Amazon Set-up Listing Service
Growing in popularity as an online destination – Amazon.com offers a number of ways you can profit by joining forces with them. While it was historically thought of a place to buy and sell books – Amazon.com has grown and expanded to offer a large variety of goods.
Amazon is a growing alternative for 3rd party sellers (that’s anyone who wants to sell their products through the Amazon catalog). In 2007 1.3 million active sellers sold over 14 billion dollars worth of goods. Amazon’s growth outpaced eBay and in 2008. User growth on Amazon was 41% compared to eBay’s 8%.
If you are looking for a place to sell you should consider Amazon.
The first question you should ask, though – is selling on the site a good fit. Let’s take a look at who should sell on Amazon.
- Sellers with a depth of inventory (someone with access to wholesale lots)
- Book and media sellers – both new and used
- Product developers
Should sellers who sell unique or one of a kind items sell on the site? Well, that’s a tough call. You can certainly set up unique items on Amazon – but the time it takes to list and the way Amazon indexes products based on sales rank – might not make it financially feasible. If that’s the case for you, I recommend you consider selling on Bonanzle.com as an alternative.
There are a number of different programs Amazon offers to sellers. Which one will best fit your needs will be up to you – check your business plan to make sure you pick the right course. That said, let’s take a look at some of the many different ways you can join Amazon.
The easiest way to get started is with a ‘me too’ listing. This type of listing is simply adding your item to the already established catalog or products. In other words you have a book (or other item) you type in it’s title and see that there is already a listing set up and others are selling the book. You can add your book to the group, name your price and be visible to potential buyers quickly. There is no cost to list an item – but Amazon charges you a fee plus a final value commission on each item that sells.
If you are have many different items (or SKU’s) then you’ll want to become a “Pro Merchant” With this type of account you’ll pay a monthly fee, but reduced selling fees. It becomes a value if you have 40 or more sales on Amazon a month. With a Pro Merchant account you can create your own listings if Amazon doesn’t already have the product in their catalog.
There are a number of other programs that Pro Merchants have access to. These offerings are designed to help the seller with inventory control, packaging and shipping and free up the seller to focus on what they do best. One of my favorites is called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
When you use FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) you send your items to Amazon’s warehouse. They store the items until they sell and then pick and pack the item for you. In addition they take care of all the follow-up customer service.
If you need a website and don’t know how (or don’t want to know) anything about creating a website or shopping cart Amazon has you covered there too. They have a very easy to use service called “Webstore by Amazon.” This is a standalone web store – not connected to Amazon. You can have one or as many web stores as you wish for the one subscription price. Setting one up is as easy as dragging and dropping. This is a feature rich offering – including the ability to fill in your inventory gaps with Amazon products, using the Amazon reviews and more. When your buyer is ready to check-out they use the Amazon check-out service – a real confidence builder for your customer.
Amazon also offers drop shipping programs, pay per click programs if you’d like to advertise your products on the Amazon site and on demand publishing services.
If you are wondering if Amazon is right for you – I’ll bet there is a program available that fits your selling needs. They have thought of everything. For more information about selling on Amazon – I offer classes, listing services and one on one help.
If you are ready to add let Amazon take your business to the next level please contact me and we can discuss which Amazon service or strategy will work best for you.
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