Learn the process of setting up a selling account, adding products to the listings, completing customer orders, and other essential tasks. Gain the knowledge of selling, whether you’re a newcomer to e-commerce or simply entering the Amazon marketplace for the first time.
Amazon is one of the most trusted brands in the US and more than 60% of sales come from independent salers
Why Most Independent Sellers Choose Amazon
What makes Amazon a popular choice for many independent sellers as a platform for their business? It allows them to sell through a trusted store with more customers, and they can utilize powerful tools and programs at a lower cost compared to other options. This presents greater potential for growth and opportunities to change their selling approach.
Get Ready To Sell
Select Selling Plan
You have the option of selecting from two selling plans, allowing you to pick the appropriate set of tools and services at the suitable price.
- The Individual selling plan costs $0.99 per sale.
- The Professional selling plan costs which costs $39.99 per month, no matter how many items you sell.
You are given access to a particular set of optional programs with each plan. It is possible to modify or terminate your selling plan anytime.
Each item sold on Amazon incurs a referral fee and may also be subject to additional selling fees in certain situations. Additional costs may apply for optional tools and programs.
Create an account
Once you have selected your selling plan, you will need to sign up with Amazon and set up a Seller Central account. You have the option to register using the email linked to your Amazon customer account, or you can choose to register using a distinct business email address.
Prior to setting up your Seller Central account, ensure that you possess the following:
- Bank account and routing number.
- Internationally chargeable credit card.
- Government issued ID
- Tax information
- Phone number
Configure your Seller Central Account
After finishing the seller registration process, you will be able to log in to your Seller Central account. Seller Central serves as your central platform for selling on Amazon, allowing you to list and set prices for items, handle inventory, and fulfill orders from customers. Additionally, you can utilize Seller Central’s features to generate promotions and discounts, monitor payments and costs, and perform numerous other tasks. If needed, you can include additional users to assist with specific responsibilities.
Prior to beginning your sales, it’s essential to set up your Seller Central account to align with your business requirements. Ensure that you assess, verify, or modify the following components as necessary:
- Public seller profile
- Payment and business information
- Shipping and returns settings
- Tax information and settings
- Notification preferences
- Login settings
- User permissions
Enroll your Brand
Before listing your products, we advise brand owners to enroll their eligible brand in Amazon Brand Registry. This will simplify the process of linking your products to your brand name. The Brand Registry is free and offers sellers a range of extra selling benefits and protection tools.
After enrolling your Brand:
- You will enjoy increased authority over the content displayed on your product detail pages.
- You’ll be able to access free tools like A+ Content, Stores, Manage Your Experiments, and Brand Analytics, which can help you grow your audience and increase sales.
- You’ll enjoy automated protections for your brand and access to additional reporting options.
List Products
Understand the product details page
When shopping on Amazon, you will be familiar with the product detail page, which is where customers can access all the relevant information about a specific item.
The offers of multiple sellers for the same product are combined by Amazon on a single product detail page, which helps customers to easily find, compare, and purchase items.
1.Title – 200 characters max, capitalize the first letter of every word
2.Images – 500 x 500 or 1,000 x 1,000 pixels to increase listing quality
3.Variations – Such as different colors, scents, or sizes
4.Bullet points – Short, descriptive sentences highlighting key features and benefits
5.Featured offer (“Buy Box”) – The featured offer on a detail page. Customers can add to their cart or “Buy Now”
6.Other offers – The same product sold by multiple sellers offering a different price, shipping options, etc.
7.Description – Keywords improve the chances that people will find your listing
Boost engagement with better listings
Have you registered your brand in Brand Registry? Enhance customers’ comprehension and interaction with your products using Shoppable videos, A+ Content, and 3D models.
Make sure your products are safe and compliant
In the Amazon store, customers can rely on the fact that they can make their purchases with confidence. All products available for purchase in the Amazon store are required to adhere to both legal regulations and Amazon policies. Prior to commencing the listing process, it is essential to ensure that you have a clear understanding of Amazons Product safety and Restricted products policies.
Find or obtain a Product Id(GTIN)
Amazon utilizes a product ID, known as a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), as the main tool for matching a seller’s offer with the appropriate product detail page. This ID is typically located on the packaging above or below the product’s barcode. The UPC is the most frequently used GTIN by Amazon sellers, although there is also a possibility of finding an ISBN, EAN, or JAN on the product.
In some cases, you might need to obtain a GTIN for a product from Global Standards 1. In rare cases, you might apply for a GTIN exemption from Amazon.
Create A Product Listing
You can utilize the GTIN of the product you wish to sell to link an offer to the current product detail page on Amazon. If the product is not yet available on Amazon, you will have to establish a new product detail page and can input your offer details at the same time.
Sellers have the option to match or create individual product listings. Professional sellers are also able to match or create product listings in large quantities.
Listing a product on Amazon may be contingent on its category, condition, and brand. If necessary, you may have to request permission to sell a specific product, category, or brand during the listing process.
Price Products
Prior to establishing prices for your items, it is important to acquaint yourself with the fundamental principles Amazon employs to structure and facilitate pricing in the Amazon marketplace.
- Competitive External Price-Major retailers outside of Amazon offer the item at the lowest price. Amazon informs sellers about competitive prices from external sources. To be competitive, your total price (item price + shipping) must not exceed the competitive external price.
- Featured Offer-The Featured Offer, which includes ‘Buy Now’ and ‘Add to Cart’ buttons, is frequently displayed at the top of a product detail page. In order to be eligible for the Featured Offer, a seller must establish a competitive price and possess a Professional selling plan. Additionally, the product must be in new condition.
- Lowest Amazon price: Currently, the Amazon store is offering the lowest price from a seller. Amazon provides the current lowest Amazon price to allow sellers listing a product to match or surpass it.
Select Your Fulfillment Method
You have two basic options for getting customers their stuff:
1.You can fulfill orders yourself, maintaining your own inventory and shipping products directly to customers. We call this merchant-fulfilled shipping (MFN).
2.You can send your inventory to Amazon and have us pick, pack, and deliver products through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). FBA also takes care of customer service and returns.
The advantages of each approach should be considered, and you can choose the most suitable one for each item you are selling. If you are currently selling products, you can also utilize Amazon Revenue Calculator to compare projected earnings for FBA and your specific fulfillment method.
Monitor Your Performance
Selling in the Amazon store necessitates compliance with all relevant laws and Amazon regulations. The Account Health dashboard on Amazon offers a summary of your account’s observance of policies and different performance goals.
Customer Service Performance
The way we evaluate your customer-service performance is through something we refer to as an Order Defect Rate (ODR). Your ODR represents the proportion of your orders that exhibit signs of subpar customer service, such as negative customer feedback or a credit card chargeback. It is mandatory for sellers to keep their ODR below 1%.
Account Health Rating
Sellers on Amazon receive a summary of their adherence to important Amazon selling rules, which cover intellectual property, product authenticity, product listings, and restricted products. In order to retain a ‘Good’ rating, it’s important to resolve any policy breaches indicated on your Account Health dashboard. If your rating is ‘At Risk’ or ‘Critical’, your account may face deactivation.
Shipping Performance
You can use three metrics to help assess the health of your MFN shipping performance:
- The Late Shipment Rate (LSR) measures the proportion of your seller-fulfilled orders that receive a shipping confirmation after their scheduled shipping date. The goal is to ensure it remains under 4%.
- The percentage of seller-fulfilled orders you cancel is known as your Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate (CR). It is advisable to ensure that it remains under 2.5%.
- What your Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) indicates is the percentage of packages with a valid tracking number from your seller-fulfilled orders. Keeping it above 95% should be your goal.
Promote and Advertise Products
Reach more customers with no-cost promotions and pay-per-click advertising.
- Offer coupons on the Amazon Coupons page, in search results, and on product detail pages.
- Featured offers may include percentage-off and buy-one-get-one promotions.
- Make 7-Day Deals and Lighting for the Amazon Deals page. This is a well-liked choice during sales occasions such as Prime Day.
- Make single-product Sponsored Products advertisements that show up above, beside, and in the Amazon store next to user search results.
- Feature up to three goods in your Sponsored Brands advertisements along with a headline and logo. Alternately, make a Sponsored Brands campaign including a single product and an auto-playing video. These advertisements are shown prominently above, next to, and below the search results.
- Make single-product Sponsored Display advertising that can show up inside and outside of the Amazon store when a customer has viewed a product detail page or if other browsing activity indicates that the user is interested in a particular product.
Get Product Reviews
Following their purchase, customers have the option to rate the seller, post a public product review, or do both. Use these pointers to increase the likelihood that you will receive favorable evaluations and ratings:
- Represent a product on your product description page accurately.
- Pack your items carefully to minimize damage during shipping.
- If you’re an MFN vendor, fulfill orders on schedule.
- Give customers their money back for returned goods within 30 days of the original purchase.
- Respond to customer messages within 24 hours.
- Give clients legitimate tracking numbers so they can follow their orders.
Amazon Vine is one mechanism that eligible brands can utilize to get product reviews. Make sure you understand the proper and improper methods for obtaining more product reviews in order to stay out of trouble with the law.
Grow With Tools and Programs
New Seller Guide
Speed is important, and the first 90 days are quite important for Amazon sellers. We created the New Seller Guide to support the success of new sellers by offering a suite of data-driven brand, logistics, price, and promotional services.
Sellers who adopt services in the New Seller Guide can take advantage of over $50,000 in New Seller Incentives.
More Tools and Programs
Searching for additional strategies to market your brand, close deals, and run your company? Examine the free and affordable tools and programs that Amazon provides to support the expansion of your company.
