15 Tips to Start Selling on Amazon

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Did you know that a lot of the products sold on Amazon are not sold by Amazon itself?

There are numerous third-party sellers who use Amazon to sell their products. In fact, more than 50% of Amazon.com sales come from third-party sellers.

If you're thinking about getting in on the action, start by figuring out what products sell best on Amazon. Here are 15 tips that can help you start selling products on Amazon right away.


1. Figure Out What Products You’re Going to Sell

There are more than 15 million products sold on Amazon at any given time. They range from cell phones and cell phone accessories to clothing and jewelry.

What do you have to offer to the Amazon marketplace?

You don't necessarily need to sell some exclusive product that no one else is selling to be profitable. But you do need to find out which products people want to buy before setting up an online store.


2. Create a Brand for Yourself

There's a decent chance that you're not going to be the only third-party seller on Amazon selling your product. There will likely be at least a few others doing the same thing.

Set yourself apart from the pack by creating a brand for yourself. To do this, you'll need:


  • A great name for your company
  • A professional logo
  • An established voice that permeates throughout your product descriptions (more on them later!)

Branding yourself won't be easy. But it'll be well worth your time when you're able to stand out from the crowd.


3. Take a Look at Your Potential Competition

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Once you decide what products you want to sell, take a look at your main competitors and see how they're doing business right now.

What things are they getting right? What things are they doing wrong? And more importantly, what can you do better? This will give you the boost you need to successfully sell your products on Amazon?  If you're looking for Amazon Research tools, Jungle Scout and Viral Launch would be great options.

Strive to get a leg up on your competition right from the very start. Amazon is a business jungle and you want to be able to see the forest through the trees!


4. Beef Up Your Product Inventory

Before you sell a single item on Amazon, you'll need to beef up your product inventory. The last thing you want to do is start selling items and run out of a hot item in a week or two.

Amazon.com has been known to penalize sellers for being unable to fulfill sales. To be on the safe side, invest in enough inventory to last you for at least a few months.


5. Take Professional Photos of Products

If you put up pictures of your products on Amazon that look like you took them with your smartphone, they're not going to sell. Most customers won't even take you seriously if you don't have professional photos on deck.

Hire a photographer to snap professional shots of your products for Amazon.com. Take photos from various angles so that people can poke around and look at every aspect of what you're selling.


6. Write Detailed Descriptions for Products

In addition to including professional photos of your products in your Amazon listings, you also need to include detailed descriptions. These descriptions should include everything that a customer would want to know about what you have to offer.

From the manufacturer of a product to the color, size, and details, your descriptions should be thorough. Be sure to keep them updated over time with any new details about your products.


7. Come Up With the Right Prices

You can spend all the time you want figuring out the best way to sell on Amazon. But if you don't price your products right, it's going to be a problem.

Price your items too low and you're not going to make much of a profit on them. Price them too high and you're not going to sell much of anything. Find the sweet spot by charging slightly less than your competitors without cutting into your profit margins too much.

Keep in mind that you will be subjected to Amazon fees at the end of every sale that you make.


8. Learn the E-Commerce Sales Tax Laws in Your State

E-commerce sales tax laws can be confusing. They tend to vary from state to state, which can make it difficult for third-party Amazon sellers to calculate how much they owe in taxes.

There are Amazon accountants that can help you clear up the confusion. Find one familiar with figuring out how much sellers need to set aside to pay sales taxes.


9. Find an Efficient Way to Ship Products

Are you going to pack and ship the products that you sell yourself? If you sell a relatively expensive product that isn't expected to sell like hotcakes, you might be able to keep up with shipments.

But if you're planning on doing hundreds of sales per week, it might not be feasible for you to handle packing and shipping every order. It would probably make more sense for you to take advantage of Fulfilment by Amazon, or FBA.

Rather than packing and shipping orders yourself, Amazon will do it for a small fee. It'll help you avoid the headaches that come along with shipping.


10. Aim to Rack Up Positive Product Reviews

If you don't have any reviews on Amazon for your products—or, worse, if you have nothing but bad reviews for your products—good luck making sales!

Customers won't often buy products on Amazon if there aren't positive reviews to go with them. Encourage your customers to leave positive reviews to increase your chances of making sales.


11. Prepare to Deliver Top-Notch Customer Service

There are so many ways to deliver great customer service to those who patronize your business. You can do it by:


  • Answering questions they might have about your products quickly
  • Responding when they have questions or concerns about a product they've purchased
  • Offering a generous return policy

Bad customer service will lead to negative reviews and a tarnished reputation. Do your best to make customer service a top priority when you're making sales on Amazon.


12. Keep Good Track of Your Inventory

We mentioned earlier how important it is for you to invest in enough inventory for Amazon when first getting started. It's also important to manage your inventory accordingly over time.

When you start to run out of certain products, you'll need to replenish your supply before you're out of them completely. Otherwise, you could miss out on a lot of sales and rankle customers.


13. Analyze Your Amazon Sales Figures

Outside of keeping track of your inventory once you start selling products, you should also analyze your sales figures every month or so.

Try to answer these questions when you're doing it:


  • Which products are your best-sellers?
  • Which products don't seem to be selling at all?
  • Which products are being returned back to you most often?
  • Which parts of the country are buying products from you the most?
  • Are you seeing big enough profits on product sales?

The answers to these questions will shed some light on what strategies you might want to use moving forward to increase sales.


14. Follow Amazon’s Rules at All Times

Amazon has a very strict set of rules that it expects all third-party sellers to follow. It's in your best interest to stay in line with them.

If you even attempt to bend the rules, it could backfire on you in a big way. Amazon doesn't take kindly to sellers who don't abide by their policies. Your Amazon.com seller account could be suspended or banned.


15. Look for Other Places to Sell Your Products

Amazon is just one of the places where you can sell your products. You can also try selling them on eBay, Craigslist, Etsy, Fiverr, Upwork, or your own website.

It's best to diversify as much as you can when you're selling anything. The more places you can sell products, the better your overall profits will be. You can make a lot of money on Amazon, but if you find other platforms then you should utilize them.


Get Started Now That You Know the Best Way to Sell on Amazon

Amazon third-party sellers rake in more than $165 billion per year. If you want to get a piece of that pie, use the tips listed here to your advantage.

By finding the best way to sell on Amazon, you can make sure your products sell and reap the financial rewards. It won't be long before you're adding to your product line and multiplying the amount of money you're making.

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