned that some people who run Etsy have hundreds of dead accounts, but they still persevere in registering; many Walmart sellers keep complaining, but they still persist year after year; Mercado Libre sellers are always worried about warehousing issues, but they are still shipping goods in full swing...

On every platform, there are a group of people who make money and a group of people who don’t. This seems to be the current situation of sellers on all platforms, including Amazon, with both pain and happiness.

This article will explore the diverse ways of survival for cross-border sellers based on the actual survival situations of sellers on platforms such as Etsy, Walmart, and Meikeduo.

Instead of fighting Amazon, a group of sellers found a new surprise

There are many cross-border e-commerce platforms, such as Walmart, ManoMano, Allegro, OTTO, Coupang, Cdiscount, Shopee, Shopify, Mercado Libre, Target, Joom, Fanno, Etsy, BOL.COM, etc. Chinese sellers are present on almost all platforms. Among them, Etsy, Walmart, and Fanno are very popular cross-border platforms, which are very popular with Chinese sellers. They use their own platform features to attract a group of sellers who are compatible with them. What are the advantages of these platforms? What are their pain points? The sellers who have entered the market have something to say.

1. Hundreds of accounts have been closed! Etsy sellers are still scrambling to join the game

Some time ago, according to the European cross-border e-commerce platform selected by the third-party organization "Cross-Border Commerce Europe" based on consumer evaluations, the American e-commerce platform Etsy surpassed the e-commerce giant Amazon and won the second place.

Etsy is an online marketplace designed for creative sellers. If the seller sells unique creative goods, such as handmade products, custom products or antiques, or has jewelry, clothing or home decorations created by himself, this platform is very suitable. Data shows that about 40% of sales on Etsy come from repeat customers, making it an excellent platform for connecting with loyal long-term customers.

Simply put, Etsy is a platform exclusively for small and beautiful sellers, many of whom are creators and artists at the same time. This unique platform makes sellers love and hate it.

Etsy sellers live in fear of their accounts being blocked at any time!

In recent years, the Etsy platform has begun to restrict Chinese sellers, making it difficult for mainland sellers to open stores. At the beginning, some sellers turned to opening stores in Hong Kong, China in order to avoid being blocked. Now, this method is also difficult to implement.

"My account was blocked right after I registered it. It was blocked after I uploaded the product with great difficulty. It was blocked after I just sold an order. Many accounts have died one after another, all of which were from clean environments and clean IP addresses." An Etsy seller said that this platform is the most difficult cross-border e-commerce platform he has ever seen. Now you can't register with mainland information. If you want to do business in the US, you can only register with local information . It can be said that the account cycle is very short and the store is blocked quickly.

Having dozens of accounts blocked a year is a common occurrence for Etsy sellers, and the possibility that products may be removed from the shelves at any time is also a feature of the platform.

Since the beginning of this year, many Etsy sellers have encountered the problem of account funds being frozen. The account funds are treated as "reserve funds" and 75% of sales are withheld.

Etsy issued a statement on the matter in May this year, saying: "When the reserve is activated, part of the funds in the seller's account will be used as a reserve. This is the platform's way of urging sellers to better fulfill orders and not to overstock orders. In addition, Etsy also advises sellers to pay attention to risk factors that may lead to payment account reserves, including a sudden and substantial increase in order volume; orders always lacking logistics information; orders not being shipped on time; and recent increases in refunds.

It can be seen that Etsy, like Amazon, is not a perfect platform and has also been criticized by sellers. However, problems such as "dead accounts" cannot stop a group of sellers from loving Etsy.

"My colleagues have registered hundreds of Etsy stores in recent years, but only a few have survived so far. " Etsy sellers said that this platform is prone to account closure, but it is also very profitable and has a group of loyal fans.

"We once received over 40,000 yuan in weekly payments. Etsy was really profitable." According to feedback, the products on the Etsy platform are not produced on an assembly line, but are mainly handmade. The products are novel and of good quality, so the prices are generally high. Even if the logistics and delivery fees account for the majority of the costs, the overall net profit is likely to reach more than 50%. This means that the money a seller earns from selling one product on this platform may be more than that earned from selling dozens of products on other platforms.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the extremely high rate of return that most sellers express understanding of the platform’s almost strict account blocking policy.

" Etsy will not follow the path of Amazon. Their positioning is very clear . They are a small and beautiful platform. Although the prices of their products are high, they are not aimed at increasing sales. Chinese sellers are too competitive and their products are cheaper. For example, the labor cost for a handmade accessory is more than ten US dollars for foreign sellers, but in China, the labor cost may be only a few cents. This way, the price advantage comes out. Many Chinese sellers bring matrix thinking to this platform and register a large number of accounts. One company registers dozens or even hundreds of accounts in an attempt to make more money through volume. This goes against the characteristics of the platform, and it is understandable that they are restricted by the platform. " Industry insiders said that there are even many Chinese sellers who directly PS other people's pictures, write some personalized customization content, and then put the products on the shelves for sale. This is actually a harm to real craftsmen and original creators, and also has an impact on the characteristics of the platform.

2. Walmart, which has many complaints, leads a group of sellers to make money quietly!

Now, more and more sellers are doing business on Walmart . It is said that Amazon is the e-commerce platform with the largest stock space, and Walmart is the e-commerce platform with the largest incremental space . Regardless of whether they make money or not, cross-border sellers regard Walmart as an important supplementary channel for increasing sales and revenue.

What is it like to be a Walmart seller? Sellers frequently complain about the lack of rules and rampant copycat sales.

One seller said in detail, " Walmart cannot do without advertising, otherwise it will lose money. It cannot focus on advertising either, as it may lose more. Many of its rules are not perfect. For example, the rampant copycat sales are far more rampant than Amazon, and the case efficiency is much lower than Amazon. There is no logic at all. We have no idea of ​​the platform's algorithm rules and product promotion logic, and we place orders at random."

Compared with sales, these complaints may not be a big deal. "Walmart's traffic is not even one-tenth of Amazon's. Amazon's products that sell 300 orders a day are listed on the homepage of Walmart, with BS labels, but there are less than 10 orders a day." According to feedback from Walmart's third-party sellers, the platform's self-operated business accounts for the vast majority of traffic and orders, and third-party sellers rarely have top sales. It is understood that many sellers may have sent hundreds of thousands of goods, but the number of orders per day does not exceed double digits, and the price keeps dropping, and they cannot sell even at a loss at a low price to clear the inventory.

Industry insiders believe that Walmart itself started out as a self-operated business, so it is understandable that traffic is concentrated on DSV and 1P. The platform's nature as an offline supermarket also means that it is more suitable for sellers with factory and supply chain advantages. After finding the rules for making money, many sellers are still making a fortune on this platform.

Different platforms do have different ways of playing. From the perspective of sellers, it is better to open a private model on the Walmart platform, especially for companies that already have some brand effect. In addition, Walmart is more suitable for distribution than Amazon. "Distributing goods on the Walmart platform, with a higher probability of orders, and making money by reducing management costs and supply chain costs is actually a feasible option."

In summary, Walmart, which has many complaints, is still the first choice for many cross-border sellers to deploy multiple platforms. This is because Walmart is still in its bonus period and its traffic is constantly growing, so its prospects are still very promising.

3. Give up Amazon and switch to Meikeduo! A group of sellers usher in spring

Meikeduo is the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America . According to the Conversion report, in September, Meikeduo's visits exceeded 320 million times, ranking first in Brazil, far exceeding Amazon (about 180 million visits). It is worth noting that Meikeduo is also among the best in the world. In July 2022, Webretailer's visit data statistics showed that Meikeduo has become the seventh largest e-commerce platform in the world.

In recent years, sellers from Wish, Amazon, eBay and other platforms have switched to Meikeduo and made a comeback. In terms of entry barriers, the operation logic of this platform is indeed simpler than Amazon, and the threshold is not high . It mainly relies on large-scale distribution to win by volume. Just like other platforms, Meikeduo is not short of the myth of getting rich quickly, but it also has many imperfections that have discouraged many sellers.

"As long as there are enough goods in the warehouse, the products will definitely be sold. The key is to be able to enter the warehouse." According to the summary of people who have experienced it, although the threshold of this platform is not high, it is still difficult for pure cross-border novices. Meikeduo's new store mainly determines the subsequent store link traffic based on sales and inventory turnover , but the seller's inventory is limited at the beginning, maybe only a dozen or so. This means that if the seller's products are not sold after entering the warehouse, it will directly affect the quantity limit and link sales for the next replenishment.

While being upset by logistics problems, many Meikeduo sellers are also busy shipping goods. It is obvious that they are unwilling to give up this platform.

Decentralized layout! Cross-border sellers are willing to control multiple platforms at the same time

In fact, in addition to the above-mentioned platforms, a group of sellers are also thriving on niche platforms such as Qoo10 and OTTO.

I have currently used the OTTO and MANOMANO platforms, and the experience is pretty good.

The traffic on the ozon platform is very good, and you can also get good traffic by self-delivery.
Some of my colleagues only work on QOO10 and they live a pretty comfortable life.

MANOMANO is more suitable for home furniture, garden products and outdoor products.

After switching to SHIEN and European local platforms, the current profit margin is quite good.

…

I have asked many sellers on niche platforms the same question: Why don’t you sell on Amazon? Their answers are all “Amazon is too difficult.”

As we all know, the maturity of the entire Amazon platform is relatively high, and JD.com is equivalent to a replica of Amazon. For sellers, the premium for selling goods on Amazon is relatively higher, but now the overall bonus period of Amazon's platform has passed, and the platform is facing fierce competition. The low-price internal situation is getting more serious, and the profit margin of sellers is declining year by year.

In addition, the compliance costs and risks on Amazon are relatively high. Some sellers who like to take shortcuts will suffer heavy losses if they are not careful. However, Amazon is most criticized for its inventory pressure. A large amount of inventory must be prepared in the FBA warehouse, and the traffic is expensive, so the initial investment cost will be very high. Therefore, it is more suitable for some capable sellers. Pure novice sellers with no funds and no experience should be cautious.

A group of cross-border sellers never do business on Amazon, while another group of Amazon sellers have long felt the crisis of only doing business on Amazon and have begun to deploy other e-commerce platforms such as Meikeduo, Walmart, and OTTO.

There are many companies that have achieved significant results with multi-platform layouts.

An old cross-border seller has currently deployed multiple sales channels such as eBay US, Wayfair, SHEIN third-party platform, and full hosting. Among them, the eBay platform has about 50 orders a day, and the gross profit is higher than that of the Amazon platform; TikTok has just been registered, and the company is betting on this platform, planning to sell a patented product on multiple platforms and countries. The initial cost of the patent and mold design for this product is about 400,000; it has also joined the SHEIN third-party platform and has just started selling products; in terms of full hosting, Temu, SHEIN, TikTok and AliExpress full hosting are all involved. It is worth noting that the Temu platform has hundreds of orders a day, but it is mainly used to clear unsold inventory.

Since the beginning of this year , many cross-border e-commerce sellers have been complaining that store traffic and order volume have dropped significantly . In fact, it is not that the traffic has decreased, but that the overall market has stopped growing , or that the market value-added space of some mature e-commerce platforms has become smaller and smaller, and market traffic has tended to stabilize or even been diverted by new platforms, causing traffic to become more and more expensive.

Multi-platform development not only reduces the risk of single-channel sales , but also expands product sales channels, and helps to continuously update one's own knowledge system and enhance product awareness .

In addition, what cross-border sellers cannot ignore is that cross-border platforms can now be described as "one super and many strong". Overall, Amazon is the leader, but Temu, SHEIN, AliExpress, eBay and other e-commerce platforms are surrounded by wolves, and the impact on Amazon is not small.

From the perspective of consumers, when it comes to cross-border e-commerce, Amazon is not the first choice for many buyers. For example, a Canadian consumer's most commonly used e-commerce platform is Temu, followed by SHEIN, and Amazon is third. Most of his friends are also in this situation and prefer Temu.

These consumers believe that the quality of products on Temu is not much different from that on other platforms, but the prices are much cheaper. The biggest drawback is that the logistics speed is too slow, but overall it is still value for money.

In many market segments, including Canada, Amazon is not the first choice for consumers. For example, Makedo has almost always topped the list of most visited websites in Brazil. Consumers also have their own preferences in subcategories. According to data, SHEIN is now the world's most visited clothing website, and Wayfair is far ahead in terms of home furnishings...

These have brought diverse choices and opportunities to cross-border sellers, urging the multi-platform layout model to grow and develop year by year. A large number of cross-border sellers have used this to get rid of "Amazon addiction", and both revenue and profits have soared.

According to the Weibo blogger "Running Pharaoh", a friend of his started doing cross-border e-commerce in 2016. The couple has been at the helm. Now there are nearly 100 people including the factory . The business lines include Wish , AliExpress, 1688, T emu, Meikeduo, and Amazon. The sales on each platform are relatively evenly distributed, and the profit is very good every month.

The most admirable thing about my friend is that he manages so many platforms and still makes a profit. Moreover, the couple is not on the front line of business, and the business managers of each platform do not earn much, even less than some ordinary operators in the same industry. Pharaoh thought about it carefully and believed that the reasons for his friend's success may be mainly the following :

1. With factories as the foundation, the supply chain has advantages and can weaken the operating capabilities of various platforms;

2. The boss has a certain personal charm and can provide other value to the middle-level managers besides income;

Pharaoh gained a lot of inspiration from this. For general business lines, we don't necessarily have to use over-matched personnel to match talents. A good knife should be used on the blade. High-quality personnel often have high expectations for the project from both labor and management. When the project fails to meet expectations, both parties will feel uncomfortable.

Therefore, for channel expansion in general space, we need to find people with corresponding experience and ability. Don't just seek good talents, and don't have no threshold at all. The overall situation is just right, which is also the art of management!

Regarding multi-platform layout, some industry insiders believe that the key to success is for sellers to summarize a set of learning methods and methodologies, and to understand other platforms and try new methods while focusing on one platform and having spare energy.

Because the multi-platform layout has its own complexity and each platform has its own personality, this model is actually a false proposition for many sellers.

There are many people who lose money by investing in multiple platforms. Some people heard that Amazon is very good, so they invested a lot in it. Later, they started independent sites, TikTok, logistics services, etc. In the end, they invested 3 million, but nothing worked out.

Many people in the industry believe that the money spent on multiple platforms is beyond imagination. If it is not done, it will only become more and more painful in the end. Compared with multiple platforms, the difficulty and hardship of a single platform will be much lower.

Overall, whether to do business on Amazon or to develop on multiple platforms depends on the individual. The seller’s own foundation and level determine most of the choices. In short, the one that suits you is better!

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