How to start selling on Amazon
Thinking about doing business on Amazon? Selling on Amazon is beneficial for both beginning sellers and larger businesses. Amazon offers hundreds of fulfilment centres and the ability to reach up to 300 million shoppers from around the world. Convenient services that simplify logistics and product sales are also increasing every year.
The first step to doing business on Amazon is choosing the platforms on which you will sell your products. Amazon offers a total of 19 of them. Czech sellers most commonly choose all European platforms and American ones.
The next step to a successful sale on Amazon will be the choice of goods logistics. Amazon offers two types of order fulfilment methods, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM).
Fulfilment by Amazon, or FBA, is a sale through Amazon's logistics services. The seller sends their goods to Amazon warehouses, and Amazon then picks, packs and fulfils the orders for them. FBA also takes care of customer service and possible returns. Marketing and promotion of products are still the responsibility of the seller.
Pros and cons of FBA:
- Amazon Prime service with faster delivery,
- display of products at the top positions in the search,
- more time for business development instead of completing orders,
- higher Amazon fees.
Fulfilment by Merchant aka FBM is the management of logistics by the seller without the help of Amazon. The seller processes, packs and ships the orders himself from his own warehouses at his own expense. They also have to deal with possible complaints, customer service and returns.
Pros and cons of FBM:
- smaller Amazon fees,
- you must have your own warehouse for products,
- taking care of completing orders and complaints,
- slower delivery of products to the customer.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.
Amazon Fees
Amazon offers two account types, Individual and Professional. An individual account is free, but the seller must pay a fee for each product sold. In Europe, this fee is €0.99. For a Professional account, the basic monthly fee is €39. A percentage fee from the order must also be added to this fee. It is mostly 6-15% depending on the product category. The Professional account is suitable for those sellers who want to use FBA services and leave logistics and order fulfilment to Amazon. FBA service requires storage and shipping fees. These charges are calculated based on the weight, size and length of storage of the product.
To sell goods on Amazon, you need to create a seller account (seller central). This account gives you access to the Amazon selling interface where you set up and manage everything. When opening a sales account, prepare the following information:
Create an account:
- information about the company,
- contact person information,
- credit card,
- Bank account number.
Account verification:
- verification of the contact person with an identity card or passport,
- bank account verification in English,
- letter of authorization from the company.
After creating a sales account, you can start adding and setting up individual products. This involves filling in the product data, uploading photos, placing it in the correct product category and determining the price of the product, which must include fees and a margin. An important step is to fill in the EAN, without it you will not be able to sell on Amazon. According to the EAN code, Amazon matches the same products and compares the prices (ranking the offers with the lower price higher).
If you're still unsure about selling on Amazon, consider these facts:
1. Amazon gives you access to hundreds of millions of potential customers.
2. Selling on the Amazon platform greatly simplifies the selling process.
3. The initial cost of selling on Amazon is low (if the strategy is chosen correctly).
4. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) will save you time with order fulfilment.
