Are you looking to launch an online store on Amazon? If so, you might have heard about Ellen Lin, the founder of Ellenpro, who is promoting her Amazon course on Youtube.
According to Ellen, you can follow her strategies to scale your monthly sales and climb to new heights with simple steps.
But since there are so many gurus out there and Amazon is notorious for the intense competition, you might wonder if Ellen’s Ellenpro is really the answer to your business dream.
Or is Ellen Lin a scam who just wants to pocket your hard earned money? To give you an answer, I’ve conducted some research on Ellen Lin and her course Million Dollar Golden Formula.
At the end of this article, I’ll also tell you a much better alternative that can help you build a six figure online business at zero risk.
Below is what I’ll cover in the review of Ellen Lin and her course Million Dollar Golden Formula.
Who is Ellen Lin?
Ellen Lin is an online entrepreneur who made a fortune from Amazon where her sales reached seven figures on a yearly basis.
But her success doesn’t happen out of the blue. It took her five years of shedding blood and tears to start from a small vendor on eBay to become a top seller on Amazon, reaching two million dollars in sales.
Her rags to success story is inspirational. She started off with $600 in her pocket and made use of her garage as a storefront to sell products she brought from Taiwan to the US customers.
Being bilingual and speaking three languages, she is able to communicate with customers and suppliers from different countries.
Fast forward to 2020, she is now the coach of over 350 students from more than 12 countries, turning her students who are unaware of the business opportunities into their own bosses.
In case you don’t know what is Amazon FBA, here’s the video for you:
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What is Ellenpro?
Ellenpro is an education company founded by Ellen Lin. It has the primary focus on teaching people how to launch a successful online store on Amazon.
Having featured on Grant Cardone TV, NBC, FOX, The Huffington Post, Ellenpro is a famous brand in South East Asia.
But people outside the Chinese speaking markets might not have heard of Ellenrpo since Ellen Lin doesn’t offer any training programmes in English.
There are two Amazon courses available on the website of Ellenpro, namely, Amazon Beginner Package and Million Dollar Golden Formula.
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How Does Amazon FBA Work?
Here is how it works:
- You ship your goods to Amazon.
- When a customer orders one of your products, Amazon takes care of picking, packing, shipping, and tracking for you.
- They are also responsible for returns and refunds.
However, all of this comes at a cost. Amazon charges two separate service fees: Storage and Shipping.
However, the costs cover access to one of the largest and most advanced fulfillment networks in the world, as well as Amazon’s exceptional 24/7 customer service and the cost of shipping products to customers.
Any business, no matter how large or small, can benefit from Amazon’s huge customer base and extensive distribution network by signing up for the FBA program.
They can benefit from the excellent support staff and generous warehousing facilities.
In addition, Amazon’s support can increase sales and awareness of your business as buyers have more confidence in what you offer.
What’s Inside Ellenpro Million Dollar Golden Formula?
The flagship programme on Ellenpro – Million Dollar Golaen Formula offers the following content:
- A step by step blueprint on who to find the right niche and validate your niche ideas
- Tutorials on sourcing products from the best suppliers and how to convert potential customers into sales
- Explains the mindsets that are necessary to for an entrepreneur to overcome the ups and downs and generate steady sales
- Provides you with hacks to stay ahead of your competitors and manage the business-related risks that Amazon vendors would face
- Instil the entrepreneurship into the students of this course
- Shows you the best ways to scale your business while you just start to sell on Amazon
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Is Amazon FBA Legit or a Scam?
Amazon Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) has exploded in popularity since its inception. Amazon FBA has many potential benefits, but it can also seem like a scam because it offers so much advertising and a variety of products. After all, some of the success stories about Amazon FBA are the kind of statements you would read on a scam website, and they sound like pure fantasy.
The FBA program is legitimate. The idea is simple, and it’s not hard for a newbie to make their first sale with the help of certain online courses. It’s exciting because there’s a lot of money to be made from online shopping, and it’s something you can do as a side job, a full-time job, or even as a replacement for your current career if that’s what you want.
Pros of Million Dollar Golden Formula
1. Good Content
The course is well structured and covers all the essentials for getting started with Amazon FBA.
2. Good Mentorship
It appears that her students have a positive impression of her interactions with them.
3. Refund Policy
You can send the refund request to [email protected] within 30 days of purchase for a full refund to be processed.
4. Ellen Lin is a good teacher
One of the strongest points of the program is Ellen’s relaxed demeanor and straightforward instructions. She impressed me as someone who knows her stuff when it comes to doing business with Amazon.
Cons and Complaints of Million Dollar Golden Formula
1. Time-Consuming
It’s a lot of work to create and optimize a product listing, even if Amazon does a lot of the work for you.
2. Challenging to become a leader in the industry
Running an Amazon FBA business is difficult. I think Ellen underestimated the effort required to become a top seller on Amazon.
3. High Startup cost
Running a business on Amazon is expensive because you have to invest in merchandise and marketing efforts.
4. Difficult to track inventory
With a large amount of FBA inventory, it can be tedious to manage it all. You can easily manage a hundred to two hundred products from a single page in Seller Central.
When you have thousands of products, it becomes difficult to keep track of what you have in stock, what you need, and where you may need to cut back.
You can keep track of your top-selling items, but much more than that becomes difficult, especially given the high level of automation in the system.
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Who is Million Dollar Golden Formula For?
As Ellen points out, starting an Amazon FBA business is not for the faint of heart, as it requires a high level of dedication and commitment. The minimum startup cost for an Amazon marketplace business is between $15,000 and $20,000.
Since you cannot start an FBA business without learning some basic information first, you’ll need to spend a lot of money on a training program like Million Dollar Golden Formula.
You will also need to invest in product samples and inventory, labeling and shipping costs, product launch services/pay-per-click advertising, and Amazon marketing services.
When you start selling through Bezos’ marketplace, the initial $10,000 is gone quickly.
For lack of a better term, let us just say it’s expensive and time-consuming. You should think carefully before deciding whether or not to risk your hard-earned money.
When you take everything into consideration, it is obvious that this program is best suited for the already successful entrepreneur.
Positive and Negative Feedback From Students of Ellenpro Million Dollar Golden Formula
Positive Feedback
- The course is informative and comprehensive in content
- The mentorship offered is impressive and Ellen Lin is keeping to help
- The personality of Ellen Lin is a major plus for this programme. I found her to be knowledgeable and experienced with Amazon business.
There are some pros with this programme, as we have seen, so we should consider the cons.
Negative Feedback
- Running an Amazon FBA business is challenging but I did feel Ellen slightly underemphasised just how much hard work it takes to be a leading seller in 2020.
- The cost involved to run a business on Amazon is significant as you need to buy stock and spend money on advertising. The later expenditure is downplayed in the promotion of Ellenpro’s programme.
Is Ellen Lin a Scam or Legit?
I wouldn’t say Ellen Lin or Ellenpro is a scam.
After googling for some time, I found that she did have reached two million dollars in sales. But Ellen didn’t show you the net profit.
From my observation, the profit margin of most Amazon vendors is, at best, slightly higher than 10%, due to the intense competition.
In fact, Ellen makes it clear that starting an Amazon FBA business requires persistence and relentless focus, which is definitely not suitable for the faint of heart.
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The Problems with Amazon FBA that Ellen Lin Doesn’t Tell You
Below are the reasons why I don’t recommend the Amazon FBA business model.
FBA business needs a large upfront cost
To launch a business on Amazon, you will need $15-20k, at least.
Besides, since you can’t get started without any knowledge, you have to pay for an FBA course such as Million Dollar Golden Formula which is quite expensive to novices.
Moreover, you have to spend money on product samples and inventory, labeling and shipping costs, product launch services/pay-per-click advertising and Amazon Marketing Services. The first 10k will be quickly exhausted once you start selling on Bezo’s platform.
In one word, it is time-consuming and costs a lot of money. So, you must think carefully if you really want to risk your hard earned money.
FBA Business model is complex
Though Amazon does a lot of the work for you, it still requires a lot of work to get a product listing up and optimized.
Apart from that, you have to deal with numerous dry tasks on a daily basis. For instance, you have to negotiate with suppliers, make comparisons on shipping companies, freight forwarders and comply with the regulations of Amazon and local governments, etc.
This process is too sophisticated for beginners who might be just looking for a side hustle or a source of passive income that requires little time and investment.
There is no quick cash flow
Cash flow is the lifeblood of a business. However, in the Amazon FBA business model, mostly sellers have to invest a considerable amount of money to purchase inventories from suppliers in China.
If you want to create a unique private label product, the costs will be even higher. For example, most manufacturers in China charge you a few hundred dollars just for creating a prototype. If you don’t trust me, you can ask for a price on Alibaba.com.
In most cases, production may take 1-2 months depending on the nature of the products and quantity. Afterwards, it takes 2 weeks in shipment and custom clearance before arriving at Amazon warehouse.
This process indicates that it can take up to months before you’re paid for the inventory you bought.
Price war reduces profitability
Price war is ubiquitous on Amazon. Whenever a seller tries to attract more customers by lowering the prices, other sellers will be forced to cut their prices as well.
To avoid a net loss, you might have to cut the product costs. This results in lower product quality, negative feedback from customers and hence a drop in sales.
Apart from the intense competition, you have to deal with changing sales tax laws, category restrictions and Amazon policies.
In the worst case, Amazon might even ban your account permanently if you mistakenly violate some rules.
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Better Alternative to Ellen Lin’s Course to Make Passive Income
If you’re new to online business, you might wonder if there’s a better business model that doesn’t need initial capital and can do it as a side-hustle.
Of all the business models I’ve tried, affiliate marketing is the easiest and most rewarding so far.
In affiliate marketing, you can run your business almost with zero cost. Most importantly, you don’t need to invest in creating and developing any products.
Also, it is less time consuming since you don’t have to manage inventory or handle customer service.
You can enjoy a steady stream of passive income while going on vacation or working a full-time job.
Since the world is full of uncertainty, I’d always choose a business model that has the lowest risk.
But How Much Can You Earn in Affiliate Marketing?
A 21-year old student from my #1 recommended training platform of affiliate marketing was able to earn $7,395 in just 1 week, which means he made more than $1k a day…all while using free traffic methods.
Wealthy Affiliate has existed for more than 10 years and there are many success stories over the years.
To give you more examples, here are some of the other inspiring success stories of Wealthy Affiliate members.
Where to Join Wealthy Affiliate?
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If you want to feel about Wealthy Affiliate, you can sign up for the starter membership here (no credit card required). You can select to be a free member with no time limit.
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So I strongly recommend you to register a free account and see it yourself.
