Amazon Beginner Mastery is an Amazon FBA course by Crescent Kao that was established in 2021. According to Crescent, the program has helped thousands of Amazon sellers earn millions of dollars using his 5-step process.
This course is focused on private labeling and not only teaches you the essentials of Amazon FBA, such as product research and supplier negotiations, but also covers proven FBA strategies like Amazon listing optimization, Amazon PPC, and many more.
Strangely, he doesn’t have any negative reviews anywhere on the internet. The only red flag I could find was him becoming very defensive every time someone commented on his videos, asking if he’s legit or not.
Still, my overall review on Crescent Kao is that he is indeed legit and has the desire to help others launch their own Amazon FBA business and attain financial freedom.
Amazon Beginner Mastery might help you set up a successful Amazon business and let you establish a source of passive income, but in the end, you’ll still spend most of your time marketing your product, coming up with product ideas, as well as dealing with a variety of issues such as product hijackers, inventory problems, shady suppliers, and so much more.
Local lead generation is a more stable way to passively generate income and does not require you to maintain your business as much as Amazon FBA.
Local Lead Generation is the process of ranking a website on google that promotes a service. All you have to do is rank your website using SEO practices that satisfy Google's algorithm, and watch your website generate leads for local businesses that use your website.
Not only does this give you a more stable source of income, it also requires little to no maintenance.
Pros
A plethora of educational resources that you will own permanently.
Unlimited one-on-one coaching.
Access to a private Facebook group for support.
The course is suited for both beginners and experts.
Cons
There is a lack of objective / negative reviews.
The 14-Day Refund Policy is voided once you watch more than 20% of the course materials.
Price might be a bit expensive for first-time sellers.
Price
A one time payment of $1,997, or five monthly payments of $599
Refund Policy
Their 14-Day Money Back Guarantee is deemed valid as long as you have watched less than 20% of the course material and are still eligible for their Action Based Refund Policy available in their Terms of Service. No exceptions.
Origin
2021
Reputation
Little to no honest reviews, which could be a bit sketchy.
Is 2022 Really the Best Time to Start Selling on Amazon FBA?
Short answer: No. 2022 is no longer a good time to start selling on Amazon FBA as a beginner, though Crescent Kao claims that it is.
According to Crescent, as long as you follow his course and apply everything he teaches, your FBA business will inevitably become successful. He says that the best time to start an Amazon business is in 2022, especially when given the right advice and guidance.
However, here are 4 reasons that prove why Amazon FBA does not work in 2022 anymore.
1. Products Are Already Oversaturated
As of 2022, there are around 350 million products listed on Amazon, which is one of the main reasons selling on Amazon FBA is hard.
Coming up with a unique product in 2022 would be extremely difficult, especially in a market like Amazon where almost every product on every niche is already up for sale.
Even when you find a unique product that sells, it will only be a matter of time until bigger and more established companies take notice of your listing and overtake you once they start selling the same product. Unfortunately, Amazon favors well-known brands more than third-party sellers.
On top of that, there are other markets that sell all kinds products, both on the internet and in the real world, which further narrows down your chances of coming up with a product that isn't saturated.
2. The Competition Is Tougher Than Ever
Back in 2021, Amazon had a whopping 6.3 million third party sellers, 1.5 million of which were active. In addition, 57% of total Amazon sales in 2022 belonged to third-party sellers.
Starting an Amazon FBA business in 2022 means having to compete with an insane amount of competition, which includes:
- Established brands that often have loyal customers.
- Chinese sellers that offer cheap prices which are hard to match.
- Suppliers and manufacturers that are entering the market themselves, which can be detrimental for first-time sellers looking for a low-cost product supplier.
- Amazon itself. One of Amazon's biggest private label brands is Amazon Basics. However, they have over 130 brands scattered across their platform.
According to Amazon, its private label brands are responsible for over 1% of total sales in 2021, which is equal to approximately $4.7 billion.
On top of that, new FBA sellers are also subject to product hijacking. Product hijacking is a tactic sellers use to gain an advantage against other sellers. It is the process of copying a product and creating your own version, usually a cheaper one.
While product hijackers typically offer low quality products, consumers can often be blinded by the low, discounted prices.
You have to keep in mind that as more sellers are joining the Amazon markets, products get cheaper and margins become slimmer. This trend has been occurring for the past 5 to 6 years.
3. You Have To Keep Paying
Having your products fulfilled by Amazon eliminates the need to pay for shipping and other overhead costs. However, there are a handful of fees that can quickly pile up, which could take away your hard-earned money.
One of the biggest concerns when it comes to selling on Amazon is being able to preserve margins because, more often than not, the money sellers make are used to pay off Amazon's costly fees.
Here is a list of fees FBA sellers can expect to pay once they launch their business:
- Referral fees: Whenever a product is sold, Amazon takes a percentage from the sale.
- Individual per-item fees / Subscription fees: On top of the referral fee, Amazon also takes a percentage from each completed transaction. Individual accounts and professional accounts are charged differently.
- FBA fees: Each item is taxed depending on its size and weight.
- Storage fees: Items stored in a warehouse are charged on monthly basis until it is released. However, if your product has been sitting in a warehouse for more than 365 days, Amazon charges you $6.90 per cubic foot of storage used.
- Refund administration fees: Whenever a product is returned for a refund, Amazon processes it for you. However, you must pay a fee before the refund is released to the customer.
- Amazon PPC: While paying for PPC is not a requirement, it is the only way your product will be able to rank and be seen by customers. Not paying for PPC means letting your listing be hidden on top of those who are paying for the service.
Read our full breakdown of Amazon FBA startup costs to know more.
4. The Pandemic Is Over
Amazon FBA has gained traction in recent years simply because people have turned to online shopping in the midst of the pandemic.
In light of recent news regarding Amazon planning to layoff 10,000 employees, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has indicated that the company is experiencing minimal growth in its retail sector.
He states that Amazon's retail business is facing a downward trend, due to the fact that the pandemic is starting to come to an end, resulting in people returning to physical stores.
On top of that, Amazon's stock is reported to by down by about 41% this year, which puts the company on track to surpass its worse year since 2008.
Aspiring FBA sellers must keep in mind that Amazon is an online marketplace which relies heavily on digital traffic to survive. Consumers are now beginning to shift back to physical stores, which could be bad news for anyone planning to start an FBA business in 2022.
This is just one of the reasons Amazon FBA is a bad idea. Amazon isn't exactly a "sinking ship", but it may be a bit too late to jump on board now after everything that's been happening in the Amazon market.
Who Is Crescent Kao?
Crescent Kao is an Amazon FBA coach who began his FBA business back in 2017. He is a dual-degree holder, having graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design and Computer Science.
While he was still in college, he started his first online venture and made his first million at the age of 24. His hunger for knowledge and learning were ignited by his favorite successful entrepreneurs such as Mark Cuban and Grant Cardone.
Today, he is a passionate coach, dedicated to helping others achieve the same kind of success and financial freedom he was able to attain.
Amazon Beginner Mastery Modules
Crescent Kao’s Amazon Beginner Mastery contains 14 modules, including a bonus module, which are all designed to help you in setting up your account, finding the right product, contacting suppliers, optimizing your listings, and many more.
This module starts off the course by giving a quick introduction and briefly providing a general overview of Amazon FBA, which includes private labeling, FBA vs FBM, and Crescent's personal insights on why most Amazon FBA sellers fail.
In this module, Crescent teaches you everything you need to know in order to properly set up your own Amazon FBA business.
Not only does he teach the basics of launching your own business such as branding, trademarking, and Amazon Seller Account creation, he also outlines crucial aspects every seller must keep in mind such as paying taxes, understanding gated categories, and choosing the right Amazon marketplace.
Failing plan is planning to fail. Thankfully, this module teaches you how to plan and strategize your business moves and helps you minimize costly mistakes and errors by discussing time management, income planning, setting up profit goals, and many more.
The Amazon market contains millions of products, which can raise some concerns for first-time sellers like you.
This module covers everything you need to know when finding and researching about a product such as product research tools, product tracking, good and bad product examples, and avoiding competitive & saturated niches.
This module not only gives you an overview of all the potential costs and fees of starting an Amazon FBA business, but also helps you come up with pricing plans and budgeting strategies that best fits your needs.
Coming up with the perfect product won’t work if you don’t have a supplier that sources high-quality products at the lowest possible cost.
This module teaches you exactly how to find and contact suppliers, determine how much to order, negotiate for the best possible price, and other important topics.
This module focuses on branding, labeling, product inspections and everything you need to know about successfully building your brand before launching your product.
Crescent also teaches you how to properly bundle products, which can be very helpful in generating more sales.
This module is focused solely on teaching you everything you need to know about shipping, including shipping costs, types of shipping, coming up with a shipping plan, and even avoiding heavy tariffs.
Listing Optimization is the process of optimizing your listings in order to rank higher and generate more traffic, which then increases potential sales.
This module covers all topics related to listing optimization such as UPC vs FNSKU barcodes, creating effective PPC campaigns, understanding product variations, and other crucial aspects of properly optimizing your Amazon listings.
Once you’ve developed your product, the only thing left is the product launch. This module covers all the necessary steps in successfully launching your product and getting your listing ranked on Amazon's first page.
This module also teaches you how to obtain customer reviews without breaching any of Amazon’s regulations, as well as setting up an automatic email responder to help you in getting reviews.
Part of launching your listing is creating marketing and advertising campaigns that effectively promote your product to the right audiences.
This module teaches you exactly how to properly analyze and optimize PPC campaigns, use Amazon Brand Registry, create powerful insert cards to obtain reviews, and so much more.
Starting an Amazon FBA business, just like any other business, typically entails having to deal with a variety of issues that could be detrimental if left unchecked.
This module teaches you how to combat product hijackers, avoid unnecessary suspensions, make sure to always win the Buy Box, get rid of negative reviews, and other concerns that FBA sellers deal with regularly.
Crescent also provides valuable bonus content for free.
Some of the topics covered in the bonus module include important Amazon Seller dates, how to use Amazon to earn bonus points & rewards and travel the world for free, creating profitable Facebook ad campaigns, insert card hack to get massive reviews and many more.
Crescent provides dozens of resources that he uses in addition to his course. On top of that, you'll also gain access to all of his favorite tools, a UPC and FNSKU barcode selection flowchart, a step-by-step product research flowchart, a list of products to avoid, and various documents to assist you with product research.
In addition, he also provides a list of FAQs and a guide in starting your own Amazon Private Label to help you become more educated before making any business moves.
Other Private Label FBA Courses
Conclusion: Is Amazon Beginner Mastery Legit? Or is Crescent Kao Just Another Scam?
Crescent Kao promises to help aspiring FBA sellers launch their own FBA business and has everything he needs to back it up. Not only does he have a ton of positive reviews, he also has over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he answers every question in the comments section of his videos.
However, starting an Amazon FBA business typically puts you up against a handful of issues and concerns that are often just out of your control, such as product over-saturation, shady suppliers, tremendous amounts of Amazon product research, intense competition against other sellers, and many more.
Local Lead Generation, on the other hand, is an online business that isn’t subject to issues that Amazon FBA suffers from. It also serves as a stable source of passive income.
With Local Lead Gen, all you have to do is build a website that ranks highly on Google, allow local businesses to generate leads through your website, and keep it active for local businesses to use.
If you’re planning to start a business that provides a stable and continuous source of income with little to no maintenance, Local Lead Generation may be the best option for you.
