If you're serious about your Amazon online arbitrage business, then it's time to start taking better care of your leads and product sourcing records.
And before you tell me that you're a Google Sheets or Airtable expert, that's what everyone says until they see what I'm about to show you.
Sure, you might have your very own spreadsheet color coding system that's prettier than a bag of skittles, but let's have a little chat about reconciling that spreadsheet data!
So if you're struggling to keep track of what you have and haven't received from your OA suppliers, your refunds and replacements, or what you've sent in to the FBA warehouse, keep reading this Cheddarsoft review.
Your life is about to change.
What is Cheddarsoft?
Cheddarsoft is a software tool built by a team of Amazon sellers, for Amazon online arbitrage sellers. Cheddarsoft is owned by the creators of OA Leads List service OA Cheddar. Yeah, those dudes must really love cheese.
It was designed to help online arbitrage sellers keep track of their online arbitrage leads, orders, shipments and more. As an added bonus, those that use InventoryLab can then seamlessly export data ready to drop into InventoryLab.
One of the biggest time, and stress savers is the reconciliation features that Cheddarsoft has in place. We'll get more into that further along in this article.
Before we take an in-depth look at the Cheddarsoft features, let's take a look at a little "before and after" that you can expect as soon as you start using the software.
This Google sheet is actually pretty professional. All the data is there, it's looking pretty great. Once you've formatted your data as shown in the image, using the template that Cheddarsoft provides you with, and you export it as CSV, you just have to upload it to the software and you get what you see in the next image.
Now that's pretty impressive looking, right? And this is the "compact view" too. All the data is right there at your fingertips, beautifully formatted so it's easy on the eye and way less overwhelming than a spreadsheet.
Now Cheddarsoft ain't just a pretty face, it has some next-level features that will blow your mind.
Cheddarsoft Features
You've just seen how it looks after you've uploaded your data into Cheddarsoft, so now we're going to explore the main feature of the software and give you a step-by-step tutorial on how each feature works.
Uploading Lead Lists
As we already mentioned, Cheddarsoft gives you a spreadsheet template to use so you can format your data properly to ensure a seamless upload. They also have a full tutorial inside the software to show you exactly how to format and upload your data.
It is highly recommend that you create a new lead list inside Cheddarsoft for each different type or source of leads that you are uploading. This will help you stay organized inside of Cheddarsoft and you'll be able to search your data more effectively.
Once you have uploaded your first CSV, you will get the opportunity to map the fields of the list to Cheddarsoft and any errors can be fixed with ease right inside Cheddarsoft.
Mapping Data in Cheddarsoft
When it comes to errors, you may have missed an ASIN on your spreadsheet, for example, and Cheddarsoft will alert you of this so you can fix it.
You can see here that after you've uploaded your data, mapped the data, you can then preview it before publishing.
Smart Data
The Smart Data section of Cheddarsoft is where your lead data is stored. You might be wondering what's so "smart" about it, and you're about to find out.
As soon you go into the Smart Data section, you'll see a heap of filter options at the top of the page.
This is where Smart Data really starts to shine, and your old spreadsheet is looking pretty sad and useless.
Using the Smart Data filter options you can search, pinpoint and sort specific data in your lists, such as the following:
- Search for certain keywords eg. 'Christmas' or 'Toys'
- Search and filter specific brands, categories or suppliers
- Filter by lead date
- Sort data by various different columns
- Filter by lead lists (this is why we mentioned naming your lists when uploading)
- Filter by ROI%, Net Profit, Low FBA Price Range, and 90 Day Avg.
Another great little feature on this page is the icon that is located on the top line of each smart data card. A trophy indicates that this lead is a "top shelf" lead from OA Cheddar, or a small person with a + symbol means you uploaded the lead yourself.
The top line of the smart data card for each lead also shows you the product name, the date of the lead and the lead list it belongs to.
Of course on each lead card you'll find all the pricing data and other information that is associated with that lead.
From inside the Smart Data dashboard you can also hit the "Add Lead" button to add an individual lead into your Smart Data.
Adding an individual lead is easy to do, you just enter all the information into the popup. This is handy to add leads on the fly, without having to upload a new CSV.
On each lead card you'll find an important button on the right hand side with a green banknote on it. This is the "add to buy list" button which we will explain now.
Buy Lists
A buy list is a list of leads/products that you intend to purchase. When you hit the green banknote icon on the smart data lead card, you'll see the Add to Buy List popup.
The top half of the popup is where you can add information. This is great to communicate information to your buyer and you can also add information about the product listing for your prep center.
You can also change the product info too. You might need to change the promo info or add coupon code if you have more current information. This wont change the smart data, but it adds the new changes to your buy list.
Once you've added the info you need and you are ready to add this lead to your buy list, hit the blue "Add to Buy List" button and you're done.
When you're done adding leads to your buy list, you can navigate to your buy list using the top menu. Here you'll see all the leads that you've added, and you (or your buyer) can start taking further action on these leads.
Rejecting Leads
As part of your buy list, you can choose to reject an item. This will add it to your "Rejected Items" list. You might reject an item because it ends up being out of stock, the coupon code did not work or the purchase was just not possible for one reason or another.
You can reject an item from your buy list by hitting the toggle on the right hand side of the item and selecting "Reject Item" from the menu that appears. You will then be prompted to provide a rejection reason. This will then add the item to your rejected items list.
Creating Orders
Now we're going to create a new order for items that we have purchased. To do this, select the items in your buy list by checking the checkbox on the left hand side of each item.
Once the items you have already purchased are selected, hit the blue button and select "Create New Order"
This will then take us to the next section.
Buy Cost Calculator
The buy cost calculator section is where you need complete the details of your order.
You will have to cross check information from your invoice and add the details to the buy calculator. Cheddarsoft will then apportion taxes to each item purchased, it will work out tax percentage, and will give you an adjusted individual calculated buy cost for each item.
On this screen you need to add information like your order ID (from supplier), confirm that the number of units are the single unit buy cost is correct, and then navigate over to the right hand side "Order Totals" section.
In the right hand side order totals section, you can add the following costs:
- Pre-Tax Discount (coupon discounts etc)
- Post-Tax Discount (gift cards from reward points)
- Shipping Cost
- Sales Tax
When you add these costs, you will see the green "Calculated Buy Cost" box to the left will change.
On this screen you can also add your payment source details and cash back amounts if you have a credit card that gives cash back.
When you are done with the buy cost calculator screen, you can click the blue button on the right hand side to proceed to your order details.
Orders
On the orders screen you can see data about your current order. You can always access your orders from the Orders page in Cheddarsoft when you need to go back to your individual orders.
This is a great time to double check all the information you have entered previously and review that your order looks correct.
The next step is to tell Cheddarsoft that we have received an order that we are going to ship out to FBA.
Receiving and Shipping Orders
Inside the Orders section you can find all of your orders. The search and sort functions will help you once you have a lot of orders in here.
One important column in your orders is the "O-R-S-(E)" column. Below each letter is a corresponding number. These letters stand for Orders, Received, Shipped, Errors. You can see this one says that we ordered 17 items.
If you want to open an order, just click the file icon on the right hand side of the order.
Because this order has been made with the supplier, we're going to assume that it has now arrived so we can create what's called a shipping batch.
Shipping Batches
When you go into the Shipping section from the top menu, you will need to create a new Shipping Batch.
Now you can enter the basic details for this shipping batch and hit the blue save icon. The next step is to create a shipping event and connect it with this new shipping batch that you have just created.
Create a Shipping Event
In order to create a shipping event, you will need to navigate back in to the orders section. Find the order we are dealing with and click the file icon on the right hand side.
Once inside the order, you can navigate down to the items section and click the "Create Event" button on the right hand side.
Because we are assuming that this order has arrived and we are ready to ship to Amazon FBA, we are going to choose "Ship to FBA".
Once you've done this, you will see a Shipping Event box appear below the item. This is where you can use the Shipping Batch dropdown to choose the batch you created in the previous step.
You can override information previously entered, or enter new information. When you're done, click the blue save icon.
For this example, we only chose a "# To Ship" of 5. This means that only 5 of the 9 ordered items are being shipping to FBA. You can see now in the O-R-S (E) column it says that 9 were ordered, 5 were received and 5 have been shipping.
For the sake of this example, let's assume that the remaining 4 items from this order were incorrect and we want to send them back for a replacement.
By choosing "Replacement" from the create event menu on the right, a Replacement Event box appears below the items. This is where we can input details and click save.
This process is the same in the event that items need to be returned for a refund, or they were never received. You simply need to select the appropriate event from the blue create event button.
If you have chosen Replacement, Return for Refund, or Never Received, you will see a corresponding number below the (E) in the O-R-S (E) column.
Choosing Return for Refund will require you to enter details of your refund amount, which will help you when it's time to reconcile your orders.
If you chose Never Received, you will also be prompted to enter refund details similar to the above event.
Once you have finished adding all of the appropriate events for y our orders, they will appear in the Event Log section on the order page.
Reconciling Orders
If you thought the features of Cheddarsoft were juicy as heck already, wait until you see how good the reconciliation features are. These will save you so much time and money.
Take a look at this order screen. 3,173 orders. Imagine having this inside a spreadsheet, but you need to find orders to reconcile things like returns and refunds. Good luck!
Well, with Cheddarsoft it's easy. Just go to the dropdown and select "reconcile". You can see in the screenshot that there are currently 28 orders that need to be reconciled. This is literally money waiting to be collected.
Now that you've filtered by "reconcile" from the dropdown menu, you can go into each order awaiting reconciliation and chase down replacements, refunds or any other outstanding items.
Once you start doing thousands of orders, this feature will not only save you time but literally thousands of dollars.
Cheddarsoft Support
Cheddarsoft not only have great support, they also have a full training series that runs through all the app features.
The getting started section in the dashboard currently contains 5 highly detailed walk-through videos so you can learn and understand every section of the app.
They also have a feedback tab inside the dashboard where you can ask a question, suggest a feature, report a bug or view previous requests.
Cheddarsoft FAQ
Does Cheddarsoft Integrate with any other Amazon Software?
If you purchase OA leads from OA Cheddar then your leads are delivered into your Cheddarsoft account daily. If you use InventoryLab, you can export a CSV which is perfectly formatted for uploading into InventoryLab.
Do I need to pay for Cheddarsoft if I Buy Leads from OA Cheddar?
Yes. If you're an OA Cheddar Lead List subscriber you do get a Cheddarsoft account automatically and your leads will be delivered into your Cheddarsoft account. However, if you are not a paying user of Cheddarsoft you won't be able to upload any of your own leads or use any of the other features inside Cheddarsoft.
Cheddarsoft Pricing
At the time of writing, Cheddarsoft offers just the one 'Basic' plan for $49 per month. As they further develop their software and add even more amazing features, they are looking to add a 'Professional' plan.
Cheddarsoft currently offers a free 30-day trial so it's a no brainer decision really.
The Final Word on Cheddarsoft
Because I too am an active Amazon seller, I know how important it is to keep an eye on overheads. There's plenty of software I'd love o have, but just can't quite justify paying for it.
Cheddarsoft is not one of those software tools. The time this software saves me is huge so paying for a tool like this is one of the easiest decisions I've had to make.
If you're not sure yet if Cheddarsoft is for you, then I'd say its highly likely that you're not quite doing enough sourcing in your online arbitrage business yet! Otherwise, you'd be all over this tool!
They also offer a free 30-day trial so give it a go, I promise you won't regret it.
