CJ Rosenbaum 5:44
So the number one thing if any of these listeners or viewers are thinking about suing anybody, the number one thing you should do before you file a lawsuit against anybody is to make sure you can get paid if you win, okay? Do IT assets or tell your lawyer do an asset search, if he or she doesn’t know what that is? Get out of their office, okay, because there’s no point in suing somebody in most cases, unless you can collect at the end of the day, okay. There are other scenarios where you wanted to stop them from doing something or compel them to do something. But generally, if you’re assuming it’s for money, and if you can’t collect because their money’s all in China, or India or Vietnam, like, what’s the point of doing it?
Rolando Rosas 6:29
No doubt. And one of the things that I like to do with with our folks that are watching this is because it’s all really at the end of day, it’s all about money, we had a guest on the show that was helping us in our audience learn about Mexico as an environment to go in and grow with the Spanish language. And I want to give her big props. So Adriana Rangel, who was on the show last week, go check out that episode, if you want to learn about the Spanish speaking market in the US, CJ, it’s about 30 million Spanish speakers, that’s just in the US. And then you if you want to go across the border in New Mexico, know what you’re getting into an Adriana, who lives in the Mexican market had a lot of interesting things to say about that. And CJ, I want to get your take on something. If we’re staying in the Mexico topic that I found fascinating, because we don’t live on islands like back in the 40s. We don’t We those days are long over. So Mexican authorities are trying to level the playing field of sorts in Mexico, and Amazon, and specifically is going to be facing the possibility of having to reveal their algorithm. This is this article goes into talking about why the Mexican markets under threat from Amazon. So having heard this, what do you feel is going to happen here? Because again, we don’t live in an island? What’s what would be the outcome here? If Amazon did end up having to reveal some of the secrets? Are you think that’s even possible?
CJ Rosenbaum 8:02
I don’t think Amazon is ever going to reveal their actual algorithm. No way. No How I think it’s like a zero chance of that occurring. Now, if Amazon chooses to reveal something, I don’t think it’s going to be the full thing. For two reasons. One, they don’t want to reveal their special sauce, their algorithms really are their special sauce. Number two, I believe their algorithms are constantly changing. I don’t think it’s going to happen. I don’t think they’re going to reveal jack shit. And if they do, I don’t think it’s going to be an accurate algorithm, or won’t be accurate for very long, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Okay,
Rolando Rosas 8:38
that’s good to know. Because again, if they end up being forced or compelled to do so be interesting to see what they actually reveal. And what Adriana had was telling us that in the Mexican market, unlike in the US, the Mexican market is dominated by two players in the media, here, we have a little bit more choice in terms of media just because of the sheer size of the US market. And because Amazon prime is the Prime Video plays such a huge role in what actors and actresses do in that Mexican market. That’s where this whole thing started, which is a really an interesting angle. Whereas in the US, it’s a little bit different story. And we’ll get to the FTC in a moment. But I want to see on the international front, because there’s a lot of folks that listen, that are trying to expand into other markets. And like, again, nobody’s on an island today, no matter what country you’re in, I want to pull you into something that I saw in Amazon, Italy that I think also has a potential here to make a difference in the US market. Amazon normally has a 30 day return policy for products, but in Italy, they just issued an email so there’s no article it’s it was just an email. In that email. I’ll read it to you. Amazon will shorten the customer return window from 30 to 14 days starting from the day of delivery of the product. For Seller Fulfilled items, the return window that you decide to offer must match or exceed Amazon’s return and refund policies. What say you about this?
CJ Rosenbaum 10:12
Okay, one the standard of sellers matching or exceeding? I think it’s the same all over the world. Okay? So you can always give your consumers that buy products from you more time to return or whatever it is you want to exceed shortening it to 14 days, I would suggest that it might be sort of a beta testing for bigger markets. Right. Now Italy is a is a beautiful country. I don’t think the sales in Italy hold a candle to like Germany, the UK, they don’t Mexico, us, even Canada, right. Because Italy, in particular, by the way, I’m headed there for a trade show called Cosmo Prof. I land on the 21st. It’s a haircare show? Well, I’m not your specialty, I defend those brands like a son of a bitch. I think they’re going to beta test to see what happens in terms of sales, because the 30 day return is a tremendous problem, since consumers get their money back regardless of the issue. So I hope it’s beta testing to shorten the return policy. In larger markets, particularly right here and the good all of us have a if they shorten that, that’d be really great for sellers. Not
Rolando Rosas 11:23
only that, but you know, I think that from the business side of things, they have been tipping their hat for that least a better part of the year that this is going to happen, or other things they’ve been, they have limited how returns are done, in that they started cracking down on the abuse, right, people just buying a widget, and then just, that’s nice, I don’t like it, sending it back, right or using it for a little bit of time in sending it back. And that abuses started to crack down, then they started adding some you had to pay to ship certain categories back to them. All of this is a cascading event. They’re trying to reduce their inventory cost, they’re trying to reduce their warehouse footprint, they’re trying to find a way to get these returns under control, they’re trying to give it away. Now they’re rolling this out trying to maybe shorten the window of returns. And I’m seeing this also industry wide, where it’s not just Amazon businesses are waking up to the fact that they have to deal with returns in a way that’s cost effective. And it’s out of control. Well, this
CJ Rosenbaum 12:24
is the shit show that Amazon kind of created. Like when consumers got used to being able to buy anything they want. And return it for any reason whatsoever, even after using it right like, you know, go out, you buy a really nice fancy shirt and a tie, you wear it to your event and you send it back. Like it was with the shoes, right? Everyone got used to that but as a tremendous cost. So with Amazon Zappos, it built their market share to where they are, which is tremendous. Now it’s like, you know what, it really does cost us too much money. We’re not going to lose our market share, we’re going to figure out how much so I really hope they’re just bad beta testing it. And they then bring that back to the US and Germany and Japan. Hey, you guys want to sell to a big market get into Japan is also a what’s going
Rolando Rosas 13:11
on in Japan? Tell me tell me I’ve heard this from two or three other folks. Yep, returns are much lower. Because their view on returns is different. But tell me why. Why? Why are we missing the boat on Japan? Well, number one,
CJ Rosenbaum 13:23
it’s a huge market. I think it’s the fourth largest marketplace. All right, you got US, UK, Germany. And then Japan. I’m not sure where UK in Germany is I think the UK might be a little higher, or Germany might be a little larger than the higher than UK. But then Japan I believe is number four. Also, the Japanese market you don’t need as many variations of products. Also, the products there tend to be a little bit smaller, so they have smaller apartments and living spaces and a lot less clutter. And if it’s okay, Gary Wang has a web has an event coming up. It’s in Japan, I forget what city is probably Tokyo, but don’t remember to teach Americans how to get into the Japanese market. You know, you don’t want to send 100 different variations of a product. But it’s a huge market. And I think just a foreign language prevents a lot of sellers from getting into the UK is a lot easier to jump into a lot less cultural issues even in Germany. But I highly recommend you start at least look at Japan. Oh,
Rolando Rosas 14:27
awesome. Love that pro tip that was a serious pro tip. You don’t by the way. I think you and another guest when we did the protests, you actually embraced it and did it better, I think than anybody else I could get already to confirm that or not if he was the champion of the protests, when we did that last year, but that is a serious pro tip now talking about the other markets something that we have to include this in the conversation, CJ. Some of the major milestones in that the And this milestones I want you to weigh in because the market is a different place than when you came on on 2020. Right. And so let me give you a list of things that have changed. Because I’ve got questions, I want answers from your mind. Alright, here’s some events. And I want you to tell me what you think is going to happen next. Amazon, getting rid of incentivized reviews, this was big, this was earth shattering. You couldn’t do anything else. When you couldn’t pay anybody which used to happen. The crackdown on Facebook groups that were a part of this operation as well. That’s pretty much squashed. Inventory minimums, and now you get penalized if you don’t have enough inventory. That’s huge. That’s happening right now, as we are taping this generic brand listings, you used to not be able to do that now you can. And lastly, and I think, very important for the future of Amazon, the rise of TiC tock shop as this as a challenger, what do you predict will happen there? All right, so
CJ Rosenbaum 16:05
let’s start at the most recent one, first tic tock shop. Okay, so I personally love using TikTok to get our messages and information and breaking news out there, because it’s just so easy to use, you shoot the video on the phone, the sound is great, the quality is great, and goes right out immediately. The TikTok shop is really because you just like literally like touch things you want to buy. So I think it is going to get bigger and bigger. But axon has become such a Goliath, I don’t think it’s really going to cause any problems to Amazon or its sellers. For the sellers, I think you should always try and diversify your revenue stream. So you should always be on you know, Walmart and you know, a best buy all these different, all the different platforms you can sell on. And Tik Tok is just another one just sort of as your revenues training, but I think for the vast majority of the sellers that we work with, the vast majority of money is going to continue to come from Amazon.
Rolando Rosas 17:04
And you know, one of the things that that’s really fascinating about how this is playing out, you know, depending on what media you consume, one of the things that’s come out is that some of TiC TOCs competitors are really pushing the envelope to you know, get them out of the market. It’s no no secret that meta has put out and it’s out there. Just Google it really been, you know, waving, waving the megaphone to try to really do something to TikTok. And in I don’t think it’s completely out of reason to think that all these other platforms, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, all view TikTok as a threat now what they’ve done to try to thwart that is debatable, right, depending on what you read, but none of these companies are sitting back because all of them since you and I last talked, there’s YouTube shorts that didn’t exist. There’s a greater emphasis on snippets and clips and all this stuff that didn’t exist. All of this because Tik Tok rose from nowhere to being number one, and being really the number one searched platform for younger people. That’s also a fact that’s affected Google. Google has responded. And what I’m not sure yet CJ and I’d love to have your take on it is how does Amazon respond? I know they’re trying to get some influencer thing going. It’s not like TikTok. They try to they have an affiliate program. It’s not quite like TikTok because TikTok is media first product second. Amazon’s the other way around. Now Amazon has media, but it’s a completely separate division as it pertains to e commerce products first, media second, what do you think? Okay,
CJ Rosenbaum 18:52
so first of all, I started to learn a lot about lobbying about a year ago, year and a half ago, and I was retained by a lobbying group that turned out I really have I ended the relationship. Okay. And then we started a program right now, it’s still in development, where we’re creating our own lobbying efforts, like $50 out of every new client goes into a fund for us to use for our lobbying efforts. And if you notice, right, there is so much political activity against TikTok, claiming that it’s all about Chinese getting our data. I personally think that is bullshit. Okay,
Rolando Rosas 19:33
well, all the all the platforms do it. CJ, in to me the outrage is the outrage. Yes. Right. The outrage is the outrage like one from Americans that don’t maybe understand what other platforms are already doing. Google has everything. Turn on your phone, they have everything you don’t forget, forget doing anything else to turn it on. They have it. Right. That’s right. So
CJ Rosenbaum 19:57
I think that in addition to By creating competing shorts and that sort of thing, I believe and I don’t know this for a fact. But I believe that our big, big companies like Facebook, okay, are funding the politicians to come down so harshly on TikTok. I don’t think they’re doing that solely for to protect data because everyone has our data. So I think there’s a lobbying effort behind it under this guise of data. But I think that’s all bullshit. I think it’s the big domestic company is trying to protect their turf by giving the politician some money. And what’s interesting is both sides of the aisle. Yeah. Oh,
Rolando Rosas 20:35
no doubt. In this case. It’s bipartisan. Right. It’s bipartisan attack on on them. I think, again, they are not to be TikTok they are to be reckoned with. And, you know, eBay is a totally different animal than than TikTok. Right. You don’t really see the other companies ganging up on eBay. So that’s, there’s a little bit of of some some to face stuff going on. Speaking of regulation, and the regulators, let’s jump on something that I think has the potential to also change the game, both for Amazon, as for as well as for sellers, or a roll that clip breaking
Guest Speaker 1 21:15
news this hour, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states are accusing Amazon of anti competitive behavior, this highly anticipated lawsuit claims the retail giant has any legal monopoly over online retail. Now,
Rolando Rosas 21:28
what do you think is the worst case scenario for Amazon with this FTC lawsuit?
CJ Rosenbaum 21:34
I think the worst case scenario is exactly what’s going to happen over the next, you know, 10 years or so. But it’s long out. I think eventually, Amazon’s gonna get broken up. Amazon is getting more and more monopolistic rather than less. And if you watch the Superbowl, how many ads Did you see for like Amazon pharmacy and Amazon clinic? Right. So Amazon sees the writing on the wall. So it’s expanding so that when it’s broken up, it’s going to still have all these different businesses. But ultimately, you know, those old guys like me remember my bell, right? up into the different phone companies. That’s it. I mean, a lot remains the same over the decades, and over the centuries. Eventually, giant corporations who control too much get broken up, and all their subsidiaries will probably rock and roll and make boatloads of money. But that’s the writing on the wall, they will event amaz it not they, it it isn’t it, it will eventually leave get broken up. But I think it’s still a long time away.
Rolando Rosas 22:34
Interesting, you know that from from a profitability if I put my business hat on now, and look at the how they report stuff out. Amazon’s most profitable side is their AWS. So that’s really what’s keeping the lights on their marketplace activity is nowhere near as profitable. So if we’re looking at it from a seller’s perspective, that’s looking at this and saying, CJ, right? What’s the reaction gonna be? If Amazon’s broken up I mean, we’re just hypothesizing here. This is just hypothesizing exercise. And every unit is a standalone unit paying the bills on its own. And the marketplace is the least profitable of what they have out there. There could be some serious ramifications for sellers, if that’s happens, because now they gotta pay their own way, rather than using the big pot of money generated by AWS? Well,
CJ Rosenbaum 23:29
I don’t think there’s going to be a requirement that they can’t work together. Okay. If you boil it down to like, basic business a little easier to grasp, right. So, you know, my law firm has separate entities, we have a separate marketing entity, right? So the law firm in New York, and a consulting operation in Florida that protects brands, both pay money to one entity to do the marketing efforts, right. So Amazon can still save all those opportunity costs by still working together. However, it will allow other competitors to sort of come in. Right, so I do think it’ll get broken up. I still think Amazon’s going to be a beast in the marketplace around the world for the next you know, century or so. But I would say it’s 2024 I don’t think they get to 2030 without getting broken up.
Rolando Rosas 24:22
Well, you know, they’ve they’ve made they’ve become very sticky. You think about what they’ve put in place. A ginormous warehouse network alone is billions of dollars hard to do. They’ve put in an enormous logistics network that now can deliver the package right at your front door with a picture and now all the other carriers are following suit. FedEx didn’t do it. They do that now UPS didn’t do it. They do it. Now. I’m not sure if the post office is there yet, but everybody’s doing it. And now they’ve gotten in, they’ve gotten into the shipping business, in the way of picking up your packages as well to compete against those So even if they’re broken up, CJ, I think, from a structural perspective and profitability, I don’t know what would happen. But structurally, they are sound to compete against anybody because they’re vertically integrated, have an ecosystem like, in some ways, if we were to put on our service at, like an apple, there’s an ecosystem there, Microsoft, they have an ecosystem there. Google has an ecosystem. Amazon has an ecosystem. So
CJ Rosenbaum 25:29
I agree. Like for example, could Amazon’s logistics be the next FedEx or UPS? Absolutely. And I don’t think I don’t think the local postman has been taking pictures of anything. These are civil servants with great contracts and not going to add anything to that plate. Okay, we’re gonna keep supporting no matter how much money the Postal Service lose. Right, but now Amazon could be the next FedEx Amazon’s gonna be the next CVS or Walgreens with their pharmacy only without having to pay for retail outlets and for people. Right, the the rise of telecare right now Amazon’s in there with both feet, right? So how I think Amazon is going to compete against like hospital corporations of America. So you don’t need to go to a hospital, we’ll just look at you on a video. And
Rolando Rosas 26:19
they’re doing that with primary care right now. They have a I can’t remember the one care or Carawan I can’t remember what they call it. But it’s something ridiculously low that you can, if you’re a prime member, you pay like a $5 fee, I believe something some very low in order to get primary care tele visits without
CJ Rosenbaum 26:37
waiting, like, I call my doctor, right? That’s like, okay, you can come in in three weeks. Right? I’m like, No, thank you. I’ll call Amazon. I’ll have a guy on a video. I think it’s also the beginning of the end of a lot of particular medical providers, right? Because if I’m speaking to someone remotely, I don’t give a shift. They’re in New York, or they are in India, where a lot of our great doctors are coming from, right so doctors come in from India, they get educated, they get board certified. Right? They go back to freakin Delhi or Mumbai live like royalty, because they’re making New York money. But paying, you know, Dell high housing costs.
Rolando Rosas 27:19
Yes. And you’ve been down there. And I love I love what you did a couple of maples a year ago, you were down there. And you said, you know, I just hung out and talk to these people as they’re coming out of the building and on their smoke break and got a lot of good information on the inner happenings. Because Amazon’s like a black box, right? And you didn’t do anything illegal, you just hey, what’s going on? And what do you see? And just Yeah, shoot the shit with them.
CJ Rosenbaum 27:47
If any of the viewers go to Amazonsellerslawyer.com, go to our blog and search for inside information or on YouTube that I think got like 14 videos. I’m also I’m really proud because by by traveling to India with a sourcing trip called Indiasourcingtrip.net. I met a lot of great people. That’s when we that’s when I went outside their office and gotten to this insight information that also led to the next step, where we now have a team of former Amazonians writing your plans of action. We hired people from Washington state as well as people in India, like if you have a restricted product issue, I’ve got an inside Amazonian who used to work in restricted products. So it’s inside information that we’re incessantly looking for to get inside the black box. So it started with interviewing their employees. And as of right now, we’ve hired people away from Amazon, who know what to write because it basically writing to their own colleagues.
Rolando Rosas 28:47
And, you know, the thing if we’re talking about, you know, what, at the crux of some of this is that there’s conflict that never goes away between em among Amazon, brands, sellers, and I guess we’re talking to regulators but the woods will take the regular regulators out for a moment. Brands, Amazon themselves, and sellers. You know, I was looking at your tic TOCs, the other day, and I saw that brands, you were giving advice on brands, and how to deal with certain things. And one of the most popular videos, CJ was, how should brands deal with bad actors on their listings? And you’re giving advice about, hey, if you have listings, pay attention, pay attention to this because this is important, and not just pay attention. Check it regularly, with either a human or an automated automation type of software. What do you see why, why is this why did this resonate so much with with a lot of people?
CJ Rosenbaum 29:51
Okay, so first, if you look at the Amazon ecosphere, there’s certainly a retraction in the number of sellers big cuz it’s become a lot more of a mature business where you need to know your numbers more, you need a bit more money, the cost of your goods sold the Amazon advertising, advertising, all that other stuff has gone up. And it’s really not as easy as it was to go to, like, you know, Target, buy some shit off the discount rack and sell it on Amazon, you can still do that and learn the platform. But it’s more challenging brands when they’re pandemic hit, and all their local retail shops were closed, they had to start paying a lot more attention to Amazon, because that’s where their products are being sold. So they clamped down a bit more, right? So Amazon simultaneously became a lot more brand centric. So here’s what I think both sides of the fence Listen, we represent about 400 different brands, where we control who can sell their products on Amazon, we have a whole separate website brandprotection,amazon.com. Okay, so you have, this is what you need to know, if there’s something about the product, or the warranty, or the post sale marketing that when the consumer receives it, the third party seller cannot deliver basically all the same stuff, then the brand can knock you out of the box for a prolonged boom pro tip. Okay? If the brand is is trying to knock you off the listing or sending you cease desist communications, look at the warranty. And if there’s something in that warranty that you cannot deliver, okay, the brand has you by the short hairs and might be able to knock you off, and it’s time to work out a deal.
Rolando Rosas 31:38
Okay, and so that’s that’s point number one. And, you know, if you want to get my blood going this is this is a topic so close to my heart, my passion and our conversations. Because there are I would say there’s really kind of two types of sellers on there. There’s a private label seller, right. And they’ve got their own goods, brands, private label, ie brands, and they’re on the platform. And then there’s folks that are maybe doing selling some of those private labels and reselling, and then are selling some of the brands and a lot of conflict. And you know this, a lot of there’s a lot of conflict and tension with brands and other sellers, because brands, like you said, want to control the platform. And I think like what you’re saying, there’s a right way to do this. And there’s a wrong way to do this, here comes a pro tip.
CJ Rosenbaum 32:32
All right, pro tip, if you have exclusive distribution rights for a brand or you are a brand, you need to add something to your warranty, or your post sale marketing that a third party seller cannot deliver, like fixing it to same factory or returning it or coupons for the second sale. Because if you add something like that, it gives you the legitimate means to get them off your listing. That’s the pro tip for brands. All
Rolando Rosas 32:59
right. And so let me let me break that down a little bit. So if you go to a liquidation liquidator who’s probably gotten the merchandise from Amazon, who ends up selling this off anyways, the pennies on the dollar, you say wow, I got all these boxes. So this stuff, I’m going to make a killing, you’re saying Hold on a second there. If you put those online, you may run into a file with the warranty that is attached to that product.
CJ Rosenbaum 33:27
Yes, but the warranty cannot simply be money back guarantee. Because money is like milk, it’s a modulus. Anybody can give me your money back. So you have to do something like Gustaf cutlery, for example, this fancy German knives, they want it he says anything goes wrong with the knife, send it back to us, we’ll send it back to the factory in Germany, okay, your average third party seller does not have access to that factory, therefore they can’t walk, they cannot honor the same warranty. It’s what’s called a material difference in what the consumer receives. And by buying a
Rolando Rosas 34:03
big middle finger. So let me let me let’s play let’s let’s roleplay a little bit, you know, for those sellers, because a lot of a lot of brands do not do that. They simply say, look, the warranty says send it back and we will replace we will replace it. There’s no language that we’re going to send it back to our factory in in Boston, Massachusetts, or that we’re going to send it back to shins in and replace it there and send it or send you they don’t there’s no language because especially from a multinational, they’re all about efficiency. Amazon creates inefficiency. When we’re talking about this issue. That’s why we were led off with returns it’s a hot thing for sellers.
CJ Rosenbaum 34:51
Okay, so here’s the story. The law doesn’t always deal exactly with reality. So I got my headset here. I got it from Global Teck. Right And the warranty says that if I buy it from Global Teck, since they’re an authorized reseller, if I do have a problem, they will send it back to Shenzhen and fix it back to specs, or give me a new one at the brand’s choice. So the fact that that’s an opportunity for the brand is something that a third party seller cannot deliver. If it’s solely said we’ll replace it, then anybody would inventory can replace it. And there’s nothing that consumers getting any differently. So that one line in the warranty can make the difference as to whether or not a brand can stop you from selling, or whether the brand can maintain or recoup control over its sales. And that’s exactly what the first sale doctrine is all about.
Rolando Rosas 35:43
This is why our organization has retained you. And I’ve talked to a lot of attorneys in the 20 plus years that we’ve been in business, and many of them don’t have that intimate knowledge of the law. And then secondly, if you need a pit bull to go into court, which I love looking at your TikTok videos, where you’re like, I’m at the plane, I’m getting ready to go to Chicago to take down this friend. And then I’m right here in front of the where’s my phone, I’m at the courtroom, I’m getting ready, I’m getting ready, and this seller ticket. And it’s been two years and I have their day in court, and we’re going to judge and then after the judge, I just finished a pump a pump, we got money back for the sellers and in the funds have been like, I’m like holy smokes, this guy is on 100 This is the guy you want if you want to go into a court, somebody that’s been in there that knows the system that knows judges how to work the system, and how it works, because that makes a big difference. If you have a day in court or go to arbitration. Like
CJ Rosenbaum 36:48
I’d say one of the things that I love about this, about this area of business is that with a good global perspective, like you know, my decades of experience, really allow me and my team to help Amazon sellers and brands on Amazon really see a bigger picture. Right? So those cases, our sellers have had their accounts frozen by a judge almost always in Chicago. And every asset is frozen, even though the claims are like, you know, 2% of the sales. Right? So you know, before pivoting into Amazon about a decade ago, while I always represented entrepreneurs, the vast majority of my time was spent in courtrooms trying cases like I was the guy doing openings and summations and grilling witnesses and manipulating judges and juries. And that’s all out right manipulate Don’t fucking lie about it. Right? So when you go in, and you have this perspective, you say, Okay, this is a fight, either you have to defend yourself if you’re getting dragged in, or whether you should or should not assert, right. So by knowing how cases and it makes it much easier to give advice as to whether or not it should begin and how to get from A to B. And I think that’s what is missing in this in our space that I have yet to meet. Okay, a single lawyer who works in behalf of Amazon sellers, who knows shit about operating in a courtroom. Absolutely can 00 court experience, you know, and so when I listen, I like being the best in the marketplace. I freakin love it. But I think it’s also a little scary when you do have sellers who are contemplating or filing lawsuits. You know, what a lawyer who has never taken verdicts, that’s can frighten people get screwed over?
Rolando Rosas 38:40
Hmm, yes. And I think if if anybody is paying attention, let’s even just leave Amazon out of the picture. If anybody’s been paying attention for the last four or five years, what it’s like to have the right team or a person represent you in court, you could see no matter what case you’re talking about, when you have the right person, guy or gal or team in court with you representing your interests, it makes a world of difference because the tons of cases we could talk about, but you know you you mentioned something to me. Or maybe you was on one of your videos where you said it was I think it was a seller on seller type of deal. And they had been waiting years for their money. And tell me tell Tara folks a little bit about what you can about that case. Okay.
CJ Rosenbaum 39:25
First of all, I don’t want to be remiss, like listen, I am the best in the world. I have the best team in the world and our litigation practice is managed by tremendous Lloyd and Lesley Gillis. It also has our most experienced paralegal, Carrie McDonald, and a new lawyer who joined our team about a month ago, Jasmine Lewis, and then we have sort of an admin we call it Ms. G. Okay, Jennifer, great team. So I think the case you’re talking about is is for a very, very experienced, super successful seller in the refurbished marketplace. And there was Another experienced seller in the same marketplace, jumping on his listings with sub par or inferior products, and just stealing sales left and right by a bait and switch, right. But it was worth a tremendous amount of money. Plus, our client just didn’t want to continue to get fucked over by this guy. But the case took roughly two years to get to the trial. Okay, depositions, document discovery motions to the court opposition’s status conferences, right. And then we got to trial in October. And while it was only a two day trial, you don’t really did take close to a week with the prep time. And we try the case. And then no decision yet. I mean, we’re in freaking March. And I really liked the judge We tried the case in front of but like, Hey, man, give us a decision. I know the decision should be in our favor, right? But these are the things that lawyers have to talk to you about before you sue, okay. Because if it’s going to take you two years, just to get to the trial, you know, another week on trial, and then you God knows when you’re going to get a decision. At the beginning of the day, say, hey, Rolando, Bill, Luiz, whoever you are, this is how it really works. try and resolve it without going to court. Because court is not always ideal.
Rolando Rosas 41:22
I love I gotta I gotta tell you, I’m not saying that because you’re just right in front of me here. But I really love that about you. Because sellers at our level, run into this type of problem on a regular basis. And it’s happens way too often. And it’s knowing that decision that makes sense for the business should be the right decision cord. Can you wait two years? I don’t know. I love you, CJ. But that’s a lot of time and money that we got to plunk down. And that’s what you essentially walk me off the ledge like look, Rolando, I don’t know, it’s a lot of money here. How much are we talking about? And then after the end of the day, we do the math, you’re like, okay, there may be some other ways that we can get to the same goal without having to go to court. And that’s something I want to I want to shift topics in a little bit. Because one of the things that’s becoming clearer, like you just said, is the how hard Amazon is, has become in its very similar metric, or that that I’ve seen as well. on the US side, there’s an article just talking about for Canadian sellers, it is really hard to be successful on Amazon, because let me just read this to you. This is for 2021, Canadian sellers averaged just over $85,000 in sales. And they are saying it’s an increase of $13,000. I don’t know about you, but I’m sure Canada is not like living in the Congo, where 85,000 makes you a king, right? It’s expensive. 85,000 is not even even if it was all profit, and you kept it all. At the end of the day, that’s not enough to even live on, let alone in places like New York, Miami, DC, la. But look at this here 4000 Canadian sellers had over 1000 100,000 Still not enough, because that’s just sales don’t even say anything about profits. 1000 had over half a million in sales. Now, the number that they quote in this article is that in Canada, there’s about 40,000 sellers. So if we just do rough math, only 10%. That’s the 4000 get to 100,000 in sales. And a quarter of those 4000 get to half a million in sales are a
CJ Rosenbaum 43:46
lot of the numbers. It’s crazy, right? So yes, take the middle one 100,000 In sales, most Amazon sellers are making a 10 to 20% profit margin. Let’s take the higher one. Right. So they’re making a profit of $20,000 after investing at with all the risks of inventory loss problems, right. So and now no one’s living on 20 grand not here, not in Canada. No,
Rolando Rosas 44:12
that’s right. Right. And the numbers are about the same. There’s a there’s a marketplace pulse had the US numbers, and they look very similar. There’s a couple of percentage differences. But the numbers in terms of the number of sellers that are in those buckets, roughly the same.
CJ Rosenbaum 44:27
And look, if you look at the news lately, also, and then we’ll see the thread zero bankruptcy $3.4 billion bought up tons and tons of Amazon based brands and businesses, right, and they’re filed for freaking bankruptcy. And those are the aggregators who had all the tools at their disposal, all the lower cost by working in the aggregate. Right. So it’s, let me just let me if I can just change out the one second, I can’t tell you how many get rich quick Passavant Income bullshit scams pop up on my feed. So I think Amazon is still a great opportunity for anybody and everybody who’s willing to work at it and put their blood sweat and tears into it. But if someone is telling you give me 25 grand for passive income or done for you in his other bullshit, run to the hills, okay, yeah, run to the hills, they’re making money selling the course.
Rolando Rosas 45:25
Because, by the way, and by the way, CJ, I saw something you remind me of something I saw last week, that popped up somewhere that maybe it was in one of the groups that I belong to that these gurus so called gurus that are saying, you know, they’re making 789 figures just sitting in their couch and getting rich that the FTC and FBI are paying attention to those statements only because they’re out there very, very, very matter of fact, I make seven figures and it’s one hour a day with no proof to back that up. Right. I think the ones the sellers that are out there that are not saying that’s how much they make and have their videos and podcasts out there other ones that you should pay attention, rather than those that are saying, you know, I’m making eight figures a year just just watching just watching beautiful ladies on the beach from Cancun that’s just not happening.
CJ Rosenbaum 46:15
I would add the Lamborghini rule of thumb if anyone is showing you a picture of their fucking car. Okay, I wouldn’t believe them. Okay, rule of thumb now they may be successful. Okay, that may be their thing and, but to me, if anyone is starting with pictures of their freakin cars, their watches and that kind of shit, to me, snake oil run the other way.
Rolando Rosas 46:37
Absolutely a good word of advice. Good word of advice. Lambo
CJ Rosenbaum 46:41
rule of thumb,
Rolando Rosas 46:43
I like it. I like it. I’m gonna, I’m gonna take that one from me, because I really liked that one, I’m gonna use it again. Now I want to, I want to let our folks that are listening on audio as well as watching us on the video have an opportunity to kind of kind of get a little bit more flavor for you. So what we’d like to do here when we wrap up, is have a fast like a fast segment. So Ori go ahead and do the rapid fire segment All right, CJ, whatever hits your brain first is what I want you to say. I’m gonna give you a phrase and then use tell us what’s in that brain. All right, bring it on, buddy Brent Aereo. Number one, Walmart versus Amazon. Huge
CJ Rosenbaum 47:30
market still a relatively small amount of sellers. So dollar for dollar. I think it’s a good idea. But their logistics plan is not all there yet. Get on.
Rolando Rosas 47:40
Awesome. favorite social media platform. Listen,
CJ Rosenbaum 47:45
I love TikTok TikTok I think is the easiest platform to get content out there. So I’m going with TikTok. Okay. Favorite piece of tech. Favorite piece of tech my frickin headsets from you guys. Okay. Moving around, phone to desk, the computer I had set from GlobalTech.
Rolando Rosas 48:06
Clap that up all day long. Here’s an here’s an interesting one. First thing you reach for in the morning. First
CJ Rosenbaum 48:13
thing I reach for in the morning, my beautiful wife Ellie. Number one always good morning. And not less than not liking a lustful sexual gotta get some love. My wife is beautiful. And turns me on every day. But the first thing I reach for in the morning is my wife to say good morning. Awesome.
Rolando Rosas 48:30
Now, this one doesn’t have to be our podcast. It could be any your favorite podcast right now. Or do you have I got
CJ Rosenbaum 48:40
to tell you something. And it kind of flies in the face of some of the things that I talked about. But I love listening to Jared glandt He’s part of cardones sales, teaching marketing. But Jared glandt is at the very very top of my list in terms of keeping me fired up and inspired. In terms of what I listen to to get myself to get my juices flowing, Jared bland, Cardone Industries. Awesome.
Rolando Rosas 49:07
Last one, a person you admire.
CJ Rosenbaum 49:12
Wow. I’m gonna go with my dad. I know. It’s a little cliche. My father recently passed away. And my father was no killer. No killer in the business world. But always a calm, friendly, happy demeanor. It’s I am not that I’m more like my mother was a little bit more aggro. But I gotta tell you something, losing my dad and believing that my father’s passing was a blessing because his condition was just getting that bad. But he’s certainly an idol of mine. In terms of reeling it in recognizing your blessings and trying to stay even keeled, which really is not my nature.
Rolando Rosas 49:54
Hey, you know, my condolences on your on your father’s passing. I know that’s tough. When you lose a family member, and you know, at least he’s in a better place now,
CJ Rosenbaum 50:05
it was it was Listen, no doctors, no hospitals, no bed sores, right. He went in his own bed on his own calendar. And this is kind of a weird thing. But they’d recently my parents recently purchased a new TempurPedic bed, which is like, like three or four grand, right, which to them was like a tremendous amount of money. And my father died on the side of the bed. So my mother who’s a little bit unique, feels that my dad just didn’t want to mess up the bed.
Rolando Rosas 50:39
That’s a good sense of humor. I gotta tell you
CJ Rosenbaum 50:41
where we got, I’m like my mother.
Rolando Rosas 50:45
Well, I’ll see J. Now if people want to get a hold of you, and they say, You know what, TJ, you make too much sense. I mean, I don’t have a lawyer in my corner, like you have to why do I? What do I do? Alright, the best way
CJ Rosenbaum 50:57
to get me is to go to Amazon sellers. lawyer.com, click the case submission button, and submit whatever issue you’re facing number one way, and either me or my team will get back to you. It’s available. 24/7. Okay. And we have more information for sellers and any other website on Earth, including Amazon. If you own a brand, or you have exclusive distribution rights to a brand, then check out brand protection amazon.com to find information about what you need to do to make sure you control all the sales. Okay? So you either you’re a seller, you own asl.com, or you have the exclusive distribution rights and you’re a brand, then go to brand protection. amazon.com.
Rolando Rosas 51:43
Wonderful. Oh, man, you’ve you’ve, you’ve, like I said, when disclosure, we’ve retained CJ in the past, I have zero complaints. He’s done a phenomenal job being a pipl when he needs to be in his team, and doing all that other stuff that just aggravates me. And then you know, like you said, apply the honey, when it’s the right time to use that. So I really love that that holistic approach that you bring to the table. You know what, you’ve been listening to this, and you’re probably wondering, what else is happening on Amazon? And actually, there’s a lot of things happening with AI that affect every single seller. And if you want to find out what it is that AI is going to do to Amazon, you’ll want to check out that episode that I had with Kevin King, where we dove into that. And we revealed exactly what’s going on with AI. So go ahead and check that episode of Kevin King, myself and Dave and I, Dave and Kevin will join you in that episode.
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