I’m a small seller — most of my products are standard, commodity-type stuff in the $10-20 range, so price competition is brutal.

Right now, my better sellers do 30-40 units a day. Every once in a while, I’ll get one that hits 50-60 — that’s a “hit” for me (no shade to the big sellers out there, I know y’all do way more). Typical inventory per SKU is 500-1000 units, which lasts me about 2 months.

I restock just in time — no big overstocking. The problem? When a new product starts selling well, I almost always run out. Sometimes I can restock in a week, other times it’s two weeks or more. I’ve been burned by dead inventory before, so I’m paranoid about ordering too much — I’d rather raise prices a little and keep inventory lean than get stuck with unsold stock.

Ad spend is tiny — usually $5-10 a day, split between auto campaigns and some manual keywords. No black-hat garbage (no fake reviews, no QA manipulation) — just straight white-hat: Amazon PPC and the occasional VIPON deal to boost traction.

The issue? Most of my products hit a sales ceiling and I can’t push them past it. I think I’m stuck in my own head, looping through the same habits over and over.

For example: If a product that normally does 1-2 units a day suddenly hits 10, I’ll jack the price up by $1 right away. If it drops back the next day, I’ll lower it again. If it stays around 7-8 or 10-12, I’ll keep the higher price. My goal is just to maximize profit from the limited stock I have — can’t afford to leave money on the table.

Another thing I do: If a product’s organic sales are strong, and turning off ads doesn’t hurt much, I’ll slowly cut the ad budget until it’s gone. Why pay for traffic when it’s already coming in for free, right?

But I know frequent price changes mess with ad weight. How do y’all balance that? And how do you break through this ceiling? I’ll take any ideas — seriously, anything. I’ve scrolled through so many forums, but I still feel like I’m working in a bubble. Any honest advice would mean a lot.