Due to increased competition it is becoming more and more difficult to rank your products on Amazon, particularly in competitive categories such as supplements.
Sellers should first try to nail the fundamentals such as having a desirable product with strong demand, detailed keyword strategy, attractive photos and solid reviews before looking at this list of hacks. This list is not meant to replace your foundational Amazon selling tactics.
However, these hacks might help you get that edge above your competition; particularly in competitive niches.
WARNING! Some of these hacks could be considered ‘grey hat’. This means that they are on the border of not being allowed and it could potentially put your Amazon account at risk of being suspended. I have deliberately left out all tactics that are considered straight up ‘black hat’.
These ‘hacks’ are purely for educational purposes and we take no responsibility if you use one of these techniques and your Amazon account becomes compromised.
Without further ado, lets get started on the hacks.
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Hack #1 – Give away your product at full price
If you giveaway your product at full price Amazon’s A9 A10 ranking algorithm will rank you higher because it thinks your product will make Amazon more money. After a giveaway lower your price to breakeven to continue to beat competition.
Hack #2 – Build backlinks to your product pages
You can fast track your Amazon Page Rank by building backlinks to your Amazon product page. This will help you rank your product in Google and which will then impact your Amazon ranking. Because Amazon.com has such high Domain Authority it is highly unlikely for them to be hit with a Google penalty. This means you can throw low quality links at your product page and still rank quite nicely.
They might however penalize your product URL. If this happens then you can just edit your listing a few times which will refresh your URL and start the process again!
Hack #3 – Exact title search
Since SuperURL’s are no longer effective, if you want to give a link to a prospect you should give them an Amazon search link where only your product is displayed. It is important to have a brand name so you’re the only one that shows up. Also ensure that your listing title contains the main keywords you want to rank for. Copy the search link and paste it into a URL shortener (such as bit.ly). Then use this link to promote your products with AMZPromoter.
Every time someone clicks on it and clicks your listing a new QID will generate. Amazon’s A9 algorithm will then think you searched those keywords to find the product and rank your product higher.
Hack #4 – Lose money during initial launch
When you first launch a product your goal should be to make Amazon believe they will make lots of money from you. You should giveaway enough units to match your top 5 competitors for the 1st week of launch. This is because Amazon doesn’t know where to place you in the search results because you’re new. Therefore, if you’re matching your 1st page competitor’s sales it will also rank you on that page (hopefully). At the same time you should be spending lots of money on Amazon PPC, using Facebook ads with AMZPromoter and mailing your email list (if available) to drive traffic to your listing.
Hack #5 – Use competitor’s main image in AMS
Copy the main image of your top competitor’s listing and advertise Product Display Ads on the listing for cheaper cost through AMS. People will think its the same product and click on it because its a cheaper price. You will gain free traffic and show up on the Customer Also Bought section of their listing as well. (This only works if you sell the exact same product, please don’t steal copyrighted images).
Hack #6 – Keep FBM available inventory quantity low
For FBM products keep your inventory levels below 20 as Amazon will display a scarcity indicator on your product page. This is a proven psychological technique that will greatly increase the conversion rate of your listing.
Hack #7 – Build up your brand awareness on Facebook/Instagram
Use ManyChat Auto Facebook Bot and run Facebook Page Post Engagement ads. Build a brand website and Facebook Page around your Brand. Run a Facebook Page Like Campaign and target people in your niche. You can acquire these customers for very low cost. Start by offering tips and trick about your niche or related information. Post pictures and articles about your niche. Then once you have a following built up start advertising your products to them. Offer discounts, build opt-in lists, run contests to increase participation, do holiday giveaways if you like AND share this page your entered to WIN. This feeds into the Facebook advertising strategy discussed in another hack.
Hack #8 – List your products in less competitive categories
Listing your product in low competition categories can enable you to rank quicker and also achieve Best Seller Badges which will greatly improve your click through rate. Be careful though, this can be a double edged sword as only products in certain categories bidding on particular keywords can will get impressions in Amazon PPC.
Hack #9 – Contact YouTuber’s and bloggers for unboxing videos
Contact influencers on YouTube and bloggers to create unboxing videos. They will then leave their Amazon affiliate link in their video so if someone purchases through that link they will get a commission. It is a win-win for everyone.
Hack #10 – Put a video on your product listing page
Use gen.video for video propagation to your listing page to greatly increase conversion rate.
Hack #11 – Spy on your competitor’s backend keywords
Use a tool such as AMZDataStudio.com to spy on your competitors backend keywords. Another option is also the Sonar Chrome tool.
Hack #12 – Use alternatives to Alibaba for sourcing
There are many other sourcing options available such as 1688.com, Made-In-China.com and HKTDC.com.
These boards often have much higher quality control and higher requirements for vendors to be listed.
Also some suppliers won’t list on Alibaba as they are afraid of getting their products ripped off by other vendors (I have heard this directly from suppliers).
Hack #13 – List your products on eBay at a slightly higher price
If you have inventory with FBA you can fulfill your eBay orders from there. Use a tool such as JoeLister.com to automate this whole process.
Hack #14 – Pre-launch list building
Collect email list of potential buyers by going to prize sites like FishBowlPrizes.com and giving a high perceived value prize relevant to your niche in return for emails. You can even dropship the prize from Aliexpress, or buy it from a branded retail/online shop that isn’t your own brand. Send the rest an email with a coupon code for your own product on Amazon, (using a link that will rank you for your targeted Key words of course.)
Hack #15 – Use Amazon PPC data to optimize your listing
After you spend some money on PPC, modify your listing based on on the data in the Search Term Report. Make sure you include the highest volume search terms in your title.
Hack #16 – Find your competitors supplier
Use a service like Panjiva.com to reverse engineer your competitors supplier to go direct to the source and skip the middlemen.
Hack #17 – Engineer ‘Frequently Bought Together’ for your own products
To get another one of your products listed in the ‘Frequently Bought Together’ section, setup a % off promo for that unit so when your customer buys Product A they get a % off Product B (Qualifying Purchase). No claim code is required.
When setting up the promotion ensure you tick the ‘Detail page display text’ option. It will show up under your Special Offer and Product Promos with a “Add Both to Cart” button. You can also display this promotion in one of your product images.
Hack #18 – Remove all white space in your main product image
To make your product stand out in the search results crop all white space out and make sure you fill up as much as the allotted space as possible.
Hack #19 – Pre-negotiate defective product management with your supplier
Convince your supplier to provide reimbursements or replacements for any defective units in the next orders. Make sure you have this in writing in your PI.
Hack #20 – Start your follow up emails with ‘Re: Amazon.com.. Order Review Required’
This is a powerful CTA and will leverage Amazon’s influence to increase review count.
Hack #21 – Find the order number of customer who left a negative product review
Go to the negative reviewer’s profile. Right click, go to Inspect/View Page Source (if you are using Google Chrome)
Search for customer_id and copy the number number
Go to Seller Central > Manage Orders right click, go to Inspect/View Page Source and search customer ID
Provide a refund to them and then message them asking them to remove a review (you can even offer them a free product or another incentive)
Hack #22 – High PPC budget
Set your manual campaign budget to a very high number. You wont come close to spending that but Amazon will give you more impressions because it wants to use up that budget.
Hack #23 – When doing giveaways use a viral referral share thank you page
When doing giveaways use a service like Vyper.io to gather 2-10x more emails.
Hack #24 – Make your sales prices look real
Adjust your pricing so it looks like a real sale to customers. For example: Set the regular price to a high price like $199.99 then adjust the sales price. Most people if they want to sell it for $120 will put $119.99. However customers know this trick and won’t believe its really on sale. Instead put it at an odd number like $118.45 then they are more likely to think its a REAL sale.
Hack #25 – Get reimbursed for lost / damaged / unreturned inventory
- Go to Reports -> Fulfillment -> Payments -> Reimbursements
(first see all the reimbursements Amazon has paid out to you) Go to Reports -> Fulfillment -> Inventory -> Inventory Adjustments
(find items marked as Damaged and ask Amazon for reimbursement)
(find items marked as Misplaced (Lost) and Found, see if Misplaced = Found; for lost items that haven’t been found in 30 day period – you can get reimbursement)Go to Reports -> Fulfillment -> Customer Concessions -> FBA Customer Returns
(look for returns with Status: Reimbursed; these are customers that haven’t actually returned the item to Amazon, but still got their refund – you are eligible to get Reimbursed for these)
Once you know which Reimbursements to chase – you can contact Amazon support (chat / e-mail) and ask for a reimbursement, actual support agents are allowed to issue reimbursements, but don’t bombard them with more than 5 Reimbursements at the time – just start a new chat.
There are also services that will do this for you for a fee but Amazon have been cracking down on them lately and warning sellers not to use them.
Hack #26 – Ensure you are getting indexed for your desired keywords
- First fill the Search Terms fields with keywords and no comas, no repeat words, no plurals, no stemmed variations (if you need to save space). Use Wordcounter.net to break huge keyword list into unrepeated words – put the most frequent keywords first (making sure they are important). No need to repeat Title keywords as you getting indexed for them anyway.
Wait 15 minutes and check if you are getting Indexed by typing “ASIN + keyword” in Amazon search – if “0 results for this search” shows up – you are not getting indexed.
For those keywords you are NOT getting indexed – use additional fields provided in the Backend Form and fill them with the keywords that you are not getting indexed for via standard Search Terms fields. These fields are: Subject Matter (from Keywords Tab), Style Name, Shape, Finish Types (from More Details Tab).
Wait 15 minutes and check if you getting Indexed.
If you are still not getting indexed for certain keywords – include them in your bullet points / description.
Wait some time and check if you are getting indexed NOW… If you still don’t get indexed – WHICH IS VERY UNLIKELY – then start with STEP 1 and move those keywords closer to the beginning in Search Terms.
Check you are getting indexed for all the important keywords ONCE A MONTH – as with Amazon changes you never know, indexed keywords sometimes change, make sure you are getting indexed for them on regular basis.
Hack #27 – Use Pinterest to build your brand
Request invites from big boards. and pin 5 images daily. Repin 80-100 images daily, have more than 10 boards related to your niche , follow 100-200 people daily . You can gradually increase daily followings to 399 a day.
Hack #28 – Use social signals to improve your rank
Search “social signals” on Fiverr.com or use SMMHouse.com to buy retweets and likes on your listing. You can also use the social links that Amazon gives you to help improve rank.
Hack #29 – Collect emails with a high value giveaway
Offer an amazing product from within your niche (could be one you buy), make sure it has a high value and blast it in Facebook review groups. You going to get a lot of interest that PM you.
When they respond, just say no more are available and you will ping them when the next batch arrives. In the meantime give them the code for your product you want to rank for as a giveaway or offer them reimbursement via PayPal. Waiting in anticipation for the high value item they will take this one.
Note: the whole reason for the high value item is so that you can get as many people reaching out to you as possible.
Make sure you collect Amazon profile, email, etc.
Don’t be afraid to ask for their main email address, especially the one they use in Facebook so you can create lookalike FB ads later.
You can do this with a Facebook Ad and AMZPromoter (just don’t add any coupons)
Hack #30: Create your own review group
This has to be done carefully, but if done right works magic.
Find a group of Amazon sellers that you trust (maybe 10-100 sellers).
Create a system where everyone buys each others products for full price and leaves reviews.
If coordinated properly you can get 10 to 100 verified reviews during a product launch.
Hack #31 – Use clever emails to get suppliers to compete for your business
Try some of these emails next time you are vetting a supplier:
Email 1:
We are considering expanding our product line into …. We are a large volume buyer and a repeat buyer. We are contacting several other manufacturers in the …. business. However, we need a lower than normal initial test quantity so we can evaluate you based on your speed and your quality. Our board of directors is looking to make a decision within the next few days, we really hope you can submit a competitive bid that will meet their approval. Please quote for 500 units plus estimated shipping by air to USA.
Email2:
Thank you so much for submitting this bid, we really appreciate how fast you got back to us. However, I brought this before our board of directors and they have a grave concern; your price compared to several other bids we received for this same product is much higher, unfortunately we are going to have to turn down your offer. However, should circumstances change please let us know immediately because our board is going to be making a final decision shortly.
Email 3:
Sorry we really appreciate you working with us, your cost is still too high. Our board of directors is looking to make a decision within the next 3 days now. Please talk to your supervisor or business owner, we would really love to work with your organization, get back to us with a better price.
Hack #32 – Hire a freelance Chinese translator to negotiate on your behalf
Go on UpWork.com and find a Chinese speaker to help you negotiate with your supplier. Ideally find someone with a sales background.
You might save up to 40% off your price per unit!
Hack #33 – Ensure you are not paying VAT on Amazon.com (Amazon UK sellers only)
If you are a UK seller selling on Amazon.com, you may not know that since Amazon is incorporated in Luxembourg you are charged VAT on sales.
If you register for VAT Amazon will no longer charge this fee.
Becoming VAT registered does not mean you have to pay VAT if you sell in USA only. Since the sale is outside of the UK you are not liable to pay VAT on sales. But at the same time Amazon will stop charging you VAT if you inform them you are registered. You could be looking at a 18% return on your sales.
Hack #34 – Review Groups ranked by member number
Hack #35 – Unique product research
Don’t use the same methods everyone tells you to (ie. solely relying on JungleScout) in order to find good products. If you fish from the same pond you’re going to catch the same fish. Be smarter!
Instead search Best Sellers, Amazon Basics, Storefronts, Product Sub-Tiers, Customer also bought section, Hot Selling items on Ebay, Google Trends, Facebook ads, Aliexpress, Shopify stores, things you see when walking around etc.
Hack #36 – Create quantity discounts on your listing
Set up a promotion so customers will receive a % off discount for for purchases of multiple units. For example 5% off two, 10% off 3, 15% off 4. When setting up the promotion ensure you tick the ‘Detail page display text’ option.
Hack #37 – Use Amazon Associates Program for external traffic campaigns
Generate affiliate links for your products in Amazon Associates and use them in your AMZPromoter promotions on Facebook, Adwords, email etc. You will then get a commission on every sale made in the following 24 hours (even if its not your product!) after your prospect clicks on the link. You can also combine this with Hack #3.
Hack #38 – Spy on other sellers by there storefront name
Use this link: https://www.marketplacepulse.com/business-intelligence/Amazon/usa/Username
Replace ‘Username’ with the actual store front username.
This will tell you when they started on Amazon, their brands, price points etc.
Hack #39 – Market to your customers using direct mail
Direct snail mailing is actually a hidden gem among marketers. It still works amazingly well because no one expects to get it anymore.. especially hand written mail – the more personal and human it is the better.
Check out LumpyMail.com and read some of the greats such as Dan Kennedy to learn more about direct mailing tactics.
Hack #40 – Partner with non-competitive best sellers
Contact sellers that are appearing in your frequently bought together section (or you are appearing in theirs).
Send them an email saying something like: “Hello, I’ve noticed your product is always showing up with mine as a frequently bought together section. What would it take to add my ASIN coupon insert inside your product packaging? If you do that, I will insert into my packaging as well.”
Pitch this to about 10 sellers … one is bound to bite.
Hack #41 – Use common Spanish translations in your search term field
Spanish is the 2nd most popular language in the USA. Copy and paste all of your backend keywords into Google translate and translate them into Spanish (or better yet use a service such as OneHourTranslation.com. Use those Spanish search terms in your backend. Only do this if you have space of course.
Hack #42 – Boost keyword rankings with Enhanced Brand Content
If you have Enhanced Brand Content active on your listings, put keywords in your old description as those are being indexed. You can even put Spanish keywords (or the keywords you won’t typically put in your front end as you don’t want people to see). Those keyword won’t be visible to anyone but you will start being indexed. Make sure those are not in first couple of sentences as those are still visible on mobile.
Hack #43 – Maximize your PPC exposure
View your Search Term report, sort by clicks, then take the top customer search terms and use them in an Exact Phrase Campaign. Set the bid price to default then increase the Suggested Bid by 12%. Stay one step ahead of people that just use the suggested bid or increase by 10%.
Hack #44 – Advertise your products on daily deals sites
Consider posting your product as a deal on SlickDeals.com and other deal websites.
Hack #45 – Best single cent combination
A Reddit user from /r/FulfillmentByAmazon A/B tested every single cent combination possible on Amazon. Here are his results (the best left to right): .45, .50, .89, .90, .95, .99, .00
Hack #46 – Remove negative seller feedback
When a customer buys from you, they have the option to leave you a product review and seller feedback. Fortunately you can remove 90% of Negative seller feedback.
1. Go to the “Feedback” section of Amazon Seller Central
2. Find the order ID of the customer who left you negative feedback Step #3: Click on “Help” then -> “Selling on Amazon” then -> “Customers and Orders”
3. Enter in the customer ID number
5. Click “Customer Feedback Removal Request” 90% of the time, the negative seller feedback will get removed. This is because most seller feedback is too vague, about pricing, or about products, which should go into product reviews.
Hack #47 – Profit from buyer’s remorse
Amazon allows you to add up to 20% in restocking fees for customers with buyer’s remorse. So they return the item and get their money back, but they still pay a small amount of the item to you.
Hack #48 – Get samples for free from Chinese factories
When you are just starting out with FBA and requesting samples from factories in China, they will assume you’re a beginner and not know much about the business, so they will try to monetize you immediately. That’s why you hear stories about people who paid $100 for a sample.
However, if you have a forwarder in China, they will most of the time provide samples for you for free.
So sample is free, you only pay for courier between a factory and your forwarder, which on average costs about $2-$6.
On the below picture I illustrated savings you’d get if you used a forwarder to ship your samples, instead of asking vendors to ship samples directly to you, one by one.
They are educated estimates, based on following assumptions:
- Each sample volume around 1 litre (34 fluid oz)
- Each sample weight around 0.5kg -1kg (1 pound – 2 pounds)
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Ok that’s all for now. I will continue to add more hacks as they come.
If you have any hacks that you would like to share please comment below and I will add it to the post (with your credit of course!).
**Credit to members of the Amazon Ninja’s Facebook Group who provided many of these hacks.