In The Wholesale Formula by Dan Meadors and Dylan Frost, you learn how to scout already profitable products, source them from brand owners, and sell them profitably on the Amazon marketplace. It's a process they call Reverse Sourcing Wholesale. In this review, we'll cover if this course is worth the investment, what you'll learn, and how it compares to other Amazon FBA courses. We'll do a comparison between Amazon wholesale and private label to see which one is the better option when looking to sell an Amazon product.
After, I'll speak on how Amazon FBA differs from the local lead generation business model, which allows you to earn a passive income without having to buy any physical products.
Pros
Dan and Dylan teach you how to get in the door with brands and how to properly talk to them so you can sell wholesale for them on Amazon. The goal is to help you start a profitable Amazon wholesale business.
Valuable Facebook group
Live coaching calls each week
Dan and Dylan have generated over $31 million in sales on Amazon
Cons
You can't binge the course. Entire modules are drip fed; no click-by-click guidance in the first two modules
The step-by-step guidance is mediocre.
Several sections in this course seem to be incomplete or surface-level.
You don't learn how to run PPC ads to promote your products
Price:
The Wholesale Formula costs $2,497. You have the option to pay $997 for three months. (Enrollment is currently closed. The course opens twice each year.)
Refund Policy:
30-day, no-questions asked, 100% money-back guarantee
Training:
5 modules with 90+ training videos; They provide spreadsheets, email templates, cheat sheets, calculators and checklists.
Group:
The Wholesale Formula Alumni Facebook group
Origin:
Dan started selling on Amazon in 2011. In 2014, Dylan joined him and now are 7+ figure entrepreneurs. They started the Wholesale Formula in 2017.
Reputation:
The over 5300 students that have joined The Wholesale Formula have made over $1 billion in sales on Amazon.
Who are Dan Meadors and Dylan Frost?
Dan Meadors is the co-founder of The Wholesale Formula and hails all the way from Corbin, Kentucky. Dylan is from Middlesboro, Kentucky. In 2011, they worked at an online retail company that sold collectible card games. When the CFO of the company quit, Dan and Dylan were curious why. His reason was that he wanted to focus on selling products online.
After their ex-CFO introduced them to retail arbitrage, they spent the next few days and weeks learning how to make it work. For 4 months, they reinvesting every dollar back into the business and quit their full-time jobs to do Amazon full time. It all started with a credit card with a $600 credit limit. In their first 3 years of selling on Amazon, they were doing retail arbitrage, averaging $1 million in sales per year. In 2014, they decided on doing reverse sourcing wholesale. By 2016 and 2017, they were already making $11 million in sales on Amazon.
Reverse sourcing wholesale changed the game for them. Today, they offer The Wholesale Formula course and The Wholesale Formula Workshop, which is a 3-day virtual event where Dan and Dylan teach their formula for finding and selling products on Amazon.
What is Reverse Sourcing Wholesale?
Reverse Sourcing Wholesale is bypassing wholesalers and buying products directly from manufacturers. Companies like Amazon and Walmart do exactly that.
What's included in The Wholesale Formula?
Here is what you'll learn in each module of the course.
This first module is where Dan and Dylan introduce you to the course layout, the business model, and what you can expect to learn.
They focused module 2 on helping you analyze what a profitable product is and how to tell if it's worth selling on Amazon. This module contains 10 training videos and you're also taught about the importance of the 'Buy Box'.
In module 3, you learn about the 'TWF Scouting and Sourcing' system, which includes strategies called Leaf Sourcing, Amazon Filtering, and Super Targeting.
Dan and Dylan will help you make brands not think twice about working with you. It starts with creating your website, optimizing your listing, and more.
The final module is where you learn exactly what Dan and Dylan do to contact suppliers and negotiate the best prices with manufacturers so that you can maximize profits on every sale.
- VA Launchpad - Training course on how to hire and train virtual assistants that will help you scale your Amazon business.
- Discounts on services such as JungleScout, Restock Pro, and Tactical Arbitrage.
- 10+ hours of in-depth webinar replays.
- The Business Owners Playbook - This mini-course playbook will help you excel at everything a business owner needs to be good at, such as negotiating, hiring employees, and more.
What is The Wholesale Formula Seminar?
The Wholesale Formula Seminar is an online training webinar where you learn to maximize your profits by identifying profitable products. This one-day event is also called the Wholesale Formula Live Workshop and costs $49.99.
What is the difference between Reverse Sourcing Wholesale and Retail Arbitrage?
The difference between Reverse Sourcing Wholesale and retail arbitrage is that you go directly to the supplier to buy products at wholesale prices. With retail arbitrage, you're going to retail stores such as Walmart and Costco to buy products and resell them on Amazon. Retail arbitrage is the easiest way for someone to get started with Amazon FBA.
Wholesale selling simply cuts out the "middlemen" like Walmart and Costco.
Wholesale vs. Private Label
Few people know Amazon has several ways for you to make money. Private label is one of those ways. Look at how wholesale compares to the private label business model.
Wholesale
Private Label
Invest:
Minimum $5K investment to get started
Higher initial investment to start a brand. $10K+
Products:
You need to order products in bulk and store them at a warehouse before you make any sales.
Once you order your products from a manufacturer, you brand your products and then store them until orders are placed.
Workload:
Fewer variables to worry about. Focus more time on product selection and product promotion instead of all the aspects of scaling a brand.
Heavy workload initially. You call all the shots. You decide how much your products will cost, what kind of marketing you'll use and create any product you want. Once you hire VAs, your workload can be much less hectic.
Profit Margin:
Lower profit margins since you don't own your brand. You are simply selling others' products in bulk.
You keep most of the profit from your online sales because you own your brand and you can sell your brand for three to five times its annual revenue. If you grow a team to scale your business, you'll end up splitting your profits.
Ideal for:
People who don't want to create a brand and who don't have the money to compete against larger, already established brands.
People who have a talent for marketing, branding, who already have a following and who don't mind waiting 6+ months before they see an ROI.
To learn about the what other options there are to sell products on Amazon, read my article on what the 10 different Amazon FBA business models are.
Is The Wholesale Formula a scam?
The Wholesale Formula is not a scam, as many students within the program have become successful Amazon sellers. Here are just a few testimonials.
Aymeric Monello is a first-generation French immigrant who came to the United States in search of the American dream. After joining The Wholesale Formula program, Aymeric has earned over half a million dollars in profit in only 3 years. He was also able to sell his Amazon business for $400,000.
Before joining the TWF program, Sean Elliott was paying himself $2,000 in his business. 6 months after joining, his income jumped from $2K, all the way to $5,000 per month. He credits all his success to the tips and strategies learned in The Wholesale Formula course.
Dr. Karl Goldkamp is an acupuncturist, herbalist and successful Amazon seller thanks to Dan and Dylan's course. After hearing good things about the course, Dr. Goldkamp joined and got started selling products on Amazon. He found the weekly webinars valuable because Dan, Dylan, and another coach, Eric, were showing exactly what they were doing on Amazon and what was working. After a week or two, Dr. Goldkamp made his initial investment back and is making thousands of dollars each month.
The Wholesale Formula Alternatives
Private Label Masters by Tim Sanders is the #1 Amazon FBA course and alternative to The Wholesale Formula. In the past few years, Tim has sold over $60 million dollars and is an active Amazon seller today. This course focuses on teaching private label to both beginners and experienced sellers. There are live weekly coaching calls and the Amazon PPC training is excellent.
Price: Private Label Masters costs $5000
More Info: Private Label Masters Review.
Wholesale Academy by Larry Lubarsky is the best wholesale coursed we've come across. Like Tim Sanders, he's an 8-figure seller who started wholesaling in 2012. In 2021, he made $15 million in sales. This course costs $1,997. Once you join, you'll be given access to a private Facebook group for support, two live coaching calls by Larry each month, and 40+ hours of video content.
Price: Wholesale Academy costs $1,997
More Info: Wholesale Academy review
Wholesale Underground by Marvin Leonard is another solid Amazon wholesale course. You learn everything you need to know to get started as well as how to get more 5-star reviews and how to scale your profitable product listings to other platforms. Marvin is active in his private Facebook group and is available to help you if you're confused during your product research phase.
Price: Wholesale Academy costs $997
More Info: Wholesale Underground review
To see a complete list of alternative courses to The Wholesale Formula, read my article on the 6 best Amazon FBA courses.
Can Amazon FBA still be profitable in 2023?
Amazon FBA can still be profitable in 2023 if you understand the amount of effort, time, and money it entails. The good news is that there are over 153 million Amazon Prime members in the United States. In 2020, there were 142.5 million. Clearly, the demand is there. The bad news is that every day, the number of Amazon sellers continues to rise. A study by JungleScout said that over 3700 new Amazon FBA sellers join each day.
You won't make 6-figures if you just choose a product or two and sit around seeing what happens. You've got to stay active.
Your success will rely on your ability to innovate, determine the right product, promote your Amazon products better than anyone else and how much you invest.
Alternate business model that is less of a hassle than Amazon FBA
I like Amazon FBA and I've made some money a few years ago, but it's not my top pick for the best online business model. With local lead generation, I'm able to work smarter and earn a more predictable income month in and month out.
On Amazon, you're competing against thousands of sellers to win the Buy Box. With local lead generation, you only need to compete with a dozen local businesses, which is much easier to do with sites like this.
This site and over 50 others regularly pay me a passive income and I don't have to do much after they're ranked on Google. There's no need to keep looking for the next best product like you do with wholesale and there's no need to split test any ads when promoting products with Facebook ads.
To learn more details about this business model, check out the local lead generation coaching program.
