It’s becoming more and more common for folks to have a side gig these days and one of the most popular is product resale on Amazon. If you’re skilled at finding bargains and willing to put in the effort of repackaging them and selling them online through the site it can be a profitable sideline.
But it does come with downsides. One reseller recently took to social media to point out what you may face if you pursue the popular side hustle.
Nick Milani (@nickynickster) has an entire TikTok account dedicated to reselling on Amazon. He claims to have sold over $3 million through his own Amazon account. When he received a dubious return in December he quickly filmed a video to inform other potential resellers about their risks.
In the video, captioned “Not here to scare you, just warn you,” Nick shows video evidence of a customer attempting to camouflage an inferior product in a fancier box. The video, posted on December 28, received 160,800 views as of Monday.
First, he shows a box that once contained an expensive-looking De’Longhi espresso and cappuccino maker. But that’s not what was inside the box that was returned to him.
“Someone returned this product on Amazon with this inside,” he tells his viewers.
He then shows a very run-down-looking Nespresso coffee maker. The De’Longhi retails for about $280 on Amazon. A new Nespresso Vertuo Next Coffee and Espresso Maker (also made by De’Longhi) is currently priced at about $150 less.
The Nespresso in question does not look new.
“This is the reality of selling on Amazon,” Nick continues in the video. “You gotta deal with returns and stuff like this happens.”
“In Amazon, this is considered a loss [as the money is already refunded] or we try to resell this stuff at flea markets or on Facebook Marketplace,” he says. “If you don’t do it right you’ll lose a lot of money.”
@nickynickster Not here to scare you, just warn you #amazonreseller #sellonamazon #amazonreturns #fbatips #amazonfba #ecommercereturns #sellingonamazontips #learntosellonamazon ♬ original sound – Nick Milani | Amazon FBA
Several of Nick’s viewers stated that returns like the one he documented led to them abandoning their own resale gigs.
Steven Phan (@itsstevenphan) wrote, “That’s why I stopped selling on Amazon.”
“People will break their current device, buy the same device on Amazon, swap them, and return the broken one. It’s so common,” another viewer noted.
Other viewers had advice of their own to offer.
“You can open a claim. take photos of [the] box showing tracking. White packing slip, photo of materially different item. We win them all the time,” user @pantelischrysafis wrote.
Another viewer suggested that only authenticated distributors should be used, writing, “Plz bro usa authentic distributers plz.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Milani via email for further comment.
Update 1:32pm CT, Jan. 27, 2023: In an email to the Daily Dot, the TikToker said that Amazon was able to reimburse them after proving the customer sent the wrong product.
