When you first start selling on Amazon, it can look like a daunting task. If you have no experience in the world of online businesses, it can feel like you’ve been thrown into the deep end of the ocean. It’s true that there are risks – but with a little knowledge and consistency, they can be minimized.
Do you want to sell on Amazon You’re not the only one who wants to sell on Amazon. You are not the only one selling on the largest eCommerce platform in the world. There are many thousands of other sellers. The numbers are staggering when you consider the speed and breadth of these sales.
55% are actually sold by third-party vendors just like you. This equates to more than 6 million everyday products. The average income of third-party sellers is $90,001. If that doesn’t sound appealing, I don’t know what does.
It’s not as easy as 1-2-3. If it were that simple, everyone would be doing this, right? These statistics are probably familiar to you and you’re likely curious about whether it is possible to sell on Amazon. Maybe you don’t know what to sell, or how to do it.
How to Start Selling on Amazon
To sell on Amazon, first, go to Amazon Seller Central and create your seller account. This is easy as it involves a simple application process. Before you can do this, however, there are some important things you need to remember.
- Are you selling on Amazon US?
- Do you own a business entity if you are not a US citizen?
- Are you a US EIN/tax ID?
- Do you have an internationally-chargeable credit card (Visa or Mastercard with raised numbers)?
- Is ACH supported by your local bank?
Be aware that Amazon US has some restrictions on sellers who are not US citizens. Amazon has strict guidelines. To be able to sell on Amazon’s US platform as a non-US citizen, you must establish a US-based entity. You will also need an EIN (Employer Identification number).
Amazon is very strict about this. They will even go to great lengths in order to verify your identity. This includes checking your driver’s licence or state identification card. Be prepared.
Why sell on Amazon?
There are many reasons why I would sell on Amazon. But, this one is the most important. To understand this, you need to first understand search intention. This is not intended to confuse you but to help you understand why Amazon is the best place to sell any product.
This is what you should be thinking about for a second. What are you searching for when you go to Google? You are most likely searching for information or a solution to a problem. You might sometimes be interested in buying something, but that’s likely to be in the beginning stages.
This is what you call an informational intention. You are trying to find information about something. You might also be trying to find information about a website. Many people search terms such as “Facebook login” and “Namecheap accounts” to find the right site.
Amazon is a place where people go to buy. To buy. The buyer intention is huge. It is largely absent on Google and other social media platforms, such as YouTube and Facebook. It does exist. However, Amazon is where you go to shop for products.
Is Amazon still working?
Selling anything on Amazon is easy because there is so much buyer intent. Yes, there are many rules. When asked about the possibility of selling on Amazon, most people ask: Does it still work?
It works. It works for sellers who make 6 to 7 or even 8 figures per annum selling on Amazon. But does it work for me? It may, the answer is yes. It is not something you can do overnight.
There are no guarantees in this life. You can’t expect to become rich overnight. It takes hard work to source the products, invest in inventory and create a great listing. Get reviews and make sure you are paying attention to the quality and value of your product.
For many, this can seem overwhelming. Think about it for a second. What is the effort required to set up a business, fulfillment system and customer service team? How about warehousing? It is a huge undertaking. Amazon does all the heavy lifting (for a charge, of course).
Amazon FBA = Fulfilled-by-Amazon
Amazon’s FBA service is the solution. Amazon handles everything. Amazon handles all aspects of the order, including picking, packing, shipping, customer service, returns, and return processing. You simply need to get your product to their warehouse and then you can focus on getting the product in front as many potential buyers as possible.
Amazon is there a lot of competition? Yes, there is. However, competition is all around you. Amazon and other online retailers. How do you find the winning product in all of this noise? How do you scale it up and push it out once you have found the winning product?
1. Create a central account for your seller
Before you create a Seller Central account, don’t think about selling on Amazon. Why? Because you want to be approved to sell on the platform. This is not to alarm you. Amazon is very strict. Amazon is very strict in fact.
So, gather your documents and head to sellercentral.amazon.com and start with your account creation. A professional account is also available. You may be wondering what the difference is. This is it. Your free account has a limited scope. There are 40 items you can sell.
Difference between The Professional and The Free Account
Get a free account
- There is no monthly fee
- You can sell up 40 items per month
- Each item is 99c plus fulfillment fees
- Variable shipping charges for books, music and video.
- Gift wrapping is not an option
- You cannot access restricted categories
Professional Account
- Monthly fee $39.99
- You can sell unlimited products per month
- Buyers have the option to wrap gifts
- Allowable to sell in gated areas (i.e. collectible coins, fine jewelry, fine art, gourmet food, videos, etc.)
2. Locate A Profitable Product You Can Sell
After Amazon approves you as a seller, you will need to locate a product that you can sell. This can be difficult. This will require you to do extensive research. You will make more money if you invest more time here.
Here is where magic really happens. If you play your cards correctly, you can expect to enjoy unlimited fortune and riches. If you make a mistake, you can be in serious trouble. This could lead to loss of capital, time loss, and possibly even loss of faith and belief in yourself.
This is the problem. People decide to compete with the largest sellers by finding the most popular product on Amazon. This, my friends is a recipe to disaster. This is especially true when you’re talking about your first product.
Sure, you need demand. You don’t need too much demand. You don’t want to be over-competitive. It might seem impossible to find this information these days. It is possible. Amazon has tens to millions of products.
Choose a Product Research Tool
You have many options when it comes finding a product that is profitable to market. Jungle Scout is one example. It has been around for the longest time.
Other tools include Sellics and AmzScout, as well as SellerApp and Sellics. These tools can give you estimates of monthly sales, search volumes, and other information.
The manual method is the best way to find out more about a product.
Why?
Every product research tool will give a pretty accurate guess. This is not an actual fact. Just an estimation. It’s up to you to interpret the lines. Do you want to invest in this product? This is the question.
The Best Sellers Ranking (BSR), which is a product’s ranking, will give you a clear indication of how many units are being sold per month. This will show you the rank of each category. Certain categories of products are more popular than others.
It’s the BSR, however, that matters most. You want to find a BSR in the 10,000-20,000 range.
Consumables are the true beauty of selling on Amazon. Yes. Consumables. An item that can be replenished each month.
This is the place where there is real gold, whether it is hair vitamins, nootropics and probiotics. To really know what you are selling, it is important to know the price of the item.
3. Purchase Your Inventory
After you have found the perfect product, it is time to order your inventory. Here is where you will start to pay the highest costs. This is where you will need to spend capital.
Before you purchase anything, however, you must find a supplier. Most people will turn to Alibaba. However, if your destination is the USA, you can still use ThomasNet and other local manufacturers.
This is a trade-off because while producing overseas can be cheaper, you pay much more for shipping, importing and quality control. If it’s made locally (for instance, if you live in the U.S.), you often spend less and get a better product.
This is a huge step. This is a huge step. With a solid purchase order (P.O.) It’s more difficult to enforce such an agreement if you source your supplier from overseas. It’s different when you source locally.
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4. For an FNSKU, create a “dummy” listing
To generate an FNSKU, you will need a “dummy”, also known as a placeholder listing. You will need an FNSKU to be printed on your packaging. This is Amazon’s internal tracking system. You will need a UPC Code to do this. To generate your FNSKU, you will need to buy a UPC Code.
Add the minimum information to the Seller Central panel. This will create your placeholder listing. After you have completed this, you can create your FNSKU by entering the UPC code that you purchased.
5. Create Your Packaging and Labels
Have you ever heard the expression, “Don’t judge a book based on its cover?” You have. You can be sure. Your packaging and labels must be professional. This is no easy task.
You will need to pay a professional to do this. Your product’s packaging and labels are a reflection of its quality. Don’t cut corners or make a sloppy purchase. This is an essential part of bringing your product on the market.
6. Amazon will accept your products
Once you have your packaging and inventory ready, it is time to ship your products to Amazon. Before you can send your products to Amazon, make sure your supplier properly packages and labels your products. If you are ordering your first shipment, ensure that you have your products shipped to your home first.
Shipping to the US from outside the USA will cost you extra due to taxes and duties. You need to make sure your supplier has a quality control system. Although it might be difficult at first, you will soon find your groove.
You will need to create an Amazon shipping plan to send your products to Amazon. You will need information about your palette, including its dimensions and the number of units.
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7. Make sure to update your Amazon product listing
After you have shipped to Amazon, you will be able to update your listing. You can add bullet points, descriptions, photos, and tags. To give your listing a more professional look, I recommend that you have infographics created by your designer.
It’s also important to pay attention keywords and descriptions in order to propel your listing to top of Amazon’s search results. A professional who is knowledgeable in what they do is a good choice. It is worth the money.
8. Review your experience fast
You need to quickly get reviews once your product listing has been published. You have many options, but you must get reviews quickly. It will take some time to get used to this. The Amazon algorithm uses both sales and reviews to determine where it will be placed in search results.
