On this episode of The eCom Growth Show, we had with us the Founder of Seller Accountant, Tyler Jefcoat, to unveil the biggest mistakes that Amazon sellers make. He is a leading ecommerce financial strategist and accountant who helps Amazon sellers maximize their profitability with expert bookkeeping and financial insights.
Tyler lists the biggest accounting mistakes ecommerce sellers make
1. Opt out of doing accounting
If you don’t keep track of your numbers, you don’t improve, set goals, or spend wisely. All you see is the dollars coming in and treat all the money as yours. You forget the costs involved.Tyler suggests, “Stop linking profits to your cash flows.” There is likely a huge gap between the two numbers.
2. Not considering Amazon fees while bookkeeping
Many sellers only pull the Amazon deposit data into their QuickBooks system. They ignore all the costs that go into Amazon fees.
3. Calculate tariffs
Most beginner ecommerce sellers don’t even realize that a major portion of their revenue would go into tariffs.
Tyler remembers his bookkeeper (during the very early stages of his entrepreneurial journey) mentioning that he owes X dollars to the IRS, which was almost 44% of his annual ecommerce revenue.
It’s essential to have a clean bookkeeping process right at the onset of your business. Then, you’ll confidently write off all your deductions during tax filing.
4. Know what you can claim deductions for
Many business owners don’t know what expenses they can claim deductions for.
For example, if you buy a vehicle that costs £6,000 or more, and use it to transport your inventory or other business purposes primarily, you can write that vehicle off as a business expense.
You can reduce a big amount from your taxable income, saving your hard-earned money.
How have profit margins changed on Amazon in the last year?
“The profit margins have shrunk in the last year,” says Tyler.
Earlier, if you made 20% gross profits, you’d probably make only 16-17% this year due to increased placement fees, logistics, more aggressive competitors, and keyword bids.
Listen to the full episode with Tyler Jefcoat to find out:
- How to increase your profit margins on Amazon as a seller
- How to ace marketing and analytics, or have a team do that for you
- How rating changes impact your sales on Amazon
- How to get rid of fraudulent reviews drastically impacting your Amazon sales (The best way to do it is to use our negative review removal service)
- How to strategically plan what to do with your profits (put it back into your business, pay off your debt, pay yourself, etc.)
Bonus: Tyler Jefcoat usually charges $400/hr consulting as a CFO, but if you’re listening to this podcast episode, he’d like to meet you for a free 15-minute call. Just remember to mention “GROWTH” when you reach out to him for consultation.
For more interesting insights into growing your ecommerce or Amazon business, stay tuned in to listen to new episodes of our eCom Growth Podcast every week.