How To Start Selling On Amazon

Amazon has two selling plans: Individual and Professional. These can be considered standard and premium selling plans. These two plans offer you flexibility in the type of selling you wish to do ‒ you can sell one item or thousands if you choose.  

Amazon’s Individual plan charges the seller $0.99 per sale, whereas the sellers opting for the Professional plan are charged a flat fee of $39.99 per month, no matter how many items they sell. Amazon suggests that it makes the most sense to buy the Professional option if you sell more than 40 items a month.

 The registration process is very straightforward:

• Visit https://services.amazon.com
• Click ‘Sign Up’
• Follow the prompts and create your Amazon Seller Account

 Some things you’ll need on hand to complete your registration are:

• Bank account number and bank routing number
• Chargeable credit card
• Government-issued national ID
• Tax information
• Phone number

If you’re prepared with the above, your entire registration process will take minutes to complete.

Depending on your selling plan, there are different fees for selling on Amazon. There are three main types of fees related to being an Amazon seller:

• Subscription fees – Subscription fees are the fees that you pay for your selling plan
• Selling fees – Selling fees are what you are charged per item sold. 
• Shipping fees – Amazon shipping rates apply when you fulfil orders yourself.
• Fulfilment by Amazon – There are fees for order fulfilment, storage, and optional services for products that Amazon fulfils for you as part of Amazon’s dropshipping equivalent, Fulfillment by Amazon service.

If you are selling a product that another seller is already selling on Amazon, you can match their existing product listing. If you are the first and only seller of a product, you will need to create a new listing. Each seller’s selling plan determines how they upload and list their products. If a seller has chosen to use a Professional seller account, they will have the option to list all of their products in bulk with bulk uploads or inventory management using third-party systems. Sellers with the Individual plan must list each of their products one by one.  

When selling products on Amazon, the website needs a product ID to properly identify the precise item you’re selling. These IDs are typically an ISBN, a UPC or an EAN. Amazon may require that you purchase a UPC code for a new product or request an exemption for the listing of a new product.

Each product listing will also need the following to be complete:

• Stock keeping unit (SKU)
• Name of the product
• Description of the product and bullet points
• Images of the product
• Relevant keywords as well as search terms

Amazon prides itself on giving its shoppers a safe, comfortable shopping experience. They want their customers to shop with confidence. For that reason, certain products are known as restricted product categories. To sell in these categories, Amazon will likely request that you supply additional fees, performance checks and other qualifications. To receive approval to sell certain brands or list items within a restricted category(like alcohol or tobacco), you can request approval from Seller Central.

If you follow best practices when adding listings, you can greatly increase your chances of success. Shoppers will be able to find your products more easily if you are sure to add descriptive titles, use clear pictures and have concise feature bullets to your listings.

Some factors that could negatively impact your product launch include:

• Variation problems
• Image compliance
• Product IDs

This simply means that the seller stores and manages their inventory and ships their products to their customers themselves. As soon as an order ships, Amazon charges a shipping fee based on the product category and the shipping service selected by the customer. The shipping fee is then passed on to the seller in the form of a shipping credit. There are set shipping rates for all products with an Individual plan, so you need to decide if you can still price your products profitably when factoring in shipping costs.

The company operates 175 fulfilment centres around the world that contain more than 150 million square feet of storage space. When sellers choose Fulfillment by Amazon, they can store your inventory in those warehouses, saving sellers the expense and inconvenience of storing and managing inventory. These sellers also become the beneficiary of Amazon’s customer service and returns, automatic Prime eligibility and Free Super Saver Shipping.

•  Step 1: The seller ships their inventory to Amazon where it will be scanned and put up for sale.
• Step 2: When a purchase is made, each order is packaged and shipped directly by Amazon to the customer.
• Step 3: Amazon is responsible for collecting payments from the customer. The seller is paid any available funds by Amazon every two weeks.
• Step 4: In the event of any problems, any questions, returns, refunds and such are handled by Amazon’s customer service team, saving the seller the stress of dealing with unhappy customers.

Once you have registered as an Amazon seller, you will be able to access your Seller Central account. Seller Central is an important resource for selling on Amazon, acting as a portal to your Amazon business and providing all of the tools you need to manage your selling account. With Seller Central, you can also add product information, make inventory updates, list all of your products and manage payments. It is a hub of useful information that will help you along your journey in navigating your Amazon business.

• Check for new orders daily – Keep on top of when customers order a new product so that you can promptly fulfil the order and ship it out.
• Keep track of your inventory – Be sure that you are always aware of exactly how much stock you have. This way, you’ll avoid ever being unable to fulfil a product due to being out of stock without realising it.
• Keep your pricing up to date (and competitive) – Keep an eye on similar products to yours and make sure that you are pricing yours within the right range, as customers frequently gravitate towards the lowest price.

Strong customer response is essential to being a successful Amazon seller and improving your credibility on the platform. Some ways to cultivate that rating is:

• Accurate product descriptions
• Prompt shipping
• Be upfront with customers about any delays or changes to their orders
• Respond quickly to questions (within 24 hours)
• Encourage positive feedback on your packing slips