Since the launch of Amazon FBA in 2006, millions of sellers all over the globe have used it generating billions in profits for sellers. Research shows that two-thirds of all the sales on Amazon are from third-party sellers.
As a small business owner or entrepreneur looking to start selling products on Amazon but without setting up storage facilities or delivery networks, this is a good and profitable selling option.
Although selling on Amazon FBA can be a difficult nut to crack for a newbie, this article promises to help. To sell on Amazon FBA for beginners:
- Understand What Amazon FBA
- Set up your Amazon seller account.
- Find a product to sell on Amazon.
- Create a Brand Identity.
- Find a manufacturer and ship your products to the Amazon warehouse.
- Create a listing for your Product.
- Launch Your Product on Amazon.
Let’s dive in.
1. Understand What Amazon FBA
To sell on Amazon FBA for beginners, understand what Amazon FBA is. Fulfilled by Amazon or Amazon, FBA is a platform on Amazon where third-party sellers sell used or unused items at a fixed price with Amazon’s FBA fee.
It’s a service that helps sellers on Amazon to store, pack, ship, and deliver, and handles the customer’s service and returns for the orders. It means that with Amazon FBA, your products are wholly fulfilled by Amazon from storage to delivery in any part of the globe.
For an extra fee, Amazon can also label and brand the product for you before making the delivery.
2. Set Up Your Amazon Seller Account
You can sell as many products as you want. To do this, go to sell.amazon.com to log in or create a new account if you don’t have an Amazon seller account. Then sign up for the free plan or professional seller account. Amazon professional seller account charges $39.99 per month on the first month but won’t charge you for the other months until you add a product to sell.
The free plan doesn’t charge monthly, but you will pay an extra fee every time you sell a product. To register as an individual seller
- Scroll down the page and click on the “sign up to become an individual seller” option.
As an individual seller, you can always upgrade to the professional selling plan but might experience difficulties switching accounts.
After registering, fill in the necessary information like business details, seller information, billing information, store name, identity verification, etc. It is essential to create a business identity before signing up. However, if you do not have one, you can still sell on Amazon without having an actual business. For US citizens, you use your Social Security Number SSN, or you can get an EIN from the Internal Revenue Service in your country.
Use the SSN or EIN for the business information, or create a Doing Business As DBA or Limited Liability Company LLC account as a business name. Do not use a debit card for your billing information or change details when switching to a professional plan; this can get you banned.
3. Find a Product to sell on Amazon
Get a product that is easy to ship, not fragile or too heavy. Amazon charges a flat rate per product, so more oversized products attract higher charges. Get a product with a reasonable, profitable price after deducting the fee and manufacturing cost, a product with high demand and low competition, and a relatively unique product.
Use a product search method like Helium, Black Box, etc. To get one in high demand or search for a scarce product or not yet in the market and create the product.
4. Create a Brand Identity
A high-quality brand can make your product stand out and make more profit. As stated earlier, Amazon can do the product branding and labeling for an extra fee, or you can hire a professional designer to design the product and packaging.
5. Find a Manufacturer and Ship Your Product to Amazon Warehouse
The product can be self-manufactured, or you can hire the services of a professional to manufacture the product before listing it on Amazon. Use Google.com to get manufacturers within the United States or your country or Alibaba.com to contract manufacturers in Asian countries. Search and select a manufacturer, contract samples, negotiate and get your order. To contact a manufacturer on Google.com, enter the product’s name and add the manufacturer. E.g., cocktail manufacturers.
After the product has been manufactured, you can order it to be sent directly to the Amazon storehouse or delivered directly for inspection. You can also hire an inspection service to inspect the product before shipping it to the Amazon warehouse. To export your product, you can use air or sea shipping. Air shipping is faster but cost-intensive, while sea shipping is cheaper but can take weeks to get your product.
6. Create a Listing for Your Product
When listing the product on amazon, you can add up to three to five focal points about the product to explain the benefits of your product. Become effective. To get your product listed on Amazon
- Go to your account, click Inventory, and
- Click “add a product” on the drop-down options.
- Fill in the category you want to sell your product, the product title, price, description, and other necessary information.
Optimize the information you fill in to get your product ranked top on the Amazon search engine.
It is not enough to get your product ranked top; you also want customers to buy the product; this is where product description, imaging, etc. The product description and imaging should show the benefits of the products enough to convince buyers to buy the product.
7. Launch Your Product on Amazon
After listing your product, you can launch by creating awareness on different social media platforms to get potential customers excited about the product and to increase the number of sales.
PPC is also an advertising method on amazon where you pay any time someone clicks on your ad. You can also use the amazon Price Per Click PPC option to launch and advertise your product on amazon.
It puts your product at the top of amazon search results and gets more sales. More than 60% of people searching to buy an online product search on amazon, and the PPC puts your ad at the top of the investigation. This method can be cost-intensive, but the ROI can be four times the cost.
Summary
With the above steps, you are on a smooth ride to make profits on Amazon FBA; however, you should know that your product won’t promote itself until you take deliberate steps to enable it.
As a beginner, to sell on Amazon FBA, you have to set up your Amazon seller account, find a product to sell on Amazon, create a brand identity, find a manufacturer and ship your products to Amazon warehouse, create a listing for your product, and launch your product on Amazon.