Amazon FBA Funding Solutions Comparison | 2021 Case Study

There are multiple Amazon Funding Solutions for Amazon FBA businesses looking to grow. With so many options, it’s important that Amazon Sellers do a true Amazon FBA Funding Solutions Comparison before committing to any FBA funding source.

When Amazon business owners learn how to profitably run their businesses, capital often becomes a limiting factor in their growth. Selling an item for 130% of what you paid for it is nice. But a 30% profit margin on $5,000 of sales a month only makes you $18,000 per year, hardly enough to make ends meet. For a true entrepreneur, once he or she has figured out the profits, the true goal is to scale, and turn that $5,000 of sales per month into $50,000 ($180,000 profit per year) and eventually enough to be making millions.

While some Amazon businesses settle for traditional, more limited funding sources like credit cards, friends and family, and business bank loans for their businesses, many Amazon Sellers turn to specialized funding sources when seeking funding. The fact is that it’s impossible to scale without funding. As every entrepreneur learns early in their journey, it takes money to make money.

A recently published case study examines the relative cost of some of the most common specialized funding solutions for Amazon businesses. This 2021 case study compares the cost, terms, and, most importantly, Business ROI of 4 common Amazon Seller funding solutions:

1. AccrueMe™,

2. Amazon Lending,

3. Specialized 3rd Party “Instant Access” Loans, and

4. Specialized 3rd Party “Instant Advance” Factoring.

Most specialized Amazon funding solutions stifle Amazon Sellers’ growth because they require monthly, weekly, or daily payments that drain valuable cash flow out of these retail businesses that rely heavily on cash flow to grow. In the general examples below, the Seller’s Amazon business has $100,000 in working capital. The business makes

an ROI of 30% on their products by selling through their inventory every 12 weeks or 3 months. Their plan for the next 2 years is to grow their business exponentially and they require additional capital to do so. They look in the market and have 4 choices that specialize in financing Amazon businesses:

After reviewing the 4 common funding options, it is clear that for an average Amazon business generating a 30% ROI every 90 Days, AccrueMe™ is the option that makes the Amazon Business Owner (the Seller) the most profit. This is because unlike any of the other common funding options, AccrueMe™ does not require an Amazon business to make monthly payments, which allows the Amazon business to reinvest all of its profits in more profitable products rather than drawing down on cashflow to repay funding sources monthly or weekly.

Modeling Assumptions

In order to make a fair comparison of each funding source, we have made certain assumptions including;

1. In each example, we assume the Amazon Business starts with $100,000 of owner’s equity invested in their business and no debt.
2. In each example, we assume each funding source would invest $100,000 in the business on Day 1 of the model. In most cases, the amount a funding source will invest varies based on various factors. In general, we have found that AccrueMe™ will invest the most, followed by Amazon, followed by other 3rd party specialized funding sources. But for the purposes of this study, we assume each funding source would make equal size investments.
3. In each example where the funding source would require rigid payback schedules, $100K is reinvested after previous investment plus costs are paid. For example, if Amazon lends an Amazon Business $100,000 with a 12-month term after the business pays back the $100,000 at the end of month 12, our model assumes Amazon will lend the Seller another $100k in month 13 under the same terms as the first $100,000.
4. We primarily looked at models where the Amazon Businesses are generating a 30% return on investment on all capital invested every 90 days. We also look at models where the Seller is generating a 10% return on total capital every 30, 60, and 90 days.
5. In each model, we assume inventory is sold equally on a weekly basis based on turn time input. For example, if we assume inventory turns in 30 days, we assume the business sells ¼ of its inventory every week.
6. In each example, we assume Amazon releases funds to the Seller (or the funder) 2 weeks after the sales are made.

Results

In all scenarios, Amazon Sellers make more profit for themselves when working with AccrueMe. This is possible because AccrueMe doesn’t just take a piece of the pie as its competitors do. Instead, AccrueMe uses compound gains to GROW the pie and earns a small percent of the profits while leaving the vast majority for you, the Seller.

This is all driven by the fact that AccrueMe does not require Amazon Sellers to make any fixed payments during the period while you are investing AccrueMe’s capital, while all other funding sources require monthly payments that cut into cash flow and decrease a seller’s ability to reinvest all their capital in more inventory. The less money you have on hand, the less money you can make. And AccrueMe is the only funding source that lets you keep all of your capital (and it’s capital!) on hand for growth.

The end result, as shown below, is that AccrueMe is the best option for the Seller, based on the business models of all available funding sources and the assumptions explained in the previous section. AccrueMe gives the Seller the most profit and the most sustainable growth with the least risk. Below we look at various ROI & Turn Time Scenarios to compare financing costs and, most importantly, business owner profit as a result of financing;

Key Takeaways

1. If you generate less than 10% ROI on all of your assets every 5 weeks, some popular 3 rd Party Funding solutions do more harm than good. For most Sellers, you actually spend more than you gain with these funding solutions. For a business generating less than 10% every 5 weeks, AccrueMe™ and Amazon are your only profitable funding options.
2. Amazon has a decent funding solution for those that qualify, but it is still detrimental to growth because of the required monthly interest payments.
3. The Seller always makes more and grows faster when funded by AccrueMe because there are no monthly payments to drain cash flow.
4. If you are a profitable Amazon Seller, that means you have found a way to turn money into more money. Logically, it follows that AccrueMe is the most profitable partner because AccrueMe lets you use more of your money (and AccrueMe’s money!) than other funding options. More money to use = more money to be made.

Additional Considerations

Investment Amounts:

For initial investments, AccrueMe will usually invest more than its competitors, because its investments are based on inventory and receivables value whereas most other lenders are only concerned with receivables. Furthermore, AccrueMe is simply more willing and incentivized to invest, because its model is based on maximum capital for maximum compound gains for maximum profits.

Follow on Investments:

In these models, we Assume;

1. AccrueMe invests $100k on day 1 and does not invest any additional capital.
2. Instant Advance & Instant Advance invest $100k on day 1 and then reinvests the same $100k every 20 weeks after the previous $100k is repaid.
3. Amazon invests $100k on day 1 and then another $100k at the start or year 2 after the initial investment is repaid.

Aside from AccrueMe, the other Amazon specialized funding sources will invest based on your receivables from Amazon (aka Amazon Balance) and your sales history. This means you are limited by how much you sell and how much you are owed by Amazon. Because you are draining cash flow out of your business to repay these funding sources every month, your Amazon sales and Amazon Balance will grow slowly and you likely won’t be able to draw down larger amounts of capital in subsequent funding rounds. As stated above, for the study we assume $100,000 funding drawdowns at the start and each time funding is repaid.

AccrueMe will constantly allow you to draw down investments so that AccrueMe’s capital is up to 50% of the Business’ total account value (Inventory Value + Amazon Balance + Bank Balance). That means that as you sell more and grow more by keeping more capital in your business, you can continue to draw down more capital and grow your business exponentially faster. For example, in this study, using the provided example labeled “10% ROI | 4 WEEK INVENTORY TURN OVER | 1 YEAR MODEL,” AccrueMe would invest up to $270,296.28 at the end of year 1.

Now, because AccrueMe is always willing to invest up to 50% of the capital, AccrueMe is willing to invest additional capital every week to stay at 50% of the capital in the business. In the example below, AccrueMe invests a couple of thousand dollars every week to stay at 50% of the total capital and ends up investing an additional $174,000 over the year. By doing this, AccrueMe generates much more profit for the Seller (and for itself) — in this example, the Seller makes an extra $45,000 in profit just by putting more of AccrueMe’s capital to work.

Monthly Payments:

Not having to make monthly payments helps you grow faster and helps you sleep easier.

Popular 3rd party funding options have very quick paybacks (usually 20 weeks) and Amazon loans have terms ranging from 3 to 12 months. Taking cash flow out of your business to repay these investments so quickly stifles growth, puts a strain on your business and personal finances, and makes it so that using the funding is almost more harmful than no funding at all. Because AccrueMe never requires monthly payments, as a seller you can grow your business fast and smart with less stress.

In the models in this study, we assume all Amazon loans come with a 12- month repayment term which is on the longer side of Amazon loans. Most Amazon loans are 3–6 month terms which would drastically decrease their value and result in this study. But even when giving Amazon and other funding sources the benefit of the doubt, the study and the models still show that AccrueMe is the clear best option for Amazon Sellers looking for funding to grow.

The models assume that you as a seller generate a profit every month but as you may know that’s not always the case. If you happen to lose money one month, all payments still need to be made with most funding sources, however, if you breakeven or lose money, then AccrueMe earns zero along with you. AccrueMe shares the risk while providing cash for you to go.

Credit Checks:

Unlike most of its competitors, AccrueMe does not require Credit Checks. This helps keep the transaction simple and is yet another way in which AccrueMe creates far fewer barriers to capital infusion than other funding sources.

Personal Guarantees:

Unlike its competitors, AccrueMe does not require any Personal Guarantees. With most funding sources, if your business loses money or goes under, and you are unable to pay the lender back, the company could (and will) come after your personal assets, and you and your family could fall into debt and even lose your property and home. With AccrueMe, you are under no personal obligation, as AccrueMe is willing to take on the risk.

Support/Relationships:

AccrueMe is the only funding source that cares about what you care about: your profit and your growth. Other funding sources just want you to churn sales and don’t care if you make money or lose money, because they take their cut either way, exactly when they want to. On the other hand, AccrueMe only makes money if you make money, and that is why AccrueMe will do whatever it can to help you succeed. AccrueMe’s highly connected team with decades of successful entrepreneurial experience, proprietary software, consulting and analyst support, and general guidance will go a long way in helping you succeed on your entrepreneurial path. AccrueMe only wins when the Seller wins.

Turn Time and Return On Investment:

Turn time is a very important factor to consider when maximizing your ROI and it is especially important when dealing with investors that require monthly payments.

Most Amazon Sellers overestimate their ROI because they don’t properly factor in their turn times. 10% per month is actually better than 100% per year (if you understand compound gains, you understand this). Most sellers look at ROI per product but don’t take into account if they made 10% in a week or 10% in a year. AccrueMe looks at the total return on business assets (inventory, cash, and Amazon Receivables) to determine a return on all assets over a period of time.

Conclusion

Ultimately, AccrueMe proves to be the clear best option for Amazon Sellers looking for an infusion of capital to help them scale their business. This comes down to the fact that AccrueMe can offer higher profits with far more upside and far less risk. If you are a profitable Seller, the more money you have on hand to spend on inventory, the more money you will make. And AccrueMe is the only funding source that allows Sellers to use 100% of the provided funds, without making monthly payments that would decrease what the Seller can spend on inventory and ultimately slow the Seller’s growth.

AccrueMe’s business model takes advantage of compound gains; that is, AccrueMe allows you to use the full power of its capital and your own capital to help grow the pie through the concept of “money making money” before taking AccrueMe’s piece out. In the end, this enables AccrueMe to earn more money for the Seller than other funding sources. This is the true embodiment of a win-win deal.

As the study clearly shows, Amazon Sellers make more money when funded by AccrueMe compared to any other funding option. If an Amazon Seller is looking to scale their business using an outside source of capital that enables maximum growth with low risk and high flexibility, their best move is to get in touch with AccrueMe, today.

If you are interested in growing your business before you sell it, apply for Amazon funding here.

Ready to take things to the next level? Apply now and get pre-approved for Amazon Seller Funding from AccrueMe and double your capital.