One of the scariest parts of building an Amazon private label business is the fact that at some point you have to send off a big chunk of money to a supplier you have never met, in a factory or warehouse that you cannot inspect in most cases, and trust that you are products are going to arrive at your location or the Amazon warehouse as promised and in good shape. Today's episode deals with that exact subject in the experiences of one Amazon Seller who had trouble getting his product payments refunded after he decided the products were not up to his quality standards. You are going to learn a lot of lessons from his hard learned experience.
 
How do you know the products your supplier gives you are the quality you want?
 
The first thing you should do when you find a product that might be a potentially good fit for your business to feature on Amazon is to have a sample sent to you. That's a very needed and necessary first step, but it may not be the total solution. The process of sending a sample can be manipulated by the supplier sending you the very best one that they have, giving you the impression that all of the products they produce are the same quality. Today's guest decided to have an inspection company check out his products prior to them being shipped from the supplier and that one step saved him a thousand headaches. You can hear his entire story on this episode.
 
What is Trade Assurance and why you should only use suppliers who are verified through it.
 
When you are seeking a supplier for the products you want to sell through Amazon private label you will come across many options on the Alibaba website. You need to make sure that you were only looking for products among sellers who are certified by Trade Assurance. Trade Assurance is Alibaba's way of verifying suppliers and is a way that you can have peace of mind that you're dealing with reputable companies. On this episode Scott's guest is going to share his experience with Trade Assurance and why it was an invaluable part of the process when seeking a refund from one of his suppliers.
 
If you have to ask for your deposit back, expect a long process.
 
It doesn't really matter how you pay the deposit for your first round of products, whether by wire transfer, escrow, or PayPal, if you need to request a refund you will have a long time to wait. Refunds come through a multi-stage the process of verification and investigation about what was actually done by the company and by you. It's very important that in that entire process you document every communication and every step along the way. Today's guest is going to share with you how he did that and the results that came of it.
 
How to effectively use an escrow account.
 
One of the tools you can use when paying a supplier from China through Alibaba is called an escrow account. Escrow accounts basically hold the funds that you have sent for your deposit until you indicate that you are satisfied with the product you have been supplied. It's a way to ensure that your money is going to be returned to you if the product you receive are not up to the quality standards that you were led to believe. On this episode Scott shares why he values the escrow functionality so much, and how you can be sure to use it in your interactions with suppliers.
 
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
 

[0:04] Scott’s introduction to the podcast!
[0:50] An introduction to the voicemail Blair sent to Scott.
[1:43] How you can get started with Amazon FBA and join the free live workshop.
[3:30] The voicemail itself.
[6:21] Blair’s conversation with Scott.
[7:59] How Blair began his Amazon private label business.
[9:53] Blair’s process for discovering his first products.
[12:20] The plan behind Blair’s variety of product offerings.
[13:59] The situations with suppliers.
[15:15] The situations Blair experienced that caused issues with his payments.
[17:10] The Trade Assurance dispute process.
[18:40] The difficulties of not being ab