My Seller Pal

Amazon is the largest and fastest growing online selling platform in the world. And if you’re an e-commerce enthusiast, you’d most probably want to engage in selling on this world-renowned online selling site. If so, let us help you get started with some of the best tips for selling on Amazon.

1. Register as a professional seller

During the sign-up process, you get two options. That is to “Sell as Professional” or “Sell as an Individual.” However, we strongly suggest you register as a professional seller for the following reasons:

• Individual sellers are being charged 15% selling commission on top of 99¢ for each item sold. On the other hand, professional sellers pay a subscription fee of $39.95 per month plus 15% selling commission without the extra 99¢. Supposing you sell 40 items or more per month (which you should) you will save on fees. If you plan on selling less than 40 units per month, well, you better not sell on Amazon at all.
• Professional sellers are allowed to create listings for products that are not currently being sold on Amazon or be a private label seller (we’ll discuss this in detail further in this article) which will significantly help you reach the 40 sales per month more quickly.
• Only professional sellers can apply to sell on the restricted categories such as clothing, shoes, and jewelry. For the overview of these restricted categories, visit Amazon’s Help Center.
• Professional sellers can take advantage of promotions, gift services, and other special listing features.
• Last but the most important one is that only professional sellers are eligible for listing placement in the Buy Box. Note that 78% of Amazon sales come from the Buy Box.

2. Sell with FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)

When you sell via the FBA program, you send all your inventories to Amazon’s warehouse, and Amazon will handle all related activities like shipping, customer service, communications, returns, and refunds. Sparing yourself from wrapping and shipping concerns will enable you to focus more on your business. You will have enough time to work on higher-value tasks such as product research and sourcing.

Visit Amazon’s Help Center for more information on FBA.

3. Abide by the rules

Being the largest online selling platform in the world, Amazon is keen to protect its customers and to provide them with the best online buying experience. For them to do it, they impose lots of rules and regulations. To ensure you won’t get in trouble with Amazon that might compromise your selling privileges, you need to understand and abide by these rules. For more details on these policies, click here.

4. Always win the Buy Box by being a private label seller

Product listings that come up whenever a buyer does a search have the buy box. But if the product your selling is also being sold by hundreds of other sellers, you might be fighting a fierce battle. Most common way to win the buy box is to offer the lowest price including shipping which means you might be selling with meager margins to ensure you get most of the sales. Sounds really though right?

But how do you ensure you always win the buy box without hurting your margins?

Be a private label seller by creating your brand and sell an item that no one else is selling. Since you are the only seller, Amazon has no other choice but to grant the buy box to your listing. This way you have more control over your pricing.

5. Provide excellent customer service

If customers send you a message, you are expected to respond within 24 hours. Failing to do so will not only hurt your seller performance rating, but you may as well lose your customers trust and loyalty.

Another way to provide excellent customer service is by sending out automated emails. Through this, you can give helpful information about your products and assure your customers that you can easily be contacted for any issues or concerns they have about the product. But you would want to ensure that all your messages are compliant with Amazon’s TOS or risk getting your selling account banned. For a full guide on understanding Amazon’s TOS on Buyer-Seller messaging, click here.

Keep in mind that you are not allowed to communicate with the buyer outside Amazon. All communications should be done inside Amazons’ Buyer-Seller Messaging module.

6. Describe your products accurately

I think you might have already known this. But it’s worth emphasizing that you should describe your products as accurately as you could. Avoid over-selling to the point that you are adding some false claims just to ensure customers will buy your product. Trust us; even the slightest difference will mean a lot to your customers that can lead to returns, negative seller feedback, and worst, account suspension if Amazon notices several similar concerns.

7. Ask for feedback

Having lots of feedback can significantly help you gain customers’ trust which can lead to an increase in your sales. But buyers seldom leave feedback so it is important that you politely ask them for one. Having high feedback rating is also important to keep your seller metrics at its best.

8. Optimize your Amazon product listing for conversion

Having a clear and detailed product listing is crucial when you sell on Amazon or any other online platform. Keep in mind that your customers aren’t able to touch and physically see the product they are buying. So it is a must that you give them as much information as you can to ensure they have a clear idea of what the product is.

Visit one of our blogs, for help on how to create fully optimized Amazon product listings.

9. Politely ask for reviews

Reviews are the life-blood of any Amazon business. But soliciting reviews had been a hot topic since Amazon started banning incentivized reviews. And a lot of existing sellers will agree that getting product reviews had been tougher than ever. And the big question is, are sellers still allowed to solicit product reviews? YES. But you are not allowed to offer any compensation or freebies for customers to do so. They should be willing to write a review without anything in return. But even though there is no guarantee that customers will leave a review, asking them would help rather than not doing anything at all. A lot of sellers had been sending automated emails to solicit product reviews, and so far, it has been one of the most effective ways.

Moreover, it is strictly not allowed to ask for a specific star rating. To make it simpler, you are allowed to solicit for HONEST reviews politely.

10. Manage your supply chain properly to avoid running out of stock and reduce storage fees

It is essential that you keep close track of your inventory on Amazon. Send inventory just in time. Doing so will ensure you won’t run out of stock which can mean a loss of sales. Besides, you wouldn’t have surplus stocks on Amazon’s warehouse which can incur higher storage fees especially if those inventories had been sitting there for more than six months.

11. Automate

Selling on Amazon comes in a lot of challenges. From product sourcing, supplier negotiations, customer service and everything in between. And doing everything manually can take a toll on how you handle things. So it is crucial that you get help which is why automation plays an important role when selling online especially on Amazon. Automation can save you so much time allowing you to work on the core of running your Amazon business.

Ready to start your Amazon journey? My Seller Pal can help you get started. From email automation to product launches, we got you covered! Sign up now for as low as $15/month. The cheapest Amazon automation app in the market! Try it now and get 14 days FREE!