Sometimes the best way forward can be the most obvious.
Amazon has been one of the most successful online shopping sites in history. If you had a chance to benefit from their popular online platform, why would you pass it up?
You do have this very opportunity, and it involves becoming an Amazon Seller.
Today we will show you how to set up an Amazon Seller account and what it can do for you.
How to Set Up an Amazon Seller Account
Eager to dive in? Here is the place, and now is the time.
We have all the details you need to sort through the Amazon Seller setup and get yourself started making money on Amazon. This includes what kind of seller works for you and how to interact with your customers.
Follow this short guide for all the details you will need to know.
Getting Started
The first step is to start the Amazon Seller signup. This will create your account and get you started on customizing your selling experience.
On Amazon’s website, amazon.com, there is a sell button at the top of the page. This link will direct you to create an account.
There are also the websites services.amazon.com and sellercentral.amazon.com. Both have similar buttons, and both will work.
Once in the account creation process, there will be a series of choices you need to make. This will detail the information that sets up your account.
1. The Type of Seller
With Amazon, there are two different kinds of sellers: the Professional Seller and the Individual Seller. Each of them has its perks, as well they each have different fees and needs.
The Individual Seller is for small time sellers. Their fees are best situated for a small time or a single time seller. Someone who has a single batch of inventory to sell and then never sell again.
The Professional Seller, though is best for those who wish to make their mark as a business on Amazon and is willing and able to sell in continuous large quantities.
As well, the Professional Seller has access to what Gated Products. They are a small section of item categories that have restrictions on who can sell them.
The list of Gated Products includes Clothing, Shoes, Jewelry/Watches, Beauty, Collectibles, Automotive, and Video.
As well, Professional Sellers are the only sellers who can list products that are not sold on Amazon at the moment. Individual Sellers must sell items by similar products.
2. Account Security
This is not a step in the account making process as much as it is a warning to consider.
Security should always be a paramount issue when dealing with business-related information. Your Amazon Seller account will have all your prime information for your business and, if disrupted, will be a hamper on your profits.
To protect against identity theft and other troubles, you need to protect your Amazon Seller information. This applies most to your password.
Keeping that information limited to only who needs to know it and keeping it locked away in a secured area is critical.
3. The Information You Need
The signup process will take about an hour and will ask you a series of questions to get all the information needed to build up your account.
For speed, have all of this information at the ready. While you can come back to the signup at any time, getting it done as soon as possible is beneficial.
You will need your legal business name, your business’s address, and contact information for your business. You will also need an appropriate e-mail address for your company.
In addition, you will need an internationally-chargeable credit card with a valid billing address, an active phone number for your business in the case of issues, and your tax identity information.
Different Type of Fees
As you operate your business through your Amazon Seller account, make sure to consider all the fees that come with it. You are, in essence, paying for using Amazon as your distribution website.
Keep in mind that the fees change depending on whether you are a Professional Seller or an Individual Seller. If your business faces a radical change, you do have the option to drop or upgrade your account to the other type as needed.
1. Monthly Fees
Professional Sellers have a monthly fee of $39.99 and will accrue this fee even if they do not list or sell a single item.
Individual Sellers do not have any monthly fees. This is the major difference between the two accounts.
2. Listing Fees
When you put up an item for sale, there is a listing fee. This is where the monthly fee makes sense.
Professional Sellers do not accrue any listing fees. Individual sellers get a fee of $0.99 per item they list. This means that if you are listing 40 items or more every month, then the Professional Seller account may be worthwhile.
3. Shipping Rates
Individual Sellers will have a flat shipping rate added to the item depending on the shipping information. This makes it easy to deal with the shipping process.
Professional Sellers can control their shipping rates. This means that they can either take a hit on shipping to entice users to buy their products or scale their shipping to increase their profits.
Either side has value and will work depending on your business. The idea is that Professional Sellers have additional control over their products and how they profit from them.
4. Referral Fees
As a part of the Amazon system, you will encounter Referral Fees. This comes as a percentage of your combined price and shipping cost. This is one of the basic fees that both types of Sellers will have to deal with.
To counteract these fees, it is good to be able to control your shipping rates with the Professional Seller account. If you are an Individual Seller account, you will have to plan to take a small hit with each item.
Your Seller Profile
Before you get to listing products and making money, you should fill out and settle your Seller Profile. You can access this profile at sellercentral.amazon.com in the “Settings” button at the top right corner.
Inside this profile is a ton of information that you will need to organize your business and policies.
Take each step into careful consideration as you go through the list and fill out your profile.
1. Account Info
This includes all your contact information you entered when you set up the account. If you put it in right the first time, you may not need to change anything, but there are a few details that may be worth double checking.
Make sure all the “Return Information” is correct. A single mistake here can lose products if a customer decides to return it. Amazon needs to know how to return your product to you.
As well, if you wish to go by an Alternate Display name other than your legal business name, then you will need to change it here.
2. Notification Preferences
Amazon, by default, will send you a lot of emails about all sorts of items. The issue is that all the emails regarding orders will come right alongside every other type of email.
Here you can mark certain types of emails in distinguishing ways. This allows you to catch all the important details to keep your business running.
3. Login Settings
Going back to the security point. If your security is ever compromised, here is where you can change your password.
As well, you can change your username for further security.
4. Return Settings
This will include all the details for items that will need to be return shipped to you.
While Amazon’s FBA, or Fulfillment By Amazon, service will use them as the middleman for specific returns, all others will need a proper set of instructions to get to you.
Find whatever settings work best for your company set up.
5. Gift Options
This is an optional setting, but many customers enjoy this option for the personal touch that it gives.
You can allow your customers to include a gift message on their products. Since a lot of Amazon buyers are buying for another person and can have that item shipped to other’s house, it is nice to make the package more “gift-like”.
Personalization is a powerful way to make you and your company stand out.
6. Shipping Settings
On a Professional Seller account, this is where you alter your shipping rates and settings.
You can increase the price on shipping as well as the time your shipping takes, but be careful. The pricier and slower your items are, the stronger of a chance your customers may turn to your competitors instead.
7. Tax Settings
This will be a major consideration for a business of any size if they want to stay in business.
Federal taxes can and will apply to all of your Amazon business. State taxes may also apply depending on where you ship and what state your business exists in.
When in doubt, contact your tax professional with any questions on this subject. You can alter all of your information and settings to fit your needs, but you need to understand what those needs are first.
8. User Permissions
This section allows you to give other people outside of yourself access to your Amazon seller account. This is a great consideration for businesses that have employees around the globe.
The issue of security is once again brought up. Make sure you are confident in who you give out permissions to. If that employee is no longer a part of your company, remove their permissions as soon as you can.
9. Info and Policies
This will be one of the most important pieces of information to your sellers.
Here, you can showcase your company information and handy policies your customers may want to know.
This is a great way to show off your professionalism with a company logo, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, and some vital information that shows you are not another robot seller from overseas.
10. Fulfillment By Amazon
You can activate Amazon’s FBA program, mentioned earlier, here. This information will be vital to make use of Amazon’s conveniences and services.
Listing Products
Now that you have entered your information, considered your seller type, and finished the profile setup process, you can now begin listing items!
Before you list your first product, you will have a label of “Registered, Not Launched” seller, which is a marking of “inactive”. Getting rid of this and getting that “Launched” marker will open your doors and start the profits.
If you are dealing with Gated products, you will need to get permission to use these categories.
Professional Sellers are the only ones who can ask permission. Professional Sellers get their first 30 days free, so this would be the best time to request permission.
If you did not get permission, or have products that are not gated, then you can begin listing.
When listing a product, keep in mind what you are selling, what it is worth, and what the rest of Amazon thinks it is worth. Remember, you are in a marketplace and will need to compete with everyone else selling that product.
Set your items at competitive margins and try and find areas to cut prices so you can appear as the best sellers for those items.
If you have the initial capital to invest, you may consider taking the hit on your prices to get better selling rates and user reviews.
Feedback
Which brings us to the final consideration. As you interact with customers and do business, Amazon will rank you on your progress and overall performance metrics. This will help you place at the top of their website, getting you more business.
To get the most out of this process, you will need two things. First, you need to ensure that your business is running well by sending out packages on time, in good shape, and with good quality and solid pricing.
The second is customer feedback. While Amazon will help to encourage customer feedback on each item you send out, the general call to action is rather weak.
There are a few external websites that can help better your customer feedback. These websites can help to encourage customer satisfaction and interaction.
Business Going Forward
Now that you know how to set up an Amazon Seller account, you are ready to get out there and put your business on the map!
There is a lot of information to consider when it comes to running a good online business. We here at Money, Cash, & Value are eager to help businesses get the most out of their transactions.
See what we can teach you on money, cash flow, and wealth!