How to Sell on Amazon for Complete Beginners [Guide]

Amazon has become the do-everything, sell-anything platform of the modern era. Nothing beats the ease and convenience of one-click shopping paired with Prime shipping. Nothing.

Here are just a few reasons why Amazon has become the leading ecommerce platform in the Western world:

• Amazon has hundreds of million active customers
• $3.5+ billion sales by third-party Selling Partners during Prime Day 2020
• Amazon has 150+ million Prime members
• In 2022, Amazon was ranked the most trusted brand by US consumers
• Amazon ships to customers in more than 100 countries
• Customers complete 28% of Amazon purchases in 3 minutes or less and 50% of purchases in less than 15 minutes

With stats like that, it’s no wonder that millions of sellers currently use the marketplace.

The competition is heating up, but you’re not too late to the game. Far from it. As Amazon continues to grow in popularity for buyers, there’s always a place for new sellers. However, you’ll need to get your ducks in a row to succeed on this platform—you won’t win with a willy-nilly half-in approach.

Let us help kickstart your Amazon selling experience. This guide will show you everything you need to know about how to sell on Amazon as a complete beginner.

5-Step Process for How to Start Selling on Amazon

First, let’s get your account set up and your first product listed. We’ll walk you through everything from registering as an Amazon Seller to choosing the best fulfillment strategy for you.

1. Register as an Amazon Seller

Here’s what you’ll need to register as an Amazon Seller:

• Bank account number
• Bank routing number
• Credit card
• Government-issued ID
• Tax information
• Phone number

Choose the Right Plan

Next, you’ll need to choose your selling plan. You have 2 options:

• Individual Plan: You’ll be charged $0.99 per item sold on this plan. You also won’t get access to any advanced selling tools or programs. Sorry.
• Professional Plan: You’ll be charged $39.99 per month for a Professional Plan. This will also give you access to APIs, advanced selling reports, and additional seller programs (like Launchpad and Handmade).

Don’t worry about making the wrong decision—you can always change plans later. However, if you’re just getting started and don’t anticipate selling more than 40 items a month, go with the Individual Plan. It’ll give you time to get acclimated to the Amazon Seller Marketplace without any overhead.

Get to Know the Fees

Beyond your plan subscription fees, you’ll also have:

• Selling Fees: Includes referral fees and variable closing fees.
• Shipping Fees: If you fulfill orders by yourself, you’ll be charged Amazon shipping rates based on the product category and the shipping service your buyer selects.
• FBA Fees: If you choose Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you’ll have to pay fees for storage, fulfillment, and other optional services.

Curious what your sales margins might look like after all the fees? Try Amazon’s Cost Calculator to estimate your per-unit sales margin based on your products and fulfillment method.

Don’t Skip: Amazon Seller FAQs

2. List Your First Product

The boring stuff is behind you—now onto the fun part: listing your first product. Depending on your plan, you have a few options. Sellers using a Professional account can bulk upload products or create listings based on inventory—Individual seller accounts will need to list products one at a time.

To start listing a product, you’ll need to find the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) (such as a UPC, ISBN, or EAN). If that number matches an existing listing, you won’t need a product ID—you’re good to go. However, if you’re adding a brand-new product that doesn’t exist on Amazon yet, you may need to purchase a UPC code.

Your product listing will also need the following elements:

• Product title
• Description and bullet points
• Images
• SKU

Remember, this is the product listing—not the product detail page. The product detail page is the page with descriptions, images, customer reviews, FAQs, and the like. The product listing is just the basic image and information for your product that’ll be listed in search results and display ads.

Take your time finding the right image for your product. Images should be at least 500 x 500 pixels and on a plain white background. The product should fill approximately 80% of the image area.

3. Optimize Your Product Detail Page

Once you’ve listed your product on Amazon, it’s time to build a product detail page to sell it. This is where the magic happens.

Your product detail page is where customers go to learn everything there is to know about the product. If you’ve ever bought a product from Amazon (and, really, who hasn’t?), this is the page you visited before eventually clicking the “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” button.

If your product is unique, it’ll get its very own product detail page. However, if you’re selling the same thing as other sellers on Amazon, the platform will combine data into one product detail page.

If you’re building a brand-new product detail page from scratch, here’s what to keep in mind:

Title

Titles can be up to 200 characters and must contain product-identifying information. For example, you wouldn’t have a listing that says “Xbox Series X.” Instead, it should read something like “Microsoft Xbox Series X Video Game Console With 1TB Storage + 2 Controllers.”

Your title is arguably the most important element of your product listing. It should include keywords that your buyers will search for and selling points that’ll get them to click and learn more. When writing your titles, think about what your customers are looking for—if there are 5,000 other similar listings, what’s going to get them to click yours?

Oh, and that can’t include things like “free shipping,” “quality guaranteed,” or those action-encouraging exclamation marks and dollar signs.

Images

Second-most important to your product listing is your image. You can have 1 featured product image and up to 8 supporting product images on your product listing page. Use images that show your product from a variety of angles. Also, get some real-life shots of the product in action or performing its utility.

Go ahead and use all 8 allocated image spots. Buyers want as much information about a product as they can before making a purchase (especially if it’s expensive), and a picture is worth a thousand words.

Variations

Variations are slightly different versions of the same product. This could be the same water bottle in multiple sizes or a hat that comes in several colors. Amazon provides the following guidelines for determining if a product should be a variation rather than a separate listing:

• Is the product fundamentally the same?
• Does the product vary in just a few very specific ways?
• Will buyers expect to find these products on a single product page?
• Could the products share the same title?

Add all relevant variations to your product listing page.

Bullet Points

Add short, descriptive sentences that highlight key features of your product. Include benefits and distinctions that might make it different than alternatives.

Include keywords throughout your bullet points to attract the right organic traffic. As of now, not all bullet point content is indexed by the Amazon shopping algorithm, but it’s still worth putting in the effort.

Keep this section short and sweet—your buyers should be able to glance at it to get the gist of what makes your product worth buying.

Description

Your description should go more in-depth into everything that your product offers. You’ll want to include important search keywords here, too.

If a potential buyer has made it this far down the page, they’re genuinely interested in buying your product. Write a powerful and descriptive (yet accurate) description to get across the finish line and into the shopping cart.

Read more: Is Selling On Amazon Worth It?

4. Choose Your Fulfillment Strategy

You’ll have 2 options for shipping on Amazon:

• DIY: Merchant-fulfilled DIY fulfillment is when you store and ship products to customers yourself—there’s no middle person.
• FBA: Amazon will store and ship your products. They’ll also take care of customer service and returns.

If you’re just selling a few products here and there, you can get by with DIY fulfillment. However, tracking orders, shipping products, and handling customer service and returns can quickly become a full-time job. Once you begin to scale, you’ll want to consider a professional fulfillment service.

5. Scale, Scale, Scale

Now that you’ve listed, sold, and shipped your first product, it’s time to scale. Scaling will look different for everyone. It includes adding new products, advertising, expanding your reach, increasing your profit margins, and driving overall business growth.

Consider how you want to scale your business. Do you want to build an international presence, or do you want to automate processes to make your Amazon selling a more hands-off experience?

Regardless of your goals, Amazon provides the metrics and tools you need to make it happen.

And that’s that for the basics of getting started. Not too bad, right? Before you get started, check out these must-know best practices for ensuring you hit the ground running.

Product Validation Checklist

Before you start selling a product on Amazon, you’ll want to make sure it has potential. Follow our PRIME product checklist to see if your product will succeed or flop before you list it on the marketplace.

Prime Product Checklist

This detailed checklist provides a structured approach to product validation, aiding in identifying a potentially profitable and competitive product for Amazon sellers.

1. Positioning Potential

Assess the product’s potential to be positioned effectively for the main keywords you’re targeting. Investigate the competition on page 1 of the search results, particularly looking for products with less than 200 reviews. This could indicate a less saturated market, providing an opportunity to capture market share with strong keyword positioning and a superior product.

2. Researching Reviews

Delve into reviews of similar products on Amazon. Look for recurring complaints or wishes expressed by customers. This could provide insights into potential product improvements or features that could set your product apart. Additionally, look for positive aspects that are highly praised, and consider how you could incorporate or enhance these elements in your product.

3. In-demand Item

Validate the demand for your product by identifying high search volume keywords relevant to your product. Use tools like Amazon’s own keyword tool or third-party tools like MerchantWords or Helium 10 to gauge the demand. High search volume for related keywords indicates a strong interest and potential demand for your product.

4. Margin and Profits

Conduct a thorough cost analysis covering product manufacturing, shipping, Amazon fees, and any other associated costs. Evaluate the potential retail price point for your product and ensure there’s a healthy margin to cover unforeseen expenses and still yield a satisfactory profit. Consider employing pricing strategies that could potentially maximize your profits.

5. Easy to Make & Ship

Assess the ease of manufacturing and shipping your product. Opt for products that are lightweight, compact, and uncomplicated to manufacture as this could significantly reduce costs and complications. Establish connections with reputable manufacturers, and explore different shipping options to find the most cost-effective and reliable solution.

Must-Know Best Practices for Selling on Amazon

Get to Know Seller Central

Seller Central will quickly become your best friend. It’s the one-stop-shop for managing your account, adding products, updating your inventory, collecting payments, and more. Play around with the hub to dive into your analytics, nail down your prices, and manage your inventory more efficiently.

Download the App

Download the Amazon Seller App to fulfill orders, talk to customers, track sales, and create listings straight from your phone. It’s easy to use and will make managing your Amazon account on the go a breeze.

Grow Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are arguably the most important factor to your product listing’s success. It doesn’t matter how amazing or revolutionary your product is if it doesn’t get positive ratings. And ratings don’t just come on their own—you have to petition and incentivize your customers to leave them.

It’s a lot of work to build up a solid base of customer reviews, but this is how you get the Amazon algorithms working in your favor. More positive reviews mean more exposure, and more exposure leads to more sales (which in turn can lead to more reviews).

Check Your Orders and Inventory Regularly

If you’re managing fulfillment on your own, make sure you stay on top of your orders and inventory. You don’t want to ship products late, and you definitely don’t want to sell products you longer have. Set up a routine for when you’ll check orders so that none fall through the cracks.

Be Accessible

Amazon’s popularity is all about ease and convenience. Contribute to that experience by being accessible. Respond to customer reviews, questions, and inquiries promptly—don’t leave anyone hanging.

Customer service is crucial, but it can also become a real time suck. Get ahead of the game and mitigate conversations by being proactive with your listings:

• Be accurate with your product descriptions
• Ship items promptly
• Provide customers with updates if an item’s shipment is delayed
• Respond to customers as soon as possible

Keep Learning: Proven Ways to Make Money on Amazon

Start Selling on Amazon

Joining 1.9 million other sellers on Amazon can seem intimidating, but the investment is well worth your time. Amazon’s platform can expose your product to a boundless audience, accelerating your way to success faster than any other ecommerce site, social media platform, or personal website.

Ready to get started selling on Amazon? Watch out free training course to get started on selling on the platform.

The post How to Sell on Amazon for Complete Beginners [Guide] appeared first on Foundr.

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