In addition to the various Amazon Seller Loan options available to Amazon Sellers, there are also a number of alternative financing options available to Amazon FBA Sellers.
Amazon Sellers tend to look for Amazon Seller Loan Alternatives because Amazon Loans usually require large monthly payments that can drastically impact cash flow from operations. With Amazon Seller term loans or revenue-based loans, the majority of a Seller's cash flow and monthly profits go to repaying the loan rather than reinvesting in growth.
Most Popular Amazon Seller Loan Alternatives
As the top-rated Credit and Finance app on Amazon Seller Central, AccrueMe is a very popular alternative to Amazon Seller Loans because AccrueMe does not require any fixed repayments. Compared to a $100k Amazon Loan which could require about $20k in monthly loan repayments, a $100k AccrueMe investment would require zero repayments. Not making large regular payments allows Amazon Sellers to keep all of their cash flow invested in their businesses and grow faster.
Instead of charging interest or requiring regular payments, AccrueMe earns a floating share of the profits (FBA Sales - FBA Fees - Amazon PPC - COGS) from the Amazon Sellers they invest in and tracks the earned profit share month after month. AccrueMe's share of the profits are tracked in the AccrueMe web platform and AccrueMe's share of profits are simply added to its balance every month without requiring the Amazon Seller to make any cash payments. Learn more about AccrueMe's zero interest and zero payments model HERE.
Personal Lines of credit for Amazon Sellers usually come in the form of personal credit cards. Many Amazon Sellers turn to personal credit cards when starting their business because, if you have a strong personal credit profile, you can obtain hundreds of thousands in funding by personally guaranteeing those credit lines.
For those with strong personal credit, Personal Lines of Credit are good financing options when starting your Amazon business because you will be unable to qualify for other types of business funding.
The challenges with using personal credit cards for your Amazon business are 1. high-interest rates, 2. carrying a high balance can negatively impact your personal credit and ability to obtain personal credit for personal reasons (like an emergency or purchasing a house or car), 3. most Amazon suppliers will not accept credit cards or will charge an extra fee for accepting a credit card, and 4. there is a limit to how much credit you can get to scale your business based on your personal credit history.
The most popular Business line of credit for Amazon Sellers is Marcus by Goldman Sachs for Amazon Sellers which are offered in Seller Central. Business Lines of Credit for Amazon Sellers operate in a similar way to a credit card with the big difference being that instead of having to use a physical credit card to make purchases, lenders like Marcus will deposit funds directly to your bank account!
While Business Credit Lines for Amazon Sellers are often marketed as being offered based on the creditworthiness of your business, they usually still require a personal guarantee from the business owner (in addition to a pledge of all of the business assets in the event of default).
One of the oldest Amazon Seller Loan Alternatives is receivable factoring. Because Amazon typically pays sellers every 2 weeks, finance companies have been purchasing Amazon Receivables from Amazon Sellers for a discount since 2015.
With Factoring for Amazon Sellers, the finance company will purchase the amount Amazon owes you from your sales (your Amazon Receivables Balance) for about 90% of what is owed. For example, if Amazon owes you $100k, the factoring company will give you $90k today in exchange for the right to collect your $100k owed as Amazon pays it.
These financing arrangements are popular among sellers that need fast cash to pay bills. Because of the way these arrangements are structured, sellers become dependent on constantly refinancing these arrangements to maintain cash flow while paying the majority of their profits to the factoring company.
Crowd Funding for Amazon Sellers is not as popular as you might think but it could be a good option if you have a very unique private-label branded product and a budget and skillset to market a crowdfunding campaign on websites like Kickstarter.com.
To learn about AccrueMe's success-based funding solution for Amazon Sellers, please visit AccrueMe.com