Merch By Amazon Sign Up, Tips On How To Get Approved FASTER

Merch By Amazon or MBA as it is popularly called nowadays is the next big thing in the world of t-shirt printing. There are numerous people who are proclaiming how great it is and how it turned out well for them. If you are someone who is outside looking in, then this article is the right one for you. It will help you get started with this exciting program.

How do you sign up for Merch By Amazon? It is very simple for you just have type merch.amazon.com from your browser page and it will take you to the landing page of this program. This is on a per invitation basis program so you will have to select the Request Invitation button before you can get to the MBA sign up page.

Since you are a novice here, I will guide you step by step on how to create your Amazon account. This will serve as your key to the world of opportunities being held by this program.

Let me further explain this MBA sign up process in the following section. You will need the information listed below handy with you:

All your business contact information,
Your bank account information and corresponding routing numbers,
Social security and tax identification numbers.

You should be on the sign up screen right now.

I will assume that you have an Amazon account. You can still have an option of creating a new one specifically for this MBA. But to keep it simple, let us just use your existing account.

You have to fill up the company profile and banking information questions. And then, take the Amazon tax survey.

Now, it is time to complete the needed information contained in the request invitation form. This is why it is important to get the invitation first or you wouldn’t reach this far.

Use your real names if in case you don’t carry a prior company already set up for this MBA. You will have to fill up the required information with updated contact information so that Amazon can finish your evaluation application quicker.

To complete this invitation, you can refer to these suggestions.

For the Industry Type field, I suggest that you select the novelty T-shirt business option. If in case you used a company name for this, select the small business option.

For the organization name, enter your personal name.

It is time for you to fill up the additional information box which is probably the most significant part of your application.

This is so because Amazon is gauging your capability and experience meaning that you have done this before. They also prefer that you have an audience beforehand that they will obviously market their services to gain further sales on their platform.

I have several suggestions here:

Simply be honest and let Amazon know why you want to become part of this program.
If you have done Print On Demand or (POD) before, say so here. Let Amazon know of the links for these services you have contracted.
If no experience in POD, let them know also. State your case either way as to why you should be part of this closed group.
Think of this as your interview process. Come up with ways as to how you can assist Amazon in selling your products to their audience and customers.
List here the trademarks you own, specific art licenses that you have, and your artists that work for you who are talented.
Have 5-10 of your own designs included here. This needs to be your own designs. You can outsource this if you are are unable to create them yourself but make sure to these designs just the same in your application.

Tell Amazon your own website and link it in the box designated for it.

With this, you are done. Submit your application by selecting the Send Request button. Amazon will inform you of the results of this application through the email you have indicated.

I will like to take this opportunity as to what this MBA is all about. I will also give a rundown of its advantages and disadvantages.

What Is Amazon’s MBA All About?

This is Amazon’s own POD which allows anybody to retail their designs by simply uploading it. Amazon will handle the subsequent printing and fulfillment once a customer order is received for these designs.

At first, this is limited to t-shirts but then Amazon expanded it to additional products such as long sleeved t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies.

As the design owner, you are warranted to have an account with Amazon for obvious reasons. Through this account, you will then do the following:

Upload your designs,
Select the particular products that you would want to sell with these designs,
Select the colors for these same products,
Set a price key in the titles for these items,
Publish these items on Amazon.

After publishing, your items are now can be seen by Amazon customers. Amazon will handle the printing, packaging, and delivery of these sold items just like any other POD.

A certain percentage or royalty will come your way for every item that will sell.

You are only limited to a specific number of slots which is equivalent to the number of designs that you will upload to Amazon. You can only add designs or slots be opened up to you if Amazon can see that there is a certain sales volume being realized for your existing designs.

Initially, you are on Level 10. Your slot allocations and level number will increase accordingly as your designs are being bought with increasing numbers.

You can see that based on this logic, Amazon will open the door wider for your designs for every increased increment of sales realized. Think of it as your reward for a great performance.

The reason as to why Amazon is setting these limits is that the program have been a certified hit.

Amazon will have to scramble to set up more of these warehouses to handle POD of these items.

This program used to be open to anyone and they have to make this on a per invitation basis to carefully limit the number of participants. Replying to these applications also take time that can even be in weeks for Amazon is taking time to check the background of each applicant.

They are making a big headway in this POD market and other POD providers such as Printful are even partnering with them.

Advantages Of Doing Business With Amazon And MBA

These are the advantages of this program in the eyes of an t-shirt designer and entrepreneur.

Amazon Will Handle Order Fulfillment

This is basically Amazon’s business. Nothing can be more reassuring to know that the biggest online seller is the one fulfilling the orders for your design.

Look at these 2017 numbers and see how impressive Amazon is:

Totalled $178 billion in net sales.
Realized $108 billion in net sales from their online stores.
Amazon Marketplace accounted for 50% of products bought on Amazon.
Spent $3.4 billion in advertising.
Top rated most preferred online store according to study.
Handled 5 billion orders with Amazon Prime.
MBA is a runaway hit and Amazon is scrambling to add more center to handle this business.

There could be no other company better to handle this POD. They are big and this is their line of business and expertise. They can easily dwarf other POD providers out there in the market.

Their customer base is also a compelling reason to partner with them. Your designs will have a greater outreach than what you use to work with before.

Your expertise is in creating and promoting your designs to differentiate it with competition. You can singularly focus on this more and leave order fulfillment with Amazon. Working and learning keyword research and listing optimization will be better for your business.

It’s such a win-win mutual arrangement for both of you and Amazon.

You Get Paid By Amazon When Your Design Sells

There are no upfront fees required by Amazon to be part of this MBA program. This is a viable arrangement for you as an entrepreneur and a designer.

You need not pay Amazon to include you in their exclusive program. This goes back to my assertion that focusing on marketing your designs would better serve you and Amazon for both of you will only earn when somebody orders your designs.

The other advantage of this arrangement for you is that you can safely anticipate your business costs as a whole. You know how much you will be earning per each design sold so you can plan your expansion and growth accordingly.

You Can Maintain This Setup Easily

As an offshoot of knowing your expenses ahead, you can strategically set up your team to align with this setup.

Looking at the sales data that Amazon will generously provide, you know which designs sell and which do not. You obviously know that Amazon will permit you to upload more designs if your existing ones sell very well. This will set your plan in motion to obtain as many good designs and send them to Amazon as quickly as possible.

You will need a good design team in place. You can get those talented designer and compensate them very well since you know ahead how much money you will be making with their designs.

You can also get more designers to speed up your chances of getting more excellent designs quicker. You can also safely choose to scale down or maintain status quo if this growth is too much for you. The option is your to make.

Disadvantages Of Doing Business With Amazon And MBA

It is not a perfect world. There are also inherent negative effect of doing this partnership with Amazon.

Existence Of Niches And Trademarks

Going to this market means that you are taking a chance for there are quite many stiff competition around. After all, this is not a secret and obviously, there are many who have already beat you to the punch here.

You will have to contend with these competition decisively.

For example, going to the popular niches such as basketball, rap, and others means that your designs would really have to stand out to be even noticed here. There are quite many existing good designers here already. You have your work cut out for you here.

Also, every design that you submit will be reviewed closely by Amazon for trademark infringement. If they catch you more than once, then this means that you will be kicked out from this marketplace.

The way to go around this is research. Your team will have to do a fastidious one for every design made. It wouldn’t hurt if you apply for trademarks for your own design quickly for it can work the opposite way around easily too. You can be the one copied.

Have all text and variations of your designs be checked from either USPTO and Trademarkia prior to uploading to MBA.

SEO Research Is A Must

Search Engine Optimization or (SEO) means that you check what keywords will come in useful that will drive a big volume of traffic to a certain site. This work is essential here so that your items will be listed prominently within Amazon search facilities.

This task is not easy and hard meticulous work is required.

The positive news here is there are programs within Amazon itself that can be of great assist to you here.

Merch Informer doles out to you keyword tools which allows you to test your own keywords if it works or not. For example, it can pull the top selling list of t-shirts for any particular keyword used in the order of the best sellers ranking.

The Movers and Shakers program identifies trends that are about to take off.

Advanced Competition Checker program shares with you information about your closest competitors and any other designers who your items might be competing with.

Merch Hunters gives you the top 1,000 best selling t-shirts on Amazon. Checking out Amazon best sellers list is an opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t.

You can also consider getting assistance from SEO professionals who are out there. They can help you formulate information campaigns designed to enable your items stand out at the top of the list when searched.

Remember what I said earlier about this arrangement. Amazon will handle order fulfillment and your job is to craft good designs and perform research. You should have time to wisely undertake these tasks.

Tips In Working With This Setup

I just want to share random tips that I hope will make this experience fun and workable for you.

Consider Having These Design Types In Your Portfolio

I recommend that you have these design types handy and available in your items in MBA.

Trending – Think of what is currently being discussed in the news with frequency these days. Right now, it could be about Trump and his politics. You can have designs made based on subjects such as the wall or the recent government shutdown. I advise you to be careful here to that you don’t turn off people who share his politics and that are part of your existing clientele.
Holidays – These obviously will trend come the time that they happen. Holiday shirts will be en vogue during December, Halloween around October, and other obvious ones. Check that your inventory of designs have these types on hand when the holiday arrives.
Evergreen – These designs are your constant sellers all throughout the year. You should consider adding more that is similar to what these are or even update the ones currently in play to give them a fresher look.

Be Prepared To Adjust Your Niche

I mentioned earlier that there is a heavy competition in certain niches. One trick in working with this situation is adjusting or niching down.

For example, you have designs made in the off-road vehicles niche.

Be prepared to check what sell in this category always and you can even extend your search outside Amazon. If you notice that Jeep Wranglers are selling or trending, it would be perhaps wise to have designs on this particular type of vehicle as quick as you can.

The key here is that you have to be on top of what’s happening around you always.