Amazon has become the world’s largest online retail site meaning it has a massive amount of traffic, and although most people think that buying from Amazon mean’s they’re buying from the company itself, they’re often actually buying from a 3rd party seller (who make up around 33% of items sold on Amazon). Here are some of our top tips for getting started on how to sell on Amazon.
Register as a professional seller
Before you start learning how to sell, you need to register as a professional seller. You’ll save a lot of money on fees if you sell more than 40 items a month. Amazon charges 15% commission plus 79p per sale, but if you use Amazon pro, you pay £25 a months and you’re only charged commission and nothing on top. Amazon also has restricted categories which you must apply to sell in, however they are accessible to professional sellers. Being a pro seller also allows you to create product bundles and create product listings for items you’re not ready to sell yet.
Sell with FBA
FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is Amazon’s own fulfillment service. With FBA, you can send your sold items to Amazon and they will take care of shipping for you (for a fee of course). Amazon will also deal with customer communications and returns/refunds. Another bonus is that your item will probably sell faster because it will qualify for Amazon free shipping.
Negotiate
If you are a loyal customer to some suppliers, then it’s definitely worth trying to negotiate deals with them. Chances are, if you’re a repeal customer who often buys in bulk, they’ll be willing to cut you a deal which will save you money.
Follow Amazon’s Image Guidelines
Amazon requires your images to be at least 1006 pixels for most categories. Larger images mean that customers can take a better look at the product by using the zoom function. You should also make sure you take pictures in a well lit room and against a white background for the best quality images (these are more attractive to buyers).
Product Descriptions
Make sure that your product descriptions are clear, concise and, above all, accurate. This will not only help buyers find exactly what they are looking for, but it will also protect you from negative feedback because if the customer receives their purchase and it’s different from your description, they will not be happy and will likely give you a bad review/feedback.
Product titles
Use all the room you are given and fill it with keywords related to your product. Make sure the description is customer friendly though – they need to understand it or they won’t buy! Don’t use characters which won’t be used in searches – e.g punctuation and special characters like exclamation marks.
Amazon Keywords
When you create a listing in Amazon, you’re presented with a keyword listing field. Keywords are words/phrases that buyers type into Amazon to search for products. Here are some ways you can use keywords:
- Use competitors names. For example, if you’re selling a pair of Remmington hair straighteners, include “GHD” (one of the top hair brands) as a keyword. Then, if someone is searching for a pair of “GHD” straighteners, your listing will come up on the same page, but because your item is cheaper, you have a good chance of making that sale.
- Use different variants of spelling or phrasing, e.g “moisturizer” vs. “mousturiser” and “hairdryer” vs “hair dryer”, then include both terms as keywords. This means that your items will appear for both.
- Try using popular misspellings of words so that your listings come up on the first search. The word “turquoise” for example is often misspelled.
- Try lowering the price to be more competitive if your item doesn’t sell in 30 days.
Quickly respond to customers
Amazon wants its sellers to respond to customer communications within 24 hours. If you don’t do this, that is a demerit against your account. Customer questions can be accessed via Amazon Seller Central, and you can also have customer queries forwarded to your email so you can respond on the go or when you’re not currently on Amazon.
Request feedback
You’ll find that buyers on Amazon will not usually give feedback unless promoted. You could use feedback solicitation tools like Feedback Five to automatically email customers asking them to contact you if there’s anything wrong with the transaction so that you (the seller) can have a chance to fix it. Automatic emails can contain a link for customers to click on to leave feedback, which is convenient for them. This can help prevent negative feedback because customers are invited to contact you first before leaving feedback.
Get Product Reviews
When a customer leaves feedback mentioning that they like the product, send them a “thank you” email with a link where they can review for your item.
Remove negative feedback
Make sure you email the customer straight away if they give you poor feedback. Send them a sincere apology and try and include a token of your regret – a gift card or a free return for example. Do not ask them to remove their feedback yet, but wait for them to respond to your apology. Only then should you explain your error and ask them to consider removing the feedback.
Pack your shipments correctly
If items are decently packed you can easily avoid damage, delays and penalty fees. Amazon has rules and requirements you must adhere to when you send items to their fulfillment warehouses. Here are tips for packing your items:
- Choose the correct size box for your units. If your box is too large it needs to be filled with enough packing materials so that it won’t collapse during handling. Make sure it is sturdy too to avoid it breaking.
- Don’t confuse your postal staff – make sure you remove any old shipping labels.
- Wrap items individually.
- Don’t be shy with your packing materials.
- Make sure the tape you use is strong enough
- Make sure your shipping label has clear, complete delivery and return information
- Dispatch items within two working days of order notification. This is a requirement of being a Marketplace seller.
You could also think about using an order management software to streamline your shipping process further.
Update your inventory daily
Stay on top of your inventory to avoid your customers buying products that have already sold out on your other marketplaces. Try inventory management software which automatically takes care of this process for you.
Those are our tips for how to sell on Amazon for beginners. Follow these and you’ll be top seller in no time!
Photo credits: Sascha Kohlmann, Zhao!, Mike Seyfang / Flickr
