Topic Wiki

    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 PlanProfessional 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/


    « Last edited by mgarfin on January 02, 2018, 09:07:51 PM »

    Author Topic: Selling on Amazon Master Thread  (Read 975564 times)

    Offline KidOOO

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1900 on: July 27, 2015, 11:04:38 PM »
    Do you care to share ?

    https://www.appeagle.com/pricing

    Their "Continuous Repricing" plan's pricing seems to have gone up to $150 but still worth it IMO

    Offline dovymonsey

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1901 on: July 27, 2015, 11:05:22 PM »
    What if I create the shipment and stick the fba and I'd number in the shipping address ?

    Offline KidOOO

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1902 on: July 27, 2015, 11:43:25 PM »
    What if I create the shipment and stick the fba and I'd number in the shipping address ?

    How would you attached the FBA Barcode for the shipment 

    Offline dovymonsey

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1903 on: July 27, 2015, 11:51:21 PM »
    How would you attached the FBA Barcode for the shipment
    No Barcode I've sent shipments to amazon with no fba labels just the fba number on the shipping label and it works fine

    Offline KidOOO

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1904 on: July 28, 2015, 08:34:51 AM »
    No Barcode I've sent shipments to amazon with no fba labels just the fba number on the shipping label and it works fine

    The fact the it worked doesn't mean it should work. Amazon problem solvers in their warehouses are smart and can overcome that problem but if you do it often you would probably run into issues

    Offline ya

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1905 on: July 28, 2015, 12:03:33 PM »
    No repricer is worth $10k, no mater how much it saves/makes you.
    For that monthly price you can hire an experienced developer to program one for you and have tons of money left over.

    These repricers have insane pricing if you ask me.
    No reason a repricers should be charging 1% of revenue plus setup fees.
    Never, ever, will it be worth it, unless you're extremely handicapped and can't find a cheaper way.
    One thing you dont have is data... Data from thousands of sellers.

    Offline TBD

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1906 on: July 31, 2015, 12:50:44 AM »
    www.channelmax.net  less than $50 a month

    Offline ABC

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1907 on: July 31, 2015, 02:12:06 AM »
    www.channelmax.net  less than $50 a month

    +1
    I use them,the price goes up depending on how many items you sell but they are cheap and good.
    They could customize rules anyway you want.

    They also have data from other sellers.....

    Offline TBD

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1908 on: July 31, 2015, 03:05:31 AM »
    anyone using restockpro.com?

    Offline Banillareloads

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1909 on: August 02, 2015, 10:52:35 PM »
    I am currently researching different sites that offer reviews for your product in exchange for a discount and a fee. I have three questions:
    1 How does amazon view this? (obviously I am asking for an unbiased review and the reviewer writes that)
    2 What legit site for a decent price can anyone recommend from personal experience?
    TIA

    Offline yuneeq

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1910 on: August 02, 2015, 10:59:52 PM »
    I am currently researching different sites that offer reviews for your product in exchange for a discount and a fee. I have three questions:
    1 How does amazon view this? (obviously I am asking for an unbiased review and the reviewer writes that)
    2 What legit site for a decent price can anyone recommend from personal experience?
    TIA

    Giveawayservice.com is sill free, take advantage.
    Visibly Jewish

    Offline lifetimedeals

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1911 on: August 04, 2015, 08:54:30 AM »
    We are selling on Amazon for many many years and lately feel like Amazon is being very harsh to us over really minor complaints (which I’m sure is pretty normal any buyer may say such things in order to return a product to FBA even it that is not the case) and are having a hard time getting answers sometimes days from seller performance team and yesterday we got this dreaded email from the seller performance team that our Amazon.com selling privileges have been removed, it started with a really cheap toy item only sold a few of them they told us they blocked that listing because of a buyer complaint about the condition of an item they received from you used item sold as new, which for sure is not true it was 100% brand new in manufacturers packaging so we responded back to them there was only 1 return on this product within the last 365 days (see attached screenshot) and reason was damaged by the shipping carrier then refunded by Amazon,  they have not responded to our response for 4-5 days at that point we sent them again this information and they responded: However, we still need more information regarding your plan of action for this scratches complaint before we can reinstate your listing on your behalf, yesterday they have emailed us about this same product and wrote about some scratches and one other product there was a complaint about scratches which is also 100% a brand new product just this second item is something that can have easily a blemish or might not be 100% perfect coming from production only some times (we have sold a lot of these with no complaints to us till today) because it gets painted/stained also we have no problem taking back and replacing if given the chance, we were also not aware of any such complaint or return.

    Anybody here with any experience on suspensions I really need help this is stressing me out and just really disturbed that they have suspended us for such minor issues and we really have a perfectly great record with Amazon and always only send brand new items to FBA, Thanks.

    Offline yuneeq

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1912 on: August 04, 2015, 09:06:03 AM »
    If you want any chance of getting help here, please rewrite that wall of text in easy to read paragraphs.
    Visibly Jewish

    Offline lifetimedeals

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1913 on: August 04, 2015, 10:37:59 AM »
    We are selling on Amazon for many years and lately feel like Amazon is being very harsh to us over really minor complaints. Which I’m sure is pretty normal any buyer may say such things in order to return a product to FBA even though that is not the case.
    We are having a hard time getting answers sometimes days from the seller performance team.

    Yesterday we got this dreaded email from the seller performance team that our Amazon.com selling privileges have been removed.
    It all started with a really cheap toy item (only sold a few of them). They told us they blocked that listing because of a buyer complaint that the condition of the item they received from us was a used item sold as new.
    That for sure is not true it was 100% brand new in manufacturers packaging.
    We responded back to amazon that there was only 1 return on this product within the last 365 days (we attached screenshot) the reason given was damaged by the shipping carrier and Amazon refunded us.
     
    Amazon did not respond to us for 4-5 days (which we felt was being ignored these few days) at that point we sent them this information again.

    Amazon responded they still need more information regarding the plan of action for this “scratch complaint” before they can reinstate the listing on our behalf.

    Yesterday they have emailed us about the same product being scratched and one other product there was also a complaint about scratches.
    The second item is something that can easily blemish because it gets painted/stained.
    It might not be 100% perfect coming from production but only rarely does this happen.
    We have sold a lot of these with no complaints to us until today.

    We have no problem taking back and replacing if given the chance, we were also not aware of any such complaint or returns.

    Does anybody here have experience with suspensions? I really need help “this is stressing me out” I’m really disturbed that they have suspended the account for such minor issues (like few scratches) and we really have a perfectly great record with Amazon and always only send 100% brand new items to FBA, Thank you in advance.

    Offline mendy from lakewood

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1914 on: August 04, 2015, 10:47:41 AM »
    Does anyone know of a good spread sheet that they could recommend for keeping track of my amazon cost and profits?
    "Respect is earned, Honesty is appreciated, Trust is gained, Loyalty is returned"

    Offline yudamaan

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1915 on: August 04, 2015, 04:03:24 PM »
    I have a product that I'm selling, I bought it from a local retail store, but on 1 or 2 of the items I cant manage to peel off the glue from the sticker the whole way. This a brand new item, do you think amazon or a potential buyer would make a issue about that? thank you
    « Last Edit: August 04, 2015, 04:16:36 PM by yudamaan »

    Offline caliheat

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1916 on: August 05, 2015, 01:50:00 AM »
    I have a product that I'm selling, I bought it from a local retail store, but on 1 or 2 of the items I cant manage to peel off the glue from the sticker the whole way. This a brand new item, do you think amazon or a potential buyer would make a issue about that? thank you
    1) Try rubbing alcohol - sparingly - to remove any remaining glue or sticker.
    2) You have to factor in price, whether packaging is important for the product etc. can another sticker be placed over the area to cover it up etc etc.

    Offline Super Speed

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1917 on: August 05, 2015, 01:59:49 AM »


    We are selling on Amazon for many many years and lately feel like Amazon is being very harsh to us over really minor complaints (which I’m sure is pretty normal any buyer may say such things in order to return a product to FBA even it that is not the case)

    I feel the same way, I also got an email about them reviewing my account (thank g-d no suspension) for complaints about new items being sold as used. I've sold dozens of those products and only 1 complaint on each of 3 unrelated products. I know someone else who also got this recently. I don't know what's up with them. Also some of the products I haven't had in stock for months and why they're bringing it up now is beyond me.

    Offline ABC

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1918 on: August 05, 2015, 02:16:36 AM »
    I heard this week something interesting so I thought worth sharing. (I heard from an insider in Amazon)

    Amazon makes test buys to check out products what people sell,he said he knows for a fact my account went thought a test lately and BH I past.

    Offline yuneeq

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    Re: Selling on Amazon Master Thread
    « Reply #1919 on: August 05, 2015, 08:31:28 AM »
    We are selling on Amazon for many years and lately feel like Amazon is being very harsh to us over really minor complaints. Which I’m sure is pretty normal any buyer may say such things in order to return a product to FBA even though that is not the case.
    We are having a hard time getting answers sometimes days from the seller performance team.

    Yesterday we got this dreaded email from the seller performance team that our Amazon.com selling privileges have been removed.
    It all started with a really cheap toy item (only sold a few of them). They told us they blocked that listing because of a buyer complaint that the condition of the item they received from us was a used item sold as new.
    That for sure is not true it was 100% brand new in manufacturers packaging.
    We responded back to amazon that there was only 1 return on this product within the last 365 days (we attached screenshot) the reason given was damaged by the shipping carrier and Amazon refunded us.
     
    Amazon did not respond to us for 4-5 days (which we felt was being ignored these few days) at that point we sent them this information again.

    Amazon responded they still need more information regarding the plan of action for this “scratch complaint” before they can reinstate the listing on our behalf.

    Yesterday they have emailed us about the same product being scratched and one other product there was also a complaint about scratches.
    The second item is something that can easily blemish because it gets painted/stained.
    It might not be 100% perfect coming from production but only rarely does this happen.
    We have sold a lot of these with no complaints to us until today.

    We have no problem taking back and replacing if given the chance, we were also not aware of any such complaint or returns.

    Does anybody here have experience with suspensions? I really need help “this is stressing me out” I’m really disturbed that they have suspended the account for such minor issues (like few scratches) and we really have a perfectly great record with Amazon and always only send 100% brand new items to FBA, Thank you in advance.

    If it's something may be perceived as used, I would suggest selling it MFN and not send it in to FBA.
    This way you get to deal with the customerdirectly and can offer a refund without getting amazon involved.

    Another tip would be to label all your products that you send to Amazon.
    If your goods are commingled and gets mixed with another seller's garbage, you will be the one responsible for the condition of the item.
    Visibly Jewish