William Rivera Ecom Degree University Review: Amazon FBA and Walmart Reselling + A Business Alternative

What Are the Pros and Cons of Ecom Degree University?

Pros:

• ✔️ Ecom Degree University provides personal coaching and mentorship.
• ✔️ EDU teaches both Amazon FBA (most popular) and Walmart Marketplace (less crowded).
• ✔️ William Rivera shares the full, legal details of how reselling works.
• ✔️ Ecom Degree University has many positive online reviews.

Cons:

• ❌ Ecom Degree University is expensive.
• ❌ EDU is sales-funnel heavy, and its free workshops lead into the paid program.
• ❌ Ecom Degree University has complaints about course delivery and refunds.
• ❌ EDU teaches a business model that’s already oversaturated.

💰 Price: Ecom Degree University costs $1,997 (as listed on Whop) and offers installment plans.

💸 Refund Policy: Ecom Degree University only offers a 3-day refund window.

🗓️ Origin: Ecom Degree University was created in 2018.

📣 Reputation: William Rivera has 770K Instagram followers, 189K YouTube subscribers, and 19K Facebook followers.

What Is Ecom Degree University’s Reselling Strategy for Amazon and Walmart?

• Get an LLC. If you’re focused on Amazon FBA, an LLC helps when opening wholesale accounts with big brands. For Walmart Marketplace, you need an LLC to open a seller account.
• Focus on home necessities. In a slowing economy, many people usually only buy what they need. With this, you won’t have to worry about demand dropping as much. William Rivera says he made his fortune by selling toilet paper and water.
• Sell established name-brand products. People already know and trust brands like Logitech, Bounty Paper, and Fiji Water, so it’s easier to sell. You’re not starting from zero, trying to convince someone your brand is legit.
• Pick lightweight products. Lighter items usually mean lower shipping fees. EDU leans toward products that are easier and cheaper to ship.
• Find brand distributors in your area. Local distributors are more willing to work with locals. Plus, there’s less competition than when finding suppliers online.
• Use AI tools to automate your tasks. Ecom Degree University recommends Scan Profit for finding profitable products on Amazon and SourceDart for Walmart. It also says its own AI tools can handle about 90% of the product research and automation.
• Hire a virtual assistant (VA). Besides AI tools, EDU encourages students to hire a VA to do extra product research, find local distributors, and communicate with them. ** ** William Rivera says you can hire someone on Fiverr for $3 an hour.

What’s Included in Ecom Degree University?

• Lifetime access to Ecom Degree University’s video curriculum.
• Access to its in-house AI tools.
• Your own product sourcing specialists.
• 1-on-1 coaching and mentoring.
• Members-only community and chat.
• 24/7 support.
• Ready-to-use templates.
• Step-by-step playbooks.
• Ongoing live coaching calls.

How Does Ecom Degree University Structure Its Programs and Pricing?

• Free live training or webinar. EDU often starts with a free online workshop that introduces the business model and sets up the next steps. For 2026, the workshops are more about Walmart Marketplace reselling than Amazon FBA.
• Low-cost bundles. Before the webinar, EDU offers cheap bundles that include interviews and mini-trainings to prep you for the full program. Right now, the offer is the “Walmart Fast Track Bundle” for $27.
• Main paid program. The funnel leads into the full Ecom Degree University program for $1,997. This includes the full curriculum, AI tools, coaching access, templates, and community support. Also, this is more on Amazon FBA.
• Upsells along the way. Some students on Trustpilot say they got additional upgrades or add-ons that cost anywhere from $1,000, $3,000, and $5,000.

It’s important to note that Ecom Degree University’s program and pricing structure can change at anytime. However, throughout the years, it has followed the same funnel more or less.

What Are Ecom Degree University Reviews Saying?

Ecom Degree University reviews are saying good things about the program and William Rivera. Emily Eaton, one student, liked that Will really invests in his students and adds new features and content for them. This is the reason he recently added Walmart Marketplace to his strategies, since it’s less crowded than Amazon FBA.

One Trustpilot review says that EDU is straight to the point. They say the program goes into all the details, like finding the best products and selling them for the best prices. It allowed them to retire, support their mom and sister, and still live comfortably.

However, newer reviews from 2025 are less positive about Ecom Degree University. One Reddit user says the support didn’t meet their expectations. They found communication too slow and even sometimes nonexistent. In the end, they decided to cancel the program.

Scott Ringgold on Trustpilot said he was disappointed because the calls were mostly about promises, bragging about student earnings, and pushing a $3,000 upsell.

Who Is Ecom Degree University For?

• People who want a coached, step-by-step path for Amazon/Walmart reselling.
• People who can afford $1,997 and other add-ons/upsells.
• People comfortable with thin margins, fees, and inventory risk.
• People who are okay with following platform rules and dealing with account/product restrictions.

What Are Alternatives to Ecom Degree University?

• Travis Marziani’s Passion Product Formula ($997). This Amazon FBA course teaches private label. The strategy leans on picking a product idea, validating it, getting it manufactured, then using Amazon PPC and a solid listing to launch and scale.
• Jasmine Green’s The Hustler’s Academy ($997). This course’s Amazon FBA strategy is mostly retail arbitrage/reselling. You’re finding already-popular branded products, buying them at a good price, and flipping them on Amazon. It’s less about building a brand and more about consistent sourcing, inventory management, and reinvesting to grow.
• David Scheuer’s Ecom Dave ($999 or $4,000 with coaching). This course teaches the classic private label Amazon FBA. It’s basically a step-by-step “find a product → build a listing → run ads → scale” playbook.

Who Is William Rivera?

William Rivera is a successful Amazon FBA seller and coach. He claims that he makes $30M just by selling products like Bounty Paper and Fiji Water on Amazon. He also says that he’s still an active seller on Amazon today. He shows that it’s passive income since he can also pursue other endeavors, like his Ecom Degree University program. For EDU, he says he coached $20,000 newbies and helped them earn thousands of dollars a month.

William Rivera is a successful Shopify Dropshipper and Amazon FBA seller, who is best known for his digital eCommerce course, Ecom Degree University, which specializes in dropshipping and Amazon FBA. He founded the program in 2018 and has over 1000 currently enrolled students.

A flashy YouTube Ad would pique his curiosity in dropshipping, but it wasn’t until attending an eCommerce conference in Atlanta that he saw real examples of success (which he felt he could replicate). He started funneling all of his extra cash from his job at LA fitness and spent the next few years sowing the seeds of his his future business.

At best, he was breaking even… that is, until he stumbled across a pair of bracelets marketed for couples. The Instagram ad had appeared multiple times on his feed, meaning they were clearly making sales. William located the product on AliBaba and would impulsively make a bulk purchase (at less than $1 per unit). He marketed the product on Instagram and made over $45,000 in less than three months.

“So the margins were crazy,” William states in a YouTube Video. “…and the fist thing I thought to myself was, ‘Wow, I can create a website and just sell it way cheaper the competition and I can make a better site.’ So that’s exactly what I did. I made a website with Shopify and then I started running Facebook ads for my bracelet. Instagram Story ads to be exact.”

William Rivera  //  Founder of eCom Degree University

For more details on William’s entrepreneurial journey, check out the video below.

On Instagram, William has over 408K followers but he hasnt’ posted anything since August 8, 2022.

Risks Involved With the Dropshipping and Amazon FBA online business Models?

There are a lot of risks involved with Dropshipping and Amazon FBA.

First off, competition is fierce. With FBA you’re going head to head with Amazon Basics and major Chinese suppliers (who can surely sell the same goods way cheaper than you can). Plagiarism is a big issue. Say you found a hidden gem item. If it sells well, literally in months thousands of other sellers will be offering the same thing, but at a cheaper price.

The money ain’t passive, either… Expect to put in the work. From finding suppliers and product research, to SEO, web design, and ad development, if you want to be successful, know that this is a full time job. Dropshipping is heavily dependent on blogging, too. If you want your photography dropshipping site to get traffic, know that you have to convince Google that your site is better than the other 100,000 photo blogs & eCom stores out there. And that means you have develop lots of not just lengthy, but quality content.

The reason this site shows up at the top of search results is because we put in a lot of work (and hundreds of thousands of dollars) every year to develop content that Google deems as “front page quality.”

You better like spending money on ads, because they aren’t cheap - and the price is going up. Things like Apple blocking Facebook ads only makes the problem worse. Also, ads take a lot of thought, testing, and time and all of that costs money. When you’re only profiting a few % per sale, those ads can quickly turn into losses at the end of the year.

Here’s a comprehensive and honest pros and cons article for Amazon FBA that you should definitely check out.

Up next, let’s take a look at what you get in William’s online business course.

Conclusion: William Rivera’s eCom Degree Univeristy is Not Recommended

William Rivera plays a great front. He’s friendly, knowledgable, and put together a solid presentation. He has had some success as a seller and his online course (at least according to what he lists) covers some decent ground.

But the obvious lack of transparency should make anyone consider other options. The reality is that there are better digital marketing courses, for less money, with highly regarded coaches.

Your money is hard earned, so do your research. Here are some of our best reviewed Amazon courses if you’re interested (and no, we’re not earring an affiliate commission on any of these).

What are the Best Alternatives to Ecom Degree University?

• Passion Product Formula by Travis Marziani is an online coaching program that focuses on Amazon FBA passion products to earn $100,000 per year. It provides 1-on-1 calls with Travis, access to proven checklists and worksheets, 11 video modules, and more.

Are the Dropshipping & Amazon FBA Business Models Still Relevant in 2022?

Both Amazon FBA and Dropshipping are still totally relevant and viable options for entrepreneurs interested in starting their own online businesses.

Just keep in mind that starting any business from scratch is difficult. You need to have the right attitude, knowledge, and be extremely hardworking and driven. On top of that, you also need to have the financial safety net and enough startup capital.

You’ll more than likely encounter some pitfalls like all entrepreneurs. But remember that it’s necessary and inevitable. Failure is only really failure when you don’t learn from your mistakes. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that behind their success were a series of hard lessons they successfully overcame.

Dropshipping and Amazon FBA are difficult businesses with high failure rates. 9 out of 10 of those who venture end up closing their virtual stores. Most of them quit because the market is too saturated, the business is difficult to scale, and the margins are slim (which means you need to work harder to earn more).

Dropshipping and Amazon FBA are not passive income businesses. You need to constantly innovate and research products that will sell profitably in your virtual stores. If you are looking for a more hands-off business, I recommend local lead generation.

A client of mine is Orange County Elite Commercial Roofing, 16410 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach, California 92648, 714-912-9395, https://ocelitecommercialroofing.com/. When I delivered 2 high-ticket leads worth over $200K, I earned $10K in 5% commission for that month.

Local lead generation is like owning the only well in a small town where everyone needs water, while selling on Amazon is like selling bottled water at Yankee Stadium where hundreds of other vendors are shouting for attention and cutting prices to win a sale. A local lead generation site generates leads passively every day without any marketing or sales. Chris Anderson, the head of TED, says that sustainable business models are built on niche markets. By providing exclusive leads to service-based local businesses that have permanent demand, like roofing, plumbing, and HVAC, you create a long-term sustainable source of income.

Local lead generation builds sites and ranks them on Google. They are as valuable and billboards in prime locations in the physical world, and you are the digital landlord. These sites generate leads for local service providers like plumbers, tree care, and towing companies. The goal is to build many digital assets and generate long-term passive income from them. These assets don’t need much maintenance, unlike virtual stores. So, you can enjoy time freedom while being financially free.