24 Ago What is Amazon Seller Central? Everything you need to know
According to forecasts, in 2020 60% of e-commerce purchases will be carried out in marketplaces and among them, Amazon will take more than 2 thirds of the cake, so the advantages of being able to be inside and manage successfully your Amazon account can be very succulent for your business or company.
To be able to sell on Amazon you have two options or two different types of account: Amazon seller and Amazon vendor. With Amazon Seller you will sell your products directly to the end customer (what in traditional commerce we could call a “corner”). With Amazon vendor you will sell your products directly to Amazon.
The first option is open to any company, SME or legal self-employed that wants to sell on Amazon, for the second form of sale (Amazon vendor) is only entered by prior invitation from Amazon, so in this post we are going to focus on Amazon Seller Central.
Selling on Amazon opens up an infinity of possibilities and opportunities to boost your business in online commerce. Being a seller on Amazon allows you to sell your regular catalog of products in its marketplace and also allows you to participate in campaigns where you can offer your most relevant products with great offers to attract the attention of more customers, and one of the best options to publicize Your product catalog is including offers on Amazon’s Black Friday that takes place in November and in campaigns with similar offers.
Differences between Amazon Seller and Amazon vendor
The first thing you have to be clear about is the concept of Seller and Vendor and the differences between the types of sellers:
If you have a Vendor account, you will become an Amazon provider. Amazon will buy the products directly from you and they will be in charge of selling them to the end customer. As we have already commented, this option is only entered by direct invitation from Amazon. Amazon like any other customer chooses who he wants to buy from, if you are the chosen one you will be his supplier and Amazon will become your customer.
Being Amazon Seller central you can sell your products directly to the end user. Amazon will take care of providing you with a «space» on its marketplace. This is the option for most companies, SMEs and freelancers who want to sell their products through Amazon. Once you become an Amazon seller, you will use the BackOffice called Seller Central where you can upload your list of products, carry out your own promotions, calculate your shipping costs, you can even access the different European accounts, a very good option for those companies that want to take the step to internationalization without making large investments.
I’m already Amazon Seller Central. Now what do I have to do?
Once you have already joined the Amazon universe through your Seller Central account, these would be the necessary steps to start selling on Amazon:
- The first step will be to upload your catalog of products that you want to sell on Amazon, take care of the images, descriptions, titles, variations of products such as colors, sizes or weights. You will also have to establish the delivery times in each country and the shipping costs.
- Calculate your margin and set the prices and promotions of your products, find out who sells similar products and try to adjust costs to be competitive on Amazon.
- Take advantage of Amazon advertising by advertising on the platform itself to increase your conversions on the marketplace.
- To sell more you will have to have more visibility: take care of your SEO positioning in Amazon titles, descriptions, A + pages, personalized Amazon stores of your brand, positive reviews, etc. If you take care of your SEO positioning within Amazon you will notice the results.
- Try to win the Buy Box: For this you will have to establish competitive prices and a Performance ratio higher than your competition. Entering the Buy Box guarantees that if your product sells, the chances that they will buy it from you are multiplied by ten.
- Confirm orders within a maximum period of 48 hours and respond to customers in less than 24 hours, this does not mean that you wait until the last minute to do it, the sooner you do it, the sooner you will get to the Performance.
- When a customer places an order, Amazon will validate their card, this process can take hours, at the moment you receive the order, reserve the units in your warehouse, never break your stock and try to work with high stock, if you cancel an order Due to lack of stock, your Performance will plummet.
- Confirm the shipment and send the tracking number offered by the transport company, this process has to be as fast and efficient as possible.
- Get positive reviews and deal with negative ones. It is one of the most tedious and difficult processes, but positive reviews are the “prize” of satisfied customers and your stepping stone to Performance. In the same way, negative reviews can make all your efforts to enter to sell on Amazon wasted in a short time. Do not forget that you have to be a «perfect salesman» there are no excuses.
Reasons why you can stop being an Amazon Seller
The worst nightmare for an Amazon seller is to suffer the dreaded account suspension. Amazon may close your store for breach of some of the following points and you will not be able to sell on Amazon again.
Not reaching the performance required by Amazon
Amazon is very demanding with its sellers and you must do more than meet the minimum standards of quality in the service. Your Performance level is established by means of metrics that mainly cover the logistics and customer service. If you are not able to keep these areas 100% covered, you will not be able to be an Amazon seller.
Security issues in the product
Your product has to be of quality. At first glance, it may seem that Amazon can sell «anything» but if you receive negative reviews, returns and comments about the low quality of your product, the suspension will be imminent. Food, cosmetics, electrical appliances and everything related to children and babies are the most risky categories in this regard. If you are not sure of the quality of one of your products, do not take the risk of trying to sell it on Amazon as you could spoil all your work because of that product.
Restricted or authorized products
You are responsible for knowing the rules and verifying that what you sell is allowed by the local laws of the country in which you sell and by Amazon. If you run the risk of uploading a product to your listing that is restricted for sale in any country, you already know that your time as a seller on Amazon is close to the end.
Multiple related seller accounts
As an Amazon seller, you are only allowed one account. This is especially suitable for those who have received a permanent suspension and try to sell again under another name or in the name of another partner / relative related to the company. Amazon has detection systems that will cause your new account to be struck down without warning.
Hacking of your Amazon seller account
If hackers find it attractive to access your computers or your company accounts, imagine what they will do to get your access data to your Amazon account. You will receive malicious emails looking for your access codes to gain access to your account. Remember that you are solely responsible for the security of your account. If for any reason your account is Hacked, forget about the adventure of being an Amazon seller.
Beware of the competition
Not all the competition you’ll find on Amazon are as ethical in the world of commerce as you are. Claims about fake products, copyright, intellectual property and fraudulent purchases for the sole purpose of making a return later and a negative review can be some of the things you have to face in the jungle of Amazon sellers. Fortunately in most cases this does not usually happen, but keep in mind that it could happen. If, on the other hand, you are the one who think that you have to eliminate the competition in order to sell your product, you should know that Amazon uses Big Data in a very optimal way, so if you think that you are going to circumvent it as easily as performing the misdeed with the account of a family member / friend / neighbor, don’t worry, you won’t be the first to think about this, nor will you be the first to be expelled from Amazon for this act.
Tips to be an Amazon Seller
If you are going to enter Amazon Seller Central and want to stay on the crest of the wave for a long time, these tips can help you:
- Control the origin, quality and operation of your products before uploading them to the listing
- Be honest with your buyers on prices and delivery times
- If you can’t control your logistics, use Amazon FBA
- Monitor the performance indicators of your account on a daily basis
- Keep a purchase record of your products and that your suppliers are reliable sources. It is very easy for Amazon to ask for it to know your shopping channel.
- Stay up to date with all updates on Amazon seller policies as they may change and you may suffer a seller suspension if you do not update.
You may also be interested: What is Amazon Seller Central? Everything you need to know
Conclusion of being an Amazon Seller
As you can see, entering to sell on Amazon can be the springboard for the financial stability of your company, but being able to manage and achieve a level of quality and optimal Performance can become a much more complex and dedicated task. And that is the reason for the existence of Nozamasol.
Do you really think that you can manage all this on your own and also manage your business outside of Amazon?
Trust your account in our agency specialized in Amazon and we will take care of everything, from uploading your products, your marketing campaigns, customer service and updating policies.
You take care of your business outside of Amazon that we take care of it inside. CONTACT US!