He was studying to be an astrophysicist. Now he's doing $250,000 a month across Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and his own local distribution business — and he did it by literally buying an ownership stake in the supply chain.

In this episode of Marketplace Mavericks, host @BuyBoxMaverick sits down with Chris Shelby, a 22-year-old wholesale and brand-direct seller who started with online arbitrage as a college side hobby, moved into buying from distributors, and eventually skipped the middleman entirely to open direct accounts with brands — including 3M. The most surprising part of his playbook: buying into a business office co-op, which made him a literal part-owner with shares, gave him direct relationships with every brand rep in it, and solved his Amazon ungating problems in one move because the letterhead on his invoices is the co-op's own.

Jon and Chris dig into how relationship-building (not email blasts) is what actually turns a distributor account into an exclusive brand-direct one, why owning a warehouse and a 3-person prep team changed his unit economics enough to profitably sell $6 items, how a warehouse opened up local B2B leads worth $70,000 in a single deal, and why Chris and a developer friend built their own internal AI-powered business tool — handling restocking, repricing, and shipment workflows off one shared database — instead of paying for five different SaaS subscriptions. They also compare notes on Amazon's brand registry requirements, why account age might be quietly triggering stricter gating, and what it actually takes (capital-wise and mindset-wise) to run wholesale as a real full-time business instead of a side hustle.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

- How Chris went from astrophysics student to online arbitrage to brand-direct wholesale in four years

- The buying co-op strategy: how becoming a part-owner unlocked direct 3M inventory and simplified Amazon gating

- Why relationships — not email — are what actually convert a distributor account into an exclusive

- The real math behind owning a warehouse: prep costs under $1/unit vs. what a prep center would charge

- How warehouse ownership generated an unexpected $70,000 local furniture deal that never touched Amazon

- Inside Chris's custom internal software: automated restocking, repricing, and shipment workflows on one shared database

- Why he still pays for Keepa and Smart Scout but replaced every other SaaS tool with something built in-house

- Jon and Chris's theories on why Amazon keeps asking for brand registry even when a brand isn't enrolled

- What it actually costs (in real capital) to scale wholesale beyond a side hustle

He got $110,000 in business credit in a single day — and used it to scale his Amazon business from $25K a month to $200K a month in under a year.

In this episode of Marketplace Mavericks, host @BuyBoxMaverick continues his series spotlighting entrepreneurs under 25 with Sadeq Wahab, a 22-year-old who's been finding ways to make money online since eighth grade — eBay dropshipping, candy reselling, and a sneaker reselling business that netted him $100,000 in profit between the ages of 16 and 18. When sneaker reselling started slowing down, Sadeq pivoted to Amazon online arbitrage (OA) in August 2022 and scaled it toward $400,000 a month in revenue, doubling his profit every year along the way.

But the real story here is what Sadeq built after Amazon took off: a business credit funding company that helps other sellers unlock six-figure credit lines the way he did, and a custom AI agency — built with two developer cousins — that creates done-for-you dashboards, reconciliation software, and speed-to-lead systems for e-commerce operators. Jon and Sadeq dig into why packing your own inventory is the fastest way to cap your growth, why chasing high average selling price (ASP) products makes an entire operation easier to run, and why word of mouth is still the thing that closes every deal.

If you're building a business under 25, thinking about funding your next move, or just curious what real year-over-year scaling looks like, this is a tactical blueprint from someone living it in real time.

CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro — Continuing the Under-25 Entrepreneur Series 03:14 Sadeq's Origin Story: eBay Dropshipping in 8th Grade 05:49 $100K Net Profit From Sneaker Reselling (Age 16–18) 06:05 The Pivot to Amazon Online Arbitrage (August 2022) 08:15 Why Outsourcing Prep Was the First Real Unlock 17:51 Time to Open the Tunnel Vision: Building Beyond Amazon 20:38 Business #1: The Credit Funding Company 21:29 Business #2: The Custom AI Agency 40:00 Build Once, Deploy Many: How the AI Agency Scales 43:24 Why High ASP Changes Everything 56:09 Doubling Revenue Every Year: $500K to $6M+ 58:18 Why Word of Mouth Still Wins in E-Commerce 1:04:37 Inside the $110K Same-Day Business Credit Story 1:06:20 The Day Everything Got Serious 1:11:03 The #1 Funding Mistake New Sellers Make 1:16:36 Wrap-Up & Next Week's Guest

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• How a 16-year-old turned $15K in seed money into $100K net profit reselling sneakers
• Why he pivoted from sneaker reselling to Amazon OA in August 2022 — and what changed once he took it seriously
• The exact day $110,000 in same-day business credit changed the trajectory of his business
• Why "packing inventory doesn't make you any money" — the case for outsourcing prep immediately
• How doubling revenue every year (from $500K to a projected $6M+) actually works
• Why he built a business credit funding company instead of an Amazon coaching program
• Inside his custom AI agency: build-once, deploy-many software for reconciliation, AIP dashboards, and speed-to-lead
• Why chasing high ASP products simplifies an entire OA operation
• Why word of mouth and networking — not paid ads — built every business he's touched

CONNECT WITH SADEQ Instagram @sadeqwahabb

After 6 months of online arbitrage, I went all-in on Amazon wholesale and brand direct sourcing. One year later, here's everything I got right, everything I got wrong, and the one brand relationship that ended up carrying my entire business.

In this solo update episode I break down:

• Why I ignored the "ramp up for Q4" advice and built toward brand direct instead
• The $10K mistake I made launching brands on Amazon that weren't ready
• Why patience — not goals — is the real KPI in wholesale
• How to actually win an exclusive with a brand (hint: fix their problem first)
• Why grocery/hot sauce listings look easy but eat your margin in prep and shipping
• Why I stopped being scared of $100+ price point items, and how one high-ticket brand became the foundation of my whole business
• The prep math mistake that took my margin to 0%
• Why "networking," even for guys in their 40s who hate social media, is non-negotiable

If you're thinking about getting into Amazon wholesale or brand direct sourcing, this is the no-fluff, one-year-in version of what it actually looks like.

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro — one year into wholesale 2:27 Ignoring Q4 hype to build toward brand direct 4:51 Mistake #1: chasing goals instead of activity 7:13 Don't launch outside brands on Amazon (the $10K lesson) 9:39 Staying organized with a CRM + call transcripts 12:03 How to actually win a brand exclusive 14:18 The "add value" trap (and my sticky note fix) 16:22 Do network — even if you're "not a social media person" 18:49 How to pick a category when sourcing 21:03 Buy box wars — watch out for whale sellers 23:24 Don't be afraid of high-priced