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Augustas’s Background
Augustas is originally from Lithuania and moved to Germany because that is where his wife is from. He has moved around a lot and is quite the digital nomad.
For access to the European Summit with special bonuses for Amazing FBA listeners, click here.
About a year ago he learned that he could get free stuff from Amazon sellers after looking into doing FBA. He never started his Amazon business, instead he got into doing reviews. He found Facebook groups for German products and decided to give it a shot. He saw one seller looking offering a hands-free bluetooth device for cars and applied for it and got it. After that he started looking for other items that he needed around the house. He began to realize how much value he was giving to the sellers after they began messaging him, thanking him for his reviews and asking him if he wanted to review another product for him. He is a top 400 reviewer in Germany, currently 320 and organizer of the European Private Label Summit!
For access to the summit, with special bonuses for Amazing FBA listeners, click here
Has it changed now that you’re more established?
Since Augustas is a top 400 reviewer, he is able to make his email public and sellers can contact him for reviews. Whereas before he would have to hunt for products to review. When he first got started he didn’t have any reviews in his profile so sellers weren’t as interested in working with him. He would started leaving reviews for any product he bought so that he could start building his profile. He would hunt for any product he could review and as he ranked higher and higher he began receiving emails to review products. Now, on average, he gets about 8 emails a day.
What kind of products turn you off?
What are the best kinds of products that attract you to review them?
Each reviewer has different things they look for. Some will end up selling the item on eBay whereas Augustas will see if he needs it around the house or if he can give them as presents. Though if it’s an expensive item, he might consider reviewing it even though he doesn’t need it with the intention of selling it.
Another thing to consider is the price. Since Augustas puts so much effort into his reviews, he reserves an hour for each one. If it’s a less expensive product, maybe €10, he is more likely to just buy the product outright. If you have a lower priced item, you might get better results from looking in reviewer clubs and Facebook pages rather than the top reviewers. However, some top reviewers will do lower priced items, so it’s always a good idea to check out their reviews to get an idea of how the operate.
What are the big turn-offs in emails?
Augustas prefers emails with direct links to the products. Also, make sure they are short. Sometimes the URL is very long and goes for several lines in the email which could get cut off or mishandled by the software. So use a shortening service if you need to. Add a picture of the product so he doesn’t have to go to the URL to see what it is.
Some sellers write longs emails talking about how they saw he was a top seller and how they saw his reviews and going on and on. Leave that off. For Augustas, receiving as many emails as he does, doesn’t read them. He will quickly scan the email, mainly looking for the link. Don’t waste your time and his by writing long emails. Make it short and sweet and have your listing make the sell to him. This goes back to making sure you have a strong listing.
What is the best email approach that you respond to?
For Augustas, it really comes down to the link. He doesn’t really read the email. Since some of the information he needs get lost in the text, he might miss it.
What he is looking for is:
- Title of the products
- A shortened link directly to the products
- A picture
- The discount information and coupon code
If you are contacting a reviewer in another country, add a sentence at the bottom of the email apologizing for you poor language skills and note that you are a native speaker. It might not always be useful, but it is for someone like Augustas. He is not a fluent German speaker who writes reviews for the German market. For him it is easier to communicate in English. So by adding the note in the email, he will know that he can contact you in English instead of both of you struggling in attempting to communicate in German, which neither party is fluent. You are more likely to find people that can speak English rather well.
Are there particular review clubs/services that you like as a reviewer?
When Augustas started out, there weren’t any well-established review clubs in Germany so he joined a Facebook group. Then one-by-one the clubs began popping up and he started joining them. The one he likes is amzreviews.co.uk or amzreviewtrader.com in the US. It’s a global platform and you can choose your market. It has a great search feature, big pictures, and it lists how much it will cost. You can apply to be a reviewer and if the seller approves you, you will get an email. Then you go back to the platform and get the coupon code, order the products, and submit the review link.
The problem with this platform is there are thousands of products, so if you know what you want it’s easy to find. However, there is a good chance that you are missing out on some great products.
What about red flags/warning signs?
The only thing Augustas really warns against is spam email. Sometimes you can get that with some of these review clubs since you are putting your email out there. Just make sure you protect yourself.
On a sidenote, Augustas made sure it was known that you need to treat the reviewers like customers. Listen to their feedback. Augustas mentioned that he was dealing with a seller who sent a product without the necessary adapter to make it work and expect him to solve the issue. On the reverse side, he was reviewing a tote bag that had a hole in it when it arrived and within hours the seller had gotten back to him and shipped a new one. As a seller, do not treat your reviewers like the first example. These people are putting a lot of effort into reviewing your product so please respect their time. Also, you run the risk getting a negative review from them.
How do you deal with Amazon ToS? Have you ever had a review removed because you got it for free?
Augustas has over 200 reviews and has never had an issue with one getting removed or any seller coming to him after the fact about a review. Augustas uses ARAT software to monitor his reviews and those of other top sellers and hasn’t noticed any issues with his reviews.
Sometimes the reviews get stuck in Amazon’s system. In the US and UK, reviews will be published within 6 hours, in Germany it’s a bit longer. So if he notices his reviews haven’t been published he has to contact Amazon or else they will never be published. He also noticed that some of his reviews weren’t listed as verified purchase. He mostly saw this when he ordered from the UK market rather than the German. But after the market was released, it showed up as verified.
Keep that in mind when working with the reviewers. Make sure to approach them respectfully if it appears they haven’t left a review because it would be a glitch in Amazon’s system. SO if they say they left a review but you don’t see it, ask them to contact Amazon directly because they may be a reason the reviews got stuck. For example, Augustas had a review get stuck because two of the pictures were too dark. Another got stuck because he showed the website address in his video.
For access to the European Summit with special bonuses for Amazing FBA listeners, click here.
Watch The Amazon Reviewer’s Perspective with Augustas Kligys – Part 1
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