My Verdict
Tim Sander's course, Private Label Masters, is one of the more expensive Amazon FBA courses out there, but for good reasons. The main reason is that Tim is an active 8 figure seller with over 120 products launched since 2016 and did $20 million in sales in 2021. He provides weekly live coaching.We put Private Label Masters ahead of the famous Amazing Selling Machine which is also $5000 because their coaches are not in the trenches anymore.
In this review, we'll cover the common topics that new comers commonly ask such as: how soon can I make money? What's the real start-up costs? What causes students to fail? And we'll look at why Amazon has gotten more competitive in recent years.
If you're simply looking to make money online, local lead generation is another top online business to consider and, for some, it might be a better fit. In this article, we take an honest look at Amazon FBA pros and cons so that you can make the best informed decision on what online business suits you the best.
Pros
Taught by an 8 figure seller that's active today
High-ticket course creates higher quality community (private Facebook group)
Once per week live coaching by Tim Sanders
Easy to follow but still goes in-depth on covering high-level strategies (like running FB ads)
Cons
Higher price may deter some people
Wish Tim showed more his day to day, how he has his team set up which would help students know how to scale better
$49 per month to stay in the private community after 6 months
Amazon private label has new challenges in 2022
Price
Private Label Masters costs $5000 or 6 payments of $997, one of the more expensive Amazon courses
Refund Policy
30 Day money-back guarantee
Origin
Tim started his course in 2017
Reputation
Solid reputation on Reddit, YouTube comments & other forums
My Private Label Masters Review on YouTube
Reviews from Other Students
"Hey, this is mark. I joined Private Label Masters back in 2021. And I gotta say, I think Tim is a great coach. His step by step training is very easy to follow. The business model itself. I struggled a lot with the product selection, and honestly, I picked a product that. I thought was going to be a success.
I used all the tools and the techniques that Tim showed me including this software called viral launch. And yeah, I picked the product, but I think the supplier that I picked was not good. And so the product had a lot of defects and I started getting negative reviews. Yeah. I ended up having to cancel that business and yeah, I've ran out of money and I'm still working a job.
And yeah, I'm just waiting to save out more money so that maybe I can try another product, but yeah. I'm just here to say, Tim is a great coach. I love the fact that he does live weekly coaching. And so I learned a lot from that, but yeah, I just struggled with picking the right supplier.
So next time I'm gonna do more due diligence and yeah, I wish I had more money to put into the Amazon FBA business but I just ran out of money. And so I'm just trying to save up more funds right now."
"Hey, this is Laura. I took Tim Sanders, Private Label Master's course two years ago. And the biggest thing that helped me with his course was the fact that he does live weekly calls. And I could ask him questions. Obviously his training was very good as well, but the fact that you can ask him questions as you're going through the Amazon FBA business, is what really helped me a lot.
We launched our first product, which didn't quite go as planned. The niche was more competitive than we thought. And so it took us quite a while to get profitable. We launched two more products after that and by the third product launch, it was already like eight to nine months after we started the Amazon business.
So just be warned that buying the product from suppliers, getting it, shipped to a warehouse and then trying to rank the product. All of this takes some time and you might not succeed your first launch, so you gotta have some money saved up to make few different attempts at it. It's definitely not guaranteed that you're gonna succeed with your first product launch, even if you do everything correct.
And what happened with us was our product was profitable for one year and a half. We were making about $3000 to $4,000 per month and profit eventually though, a competitor came in. More competitors came in over time and they started pricing their products way cheaper than ours, and we stopped getting sales.
And so the big learning lesson was that we assumed that our product was gonna stay profitable forever, but we should have kept the profits and started launching more products. Because now we have to save up money again, to try to launch new products. We didn't realize that more competitors come in with better prices.
Cause you to not be profitable. So to really have a stable Amazon business, you really need multiple products launched. So right now we've been really busy and we just haven't gotten back into the Amazon FBA business. And so that's where we're at today, but yeah, Amazon FBA Tim's ongoing live coaching is a big help.
But yeah, be prepared to have some money saved up around $10,000, I would say, and be prepared to launch multiple products."
Hey, I'm Travis. Over a year ago, I purchased Tim Sanders', private label course. I'd been taking in his YouTube content for a while and chose him over other coaches because I could just tell that he cared and wasn't all about flexing his own gains. He wasn't showing off his cars and his mansions too much. Just caring for who he was talking to. And that really spoke to me.
And so I was excited to learn directly from him through his private Facebook group and live streams, but that's where we hit a snag. It turns out that the Facebook group is only free for six months. It is not included in your $5,000 price of the course. And now everything in the course is well worth that $5,000, but I would expect such a high ticket course to include a Facebook group for some significant amount of time. But unfortunately after six months, it is $49 a month to stay in there. And on top of that, Tim's live streams that I was so excited to access and use are only on that Facebook group. So after six months of time, if you don't pay up your cutoff from that.
To recap, the course is $5,000 and then you need at least another 10 to $15,000 to launch your product. Right now, we have spent about $16,400 on the product and really nothing out of the ordinary happened to make that cost go up. We just spent our time working on our brand creation. We ordered a few rounds of samples of our products since it, it had some moving parts and ultimately we wanted to make sure the packaging from the manufacturer would keep it safe while it's shipped to the Amazon warehouse and so on. Now that $16,000 cost does not include Tim's course,and since we've just launched, I'm not including any PPC costs in that either.
So while we just launched and we're getting a few sales, it just stresses me out that there's no guarantee that this product will rank. There's no guarantee that it will stay ranked. There's no guaranteed that this product that I have spent $16,000 on will remain profitable for years. I'd certainly like to be confident that this investment would bring profitability. And I know there are no 100% guarantees, but it feels like there's a lot more risk here than I initially realized
Hi, my name's Lillian and by following the Private Label Masters course, I should be able to quit my job sometime in the next year. But, let me tell you it has been work. It has been all about my product for just over three years, which is back when I started with Tim.
I just wouldn't have been able to get through to this point without Tim and his guidance and honestly paying for the private group, you have to pay after a certain amount of time.And, without them, I don't know what I would've done. I don't think I would be at this point. Tim's advice really helped me face different challenges just gave me some guidance. Let me know that I was on the right track.
For instance, when my account was suspended, Amazon can hold your funds and you know, Amazon is not there to serve us as third party sellers. So, I was totally in a panic. I took a day off of my 9 to 5, used up some PTO just to try to figure out what I needed to do and I asked the group, got a super useful answer that really helped me calm down and just gave me a little bit of direction, which was invaluable.
The one issue that I had with Tim and his course was just like I mentioned, like I was still working. I am still working my nine to five and doing this on the side and I was so busy. And part of the reason why I chose him was his access to like we can use his graphic designers or people that can write product listings, copywriters, photographers and I was banking on using that. You know, I'm a busy professional. I, I work the corporate ladder right now and I'd love to jump off that ladder, but I can't till I'm replacing my income. And, they book so fast, you cannot rely on that as your safeguard. That was mainly my big bummer.
You can definitely make money doing this. You can definitely make money using this course. It was very well done, very valuable, more valuable than my degree, honestly, but, at the end of the day, you're fighting Amazon and they have most control over your business. And, you need to make sure you have that support group. So, that's that was my big thing with Tim and his Facebook group was the support. Make sure that you have the extra time to take on all this before you jump all the way in.
Who is Tim Sanders?
How did Tim Sanders find his first product?
Tim contacted a supplier and simply asked them: " hey are there any new products that's selling well right now?"
and the supplier told Tim that in fact there's a brand new product that's selling like crazy to one Amazon seller.
Tim checked that product on Jungle Scout and low & behold, the numbers were great and he had a good feeling about it, so he purchased 5,000 units. 2 years later, this product is selling 150 units per day.
What separates Tim Sanders from other Amazon FBA Course Creators?
What makes Tim Sanders stand out is that he is operating a 8 figure Amazon business with no partners, just a small team of VA's. Unlike a lot of Amazon course creators that only had few products that were successful for a couple years, and now they just focus on selling a course. Tim continues to push his Amazon business hard each year.
Tim Sanders Net Worth?
Tim Sander's Net Worth is $7 million after taxes. Calculated by taking the average Amazon profit margin of 25% on Tim's total Amazon revenue and then estimating Tim's Private Label Masters income by the amount of students.
Here's Tim's 2019 Tax Return he posted in one of his videos.
For those wondering, is Private Label Masters a Scam?
Private Label Masters is not a scam. The training is legit and there's a private community that can all verify that Tim Sanders is actually running a 8 figure Amazon FBA business that he's claiming. He has shown his Amazon dashboard that shows all his sales stats on a on-going basis.
How Tim Sanders Made $76,000 in 7 Days During the COVID-19 Lockdown
Background and Story
In the video, Tim Sanders explains how he made a profit of $76,000 in seven days during the COVID-19 lockdown. He achieved this by scaling his Amazon business from one product to more than a hundred. He shows his Amazon account as proof and says that despite challenges like logistic restrictions and shipping delays, it's still possible to be highly profitable on Amazon.
Key Lessons Learned by Tim Sanders
Product Selection and Success Rate: Tim estimates that the likelihood of making a profit from choosing the right products is 97%.
Diversification Within Amazon: Instead of diversifying away from Amazon, he recommends diversifying within Amazon. He highlights the advantage of leveraging Amazon's traffic, credibility, and customer base.
Inventory Management and Capital Requirement: Sanders gives an insight into the scale of his operation. He reveals that he holds about $1 million in inventory at Amazon. He also discusses the importance of cash flow and inventory turnover.
The Potential of Even Low Margin Products: He shows how even products with a 6% margin can be significant, because they contribute towards covering major expenses like rent.
The Importance of Hard Work and Learning: He stresses the importance of taking a bet on oneself, working hard, and acquiring the best knowledge available.
Achievability of Replacing a 9-to-5 Income: Sanders suggests that even one to three successful products can surpass a regular nine-to-five income. He emphasizes the potential for time freedom and financial independence.
What's not mentioned in the interview: Starting an Amazon business isn't cheap. On top of the $5,000 cost of the program, you need $2,500 to $5,000 more for initial inventory, Amazon seller fees, and setting up the online store.
What is the success rate of Private Label Masters?
Private Label Masters success rate should fall anywhere between 10-20% because according to Jungle Scout, the general Amazon FBA success rate is15% of sellers built a business with $6,000 to $25,000 per month in net profit. Although it's difficult to get the accurate number in a coaching program since not all the students report their failure or success.
Why do people fail Private Label Masters?
According to Tim, the number 1 reason people fail Amazon FBA is fear. People are too afraid to take that leap. And people get confused on what steps to take, which is why it's recommended to find a credible mentor.
Once they join, people can still fail Private Label Masters because you either don't take action or you're incapable of taking action due to lack of having proper funds. Tim regularly discusses budgeting your life or even getting side hustles so that you can properly fund your Amazon business.
How much does it cost to start an Amazon FBA business?
How soon can I earn money with Private Label Masters?
Many Amazon gurus agree, one should not take profits out of the business for at least 1-2 years, because there is no guarantee that your product will stay profitable forever. Profits need to be reinvested back into the business to launch more products. You should have 6+ products that are profitable before you take profits out and go on vacations. Taking out profits too soon is one of the main reasons many Amazon sellers fail.
Private Label Masters Modules
Clocking in at just under 3 hours, this is Tim's longest module.
And understandably so, because although this step can be frustrating and time-consuming, Amazon product research is arguably the most important step in Amazon FBA.
In the second video in this module, Tim uses a baseball analogy to illustrate his recommended business structure.
As the business owner, you are the coach, and your products are your players.
Home Runs or Singles:
Core Question: If you were a coach, would you rather have:
A) One player hitting home runs (for example, Ty Cobb's 1911 batting average of .419)
or
B) A lot of players hitting singles? (the 1995 Cleveland Indians Lineup, with 6 different players averaging .300 each)
The point that Tim is trying to hit home (pun intended) is that the prerequisite to raising profitability is the stability of a business, which comes through having a lot of different products that make a few sales each day, not by potentially having one product doing a hundred sales in a day.
Remember Tim has launched over 120 products in the last 5 years.
Other topics covered in this module:
- Products to stay away from - He gives specific genres
- Trademarks & Patents - Including how to find if the product you’re interested in has one
- Research Tools - Tim likes to use Viral Launch
- Easy product changes - to increase value in the eyes of your prospect
- Hacks for finding low-competition niches
The third module covers three (3) product sourcing related topics:
- Alibaba.com
- Interacting with Suppliers
- Negotiation Tips
Module Outline:
Part 1: Overview of Alibaba.com
Tim gives a quick run through of Alibaba, showing its different filters, and which ones he recommends based on his experience. (**Warning** He goes the more expensive route)
Part 2: Initiating Great Relationships with Suppliers
- How to build a rapport from 10,000 miles away
- Rapidly engaging multiple suppliers very efficiently
- Being aware of cultural differences (Chinese culture is not strictly business)
- What to do when you’ve found the One (a high-quality supplier, that is)
Part 3: Professionally Negotiating MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) with Manufacturers
- Knowing the necessary information needed to begin discussing business
- What questions to ask that separate the excellent from the mediocre
- Using the flexibility of the minimum order quantity to your advantage
A few skills Tim teaches in these 8 videos are:
- Multitasking when communicating with suppliers
- Being "professionally Informal" while making introductions
- Bargaining for price using Chinese leverage
- Setting up multiple inspections of your samples to know they are the best
One of the main reasons a supplier has an MOQ is to protect their process cost, making sure that it’s at least minimally profitable for them to set up their equipment and arrange their manpower. Tim shows a clever, yet common technique to get your first order at a lower-than-posted MOQ.
The biggest things that I took away from Tim's training were his techniques for engaging the Chinese suppliers in informal ways to begin the supplier selection process.
He provides not only a short talk on the subject but also shows how he does it by demonstrating the process with a dummy item.
He showed me that chatting informally can be a great way to build the foundation for a strong business relationship in the future.
In this module, Tim covers why amazon private label FBA Sellers need a freight forwarder, how to get shipping quotes from several providers, obtaining shipping labels and placing your first order to your supplier.
Tim’s training techniques include:
- Knowing your options (Sea and Air, when to use each one, etc.)
- Using the suppliers that he himself has vetted (Freightos and Flexport)
- Why you should never ship your products directly to Amazon
- How to easily send your Shipping Labels to your supplier
One tactic that Tim emphasizes throughout the fourth module is the employment of a forwarding/inspection service (often both services are done by the same company.)
Tim and I both support investing in these services as it solves two problems.
- The issue of unwittingly shipping defective items
- The issue of spending a lot of money on Amazon’s long-term storage fees
Ending the module with a brief discussion on the importance of having specific written product details, Tim shows how to avoid the grief of purchasing sub-standard products at your own liability.
Module 5 is packed with Tim saying, in different ways, “Do it right the first time."
In the 10 videos in this module, Tim lightly covers branding design strategies as well as the optimization of your product listings, which involves including a special guest contributor.
In this lesson, you will learn:
- Things to be considered when creating a brand name
- A few ways to simplify the labeling process of your product
- Getting the most out of your keyword
- Walkthrough of the data-driven (no estimates) tool that Tim trusts
- How to create lists of seed words using Amazon’s auto-populate feature
The cherry that tops this module off is the hour-long training that Stacey, Tim’s copywriter, gives, explaining six copywriting concepts to incorporate into your listing optimization process.
Stacey's talking points are:
- Knowing your product
- Knowing your market
- Writing a boss-level title
- Doing your bullets right by mapping them out
- Engaging your audience with a resonating product description
- Editing more than just spelling and grammar (Stacey intros a third component)
Tim shows two distinct ways to launch your products after explaining why launching your item into the abyss of Amazon is an absolute necessity.
Part 1: Using the Amazon Launch Service “ZonJump” (explained by ZJ’s CEO himself)
Tim somehow orchestrated ZonJump's CEO Leo’s production of a 5 minute introduction to the service that Leo pioneered.
Leo explains the platform, giving an overview of the entire launch process, from pre-launch priorities to taking advantage of Zonjump’s FBA experienced professionals.
Part 2: Tim’s Detailed Training on Launching Additional Products Using Zuckerberg’s platform (FB)
The first half of the video is Tim showing you two unique methods of getting an amazon-domained storefront URL
He named them:
- The storefront URL method
- The two-step URL method
Constructing the Facebook ad itself is Tim’s next step.
Tim’s no Adobe Photoshop guru, so he shows how he makes appealing ads using Microsoft Paint.
Extra hacks that Tim unveils in the sixth segment:
- Changing the image format to increase your FB ads reach
- Adjusting the ad copy to 3x your ad’s results
- Tracking the results of your targeted keywords using a tool inside Helium 10
One thing that Tim does right in this module is give proper expectations. Product launches are not merely one-day celebrations, but several month long drama, creating a sense of suspense through the months and weeks prior to the launch.
While grateful that Tim provides a 12 week plan outline to launch, I think in our day of instant gratification, he might do well to have provided a 90 day schedule of tasks to do each day until launch day arrives. Because then the business builder would focus more on the business rather than merely thinking it can be accomplished in a few hours once per week.
This module’s content shows Tim’s humility, as he gives the reins to his assistant, Aaron Eaton, who’s an expert in Amazon PPC strategies.
Aaron made a sequence of 8 videos (and a bonus 9th):
- Keyword selection (This is Aaron’s mini-lecture on the nature of keywords, from definition to use)
- ACoS & Bidding Prices (after explaining both terms, Aaron paints a picture of the overall objective of PPC campaigns)
- The automatic campaign (walkthrough of construction with bid price advice)
- Manual campaigns (pyramid of PPC introduced, from broad to exact match)
- The Search Term Report (This data is the report card of your pay-per-click efforts) #vitalinformation
- PPC pyramid (keyword filtering cycle explained in-depth)
- Moving up keywords (part 2 of previous video)
- Weekly tasks (maintaining high converting PPC offensives)
- The ultimate campaign (that gets you an super low ACoS) #thebonus
The brilliance of Aaron’s lecture is in his step-by-step explanations, where he goes into enough detail to be clear, using the proper language of PPC, but with enough definitions to be clearly understood by the seller who is just beginning on Amazon.
He goes through the exact steps that someone would go through when running an actual PPC campaign, giving a literal framework to follow.
Thanks to the campaign creation techniques and the great structure, this was my favorite module of the course by far.
In this module, Tim gives a lot of advice on growing your brands, referencing different steps to optimize and outsource.
Covered in this lesson:
- The importance of product reviews
- Generating additional revenue using Amazon promotions
- 3 aspects of your business to keep a close eye on to maintain sales
- Handling the 'Running Out of Stock' Situation
- Further listing optimization through split testing
- Getting the most out of your Lightning Deals
- Ejecting hijackers (expert level and beginner level)
- The rewards of brand registry
- Where to discover high caliber VA’s
- Tips to expedite your reimbursements
This module builds on subjects that are covered in modules 1-7. Most of Tim’s content is devoted to conveying suggestions to make a lot of the processes in your biz more efficient and more profitable.
Probably the most helpful video in this section to me was Tim’s tips on running out of stock (4th video in the module.) Tim gives both the facts and his reasons behind them, showing how to stay in stock longer as well as lists some legitimate reasons why sellers should want to stay in stock as long as possible (his argument centers around keyword rankings, because the longer you are out of stock, the more your keyword rankings drop).
Another part of Tim’s module that helped me was his information on hijackers. It is the most thorough training I’ve watched, delivering both examples and a simple-and-easy-to-understand explanation of the stolen buy-box scenario.
MODULE SUMMARY
Tim Sanders's Private Label Masters training is legit. It's step-by-step and thorough, but there's a lot of information, sometimes felt overwhelming. My big suggestion is to not skip ahead. Actually, follow along and start building the business as you move forward. The frustrating part about this business is that certain stages take weeks or months to complete, such as ordering samples from overseas or waiting for inventory to arrive to FBA warehouse. This is why it's more ideal to launch multiple products at once if you have the capital for it.
Private Label Masters vs. Amazing Selling Machine
With Amazing Selling Machine, they have delegated a lot of the support to their "ASM Mentor Program" which are former students that became successful, but they are nowhere near Tim's level of expertise.
It's unclear whether the actual ASM founders like Matt Clark, Rich Henderson, Jason Katzenback, or Mike McClary are still building their Amazon business today.
ASM has 30,000 members, and I believe they focus most of their time on managing that.
In our full Amazing Selling Machine Review, we get into more specifics.
Private Label Masters Alternatives?
Private Label Masters placed #1 in 2024 on our Top Amazon FBA Courses page.
However, if you're strapped for cash, the $5000 price tag may be the one thing stopping you. Ultimately, experience is the best teacher yet you still want some solid guidance. So here are some alternatives that are more affordable but still solid Amazon FBA seller training.
Avoid courses like Bashar Katou's BJK University, which has an expensive price tag but generic training material and unsatisfactory mentorship.
Is Private Label Masters worth it?
Private Label Masters is worth it if you have the money, because of the community and being able to get live coaching from Tim Sanders on a weekly basis. There's so many variables that can derail an Amazon FBA business. It's invaluable to have the guidance of a 8 figure private label seller.
Why is Amazon getting more competitive?
Amazon FBA is bound to get more competitive with 4,000 new sellers joining FBA everyday. But the biggest reason, Amazon is getting more competitive today, is there's numerous brands & manufacturers that started doing FBA themselves. And they're able to undercut 3rd party sellers' prices with ease, and make a lot of product categories impossible to compete in.
3rd party sellers like me and you are basically middleman. We can get cut out of the equation. The biggest leverage we have is the ability to take products and add differentiating factors like product innovation to fix issues with existing products or making it better.
Another way to running the private label business is to launch products like crazy, and have so many products out there that you're not scared of some of your products getting taken out by competitors. This does not happen overnight. It takes long-term focus and dedication. You must have a passion for this type of business.
Amazon FBA Alternative Business?
Amazon FBA ranks highly on our top online business list.
But Amazon is not the right type of business for everyone.
For some, local lead generation might be a better fit. It was for me. It's one of the top businesses anyone can start and use it as a vehicle to escape the 9 to 5.
What's cool about lead generation is you don't have the hassle of dealing with physical products. It's also less competitive than Amazon FBA.
It's been one of the most consistent passive income business that I've done. To learn more, check out this lead generation coaching page.
