FBA Cheat Codes

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” -Winston Churchill

Even with a perfect battle plan, some quests fail. That's just the game.

You launch a product with high hopes, strong research, and solid fundamentals. Then Amazon changes the algorithm. Or a competitor comes in with a better offer. Or your reviews take a hit because one batch had a QC issue you didn't catch. Or you just picked the wrong product variation and the market didn't care.

It happens, and I'm not gonna join the army of fake Amazon experts telling you that you will always have a 100% success rate when launching a private label product on Amazon.

But here's what I've learned after years in this business: failure is never made twice when you have experience. The first time you are failing one of your quest, it stings. You lose money, you lose time (the worst…), and you question everything. But the harder you fail, the louder you tell yourself: NEVER AGAIN!

The only thing that actually matters for long-term success is this: never stop trying.

You don't need to be perfect. You need to be resilient. You need to know how to cut your losses fast, recover your capital as much as possible, and get back in the arena with sharper tactics and an XP boost.

That's what this chapter is about. Not teaching you how to 100% avoid failure (that's impossible) but cheating your way out of it so it doesn't kill your business.

The dead stock hidden boss fight

When a product is failing, every Amazon seller eventually faces this hidden boss fight: having a dead stock.

Unfortunately, some of you know exactly what I mean: Your FBA dashboard is haunted by this old SKU, it is a very slow mover, maybe because it got killed by bad reviews, or simply because your demand forecasting was wrong. All of this making your revenue stay flat while Amazon starts to bombard you with long-term storage fees (they can be very painful, especially during Q4).

At which point, you've got three choices:

1. Remove it, and pay the shipping to a third-party logistics provider (3PL) just to stack your unit boxes in a warehouse you'll eventually forget exists so you can eventually plan to sell it slowly (via FBM or outide of Amazon) by avoiding Amazon high storage fees.

2. Dispose of it, and basically pay Amazon to slowly throw your inventory away. One click and it's done, but you'll loose 100% of your COGS, plus the removal fee.

3. Liquidate it, fast, smart, and with minimal losses.

This chapter is about option three.

The usual liquidation "solution" sucks

Let’s be honest: Amazon’s in-house Liquidation Program is slow and pays peanuts. You’ll recover around 5%-10% of your product price and for having tried it already in the US, I can tell you that you’ll spend weeks waiting just to get rid of few hundreds units (while you keep paying the Amazon storage fee obviously). So here’s a cheat code that actually works:

The new way: stack Amazon's promotions like a pro

First, a little bit of context: You might think that your product is a mismatch for your niche, but what you may not have considered yet is that a lot of people would disregard a product's bad reviews or tiny flaws if it would be offered at a great discount. Of course, that's not what you want to do by default with your product offers since playing the low price game is something that low quality product are doing, but in the case of your liquidation, this is the best card you can play in order to get rid of your inventory quickly and limit your losses.

That said, here are the two discount types you will have to leverage for running a successful liquidation:

• Social Media Promo Codes (shared through Amazon "Promotions" tab)

• Coupons (the little green badge buyers love clicking)

Separately, they're decent tools. Combined? They're your weapon as they will allow deal hunters and Amazon influencers do the liquidation for you.

Here is an example setup:

• Social Media Promo Code: 50% off (the maximum possible)

• Coupon: extra $5 off (minimum $5 for CVR increase)

That combo makes your listing look like a once-in-a-lifetime glitch in the Amazon matrix. Buyers will see it and will think they just discovered buried treasure. At which point, your low (4.2 and less) rating won't matter and even prospects with no initial interest in your product will start to buy it.

Now, let me be clear: the goal isn't to make money, it's to limit the amount of money you are loosing. Remember, this product is a failure so you will loose money. You're not trying to profit here. The goal is to liquidate fast while covering your FBA fees so every unit sold costs you zero additional pain. You're trying to survive and recover as much capital as possible so you can reinvest it into your next winning product.

Note: You might be loosing money with this method, but you are earning time. You are limiting your $ losses and earning hours back. You should see this liquidation strategy as a Win-Win.

Step 1: Stop all your PPC campaigns

First of all, stop bleeding advertising dollars. You won't need any PPC campaigns to promote your liquidation promotions.

Step 2: Create the Social Media Promo Code

Then, go to Advertising → Promotions → Social Media Promo Code. Pick the ASIN you want to liquidate and parameter your promotion like this:

• Discount: 50% (the maximum)

• Duration: 7 days

• "Amazon Influencers and Associates": ✅ checked

• Code name: Make it short and readable (e.g., CLEAR50). No random alphabet soup like JKL3982X. Keep it simple.

That checkbox for Amazon Influencers and Associates is the secret sauce. It pushes your promo into Amazon's influencer pool. These people live off deal commissions, so when they see a juicy 50% discount plus a visible coupon stacking on top, they post it on deal-sharing sites and social media pages specialized in these type of time limited deals.

You're not paying them directly, they're incentivized by Amazon's affiliate commission structure. But they'll do your marketing for you, for free, because it benefits them too.

Step 3: Add the Coupon

Now create a regular coupon on the same ASIN in Advertising → Coupons. Choose flat dollar value (minimum $5). Do not select a % value to make the offer visually as attractive as possible for buyers driven by emotions like the ones interested in this type of liquidation offer.

Why? Because once again, your goal isn't profit. It's escaping with minimal wounds as quickly as possible, and adding a coupon will greatly increase your CVR, hence greatly speeding up your inventory full liquidation.

Step 4: Wait for the feeding frenzy

Once influencers pick it up, deal hunters will flood your listing. You'll wake up to dozens, sometimes hundreds, of orders per day. I am not exagerating.

The whole process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. If nothing happens after three days, cancel the social media promo code. It means the algorithm didn't bless your offer this time, or influencers missed it. In that case, do not panic and simply recreate another promotion from step 1. Eventually it will hit.

And when it hits? It really hits. Your unwanted stock vanishes in 48 to 72 hours.

The hidden bonuses

Besides freeing storage space and stopping long-term storage fee bleeding, this strategy gives you two massive hidden buffs:

1. BSR Boost: The sudden wave of promoted sales will temporarily pump your product BSR. Even if you're ditching the product forever, this bump can help clear your product even faster organically, by giving one last middle finger to your competitor before leaving the niche.

2. IPI Boost: Amazon sees your selling rate spike, so your next restock limits get better. A healthier Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score means Amazon trusts you more and gives you more storage space for your next product launches.

You're not just liquidating. You're cheating the system to improve your account health at the same time.

The golden rule

Always run your math before launching the liquidation promotions.

Calculate every cost: FBA fee, referral fee, and what disposal would've cost you as an alternative. Make sure your "final liquidation price" doesn't dip below your pain threshold.

Again, liquidation isn't about profit. It's about survival. You're pressing the RESET button: ending the quest with your health bar blinking red, but you live to fight another day.

Key takeaways

• Cut your losses fast: failed products happen, but time and capital recovery matter most.

• Liquidate smartly using stacked Social Media Promo Codes and Coupons to clear your stock fast.

• Enable “Amazon Influencers and Associates” to let deal hunters promote your liquidation offer for free.

• A liquidation surge boosts your IPI, improving your overall account health.

• Always do the math: liquidation isn’t about profit, it’s about survival and living to launch again.