Thinking of starting your own Amazon business? Read below seller checklist and Amazon FBA checklist to ensure you have all you need to begin. Without a proper Amazon seller guidelines it will be hard to start online business and even harder to survive in one of the most competitive online marketplaces.
Amazon Seller Checklist
Sort Out Tax Details
- State Sales Tax Number – the following details are asked for:
- Name and office address of business
- ID issued for sales tax
- Description of items bought and sold
- Signature
- Taxpayer’s ID Number
- Business License (only required for specific kinds of home businesses).
Stock Up on Supplies Needed to Run Amazon Sales Account
- A Computer – preferably desktop
- An AMZ Insight account subscription for initial research
- Cardboard boxes for packaging
- Packaging tape
- Printer
- Pens and notepads
- Newspapers as fill material
- Amazon app on your smartphone
- Printout of your logo (optional)
- Shrink wrap
- Warning stickers
Get an Amazon Account
- Legally registered name and address
- Credit Card Number
- VAT number
- Bank account number
- Logo of your business
- Shipping prices
- Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Deciding on a Product
- Market requirement and demand
- Possible profit margin
- Weight and shipping ease (should preferably be lightweight)
- Storage space needed
- Competition in the niche
- Technical requirements for product (for perishable goods)
- Google trends’ graph for product
- Government policies
- Amazon policies (especially for restricted categories)
Deciding on a Supplier
- Type of supplier needed:
- In-house
- Inter-factory
- Outside
- Product price
- Foreign exchange rates (if importing the product)
- Costs of any changes you may want
- Cost of shipping
- Product variations
- Availability of free product samples
- Tax rates
- Warranty of product
- Professionalism, amiability and dedication of the supplier
Product Details Required
- Get barcode assigned (if you’ve made your own product)
- Find outsourced product’s barcode
- Title of your product
- Price of your product
- Features of the product in bullets
- Description of product
- Classify the product in relevant categories and sub-categories
- HQ Product Image
- Other, minor product page details
SEO for Product Page
- Use AMZInsight.com to figure out popular keywords
- Enter at least 1 main keyword in title
- Enter at least 1 main keyword in bullets
- Enter at least 2 keywords in description
- Meta-keywords (that weren’t included on-page)
- At least five feature bullets
- At least 5 product images
Choosing a Shipping Company
- Cost for average size of your product
- Places where they ship (and if they reach your target customers)
- Speed and tracking
- Insurance of products being shipped
- Reputation with other sellers
- You can choose from:
- Free shipping
- Real-time carriers
- Multiple shipping
- Flat-rate shipping
Looking to enter the Amazon selling space but don’t know what works and what doesn’t?
Yes, its hard for new sellers to enter the highly competitive Amazon marketplace without having proper guide and knowledge of the tasks vital for an Amazon startup. Here’s Amazon FBA checklist of things you must do and must not do if you want to achieve lasting success on the Amazon Marketplace. These instructions are proven Amazon seller guidelines that apply to all Amazon marketplaces, including UK, USA, Canada and Australia.
The Do’s of Amazon FBA Checklist
- Look for a product that’s lightweight and cheap.
- Register on Amazon and make a listing as soon as possible.
- Subscribe to AMZ Insight to discover keywords relevant to your product and audience, both.
- Include your keywords in your listing’s title, details and description.
- Optimize your listing in accordance with Amazon product ranking algorithm.
- You must describe your product’s condition truthfully.
- Be proactive at customer services as that’s an essential component on Amazon.
- Keep an eye out for competitors and make sure you constantly follow what they’re up to – be it new products or new marketing campaigns.
- Take Amazon’s time limits seriously – process orders and ship your products as soon as possible and certainly within the given time limit, at most.
- Yes, customers are checking on their parcel. So keep updating tracking information.
- Manage and monitor your reviews and ratings actively.
- Follow up with customers who haven’t left positive reviews and ask them what went wrong.
- Don’t hesitate to issue refunds when you know you’re in the wrong (and sometimes, when you’re not) – it creates good will.
- Keep looking at your dashboard at intervals to stay up-to-date with your selling.
- Grow an international presence as soon as possible.
- Try to sell goods under a private label to make more sales.
- Do sign up with Fulfillment by Amazon as soon as possible – it’s cheaper, easier and allows you to concentrate on business growth.
The Don’ts of Amazon FBA Checklist
- Don’t just list a single product but begin by at least 10 -15 products, according to your budget.
- Don’t make all these products similar – they can be within the same niche but essentially, different.
- Don’t sell products that are heavy or cost a ton to ship.
- Try not to enter product categories that are already full of other sellers.
- Don’t lie to Amazon – don’t provide fake papers, legal documentation or identity – because if they find out, they’ll shut you down and might sue you.
- Don’t break any Amazon rules and diligently follow their guidelines.
- In your Amazon business name, don’t use “.com, .biz, .in, .org etc.
- Don’t sell restricted items without an explicit permission from Amazon.
- Don’t try to do everything on your own – you need help with things like market research, inventory management and general assistance. So, outsource when you can.
- Don’t be intimidated by the bigger brands coming to your niche – unless it’s Amazon, of course.
- Don’t turn a blind eye to customer issues; Amazon won’t.
- Don’t put up SD pictures for your products – HD is the way to go. Learn more on Amazon product photography
- Don’t go for paid reviews – Amazon’s already sued many sellers for doing that.
- Avoid selling your Amazon product anywhere but on Amazon – it’s against policy.
- Don’t forget to change your product’s status to out-of-stock when it isn’t available.
- Don’t neglect your offsite marketing – social media websites can bring in a lot of revenue.
- Never stop caring about customers.
The 10 Commandments of Amazon Selling
Amazon’s popularity with customers makes it a very strict place for sellers. There are certain Amazon selling rules, or as we like to call them, Ten Commandments of selling through amazon that all new sellers must keep in mind.
1. Thou Shalt Not Lead Customers Away From Amazon
Amazon has strict rules against diverting sales to other websites or accounts. They will not be pleased if you place any adverts, calls to action or marketing messages on any of your Amazon pages.
Amazon mentions two activities, specifically:
- Email use to take customers away from Amazon pages
- Using URLs, hyperlinks or any other kinds of messages within or without product listings/descriptions that will divert customers away from the website.
2. Thou Shalt Not Open a 2nd Amazon Account
Amazon has strictly mentioned in their seller guidelines that sellers are not allowed to set up and run multiple accounts at the same time. However, if you have a legitimate need to setup a new account, you can request for permission to do so, although there are prerequisites.
3. Thou Shalt Not Manipulate Ratings & Reviews
Last year, Amazon filed over 1000 lawsuits against people writing and paying for fake reviews and it continues cracking down both buyer and seller accounts trying to manipulate reviews. You may, however, offer free or discounted products to customers for review.
4. Thou Shalt Not Ignore Price Parity Policy
Amazon doesn’t allow you to have prices lower than the ones you’ve listed on their website because, as mentioned in commandment #2, it leads customers away from Amazon. If you want to sell on Amazon, your product’s total price, plus shipping, must not be higher than on Amazon.
5. Thou Shalt Not Sell Counterfeit Items
Amazon won’t take long to suspend your account if you sell with the intention of committing fraud. Selling duplicates isn’t allowed, either. If you do get suspended, however, then your best shot is presenting a sales invoice to show Amazon that your transaction is legal.
6. Thou Shalt Not Manipulate Price
This especially applies to post-transaction dealings with your customer. Amazon specifically states that you cannot change the shipping price once the transaction has been completed. The same goes for product price.
7. Thou Shalt Sell What You Show
As an Amazon seller, you need to make sure that your product 100% matches your description. Customers must know and get exactly what they’re paying for. Amazon takes trickery towards customers very personally.
8. Thou Shalt Not Submit Comingled Inventory
If you’re shipping via FBA, you need to ensure that your products are easily distinguishable after they reach Amazon’s warehouses. A UPC, EAN or FBA code must be added to every product before it’s sent to a fulfillment center.
9. Thou Shalt Not Disregard Communication Rules
Your communication with your customers will determine what Amazon thinks of you. If you don’t respond timely, Amazon will take strict action against you and it will affect your sales rank on amazon. Saturdays are a part of response time metrics on Amazon.
10. Thou Shalt Not Sanction Unapproved Tech Support
Many sellers who list their own products on Amazon do not know that they can get suspend for sending an unauthorized tech supporter to their customer’s place. This is specific to in-home facilities.
Well, this is pretty much it! If you carefully consider all of the above Amazon seller guidelines from the beginning of your business, you won’t be disappointed of your Amazon selling decision. In order to learn more tips and tricks on Amazon selling, you should regularly visit our blog and stay updated.