5 Tips & Tricks to Know Before You Start Selling on Amazon

Selling on Amazon is a big decision to make. There is a lot of money to be made but you can’t just slap a listing up and hope to be a big profit maker. Most people are aware of this fact and that’s where deciding to become an Amazon seller can get a little overwhelming. There are a lot of things you need to know before you get started.

Depending on how much research you put in, you may find that there are a lot of tips and tricks out there but it’s hard to know how many of those tips and tricks are for beginners and how many are for more advanced sellers. Some use unfamiliar lingo and Amazon terms and when you’re new, you may not understand those types of things.

Luckily there are also articles out there for beginners. Those are going to take the time to explain unfamiliar terms and then help you truly understand how they apply to your Amazon seller journey, pay special attention to Amazon ASIN and Amazon FBA Calculators. With that in mind, here are five tips and tricks you should know before you start selling on Amazon.

1. Use The Amazon Seller Tools Available To You

There are a lot of tools you can use when you’re selling on Amazon. Some of them may help you figure out keywords for your listings, while others, like an FBA calculator can help you figure out the fees that might be involved with your listing. The tools available to you can all be helpful in a variety of settings.

No Amazon seller is going to be able to make a listing without some fees involved. Learning what kinds of fees you may have to deal with will help you figure out if an item is going to be a good money maker. If you decide to let Amazon handle customer service and shipping for your item, you’ll have to deal with the aforementioned FBA fee.

With something like an FBA fee calculator, you’ll be able to make sure you’re finding an item that gets you in the sweet spot between a competitive price and turning a decent profit. You will find a lot of different tools out there so you will have plenty of options. Think about what you’ll need help with from keywords to fees and figure out which tools will help you the most.

2. Learn The Rules Of Selling On Amazon

There are rules out there you’ll have to be aware of if you want to make sure you don’t have listings removed and your seller account shut down. Amazon is pretty clear about these types of rules so you shouldn’t have to work too hard to learn them, but you’ll want to make sure you’re aware of what they are and watch for any changes even after you start selling.

There are rules about how you can describe your item, how you should act fairly as a seller, and lists of prohibited items you can sell as well. All of these things will affect how you do while you’re selling on Amazon. They’re pretty vigilant when it comes to watching for prohibited items and unethical product listings.

Amazon doesn’t want people to use its platform to make a quick buck in any way that is going to take away from the brand reputation it has built for itself. Remember that and learn the rules so you don’t put your listings and account at risk. Yes, it’s an extra research step but it will help make sure you’re as successful as possible while you’re selling.

You can also read:

• Why and how to build a profitable business on Amazon
• The ultimate guide to successful affiliate marketing

3. Always Use Professional Images For Your Amazon Listing

Amazon customers have come to expect a fairly high level of satisfaction from the products they purchase on Amazon. Nothing ruins those expectations more quickly than product images on a listing that clearly weren’t taken by a professional. They send a message to your potential buyers that the product isn’t sold directly by Amazon and that they may not be able to trust you.

Instead of risking losing a sale, you need to make sure you use professional images from the get-go. Whether you take these pro images yourself or hire someone to do it is up to you but either way, you want to make sure you are using high-quality images that convey to your customer that you’re a trustworthy and good Amazon seller.

In general, this is going to mean your images don’t have poor lighting, distracting backgrounds, and clearly feature the product your customer is going to buy. You can find tips for how to take good images for Amazon if you dig a little bit more into your research. The images really do matter so don’t take a short cut on this tip.

4. Don’t Get Complacent About Your Listings

Selling on Amazon takes work. From putting up quality listings with good images to making sure you’re providing good customer service, you will have a lot to handle. The worst thing you can do is get complacent and stop working to grow as a seller. There’s always going to be a little more you can do to improve your performance on Amazon.

Don’t let yourself grow complacent. The minute you stop growing as a seller is the minute other sellers are going to surpass you and start taking your sales (and subsequently your profits) so don’t even go this route to start with. Stay vigilant about the areas you’ll be able to grow and change as a seller so you don’t risk losing sales and ruining your hard work.

5. Understand What “Winning The Buy Box” Means

This is a term a lot of new sellers get curious about because it’s thrown around a lot on all kinds of Amazon seller related articles. Winning the buy box means that you’re the seller who will get the sale if someone clicks the “buy now” button when they land on your product listing. It comes into play when several sellers all sell the same item.

This happens a lot and while customers do have the option to see all listings for an item, it takes some extra clicking for them to do that. Most of the time customers will click the “buy now” or “add to cart” options and not bother to look at the full list of sellers. If your product isn’t winning the buy box, someone else is getting that sale.

You can win the buy box by making sure your pricing is competitive and even by doing things like deciding to become an FBA seller. FBA sellers are more likely to get the buy box than sellers who do their own shipping. Amazon doesn’t release the exact algorithm for their buy box but you can find plenty of tips online about ways to better your chances.

Conclusion:

Selling on Amazon isn’t a get rich quick and without effort type of endeavour. You will have to put in the work if you want to do well as a seller. That’s not a bad thing but it is something you should be aware of as you get started selling on Amazon. The more work you put in, the more likely you are to be a successful seller.

Take the time to do some research and understand everything you’re getting into before you get started. It may delay you putting up that first listing but in the end, it will be worth it. You’ll be more aware of policies, fees, and ways to be successful. Good luck and happy selling!