The Brutal Truth About Amazon FBA (And How to Pivot to D2C)

Welcome back to the PPC Den podcast! Today we’re catching up with Francis Leger, co-owner of GS Plant Foods, to talk about the harsh realities of selling on Amazon in 2026. Let's be honest, the days of easily launching a profitable product from your bedroom with fifty bucks are long gone. Francis gets totally real about why Amazon has become such a frustrating and expensive barrier to entry, complete with random listing suspensions and endless bureaucratic headaches. Because of this margin squeeze, his two-person team is actively pivoting to build out their own independent D2C website. Instead of just playing around with trendy AI tools, Francis shares a brilliant, practical approach: look at your daily workflow and hand the tedious stuff over to a computer. He even shares a great story about how they built a custom script to automatically check their Amazon Buy Box across all 50 states to catch sneaky account issues instantly. Grab a coffee and join us for a really honest, refreshing conversation about surviving and thriving in e-commerce today. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights ​​ 0:00 - Intro 02:40 - Why building a Shopify D2C website is now an absolute must 04:02 - Why you can no longer start on Amazon with just $50 06:30 - The nightmare of arbitrary Amazon delistings 15:21 - How we built a custom AI script to check our Buy Box in all 50 states 19:47 - Stop asking "What can AI do?" and look at your org chart instead 25:25 - The danger of building yourself a job instead of a business 30:44 - How to get a business to run itself 33:23 - The one thing you can never outsource to AI 36:47 - Why the fundamentals of business haven't changed in 100 years 42:10 - Outro 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Check out Francis Leger and GS Plant Foods at gsplantfoods.com — where healthy plants (and smart business decisions) are always in season. Successful Ecommerce Entrepreneur On Business, Scaling 10x, and Finding the Right Partners How to Find Products That Sell Organically How To Use Psychology To Master Amazon PPC (Classic) Who to hire for your Amazon Growth Team (Classic) What’s the Best Way to Manage an Amazon Brand? Exploring Agency Strategies 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Francis Leger Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno