The Do’s and Don’ts of Selling on Amazon

Amazon is the world largest online marketplace. It started out in 1994 as an online book seller but later expanded operations to include software, games, clothes, furniture, and food. Today Amazon is not only an online market retailer but also one of the biggest tech companies. According to 2017 data, Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon, owns 34% of all cloud with companies like Microsoft, Google, and IBM owning only 11%, 8%, and 6% respectively. Purchases made via Amazon have increased during the Coronavirus emergency. Its shares have hit a record high, and its founder, Jeff Bezoss, have added another $24 billion to his fortune.

If you are looking for ways to make money, instead of spend money on Amazon, they offer two major ways to do this. The first thing you can do to profit from the platform is to sell something there yourself.

The second thing you can do, and for this you don�t really need to have any inventory at all, is to join their affiliate marketing program. There are a few requirements to meet, but if you already have an established website with traffic and high-quality content, you should be accepted on the program without issues.

If you are selling physical products, there are some guidelines that you should follow in order to be successful on the platform.

DOs

Do your research. It is important starting point which many people overlook. If you are selling physical products, make sure to check out on your competitors. There are two things to check during your initial research.

First, you will have to see how saturated the market is. This will tell you how successful your product will be. If the marketplace is flooded with similar, or even worse, the exact same products, you might have to either think of different niche or consider lowering down prices to stay competitive.

Secondly, you will have to check the pricing. You can check the prices of your competitors and set yours accordingly, but you have to keep in mind that Amazon collects fees from sellers which will lower your profit.

Your success on Amazon depends not only on how good or unique your product is but also on how you present it.

– Make sure to take high-quality pictures that show your product from different angles, in different environments, and a few of close ups.

– Think about the title for your product. Here competitors� research plays a key role.

– When you search for similar products on the platform, pay attention to the first couple products that show up. The products that pop up first in the search results are usually the ones that are optimized the most. Learn from them. See how they have set up their product description, photos, product title. If you are somewhat tech-savvy, you can even find out the exact keywords used for each product you are interested in:
1. Open the page with a product listing.
2. Right-click and select �View Source� (or �View Page Source�).
3. Once the page source has loaded, press Ctrl + F and look for the word keywords.
This is the fastest way of finding out the keywords that your competitors have used to tag their products.

– It is very important, once you start selling, to respond to questions from potential customers. Amazon was one of the first companies to stop sellers from deleting bad reviews of their products. The only (right) way to get good reviews is to sell the best product and to answer questions from potential customers.

DON�Ts

It should be absolutely clear to everyone who is joining the biggest online marketplace that Amazon is not going to tolerate violations of its Terms and Conditions:
– Do not infringe copyrights;
– Do not use trademarks that you don�t own;
– Do not spam;
– Do not use fake personalities, email, and don�t leave fake reviews.

Don�t ignore reviews.

Reviews are here not only for the potential customers to help make up their mind. Reviews are here for you too. They should help you see any fl?ws in your product or the service you are providing. If you see a repetitive complaint about a certain feature in your product, make sure to fix it. If you see that people are complaining about the description not being accurate, correct it and make sure it fully describes your product. If you notice that customers are complaining that the product arrived broken, ensure that you are packing it safely and the carrier is aware of what�s inside by using the proper labeling.