Starting to Sell on Amazon

[JosephSnow68]

Hello,
Quite new here. My first post (if not allowed or the wrong section please delete)

Currently looking to set up my own company selling items on Amazon, importing.
I've been looking around on Google, other forums for tips, advice on where to get started, all I'm currently coming across is "buy my course £499" etc.

I would love for some advice of people who are/have been successful selling on Amazin.
Any advice would be great on the basics and getting started would be a massive help.

PM me if you want to speak more.
Thanks,

 

[fisicx]

Why not just follow the guidance Amazon offers: https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/sell-online/how-it-works-pro.html/

 

[ashleyjane]

What are you trying to sell

 

[Deleted member 309957]

Hello,
Quite new here. My first post (if not allowed or the wrong section please delete)

Currently looking to set up my own company selling items on Amazon, importing.
I've been looking around on Google, other forums for tips, advice on where to get started, all I'm currently coming across is "buy my course £499" etc.

I would love for some advice of people who are/have been successful selling on Amazin.
Any advice would be great on the basics and getting started would be a massive help.

PM me if you want to speak more.
Thanks,

I've started with Amazon in January this year. I've found it to be a complete nightmare. Because of an error in my email address, it took over two months to get on-line selling. I went through innumerable emails and hours on phone calls, never dealing with the same person twice, never able to get one individual to take ownership and get it fixed. Eventually they apologised and I pushed for compensation, as they'd been taking money out if my account when I couldn't even log in. I've had nothing but hassle since then. I've found ebay to be really easy to work with. It's usually fixed with an immediate call back. However, there are innumerable things to trip you up in Amazon and too many to list here. Maybe you'll be lucky, but I've had to go through the pain. I tried to integrate the couriers with Amazon (as per the Ebay model) and eventually managed to do it, but am told that I still have to manually type in the customers name and address into the couriers form, even though it's integrated (and that took 4 amazon agents emailing me and 4 phone calls, and it's still not fixed). Be prepared for the 'computer says no' style but replaced by Amazon's 'I don't have the tools here to help you'. Were I ever to pass Jeff Bezos at the airport, my knee would find its way to his jewels.

 

[JosephSnow68]

I've started with Amazon in January this year. I've found it to be a complete nightmare. Because of an error in my email address, it took over two months to get on-line selling. I went through innumerable emails and hours on phone calls, never dealing with the same person twice, never able to get one individual to take ownership and get it fixed. Eventually they apologised and I pushed for compensation, as they'd been taking money out if my account when I couldn't even log in. I've had nothing but hassle since then. I've found ebay to be really easy to work with. It's usually fixed with an immediate call back. However, there are innumerable things to trip you up in Amazon and too many to list here. Maybe you'll be lucky, but I've had to go through the pain. I tried to integrate the couriers with Amazon (as per the Ebay model) and eventually managed to do it, but am told that I still have to manually type in the customers name and address into the couriers form, even though it's integrated (and that took 4 amazon agents emailing me and 4 phone calls, and it's still not fixed). Be prepared for the 'computer says no' style but replaced by Amazon's 'I don't have the tools here to help you'. Were I ever to pass Jeff Bezos at the airport, my knee would find its way to his jewels.

Damn it sounds like you had a massive poor experience. I'm sorry to hear that. I have a few friends finding some success by selling on Amazon, so I wouldn't mind giving it a small go. Especially for the experience. I just don't want to stand on any of their feet.

Thanks,

 

[antropy]

all I'm currently coming across is "buy my course £499" etc.

But why would they be selling courses for £499 if they were making loads of money on Amazon? Personally I'd be highly sceptical.

Damn it sounds like you had a massive poor experience.

Business is tough.

I just don't want to stand on any of their feet.

Well surely you can think of something to sell that isn't what your friends are selling?

 

[Page]

Do not waste your money on a course.

Go back to line 1

If you are the sort of person that thinks that will solve your business you will fail

 

[KarenBridges]

On the other hand, if you're looking for courses on how to sell on Amazon and you're alarmed by the prices, try the courses made by the guys from Eastern Europe or India. The trick is to find these courses in English, but once you do - they're just as comprehensible, and for a fraction of the price you've mentioned.

 

[KarenBridges]

Other than that, I totally agree with Page

 

[Anderz]

Don't waste your money on a course?

Ok fumble around on the internet is the solution then?

No courses are what they are and if they are done well you can bank on them to a large degree as a starting point for what works. Make sure the guy behind is who he say he is and that his material is up to date. If the training is a loophole based thing then its no good after a few years.

For Amazon I would go to Andrew Minalto who is currently totally gung ho about it and writing on it on his webside/blog

 

[JosephSnow68]

Don't waste your money on a course?

Ok fumble around on the internet is the solution then?

No courses are what they are and if they are done well you can bank on them to a large degree as a starting point for what works. Make sure the guy behind is who he say he is and that his material is up to date. If the training is a loophole based thing then its no good after a few years.

For Amazon I would go to Andrew Minalto who is currently totally gung ho about it and writing on it on his webside/blog

Thank you for your reply.

All I'm seeing is proclaimed "gurus" trying to sell their online course for £400+.

I'll check out Andrew Minalto.

 

[Iain_Henderson]

Just read some of Andrew Minalto and he does seem to be giving good, genuine advice - thanks for the tip! (and I say that as someone who has read a lot of blogs and an active business selling on Amazon )

 

[GillespieBS]

Have a look at Brightpearl's website in the Resources section. There are some guides and tips there which may be useful. They cover other sales channels too.

 

[kulture]

Whilst I agree with others here about not paying for a course, I will say do your research and understand exactly what you are getting into. Amazon is an unforgiving marketplace. One mistake too early on can get you suspended and even banned. There is no going back from being banned, you can never again sell on amazon.

 

[Rickeo]

Yea I'd avoid the 'buy my course' resources, most of the time you're paying for information that is free elsewhere, you're just paying for the convinenacne of having it alll summarised and spoon fed to you.

Check YouTube there's a lot on there and try Google forums dedicated to it and Reddit, you'll find everything you need in most of these places.

Good Luck!

 

[serverwala]

Once you have registered, Selling on Amazon is a simple four-step process. You can add products to the Amazon Marketplace catalog one at a time, or if you have a Professional selling subscription, you can add large batches of items using bulk tools. After you list your offers, customers can see them on Amazon.com

 

[Mr D]

Once you have registered, Selling on Amazon is a simple four-step process. You can add products to the Amazon Marketplace catalog one at a time, or if you have a Professional selling subscription, you can add large batches of items using bulk tools. After you list your offers, customers can see them on Amazon.com

Or the OP could try listing on amazon.com in order to get stuff visible on that site.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Without wishing to sound too negative, unless you have an 'edge', you are unlikely to make much money selling on Amazon, some examples of what I call an 'edge'....

1. Have a 'exclusivity' line of products (tie up with an overseas manufacturer)
2. Have your own brand
3. Have the support of the Chinese government behind you (aka be a Chinese seller)
4. Be a VAT evader (this gives you a price advantage over your competiton, but you may end at HMRP lodgings)
5. Be an absolute demon wrt coding (sniffing out products in other marketplaces that haven't anybody selling on the UK marketplace)

...& so on.

if you think that you can just go to Ali express (or Alibaba) buy a few products, list them on Amazon...then you're likely to have a torrid time making a profit.

I echo what others have said about purchasing a course - they're snake oil salesmen.

 

[MBE2017]

Agree with Pish_Pash, online selling standard products requires serious buying power and deep pockets, a race to the bottom for most people. There are always small niches which throw up some unusual money spinners, but they rarely last too long.

Number 1 point is the one to try hardest on, with exclusivity you can control the sales price to an extent, far more than when everyone can sell the same product as yourself next week.

Until you try online selling it is hard to appreciate how BIG some of your competitors are, they will buy far better than most could ever aspire to do.

 

[lesliedocherty]

I agree, just checked my best selling product which i retail for £5.50, you can purchase it on Amazon for £3.75 with free shipping, wtf, i imagine Amazon is a hard place to make money.

 

[Mr D]

I agree, just checked my best selling product which i retail for £5.50, you can purchase it on Amazon for £3.75 with free shipping, wtf, i imagine Amazon is a hard place to make money.

I sold out of an item this morning, selling it on ebay £11.75. Its £8.50 on amazon.

Amazon is easy enough to make money on, bit like anywhere else (including offline) its down to where the buyers choose to purchase.
Amazon fees, expected returns, lost items - stuff that can all be factored into item pricing same as on any other site. If you had an offline shop you'd try making money despite other sellers stocking the same thing in the same town. Online is no different.

 

[ThePropertyServices]

Amazon is for people who want to get rid of inventory. There is no way you can make money on Amazon, if you make money, it will be slavery wages. Amazon entire business model is to "allow" issues with listings, like "multipacks" or "repricing" which are usually issues created by someone else, on purpose. If you ship it, you are losing money, if you don't ship it, you get penalized.
If you have a lot of extra inventory and want to just get rid of it, Amazon is a place to sell. But based on my experience, if you sell cheap on Amazon, you will only attract the cream of the cream of abusive buyers and scammers. Amazon is a money losing place for 99% of the sellers, but if you have a unique product and market it well, you may have a chance, anything at selling price of 30+
If you have that Unique product, then you can have same or better chances to sell it and market it anywhere else. Good luck.

 

[ThePropertyServices]

I sold out of an item this morning, selling it on ebay £11.75. Its £8.50 on amazon.

Amazon is easy enough to make money on, bit like anywhere else (including offline) its down to where the buyers choose to purchase.
Amazon fees, expected returns, lost items - stuff that can all be factored into item pricing same as on any other site. If you had an offline shop you'd try making money despite other sellers stocking the same thing in the same town. Online is no different.

Great example from Mr D, Amazon is for very new and naive people, a just a few very big sellers. I can tell you, between fees and ads fees, loses and claims, Amazon can be the biggest money losing place in the history.

 

[Mr D]

Amazon is for people who want to get rid of inventory. There is no way you can make money on Amazon, if you make money, it will be slavery wages. Amazon entire business model is to "allow" issues with listings, like "multipacks" or "repricing" which are usually issues created by someone else, on purpose. If you ship it, you are losing money, if you don't ship it, you get penalized.
If you have a lot of extra inventory and want to just get rid of it, Amazon is a place to sell. But based on my experience, if you sell cheap on Amazon, you will only attract the cream of the cream of abusive buyers and scammers. Amazon is a money losing place for 99% of the sellers, but if you have a unique product and market it well, you may have a chance, anything at selling price of 30+
If you have that Unique product, then you can have same or better chances to sell it and market it anywhere else. Good luck.

So all those amazon sellers who do make money selling on amazon are better at it than you.

Try selling offline sometime. The fees you have to pay are quite a bit higher percentage than amazon charge. Are the businesses with shops & stalls also not making money?

 

[Mr D]

Great example from Mr D, Amazon is for very new and naive people, a just a few very big sellers. I can tell you, between fees and ads fees, loses and claims, Amazon can be the biggest money losing place in the history.

You factored losses and claims into your pricing didn't you, same as you would on any other site including your own?

 

[ThePropertyServices]

So all those amazon sellers who do make money selling on amazon are better at it than you.

Try selling offline sometime. The fees you have to pay are quite a bit higher percentage than amazon charge. Are the businesses with shops & stalls also not making money?

------

I do sell offline, in many countries and using multiple platforms. I sell for 15 years, everywhere but Amazon. I sell on Amazon, or Walmart, just to dump old inventory. The only people who claim Amazon is great are services who promise new sellers that they will make a lot of money on Amazon (as long as they pay them a fee for some advice nobody ever knew about : ), same misleading trick Amazon uses to fool people into using their Fulfillment services. I really dislike to see merchants fail, because it takes so much time, money and energy to start a business and then to keep it alive, just to be consumed by a greedy company. I sell in the US mainly, that is a competitive place and I have survived a lot of issues. If anyone wishes to sell on Amazon, is ok, but do not make it your main marketplace. Having your own store will be good, as long as we know what you are doing. This is a great place to get informed.

 

[Mr D]

------

I do sell offline, in many countries and using multiple platforms. I sell for 15 years, everywhere but Amazon. I sell on Amazon, or Walmart, just to dump old inventory. The only people who claim Amazon is great are services who promise new sellers that they will make a lot of money on Amazon (as long as they pay them a fee for some advice nobody ever knew about : ), same misleading trick Amazon uses to fool people into using their Fulfillment services. I really dislike to see merchants fail, because it takes so much time, money and energy to start a business and then to keep it alive, just to be consumed by a greedy company. I sell in the US mainly, that is a competitive place and I have survived a lot of issues. If anyone wishes to sell on Amazon, is ok, but do not make it your main marketplace. Having your own store will be good, as long as we know what you are doing. This is a great place to get informed.

So you know about selling with a higher percentage of your sales covering costs than amazon charge then.

How can you not make money on amazon if you are so experienced at selling?
Trick into using fulfilment services? I wasn't tricked and I've used multiple companies for fulfilment including amazon.
Because I don't mind reducing costs. Admittedly some people prefer handling all items themselves and more power to them. Just not always an efficient method of selling.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Great example from Mr D, Amazon is for very new and naive people, a just a few very big sellers. I can tell you, between fees and ads fees, loses and claims, Amazon can be the biggest money losing place in the history.

I am neither new nor big ...yet, I still manage to turn a decent profit selling via Amazon - but like I said earlier, you have to have an edge ...you also need to run a very lean efficient set-up - Amazon is a Tsunami of data coming right at you - it's essential to automate/semi automate the processing of that wall of data (sales, returns, inventory levels, accounts/settlements etc. & so on x 5 EU marketplaces!). Baically ...wrt selling on Amazon...IMHO it's probably just as important you are tech savvy as much as business savvy.

I'm actually both an FBA seller & an Amazon Retail (UK) direct supplier - each has a totally different way of working (FBA is API-centric, Amazon Retail is EDI-centric) ...but both have heaps of 'time sumping' ways of draining your soul!

I'd also say that unless you are a professional seller (vs. someone trying to earn a few bob on the side, speculatively selling stuff), Amazon are going to make your life ever more difficult.

 

[ThePropertyServices]

I am neither new nor big ...yet, I still manage to turn a decent profit selling via Amazon - but like I said earlier, you have to have an edge ...you also need to run a very lean efficient set-up - Amazon is a Tsunami of data coming right at you - it's essential to automate/semi automate the processing of that wall of data (sales, returns, inventory levels, accounts/settlements etc. & so on x 5 EU marketplaces!). Baically ...wrt selling on Amazon...IMHO it's probably just as important you are tech savvy as much as business savvy.

I'm actually both an FBA seller & an Amazon Retail (UK) direct supplier - each has a totally different way of working (FBA is API-centric, Amazon Retail is EDI-centric) ...but both have heaps of 'time sumping' ways of draining your soul!

I'd also say that unless you are a professional seller (vs. someone trying to earn a few bob on the side, speculatively selling stuff), Amazon are going to make your life ever more difficult.

You are correct, you are by no means part of the average Amazon seller, because you seem to know what you are doing. I have been following dozens of Amazon/eBay sellers for years, very few survived more than 5 years, even some with thousands of sales a week. I noticed that most of those big sellers, make little to no profit. How do I know that you may ask, I buy from same manufacturers at very good prices, but even if I was paying 5% less than those high volume sellers, after paying all fees and regular expenses, the profit is just so minimal, a small mistake or claim can eat up your day's profits. There are a lot of people making money BECAUSE of Amazon, and those guys are the ones selling services to help people sell/advertise and ship to Amazon customers. I will be listing later the top 10 scam tricks Amazon "customers" use to kill smaller sellers and to abuse sellers to get freebies.

 

[Mr D]

There are a lot of people making money BECAUSE of Amazon, and those guys are the ones selling services to help people sell/advertise and ship to Amazon customers. I will be listing later the top 10 scam tricks Amazon "customers" use to kill smaller sellers and to abuse sellers to get freebies.

Its always been that way.
People making money providing what others need without doing the particular trade itself.

You start off, everyone makes more money than you. Royal Mail, supplier, Amazon, even your local post office.
Eventually you learn how to price, how to keep costs down, what to buy - and you can make far more than any single supplier of services. Including amazon.

Same with offline. If you are inexperienced you start off usually paying everyone more than you make in profit. Over time you gain customers, keep costs down and should (doesn't always happen) increase sales to the point where the bills are paid and profits made. Can be considerably higher overall costs than selling on amazon has and competition can move in across the road.

Still make money. If you can compete.

 

[Mr D]

I have some difficulties when I start selling on Amazon, like monitoring sales, stocks etc.. As a starter I really need to learn a lot. The SellerMobile App really helps me with everything, I discovered that this app is not just limited to sales tracking but also helps me to increase sales & win more Buy Box. I highly recommend it! Best of luck!

How does the app affect the buy box or increase sales?

 

[Mr D]

I agree, just checked my best selling product which i retail for £5.50, you can purchase it on Amazon for £3.75 with free shipping, wtf, i imagine Amazon is a hard place to make money.

It is if you want to be the cheapest seller.
Luckily lots of businesses appear to have a strategy of making money.

 

[Mr D]

You are correct, you are by no means part of the average Amazon seller, because you seem to know what you are doing. I have been following dozens of Amazon/eBay sellers for years, very few survived more than 5 years, even some with thousands of sales a week. I noticed that most of those big sellers, make little to no profit. How do I know that you may ask, I buy from same manufacturers at very good prices, but even if I was paying 5% less than those high volume sellers, after paying all fees and regular expenses, the profit is just so minimal, a small mistake or claim can eat up your day's profits. There are a lot of people making money BECAUSE of Amazon, and those guys are the ones selling services to help people sell/advertise and ship to Amazon customers. I will be listing later the top 10 scam tricks Amazon "customers" use to kill smaller sellers and to abuse sellers to get freebies.

Yes by all means publish those scam tricks in case any buyers are unaware of some of them.