How to sell on Amazon: The Definitive Guide

January 21, 2022
Contents

With 200 million paying Prime members worldwide, Amazon is the biggest e-commerce company in the world right now. Therefore, selling on Amazon provides a massive opportunity to gain healthy profits — if you know how to sell on Amazon properly. 

If you are a small business owner who wants to start an e-commerce business, Amazon has one of the largest platforms for you.

What is your business plan?

This question is crucial. You can't just think of opening an account on Amazon without any plans. Before starting any business, you need to draw out a business plan. 

Here are some key things to know you need to plan

  • What is your brand name/ mission/ statement?
  • What kind of products and services do you want to sell?
  • Financial plan
  • What are your competitors doing?
  • Study the market trends

You'll need to research your market and figure out competitors and trends. Know what kind of product you want to sell and how much you want to spend on sourcing, marketing, and promotion. 

You need to figure all this out before diving into the process of selling.

How to Sell on Amazon in 4 Easy Steps

1. Figure Out What to Sell on Amazon

This is an important question that each seller needs to answer. You need to figure this out before starting your brand. Some entrepreneurs may have an idea about what to sell, but most ponder this question and find it hard to come up with anything.

If you are searching to sell something, it should be:

  • Profitable: Profitable in the sense it gives you high-profit margins.
  • On-demand: On-demand means a hot product, and people want to buy it right away.
  • Based on market research: Your product should fill the market gap. Sell something that is not sold in your region to your audience. Do product research before you start trading.

Follow these steps to find the right product to sell:

2. Find a Niche

Building a profitable business on Amazon is all about finding a niche. To do that, it's necessary to do market research and analyze trends. 

Think about what you're passionate about and what you're good at, and find products that align with those qualities.

For example, you are passionate about fashion; you can see clothes, shoes, or accessories.

Study the trend of the product, its emotional impact, practical value, recognition, and visibility. Once you find a niche, see the main selling point to focus on or create a new trend.

  • Find a niche you are passionate about or curious about.
  • Do your research and educate yourself on the niche.
  • Shortlist the products you can sell in the category.
  • Find which products in the niche sell more.

How can you find which products sell on Amazon? We have simple tricks that can help you decide what to sell.

Best Sellers

You can search for every product you have shortlisted in your niche. For example, we searched for hair straighteners in the Beauty category. We selected the Philips Selfie straightener and went into the Product Details.

Product Details on Amazon

You can see the Best Sellers Rank; it ranks #64 in beauty and #2 in hair straighteners as you scroll down. This tells us that selling a hair straightener in the category is good because it sells.

If you want to go further into the process and check whether the sales happen, you can use a free Junglescout tool to estimate your sales.

We used the tool and found out that these many sales per month would happen with the rank and category. You can find which products are profitable to sell through this tool.

JungleScout results on Amazon Products

If the estimated sales are high, go for the product.

Profitable pricing

 When choosing a product to sell, you also need to consider the pricing. You need to strike a balance. The perfect balance of price and profit is what you want to look for. 

Although lucrative in the short term, buying more expensive items can be quite tricky. 

You’ll want to go instead for products that are not too expensive but also have a fair profit margin. If you are just getting into selling on Amazon, start by selling affordable products.

Easy Shipping

As a new seller on Amazon, you’ll need to keep your costs as low as possible. One of the essential steps in deciding what products to sell. 

For instance, it’s crucial to think about shipping costs, size, and weight because smaller and lighter items will be cheaper to ship.

So, choose an item in your niche that will be profitable, easy to ship, and sells like hotcakes.

Now that you selected the products you want to sell, the next step is to source them.

3. Determining Where To Source Your Products

Once you’ve identified your niche, finding the perfect product supplier is an integral part of the process. 

There are plenty of different methods to find suppliers. One of the most popular methods is Alibaba. You can also find suppliers on AliExpress. 

Either way, you’ll have a few potential suppliers to choose from based on your needs. Get their contact information and background information to ensure they’re a good fit.

Here's a list of essential aspects to consider when finding a supplier:

  • Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ): What's the minimum amount you can order from your supplier? Can you afford it? Discuss it before getting in business with them.
  • Order Limit:  What is the maximum order limit? Is it flexible or good enough for you?
  • Product Quality: Your product should be top-notch. Check the products in advance and order samples before buying them.
  • Shipping Charges: Make sure the shipping charges aren't too high, or else you can't afford to order it again.
  • Capacity: What is your supplier's capacity? How many orders and how frequently can they take them?
  • Payment Options: Clear this stuff out. Settle a payment method when choosing the supplier so you don't run into roadblocks later.
  • Payment Terms: How frequently do you need to pay the supplier? What is the payment cycle?
  • Product Samples: Review and use the samples before picking a supplier.
  • Product Quality: You need to inspect whether the product quality is up to the mark. Should you be selling it or not?

At a minimum, we want to make sure you're working with a supplier that offers the following:

  • Accepts Trade Assurance, Paypal, or AliPay (most secure payment methods)
  • Verified by Alibaba
  • They're a Gold Supplier

Got a supplier? Good! Before you place an order, though, always try to establish a small batch first. 

This way, you'll get the chance to get feedback from customers and know how to market your products. You should stay in contact with your supplier to avoid any misunderstandings.

4. Create an Amazon Seller Account.

If you're going to sell on Amazon, you'll need to go through the Amazon seller registration process. Follow the steps below to set up an Amazon Seller account.

1. Go to Amazon Services

2. Scroll down the page below the heading "Become an Amazon seller"

3. Click on Learn more about how to start selling. You will see the screen below.

How to Become an Amazon Seller

You need to fulfill some requirements to open an Amazon seller account.

  • You should have GST/ PAN for your business.
  • An active bank account to deposit payment.

4. Below the Requirements to sell section, click on Start your registration

Requirements to Sell on Amazon

5. You will directed to the Amazon Seller Central login page. Click on Create your Amazon account

Signing in to Amazon Seller Central India

6. Enter the details on the page, including Name, mobile number, email, and a strong password.

Creating an Amazon Seller Account

7. You will be sent an OTP to your number or email for verification.

Amazon seller registration: verify email screen

8. Enter the OTP and click on Create your Amazon Account

9. The next step is regarding more information about your business/Business and Contact address.

Filling your name, business type, and business location on Amazon
  • Add the business location to ensure it is correct because Amazon will verify it later. Select the country of your business.
  • Add business type. You can choose from State-owned business, Publicly-owned business, Privately-owned business, Charity, or none “I am an individual”.
  • Add your correct name, First name as well as Last name.

10. Click on Agree and Continue

11. Enter your personal information- Country of citizenship, country of birth, date of birth, proof of identity(as well as expiry date and country of issue on it), business address, and phone number.

Amazon seller registration: personal information page

12. Click on Next to go to the next step of registration

13. When you finish filling out the 'Individual Information' section, you will need to verify your marketplace(s) to sell on - this is referring to the Amazon store like Amazon.in or Amazon UK etc. You can select the store location from the drop-down menu before clicking "next."

Entering marketplace specific details on Amazon

14. Add valid billing information. Amazon has yet another verification system to make sure their sellers are legitimate. It asks for the number, name, and date of your credit card. Enter all the information and click Next.

Amazon seller registration: Billing information page

15. Set up Amazon Store in the following process. You will have to provide information like the Name of your Amazon store, whether or not you have UPCs for your products, are the manufacturer or owner of the products you are selling, if you have a government-registered trademark for your products.

Amazon seller registration: store information

16. Address verification- When you’ve completed the other steps in the verification process, you’ll be asked to confirm the business address you provided in step six (Personal Information). 

Amazon will send a postcard to the provided address with an OTP. You will receive it within a week. When you receive the postcard, add the OTP and click ‘Confirm.’

Amazon registration: Address Validation

Once verified, you can log into Amazon seller central and start selling.

5. Prepare Before Adding Product Listings on Amazon

After you have created an Amazon seller account, your job gets easier. Selling on Amazon is a lot of work, but not so hard when you get the hang of it. 

There is an easy way for beginners to get around it.

  • Just visit the Amazon website.
  • Search for your product keyword; enter carpets in the search bar if you are selling carpets.
  • See the results, scroll down, choose an item, click on it.
  • On the right side of the screen, you see the option Sell on Amazon. Click on it.
Amazon Product listing

 

This is an easy way for sellers to share their products with Amazon customers. However, the right way is to list your product through Amazon Seller central.

Required details for product listing

When listing your product for sale online, you need to provide the following information:

  • A GTIN (Global Trade Identification Number), UPC, ISBN, or EANN. Some retailers may get a UPC directly from GS1, and some retailers need an exemption.
  • An SKU (stock keeping unit) that you create that helps track your inventory
  • Product details like name, brand, category, description, and images
  • Product condition (new, used, etc.)
  • Price
  • Quantity
  • Shipping options (price preferences, carrier selection, etc.)

NOTE: Fulfillment by Amazon is a great way for Amazon sellers to store their products in the Amazon warehouse. Amazon handles the packing, shipping, customer service, and returns. You can opt for Amazon FBA as well.

6. Add Product Listing on Amazon

  • Go to Amazon seller central.
  • Click on Inventory > Add a product on the Amazon seller central dashboard.
Adding a product on Amazon

You can search the Amazon catalog to search for products similar to yours and use the same format. However, if you want to stand out, we recommend doing this hard.

  • Click on Create a new product listing.
Create a new product listing on Amazon
  • Select a product category next. You can choose an appropriate category for your product or create a new one. 
 Selecting Product Category on Amazon
  • Add the required info as shown below - Add Product name/ Title, the manufacturer, brand, condition, your price, production (When will it be available after ordering or readily available), product ID(ASIN, IAN, GDC, UPC).
Enter Product ID, UPC, Title, Manufacturer and Brand for FBA shipping

 

  • Click on Save and Finish and Congratulations! You have your first Amazon product listing.

7. Create a Shipping Plan

When you're just about ready to launch your business on Amazon, there are a few things to keep in mind. One of the most critical considerations is creating a shipping plan. 

This will dictate how much inventory you need on hand and where you should store it for delivery. 

Although you can sell on Amazon without a shipping plan, it's a good idea to let Amazon have your inventory through Amazon  FBA business.

On Amazon, you can do the product fulfillment in two different ways:

  • Fulfillment by Merchant: The individual seller is responsible for inventory, packing, shipping products, and tracking. You also have to take care of customer service.
  • Fulfillment by Amazon is an excellent process through which Amazon stores your products in fulfillment centers, and Amazon ships them out when a customer places an order.

What is Amazon FBA?

To make things easier for sellers, Amazon introduced the Amazon FBA. It is a great way to give sellers the edge over competitors. Moreover, you do not have to worry about packaging, shipping, and handling returns. Amazon does it all.

But which shipping should you choose? Both FBM and FBA have their advantages as well as disadvantages.

With FBM, you have all the inventory in one place; you are in charge of what exact product to ship, and all customer queries. 

You will have to manage inventory and shipping. But one disadvantage of FBM is that customers may not be as interested in buying from you as they would from Amazon Prime Shipper. 

Another disadvantage is that your item will have a more challenging time winning the buy box.

On the other hand, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a lot like having a huge Amazon inventory and customer service center at your fingertips. 

It allows you to process and ship orders quickly and easily — which you probably don't want to take on yourself.

Fulfilled by Amazon

Amazon's FBA program has a lot of advantages, which includes:

  • You will be automatically eligible to be an Amazon Prime seller. Customers will prefer your listings.
  • When you sell with the Fulfillment method, you can sell your items on Amazon Marketplace, your eCommerce site, or other marketplace platforms.
  • Your chances of winning the buy box increase.
  • Your products will rank higher than others.
  • FBA is one of the best ways to boost your sales. It’s easy, hands-free, and hassle-free. You don’t have to worry about fulfillment, tracking shipments, or even customer service.

How to use FBA shipping?

  • In your Seller Central dashboard, click on Inventory> Edit inventory and click “Change to Fulfilled by Amazon”.
Creating Amazon Product Listing - Switch listing to Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA)
  • Click on Convert only on the right side of the screen.
  • Click edit and choose Send/replenish inventory
Adding Initial Inventory on amazon
  • Choose your options in the new shipping plan. Whenever you're sending a group of products or your entire inventory, you'll want to be sure to select the "case-packed" option.
  • This means that you'll be sending all your products in one box. If you're sending multiple items in one shipment, make sure to select the individual products.
Declaring Type of Packaging on Amazon

NOTE: Amazon asks for hazmat reviews as a safety measure. Hazmat reviews are when Amazon's The Dangerous Goods team evaluates each ASIN that was converted to Fulfilled by Amazon and identifies whether it is a possible dangerous good. These reviews ensure compliance with customers' and Amazon employees' regulatory requirements and safety standards.

  • Add package dimensions information. Enter the dimensions of your product, as well as prep information.
  • You can use estimates, but don’t be off by more than 10%.  Then, fill out the units per case and the number of cases you send. Click on the quantity and click Save.
 Providing Unit Dimensions on Amazon
  • Prepare products. The next question is if your products require any kind of prep, which has to do with quality assurance, packaging, logistics, or anything else. 
 Prep Required Home Screen on Amazon
  • Label products. The following section asks you whether you want to label your products. The page asks you, “Who Labels?” 
  • You can select a merchant at this time. We recommend the "print labels" option if you want to print labels. But if you do not want to worry about labeling, it's completely alright.
 Deciding merchant labeling on AMazon
  • Review shipment. How do you get your product to Amazon? Before you can sell your product on Amazon, you must ship it to them. Fortunately, Amazon has created a shipping plan that automates the process. 
  • They provide you with the warehouse address where your products will be staying. Either you can send the package yourself or give the address to the freight forwarder.
  • Enter all the details and click on Approve shipment. Then you can click work on load to select how you will ship your product to Amazon.
Working on Shipment

 

Review shipment and Shipping Service.

To ship your products to Amazon, you need to decide:

A:Whether it’s a small parcel delivery or not.

B: If it’s sent from your location or by a third-party.

C: If you want to use your shipping service or not.

D: If you want to use a third party and which carrier they are using to send your products in.

Review and Select Shipping

Speedy delivery is a must in today's marketplace. Ensure you have all the correct shipping information, and ask your third-party freight forwarder how much one box weighs and the dimensions.

 If you don't have access to these resources, you can always weigh your own products box at home by stepping on a scale.

  • Enter all the information about the shipment, starting from the carrier to the product size and quantity, then click on Confirm
  • Make sure you print your shipping labels next, you need to keep these labels handy. You also need to enter the tracking ids of the packages you receive from the carrier.

 

Printing Box Labels

 

Once you ship all your items to Amazon, Amazon's responsibility is now to handle your orders. 

When the orders are shipped to customers, you will receive tracking IDs of all the packages. You can save it all in your Amazon seller central dashboard.

FBA Pricing

Every Amazon seller has to pay a small fee whether they use FBA or not. But there are two types of FBA fees you need to know about if you will use FBA. 

One is Amazon fulfillment fees, and the other is Monthly storage inventory fees. Amazon fulfillment fees are the fees the platform charges to the seller for weight, size, packaging, and how they ship products. 

It also includes the customer service fee. In comparison, Monthly storage inventory fees are what Amazon sellers have to pay for storing their inventory in Amazon FBA warehouses.

5 Tips On How To Sell Better On Amazon

To sell on Amazon may seem like an easy task, but the platform is saturated. This means selling on Amazon is complicated. 

Whether you are selling your products or running an Amazon business through third-party companies, below are a few tips you can use to help you sell better.

Use high-quality product photos

 Product Photography

 

When you start selling on Amazon, you can't go at it blindly. You have to take every step seriously, from nitty-gritty details like no hazy photographs to the right Product code. 

All established sellers on Amazon may sell the same product as their competitors, but they have higher sales because they are just better. Using high-quality product photos on the product detail page and hiring a professional to do product photography can do wonders for you. 

If you are going to do it yourself, keep these in mind:

  • Be creative,
  • Take well-lit photos,
  • Use natural light to your advantage,
  • Add brand logos in your product images,
  • Take pictures from every angle.

Create engaging product videos

Add Video To Amazon Listings

Other than adding Images, Amazon offers the incredible opportunity to add videos to product pages. 

It makes things better for buyers because they know what they will be getting before buying it. 

You can shoot the videos yourself, hire a professional, or use an online video maker like Offeo. Why can Offeo be a great way to make your product videos?

  • You can make videos from images.
  • You can use your clips in the video and edit it yourself.
  • You can customize the video according to your brand.
  • You can add voiceover to the videos, which makes explaining the product a smooth process.
  • You can use automated animation to present your product to customers.
  • You can use unique templates to make product videos.
  • Ready-made templates for eCommerce business
  • You can also add text to your video with Offeo.

There are so many spectacular features on Offeo that can help you make incredibly cool videos. Don't believe us? Why don't you give it a try here?

Sell lightweight and small products that are easy to ship

Shipping costs can be a significant drain on your wallet. But did you know that the smaller the product, the lower the shipping cost? It's especially true for books and other media products. 

So, choose to sell products that aren't heavy. This goes for small business owners as well as professional sellers.

Optimize product listings

Optimization is a necessary process for Amazon sellers. For an excellent start, keyword research and insertion should be done. Try to leverage the Amazon algorithm and optimize the following:

  • Product titles
  • Features
  • Descriptions

Add keywords to product titles descriptions and use high-quality images. Use short sentences, prompt call-to-action, and compelling videos/pictures.

NOTE: Did you know product listings with videos often rank higher than listings with just images?

Build credibility with customer reviews

Product reviews

The word of the customer is better than any ad. Customer feedback is essential, especially in Amazon, where buyers can leave product reviews. 

It is a crucial factor in a business's success. Amazon customer reviews are social proof for brands and products. To follow up on the shopping experience, you need to write an email to review. 

Nowadays, customers love to leave feedback on Amazon, so your job wouldn't be so hard. You can also create a social media community for your brand and receive input there.

Conclusion: How to Sell on Amazon

There’s no denying the perks of selling on Amazon. With its brand recognition and logistical advantages, Amazon can help your business grow far beyond what you could achieve on your own. 

But before jumping in, you need to have a business plan, find a niche, and you need to decide what you are going to sell. 

Selling may seem scary and daunting right now, but as you first sell, then second, the third, and so on, you will get the hang of it. Amazon is one of the best ways to expand your business, so take the chance now and get started today!

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