How to sell on Amazon

Amazon is one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, making it a potentially great choice for those keen to sell their goods and services online.

Many people think of Amazon as this giant firm that is dominating the E-Commerce world, with its vast supporting network of distribution centres and home delivery drivers across the world. But Amazon is also a platform for small e-commerce traders to sell through as well. 

What do you have to do to get started?

The process of getting set up to trade on Amazon is in fact quite simple. The first choice you have to make is simply what scale you want to trade on it.

•          There is the Individual Selling Plan, which is designed for people to sell individual items. This is not suited to e-commerce businesses, but rather those who simply want to get some money for selling on something they own.

•          The Professional Selling Plan is designed for the e-commerce seller, because it does not place any limit on the number of items you can sell. This incurs a monthly subscription fee (currently £25), plus an additional selling fee when an item is sold.  
  

Having selected the Professional Selling Plan, you need to take a few more steps to get set up, after which you can get started. 

How do you complete the process?

Firstly, you must register on Amazon and start listing your products. To complete the process you will need to supply the following information:  

•          Your credit or debit card

•          Your telephone number

•          Company registration details - this includes business type, business registration number and the date of registration. You also need to supply the business address.

•          Primary contact information - this is the information for either the registered seller, who will either be the account holder or acting on their behalf. This includes an address and a passport or other valid national ID

•          Beneficial owner information - This includes details of anyone with more than 20% ownership of the business, such as a shareholder. Once again, this will include address and passport / ID details.

•          Your bank account details - This is where the income from your transactions will be received 

Once all this is done, you can list your products. There are bulk listing tools available for those who want to load up a large batch instead of doing them one at a time. 

What support is there for selling items on Amazon?

Amazon offers a choice of different ways of managing orders for the goods you are selling.

•          The manage orders tool - this provides a list of orders and you can view details of specific sold items

•          Order reports - You can get a single report providing information on multiple orders

•          Amazon marketplace web services - This offers those on the Professional Selling Plan extra access to information in their selling accounts, including new orders. 

What happens next?

After this, Amazon lets you know whenever an order has been placed. The company will handle the shipping of goods itself, unless you have your own warehouse. In the later case, there is a facility called Seller Fulfilled Prime that helps you to deliver them yourself and earn a Prime badge, showing that you take care of deliveries yourself. 

After that, you will receive payment into your bank account. 

Will Amazon be the best platform for you?

Amazon is not the only e-commerce option you may have. There are others such as Etsy and Ebay. To decide what is best, it is worth comparing the pros and cons between them all. 

•          Amazon has the largest customer base of all, so there is the greatest chance of someone coming online and seeing your product

•          You wouldn’t need to update your listings on Amazon as much as you would on a site like Etsy

•          Conversely, many find working out how to use the platform on Amazon is not as easy as some other sites.

What can BeUniqueness do to help?

BeUniqueness help you get set up with your e-commerce site via the right platform for you. But that is not all. With the latest digital marketing options including content marketing, email marketing, PPC advertising and more, we can offer you a tailored package to help you get more awareness and leads, directing a greater number of people to go to your site and therefore give you a strong return on marketing investment.

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