The real question is what to delegate to AI, what to keep human, and what's delegated to a VA.
And the cost comparison. That would be a useful exercise.
My problem was not getting an A-player VA
I went through over a dozen people in the last couple years.
For full-time, we're talking about at least US$1,000, right? I've paid US$700 to US$2,000.
I've tried VAs, and it didn't work.
Even with social media manager VAs, a lot of times they're creating content that's not relevant. AI slop. Back and forth. They're getting stuck on permissions.
A lot of times, it's just not efficient.
Basically, a lot of time was wasted.
The solution is to decide what to delegate to an AI
I've tried OpenClaw, Hermes, Claude, and Codex.
Right now, the main one I'm using is Codex.
The reason is because it's smart. The tokens are more affordable than the other frontier models. Computer use is excellent. It can take over websites, schedule emails, et cetera.
Intelligence is high. It's not stupid.
It does things as well as most human VAs. I would say B, B+ level, sometimes A level.
The minus is obviously the cost.
When I was working intensively on it, I burned through the US$200 weekly limit several times. I had to use several resets.
But there are ways to economize tokens.
The solution is not perfect
A lot of times, it forgets things. It doesn't do as good of a job as I like.
And the main thing is it's not proactive. It's not autonomous.
It's not like a level 5 type proactive worker where you can just say:
Hey, you're the chief of staff. I want you to handle these relationships with my partners. I want you to work with the social media manager and make sure that she's unblocked. Make sure she has access to GitHub. Make sure to reply to her over Teamwork chat and ClickUp.
Codex just doesn't proactively do that.
Maybe I'm not configuring it correctly, but I've been working in AI for a long time, right?
So if I can't do it, I'm pretty sure 90% to 95% of other people can't do it.
What I'm seeing right now
In terms of ecommerce, I feel that Codex and Claude, if you have the content brain set up correctly, if you have the right skills, and if you audit the skills, you can run it as a good team member.
That's what I'm seeing right now this week.
Join us in Tokyo
If you want to learn how 7- and 8-figure Amazon brand owners are delegating this between AI, between VAs, between humans, and in the loop, and how to use agents to coordinate everything, join us at the Seven Figure Seller Japan Mastermind.
That's exactly what we're doing over two days in Tokyo.
Early bird pricing expires on Monday.
If you're in Tokyo next week
I'm also hosting the first AI for Business Tokyo Meetup next Thursday, September 3, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Spaces Otemachi.
I'll do a live screen-share showing how I use an AI Executive Assistant to turn meeting notes and inbox messages into draft replies, next steps, a daily plan, and a short presentation. It's practical, not a developer workshop. The demo will be in English with AI-generated Japanese interpretation.
See the details and register on Luma
Growth can hide the margin
Marketplace Pulse reports that U.S. ecommerce grew 12.2% year over year in Q2 and reached 17.1% of U.S. retail spending. It estimates that price increases explain roughly one-third of the acceleration. That decomposition is an estimate, not a precise measurement of every seller's business.
This was the second straight quarter of double-digit ecommerce growth after four years without one. But the biggest platforms are growing faster than ecommerce overall: Walmart's U.S. online sales rose 24%, Shopify's North American merchants sold 28% more, and Amazon's online store sales grew 15%.
So yes, demand has come back. But more of that growth is concentrating on the biggest platforms. And if your revenue is up because prices are up, that doesn't mean your unit economics improved.
TAKEAWAY: Put units, conversion, and contribution margin next to revenue in the weekly review.
Q4 shipping needs a service-by-service check
USPS announced temporary holiday price increases, pending Postal Regulatory Commission review, from October 4, 2026 through January 17, 2027. The changes vary by service, weight, and zone.
For commercial Priority Mail and Ground Advantage, the increases start at 40 cents for lighter Zone 1-4 packages. They climb to more than $9 for some heavier, long-distance Priority Mail shipments. Parcel Select increases range from 40 cents to $2.35 depending on weight.
The important part is that there is no single holiday surcharge you can add to every order. Your actual increase depends on the package, service, and destination.
TAKEAWAY: Reprice holiday shipping by service, weight, and zone before Q4 promotions are fixed.
Source: U.S. Postal Service announcement
Discovery may happen on TikTok and conversion may finish on Amazon
Modern Retail reports that brand executives are seeing customers discover products on TikTok and finish on Amazon for Prime shipping, reviews, discounts, or account familiarity. It also reports AquaSonic traced an Amazon sellout of one toothbrush color to a viral TikTok video linked to TikTok Shop.
One study cited in the report found that 48.8% of shoppers preferred Amazon after discovering a product socially, compared with 9.5% for TikTok Shop. AquaSonic says a viral TikTok can sell three months of inventory in 48 hours. Jool Baby says one product went from roughly 5-10 Amazon units a day to about 200 after parents started posting it on TikTok.
The useful way to think about this is: TikTok creates demand. Amazon captures demand. But if you treat them as separate channels, you will miss the halo effect and you may also miss the inventory risk.
TAKEAWAY: Track branded search, Amazon traffic, organic rank, inventory movement, and price and stock across channels after a creator spike.
Source: Modern Retail briefing
AI shopping is starting to build the basket
PYMNTS reports that Lowe's says Mylow has handled more than 25 million questions from customers and store associates. Lowe's also reports that online shoppers using Mylow convert at 3 times the rate of shoppers who do not use it. Those are retailer-reported figures, not independent proof.
The useful operating signal is the product experience. Mylow turns a project question into specific products and complementary items instead of returning only search results.
If someone says, "my faucet is leaking," the job is not to give them a page of faucet results. The job is to understand the project, narrow the options, work out what else they need, and help them finish the cart.
That is a product-data problem as much as an AI problem. If your compatibility, quantities, variants, and companion products are messy, the assistant has nothing reliable to work with.
TAKEAWAY: Organize product information around problems, projects, compatibility, quantities, and companion items.
The Vital Few
- Not all humans-in-the-loop are equal - Put human attention where uncertainty and consequence are highest.
- Scale agentic AI without a learning loop and get faster automation, not autonomy - Compare proposed actions with actual results and update the workflow.
- How businesses win when AI does the shopping - Audit product facts, compatibility, variants, inventory, price, and return terms.
- FarEye's agentic AI dispatcher - Monitor continuously, recommend or execute inside policy, and escalate exceptions.
In case you missed it
- Last week's 80/20 of Ecom: Will ChatGPT recommend your product?
- Watch: How to Get Your Products Recommended by ChatGPT
- Amazon just connected your PPC data to AI agents
Talk soon,
Gary
P.S. Early bird discount to the Seven Figure Seller Japan Mastermind in Tokyo, October 13th to 14th, expires Monday, August 31st. Get your tickets now before the price goes up