What are the options for selling on Amazon?

How to create your Amazon seller’s account and start operating, what you need to consider and requirements to start selling

In our previous post we told you about the options that exist to sell on Amazon and what it means for a business (type of seller, logistic formulas, rates and pan-European program). Once we know the different alternatives to operate on Amazon, we get into the subject: how to start selling on Amazon.

Feasibility analysis: Demand, competition and product price

To do this, before starting with your seller’s account we recommend that you do a reflection or feasibility analysis: It is very important that you analyse if the product you are going to sell has demand on Amazon. You can consult the list of the highest selling products. If your product does not appear, you can choose to analyse the specific demand according to the keyword search engine of your product with the extension for Google Chrome: Jungle Scout, Activate the extension to search for your product on Amazon: it will offer you, among other things, the Sales column with the sales generated by each product on the results page, which will give you an idea of which products and models sell best.

It is also key that you identify if your product model is already in the Amazon catalogue how many competitors offer it, at what prices and with what reputation. That is, check the number of reviews and the level of ratings they add up to. If your competition, for example, has ratings of 2 out of 3 stars, perhaps you can improve their service. In addition, we recommend that you don’t just analyse on Amazon: other retailers that can sell your product are also your competition and may be considered by users.

Knowing this will help you define your cost structure and as a framework for establishing your price, so that you can estimate the margin of your product and conclude whether selling on Amazon is attractive for your business.

How to create your Amazon merchant account

Once you have validated the viability of selling your products on Amazon, we will tell you how to create your account. To do so, you must register at the sales centre from Amazon and access Seller Central. There you must indicate the following data: country, type of company and billing details, credit card, telephone number, personal details and bank details.. Then you will have to choose between the two types of account we have explained above: individual Seller or profesionalSeller in addition to the type of logistics (Fulfilment By Merchant or Fulfilment by Amazon).

In addition to the general data, you must update your account information with all privacy policies, shipping and return information (fees) and possible restrictions, as well as customer support information such as size charts or technical specifications. In addition, you can set the shipping rate for your products: although the account is configured with default shipping rates, you can change them according to weight or product, or by price range.

Requirements to create your Amazon Seller account

At this point it is necessary that you know the requirements and conditions of Amazon to allow you to sell your products on their platform:

Basic account requirements

Being of legal age
Residing in one of the accepted 102 countries
Having a phone line in the country you’re going to sell in.
Be a bank account holder who receives payments online at any of the accepted 64 countries.

Conditions to be met to sell on Amazon

Beyond the basic requirements, you need to be aware of Amazon’s terms of use, as failure to comply with them may result in the inability to open or close your account. We present you with the main ones to be considered:

A vendor can only possess one Seller Central account in every region. If you require a second account, you must have a legitimate reason for doing so and have other accounts in good standing.
You must comply with the delivery dates established and the Amazon return policy..
You will receive the revenues of your sales on Amazon every other week in your bank account. In the event of a refund, Amazon may withhold this amount until the claim is resolved.
You must provide a legal name, and it may not contain suffixes such like .es or .com.
Diversion of traffic is not allowed by external links, you may not include ads or links in your product description that redirect to other sites.
You must respect the customer communication policy, they are limited to the sales process only and cannot be given if the user does not request it.
Publishing products excessively or very consecutively can be a reason for blocking.
Ratings management:: you are prohibited from buying your own product and/or ratings, buying customer reviews or posting negative reviews on your competition.
Amazon prohibits any type of fraud in the Amazon warranty from A to Z

How to add products and start selling

Once you have your account set up, you can start uploading your products in the “inventory” > “add product” section, searching for them among those already sold on Amazon by name, EAN code or barcode. By selecting one of the options, your product or listing card will already be categorized. If you do not find products like yours, you will have to create a new listing: look for the specific category related to your product to sell it there. At this point you will only need to fil in the remaining product data: title, brand, available colours, measurements, etc; in addition to adding images and price.

Take the following into consideration: Product restrictions by category: excluded products, under approval and authenticity.

When adding your products, you should know that Amazon has a list of 41 excluded product categories, these ranging from cosmetics, jewelry and dietary supplements to medical accessories, weapons and surveillance equipment, among others. It also has a selection of products that require approval, such as watchmaking and jewelry, music, food and “made in Italy” products, among others. In addition, Amazon monitors copies and forgeries with an authenticity policy, by which you must validate the origin and legitimacy of your offer. Make sure your products are free of these restrictions.

Managing orders

Amazon will send you an email and notification in your Seller Central panel every time there is a purchase of your product. In the order details you will find the buyer’s details so that you can prepare and send the product, respecting the conditions and delivery times, and you must notify Amazon when you have sent the product so that they can track the order.

As you have seen, starting to sell on Amazon can be a challenge, and it is necessary to analyse whether it will be a profitable and effective distribution channel for your business. Therefore at Lifting Group we offer our customers our experience selling on Amazon and help them both in the initial analysis (study of competitors, markets and prices), as in setting up (portfolio strategy, pricing, account creation and configuration, creation of product files and listings, product activation in new markets) and in improving your account (audit, positioning improvements and promotions). If you want to know more about our marketplace consultancy don’t hesitate to contact us.