#360 – Amazon Live, Amazon Affiliates, and More!

In this episode, we welcome Gracey Ryback, the influencer behind the viral TikTok account promoting Amazon products called Deal Cheats. She tells her story of how she got started on the social media platform and earned 6-digits on one Amazon product in one weekend! We also break down the basics and what you need to know about Amazon Live, Amazon Affiliates, how to contact influencers to promote your products, get started on these platforms, and more!

In episode 360 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Gracey discuss:

• 02:30 – Gracey’s Backstory
• 03:00 – Why Gracey Majored In Psychology
• 05:45 – How Gracey Found TikTok And Started Sharing Amazon Deals
• 09:00 – Finding Out About The Amazon Affiliate Program
• 10:30 – How Much Does The Amazon Affiliate Program Pay?
• 13:00 – How To Find The Best Deals On Amazon To Promote
• 15:30 – How To Approach Influencers And How Much Do You Pay Them?
• 20:50 – Promoting A Product And Made Six Figures In One Weekend
• 21:40 – Starting On Amazon Live
• 22:30 – Amazon Live 101: What Is It All About?
• 24:00 – How Does It Work For Influencers And Brand Registered Sellers?
• 26:40 – Do Your Live Videos Stay Evergreen?
• 27:30 – Let’s Check Gracey’s Amazon Live Channel
• 31:10 – How Much Do Influencers Make In Amazon Live?
• 32:50 – How To Sign Up And Get Started On Amazon Live?
• 36:00 – Gracey’s 30-Second Tips
• 38:00 – How To Get In Touch With Gracey

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Today, we’re gonna talk about ways to make money as an Amazon affiliate, and then how our guests actually became Amazon live and TikTok influencer, who has had videos that made sellers up to six figures of product sales in just a weekend. How cool is that? Pretty cool I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Helium 10’s got over 40 tools for e-commerce entrepreneurs. I know how overwhelming it might seem to try and figure out how you’re gonna learn, how to use everything, or maybe even to know which ones you wanna get started with. So for a completely free course, that’s gonna guide you through learning everything you need in order to become a Helium 10 expert, visit the Helium 10 academy, that is h10.me/academy. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that’s a completely BS-free unscripted, and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we’ve got somebody here today who actually, I’m not even sure if she is a seller. She might not be a seller, but we’re not even here to talk about selling, but let’s just introduce her. First of all, Gracey, how’s it going?

Gracey:

Hey, happy to be here. I’m unfortunately not a seller.

Bradley Sutton:

There’s nothing unfortunate about that. You know, we have people from all walks of life, but there are things you do. There’s a reason why you’re on here and there’s things you do that definitely have to do with Amazon sellers. And so first of all Gracey was on the AM/PM Podcast before, but I’ll admit, I didn’t get a chance to listen to that episode. So I don’t really know anything about you. I was super excited because we were at the same mastermind in Mexico together and I spoke it there and you were gonna speak on day two. So I was like, okay, finally, I’ll get to know you cuz a lot of people talk about Gracey. I was like, I don’t know who Gracie is, I need to know about what she does.

Bradley Sutton:

And I was like, finally, I’ll get to hear what her expertise is. And, and then the night before her presentation, I up and get COVID for the first time. And so I’m just like in my bed. So I missed it there. So guys like a hundred percent of this of what you guys are gonna be learning about her and what she does is pretty much I’m in the same boat as you, I’m gonna be learning it right along the way. I know that one of your specialties is Amazon live and I’ve actually been trying to get somebody on the show for a long time to talk about that. And I don’t know what it is, but I just have had the worst of luck in bringing people who are experts on that. So before we get to Amazon live, I always just like wanna start talking about your superhero origin story. So where were you born and raised?

Gracey:

Okay, sure. So I’m from Atlanta, Georgia from like the south, but unfortunately, I don’t have like the cute Southern accent that I–

Bradley Sutton:

Did you say fortunately or unfortunately?

Gracey:

Depends on the situation.

Bradley Sutton:

I was about to say, I didn’t hear what you said about that could have gone both ways there.

Gracey:

I know, but I don’t have it

Bradley Sutton:

What was your major?

Gracey:

I actually majored in psychology and my dad is actually like a psychologist and that’s kind of like where I got inspired to study psychology, but in my head, I never pictured myself doing the therapy route. Like I never, even though I loved giving unsolicited advice, I never like was like trying to go down the traditional psychology route. I was–

Bradley Sutton:

Well, what was your route then that you were like, was it just to please your parents that you picked that major or did you have something else in mind?

Gracey:

I loved consumer psychology. I loved business psychology. I always like, as a kid, I just said like, I wanna do something in business. It could have been international business. I don’t know. I never had the word for it, but that’s what I wanted to do since a very young age. And so it was always like, and I also had like a, a minor in like kind of PR. So I kind of wanted to do a little bit of like business mix with psychology.

Bradley Sutton:

I like that.

Gracey:

And I really at the time was like, you know, don’t really know where I’m going with this, but I think I–

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. After school, did you start a full-time job anywhere?

Gracey:

Yeah. So after school, I actually kind of moved into like the sales route. Discovered I hated it. I started doing like, kind of like sales, and then I did a little bit of cold calling and it wasn’t like, you know, one day I was like, I dream of doing cold calling one day, but like–

Bradley Sutton:

I hope nobody has that dream

Gracey:

Seriously, but I kind of was like cold calling is probably like the worst possible job I can think of like at the time. And I was like, but it will make me stronger. Like it will it like expose me to so much rejection that hopefully, I’ll become immune to it. And did I hate it? Yes, I absolutely hated it. Did it work? I don’t know, but that’s kinda what I did after. And then that’s pretty much what I did. And then I kind of went into recruiting. So for a time, I worked for like Jordan Belfort and some people know him. Some people hate him. Some people love him controversial, but that’s what I did for kind of like the height of COVID, like, that’s where I been 2020. And then this is where like villain origin story starts.

Gracey:

During that, like remote working for Jordan Belfort, recruiting time, I just started creating like talks and it was basically just sharing Amazon deals and the goal behind that was like, I would always just like, look for these deals and like ways to save money when I was shopping, I would tell my parents and my friends about it. I’m like, “oh my God, look, I saved so much money.” They like wanna know part of it. They didn’t care. They were like, you’re probably just buying like cheap products, but like, aren’t good. They didn’t care. So I was like, okay, like, I’ll just share these promo codes deals on TikTok. And like maybe I’ll help 10 people save money. That’s the goal, whatever. And then I started making these, I was just like cranking out videos all day long.

Bradley Sutton:

It was like unboxing or?

Gracey:

No, I was not in front of the camera at first.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, you weren’t even in front of the camera?

Gracey:

No, I was literally taking videos of Amazon listings and like promo code, price drop that’s it. And I didn’t even know.

Bradley Sutton:

Now was this as a part of like where you get the kickback from Amazon, like as an affiliate or whatever, or this was just like your Goodwill trying to spread deals?

Gracey:

I had no idea you could monetize. I had no idea what affiliate marketing was. I had no idea you could even make money from that. So like for the first month or two, I didn’t make a cent and that wasn’t ever the goal. It was literally like I’m sharing codes, like from the comfort of my home, and people were like, “oh like this is cool. I save money. Thank you.” And like, that’s literally why I started the account. And then there was, you know, I just kept doing it for fun. And there was one video that kind of like blew up. And I remember the day that like I hit 10,000 followers on TikTok and it was like a huge day for me. And I like telling–

Bradley Sutton:

What was the–, do you remember the product?

Gracey:

Yeah, it was a massage gun.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn’t you in it? It was just like you, like you showing like a screen share of the listing or the actual product, or what were you even showing?

Gracey:

Taking a video of like the Amazon listing promo code price drop. That’s it, that’s it. And like, Amazon obviously got mad at me, but we’ll get into that, but yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

All Right. So then now all of a sudden you get this 10,000 followers and then you’re like, wait a minute. You know, I might have something.

Gracey:

I was so excited. I was like, this is not expected. I had no idea that this would get anywhere. I was like really happy with that. I was like, “oh my God, mom, I got 10,000 followers. Like, oh my God, I’m blowing up.” And I just kept going and people started commenting like requests. They were like, oh, thanks. Like, can you find a deal on this? Can you find a deal on that? So then I would start doing requests and like looking for specific deals. And I did that for–

Bradley Sutton:

And at this point, you’re still not monetizing anything or?

Gracey:

No, it wasn’t until like the beginning of 2021 that I like discovered the program, Amazon’s program, and then started finding out ways to monetize.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. And so what was that? First, cuz I think, you know, there are Amazon sellers out there who are already established, and yeah. You know, keep doing your thing, but there’s a lot of people out there who are looking for ways to get started on Amazon, that doesn’t require a lot of investment. Maybe they don’t have enough money to get their private label. And so, you know, I’ll talk about things on the podcast, like merch by Amazon, and KDP and stuff that you don’t have to invest money, but you can start doing retail arbitrage, just flipping some stuff here or there. But, and there’s also something cool, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, Amazon Explorer where you can like give tour like live tours like if you live in an interesting place and get money. So this potentially, you know, could be a way of getting some initial money. So how did you discover the program and then what was it like to get set up and what is involved in it?

Gracey:

So basically I was just happily creating content, not thinking anything of it. And then like, I started getting these comments on my videos and they were like, “oh my God, it’s sold out.” Like, people were getting mad at me cuz they were like, oh my God, you made this video. I wanted the product and now it’s not available anymore. And then I would be like, what do you mean? And then I would look at the listing the next morning or whatever. And it would have like the number one new release or number one best seller or whatever. It would have like a little badge on it and it would also be sold out. And then I was like, “oh, sorry, like I’ll find another one.” I didn’t think twice about it had no idea what it meant for like the seller side of things.

Gracey:

Wasn’t even thinking about it. So one day I went on Facebook and I went into these like Amazon FBA, and Facebook groups. And I just like wrote a post and I was like you know, some brands are approaching me, like asking me to do a video, like a TikTok video for them. Like what’s a fair price, like I have no idea what, what $10 a hundred, I don’t know, Uhhuh. And so I started asking questions and I got this like huge influx of interest. They were like, TikTok, I wanna do a video with you. How can I work with you? And they were like, here’s my product. Like, it was just so much like fascinating interest from like the seller’s standpoint. That I was like, “oh my God.” So then I started talking to some people who are selling and they were like, “are you in the Amazon affiliate program?” And I was like, “no, what’s that?” So it was actually some sellers that like told me about it and that’s when I started monetizing and I was like, “oh, I’ll just sign up.”

Bradley Sutton:

So what’s the kind of like, you know, there’s, I know it probably maybe differs by category or, or situation, but just like on Amazon, your referral fee and some categories is 15%, sometimes is 10 and stuff, but why what’s the base of what an Amazon affiliate can get if somebody uses their link to purchase a product? Is it done by percentage? Does it differ by category or it’s literally the same percentage for any product? Or how does that even work?

Gracey:

Yeah. So there it’s basically between 0% and 4%. Usually, it’s 1% to 4%, and each category is different. So maybe tech has a higher percentage in that category. Maybe home is different. Beauty is different. Depends on the category, but it’s usually between 1% and 4% of the final price sale. And so people like me like doing deals where the final price is usually like pretty low already. It wasn’t like anything crazy.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. Okay. But you know, it’s something as opposed to you getting zero.

Gracey:

Sure. I was happy with whatever, you know, I wasn’t–

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So then what were some experiences that you can tell me about, like once you got that setup, like what was one that really did really well, and what was one that did nothing for you?

Gracey:

Yeah. So I quickly discovered that people would request very common things. Like I could ask my followers, like, “what do you guys wanna see?” Like, “what kind of deals are you looking for?” And then they would all like, tell me so many requests. And a lot of times they would be like very similar products, like, and so I would just focus on these popular products that many people were requesting at once. And then those are the ones that did well. So I quickly learned, like, I didn’t love talking about like super niche things. For example, like a bicycle part, for example, not too many people would need that or like a special kind of like, I don’t know, toothbrush. Right. It was just like, I love focusing on like popular products. And then as I started getting more into TikTok, I would just watch TikTok all day. And then I’d start to notice that there were these trending viral products on TikTok. For example, one was like the smart hula hoop, you know, with the different brackets or like, liquid chlorophyll was one at one time. And then there were these like fashion beauty items, tech items that were just going viral, and everyone was talking about them. So then I would be like, well, these are really cool products. Like, let me see if I can find a deal on them. And those went like really, really well, cause it’s so many.

Bradley Sutton:

But now when you would search, instead of going to just Amazon, would you go in like that Affiliate Portal or whatever that Amazon Affiliates have to look for were the ones that you could actually get money, or did you just like search anywhere on Amazon?

Gracey:

So there’s some hacks that I’ve like discovered along the way on like the best way to find deals. There’s like multiple ways to do it. The Affiliate Portal deals they’re really hard to navigate. It’s basically like an infinite list of links that you’re gonna have to like sort through. And a lot of them aren’t great deals. Like a lot of them are like 90% off a t-shirt that’s like a hundred dollars and it’s like, you know, you can see through that. So I have this like, you know, way that I vet deals and make sure that they’re actually legit and make sure you’re actually in a good deal before I ever talk about them. At this point, like I get sent deals every day from sellers, from like just, I don’t know, I get a ton of deals just sent to me. And usually, I’m like vetting through those.

Bradley Sutton:

How do they find you?

Gracey:

I guess on social media.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So it’s not like they’re finding you in some directory on Amazon.

Gracey:

No.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Interesting. So, yeah, I remember you, you mentioned that at the beginning, how, you know, when you first were just posting in Facebook groups, there are sellers interested. So how, how does a Joe Amazon seller or me, I want you to maybe to make a video about my product, like talk to me about that process. Like what were you offered and what have you accepted and are they happy with it? Or like, is it usually a good experience? How’s that work?

Gracey:

I hope it’s usually a good experience. I’ve kind of gotten a little bit more selective with the products that I do talk about. I try to make sure that they’re a good fit with my audience. I try to make sure that it’s a good quality product and it’s something that people would actually want as opposed to just like anything and everything. So I usually have a vetting process and if not me, then I’ll try to see if I have any like friends who also like to do content creation for Amazon, if they’re interested, potentially to work with each other. Like I think there’s so many influencers out there that I’m not the end-all, be-all of everything. So usually a lot of times, like probably 80 to 90%, I’m just talking about stuff that I find with like no sponsorship or like brand working with me. And I feel like those do the best because those are the ones that I know are gonna be popular and like I love talking about, and I really believe are a good deal.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what do people offer though for the ones that are trying to sponsor you for it? Like how would I get your attention? You know, maybe you didn’t find an idea on your own, but I slide into the DMS. And I’m like, Hey, you know, would you be interested in pushing this coffin shelf? I would love to pay you this flat fee. And then of course you just keep whatever you get from the Affiliate Code. How do I approach somebody like you for that?

Gracey:

So, I mean, usually, it’s just me checking out the product and if it’s a good fit, then we can figure out like a, a good, you know, mutually beneficial thing that works for the both of us. Usually, I guess, that’s a flat fee. And then of course the affiliate commissions depends on the product because if I know something is gonna really resonate with my audience, sometimes I’m just like, I’ll do it just because I feel like it’s a good product with my audience. And sometimes when I’m more hesitant, that’s, that’s what I’m like. I don’t know if this is gonna go well, I don’t know if this is what people want to see. I don’t know if this is something that I really think it’s good, so.

Bradley Sutton:

So in other words, you’re like, Hey, when you know, something’s gonna pop off, you’re like, I’m fine with that without even accepting something front. Right. Because I know I’m gonna get in up off the back end to make it worth my wall anyways.

Gracey:

Yes. Yeah. So it’s not always like, it doesn’t always have to be this huge fee. It’s really like–

Bradley Sutton:

Well, what is the range though? Like not just you, as you said, you have friends who do the same thing. Like, I think that’s one of the most common questions I get and I really don’t know how to answer is like when I approach somebody, let’s say maybe it’s not necessarily something that is a no brainer that they’re just gonna say, oh yeah, I’ll do for no fee, like what causes an offer to stick out amongst all these like 30 offers that you’re probably getting where they stop and say, okay, let me consider this.

Gracey:

So there’s so many variables to consider and the most important one is like, what kind of influencer are you working with? Are you working with like a mega influencer? Who’s like a super niche. And like, she has super good engagement and she can sell volume. Like if you’re working with that kind of influencer, they’re probably gonna have a higher fee, maybe up to a couple of thousand dollars. I’m just throwing something out there. It really depends. And then there’s also like, I’m like, so all about micro-influencers. Like I think they are so eager to get the product and like to create content with it. And a lot of times they have better engagement than the influencers that like have a huge following. So it’s like don’t ever overlook or don’t ever think that micro-influencers aren’t worth your time because like a lot of them are. And a lot of them are very, very eager to just like get content creation experience. And so, you know, maybe a micro-influencer has a smaller feed. Maybe they’re willing to do a gifted campaign or even a commission-based campaign. And they have like really, really good results. So I’m always saying like, it doesn’t have to be expensive for brands or sellers. As long as you find a good fit and you like to foster a good relationship with that influencer, it’s like the opportunities are endless

Bradley Sutton:

Now because of the way your TikTok channel is set up. And I’m only basing this off of what you’re telling me. I’ve never seen your TikTok channel, but is it a hundred percent some kind of discount? It’s not like you’re just gonna go on there and talk about a product it’s always gotta be tied to like, “Hey, use this coupon” or there’s currently a 20% off or something like that. Or is there a situation where you would just promote a product and its regular price?

Gracey:

So I think my past content was more focused on like strictly on deals. I think recently I’ve done more of like cool fines, but I’ll still have a deal, like the concept in mind of like, okay, here’s a cool product under $25. Here’s a cool product under 20 it’s like, I’ll still keep budget-friendly in mind, but it’s like, doesn’t necessarily have to have a coupon promo code or deal associated. And that’s good for me as well, because, you know, instead of the video being irrelevant a week later after the deal expires, it can live longer.

Bradley Sutton:

Ah, good point.

Gracey:

Yeah. And that’s, that’s important for me. So I don’t like to burn myself out too much.

Bradley Sutton:

Sure. And is it still the same format where you, you’re not even really showing your face or doing unboxing? It’s just basically like showing the listings and the products.

Gracey:

Oh, no. Things have changed a lot. Like now I’m in front of the camera and whether or not that’s ever something I wanted, I had to be because you know, both TikTok and Amazon didn’t like the whole, like behind the screen, like showing the screen thing. So I’ve had to be in the video

Bradley Sutton:

So when you switched that format, you noticed better results then?

Gracey:

Yeah. I had a really, really good start when I first started like being in the videos and then it’s kind of like not plateaued, but it’s kind of just like, you know, it was a huge spike and then it’s kind of just settled down. But like, I did notice that it was more engagement at first. Yeah, for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Yeah. What what’s like, you know, you don’t have to mention the product if it’s proprietary or something, but like what’s the craziest non-Amazon live experience you’ve had promoting a product where you did something and then like the seller told you “OMG like I sold 2000 units in three hours or something ridiculous”, like that.

Gracey:

Yeah. So I have one story and it was like a product that I knew would do well, but I didn’t know it would do that well. So it was like, I don’t know if you, how much you are on TikTok, but like, there were these leggings on TikTok and they’re called the TikTok leggings. And basically–

Bradley Sutton:

Like the ones that make your butt look big or something like that.

Gracey:

Exactly.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Yeah. I know what you’re talking about.

Gracey:

Yeah. That’s it, they went viral, like very viral for a time and I did a deal on them and it was like, I probably made them like under $10 or something and it was probably a new seller. Like I had zero relationships with a seller. It was not anything like that. I just promoted a deal. And then I found out like, just through my associate’s backend, like how many sales, it was like six figures over a weekend off like revenue and that was one of my good ones.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow. See, at that point, Hey, six figures, and you’re still only doing 2%. That 2% of six figures is still pretty good for a week in there. Yeah.

Gracey:

It’s okay. So that was a good one. And it’s usually those like viral products that I love talking about because I know that people want them already. They’re just like waiting for a good deal to come along.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Cool. All right. Now, when in the timeline, did you discover Amazon live?

Gracey:

So I actually was invited by Amazon to start Amazon live. And it was probably like February of, I don’t remember. It was like early 2021, I think. And they were just like, Hey, we have a live streaming platform. We see that you’re talking about Amazon stuff already. Like, why don’t you come live stream on Amazon? And like, I had zero live stream experience ever before. I had never done a live stream in my life. So I was like, okay, like, seems like a cool opportunity. I don’t know where this is gonna go, but I’m gonna try it out. And so I had to learn OBS, I had to learn streaming. I had to like, get this little microphone and like do the whole thing. It was a learning curve. Yeah. But I did it. And I’m still doing it to this day.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So why let’s just start off with some Amazon live 101 for the people who don’t know what it is. So what is Amazon live? And let’s talk about what’s the difference between that and just doing like what you were doing for TikTok and things like that.

Gracey:

Yeah. So more of the story, Amazon live is an on Amazon live streaming platform almost. And there are a couple of places that Amazon live streams can show up around Amazon. So there is the Amazon live homepage, which is amazon.com/live. You can see all the live streams there. And then there’s also the influencers storefront, which is what every influencer gets when they sign up for the influencer program. And then there’s also the Amazon.com homepage and the Amazon.com Deals page and also select listings that are relevant to the live streams. So I guess like those places Amazon lives can show up. And within each Amazon live, you have up to 40 products that slots that you can talk about. And if viewers, you know, like what they see and they click on the product, then they can buy it. And you would then get affiliate commissions from

Bradley Sutton:

The same affiliate commission that you would’ve got. If you just like shared the affiliate code, like on your TikTok channel or other places, right?

Gracey:

Yes. Yes. Basically, it’s just the onsite version and affiliate links are the offsite version.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now I think a question that, that people haven’t even myself is, you know, like, okay, well maybe I could do this for my own product. Obviously like, Hey, this is my account. And I’m gonna talk about, you know, like almost like my own QVC channel, like here’s my products, but how does it work when it’s somebody like you, you’re an influencer, you’re an Amazon life influencer. You don’t work for my company. Right. But how does that work? Are you like signing into my account and like explain that relationship and how that works?

Gracey:

Yeah. So basically as an influencer, I can stream about anything and everything, and I would have my own account to stream under, but you mentioned live streaming as a brand, which you can totally do as long as your brand register on Amazon. And you can talk about your own products and do like your own product demos and stuff. And if you wanted to, you could have an influencer use your brand account to stream under your brand’s channel and the benefit there would be obviously, you know, getting content around your product, but also gaining followers for your brand, which I hear is, you know, gonna be important someday.

Bradley Sutton:

How many live streams have you done approximately?

Gracey:

Hundreds

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon live?

Gracey:

A hundred. I livestream like three to four times a week. And I’ve been doing it since like early 2021, so.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So of those hundreds, like what’s the percentage breakdown of how much did, like, were you reaching out to anybody or is it a hundred percent that people, stores reach out to you and say, Hey, can, can you do a live stream? Or like, how did you get to do hundreds of live streams?

Gracey:

Yeah. So usually it’s just products that I have in hand and, you know, there are agencies out there, there are brands that can sponsor and usually like brand-sponsored live streams don’t even necessarily have to be like all of their brand products. Like it could be like the first three to four products in the livestream are like the brands who are sponsoring and then like the other products in the carousel are just like random other products. So the one rule that live streamers have is that they have to have the product in hand to talk about. So usually a lot of the products I’m talking about are the products that I already have and have used and like know a lot about.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, so you can just go on as a Amazon live influencer and you can just go on yourself and start live streaming about random products. It’s not like you have to be–, oh see, I didn’t even know that. I thought you had to be like I thought like a brand had to like give you the right to do it or something like that.

Gracey:

No, no, no. Like it’s like, it’s different because you can do it as a brand, but you can totally do it like yourself as an influencer. And just talk about anything sold on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now it’s called Amazon live, but does the recording like stay anywhere evergreen where people can see it afterward, or is if the only way you can see this is if you’re tuning in live.

Gracey:

So I hear that as a brand after you live stream, there is an amount of time that the live stream stays on your like brand storefront. But as an influencer, usually, there’s a replay going on on our influencer storefront. And there are a few select live streams that are kind of available for a certain amount of time. Like right now, my previous live stream is like on my storefront. And you could probably see, like, I don’t know, a couple of previous live streams as well, that are accessible. But–

Bradley Sutton:

Can you, like in the chat here, like send me the links, just so I could like be looking at this, cuz this is all new to me. Sure. There should be a chat on your right hand side there.

Gracey:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

But this is all fascinating to me. It’s very rare where I like I talk to so many people I’m like, oh yeah, I kind of know about that. I didn’t know anything about what we were talking about. So this is a great learning experience here.

Gracey:

Yeah. So once you click that, the first thing on the storefront is my last live stream.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. I see it now.

Gracey:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is like a fancy, like a thumbnail here. I’m seeing like, kinda like what you would expect on YouTube, like who, who made this like you or?

Gracey:

Me.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay.

Gracey:

I keep it simple. I do everything.

Bradley Sutton:

And there’s a lot of–, what is it like? I see Sears. Oh, beauty–. Okay. So these are the different categories. And then it says 262 items, by the way, guys, if you’re listening to this just, you know, on your Spotify or something, you’re wondering what we’re looking at here. So I went to amazon.com/shop/dealcheats, and that’s her channel here. And so what I’m looking at is I see it says beauty makeup, health, 262 items. So that means that–

Gracey:

That’s not actually having to do with live streams at all.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. It’s not about your live stream. Okay.

Gracey:

Yeah. So that’s actually an idea list on my storefront. So basically I can like create idea list and categorize products. And then if my followers are interested, I could direct them to my storefront and be like, go under the beauty list and you can find all the products I’m talking about there totally separate from livestreams though. But if you’re wanting to look at the products that I’m talking about in the livestream, they’re the ones that are to the right of the livestream. And then you can kind of scroll with your mouse. And I probably have around like 20 or 25 in there.

Bradley Sutton:

So all these ones where I see kind of like a thumbnail where it says review are these live streams that you did or at the very bottom here.

Gracey:

So actually those are completely different, you know, we’re looking at all the components of a Amazon influencer storefront. So those so cool are like short shoppable videos.

Bradley Sutton:

I was about to say, cause I was like, some of these are like 20 seconds. I’m like how in the world did you do a livestream for 20 seconds?

Gracey:

No. So those are also completely different from livestream. So there’s like those three things there’s live streams idea lists and short shoppable videos. So short shoppable videos are basically like, I try to do like one product per video and it could be anything like a review, unboxing, tutorial, testimonial, like whatever. And it shows up then on product listings and if viewers, or if customers wanna watch it and then make a purchase after the same thing, I would then get affiliate commissions for that purchase.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Cool. Now, when you’re looking at I’m assuming there’s some kind of, you know, metrics on how you can know how many people are watching this, but like what, what’s the average number of live people or how many views overall, like, are you getting on an average livestream?

Gracey:

So it really so widely varies based on a couple of factors. Like there’s a ranking system within Amazon influencers and nobody really knows like what factors, you know, affect ranking but the higher ranked you are, the more placements you get. So like that could be like the deal page where you could get really high viewership, maybe a couple hundred viewers at a time, like usually around 200 to 500 is like average. If you’re featured on the deal page or the homepage, if you don’t have those like high traffic placements, then it could be anywhere from like 30 to 50 to a hundred viewers. And it really depends on the day. So like there’s not very much consistency with like the success of Amazon live streams cuz it so highly depends on like where the live stream is placed on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now obviously, you know, Amazon live is like a drop in the bucket compared to the beast that TikTok is. So, you know, I can’t imagine you’re doing a hundred thousand dollars on leggings in a weekend, on Amazon live. Yeah. But what is like one of the best you know, or most successful Amazon lives you’ve done or, and then like, compare that with like the average of what you usually do.

Gracey:

Yeah. So I would say like on the low end, every live stream sells a couple of thousand dollars, like couple of thousand, and then like on the more successful end of Amazon live streams, it could, you know, be like 10 to 20,000 or more. But like, again, like those are the good ones and like, it very much varies. And that is inclusive of all the products I’m talking about. Not just one brand or not just one. So really depends. But on an average day, a couple thousand.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow. Okay. That’s a lot better than I thought. I thought it wouldn’t be, I’m just looking at one right now. It looks like you’re using the same background, except now you have your neon lights going off and on and these fancy stuff here. This is pretty cool. All right. And you’re using OBS to do this?

Gracey:

So I actually started out using OBS it’s the free one. It’s the most, like it’s the one Amazon recommends, but then I switched to Ecamm. So that’s the one I use now. Very similar. I don’t know. I mean, there’s not too much I can do with E cam that I couldn’t do with OBS, except I have like fun sound effects now, which–

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah.

Gracey:

For all that matters, but yeah, I use Ecamm now.

Bradley Sutton:

What are the two websites on how I can get signed up now I’m not talking about as a seller side, but let’s just say I’m somebody interested in becoming an Amazon Affiliate? How do I sign up for that? And then how do I sign up to be an Amazon live influencer? Or is it invite-only?

Gracey:

No. So it’s not invite-only, you can totally sign up. So the influencer program is kind of like under the umbrella of the Amazon Affiliate Program, but there is like a separate sign-up for the influencer program. If you want a live stream, you have to sign up as an influencer and have your own storefront, and then you get the ability to live stream. So, I mean, I don’t know the exact website, but just like look up Amazon influencer program, sign up and then you have to have some sort of following and good engagement on like one platform at least. I think I signed up with like Instagram, TikTok was not an approved platform when I signed up, but now I think it is, and maybe like Facebook as well, maybe like Twitter, Twitch was at one point don’t know if it still is, but you usually have to have like some sort of like following it does not have to be huge, which is like a huge misconception. They’re like, I need hundreds of thousands. I’m like, no, people have gotten like two or 3000 followers or even less, if they have really good engagement like it’s a lot of people can probably sign up that have no idea.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. I know you said most of what you do is because you’ve decided that, Hey, this is an interesting product, so I’m gonna go ahead and do it, like, does that mean you’re purchasing these at like full price yourself or how are you getting the products in hand in order to do these lives?

Gracey:

Like a lot of times, I’m purchasing them myself. And then sometimes brands just send them in hopes that I include them in live streams. And like, sometimes this is one of the tips I’m always like talking about. It’s like if you wanna start developing a relationship with an influencer and you can just send them your product and like, let them know when your product is like running a deal or like when your product is, you know, have a promo code, whatever. And just like, “Hey, if you wanna include my product super grateful.”

Bradley Sutton:

And then they would say, okay, yeah, I’m looking at your storefront here or your Amazon live storefront. And there’s like no buts into contact, but then I see that you put like on the description here, follow me on TikTok. Yeah. Instagram and Twitter @dealcheats. And so that’s how people are, are finding you. And then they offer the product. Okay. Right.

Gracey:

I don’t think we’re allowed to like put our contact information there, so it, but my info is like on Instagram and TikTok, so, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. Okay. Interesting. So, I mean, I doubt it, some of my products, but like it’s possible that, you know, Amazon sellers have products that influencers are putting on their live streams. They didn’t even realize that they were doing it, but it’s because they found it on their own and thought it was a cool, a cool thing.

Gracey:

I would argue that’s happening most of the time. Like a lot of times, like these aren’t like, there’s not huge sponsorships or like brand relationships behind them. They’re just products that like influencers wanna talk about. So like a lot of times, you know, I’m repeatedly talking about a lot of the products that I love and use every day and there’s like no brand relationship behind it at all. And I bought it for full price.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. All right. So now, now, now for the last, like two, three minutes of this episode, we do something, we call the TST, 30-second tip. So, we would be talking a little bit about the other side, which I think is just fascinating, but you at these masterminds and when you go speak at conferences, you’re interacting with a lot of Amazon sellers. So think of, Hey, we’ve got a lot of Amazon Walmart sellers out there right now, listening. What are some 30-second tips on how they can leverage what we’ve been talking about today? Be it, Hey, here’s a tip on how to find somebody or how to make your offer attractive to influencers. Just whatever you think is your expertise that you can share some quick hitting tips for our listeners out there.

Gracey:

Okay. So like the most common question I get is like, I’m looking for influencers. Can you help me find them? Or like, how do I reach out? How do I find them? My best tip is like, look on social media, like, look on TikTok, look on Instagram, look on Facebook, look on any platform you’re interested in and use hashtags use #amazonfinds, #amazonfashion, #Amazonbeauty, #amazonhall, #amazonmusthaves, these are all really popular. Like Amazon related hashtags, that content creators are using with their content. So when you look it up, you find content, you can niche down, Amazon pet, whatever your product is, you can niche down the hashtag and then find creators already talking about similar products. And if you look at their content, vet their content, if you’re like, okay, I like the way that this person, you know, creates content.

Gracey:

And I like their engagement. And I think their follower base would be a good fit with my audience. Then reach out. I always suggest an email, but if you can’t find an email DM them and then just like, remember that they’re human. And like, remember like as much as they wanna bring you value, I think it should be mutually beneficial. And like, you should bring them value as well. So treat them like a human and like, it’s a partnership. Yeah. So that’s, that’s what I recommend, use social media, hashtags, and then vet the content from there. And if you wanna just, you know, get a good response and like develop that partnership, make sure it’s like worth it for the both of you guys.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Cool. All right. Now, if anybody wants to reach out to you to get some more information or to pick your brain a little bit, how can they find you on the interwebs? We mentioned a couple of the websites but what are your main ones that you wanna give out?

Gracey:

So my username across everything is @dealcheats, but my email is contact@dealcheats.com.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. All right. Well, Gracey, thank you so much for, for coming on here. This is like a nonstop learning Fest for me today, cuz this is all new. And you know, we have a few like case study products that we do on some of our accounts. Maybe I’ll see if one of these you might find interesting or that you think your audience might find interesting. And let’s see if we can get it on Amazon live in the future. And I’ll tell everybody how it worked.

Gracey:

Yeah. I’d love to.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Thanks a lot. We’ll see you later.

Gracey:

Thank you.

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