Amazon Merch Closed Due To Covid-19: How To Save Your Sales

These are strange times we are living in. As the coronavirus continues to infiltrate practically every country globally, we also see it worming its way deeper into our businesses.

Take, for example, the announcement on March 25th that Merch by Amazon is suspending operations due to Covid-19.

At first, this might cause you to panic. Even if you also have a full-time job (that hasn’t been shut down), no one wants to see their T-shirt sales screech to a halt.

But an email conversation I had with a friend offers a great deal of hope. I’ll share that in just a minute.

First, let’s look at what Amazon Merch said:

• The U.S. print fulfillment centers are shut down.
• European (EU) print fulfillment centers are open (at least for now).
• EU products are still being sold, but no U.S. Merch products are available.
• You cannot upload designs or new products to Merch by Amazon now. That function has been suspended.

That sounds pretty definite. But Ryan Hogue (of Ryan’s Method Print-On-Demand) sees another avenue for T-shirt sellers to take. After all, people still have to have clothes.

You see, Ryan teaches print-on-demand using an overlapping method, so if one outlet goes down, others tend to compensate. Here’s my conversation with Ryan. He has some great advice for Merch sellers right now.

KARON: Did you see the recent notice about US Merch shutting down?

RYAN: Yes. Merch by Amazon recently announced they temporarily closed down and removed listings from search results, so Printful+Amazon is one of the best ways to make money selling T-shirts at the moment. HUGE opportunity!

KARON: Really? How’s that?

RYAN: Printful’s fulfillment centers in Mexico are still open and fulfilling orders 👍.

KARON: How is this different from selling T-shirts through FBA? A seller would probably only need a free individual FBM account to sell POD T-shirts on Amazon. They wouldn’t be sending inventory into a fulfillment center because it’s POD, right?

RYAN: Well, you need a pro account to get a GTIN exemption. Otherwise the individual account would suffice. Just remember that Merch is Prime eligible and free, and they take care of customer service. With FBM you are the seller and inherit additional responsibility (with Printful’s integration it’s very easy to handle, though).

KARON: So, with an individual seller account, we’d need to provide a UPC (GTIN) code for each listing created on the catalog? But with a pro seller account (which would cost $39 a month), we can apply for a GTIN exemption and can push infinite products without providing UPC codes?

RYAN: Yes! Hope that helps clarify things.

KARON: Great! Thanks for the ideas!

That’s a quick way to move your T-shirt listings over and get sales back up through a new production partner.

Plus, if you want to take your Merch business on the road, Ryan teaches you how to create designs once, then sell your T-shirts in all sorts of different online marketplaces. That scales your biz quickly and means more sales for you!

Ryan has been gracious enough to give me 2 offers:

1. He is willing to answer your questions! Leave them below in the comments section.
2. Ryan gave me a coupon code that will save you about $100 on his Ryan’s Method Print-On-Demand course. Use this link and coupon.

Stay safe and prosper on!