Why we stopped reselling, and started managing brands instead
Foundry Labs is an Amazon brand management company, founded by David Randell. We have been selling on Amazon since 2022: retail arbitrage, then online arbitrage, then wholesale, then buying brand-direct. This page explains what we learned from that side of the marketplace, and why we now do the opposite.
How we got here
We started selling on Amazon in 2022. Retail arbitrage first, buying from high street stores and listing the stock online. Then online arbitrage. Then wholesale, buying in bulk. Eventually we cut out the middleman and went brand-direct, building relationships with directors and senior management at large brands.
So we have been on every rung of the ladder that ends up on your listing.
What we watched happen
The market saturated. When a dozen sellers buy the same bulk deal, they compete on the only lever left: price. They undercut each other to the floor, and then past it. We have watched sellers hold the Buy Box at break-even purely so that nobody else could have it.
The brand pays for that. Amazon ends up cheaper than your own retail channel. Your stockists start asking why they are being undercut by your own product. Your RRP stops meaning anything. And none of it was your decision.
Meanwhile there is a whole industry selling courses on how to talk your way into a wholesale account. That is why your inbox fills with approval requests, week after week.
We bought one of those courses. The method it teaches is to tell a brand you supply brick and mortar retailers when you do not. That is the foundation the entire model rests on, and we were not willing to build a business on it.
Why we stopped
There is no real money left in reselling on Amazon the conventional way. But the more useful thing we noticed was this: most third-party sellers will not go near a listing that the brand itself operates properly.
So rather than compete on your listing, we would rather help you own it.
What that means for you
You sell your own product. You set the price. You keep the margin that was going to a reseller who contributed nothing to your brand. And the people ringing you every week stop ringing, because there is no gap left for them.
Most brands already know this. What stops them is that running Amazon properly takes three or four people who know the systems. That is the part we do instead.
Why the model is built this way
The Seller Central account is opened in your company name and stays yours. End the engagement on a Tuesday and you keep everything.
A flat monthly fee, not a percentage. We do not profit when you discount, and we are not holding your stock or your margin.
The pricing is published on this site. You know the number before we speak.
We spent years on the other side of this. We would rather be paid a fee for making a brand stronger than take a cut of something that was never ours.
Who you are actually dealing with
Foundry Labs is the trading name of NU LACE LIMITED, registered in England and Wales since April 2022. David Randell is the founder.
You deal directly with the people doing the work, not an account manager relaying messages. That is deliberate, and it is how we intend to keep it.