Overcoming the obstacles that Amazon throws your way ⎜ Market Wize ⎜ EP 181

Ryan Cramer: What's up, everyone? Welcome to my corner of the internet. I'm your host, Ryan Cramer, and this is Crossover Commerce presented by PingPong Payments, the leading global payments' provider helping sellers keep more of their hard earned money. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Crossover Commerce. This is episode two that I'm doing today, almost back to back. But that's because there's just so much content that we want to make sure that we get out into the ether today. As the introduction said, if you didn't catch us morning or this afternoon or evening, wherever you might be watching or listening from. I'm Ryan Cramer and this is my corner of the internet, where I bring you the best and brightest in the Amazon, and eCommerce space. And that means just educating the market as we see it today, but also applying specific learnings, teachings as well as tactics to better your Amazon business. And that's what this is all about, is to provide a no hold back context forum where people can learn and help grow their business. But before we get started, just want to give a quick shout out to our presenting sponsor, PingPong Payments. PingPong Payments is a cross- border payment solution. If you're an international seller or selling a different marketplace, rather than where you are located, you might be getting charged lots of different fees. You may not know that, but by Amazon or by that eCommerce marketplace. And to know that, you can actually look at the bottom lines of all the fees after everything is taken out. And when you convert that currency to your localized currency, you might notice that there's a few discrepancies, and that's because you're getting charged fees. No one likes paying unknowing fees I should say. So that being said, there's solutions like PingPong Payments, where you can get an account, receive localized currency and stop paying ridiculous fees. Go and sign up for free today by going to usa.pingpongx.com/podcast to learn more information, or you can click below and just sign up for free. It's free to sign up and go ahead and start saving money. Put it to your bottom line and make yourself more profitable with PingPong Payments. Sending and receiving money never was easier. That being said, this is episode 181. Again, we were doing a two part series this morning. We did a little bit more of this in episode 180. We did a round table discussion talking about how to make your business more valuable and sellable. Now we're going to be talking a little bit more of the obstacles that most Amazon sellers or eCommerce sellers encounter on a day to day basis. And it's really quite fascinating that statistics, as they continue to come out, more and more people will see that there's a growing number of accounts or sellers or international sellers, whatever that statistic might be, that it's growing consistently across the world. That being said, I believe the number, as recently as a few weeks ago, was 6. 5 million plus Amazon sellers in the world, but actively there may not be all those kinds of sellers. And why is that the case? We'll talk about that today, and why some people just think it's too hard to sell on Amazon nowadays and they abandon ship. But we'll talk about overcoming those obstacles and the ways to get around those nuisance things that Amazon throws your way, and overcoming those walls and obstacles as well. So that being said, my guest today is the one and only Nere Revae of Market Wize. Him and his wife are the ones that are doing a one, two punch, if you will, of helping beginner and intermediate sellers, as well as expert brands, helping them grow their business online. With that being said, they've sold, they've helped people grow, they've been around for a while. And without further ado, want to go ahead and bring him on. inaudible he's talking. So I want go ahead and get right to it. Without further due, Nir welcome to Crossover Commerce. It's a pleasure to have you on today.

Nir Raveh: Hello, Ryan. How are you?

Ryan Cramer: I'm doing well. I'm kicking still. This is my... like I said, second episode, but I had to crosstalk talk with you today.

Nir Raveh: I don't know how you're doing it.

Ryan Cramer: That's a good question. You might have to ask me at the end of the day, if I'm still kicking. I'm already on my second cup of coffee, I haven't even hit noon yet. So I'm fueled by coffee, adrenaline, and just a sheer will to learn from people like yourself. So I appreciate you hopping on today. I know it's late where you're at, so before we get into that, where are you tuning in from? You're in Israel, correct?

Nir Raveh: Yes, I am based in Israel.

Ryan Cramer: What part?

Nir Raveh: But... what part? Near Tel Aviv crosstalk

Ryan Cramer: Tel Aviv, okay.

Nir Raveh: Yeah.

Ryan Cramer: I had Yoni Kempinski on from Tel Aviv too crosstalk

Nir Raveh: He's a good friend. This is why I was watching, instead of preparing myself. I was watching Yoni.

Ryan Cramer: I was going to say, he always taps in and he's always a great listener, watcher. We were talking about, he had made his trip over to the United States and was at a bunch of different conferences recently, but Tel Aviv is a happening place, in terms of tech, but also the seller community. I've been fortunate enough to be on some of your talks, with your community. There's a strong seller community in Israel, and I think it goes somewhat under the radar. Is that what you think is true or is that a misconception?

Nir Raveh: I hope we are above the radar.

Ryan Cramer: Above the radar crosstalk.

Nir Raveh: I hope. I hope. Yes, there are crosstalk we have a strong community and we have a group where I'm starting with a pitch. We have a group and it's very advanced and we're trying to... we'll discuss later, but you've been there where we created a place where everybody can ask question and get some help in this community. It's a real community. And it's so open, people are showing their products and getting, actual help from other sellers, from me, from other experts that I'm bringing, you were one of them. So, it's a fun place.

Ryan Cramer: Amazing. So before we kind of go down the rabbit hole, if you will, of our topic today, again, overcoming obstacles that Amazon throws your away. What's your background? Are you still a seller? How did you get into where you are with Market Wise? What's that minute long history of you and your business.

Nir Raveh: Never been asked. So, we've been active on for the last 14 years, something like that, like Marsha is saying," I'm the dinosaur." Nobody would do it. So we grew and then we started to see really great result. To be honest, we had our share of success and then people approached us and said, Can you handle my product or my account or something?" And then we found ourself without even planning, it's a service provider, doing A to Z. After a year or so, we said," Okay, what, what are we going to focus our efforts?" And we decided that we will be mainly focused on medium to large scale products or businesses. We're still doing, also if somebody has interesting product, I'm always listening and trying to help. But this is our main focus. But with big companies you always have big problems. And so with big problems, we needed to find a solution. And then something like seven years ago, maybe six years ago, we created a new department that is fast growing that is dealing with appeals. It means everything that you need to fix from related accounts, product being kicked out of Amazon, account that is being shut and all other kind of problems. That is part of our, let's say, world of being sellers on Amazon.

Ryan Cramer: So that crosstalk I was going to say that that takes a problem solver. A person who likes a puzzle or an issue and you try to find the different ways because there's no step by step guide of how to overcome these issues. Right? You like to come... it sounds like you like to look at the issue and find all the different ways with your background and being able to get to the end result is that kind of where you are today?

Nir Raveh: It took you less than I expected just to call me this name, eventually I'm trying, I'm always saying," I'm doing strategy." I grew in an advertising business, et cetera, but eventually everybody's calling me," The Fixer," or something like that. I cannot say that I hate it, but that's it, something like that. We are fixing the problem that nobody wants to touch. And to be honest, I'm trying to work on the hard cases because I will discuss it a bit later for the inaudible, but when you have real problem, real, not just, you cannot have your documents uploaded to Amazon, then you feel that your world is collapsing and if we can help somebody, for me it's the work.

Ryan Cramer: Right, and ultimately everything that you are doing, or if you're selling online, it's a business, and a lot of people, whether they want to see... they want to put a stamp on something or create something or they want to eventually buy or have something sell where they can invest in something else, down the road at the heart of it, people aren't entrepreneurs, but everyone always asks. And my background is, has always been in it too from Amazon's perspective is, where do you start? And it's always confusing when people of where you start and then when you encounter a problem, where do you turn to in terms of, if you encounter a problem? If Amazon shuts down your listing, or if there's these notification that they're sending you or any sort of problem, there's a slew of them, right? There's a quite long list of people that will throw your way and it could be a sink or swim moment. They can throw something at your direction, you can take it, fix the problem if it isn't your problem, and continue along your way or your business can no longer be there. What have you seen in that regards? Has it become easier for sellers to encounter these problems and overcome, or has it been harder and more intricate?

Nir Raveh: It's a tricky question. So you have levels of problems. Some of the problems you can even just ask. Same as you have grouping here and people can ask, or I have my own groups it's called... I'm not alone there, I'm one of the experts. Called Amazon Nonstop or even the inaudible which I'm part of that you can basically ask, we have a help inaudible everybody can just ask and find somebody who is an expert that will help them. I don't know if I've done some kind of promotion, but it's nonprofit. We're just helping. We just took few of the people that we think that can help others. But sorry.

Ryan Cramer: No, you're fine.

Nir Raveh: But basically there is a level in which you need to decide where you are heading. If you want to try to fix it yourself, then most probably you will lose time. Maybe some efforts and maybe things will be fixed and everything will be okay, but maybe you might have bigger problems if you are... Amazon has their way of asking, but expecting something else sometimes. And I don't want to scare anyone. It's not about that. It's the opposite. We're trying to make motivate things, motivate people, motivate things in a way. But I would say if you feel that... and I told you, it's a wonderful question. If you are feeling that you are about to lose time, you need to calculate the price of hiring an expert, it doesn't have to be me. Or lose orders, ranking, et cetera. But it's a decision, like every decision that you are doing.

Ryan Cramer: inaudible I guess maybe taking a step back too. I mentioned in the introduction, and this was something that made me think about this a little bit more as we're going through this episode is, the statistic that, of the amount of" Amazon sellers" in the ecosystem, let's take a look at that. So you had mentioned, what? 6. 5 is that the most crosstalk

Nir Raveh: Yeah, 6.4, crosstalk 6. 5. something like that. crosstalk I've calculated it, it means every minute 77 sellers are joining Amazon. But the crazy thing is basically we have 1. 5, more or less, active sellers. It means that 80% will drop after one year.

Ryan Cramer: Right. And when people look at that, that's the piece of the puzzle while you're trying to use data in order to get to the problem or to the root of everything. So if I'm a seller and I see 6. 5, 6. 4 million sellers in the world, that seems like a lot. That seems like," Hey, if that's just one product per seller," which it's not," If it were just that, then there's 6. 5 million, 6.4 million products." Even if you had two, that doubles and triples and so on and so forth. So lots of products being offered, lots of ways to stand out and create this economy of scale on the marketplace, just on Amazon. But you said only about 20% of those people are active, which again, to me, that paints a couple different pictures. Only 20% people can be successful or that 80% of the time there's an issue where that seller can't overcome, or they're no longer able to either sell or to be profitable or continue on that path. Is there one or another, or is it both working together?

Nir Raveh: Yeah. You're completely right. This is exactly where I was, I planned what we would speak today. So there is a reason, there is a reason why just 20% will inaudible back then, if you remember, everybody promised us tequila on the beach, remember? You will do nothing. You'll just go to Thailand and rest or something, but it's not, Amazon is hard work. You need to work. And Amazon, you've done twice live shows today. And we need to work. It's not as easy as we believe. And when I try to fix this equation, or understand this equation for myself, I believe that I found some kind of thing that I at least this is what I'm trying to say. I believe this is connected to the human needs. And this is, let's say, when I was looking at there's Tony inaudible I discussed it with you before, there's Tony inaudible I think he's one of the experts for understanding human needs. So I took his six human needs and I tried to manipulate it to Amazon. So we can, if you allow me, we can kind of discuss it while speaking about the original needs and maybe on Amazon and completely open discussion. And if anyone wants to have... ask a question or something, that will be amazing.

Ryan Cramer: That's a good point. And I'll set the table for people who are watching on us. If you're watching this live, and again, people know this with the podcast that this is viewed live. If you're watching this on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter, if you have a question, or if you have a comment, you can put that in the comment section, in your respective social media area. And you can ask that question, we'll be able to see that. So if you have a specific question as a small or medium size business owner, just getting started on Amazon, or if you're in your journey, feel free to ask Nere and myself. And we'll, we'll be more than happy to answer that specifically.

Nir Raveh: Even after inaudible

Ryan Cramer: crosstalk if it's too late at night, or if it's too early in the morning, like you said, I know people are just waking up on specific times of the world where people are going to bed. If you catch us at a later time, you can also tag us as well. And we'd be more than happy to answer those questions. So that being said, Nere... I guess with that being said, you looked at this as a human crosstalk nature instead of an economy issue or a competition issue, correct?

Nir Raveh: Yeah, even before going to human needs. I remember when I learned economics, my first degree, I remember that, eventually everything should be calculated. And I heard you speaking about aggregators and pricing and calculating things. So this is of course obvious, but I believe that when you start your journey on Amazon, you always... you calculate things. People know how to measure. They know the percentage. So I moved it aside just to understand why they're quitting after one year, one year, it's not... for me at least, you should give it more. And I'm trying to understand one. And let's just, jump to the first one, which is the human need is certainty. And originally it's hard to understand, but it means that you need certainty to avoid the pain, the pain of not knowing or being certain et cetera. But I would say when seller go to Amazon, they dream, we all have a dream. When I started on Amazon, I had a dream and we all have a dream, but sometimes while... I'll be number one, I will be... let's say I have invented the wheel again. And eventually, it's reality. You learn to understand that basically, I don't know how to say it, when I'm starting with a new company, I'm always telling them,"You need to remember that no one was waiting for us. You need to start step by step. If you want to help yourself, make some friends, mentors, experts, friends, which are working on the Amazon field, that will help you." One of the things that I would say many people will argue with me, I believe that you need to find your passion. And this is crucial, at least my opinion. You need to find a product that you like, that you have some kind of a connection. As long as you will have some kind of a connection, when things will happen, I'm not saying that will hit the fan, when things will happen, at least you'll have some kind of emotion and it's better not to be hate. So, this is at least for that. I would say, you need to take action. Don't wait, for somebody to know you, if something is not working, learn how to measure, find the exact place you are. And you asked me before," How do you plan about appeals?" And we can discuss it later. And the really answer for that when I'm going... and this is not about this point, but when I'm starting appeals almost every time, I have a call with a customer that has a problem. And I always trying to find two different things. One is exactly where he is and what is the problem. And then after I'm finishing the call, where do we want to go? What is my purpose? What is the exact path to success? I would say it is, hope. So this is my secret, but it's... when I'm saying, I don't know. I would say always measure and always keep your eyes on the target because we tend to forget this kind of things while life is happening.

Ryan Cramer: And that's why I think a lot of people get into this area, is because they want to either change something, whether be successful an entrepreneur, or do something where they feel like they can put their stamp or mark and there's so many economies at scale in which a person can be successful on a marketplace, such as Amazon, that it might become overwhelming. And what I think a lot of people just don't take advantage of is tapping into where people can be, who've gone before them and have learned along the way and taking that and applying it to their learnings, to their own business. Now, I'm not saying that every single person is going to be a playbook for you to apply to your business and to overcome and change and develop. Every person's product is different. Every person's brand is different, the ideologies, where they source from. There's so many different factors at place, but at the end of the day, when you can sort through all of everything, I'm assuming your either clients or students or collaborators, if you will, but they'll come to you and say," How can I fix this problem?" I'm assuming that your first thought is," Well, depends on where you are now and where you want to go." Is that more of what you were discussing? crosstalk.

Nir Raveh: Exactly. And this bring us exactly to the second point, which is uncertainty. Which is almost the opposite. And originally it's the need to have something, let's say, unknown. And I'm usually saying, it's not my phrase, people like surprises, but it's actually not true. They like the surprises that they want. So let's say about myself, we've discussed the [inaudible 00:23: 41. I'm a bit different. I know, I like when I'm starting, I don't know anything. Every case is, surprise. And I like when it's, throw the hardest case on me, this is what I like, but this is me. I'm the opposite of let's say, normal. So, I don't know, are you familiar with, Stay with Copper, you met Marsha? You know her?

Ryan Cramer: Yes, I have. Yes.

Nir Raveh: So this was, for me, it's something I'm very proud. She was... she had the hardest case on Amazon appeals, something like hand sanitizer, plus EPA, plus every claim that was claimed. And it took us, few weeks to fix it. But, I'm so proud and that I can... when I... and I'm speaking with her constantly, but she was my last guest. And this is why I reminded myself. When you see somebody who is so happy and things are fixed, this is the fuel for us. I would say, even for you, so this is why we are here to help. But this is not... I just moved from one point to another. So let's say normal people do not like problems. But, we do need to remember, this is the exact point of saying, problems are part of the ecosystem on Amazon. I would even say problems is part of the cost of doing things on Amazon and people should know about it. I'm not trying again, scare them or say," Don't do that." Just something you need to bear in mind.

Ryan Cramer: Right. Well, I was going to say, is it almost telling people you need to expect problems to potentially happen. You inaudible more aware and prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised by the best. And that I think that's business, of there's going to be problems along the way. Albeit it could be large, it could be small. There's going to be hiccups along the way. Is it... do a lot of people block at the notion of any small issue and overcoming it is either not worth it, or they think it's not... what is it that are making people not want to overcome that first hurdle or climb up that wall and get to the other side?

Nir Raveh: As long as you're not manipulating, and we can discuss it later on, as long as you are working according to the terms of service, which are called the TOS on Amazon, and you're doing things as normal seller should, you have some kind of problems, but these are solvable problems. I have the second this call will end, I have a call with somebody who just was blocked from Amazon, just because of... they ask her... and she's a senior, so because she needed to update her, let's say, address or something. I don't want to reveal. And Amazon said," No, it's a problem." And now we need to fix it. But you can work with that. It's not... and she told me I was not sleeping from 5: 00 AM. And since now it's near, 7: 00 AM. So it means a long... I don't know too much time for her to worry. And I told her," No, don't beat yourself, it's okay. You've done nothing wrong. We'll fix it. Don't worry. It's okay." And this is basically, almost everything can be fixed and it's just a process and you need to fix it and create momentum on Amazon. And then you have good surprises instead of bad surprises that will come as long as... I don't know, you'll make your progress. And there is another thing which I think that you will agree with me. You're familiar with all... it's easy for me to speak about appeals, but there are the other problems nobody speaks about.

Ryan Cramer: Yeah. What are those things that you would say? Does it have to do with business, product? What are those things that you're alluding to?

Nir Raveh: I am speaking... these people that are saying," I've not succeeded on Amazon, I've done everything." Familiar with them? This is BS. You have done two things and you repeated them and then you repeated them again. And then you discussed with your friends instead of, go speak with somebody, go to groups, listen to Ryan and learn it's okay. Just make some mistakes and then you'll grow, but you cannot do the same two things over and over again. So this is, I would say... and we are familiar with that on PPC. And we are familiar with that on pricing, et cetera, promotions." Promotions do not work." They work, you just need to learn how to work with them.

Ryan Cramer: So, Nere, I have a question. How important... you alluded to it a little bit, how important is community? Because what a lot of people, when I was working with them on a beginner, intermediate seller basis, or small, medium size business, a lot of people will jokingly turn to... whether it be a course or it be some sort of community and they'll admit themselves through it. If it's a good and successful course, that's good. Or people feel like they were led down a wrong path. And there's that mistrust between that and a person who's trying to teach along the way. How important is community to you and to sellers when you find the right place? Is it about fit or is it about knowledge? What's that important factor for you?

Nir Raveh: I've prepared a point later on for that, but I'll answer now. I think it's one of the most important things. You don't need... it's not about paying to a mentor. It's okay to pay to a mentor. If you take a mentor, always it'll help you to grow faster and we all take mentors and we are helping each other. And sometimes we're paying, sometimes we don't, but let's say even myself, just give myself, as an example, I have a very good friends who were here, inaudible. And whenever I have a problem that I need to discuss, I can call her twice a day, three times a day. And we're every day speaking. So, you need to have somebody to discuss openly with, if the group is important, it's a must. It's a must. You need to be... it's community. You cannot do... you can do things by yourself, but why? Why do you need it? If you can speak with others, find a group that you like, find the people that you trust. Find... I don't know, find something, but it's a long journey. Don't do it by yourself.

Ryan Cramer: I was going to say since you've been doing this a long time and Sharon is a friend of the show, multiple time guest, so shout out to Sharon, she's listening to this. So I'm curious for you, Nere, what is... has there been any issues that you yourself have been surprised by when Amazon comes at a seller or you review something for a client or a friend or a colleague that says... that's very fascinating that they would draw that conclusion, or that would be the issue. Has anything surprised you or...?

Nir Raveh: So many things.

Ryan Cramer: So many times.

Nir Raveh: So many times, so many things, crosstalk I have a private story for you. My wife wanted to, like a mother and daughter journey on the boat to Australia, which is really far. And they planned for a month, and the only time that they had is during the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday holidays time, now, and was two or three years ago. So I said," No problem, Maya, enjoy." And she's working with me. It's always not that easy to have a company of couples. And she's the best and most amazing partner that ever imagined. And everything was prepared. She prepared everything in her department, we all knew everything. What is needed to do, everything was prepared. And then three days before, or two days before she flew, Amazon just shut our brand account for nothing, basically nothing. And I needed to appeal for myself while my wife, which is my best friend, is not here to help me when I don't know if I will have my deals. And it's my micro- crisis of myself and eventually it was okay. I didn't sleep inaudible so I fixed it. We were okay. Everything was fixed, but when it's raining, we all get wet.

Ryan Cramer: Absolutely. So in that regards, it sounds like for the listener who's... or the person watching this or listening to this, is it... albeit, it might be painful and take a long time. How do you best navigate a way instead of having to just take it on as it comes to you, whether it be an obstacle that Amazon throws your away, how do you best navigate so that you don't have to overcome as many? Is it a nature of, there's no way to prepare for and just take it on as it comes at you? Or is there a way to best situate yourself moving forward?

Nir Raveh: Yes. Yes. You can prepare something, remind... don't remind me, let's do it now. We'll jump all over. I prepare one, I think very important point for everyone to enjoy. Last year we had more problems of hijackers, but I guess we'll meet them again now, these days. So if you want to prepare, the best thing that you can do is prepare even today, a flat file in case of a problem, you can... use it in order to upload all your products. And it's not too complicated. Can you allow me, I don't know, 20 seconds of just explaining?

Ryan Cramer: Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

Nir Raveh: Just go to help and write on a case, please enable category report. And if you can market as, I don't know, even inaudible and then they will enable. So on the tab of inventory, go to inventory report and then mark the category report, download it and then download it to your computer. And now, I don't know, send it to yourself via Gmail, or even put it on your computer and Dropbox or Google or whatever. So you'll have, I don't know, if something will happen, let's say, tomorrow your computer is being highjacked or something inaudible So whatever. You will have all your products stored, I don't know, in a Cloud or something. So Gmail is really good enough for that. It's not a huge file usually. And it's very good thing to have ready, whatever will happen. You will have it. So this is something I... like a candy, I saved for later.

Ryan Cramer: Well, that's a good point. I think for the listener out there, knowing that you are operating your business right, and that you're going to have competition. You'll have people who you're buying a dollar or a currency for. It's always important to know that business, no matter where you exist, retail, in a physical asset store, or virtual, you have to protect yourself in that regards. And I think that's important to know that there's external factors, where if you have all your files stored to your computer, situations like obstacles, not just Amazon inaudible where just real life throws your way of your technology doesn't last you anymore. And you can't get access to old files, reports and things like that. So I think your point that you're making is, protect yourself in multiple different ways, just in the simplistic natures of backing up files, downloading reports, the most recent ones, as I see fit. So if something were to cap... like you said, it could be as extreme as somebody hacking your computer. Hopefully that never happens and we don't want to scare any sellers or listeners in that regards, but it does happen and can happen because you're working with proprietary technology of a product or solution. And you can get targeted that way. Not often, but it could happen. So that's a great tip. I like that tip.

Nir Raveh: It's something, again, we mentioned her before, Sharon Evan. So it happened to her. I think it was two years ago, or last year crosstalk

Ryan Cramer: Last year, she had some listings taken down around Prime crosstalk

Nir Raveh: So that's where we realized all the hijackers and that was even new to us. Because it was the first time we... hijackers adding keywords just to remove you and not just piggyback on you are listing. So, be prepared and she has wonderful live. That's called the," Ugly Side of Amazon." If people wants to, just to prepare themselves. Again, I'm doing some kind of promotion. Sorry.

Ryan Cramer: No, you're fine. No, no. crosstalk no it's... friend of the show clearly, it's not a big problem whatsoever. We want to be able to point people in the right direction in that regards too, so there's no harm in that. Nere, what is the... obstacles can come in many forms, on a business level, but on Amazon. I'm trying to think. What's a consistent thing that you see that most sellers encounter that people come with you with their problems? Is it listing, taken down? What's the most consistent thing that you see a lot of sellers encounter the most often?

Nir Raveh: I'll go to the third point and then I'll answer your question.

Ryan Cramer: crosstalk Sorry. I apologize.

Nir Raveh: No, no, no, no, no. We can mix. I told you. I asked for that. So the third part point will be significance inaudible feeling unique. And, again, I said it before that, everybody think," I have the most wonderful product, I've changed the color or something, or even I added another layer or something and that will make a difference." But usually, or unfortunately, it's not how it works. It takes sometimes. And you really need to choose, I don't know, even to avoid that feeling of significant, and this is where I'm answering you, you need to choose a product that will be significant for you. And it means, it will always have some stage of fear and when you care... and the next point is love. We'll discuss it. But if you care about your products, you will not have poor motivation. And I spoke again yesterday with somebody else and she said," I don't want to open my Amazon account." Something happened to her and she," I don't want to, I'm fighting with myself just even to open my Amazon account." And I was like... I'm not easy when with friends and I said to her," No, you need to stop it right now." Then, but this is a different discussion, but I would... and even to jump to the next point, which is some kind of a connection or love, and then I will make sure that I answer your question. You need to have some kind of a feeling of connection with the products. And it's a tricky thing because there's a difference between loving your products and falling in love with your products.

Ryan Cramer: Okay. What do you mean by that?

Nir Raveh: So you need to love your products because you need to have some kind of a connection. Let's say we have started with cosmetic, and I still believe that these are... and I'm not going to say even the brand. I still believe this is one of the best lines and every year we're changing and innovation, et cetera, et cetera. But if I would be falling in love it, I would say," This is the best. This is... nobody has seen it." It's not true. People seen it every year. There are new competitors that are bringing new innovation and if you will just say," Yeah, I'm good." Then they will win. And love your product, but always know the map of the competition on where you are, it's not about when you're falling in love and you are blind, this is where the problems happen, or this is where you lose track. So I hope it was understood. And I'm not sure if I answered your question.

Ryan Cramer: No, it completely makes sense. And I under understand that. I think going back to our initial point where we took the data point of why there's a lot less sellers now engaged with their business, then there are actual accounts that have opened, you make a good point of people... there's a percentage of sellers that are engaged that allude back into the wild, a lot of people call it this," The Wild West Days of Amazon," where it used to be able to throw up a product, it'd sell like hot cakes. And you'd be able to essentially sell anything without much effort put into it. Now, because it becomes more of a business model, branding model, business focus, where you actually have to pay attention. You have to be thoughtful about product design, what you're building your brand around, where you're selling, how often you're selling, what you can actually, basically, operate. I think a lot of people saw the ease of this ecosystem and have moved out of the way, which is good because those people were not in it to build a brand. They were in it for the quick, get in, get out, make a buck and move on to the next. Not get quick scheme, but more of a, there's little barriers to overcome, therefore I'm going to take advantage of the market crosstalk

Nir Raveh: You know what they are missing? These kind of people. crosstalk.

Ryan Cramer: What?

Nir Raveh: Because they don't care. They do not understand the customer needs. And if you don't understand the customer needs, the customer is inaudible

Ryan Cramer: Right. Exactly. And it's no longer a place of happenstance. People are going to marketplaces now because of, again, nowadays, it's easy use to crosstalk think eCommerce was just about gifts and buying things that were one off and unique and gift items, but people are now shifted their focus to eCommerce is becoming a place of necessity. And again, where convenience is actually now the thing that you're buying. I need to buy cleaning product for my... I don't want to go out into the world. I don't want to go to a store and find if it's not available, I want to get it conveniently sent to me today, tomorrow, sometime in the near future. Real life example for myself, my son is turning seven. I don't want to search for specific party decorations, but I know they exist on Amazon. I found a good brand that I've worked with before I went and purchased that, and I'm going to get it tomorrow. I don't want to go to inaudible store to store and find the specific products. It's now becoming now more, just a necessity out of what's happening in day to day life instead of the traditional old ways of," Oh, that's really cool, unique product idea." I think a lot of people are now going more to groceries, subscribe and save, more of that traditional Evergreen Product of how do I make a business out of those models instead of the old gift mentality. Does that make sense? And I think that people have to wrap their head around of, if I find my product and my ecosystem and I can make that a self generating business, then that's where I can really be successful. It's not a, I just have a lot of money and I can throw products out there and I can make more money than I invest into it. Now, it's thoughtful entrepreneurship instead of passive entrepreneurship. Does that make sense?

Nir Raveh: I will tell you after the Live about the product, we had discussion today, but an amazing product. I think one of the best that I saw and it's completely new. Nobody's seen something like that. It's solving a problem that we were not even that is exist. And I'm trying to think if I will review it or not, I can tell you, let's let's make it interesting.

Ryan Cramer: No, absolutely. Yeah crosstalk go ahead.

Nir Raveh: So it's something, it's like a lock. You know there are thieves at the beach?

Ryan Cramer: Yes.

Nir Raveh: crosstalk So it's kind of a code and you can lock your stuff and nobody will be able to take them. And you also can put your umbrella, sun protection, whatever. And it's simple product with a code that you can change and then you can open it. I think it's one of the most amazing products.

Ryan Cramer: A beach lock? Yeah. A lock box for the beach, where people and stuff they can steal crosstalk

Nir Raveh: It's not even a box. It's just stick within the sand and it's amazing.

Ryan Cramer: Or a container. Yeah. Okay. Yeah crosstalk

Nir Raveh: You can even connect the leash of the dog to it. It's really amazing. And I was discussing it with somebody else. I will not tell the name or even what they're doing. And I said," People will not look for it because they don't know that they have a inaudible. They don't know that they have a need." And I said, " So what? If they don't have a need, let's create a need. Let's discuss it with them on social, on Facebook, on Instagram. Let's reduce the product to them and then send them to Amazon." And this is exactly what you said. People are sometimes lazy. It's not inaudible it's not the inventor of the product. And I hate the fact that people are lazy. If you don't... just for the example, you're saying you're doing marketing, so do some marketing, do advertising, do some marketing efforts. I don't know, reinvent yourself. Just don't say," It'll happen, if we will say something so simple." I just don't want to reveal what was the crosstalk

Ryan Cramer: Well, Nere, do you think it's a happenstance that people give themselves their own obstacles by boxing in what their product achieves? For example, I love the example that a friend of the show Steven Pope always gives, excuse me, if you don't know Steven, he runs, My Amazon Guy. And one of his listings that he was working with was a creme brulee torch. So it's a torch that you click on, if you know the dessert creme brulee, you sprinkle sugar over it and you caramelize it. And it's a torch that you can turn on, it's very... whether it's a cartridge or it's basically a glorified lighter, let's call it that. So this lighter, listings for creme brulee torch, very saturated ecosystem. Lots of different products that can fit that people are marketing it to this ecosystem, rightfully so. But then also showing a line that draws to people... what else can you light? And there was a notion of customers that were happened to be finding his products because they were trying to find a manly way, too light cigar, for example, or some sort of tobacco product, and then started to think about marketing. How can I focus this more on the side of a gift giving item for my friend, acquaintance, business partner, whatever that likes to smoke cigars. Sales started to dramatic increase from what I was aware of. And that was a way to market that product instead of being boxed in and focused on," Oh, of course, that's what this product does." But then also drawing the notion of, well, this can also do these kinds of things too. Do you think that people put that barrier in front of them where they don't have that creativity to think outside the proverbial box, if you will?

Nir Raveh: There's no clear answer, but my first move will be, to say," Prepare your avatar of the customer." And understand the needs and then understand how you approach them. There's a famous story about when Subaru realized that they can approach different segment, which are the gays and other. And they basically reinvent themselves and grow significantly inaudible So this is... if you understand your customer, if you understand your needs and you know how to approach them, you will divide yourself from the rest. It's very easy. Easy to say.

Ryan Cramer: And I think what you're also of thinking of is listen to who's engaging with your audience. And I think that feedback, if you're selling on Amazon and you are first time owner, and they give you feedback, both either good or bad, that's a good forum for you to be able to listen to your customer and to enhance either your service, your product, your logistics, that's the forum that people are going to speak out on the most. And then again, customer feedback of whether good or bad, whether engaging with your marketing entities or they're engaging on your product listings, is important to also make sure that people are being heard because nine times out of 10, people want to express their indifference or their joy of a product or service. And there's so many more people underneath, but that's just a small representative slice of what's actually out there. Just know that they're more apt to do that if they're more passionate plus or minus in that regard. So it sounds like that obstacle of people are upset with," Oh, this piece on my product broke. And I was frustrated, I got a replacement, wouldn't buy it again." Probably that's one out of 10 people that are thinking the exact same thing. So maybe you should go back to your product design, enhance or tweak, or make that a little bit more secure so that you can, again, and instead of engaging those obstacles of more and more people complain about the same thing, start to really listen to your customer. And I think a lot of people lose out of that inaudible

Nir Raveh: And both don't fall in love with your product, listen to your customers. They're not trying to manipulate. They're telling you the truth.

Ryan Cramer: They have no stake in it because they're buying a good at the end of the day and they wanted to solve a problem. That problem is at the heart of it. And again, this pen can print money, but if it doesn't actually write why I bought it, I really have no use for it, besides this other externalized factor. Doesn't solve my problem, won't buy it again.

Nir Raveh: We tend to blame others, but they were choosing us. So if they're telling you something, just listen. First, listen, then if you feel that they're manipulated somebody else was doing something to harm you. This is something else. But first thing I would say, listen to your customers. crosstalk

Ryan Cramer: Well, Nere, I know I have already taken up way too much over your time. I've already talked roughly about an hour or so, but I am curious too, when people are engaging with you and you post a lot of great content in your community. Obviously, I love to people, if they have questions or they want to connect with you and they didn't catch everything at the beginning, how can people engage or talk with you or just converse with you?

Nir Raveh: Because I'm dealing with appeals and with things that are usually... yeah, thank you for that. That are like, sometimes you need to be it in expedite way or approach. So I'm giving my email it's nere@marketwize, like it's written here with a Z,. com and people can approach me there, or even look for me on Facebook and with something with blue around myself.

Ryan Cramer: Pretty easy. Yeah. Pretty easy inaudible And we've linked out to you your profiles too, in the comment and show notes as well.

Nir Raveh: And LinkedIn and just feel free. I'm working without ego. So feel free to approach. Feel free to ask. Now it's Q4. It will be a bit difficult, but I will crosstalk.

Ryan Cramer: You're a busy man.

Nir Raveh: It's okay. It's okay. I always have time to help people. Usually it's just giving them some kind of advice or a tip or whatever. It's not just few percentage are eventually become cases, usually you can just give good advice and this is what we all want. We all want in life. If I would have a problem, I would call you and say," Hey Ryan, can you help me with that?" It's basically the same. So we are virtual friends, everybody.

Ryan Cramer: Absolutely. Well, absolutely. And I was going to say, is there one final tip you would leave people with today to apply to their business? Is there something that you've seen a lot and you would just want people to walk away with today?

Nir Raveh: Yes. Help others. That's, by the way, the last point that I wanted to discuss. So create some kind of contribution, create something that you can... this is why we have these groups. When COVID started, I saw Danny McMillan and the Norm, basically, and I think also you, basically every day, every day, speaking. I remember Danny said," I don't know what is going on. I don't know what will happen, but I will be here every day. And we'll do it together." And after I think something like two weeks, I said," Well, if he's doing it, maybe we should help our local sellers." And then I created my own thing and it's growing. And this is just because I opened myself to other options. So discuss, find a friend, I don't know, call you're crosstalk

Ryan Cramer: You're not alone. I'll say, you're not alone in this endeavor. And I think, engage with those communities. I think a lot of it's free and open, and I know people put certain barriers in place, which is not a bad thing. Again, I think of how do you consolidate and really make a community, a community. Just got to keep asking questions. You got to keep taking information, again, don't take one source, but take it from lots of different sources. Again, if you listen to the show and you're only taking our word for it, you're not doing yourself the service, but when you can piece everything together, and you can start to take elements of, people are doing consistently, like you had mentioned too, friends of the show Norm Farrah and Danny McMillan. You mentioned Sharon Evan. A lot of those people have consistent enough where you can take their thoughts and processes, whether it be opinionated or fact, you can apply to your business in different ways, but you can take pieces and elements and make sure that you can apply to what you want to achieve and overcome. And again, some of it's factual, some of it's opinionated and you have to constantly be taking in information and do what's best for yourself and your business, and there's nothing wrong with that. And hopefully, it inevitably turns and helps you overcome those obstacles. If you encounter those on Amazon. Nere, thank you so much for hopping onto... you have any parting words or anything like that for us?

Nir Raveh: I promise inaudible to say hello to you and give you a huge hug crosstalk and he's a happy man, these days, because they are back. And beside that, I don't know. Let's help each other. Let's grow together. And it sounds silly, but it's as simple truth.

Ryan Cramer: Not silly at all. And I love that, that tip is just as simple as that is helping each other grow. Again, it can be a competitor, it can be service provider, helping everyone grow. It's a good mantra to live by, and that's what we try to achieve. So thanks for sharing all that inside resources and thanks for hopping on today. Awesome. Thanks again, Nere, for hopping on and coming on Crossover Commerce, again. Everyone, thank you for joining episode two for the day, but 181 episodes that we've done. I call this my corner of the internet, where I basically am learning just alongside with everyone else. But the insights and value that you get out of this podcast is always insightful. I always like to say, if you can walk away and apply it to your business or your brand or whatever you are working on right now, that's this job. That's my job. And that's what I like to do with all of our guests today. So if you like what you hear, you like what you see, buckle up because there's a lot more content come your way. I'm telling of people. We're at 181, we're going to get to 200 by the end of the year, but that's high quality content that we're going to be going at it and bringing on people in the space that are going to help you grow your business in different capacities. I did two today and I have three more this week, which makes a total of five, but tomorrow I'm really excited to bring on front of the show, inaudible Hirshkrum who is going to be talking... we're going to be talking about 2022. I don't think it's too early to start thinking about next year. We're going to talk about how Amazon brands should adapt in 2022. It's something that him and I have been throwing back and forth and all the different things that brands had to overcome in 2021, what you should be pairing for moving forward. And we're going to put on our future fortune telling hats and maybe things to start supplementing your brand and how you can continue to grow, moving forward, and then lots of great content that's going to be coming your way as always consistent here at Crossover Commerce. I'm Ryan Cramer thanks near again for Market Wize for hopping as our guest today, we'll catch you guys next time, on another episode of Crossover Commerce. Take care.