As far as ecommerce goes, selling on Amazon is a great choice. The platform has hundreds of millions of users who you can get your products in front of. On top of that, Amazon makes selling easy and automates many of the processes involved. But you also get the option to take the reins on anything that needs more of a personal touch. The biggest question is: how do you get started? Is it as easy as it seems? Do you just sign up and go? Well, truth be told, it’s pretty easy. As in, you could go start a store and make a sale today if the circumstances are right. That’s not to say it’ll happen, but there’s no reason not to start selling on Amazon if you’re interested. If you’ve been thinking about it, let’s check out an overview of the process so you have an idea of what to expect.
Register Your Account
First things first, you need to figure out what kind of plan you’ll need for your store. Amazon offers an Individual plan and a Professional plan. The Individual plan is perfect if you want to sell less than 40 items per month, you aren’t 100% sure what you want to sell, and you don’t need all the available tools at your disposal.
The Professional plan is good for selling over 40 items per month, getting sales reports, and using 3rd-party software to sell. You can change your plan at any time so don’t sweat it if you aren’t sure right now.
Next, you’ll need some basic personal info like your bank account and credit card number. You’ll need a few other things, so make sure to check Amazon’s resources to make sure you have everything on hand.
Then, take a look at the associated fees which depend on what you’re selling and how you’re selling it. These range from subscription fees to shipping fees.
Once you have all this information squared away, you’re ready to register your account. Amazon will guide you through this process, so you shouldn’t run into any trouble. If Amazon is not available in your country, you can consider setting an online store on Shopify.
List Products
Now that you have an account set up, you can start creating product listings. If you’re selling the same thing as someone else, you can match it to an existing listing. If you’re selling something exclusive, you’ll need to create a new listing.
Depending on the plan you chose, the listing process will look a bit different. The Professional plan lets you list your products in bulk through Amazon or third-party software. The Individual plan only allows you to list products one at a time. This is something to keep in mind when choosing your plan.
When you list your products, you may need to have some information on hand. The amount of information you need, again, depends on whether anyone already sells this product on Amazon. If someone already sells it, you need some sort of UPC or other product ID.
If it’s a brand new product, you’ll need more info like a product description and SKU. In general, the more information you provide, the better. So, make sure to have as much information as possible on hand.
Ship Products
Finally, you’ll have to decide how you want to ship your products. Do you want to do it yourself and manage your own inventory? Or do you want Amazon to fulfill your orders and take care of all the details?
There’s no right answer, only the one that works best for you. You may want to handle everything on your own if you don’t have a large volume of orders and you’re a detail-oriented person. On the other hand, you may not have the time to pack and ship orders so it could make more sense to have Amazon take care of the shipping.
Keep in mind, this is a brief guide about selling on Amazon. There are many more details in the process, but Amazon will prompt you when you get to that point. Regardless, you should have a general idea of what selling on Amazon entails. It’s pretty simple if you want it to be, but you can also customize just about anything you can think of.
