Selling On Amazon
When signing up for an account there are two options. If you're just starting out, get the Individual Plan, you can upgrade the account whenever you want.

Individual Selling Plan	Professional Selling Plan
$0.99 fee for each item sold. If you sell 40+ items/month, you will need the Professional plan.	Flat fee of $39.99/month and more powerful and flexible tools to manage inventory, reports, feeds and access to web services.

Amazon is an amazing platform that offers great opportunities for starting a business and making money. However when starting out, take it slow.
There is much to learn and get used to. Before investing all your savings on a product you hope will quickly turn a profit take the time to familiarize yourself with the system.
Perhaps start out with a smaller investment just to get your feet wet. Go through the basic guidelines offered by Amazon here.

Below are tips, clarifications and insights from members of this forum. Feel free to pitch in or ask you questions.

Some factors to consider before investing in a product to sell:

1) Price: How much did the item cost you? Have you taken into account shipping costs (both to you and to the customer)? Will you have to pay taxes? Amazon keeps a percentage of every sale (including shipping fees). It’s 15% for most product categories besides a few like electronics that are 8%. You can see the full schedule of fees here. There are several online tools to help you price your products including an FBA Revenue Calculator here and an Amazon built iOS app. A quick way to figure out how much you’d need to charge just to break even after amazon fees is to take the total product cost and then multiply it by 1.1766 (for 15% fees) or 1.087 (for 8% fees).

2) Velocity:  How fast will the item sell? It's nice to find a product for $10 that you can flip for $100.  But if you’ll only sell 1 a year, it won’t be a very good investment. The best way to determine the velocity of an item is to check the sales rank. Sales rank indicates the popularity of a product compared to other products in its category. The lower the ranking the more popular it is. The iOS app has sales rank baked in too. To get a proper feel for the turnaround time of an item, you'll need to dip your toes in slowly. Note: An item may have a great sales rank due to a recent sale, make sure to check price history on camelcamelcamel.com or keepa.com to get a better picture of the real price and rank of an item.

3) Return Rate: Even after you sold a few laptops and tablets profitably, you'll have to take into account that a buyer may want to return the item. Certain items have higher rates of return, so make sure to take that into account when deciding whether it's profitable/worth your effort to sell the item.


Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA):
The seller sends the items to Amazon warehouse. Amazon takes care of fulfilling the order, and customer service related to the order.

Pro's Of FBA

Con's Of FBA

Easier to get in the Buy Box You're able to offer Prime shipping For anything above $300, Amazon only charges the standard referral fee. This actually makes FBA cheaper when you take the discounted shipping to Amazon into account. If you have a large or heavy item, shipping the item to the customer can be expensive especially if it is going to a residential address. If you send that item to amazon FBA charges will be much lower than your shipping would have cost. (Including shipping it to FBA)

Returns (See this post for a more detailed explanation) Returns are accepted without any restocking fee. Items that are Damaged/missing parts are taken back. Since Amazons is super lax on returns, your return rate will be significantly higher. Refunds may harm your cash flow. When a buyer selects "Return" on his order history, often Amazon will immediately issue him a refund, and debit your account. If the item is not a fast selling item, it will sit in their warehouse. Amazon charges a fee for every 30 Days an item remains their warehouse, it is usually a tiny fee, but it adds up.

Q: How can I move inventory from one ASIN to another ASIN without having them returned on FBA listings? A: Before I Teach you guys the method you must keep 2 things in mind: 1) This Method isn't guaranteed! As we all know how seller support is operating, Since this processes involves them its only about %95 accurate but its still a YMMV! 2) This is kind of grey whether its in violation of Amazon's policy so i do not take responsibility if you get hit! Its a 4 step process make sure to follow them properly! Follow this link Q: If I have 3 items to send into FBA and they are splitting me to 3 different locations. Can I ship all 3 items to one location? A: Yes, you can choose "Inventory Placement Service" in FBA settings to send all your inventory to one nearby warehouse. Amazon charges an additional fee ($.30, CMIIW) per item. Note: That even once your inventory reaches Amazon, if Amazon is moving it to a different warehouse, the item will be "back-ordered" Q: I'm having a hard time finding a box for a large product, can I just ship with the box the way it came from the store? A: There might not be a clear cut answer for every scenario. But, some have sold many large printers through FBA, by just putting the shipping label directly on the box and not having an issue. Q: What is considered case pack when sending in items to Amazon FBA? A: Case pack is when all the items in the box are from the same ASIN. Q: I'm doing FBA shipping for the first time. and it says "prep required". What does that mean? A: Prep Required means there is some preparation for the products that will need to be done before it could be added the the Amazon inventory. Typically, it is either labeling the items, taping the boxes shut, or poly bagging. If you do not prepare the items yourself, Amazon can/will do it for a charge.

Q: What is the buy box? How do I win the buy box? A: 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. To give customers the best possible shopping experience, Sellers must meet performance-based requirements to be eligible to compete for Buy Box placement. All Buy Box eligible offers are then further evaluated to determine the Buy Box winning offer. One "New" and one "Used" condition offer, as applicable, will receive Buy Box placement. Q: What is an A-Z claim? A: When you buy from third-party sellers on Amazon.com, the condition of the item and its timely delivery are guaranteed under the A-to-z Guarantee. Therefore, a buyer may open a claim if the above is not met to his expectations. Q: I have an item that is handmade how do I go about selling it on? A: Create your own listing and buy a UPC code. Q: Any advice on packaging and shipping? Check the Shipping Master Thread Q: Why are some items on Amazon missing the Amazon sales rank number? A: Go to add a product > sell yours  it should be in the top right corner. If it's not there usually it means no one bought yet. Q: How do you compare Ebay/paypal fees to Amazon fees? A: Depends on the category. For a lot of categories,Please Update Categories it may be cheaper, as with Amazon there is just one fee, but for eBay sales there also is a Paypal fee. Does the Amazon sales rank mean a lot when researching a product to sell? A: Yes

Q: How do I get customers to leave feedback (I tried emails)? I sold multiple items
recently and no feedback yet Please Update

Q: I Got an email from a buyer where's my stuff? I have a Fedex/UPS delivery confirmation signature. How should I go about this?
A: Firstly, tell the buyer that UPS/Fedex shows that it was signed for, and they should check if the item was delivered to a neighbor, from desk of building ect... Next open an investigation from your end with UPS/Fedex to have them do research and contact their driver of what may have happened to this item. It all depends on how co-operative the buyer is, on exactly how to precede. If they are trying to scam you, then there is not much as a seller you could do. They may open an A-Z claim (you would have to weigh your options if it is worth having a claim) Amazon may or may not grant it in your favor. I have never had this with Amazon. Such a claim is not typical.
What is more common is if there was no signature, and tracking shows it was delivered, and the buyer is claiming they have not received it.
For myself - Fedex has reimbursed me multiple times with such instances

Scams
Q: I posted an expensive item on Amazon. Somebody sent me a message, asking to clarify the condition of the item is (it was clearly stated in the description), along with a request to reply to his own email, and he'll pay through PayPal. Is there anything this buyer can so to screw me over, after I send him the item? Anything else I should know?

A: SCAM SCAM SCAM. There is NO reason you should EVER do this. There is a reason why Amazon has this policy. This is how the scams works.
The guy sends a FAKE email from an email account such as paypal1@realpaypal.com. In reality no money was sent to your account and its bogus. The scammers are hoping that you will think that you got the money and will send the item.
You should report it to paypal each time. beware! always check your paypal account if the money came.
Another reason not do this-you will get kicked off amazon for good,sometimes competitors set this up.[/list]



Commonly used resources

A List of lots of links to resources commonly used in Amazon selling
http://www.asgtg.com/amazon-services/