How selling on Amazon works

Are you ready to begin your journey as an Amazon seller? This short video breaks down the process into four clear and manageable steps, giving you everything you need to know to get started.

Whether you're a small business owner or an entrepreneur launching your first product, you'll find out how to create your Seller Central account, list products, fulfil orders and get paid.

You'll learn how to choose the right selling plan – Professional or Individual – based on your business goals, and explore the tools available to help you streamline operations, such as bulk listing and advertising options.

By the end, you'll understand how payments work, how to monitor fees and the importance of maintaining strong account health. This video will help you hit the ground running and confidently start selling on Amazon.

Transcript

Welcome to the video on how selling on Amazon works. Let's get started.

Selling on Amazon can be broken down into four steps.

• Step 1: Create an Amazon Seller Central account.

• Step 2: List products for sale.

• Step 3: Fulfil customer orders and provide outstanding customer service.

• Step 4: Receive payments from your sales proceeds and maintain your account health.

Let's go over these four steps in a little more detail.

Step 1: Create an Amazon Seller Central account

Before you register for an account with Amazon, choose between Professional or Individual Selling Plan. Confused on which plan is right for your business?

There are a few important differences between the two plans. Let's compare.

Professional accounts carry a flat monthly subscription fee no matter how many items you sell. This type of account makes sense if you're planning to sell a lot of items.

An Individual account is a better choice if you only plan to make a few sales each month. Instead of a flat monthly subscription fee, you pay a per item fee for every item you sell. Both Individual and Professional seller accounts are eligible for FBA service.

Now let's take a look at the features which are only available for Professional selling accounts.

• Customised shipping rates

• Bulk listing tools

• Advertising deals and coupons

• Automated pricing tools

• Brand Registry tools and benefits

• Amazon Selling coach

• Business reports

• Marketplace web services

And much more.

Step 2: List products for sale

You can list a product to sell on Amazon in less than five minutes. Here's how.

Amazon's product listing allows sellers to match an existing listing if someone is already selling the same product, or create a new listing if you are the first or only seller. If you are reselling products already present in Amazon's catalogue, this can be a fast way to add selection to your account.

What if my selection doesn't match the existing offers? If you are selling your own brand/private label or bringing new product selections to a category, you will want to create a new detail page on Amazon.

To create a new listing, you will need a product identifier, also known as a barcode number. Commonly used identifier terms include UPC, GTIN, EAN or ISBN.

Not exactly sure what a barcode is? Look for barcodes on some of your favourite items, or watch what a clerk scans to get a price in a store. Look at the numbers printed below the barcode. A 12-digit number is a UPC or a 13-digit number is an EAN.

If the products you intend to sell do not have a barcode, simply apply for a GTIN exemption. You can then add the selection products via upload option. Add listings to your account one by one using the "Add a product" option. Add bulk inventory all at once by using the "Add Products via Upload" option.

Special listing options cater for the unique demands of handmade and customisable listing sellers.

Step 3: Fulfil orders and provide outstanding customer service

Now that your product listings are complete, choose how to best fulfil orders. The FBA program gives sellers the opportunity to use Amazon's world-class shipping, logistics and customer service partnerships to benefit their buyers.

Sellers using FBA send their products to Amazon's fulfilment centres. We take care of packaging, shipping, returns and customer service issues. Products are Prime-enabled with the Prime badge logo.

Sellers that prefer to do their own or merchant-fulfilled shipping are responsible for packages being shipped and delivered on time, customer service and returns.

Step 4: Receive payments from your sales proceeds

Amazon pays you through an Automatic Clearing House payment to your bank account every two weeks on eligible sales proceeds.

To determine sales proceeds and profitability, sellers should become familiar with Amazon's fee schedule. On your Seller Central home page, type in "Selling on Amazon fee schedule" in the search bar. This will direct you to the help page. The help page lists all fees related to selling on Amazon.

Lastly, we recommend you to visit "Account Health" under the "Performance" tab on Seller Central to regularly monitor your performance as a seller.

This wraps up how selling on Amazon works. Thank you, and happy selling.

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