Category: Amazon Seller Services

Basics – Before You Start Selling on Amazon

Posted on by adminoo

Before setting up your own Amazon store, it’s worth taking the time to review the basics of selling things on Amazon. Even if you’re familiar with Amazon as a shopper, the way it works for sellers is quite different. Take a quick peek behind the curtain and learn about the most valuable listing positions on Amazon, how to get your product shipped out of Amazon’s warehouses, and some costly pitfalls to avoid.

1. What is the Buy Box, and how does Amazon decide who gets it?

When browsing on Amazon, customers will navigate to a product’s main page and click on the “offers” links below the product description (as indicated by the red circle on the screenshot below) to see a list of available sellers.

vblog_Amaon1

However, Amazon also gives merchants the ability to compete for the coveted “Buy Box” – the CTA button in that familiar shade of yellow.  $56 billion of Amazon’s and$64 billion in sales are made via the Buy Box – that’s 90% of total sales volume, so it’s imperative for any aspiring Amazon merchant to understand what the buy box is and how it works.

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This is the Buy Box, which drives 90% of sales.

The Buy Box is the box on a product detail page where customers can begin the purchasing process by adding items to their shopping carts. Rather than reviewing a list of available merchants, the Buy Box allows customers to quickly purchase a product from the Featured Seller – the business Amazon has chosen to receive the bulk of sales.

Because a key feature of the Amazon platform is that multiple sellers can offer the same product, becoming the featured seller who wins the Buy Box is very difficult. In fact, it’s pretty unrealistic to think that your site is ever going to get ranked high enough to become the featured seller. (Don’t worry – there are plenty of other ways for small businesses to make money on Amazon even if you can’t get a Buy Box. Just keep reading this article!)

In order to be eligible for the buy box, you must meet the following four criteria:

  • Make sure you have a Professional Seller Account.
    Only Professional Plan sellers are eligible for the Buy Box, so if you want to make money you’ve got to spend money – in this case, about $40 a month. Click here for more information about Amazon’s selling plans and prices.
  • Know the difference between the Buy Box and the Buy Used Box.

There are separate Buy Boxes for new and used products. Used products are not eligible to be featured in the Buy Box, and new products are not eligible to be featured in the Buy Used Box.

Amazon Buy Used Box Screenshot

The Buy Box vs. the Used Buy Box.

If you’re selling used products on Amazon, make sure to factor the Buy Used Box into your strategy. The overall sales volume of the Buy Used Box doesn’t match that of the Buy Box, but lower competition can make it much easier for small merchants to obtain valuable product positioning.

  • Make sure your item is in stock.
    If your item is out of stock, you will immediately lose your Buy Box spot to another seller who DOES have that item in stock. If you ever get a Buy Box spot, make sure to ensure that you’ve always got an adequate supply. While you can get your Buy Box spot back after you’ve restocked your inventory, it’s never 100% certain. Plus, the loss of sales due to the loss of a Buy Box is punishment enough, so make sure supply meets demand!
  • Check your Buy Box eligibility within your Amazon Seller Central account.
    Even if you’ve met all of the requirements above, you still must be an Amazon merchant with at least 2 to 6 months of sales history as well as a high level of sales performance. (Sorry – we did warn you that the Buy Box is hard to get!)

Your eligibility information is shown in your Amazon Seller Central account. To view it, follow these steps:

  • Within Amazon Celler Central, click the Inventory tab and navigate to Manage Inventory
  • Look for a field labelled “Buy Box Eligible” within the Column Display section
  • Select “Show When Available” from the drop-down menu to sort products by which are Buy Box eligible. If you see a “Yes” within the Buy Box Eligible field for a product, you are eligible to win the Buy Box for that product.

2. How does Amazon determine the order of the Merchant Offers List?

Even if you never win the Boy Box listing, you can still make money selling on Amazon by selling through the Merchant Offers List. Many of the things that Amazon values fall in line with e-commerce best practices, so it’s in your best interest to be doing these things anyway.

A number of factors affect where a merchant appears in the Offers List, including:

  • Competitive pricing. This includes not only the product cost but shipping costs as well. Many shoppers expect to see low prices while browsing Amazon, so be prepared to price competitively to beat the competition.
  • Competing offers. Generally, the more sellers there are, the harder it is to climb to the top. Finding products with fewer competing merchants can make it easier to get your product featured in competitive spots – maybe even the Buy Box. Being the first to pick up on trends can mean that you find popular products before they’re popular, and set up history as a high-performing seller before the market is oversaturated with competitors.
  • How much history the merchant has on Amazon as a seller. Merchants who have long, positive selling histories with Amazon have better chances of obtaining one of the top spots. Making sure that you address negative reviews and other customer service issues quickly and effectively are critical to ensuring that you maintain a positive sales history – too many unhappy customers and you’ll be exiled to the bottom of the merchant list.
  • How many Seller reviews the merchant has on Amazon. Selling on Amazon is all about the reviews. Reviews have a huge impact on driving sales, and can really end up making or breaking your business. Focus on encouraging buyers to leave reviews for your products, and make sure to address negative reviews quickly and effectively.

As a general rule of thumb, the most effective solution is to ensure that any transactions you receive through Amazon run as smoothly as possible. That means delivering your product in a timely manner and communicating with your customers along the way. However, if you’re looking to break into the market a little quicker, here are two shortcuts that can help:

  • Start by selling a low-competition item to boost your seller ranking. This will increase the probability that the offer will show higher for more competitive products. When selling low-competition items, look for products that have few reviews and focus on becoming the seller with the most positive reviews for that product. Building up the total number of reviews on your Amazon Seller account will increase your legitimacy as a seller, and will help you break into higher-competition niches.
  • Try offering a very competitive price on a popular product. This draws in bargain shoppers and can increase your seller ranking. You can check out Amazon’s “Most Wished For” list to see the most popular items by industry if you need some inspiration.

3. What is Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)?

Fulfilment by Amazon is a program where you send your merchandise to one of the many Amazon fulfilment centres to be stocked; then customers buy products from you, and Amazon ships them. This sort of arrangement allows you to focus on other aspects of running your business while Amazon handles many facets of shipping and customer service.

Other benefits include extending the reach of your products to Amazon Prime members and gaining an extra push towards winning the Buy Box, even if your products have a bit of a higher price. With Volusion, merchants have the ability to set up different shipping options including drop-shipping, which allows flexibility to try using FBA. You can learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon.

4. What types of merchants tend to benefit the most from selling products on Amazon?

Three kinds of merchants tend to perform particularly well on Amazon:

  • Merchants selling unique-to-them products. Companies who produce their own products, such as a company that designs its jewellery. Since their products are unique, they face less competition from other merchants selling identical items and have more flexibility over their prices.
  • Merchants who sell hobby or niche products. Amazon generally won’t start fulfilling or carrying hobby or niche products, so there’s less of a risk you’d have to compete with Amazon itself.
  • Merchants selling refurbished or used products. Amazon has a huge market for these products, as they attract shoppers whose main concern is price and don’t mind waiting on shipping. It is worth noting, however, that used products cannot win the regular Buy Box spot – only the Used Buy Box, which drives fewer sales.

That said, the benefit of owning your store’s URL and fully branded website cannot be overstated; this gives an extra level of credibility and authority, and visitors are more likely to remember you versus someone else. Many merchants who achieve popularity on Amazon still find it essential to have control over their own e-commerce website and branding. This allows them to achieve a fully independent store presence and market to large audiences outside of Amazon through other marketing channels.

5. Why should I associate one of my products with an Amazon product that’s already listed?

Products are only allowed to be listed once in the Amazon catalogue, so creating a second product detail page for an existing product will result in your listing being removed. By matching your product to the product detail page that already exists, your offer has a chance to be seen.

6. Why can’t I use certain shipping methods at first?

Amazon doesn’t allow new merchants to offer certain shipping methods right off the bat, such as two-day shipping. These shipping methods have to be earned by establishing a history of reliable shipping at the slower shipping speeds. Offering your products through FBA is a way to bypass this, as FBA products are automatically eligible for Prime Free Two-Day Shipping.

7. Why aren’t I being compensated correctly for shipping?

Amazon determines how much they think it should cost to ship a product based on the merchant’s origin, the customer’s address and the given weight of the product. However, oftentimes the amount of money that Amazon reimburses merchants for shipping won’t match the actual shipping cost. Making sure that your item weight and dimensions are listed correctly will help make these shipping estimates as accurate as possible. However, it may still be necessary to factor this into your pricing decisions – sometimes, you’ll need to increase the price of a product to offset Amazon’s too-low pricing estimates. If you’re having problems making a profit after shipping costs, you’re probably pricing too cheaply.

8. How can I increase the number of reviews on my Seller account?

When selling on Amazon, reviews should be one of your biggest priorities. Shoppers look at both the quality and quantity of reviews, so it’s important to encourage buyers to leave a good review for your product (just don’t get too pushy!) Please note that merchants are forbidden from soliciting or paying for Seller Account reviews. Any sellers who engage in these practices risk having their accounts suspended. Your best bet is to give customers a great shopping experience (including aspects like product price, clear and informative customer communication and shipping reliability) so they want to vouch for you on their own.

9. Are there any policies I should look over before I start selling on Amazon?

Here are some policies you may want to review before selling on Amazon:

Before you start selling on Amazon, the best advice we have is to know your business and know what you’re getting into. A new Amazon integration means a lot of new opportunities. By doing your homework and focusing on your business’ needs, you’ll be taking your online success to the next level in no time. If you’re interested in checking out what we can offer with Amazon integration,  start your free 30 days trial today!

Amazon Vendor Central Vs Seller Central

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The fundamental difference between Vendor Central and Seller Central is who will be selling your products. With Vendor Central, Amazon’s retail team buys and resells your products to their customers. With Seller Central, you are selling directly to Amazon’s customers. There are significant differences between the two, so it’s important to fully understand the potential opportunities and drawbacks with each. Before getting into the nitty-gritty, let’s define Amazon Vendor Central and Amazon Seller Central and give an overview of what each offers.

Vendor Central

Vendor Central is an “Invite Only” service offered by Amazon. Once you are part of the Vendor Central system, your products become “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com”. Instead of selling to shoppers as a merchant, you’re selling to Amazon as a distributor. The program grants you access to A+ content, but you have less control over the price at which your product is being offered. You’re selling inventory to Amazon in bulk, instead of purchasing in bulk and waiting for the shoppers to buy.

Acting as a Vendor Central account helps shoppers to be more comfortable with purchasing the product. A product coming directly from Amazon is more trustworthy than coming from “Company ABC”. You’re also given the opportunity to be a part of Amazon’s Vine Program, offering products at a discount to shoppers. There is a bit more of an advantage in marketing tactics operating off of a Vendor Central account.
Here are the major aspects of Vendor Central:

  • Invite only
  • Standard payment terms
  • Less control over prices
  • The potential for larger volume
  • Amazon Vine Program, Subscribe & Save, and other marketing programs

Seller Central

Just about anyone can gain a Seller Central account. There are differences between a professional and a non-professional account. For the purpose of the comparison, we’re strictly going to focus on professional Seller Central accounts. Offering the product through Seller Central offers more control over the products themselves. Seller Central accounts also provide extra information by way of inventory and product management. Payouts based on sales are incurred on a normal basis.

Seller Central offers the opportunity to create promotional codes for customers so that you’re able to run independent marketing promotions. You can also communicate with shoppers one on one, should the need arise. You have more control over PPC campaigns and free extensive analytics within your account.

Here are the major aspects of Seller Central:

  • Anyone can sell
  • Quick payment
  • More control over inventory and prices
  • The potential for higher margins
  • Control over listings & inventory shipments

The Short List

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the differences between having a Vendor Central and a Seller Central account:

Seller Central

  • Open to anyone
  • Sell directly to Amazon’s customers
  • Flexible logistical options
  • Quick payment terms
  • Brand controls retail pricing
  • Limited advertising options
  • Complex sales process
  • Enhanced Brand Content

Vendor Central

  • Invite only
  • Sell to Amazon
  • Fixed logistical options
  • Traditional payment terms
  • Amazon controls retail pricing
  • Multiple advertising options
  • Traditional sales process
  • A+ content

Pros of Amazon Vendor Central

Amazon Vendor Center brings the sellers into its own world.

  1. Consumer Trust

People trust Amazon’s Reputation & Prime Logo more than anything. To be sure, it isn’t an hypothesis. Working with Amazon Vendor Central means that you’ll  no longer be a third party seller but rather a genuine Amazon Supplier.

On the top of everything, vendor central presents an extremely simple business model as all you have to worry about is shipping your product to the Amazon, while leave the rest for Amazon.

      2. Enhanced A+ Content

In the vendor central, you’re eligible to add HTML Content, photos with callouts, comparison charts, bullet points, and videos.

it should be noted that the A+ content is a paid service. It gives you the ability to have more control over your page without going through the customer service.

       3. Subscribe & Save

Consumers have household staples sent directly to your home at a discount.

       5. Amazon Vine

For marketing and promotions, Vendors are offered great programs like Amazon Vine in which the Amazon sends your product to the top reviewers before it even hit the shelves. Not only these reviews are great to achieve the buyers confidence and get more conversions, but also they are a great ranking signal for the A9 Amazon Ranking Algorithm.

There are number of alternatives for getting reviews on Amazon like FeedbackWhiz

       6. Amazon Marketing Services

With seller central, you have the ability to create rich content Ads. (Paid service)

       7. Vendor Premium Services

Amazon can merge listings if there are duplicates, variation listing set up, write content for you.

Cons of Amazon Vendor Central

No doubt, vendor central is pretty much ideal for sellers. However, following the strict guidelines of Amazon especially in areas of orders where you have little to no control is what makes it worth criticizing.

  1. Limited analytics and reporting

With little to no control on the purchase orders, sellers are left guessing about their sales.

     2. Amazon approves All Changes

If you want to change 1 spelling mistake, it will be a long process.

     3. Amazon requests inventory

No control on how much inventory will go into Amazon. Requests come from Amazon on Monday and you have a few days to ship no matter how large the order.

     4. Turn Around Time

Purchase orders, shipping window, agreements, etc.

    6. Amazon sets prices and promotions

If a product is not selling well, they can discount the item and the cost gets passed to you as the seller

    7. Non-Compliance Fees

Fees for late shipments, improper shipments, etc.

    8. Fees assessed immediately

     9. Slow Payment

Sellers have to submit invoices to Amazon to get paid.

Amazon Seller Central Pros

     1. Available to anyone

You just need a bank account and address to qualify for the seller central.

     2. More Control Over your listing 

Amazon Seller central provides a great extend of flexibility and authority to you over your products. Not only you can control the marketing part of your products, but also you can have full access over your pricing.

     3. Rich analytics

Perhaps, the biggest advantage of the seller central is the access to enormous amount of insights and data about the performance of your products. As a seller, they are great for making important business decisions.

     4. The seller creates shipments

You decide how much product you want to send in

    5. Fast Payments (Bi-weekly)

    6. Seller Community

forums, Facebook, Reddit, podcasts, webinars, etc.

    7. Retail Profit Margins

Set your prices

   8. Brand Registry 

If you’re not registered, any seller can contribute and possibly change your listing to come up with the best listing

Amazon Seller Central Cons

The downsides of the Seller Central are very much high. As Amazon holds great reputation in the industry which it has earned through years of struggle, sellers finds it difficult to gain sufficient trust of customers which result in low sales. Believe it or not; this is the biggest disadvantage of the Amazon seller central.

  1. Limited listing details

Compared to the vendor central, listing details are very much limited.

      2. No access to vendor programs

Unlike vendor central, you don’t have the leverage of the review game. All you have to do is to provide the best product to the customer while expecting a decent review in return.

      3. Only simple PPC Ads

PPC Ads are obsolete in the seller central.

Why Your Decision Matters

“It may be hard to fathom, but over 50% of all online shoppers now use Amazon as the first website they visit when making buying decisions. If brands haven’t created a strategy to reach these shoppers, they’re missing out on a major piece of the e-commerce market. In many ways, Amazon is more important than Google,” notes Economy founder Wes Grudzien.

6 Steps to Selling Services on Amazon

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Think of Amazon Home Services, as an Uber for B2C services: Through AHS, Amazon customers can easily source a variety of services by connecting to those service providers in their neighborhoods. Curious about becoming an Amazon Service Provider?

Follow these six steps to Selling Services on Amazon; apply to the program, set up your account, and start connecting with prospective clients in your area.

1. Apply for Amazon Home Services

Before you register your professional services on AHS and start selling services on Amazon, you’ll need to complete an application which is called the eligibility criteria.  you’ll need to meet the Amazon’s basic requirements, which include holding General Liability insurance and providing the appropriate licensing for your trade.

Then, Amazon will complete a business background check to make sure your company’s information is copacetic. Any employees participating in in-home services will need to pass individual background checks, too.

If your application is accepted, you’ll receive an email from Amazon with an activation code and instructions for setting up your Amazon Home Service profile.

2. Set Up Your Amazon Home Services Profile

Once you’ve been accepted as an Amazon Service Provider, you’ll have to create your storefront , which is the profile page where customers can learn more about your company. You can write an introduction to your business, specify your service area by zip code, collect customer reviews, and more.

3. Create Your Packages

Amazon has created set pre-packages for various service categories based on the most common service requests they see from customers (most of which are product assembly and installation).

Once you’ve signed up as a seller, you can choose which of these services to offer, set your prices, and specify the exact zip codes in which you’ll operate. Customers can order these packages on Amazon.com at any time. You’ll receive an email notification when your new order is queued up.

4. Use Seller Central

Through the Amazon Seller Central portal, you can schedule services online, set up automated communications with customers, manage your packages, prices, and payments, and much more.

5. Create Custom Services

Occasionally, a customer in your neighborhood may be interested in a service that’s in your wheelhouse but doesn’t exactly fit within one of your pre-packaged options. In that case, Amazon offers custom service requests.

When a client makes a customer service request, you’ll receive their request via email and have 24 hours to respond with a bid. If the customer accepts the bid, you’ll proceed with the order as usual, and Amazon will handle all scheduling, billing, and payment processing.

6. Receive Payment

Amazon Payments automatically handles the payment for services sold through Amazon Home Services, so you don’t have to deal with invoicing or collecting from your customers. Once you’ve completed a job, Amazon simply deposits your earnings directly into your bank account. Also be aware that Amazon collects a percentage of your service price, which they’ll deduct from your bank account every time they pay you.

Amazon Home Services Fees

One of the greatest benefits of selling services on Amazon is that you don’t pay upfront for leads or advertising. Fees are calculated as a percentage of sales, so Amazon only gets paid when you do.

For any service that Amazon sells on your behalf, the company will collect the following fees:

  • Transaction Fee: 5% of each transaction—includes the costs of invoicing, payment processing, and fraud protection.
  • Platform Fee: between 10% and 20% of each transaction—covers marketing and advertising costs, seller tools, and customer service.

The total cost of Amazon Home Services fees depends on the price of your service, and the type of service you’re providing:

  • Pre-Packaged Services: Amazon collects 20% for the portion of the service price up to $1,000 (5% Transaction fee and 15% Service Platform fee), and 15% for the portion of the service price greater than $1,000 (5% Transaction fee and 10% Service Platform fee).
  • Custom Services: Fees for Custom Services amount to 15% for the portion of the service price up to $1,000 (5% Transaction fee and 10% Service Platform fee), and 10% for the portion of the service price greater than $1,000 (5% Transaction fee and 5% Service Platform fee).
  • Recurring Services: If a customer books your company for a recurring service (such as weekly fitness training sessions or monthly carpet cleaning services), Amazon collects 10% of service price for completed orders over $1,000 (5% Transaction fee and 5% Service Platform fee).

As you can see, Amazon collects all transaction and platform fees as a percentage of the service price, rather than a flat rate. That percentage excludes the taxes collected through Amazon tax collection services.

I have covered almost every important detail regarding the ways to selling services on Amazon.

Tips for Selling Products on Amazon Successfully!

Posted on by adminoo

There are a few steps involved in selling your products on Amazon, and some are a little more complicated than others. But if you complete all these steps, you’ll be able to benefit from Amazon’s incredible advantages and quickly scale your business.

How exactly can your small business best benefit from Amazon’s selling platform? Follow these tips for selling products on Amazon and stand out from the crowd, and win tons of sales over your competition.

1. Check for New Orders Daily

Since customer service is a key metric by which Amazon determines your success as a seller, it’s crucial to know when a new customer has purchased your product. That way, you can promptly fill and ship every order you receive.

Amazon sends you an email notification when you have a sale, but those emails aren’t always reliable. Get in the habit of checking the Seller Central portal every day, so you can really stay on top of new orders or notifications from your customers.

2. Confirm When You Ship

Product sellers should always confirm on the Seller Central portal when an order has shipped. Amazon only charges your customer’s credit card after the shipment is confirmed. So, in addition to good customer service, this step is important to get yourself paid quickly.

Remember that you’re responsible for confirming shipment within the time frame that you specified in your shipping settings. To confirm that Amazon has shipped an order, go to the Orders tab, then select the Confirm Shipment button for the order in question.

3. Check Your Inventory Regularly

Keep track of how much inventory you have in stock at all times. Realizing that you’re unexpectedly out of stock and can’t fulfill an order is a recipe for negative customer feedback—which can have a dramatic impact on your future sales.

4. Keep Pricing Information Up-to-Date

Shoppers are most likely to choose the lowest-priced deals (as long as they are listed near the top of the results page). So if you hold a sale or lower your prices, make sure to update your product listings to reflect those changes.

5. Respond to Customers Promptly

One of the benefits of partnering with Amazon is your association with the brand’s top-notch reliability and customer service. As a new seller, you start with the benefit of Amazon’s built-in credibility. But it’s your responsibility to maintain that credibility by being highly reliable and responsive to customers.

If an order is delayed, for instance, reach out to the customer to give them a heads up. Or if a customer contacts you because they didn’t receive a shipment, or the product was damaged, respond immediately, and take steps to remedy the situation.

6. Build a Five-Star Feedback Rating

Cultivating a strong customer feedback rating is key to your selling experience on Amazon—both for improving buyer perception of your product listings and for improving the placement of your products on the offer listing page.

Here are a few things you can do to help build a strong feedback rating:

  • Describe products accurately, in as much detail as possible
  • Ship products to customers as promptly as possible
  • Reach out to customers proactively with information about delays or changes to their order
  • Respond to customers’ questions within 24 hours
  • Solicit positive customer feedback on your product packing slips

7. Win the Buy Box on Amazon

If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon, you’ll know that the platform allows multiple sellers to offer the same product. All the sellers listing the same product may compete to win the “Buy Box” for that product. The Buy Box on a product’s page is where customers add items to their shopping carts.

By “winning” the Buy Box, one seller will become the default listing for any given product that multiple sellers offer—so if you win the Buy Box, you’ll likely see an increase in sales.

Amazon doesn’t disclose the specific targets required for sellers to win the Buy Box. But to increase your chances of winning that coveted spot, focus on optimizing your listings in these four areas:

  • Pricing: Make sure you’re pricing your products competitively. Buy Box listings most frequently display the lowest available “all in” prices—that is, the total amount the customer will pay, including shipping costs.
  • Availability: Keep your most popular products consistently in stock, and make sure you’re regularly updating your inventory numbers in the Seller Central portal.
  • Fulfilment: Update your shipping settings in Seller Central to offer multiple shipping speeds and options—and, if at all possible, offer free shipping.
  • Customer Service: Keep an eye on your customer feedback, and use the Account Health page in the Performance section of seller central to monitor your customer metrics.

Improving your listing placement on the Amazon Offer Listing Page requires trial, error, and a little bit of time. Work to provide a top-notch experience for your customers, and improve your logistical processes. Over time, those efforts will translate into more Buy Box placements for your business and more customers.

Amazon FBA Product Sourcing | Options Other Than Alibaba

Posted on by adminoo

Product sourcing decisions are the most critical decisions for new Amazon FBA sellers and seasoned sellers. As pointed out same in Amazon FBA Product Sourcing in 2022, Yay or Nay!, Supplier Relations will be significant in your success in 2022. You have to start considering them as your business partners. You can only achieve greatness if your supplier consistently provides you high-quality, low-cost products.’ Your success is literally in their hands.

Where to source? Many of us are happily married to Alibaba suppliers and have no intentions to explore other sourcing platforms. Think about it: every seller is going on Alibaba, and suppliers often provide the same product to your competitor on Amazon.

It’s not just a repetition product but also putting your supplier in a uniquely powerful position to sell off your customized product to other Amazon sellers. Just like any other business, you need to introduce new variety, improve quality or even innovate existing products in the marketplace.

You need to constantly provide high-quality products with variations working with manufacturers, suppliers, exporters to offer something new to your Amazon customers; otherwise, your success will be temporary. As easily you inflated with profits, you are destined to deflate with losses soon.

So, we are penning down all you need to know about sourcing for new and experienced sellers. This will serve as an encyclopedia with some important points that we feel are significant in decision-making.

Objectives

What should be your Objectives while sourcing? Below are some guiding points that should help you during the procurement process. As an Amazon seller, you are searching for:

  1. Lowest price for a product without compromising the quality.
  2. Timely delivery to your warehouse.
  3. Reach the manufacturer directly and take out the middleman.
  4. Someone who understands your language which will help for making modifications.
Available Amazon FBA Product Sourcing Platforms

There are various channels through which you can source products.

For this blog, we will restrict ourselves to the first option and share the options available to you as there are some great Wholesale Supplier Directories available online for you to explore. If you already have set suppliers, you can cross-reference your product with these portals. Talk to multiple suppliers and do your due diligence.

1688. com. It is a Chinese language version of Alibaba.com offering domestic B2B trade. You will find many traders on Alibaba, not the manufacturers. Here you will have high chance to interact with the manufacturers to avoid the middleman and get better prices. The only catch is that it is only available in Mandarin.

sourcingnova.com: This is a sourcing agency located in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. Different from other purchasing agents, they only choose the top manufacturers in China, especially those who provide OEM for world-class brands. These manufacturers are difficult to obtain through other sources, and it is difficult for your competitors to find the same quality products.

Globalsources.com is a Hong-Kong based company for B2B marketplace for buyers from all over the world. Global sources have over 30 offices in China and over 4 million Chinese online users and subscribers. Their suppliers’ list is very well vetted, and they also appear in exhibitions/tradeshows.

Made-in-china.com It is a relatively old B2B platform that has been operating since 1996. You can find the latest products in China. It won China’s B2B Impact Award for leading the B2B portal. It is known for its easy interface and connection to suppliers easily.

DHGate.com It is a wholesale B2B e-commerce site based in China, and they prefer bulk orders, but the MOQs (minimum order quantities) are usually low. DHGate is popular, and one feature that makes it stand out is its system of payment handling. They only pass payments to sellers when buyers confirm receipt of goods, making transactions extremely safe.

Tradekey.com Based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and founded in 2006, Tradekey is a large international Electronic Marketplace that connects buyers, wholesalers, manufacturers, more than 9 million consumers and distributors in over 240 countries. Tradekey Portal can be read in several different languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish.

AsianProducts.com Asian Products was launched in 1996 and has since become one of the leading B2B platforms. AsianProducts focuses on providing e-Sourcing Solutions to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) a segment that received a tremendous boost from the Internet. Focusing on suppliers from Taiwan and China, Asian Products is an old-fashioned but with useful list of companies.

Alza.co.uk. Alza was established more than two decades ago and first started trading as Alzasoft in 1994. It became a market leader in 2008 and has received several prestigious awards over the years in recognition of the quality service it offers to millions of customers. It is now a purely Czech joint-stock company.

Gearbest.com. Suppliers on Gearbest are managed through a professional rating system to select top suppliers and optimize the procurement of quality goods, while at the same time maintaining the comprehensiveness of product categories. Gearbest works closely with over 5,000 famous Chinese brands and top suppliers, including over 1,000 top brands like Xiaomi, Lenovo, Huawei. Gearbest has over 1 million SKUs online, more than 1,000 new arrivals per day, providing plentiful shopping options for users. They have warehouses located in the USA, Spain, England, Poland, Czech Republic.

Banggood.com. Banggood was founded in 2006, and at that time, it was specialized in computer software research and development. It shifted its business to international e-commerce services, and since then, it has become an online retailer selling almost everything you may need or think of.

Ec21.com. Ec21 is a Korean B2B marketplace, one of the world’s top 10 largest online B2B marketplaces. EC21 has over 2 million member companies, 7 million products, 3.5 million buyers in its database, and 3.5 million monthly visitors. EC21 was started initially to connect international buyers to Korean companies. While Korea is still its main focus, you can use EC21 to find a supplier in other countries as well. EC21 maintains the largest database of Korean Manufacturers in the world.

SaleHoo.com It is one of the best Wholesale Supplier Directory with over 8,000 genuine wholesale and dropship suppliers of over 1.6 million products at genuine wholesale prices. However, it is not free, and you will get information on selling and competition statistics.

WorldWideBrands.com. It is a Maitland, Florida-based company that was founded in 1999. It is a product sourcing research company with a primary function to locate and qualify factory-authorized wholesale suppliers and wholesale manufacturers willing to sell to home businesses and internet retailers. Worldwide Brands publishes the results of its findings in an online wholesale directory. The company’s target market consists of small to medium-sized retailers, home businesses, and online merchants who sell on popular e-commerce platforms like eBay, Amazon, as well as on independent e-commerce websites.

WholesaleCentral.com. It is the leading B2B directory of wholesale suppliers and products. They offer powerful sourcing tools to help resellers find thousands of prescreened wholesalers, importers, distributors, drop shippers, and manufacturers. No registration is required to search the site and shop for a great value in wholesale merchandise. They review and screen every company listed on Wholesale Central to confirm genuine wholesalers.

DIYTrade.com. It is a Chinese B2B global trading platform for Amazon FBA Product Sourcing that features over 5 million products.


OFweek.com. This platform focuses on Electronics, tech, and other high-tech goods. OFweek has a nice design that is easier to navigate than most Chinese websites. Almost all goods sold on this website are finished goods; however, you may be able to get in direct touch with the manufacturer to make some basic customization of your products.


ECVV.com. It is one of the largest B2B websites globally, which was founded in 2003. They have 2,500,000 registered users and successfully received 1,500,000 buyers from more than 220 countries and regions. The annual trade volume on ECVV is estimated to be $5,000,000,000. They seek to be a more full-service sourcing provider than most and provide additional services such as logistics. They claim to focus on creating more long-term trade relationships than other platforms.

MakePolo.com. It is a large Chinese directory that claims to have a more advanced search engine to find factories. Their revenue model is a pay-per-click business model in which the factory pays them every time you click on a link.

ECPlaza.net. It started as a B2B business site in 1996. EC Plaza has grown to the No.1 Trade Leader, providing online and offline service to over 1,000,000 members. Based on export marketing, we are operating B2B website, EDI service, and trade consulting and offline trade-related services for SMEs.

GongChang.com. Gong Chang specializes in heavy machinery and industrial equipment. If you are looking at setting up your manufacturing, this is a good resource to get equipment. The only problem you will face is that it is in the Chinese language.

TradeGood.com. It was formerly known as iSupplier Intelligence (ISI) and is a B2B global sourcing community. It specializes in matching business counterparts in sourcing and aims to bridge the gap between buyers and suppliers. It provides supplier evaluation services using more than 50 different criteria, including operational history, regulatory compliance, the number of employees, environmental sustainability as well as security measurement.


Doba.com. Doba has several similarities to Alibaba but is focused explicitly on drop-shipping. The way you find suppliers is basically the same as Alibaba or any other database, but what is different is the way the ordering works. Doba allows drop shippers to list products on your drop-shipping store, and when you make a sale, you order from the supplier with your customer’s information, and Doba will handle the payments and shipping for you.

Another cool feature is that Doba lets you keep the difference in price. It should be noted that Doba is a paid service with a minimal free trial. The premier B2B online product sourcing marketplace for wholesale suppliers and retailers.

GlobalMarket.com. It is a listed Manufacturer to Business (M2B) marketplace of certified manufacturers, suppliers and exporters from China and Hong Kong.


YouDroop.com. YouDroop is a dropshipping platform that permits to sell products online without a warehouse.

PanXpan.com. A California based online platform allowing manufacturers to find and work with local partners all over the world.


WaystoCap.com. WaystoCap is a B2B platform where businesses in Africa and beyond can buy and sell products in a secure environment.


Merkandi.co.uk. This is an international wholesale trading platform for regular products as well as liquidation stocks, overstocks, excess stocks, bankrupt stocks, customer returns and all other wholesale goods with over 30.000 users and over 150 countries worldwide.


Target.com. It is a website like Alibaba that offers products at discounted prices that you can ship to your home (or pick up at one of their brick-and-mortar stores). Though Target isn’t entirely as committed to low prices as some other companies like Alibaba, it does emphasize stocking very trendy and fashion-forward goods.


Walmart.com. It is one of the largest companies in the world with a focus on offering goods at low prices, which you can order online or pick up at a nearby brick-and-mortar store.

JD.com. Short for “Jiandong Mall”, this website that was previously known as “360Buy” is one of the biggest Alibaba competitors in China.  It began as an electronics specialty store but has now diversified to sell clothing, accessories, and home & garden fixtures.  It is one of the most respected and trustworthy e-commerce companies in China.  However, you can only sell with them if you’re a company based in China (though that includes Hong Kong and overseas territories).

HC360.com. It is one of China’s leading B2B websites for domestic trade and is in Chinese language.

B2B Manufacturers.com.tw. It is a listings website specializing in Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers. Although their listings cover a wide range of products, the results for industrial equipment seem to be strongest.

Yiwubuy.com. As the official website of China Yiwu Commodity Markets, Yiwugo.com is dedicated to the integrative development of Yiwu markets between online & offline businesses. Yiwubuy offers its physical stores an online presence.

Banggood.com. Specialized in electronics, robots, mobile phones, and accessories. Banggood is a B2C platform operated from Mainland China, Hong Kong, together with an overseas warehouse to help global buyers.

TaiwanTrade.com. Taiwan’s government set up Taiwantrade in 2002 to be the official trade website for Taiwan. Taiwantrade is managed by Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and operated by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. Taiwan trade has over 60 offices worldwide and has a massive searchable database of Taiwanese manufacturers.

Many factories in China are operated by Taiwanese companies and using Taiwan Trade can be a great way of locating them.

Tradeindia.com. TradeIndia is an online Business to Business (B2B) portal for small businesses based in India and around the globe. The portal was started in 1996 and it has number of company profiles, product catalogs under 2,256 different product categories and sub-categories.


IndiaMART.com. IndiaMART is India’s largest online B2B marketplace, connecting buyers with suppliers. With 60% market share of the online B2B Classified space in India, the channel focuses on providing a platform to Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs), large enterprises as well as individuals.


VietnamExport.com. A modern website that maintains a large database of verified factories in Vietnam. The website is endorsed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam. The website is much better than the others due to the quality and quantity of suppliers. In addition to the database, they provide a ton of industry-specific information for Vietnam. The website also promotes agricultural products such as coffee and lychee, which is uncommon among other websites.


VietnamManufacturers.vn. Founded in 2009, Vietnam Manufacturers started as a trade journal to promote Vietnamese companies and business interest worldwide. They have since expanded and now provide a large searchable database, trade show promotions and industry-specific publications.


VTown.vn. Vtown.vn is owned by the Japanese company Washin Engine Co. and is actually a database of Japanese companies that do business and manufacturing in Vietnam. Regardless they maintain a very good database of Vietnamese based manufacturers and factories. The website is in English and easy to search. Since the factories in their database are largely Japanese Managed you tend to find manufacturers that have a much higher quality control.

VietnamAZ.com. VietnamAZ is made for American Companies who are looking to buy and do business in Vietnam. They maintain a large database of suppliers that is searchable by categories. The layout is outdated and not as big as other resources out there.


VietnameseMade.com. VietnameseMade is another database of manufacturers that focus on the Vietnamese market. It is a B2B trade portal to help connect buyers around the world to sellers in Vietnam.


VCCI News.com. While the main focus on the website is to provide news to exporters in Vietnam they do maintain a directory of business in Vietnam.


Aliexpress.com. It’s a Business to Consumer (B to C) website. You won’t be able to sell on Aliexpress as its Chinese suppliers centric model. Only sellers from China are authorized to sell on Aliexpress and the rest of the world can only buy as consumer or can buy and resell in the market.


OctoPart.com. Octopart is based in the US and maintains a global database of manufacturers. Great for finding electronic components but you need to have a full product designed and know your exact specifications of components. This site is Geared towards engineers and those with advanced technical knowledge.

Listthe.com. Strives to be an extremely simple search engine to find factories. You simply put in the product you want and they will immediately create a list of 10 factories for you.

Go4WorldBusiness.com. Go4WorldBusiness is a truly global online B2B marketplace to find manufacturers, exporters, suppliers and more. Based in Delhi, India, it was founded in 2007 and does a great job of targeting smaller markets that are underserved by existing B2B marketplaces. This includes places like Sri Lanka, Bolivia and several other hard to source countries.

TradeBoss.com. Founded in 2002. TradeBoss is an international focus B2B marketplace. The interface is incredibly outdated, and the database is much smaller than others, but it does have the ability to search by country and has several smaller countries listed. TradeBoss is a good resource if you are searching for a supplier in a small and underserved country.

Hong Kong Trade Development Council. This service is operated directly by Hong Kong’s Government and connects over 130,000 Hong Kong based companies to international buyers. Even though Hong Kong does not have much manufacturing anymore, many mainland factories will have a corporate office in Hong Kong.

This is a good alternative for those who want to take advantage of Chinese manufacturers but want the protection and legal environment of Hong Kong.

B2B China Sources. Ran by the same company as B2B Manufacturers, B2B China Source helps connect buyers with manufacturers in the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) as well as mainland China. They claim to get you Chinese prices with Taiwanese quality.

Maker’s Row. Maker’s Row is a Brooklyn, NY based database of American Manufacturers and product-based business. The company was originally made to connect buyers of fashion and leather goods with Makers in the US but has since expanded to a wide range of industries. They are probably one of the largest databases of American manufacturers and suppliers.

MFG.com. More focused on finding contract manufacturers and rental time on machine space than on finished products. Nonetheless, if you need to find a manufacturer with a CNC machine, you can find one and do business with them. While they list manufacturers from all over the world, we estimate that over half of their suppliers are located in the United States.

This site is focused mainly on American manufacturers, so it’s a great resource for finding a US-based supplier. This is a great tool for people with a complete product design who want to hand the manufacturing themselves.

Thomas Net.com. Thomas Net is a good tool for Amazon FBA Product Sourcing that Includes Mexico and Canada. Thomas has been around for a staggering 120 years and started out as a B2B register to help buyers find suppliers. Thomas claims to have over 500,000 suppliers and over 1 million buyers that use their service. Thomas’s information is hidden behind a paywall but they do give a free trial.

Conclusion:

Amazon FBA has quickly become a go-to resource for online sellers. The platform offers an expansive and growing catalog, as well as exceptional customer service. So if you’re looking for a new product to sell or want to expand your current offerings, Amazon FBA is definitely worth considering. 

In addition to the platforms we’ve mentioned here, many other Amazon FBA services can help you source products and grow your business. We highly recommend giving them a try – you may be surprised at just how easy and profitable selling on Amazon can be.

Have you tried sourcing products through Amazon FBA? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments below!

This guide to Amazon FBA Product Sourcing will definitely be enough to push you in the right direction 🙂

Tool Review Series : Maximizing Reviews on Amazon Using Kibly

Posted on by adminoo

After getting positive feedback on our blog about increasing reviews using ManyChat, we have decided to begin a tool review series for our readers where we will share our detailed feedback on different products and services available on the internet for Amazon sellers.

Maximize Amazon Product Reviews

Reviews represent the core or the heart of an Amazon seller. The more the reviews are pumped into the product page, the faster the sales move in the Amazon system. It has become increasingly difficult for sellers in recent times to acquire and maintain their reviews with frequent changes to Amazon’s reviews policy.

We talk a lot about conversions, clicks into sessions into sales into reviews and we stop there. We never think and work on the idea that there are chances that these sales are convertible into repeat sales or build a customer relation. Let’s share an effective tool used by hundreds of Amazon sellers that helps to eliminate the communication gap between customers and the sellers.

[toc]

Kibly – Introduction

Kibly provides Amazon feedback automation services, an automated way to respond to all customers that buy your product on Amazon. It enables your Amazon business to operate on an autopilot mode and requires minimum intervention from sellers. It has many exciting features that differentiate it from other services in the same genre. Sellers are mainly after the meat i.e. sales and usually consider after-sales as a headache. They are either disinterested and hire a VA to take care of this or do it themselves poorly and unprofessionally. In both cases, they compromise while closing the loop of sales which Amazon is significant.

Price Plans

Below are the 3 subscription plans that Kibly is offering and your decision to choose the plan will primarily depend on your monthly sales volume. Once you select a package with the features you can access them forever as these are only one time charges and are not recurring.

Features

The main feature of Kibly is to send personalized follow-up emails to your Amazon customers after they purchase a product from you, thank them for buying and remind them to leave a Review or Feedback. In addition to this, they offer a set of features with reasonable pricing making them a desirable service.

  • Send Post ($0.5 – $100 per postcard). This is a differentiating factor and buyers feel special when sellers send a postcard or thank you note to solidify your relations with them.
  • Kibly Connect ($0.08 – $0.16 per record). This feature will help you to improve targeting the right audience and also allows you to serve past customer ads for your products on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
  • Automated Email Follow Up ($0.08 – $0.50). You can send personalized direct mails to follow up your customers which practically improves positive feedback reviews, decrease negative reviews and encourage repeat customers.
  • Link Shortener (Free with Account Registration). It gives you the ability to send people directly from your ads off of Amazon to your product page using a short, professional-looking link instead of a longer direct link.
  • Review & Feedback Tracking ($1 per product). You can trace product reviews and seller feedback with alerts via email and text when new reviews or feedback are left by the customers.
  • Feedback Assistant Free (with Account Registration). You will be notified on your phone or email as soon as there is negative feedback and you will be able to take action to remove the negative feedback from your seller’s profile.
  • A/B Split Tester. Kibly performs some A/B tests to the emails in order to know what message works best for the sellers. This A/B testing is supposed to be helpful to your Amazon customers as it analyzes whether the email templates offered to fit them well or not.
  • Unlimited Email Customization. You have the option of creating different templates without any limitations or hidden charges and customize according to your product/situation.
  • You can send your logo embedded documents and images to provide more information to your customers which will help in convincing and satisfying them.
  • Email Analytics. You can view your total open rates, click-through rates, sent messages and unsubscribes for the last 24 hours to 30 days.
  • Seller Central Import. As soon as you provide Kibly with your account information, they will connect with Amazon and import details of your product listings.
  • Global Reach. Kibly works with all Amazon marketplaces so you can connect multiple accounts with it.
  • Auto-Unsubscribe. This again is a unique feature. If a customer shares negative feedback, not a review, and you foresee him/her to drop a negative review, you have the option to auto unsubscribe that buyer. This can protect you from unreasonable reviewers and abusers that exist in great numbers these days. You can make a preemptive strike to blacklist customers this way.
  • Product Rank Tracker. This is again a distinctive feature that grabs the attention of experienced sellers. Selling rank changes in hours within a day, sellers need to monitor it and develop correlations with new strategies that are implemented to determine the factors bringing positive/negative effects.

How Does It Work?

Once you register with Kibly, it will integrate directly with your Amazon Seller Account using it’s Amazon Developer ID. They have developed standard email templates suitable for various stages after-sales.

  1. Communication Stage. You can make personalized updates and send them to customers as soon as they make a purchase. Thank them for buying the product and proactively share progress about estimated delivery time.
  2. Delivery Stage. A notification will be sent to the customer as soon as the product is delivered. This often strikes the customer with a positive surprise for 2 reasons. They feel that the company is pampering them and engraves an impression of the extreme level of professionalism and promptness.
  3. Follow Up Stage. This is where the magic happens. You’ve built some rapport with the customer now from the first 2 steps and now you are following up. Usually, the auto messaging services trace customers to send follow up emails only which gives an impression that sellers are contacting only because they want a review. No matter how much you coax the message, it still remains the same and customers can see through. You can customize this email template asking for feedback, resolution to a problem or a reorder a customer can want in the future.

Benefits

Below is the summary of benefits that sellers have experienced so far after using this service:

  • Increased number of Product Reviews
  • The increased amount of Seller Feedback
  • Higher Seller Feedback ratings
  • More repeat purchases
  • Higher review scores
  • Fewer complaints
  • Fewer returns

How to Register?

Step 1: Provide your registration information

Step 2: Enter Amazon seller account information

Step 3: Start scheduling your emails

Kibly is extremely simple to use and has the easiest of the interfaces. You will see the screen below with the summary of statistics as soon as your registration completes.

Below are the different customizable email template options that you will have by default.

You can set up the emails using the email schedule as below.

Conclusion

We are all looking for the perfect tool to manage our Amazon sellers’ accounts efficiently that also requires minimum efforts from our side. Kibly is indeed a premier tool that will assist you in retaining customers, getting feedback and see growth in sales. It will essentially become the backbone of your Amazon business and you will become addicted to providing superior customer services, an essential characteristic of a top seller.

12 Tips for Product Hunting in 2021

Posted on by adminoo

These days, every e-commerce business is looking for its very own Mona Lisa of products, but it is tough to find the perfect product. 

Everyone out there wants something unique and life-changing; however, there are already 500+ million options out there. It takes some serious research skills and patience for these hidden “golden eggs” among millions of other products, which will eventually lead your business towards success.

Product hunting is by far the most crucial stage, and if you don’t spend considerable time here, you WILL fail! There are 2 kinds of sellers: those who make decisions based on their narrow observations and those who follow strict criteria. What do WE propose? This blog will negate both. No tool can give you an exact result or a formula to predict the success of a product. It has to be a mixture of data analysis, observations, and experiences that hatches the golden egg of success.

Read More:- How to Hire the Best Amazon Product Photographer 

 

Amazon Product Photography Services

Product & Product Strategy

Every product is special and has its market destiny. Just like the uniqueness of each product,  the ‘go-to-market strategy for each will also be unique. However, any product can succeed if the right approach is adopted.

New vs Experienced Sellers

New sellers are either too frisky or are too risk-averse whenever they are required to take a progressive decision. Based on your circumstances, a balance is required on the sea-saw of risk. However, we are jotting down some pointers for you that will act as a guiding path, just to keep you on the safe side. This guide is for those who are either starting or have started but are struggling at the moment. Some are either thinking to quit altogether or want to restart selling in a different manner.

However, we are jotting down some pointers for you that will act as a guiding path just to keep you on the safe side. This guide is for those who are either starting or have started but are struggling at the moment. Some are either thinking of quitting altogether or want to restart selling in a different manner.

Some experienced sellers usually search for a product with exact precision and treat every decision mathematically after using market intelligence tools which is not a correct approach. You need data analysis in your right hand, unbiased judgment on the left, and then join your hands together to make the best decision.

Read More:- The Last Guide To Amazon Product Photography You Will Ever Need!

Let’s get started.

1. High Demand & Low Competition

You must find a product that has a high or even medium demand. What does that mean? Demand will determine how much time your product will take to sell off once it is up for sale on your Amazon storefront.

Consider demand as the flow of a river and that every product niche has a distinctive flow. You would want to enjoy a canoe ride where the pace of the water is extraordinary, enough to take you to your destination quickly without toppling you over on the way.

We will also be looking at our competition and the number of competitors in total to analyze if this will be the right market for us to dive into. The number of competitors can reasonably be compared with the river’s depth. The more the competitors, the more the depth of the river and the more chances for your product to drown. So your product would have to swim more in order to come to the surface level for visibility.

AMZ One Step Tip. So ideally speaking, you would want to hunt for a product with a high sales velocity by default and fewer sellers for you to shine among easily. Whatever product you finalize, you will have to develop a corresponding strategy to bring it up to the 1st page. I have been on Valium since 2011 after the sudden passing of my husband http://medicalspecialistsoffairfield.com/valium/

Now let’s address the elephant in the room. How do we ascertain the demand ‘exactly’? The plain and simple answer is ‘we cannot’. We can only provide an estimate and predict sensibly using different tools and get a feel on the level of demand from multiple channels.

The most famous tool recommended by all gurus is Jungle Scout (JS) Chrome Extension. For those who are going to use it for the first time or are in their initial stages, JS Extension provides row-wise data for Amazon sellers along with an opportunity score.

Usually, beginners are recommended to start with products having Opportunity Scores 6, 7, 8, 9 as they represent products in high or medium demand with medium or low competition. You will also have to analyze the total revenue, price, reviews, sales per day, etc. (we will cover these later in the blog).

Egrow is another emerging tool in the market that delivers the same results as Jungle Scout does but with a different interface.

Read More:- Walmart Product Photography : How Is It Different from Amazon? 


2. Keyword Search Volume

This should stand second on your checklist regarding its importance and relevance. You should always treat keyword search volume exactly the same way a Sales & Marketing Professional looks at footfall in a mall or a marketplace. The more the people enter the mall or are searching for the keyword (broad or specific), the more likely the product will sell and thus, be judged as high in demand.

Several tools are out there that share different data types while showing keywords. We always recommend our readers use ‘authentic’ tools and advise them to investigate how different tools acquire their data. What do we mean by ‘authentic’?

In a layman’s language, you should work with a tool that is accurate, doesn’t make unnecessarily complicated projections, or exaggerate results. You can go through our detailed blog on this topic by clicking here.

Our team of professionals and satisfied clients use AMZ Wordspy, a premium tool that will help you throughout your Amazon journey, i.e., Product Hunting, Backend Keywords, PPC Campaigns & Bidding, Product Title, Product Features, etc. It has a 30-day free trial, does not have any hidden charges, and can be used for the USA, UK, Canada & Indian markets. It looks like this:

3. Seasonality

The product that we select should not be a hot selling item for just one season or is in demand once a year. The product demand trend can easily be checked using Google Trends by punching in the product keywords. Products with low seasonality will be unpredictable with their sales and will only deliver for a specific duration. So, it’s a no-go area for the new sellers, especially because it will only be a battleground for factories or whole sellers in these categories.

Read More:- DIY Guide to Amazon Product Photography: 7 Need-to-Know Tips

4. Monitoring the Consistency of Product Behavior

Demand, Keyword Search, Seasonality, checking their results once it is like taking a snapshot of the situation for that particular moment. You need to keep in mind that whatever results you get are for that specific time only. Was just prescribed phentermine 37.5 mg on 5/25. I was nervous about side effects (jitteriness specifically) so the first three days I took half pills http://medicalspecialistsoffairfield.com/phentermine/

So you need to set a specific time, spanning from weeks to a month or maybe more than that based on the product, just for monitoring the product behavior and see whether it is behaving consistently over some time. Using Keepa will also be helpful here to see the age of your competitors and the selling price patterns over time. Its results look like this:

5. Product Title

When using Jungle Scout or AMZ Wordspy, you should not make a mistake by using the product title, but you should use the main keywords while analyzing the product being investigated. It’s a common rookie mistake to get excited with JS Opportunity Scores or AMZ Wordspy ratings by using incorrect terms.

6. Healthy Margins

This is quite often a pitfall for newbies. They get excited looking at product results erroneously and finalizing a product declaring it a hot seller. They fail to consider the fact that how much will they be able to source the product for and how much are they going to sell it for. You are putting so much time, effort, and money not to earn cents but dollars and lots of them.

The products on Amazon are priced low and high, with the majority being somewhere in between. In 2022,  the products sold on this platform fall into two price ranges: more than half (52%) fall in the range of $11 to $25 or greater, while a good 32% have a selling price of over $25 USD!

To check margins and have a reasonable idea, you can check the FBA calculator by clicking here. You can also check our blog on Sourcing Platforms Other than Alibaba to make well-informed sourcing decisions and reduce purchase costs.

Read More:- Amazon Product Photography Tips To Adopt In 2022

7. Average Revenue & Average Monthly Unit Sales

As per experienced sellers, the average revenue for the targeted product niche should be more than $5,000. To make a profit, you should aim for an average margin between 10-30%. This indicates the sales volume, the total market in terms of $ the product is currently operating within.

The bigger the cake, the bigger a slice that can be cut and the bigger the bite you can take. Similarly, another indication of the sales volume is the number of units. If 300 units of the product are sold, there might be enough room for a new entrant to squeeze into.

8. Reviews

Reviews constitute social proof, the more, the merrier. So why is the number of reviews critical after all? First of all, everyone knows that Amazon has laid a strict hand on reviews lately and that raising reviews is one ‘helluva’ of a job itself. So unless you are glued up to a product and have ample time & money on you, you should avoid products with reviews in the bracket of 500 – 5,000.

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes; there is some sense of security and safety when you see several reviews. ‘That figure of 2,500 reviews has gotta mean something, I mean, there might be some paid/fake reviews, but they can’t be that many, can they?’ These are some questions that usually cross your mind.

AMZ One Step Tip. Experienced sellers usually profess about a formula that the product that you finalize should have 3 sellers in the top 10 should be below 50 in reviews and that if the top 3 players have more than 1,000 reviews, it will be a tough market. You should anticipate a significant amount of time/money to be spent. So for that reason, it is a no-go area for new sellers.

9. Small & Light Weight

Our advice is to choose a product of less than 1 pound weight and does not have extraordinary dimensions. Why do we suggest this? Sellers are extremely sensitive about their expenses, at least initially, and they usually get frustrated about surprise costs that just uselessly pop up now and then.

Heavy and large-sized products will increase the transportation cost, which is computed based on volume, i.e., from supplier to Amazon warehouse to the final customer. There will also be an increased cost for Amazon to keep your product in its warehouse. Their calculation is mostly based on the dimensions, so we advise you to check your product size and weight as you will eventually have to increase the product cost to be charged to the final consumer.

10. Seller’s Rank

Although no one except Amazon truly knows exactly how the seller’s rank is calculated but based on experience, we can define it as a number that denotes the popularity of a product advertisement listing within its category. Highest the BSR of the product, higher the sales volume (not talking about the competition).

Some examples of categories with advised BSR ranges are below:

Home & Kitchen

Primary product BSR range 100 – 20,000

Competing product BSR range 250 – 20,000

Home Improvement Tools

Primary product BSR range 100 – 7,500

Competing product BSR range 250 – 80,000

Industrial

Primary product BSR range 100 – 2,500

Competing product BSR range 200 – 3,000

Health & Personal Care

Primary product BSR range 800 – 7,000

11. Margin for Improvement

You need to go through the comments of new and established brands within your product category to see any suggestions from customers or any improvement points they want the brand to improve upon. Innovate the product, add value in the marketplace, and provide a solution to the customers.

12. Stay Away Features

12.1. Reviews >1,000

As elaborated earlier, we need to stay away from products with more than 1,000 reviews. You should either be mentally ready to face the music develop strong patience levels along with a long-term strategy.

12.2. Amazon, Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM), Brands

You might have noticed AMZ or FBM written on JS Extension results. Ideally speaking, consider their absence from a product category as a blessing. Still, if they are present and you really feel optimistic about the product, then they should not be in a dominating position within the niche.

12.3. Fragile, Glass, Ceramics Products

The product leaves the warehouse, reaches the Amazon fulfillment center then is later dispatched to the final customer, most likely, you won’t be present at or during any of the product commute. Therefore, products that tend to break during transit should be avoided as they are like a time bomb for you.

You can easily earn a negative review without any ill intentions on your part. However, if you are really passionate about the product, then take extra precautionary measures to ensure the product’s safety at all costs.

12.4. Products with Multi Parts, Chess, Letter Board

For instance, if there is complexity in the assembly of parts of the product, then there is an inherent chance for things to mess up, e.g., missing pieces, pieces not joining up correctly, etc. This can leave an unhappy customer, which will ultimately make you unhappy.

12.5. Gated Items

Some categories require prior approval from Amazon, like Health & Beauty Products & Grocery items. Beginners should begin with unrestricted categories, commonly known as ungated ones, to avoid unwanted speed breakers.

12.6. Electronics & Battery Items

We advise you to stay away from electronics and battery-operated items, especially in the beginning. Since you have an acute margin for acceptable error allowed by Amazon, you do not want a teeny tiny transistor ruining your Amazon selling experience.

We need to leave the electronics category to the factory or wholesale suppliers that will remain unaffected. They are working on humongous volumes, and returns won’t inflict much harm to them. You need to submit a complete list of battery-related information and Safety Data Sheets if you want to sell battery items on Amazon.

12.7. Patents & Legal Issues

Search on the internet or higher a specialist’s services to dig up any legal limitations that you might have to face unknowingly after your product has reached the warehouse.

 

Conclusion:

As you can see, there are several factors to consider when choosing a product to sell on Amazon. By understanding the data surrounding these products and using it as your guide, you’re in a much better position to make informed decisions about what will be successful for your business. If you need help implementing any of these principles or want access to more detailed data and analysis, our team at AMZ One Step is here to help. We offer a wide range of digital marketing services to take your business to the next level. Contact us today to learn more!

10 Reasons Why Your Amazon Seller Account is Suspended!

Posted on by adminoo

Whether you are a part time Amazon Seller or full-time, your seller account is your major tool in this business. If your account gets suspended, then you are screwed, my friend! Here are some of the things that you should be avoided to prevent Amazon Seller Account being suspened.

1) ITEM NOT AS DESCRIBED

While creating your product listing make sure to double check condition of the item, model number (if applicable), colour, UPC code, ASIN, quantity and read product listing before you list your item.

Amazon can suspend your account if customer complaints about your item. They will close your listing at first. If happened more than once Amazon will suspend your account.

Same goes for Private Label sellers, Always double check what information you are entering in the product listing.

2) ORDER DEFECT RATE

If your order defect rate is more than 1 percent then your account will go under review. Seller performance will review your account and most likely to get suspended.

Quality is the main priority of Amazon and this is the reason that they have been so successful and customers can retain their trust on this company.

If you are inspecting your shipments and not selling electronics or any other high risk products you should be fine. If you need help with product inspection in China you can reach out to Asia Inspection.

3) NOT HAVING INVOICES

For some reason, Amazon loves to get invoices from their sellers. In many cases amazon will ask for invoices from you. Most common are lost shipment and proving authenticity of your product.

If customers complaints about authenticity of your product more than once, your listing will be shut down at once. On failure to provide invoices. you may receive a notification of “Amazon Seller Account Suspended.”

4) COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT ISSUES

Stealing another seller’s photos, selling trademark or patented products can easily put you in trouble.

I see many sellers stealing photos from google or Alibaba and not knowing that they can get their account suspended just for stealing.

Always hire someone from fiverr or upwork if don’t know how to do a patent search.

Yes, Amazon will give you a warning first but doing it more than is an invitation to account suspension.

5) SENDING HAZMAT TO FBA

Hazmat products are banned by amazon and they do not store them in their warehouses. If they find any seller sending Hazmat products to FBA, they will immediately close their listing and destroy all the inventory.

You will receive one warning from amazon but violating this policy twice will surely get your Amazon Seller account suspended.

Always check Hazmat product policies.

6) GETTING PAID REVIEWS

Recently getting paid reviews from Facebook groups are in trend. But trust me this is not going to last forever. There are some sellers in my knowledge who have got their accounts suspended already.

Do not ask anyone for reviews from Facebook groups or any other review provider company. This is big NO and amazon will eventually find out and remove those reviews.

You can ask for honest reviews but you are not supposed to pay them back or any other incentives.

Some sellers are doing review exchanges with each other but this is also not going to last forever.

7) HAVING MULTIPLE AMAZON SELLER ACCOUNTS

Sellers are not supposed to open more than one account under one name or same household. In case if you need an extra account, you have to provide a valid reason to amazon and get permission for that.

Do not try outsmart amazon with ghost accounts, they can track IP address and MAC address of your device.

8) PRICE FIXING

It could be frustrating sometimes when you competitor seller is reducing price and winning buy box. This ends up losing money for all sellers on that listing but never send message to any seller to fix price. Otherwise, the next thing you hear would be “Amazon Seller account suspended”

In this case, you can match price bear loss or wait until that seller runs out stock. Many sellers get frustrated and send messages to fix price.

9) CONTACTING CUSTOMERS OUTSIDE AMAZON PLATFORM

Amazon always hide emails of their customers and they encourage sellers to communicate only through amazon emails. Do not try to send any message outside amazon. Customer’s phone number is provided but that is only for shipping purposes.

Some sellers add inserts with their product and ask for reviews or sell them add on or they direct customers to their own website. Amazon does not like this and can suspend your account.

10) FULFILLMENT BY MERCHANT PROBLEMS

If you are not using FBA then you do have more things to look at

LATE SHIPMENTS

SHIPMENT NOT RECEIVED

CANCELLING ORDERS

REFUNDS AND RETURNS

These are some of the examples which you need to keep in mind while selling as a merchant. Sometimes dishonest buyers can file a claim to get money back but they do not understand that how much seller is dependent on this. That claim can end up costing you your seller account.

These are the 10 Ways to get your Amazon Seller Account suspended. I am sure there are more but if you sell high quality products and follow all the term and conditions of selling on amazon then you should be fine. If you have any question feel free contact AMZ One Step.

Check out our other posts

Step by Step Product Listing Formula

How To Get Amazon Product Reviews In 2020

Amazon Ranking Algorithm Update

Thanks for reading 10 ways to get your Amazon Seller Account Suspended.

Enjoy selling…….

How Much Money Do I Need To Launch My Own Private Label Product on Amazon?

Posted on by adminoo

How Much Money Do I Need To Launch My Own Private Label Product on Amazon? What if I say you can have your own Amazon Private Label business with only $670 to invest? Seriously, that is the bare minimum required to launch your first product. However, if you want to make sure you succeed, you should be willing to spend a little more. In this article, I will give you a quick breakdown of how to launch your own Private Label Product with just $1,200-$5000 initial capital so that there are no surprises along your entrepreneurial journey.

Read More: How To Sell On Amazon For Beginners [Step By Step Guide In 2022]

Let’s face it, Private Labelling on Amazon has the potential to generate more than a million dollars in revenue for you just in the first year. Still, with the increasing competition, it is becoming difficult to successfully launch your first product.

Amazon Product Photography Services

[toc]

“Approximately 60% of new Amazon sellers give up on their business because their initial investment begins to exceed their budget.”

Why is it such a common mistake among sellers? It’s simple. Usually, entrepreneurs start a Private Label business on Amazon without knowing all the costs. In order to properly execute your launch, you should be aware of all the expenses throughout the process, especially because it takes at least 3 months from choosing your product to your first sale on Amazon.

So let’s dive right into it. There are 12 different costs to budget for when launching a Private Label product:

Type of Cost

 Min Budget Max Budget

Unavoidable Costs – Min = $670, Max = $2,105
1. Product cost

$500

$1500
2. Shipping cost

$125

$500
3. Amazon account monthly fee (Professional)

$40

$40
4. Barcode purchase

$5

$65

Essential Costs – Min = $255, Max = $1,285
5. Samples

$30

$150
6. Product research tool

$30

$135
7. Photography

$175

$500
8. Listing optimization service/tool

$20

$500

Optional Costs – Min = $285, Max = $1,500
9. Logo

$15

$100
10. Label

$100

$500
11. Inspection

$100

$400
12. Amazon PPC advertising

$70

$500

Total Budget Required – Min = $1,210, Max = $4,835

If you are interested to know about cutting some of these costs and where to source a few of these services, you can keep reading.

[toc]

Disclaimer: I will not be talking about amazon referral and storage fees, as they are deducted from each sale, and we do not pay them upfront.

Product cost (Landing cost)

When picking the first product, it is recommended to go with a low-priced item. A rule of thumb is to go with a product that is selling for $25 or less. Ideally, the landing cost should be 20%-30% of the selling price. So if a product is priced at $10 on Amazon, 20% of that is $2, which is what we should be paying the manufacturer. Majority of sellers on Amazon source their products from China through Alibaba due to the low-cost manufacturing.

Tip: Negotiate the price and agree to the minimum order quantity (MOQ).

If the MOQ is 250 units, you will pay $500 in total (250 units x $2/unit). Similarly, the landing cost maybe $6 if it is an expensive item. In this case, our cost for MOQ will be $1,500 (250 units x $6/unit).

Shipping cost

The shipping cost varies based on the weight, the mode of transport (air, sea), and the final destination (port, door). On average, it costs $0.5-$2 per unit.

Tip: Arrange the shipment yourself. The manufacturer’s quote will be expensive and less reliable.

Amazon monthly fee

When you register for Amazon, you will get an option to either choose Individual or Professional. There are many benefits to going with a Professional, for example, being able to run ads. This is why it is crucial to select the Pro account and pay $39.99 a month. The fee may vary for other countries.

Tip: If you are selling in North America, register on amazon.ca. It enables you to sell all over North America, and the fee is $ 29.99 CAD a month.

Barcode Purchase

To setup your own branded product on Amazon seller central, you will need a UPC barcode from either GS1 or a UPC reseller. You can use websites such as Speedy Barcodes or Nationwide Barcode to find cheap barcodes for resale.

Speedy Barcodes                                    Price: $5/barcode

Nationwide Barcode                                Price: $10/barcode

Samples

It is always a good idea to ask for a sample before committing to a hefty investment. A sample is air shipped for quick delivery and can cost anywhere from $30-$100.

Tip: Get the first sample when initially testing the product and a second sample once all customization, logo engraving, and brand labeling is done by the manufacturer.

Product Research Tool

If you want to find a potential product that will make you thousands of dollars, you most certainly need a tool for product research. These tools will either provide you with product ideas that have sales potential and less competition or give a competition comparison for a product of your liking. In both cases, without such a tool, it is almost impossible to tell the good products from the bad.

The two widely used tools are Jungle Scout and Viral Launch.

Jungle Scout:     Web App – $39/month   Chrome Extension – $97/one time

Viral Launch:      Web App – $59/month

Tip: Search for coupon codes to get up to 50% discount on certain tools.

Photography

Unless you are an extremely good photographer, I will recommend this task to be outsourced. Every so often, Amazon sellers try to save money on professional quality photographs, and it comes at the expense of sluggish sales. To boost your sales and catch the eyes of the customers, have the product photography done professionally. Fiverr is a good place to find freelance photographers, and they charge between $25/photo to $80/per photo. It is a bit risky using Fiverr because professional photographers who produce high-quality results rarely list their services on that website. If you need to avail the services of expert photographers who have years of experience in Amazon product photography, AMZ One Step is your best bet. They can guarantee appealing and unique photographs of your product that are catered specifically for your target audience.

Listing optimization service/tool

This is one other area where a professional can do wonders. If your listing is fully optimized and a qualified copywriter writes your description, your product will rank on the first page and that’s when you can sit back and watch the sales chart go up.

There are tools like Merchant Words and Keyword Inspector that can help with keyword research, but the volumetric keywords these tools spit out should be strategically picked and placed. Plus that still leaves the product description copywriting to you.

Merchant Words:            $30/month

Keyword Inspector:        $20/month

A professional listing optimization service will cost around $500 (excluding photography), and trust me; it is worth every penny. If it is your first time, you want to make sure you outsource as much work as possible so it is done professionally. Before moving forward, consult with an AMZ One Step Optimization Expert to see what optimization service would work best for you.

Product Logo

This is an optional cost and can be left to the manufacturers most of the time. However, suppose you would like the product to perform well in the long run and potentially sell outside of Amazon. In that case, you can find freelance designers on Fiverr or Upwork to design your product logo for $15-$100, depending on the complexity of the logo.

Product Label

Similar to a logo, this will be an optional cost. The label determines how your product’s packaging or boxing will look like. It can also be left to a manufacturer, and most of the time, there is no issue. However, the manufacturer may be selling the same packaging to other sellers. You can either find someone on Upwork or go to 99 Designs. The benefit of 99 Designs is that you can post the requirements for your label and a bunch of graphic designers sends you samples. You usually pay for the design you end up selecting for your product. Please keep in mind that this is a costly endeavor and requires on average $100-$500.

Inspection

For the first order, make sure you either inspect your shipment yourself or get it inspected via an inspection company. Manufacturing and importing products from an overseas country can be overwhelming. Your relationship with a manufacturer is built over time. It takes at least one order for both parties to understand things like the proper packaging to avoid damages, product defect rates, quality of material, etc.

Inspecting the products yourself comes at no cost but can be time-consuming. Also, there will be additional shipping charges since you would have to get the products shipped to you first for inspection and then to Amazon. There are companies like V-Trust or Asian Inspection that have a global presence and can do loading inspections from $100-$400. Alibaba also lists third-party inspectors that can be paid via Trade Assurance.

Amazon PPC advertising

Amazon’s advertising works on a pay-per-click basis. Each seller runs ad campaigns on keywords that customers search for. This is strictly optional based on the preference of the seller. However, during the launch, successful sellers deem it mandatory to run ads so that their products can compete with already successful brands. Your margins will take a huge hit initially, but this is more of a long-term strategy because once your product is ranked amongst the top sellers, you will get organic sales without any advertising. For PPC ads, a daily budget is set, which isn’t always used to the maximum. So a $10 budget can be set for either a week or two months, depending on how much time it takes to rank your product.

Tip: The ad campaigns to be run for keywords should be manually selected for optimal performance. These keywords would also be covered in the listing optimization services and can help you save on advertising costs by ranking your product quickly.

Final thoughts

Now you are all set for your product launch. These are all the costs that would be incurred throughout the process. Depending on your budget, you should decide to prioritize on what costs you’d like to keep to the minimum and which ones you’d want to spend more on.

A useful strategy that many sellers use is that they figure out the other costs first before deciding on the product’s landing cost. This prevents you from compromising the other areas of the launch. To ensure a successful launch, it is better to incur all these costs. However, the focus should be on the unavoidable and essential costs outlined above. Take advantage of the resources and tools available to you and optimize your process from the beginning.

 

Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter.

Amazon.com vs Amazon.ca || Which is better for FBA sellers?

Posted on by adminoo

AMAZON.COM VS AMAZON.CA

We all are sentient that Amazon is the most popular online store in the USA as well as Canada with more than 310 million active user customer accounts worldwide. Amazon.com (USA) and Amazon.ca (Canada) have their own praiseworthy aspects and shortcomings. Let us jot down a small number of differences between selling at Amazon.com vs Amazon.ca.

Size of Market

Canada has an estimated population of 36.95 million whereas in the USA it is 326 million approximately. Canadian Amazon sellers can face a challenge because the market is very diminutive.  For example, when you sell around 10 articles a day on Amazon.ca, in Amazon.com you can sell approx 100. It is a huge difference to cope with. Although the augmentation of e-commerce taken as a whole outpaces the US, Canada simply has a much smaller souk of consumers.

Competition

The number of products listed on Amazon.com is 488 million as compared to in Amazon.ca where it is 133 million. We can unmistakably see that competition is fierce in the USA. With less competition, one can thrive and grow faster in Amazon ca. If one chooses, the right product by doing a competitor and product survey, then Amazon.ca gives tremendous profits due to lack of competition.

Price

Lack of competition can get you more prices. When the demand is more than supply, the seller can keep the high price. However, Canadian Amazon seller needs to mull over the final price the customer pays with shipping integrated to ensure it is not too high-pitched. In addition, the seller has to be careful to consider the exchange rate though when listing your items – the Canadian and US dollars are often not in harmony.

Sellers have to make sure their prices are not too far above the ground since Amazon Price Comparison Tool facilitates cross-border shoppers to relate prices speedily and easily. Even product selection on Amazon Canada vs Amazon USA is effortless by searching respective websites at once.

Shipping

The shipping cost for the sellers in Canada will be more than in the USA. Being a huge country with a reasonably minute population, transportation costs are usually higher than in the US. In addition, the shipping options are also less in Canada as compared to the US. This would add the cost to the product to the consumers. One can always use the fulfillment by Amazon option. Sellers just have to sell their products and FBA will do the rest.

Optimize your listing now – AMZ One Step

Thanks for reading.