How Do I Start Selling on Amazon?

As online retail sales have increased year-over-year, especially since 2020 following the Covid-19 pandemic, the interest in selling on e-commerce platforms, especially Amazon, has grown considerably.

Selling on Amazon Marketplace allows you to reach a global customer base that contains hundreds of millions of customer accounts. Founded in 1999, a year when we could see third-party sellers for the first time on Amazon, by the end of 2021 more than 55% of all Amazon sales were from these sellers. More than enough reason to make it interesting, right?

Get Started

The first thing you need to do is complete your registration on Amazon Seller Central. For your registration, you will need a:

•       bank account number and bank routing number
•       chargeable credit card
•       government-issued national ID
•       tax information
•       phone number.

After that, depending on the number of items you’ll be selling, you’ll need to select your selling plans. If you plan to sell less than 50 items per month, the right plan will be the Individual plan. If you plan to sell more, or want access to more features and reports, then the right choice will be the Business Plan.

For the Individual Plan, you’ll be charged $0.99 per item sold; with the Business Plan, you will pay $39.99, no matter how many items have been sold. It’s important to remember that these plans can change at any time.

Fees

Except for the fees regarding business plans, which are called subscription fees, selling on Amazon includes additional fees.

•       Selling fees are charged per item sold and include referral fees that are a percentage of your selling price and are different
  depending on the category of your products.
•       Shipping fees, based on the product category and what shipping service is used.
•       FBA fees, in case you select Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA); in this case, you will be charged for the fulfillment, storage, and some
  additional services.

Amazon Seller Central

Amazon Seller Central is a portal where you can manage many things related to selling on Amazon. After registration, each seller gets access to Amazon Seller Central. It is a powerful platform designed to give you access to a lot of information and reports.

By using Amazon Seller Central, you can:

•       manage your inventory and shipments
•       add product information to your listings
•       create promotions
•       advertise your products
•       manage payments, plans, and account features
•       gain access to many reports, such as those focused on inventory, advertising, and business.

You will need to list your products on Amazon Seller Central to start selling.

Before listing a product, check and determine whether your product category is allowed for selling, needs approval, or is restricted on Amazon.

To list products, you need to have a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), such as a UPC, an ISBN, or an EAN. Additionally, you should have your product SKU, title, description, bullet points, images, search terms, and keywords ready.

A short overview of requirements for titles and other things mentioned above can be seen in the image below.

Product Detail Page

As the name suggests, the product detail page is where customers can see all the relevant information about your product. All the things mentioned above will be displayed on product detail pages. Since Amazon is a highly customer-oriented marketplace, it is important to keep your listings information precise and concise.

In the case of multiple sellers offering the same product, Amazon will combine all the data from multiple sellers into one product detail page. It means one product can have only one product detail page, which makes Amazon unique.

All sellers can provide the information in this case, request changes, or review the page if they think some information is inaccurate.

Fulfillment

Sellers on Amazon have two options for the delivery of their sold items:

•       Fulfilled by Merchant, where you are taking care of packaging, inventory, shipping, and delivery to the customers
•       Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA), where Amazon is doing all of this for you.

The decision on which method to choose is up to sellers. You need to determine which option works the best for you.

 Important Performance Metrics

As a seller on Amazon, which is a customer-oriented marketplace, you’ll want to take care to have some of the metrics within Amazon requirements.

•       Your pre-fulfillment cancel rate must be less than 2.5 per cent. Such a rate is measured when a seller initiates cancelling before
  shipment.
•       The late shipment rate must be less than 4 per cent. A shipment is late when the order was delivered after the expected delivery date
•       The order defect rate must be less than 1 per cent, and it is a measure of a seller’s customer service standards.
•       Customer reviews: A high number of negative reviews and ratings can lead to listings suspension. It is in your interest to provide a
  great customer experience because positive reviews will increase your product visibility.

Amazon Brand Registry

In the end, if you are a brand owner, you can register/enroll your brand in the Amazon Brand Registry. Brand Registry is a portal where you can register your brands and afterward build and protect your brand.

With registration in Amazon Brand Registry, you can:

•       have enhanced (A+) content for your listings
•       sponsor your brand
•       have your store on Amazon
•       get access to the brand analytics and reports
•       report violations.

Happy selling! Reach out if you need any help along the way!