Selling successfully on Amazon? These 10 tips are a must for beginners!

You need to equip yourself with knowledge if you want to sell successfully on Amazon. Our 10 tips will give you a head start! Here you will learn about the structures that exist on Amazon, which products you should sell, how to promote them, and how to outshine your competitors.

Briefly about Amazon

On the sales platform, in addition to Amazon, there are other well-known sellers such as Medimops, Rebuy, CSL-Computer, AnkerDirect, Pearl, and many more. However, smaller and medium-sized providers also contribute to Amazon’s success – Amazon Germany knows of another 100,000 online retailers. As of 2018, nearly 60% of goods in international trade on Amazon are sold not by Amazon itself, but by marketplace sellers. These sellers offer anywhere from a few to thousands of items and use the marketplace as a side job or as their main source of income.

Setting up an Amazon shop is quite simple. It becomes more complex when the battle for customers begins. But let’s be honest, it is very enjoyable to watch the business grow. Moreover, those who are well-prepared can save time. However, there are some basics and tricks you should keep in mind to sell profitably on Amazon. Our tips will give you a boost!

Our tips and tricks for selling on Amazon

1. Useful – The agony of choosing Amazon products

Before you can start the registration process with Amazon, you should be clear about which product you want to offer. Make sure to include items in your range that are not only seasonal or trendy but can also be monetized in the long term. Otherwise, selling on Amazon could become a short-lived pleasure – despite all the tips. No one talks about fidget spinners anymore, right?

To do this, take a look at Amazon. Categories that always perform well include household, technology, fitness, toys, and pet supplies. There, you can look for bestsellers on Amazon and get inspired. It is always beneficial if you already have some prior knowledge of certain categories so that you can effectively present your products to customers later. However, even without prior knowledge, you can easily choose a category and familiarize yourself with the products. Once you have gained enough experience, you can also expand your portfolio with items from other categories.

If you are just starting to sell on Amazon, beginners should ensure that their desired products are neither too cheap nor too expensive. With very expensive products, you have a high capital commitment. With products that are too cheap, the margins are so low that they only become worthwhile on a very large scale.

Therefore, a rule of thumb suggests that the selling price should initially be between 10 and 30 euros to sell successfully on Amazon. Two tips on the side: A repricer can help you set the optimal selling price – however, consider carefully where your price floor is, so you don’t end up with too narrow a margin.

2. Easy to start – Registering as a seller on Amazon

Have you chosen a product or a specific category? Then the next step is to register as a seller on Amazon.

However, those who decide to sell on Amazon after reading our tips should also be clear about how much they want to sell. For a small side income, the Individual plan at 99 cents per sold item is worthwhile. This plan includes all the basic features – product listing, your own shipping, and your own customer service. If you stay under 40 sold items per month, this option is just right for you.

If you believe that you will sell more and want to utilize additional features from Amazon, then the Professional plan at €39 per month is more suitable for you.

The Professional plan includes, among other things, a better overview of sales figures, the ability to run advertisements, and access to additional categories. This plan is worthwhile when selling more than 40 products per month, and you should set this minimum goal for yourself.

3. Important to note – The rules of the game on Amazon

When it comes to “selling on Amazon,” tips regarding the platform’s rules should not be overlooked: Before you go all in with selling on Amazon, you should first familiarize yourself with the guidelines that apply there. These are quite strict and should not be taken lightly. Failure to comply can lead to product or even complete seller account suspensions.

But the marketplace also sets its own rules in other areas. For example, Amazon’s algorithm determines which product appears at the top for a given search query or which seller occupies the shopping cart field (i.e., the Buy Box) on the product page.

Those who want to win the Buy Box must put in the effort and be the best seller for that item. The best seller offers, among other things, fast shipping, the best customer service, and the best price. Since many sellers often sell the same product, but there is only one Buy Box per product, it is highly competitive. Even though this algorithm is not transparent, you should engage with it to sell your products on Amazon as effectively as possible. All other tips will only be effective if you do so.

Want more tips? Learn here how to assert yourself on Amazon during Black Friday week: Black Friday and Christmas business 2020: How to achieve high sales in the most lucrative season!

4. The world out there – The international Amazon marketplaces

Do you already know where you want to sell? Amazon is not just Germany. Especially for professional sellers from Europe, Amazon offers the opportunity to sell in countries such as France, England, Spain, and Italy. If you want to expand into these countries, you can use the Pan-European Fulfillment and sell on the country-specific Amazon pages. You can find tips on this in this blog post: Selling internationally on Amazon.

If you do not speak a second or third language, simply start with Germany and ship to other countries from there. Customers from Austria, Switzerland, and neighboring countries often order through Amazon Germany.

One of the hottest tips for selling on Amazon is perhaps: FBA sellers of commercial goods do not even necessarily need to be proficient in the local language! This is because, in the Pan-EU program, Amazon takes care of fulfillment and customer service. It couldn’t be easier.

5. Written in capital letters – Customer service at Amazon

The customer is king. This is also enshrined in the guidelines mentioned above. There should be as few returns as possible and rarely any negative reviews.

The rates for negative seller reviews and returns are particularly painful to bear at the beginning. With only a few orders, this can quickly result in a message from Amazon stating that these rates should be improved. Failure to comply can even lead to Amazon suspending the account.

Therefore, always ensure that you sell high-quality products and provide good customer service. It doesn’t hurt to listen to Jeff Bezos before new sellers start selling their products on Amazon. Such tips are meant to be taken seriously:

Start with the customer and work backward.

Jeff Bezos
Founder of Amazon

To ensure that customer service and shipping meet Amazon’s standards, it is worthwhile to explore Amazon FBA. FBA, or Fulfillment by Amazon, is a service provided by the marketplace where Amazon offers its own storage capacity while simultaneously handling customer service and shipping. Amazon is known for its customer service – as a result, using FBA ensures excellent customer service and fast shipping.

6. Fast shipping – It has to be Amazon Prime!

Shipping is also included in Amazon’s guidelines. Most customers are accustomed to Prime shipping and want to receive their packages as quickly as possible. There is also a rate that describes late shipments or orders that are not delivered on time.

This rate is one of the most important metrics that sellers must manage to sell successfully on Amazon. Our tips: If you want to reduce stress, you can switch to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and have the goods shipped directly with a Prime label from the Amazon warehouse. According to Amazon’s guidelines, shipping with Prime within Germany takes 24 hours and to Austria 48 hours. With the Prime logo, customers know that Amazon guarantees this – and they are automatically more willing to buy.

With your own shipping, you can choose a shipping service provider. Here, you decide which provider is the most cost-effective for you and has a post office nearby. With the standard shipping methods, the customer receives the package within 2-3 days.

The middle ground – between self-shipping and FBA – is the Prime shipping method by sellers. After qualifying during a trial phase, you ship your items with Amazon shipping labels featuring the Prime logo. To obtain and retain the logo, you must always ship your products on the same day.

Calculate carefully which shipping method is worthwhile for you. In addition to costs, it depends on the products whether FBA, FBM, or Seller Fulfilled Prime makes more sense. If the products are bulky or remain in stock for a long time, they are hardly suitable for FBA – with this service, fees are calculated based on the price, size, and weight of your items. However, for commercial goods, FBA is sometimes essential to compete against the competition.

Another one of our tips for selling profitably on Amazon: Don’t get overconfident! If you are just starting out and don’t need a large inventory yet, shipping from your own living room can also be an option for you.

Selling your own products on Amazon – Tips for private label sellers

7. Convincingly done – Images, bullet points, and description on the Amazon product page

Once you have decided on your products, it’s time for the real work – uploading the items to Amazon. For this, you will need, among other things, a SKU (self-created item number), an EAN (identification number for the product), product information, images, and text.

While the EAN and SKU serve to identify the product, the other data is used to describe the product attractively for the buyer. Images, on the other hand, provide customers with a first impression of the product.

The images should be high-resolution, as customers like to zoom in for a closer look. In addition to classic product images, it is always advisable to show images of the product in use and to highlight any awards or advantages on the images to sell as many products as possible through Amazon. Tips suggesting hiring a professional photographer should definitely be considered. After all, it often comes down to the image when a customer decides whether to buy or not.

The bullet points are essential, as this is where the customer gathers their first information about the product. The most important information and selling points must be presented briefly and concisely. What color is the product? What material is the item made of? What can the product do? How does it make the customer’s day easier or bring joy to their pet? These are all noteworthy points.

The description, which is located a bit further down, provides additional space to go into more detail about the benefits of the product and for storytelling about the company. Feel free to check what competitors have written and get inspired. Customer feedback on the competition is also invaluable. What do customers particularly like, and what has bothered them about the products? Your product could be the new perfect solution.

8. Nothing to hide – Make the product discoverable with SEO

While Amazon provides simple ways to present products to ready-to-buy customers, some effort must be made to achieve a good placement in search results and increase traffic. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a cornerstone for ensuring that your products are listed from the start and that you can sell successfully on Amazon. Here are our tips:

All these measures will attract the first visitors to your page. However, you should also consider external ads or marketing efforts to drive more traffic to the site. But be careful! Too much traffic without purchases will cause your product to be ranked lower compared to competing products.

For external marketing efforts, keyword-optimized blogs with links to the product, affiliate marketing, and social media advertising are suitable options. Those who rely on Amazon’s internal marketing measures must first secure the Buy Box. Unfortunately, advertising and prominent promotions cannot be launched before that.

Amazon Optimization: Sales, Prices, and Inventory

9. Leave the competition behind – Obtain and retain the Amazon Buy Box

Always keep an eye on the competition. Price adjustments by your competitors can lead to you losing the Buy Box. Adjusting prices every minute is not a feasible solution due to the time involved. However, optimizing the price is essential for selling profitably on Amazon. There are hardly any promising tips for making price adjustments manually. It makes more sense to delegate this task to a repricing tool.

The repricer calculates the appropriate price and changes it automatically. The dynamic repricer from SELLERLOGIC does not calculate the lowest price, but the optimal one to always stay one step ahead of your competition.

10. Save time – Assistance with Amazon FBA inventory issues

Now you are well-equipped to sell successfully on Amazon, know valuable tips, and can implement them. Lastly, you should remember this: Amazon makes mistakes too!

For example, a product can be damaged in the Fulfillment by Amazon warehouse, an item can go missing unnoticed in the inventory, or shipped orders can contain errors. Only a few damaged products or mistakes are communicated to the seller by Amazon. To prevent this from being a hidden loss for you or to avoid having to check your inventory daily with utmost precision, our Refund Manager Lost & Found identifies undetected errors in the FBA warehouse and informs you about them.

Since communication with Amazon customer service is not always easy for sellers, the tool does not stop here. To save you time, Lost & Found also assists you in contacting Amazon customer service, ensuring that refunds are processed quickly and easily.

Conclusion: Get started!

Now it’s time to get started and use your new knowledge about Amazon to pave the way for success on the marketplace. Find the product that suits you. Start your business on Amazon and experience the joy as your sales increase and your products sell better on Amazon day by day. With our tips, we hope you achieve this faster than others!

Amazon provides you with many support options, such as FBA, to help you as a seller boost your sales. However, don’t forget that the customer is always the focus at Amazon. If you satisfy them, things should run smoothly for you as well.

Gradually, with the right Amazon tools, you can optimize and automate your sales. This way, you will find yourself on the first page of product searches in no time, firmly hold the Buy Box, ship packages to satisfied customers, and expand with new products or into other countries.

By the way: The tools from SELLERLOGIC can also be used internationally. So, nothing stands in the way of internationalization.

Wishing you great success on Amazon!

Image credits in the order of the images: © Tierney – stock.adobe.com / © 103tnn – stock.adobe.com / © alphaspirit – stock.adobe.com / © PureSolution – stock.adobe.com