If you are thinking about selling online, Amazon is a great way to start your business. With millions of customers worldwide, this world’s largest marketplace provides incredible sales opportunities.
However, if you're new to Amazon selling, it can be challenging to figure out where to start and how to avoid sad mistakes and losing money.
This guide will help you get started, understand the basics of Amazon selling, and explain in simple words how it all works.
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Amazon Seller Guide
Intro
Who is this guide for?
This guide can be useful for anyone who wants to sell on Amazon. Sections dedicated to product sourcing are targeted at online arbitrage, wholesale, sellers, and dropshippers, while retail arbitrage and private label sellers can also find them useful.
What does this guide cover?
If you wonder how to sell on Amazon, this guide will help you get started, understand the basics of Amazon selling, and explain in simple words how it all works from A to Z.
What to Know Before You Start Selling on Amazon?
What to Know Before You Start Selling on Amazon
Before you start selling, briefly glance at a few key things to remember about Amazon sales. That is important to better understand what you should expect from Amazon sales.
Get familiar with Amazon
Take some time to learn the basics of selling on Amazon, like how to list products and get them shipped to customers. This will help you avoid any bumps in the road.
Pick products that sell
Don't just sell anything! Look for items that people want to buy and that don't have a ton of other sellers offering them already.
Price right to make money
Before you offer anything to customers, figure out all the Amazon fees involved (like a selling fee) so you can price your products high enough to make a profit after everything is paid for.
Focus on profit, not volume
Focus on making money on each sale, not just selling a bunch of stuff for super cheap. Remember, you're running a business and your target is to make money.
Build slow and steady
Growing a successful Amazon business takes time and effort. Don't get discouraged if you don't see results overnight. Keep putting in the work, and it can be a really rewarding experience.
Related: Amazon Glossary for Sellers
How Does Selling on Amazon Work?
Understanding how Amazon sales work comes down to answering 10 key questions. Here you will find short answers, while below we will discuss each of them in detail.
1. What do I need to start on Amazon?
To start selling, you must register yourself as a seller. To do that, you must choose a selling plan and create an Amazon seller account, called Seller Central account.
Individual plans are for casual sellers who sell a limited number of products, while Professional plans cater to sellers with many products for a monthly subscription fee.
Related: How to Create an Amazon Seller Central Account?
Creating an account in Amazon Seller Central step-by-step
2. How will I sell?
On Amazon, sellers most frequently use 5 selling strategies called business models: online arbitrage, retail arbitrage, wholesale, dropshipping, and private label. All of them are reselling models, which means you get a product for a lower price at any retailer and resell it for profit. You can also sell products you created by your own hands, like handmade items, custom designs for t-shirts or mugs, or books you wrote.
3. What will I sell?
The next thing you need to do is pick the products you are going to sell. Amazon sellers call this process product research.
Typically, you will look for a product with good market demand (popular with Amazon customers) and low competition (to be able to sell it for the price you planned). Also, it should not have any problems (be restricted or have other flags).
Most sellers use product sourcing tools to find products for Amazon. One of the most popular product sourcing tools is Seller Assistant.
Seller Assistant
4. Where do I get a product?
After you ensure the product will sell, you must check it will generate good profit. You must find a product supplier who offers a price substantially lower than it sells on Amazon.
At the same time, a supplier must be reliable, offer good quality products, and have dependable lead times. Depending on the business model, you will use different types of suppliers.
5. How many products should I buy?
In all business models except dropshipping you need to buy your products first to resell them on Amazon. In such a case, you must decide how many products you need. That is called inventory management.
You can get guidance on how many units of a product you can sell from the estimated sales number in Seller Assistant. The general advice is not to buy too many products (inventory) at the start.
6. How to add my product to Amazon?
When you have a product ready to sell, you must add your offer to Amazon. The Amazon product page is called product listing, while the process is to list a product. That is a place where all buyers get when they look for a product they want to buy on Amazon.
Amazon Optimized Product Listing
You can either add your offer to an existing Amazon listing (if it already exists) or create a new listing (if a product doesn’t exist on Amazon).
Don’t create a new listing if your product already exists on Amazon. Unlike other e-commerce platforms, Amazon doesn’t allow multiple listings of the same product. You must add all offers of the same product to one listing.
7. How to ship the order to the customer?
When you list a product, Amazon will ask you how you are going to ship it to the customer. That is called the fulfillment method.
You can fulfill orders yourself (with Fulfillment by Amazon, FBM) or use Amazon's Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, where they handle storage, picking, packing, shipping, and customer service for a fee.
FBA is a convenient service, but you must carefully account for all related fees so that they don’t eat into your profit margins. You should also remember, that with FBA you must still package the product in line with Amazon’s requirements and send it to Amazon’s warehouse (fulfillment center).
8. How to price a product?
Pricing competitively is key because Amazon chooses what offers it shows on the listing mainly based on the price (that is called a Featured Offer, or Buy Box).
Research what similar products are selling for and factor in all your costs (including Amazon fees) to ensure you make a profit on each sale. Use Seller Assistant’s FBM&FBA Profit Calculator.
9. How to know my product was sold?
If you use Amazon FBA, they take care of shipping orders (buyer’s purchases) to the customers. You don’t need to know exactly when you receive each order because you don’t have to send it to the customer.
However, if you are an FBA seller and ship orders yourself, you must know it immediately to timely process and ship it out. You can get this information in your Seller Central and the Amazon Seller App.
10. How will I get money for the products I sell?
Amazon takes money from the customers and then pays you what you’ve earned. They will deposit your earnings from sales into your seller account, minus any applicable fees. You can then transfer these funds to your bank account.
Related: How to Sell on Amazon Without Inventory?
Selling on Amazon: Beginner’s Guide
If you are interested in getting a detailed overview of how selling on Amazon works in detail, here’s what new sellers on Amazon must consider.
How to Create an Amazon Seller Central Account?
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Individual vs Professional selling plan
Creating an account in Amazon Seller Central step-by-step
Step 1. Prepare your business and personal details
What you need to register a Seller Central account:
- valid government ID or passport;
- bank account or credit card statement;
- valid credit or debit card;
- mobile phone.
Step 2. Choose an Individual or Professional selling plan
- Select an Individual plan if you want to sell single products occasionally. You will be charged $0.99 for every product you sell. This plan will work for you if you plan to sell less than 40 products monthly.
- A Professional plan is a great option if you sell many products (more than 40 products each month). In that case, it will save you money on each sale. With a Professional plan, you’ll pay $39.99 per month. In addition, the Professional plan gives you access to many sales and reporting tools. You can qualify for the Buy Box, enroll in different seller programs, and more.
Amazon selling plans
Step 3. Open the ‘Start selling with Amazon’ sign-in page.some text
- If you want to register for a Professional plan, click the Sign-up button.
‘Start selling with Amazon’ sign-in page
- If you want to register for an Individual plan, scroll down the page and click “Sign up to become an individual seller.”
If you want to register for an Individual plan, scroll down the page and click “Sign up to become an individual seller”
Step 4. Enter your e-mail address and password
When you enter your e-mail address and password. Amazon will send the verification code (OTP) to your e-mail. Type it in the “Enter OTP” field.
Amazon sign-up page
Step 5. Add your business location and business typesome text
- Enter the country where your business is registered or the country where you live.
- Choose your business type from the drop-down; if you are not a business owner, select “None, I am an individual.”
From the drop-down, choose your business type option.
Step 6. Enter your personal and business details
Add your first, middle, and last name, and tick the box “I confirm my business location and type is correct…”
Add your first, middle, and last name, and tick the box “I confirm my business location and type is correct…”
Step 7. Fill in and verify the primary contact person information
Add your country of residence and birth, the address where you live, date of birth, and mobile number, where Amazon will send an SMS with a one-time verification pin. Click the “Send SMS” button, receive the one-time verification pin, and enter it in the pop-up window.
Primary contact person information page
Step 8. Enter your payment method
Add your credit card number, expiration date, and cardholder name.
Step 9. Submit your Amazon store’s namesome text
- Choose any name of your Amazon store that doesn’t exist on Amazon (you can change it later if necessary).
- Confirm that you have the Universal Product Codes (UPCs) for your products. If don’t know, click “Yes” because the majority of the products have these codes.
Store and Product Information page
Step 10. Verify your identity
- Upload images of your passport or driving license, and a bank or credit card statement.
Upload images of your passport or driving license, and a bank or credit card statement.
- Schedule a video call with an Amazon associate to complete the verification and confirm the data you entered.
Identity Verification page
Step 11. Wait until Amazon approves your account.
Related: How to Create an Amazon Seller Central Account
How to Sell on Amazon as an Individual Seller - Complete Guide
What Are Different Amazon Business Models?
Amazon Business Models
Amazon business model is the way you sell products. It defines the kind of product you sell, how and where you get it (sourcing), and the method you deliver the order to the customer (fulfillment).
The five popular Amazon business models include online arbitrage, wholesale, dropshipping, retail arbitrage, and private label.
Online arbitrage
Amazon online arbitrage (OA) is a business model of buying cheaper-priced products from one online retailer and reselling them for profit on another marketplace — Amazon.
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Online Arbitrage on Amazon
How does online arbitrage work?
The main target of online arbitrage sellers is to find profitable deals. That means, finding a product on the online retailer, discounter, or other store to resell on Amazon with essential profit.
3 key things to know about online arbitrage
Winning product is key
The most important step in online arbitrage is to find the right product to sell. You must choose a popular product that is not sold by many sellers. It must not have issues like restrictions and other alerts and should bring the profit you want.
Product research takes time
Choosing a product for Amazon is called product research. This task is challenging and can take time and effort, but it's essential to do it right to avoid costly mistakes. You can use Amazon seller tools like Seller Assistant to simplify product research.
Check products for restrictions and flags
Before selling products, you must always check them for restrictions (you need Amazon’s approval to sell them), and other flags (fragile, meltable, oversize products, etc.). That is because all that may mean either extra hassle or costs. Seller Assistant helps detect these product issues.
What does it cost to start online arbitrage?
Online arbitrage is low-cost to start, the main cost is buying products. You can start this business with as little as $500.
Related: Amazon Online Arbitrage: How to Make Money
Online Arbitrage for Beginners
10 Reasons Why People Fail With Amazon FBA Online Arbitrage
Wholesale
Wholesale is a business model of purchasing products in bulk at a discounted price from a manufacturer, supplier, or distributor and then reselling them to Amazon customers for a profit. The profit comes from selling the products at a higher retail price than the wholesale price.
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Wholesale on Amazon
How does wholesale work?
Wholesale differs from other business models by selling products in large quantities. The main target of wholesale sellers is to obtain the lowest possible prices for popular products and the best purchase conditions. That is because they resell these products on Amazon and aim to get maximum profit from each product. To do so, wholesale sellers must contact the brand, manufacturer, or big distributor to get the best prices.
3 key things to know about wholesale
Wholesale is different from other business models, and there are several crucial things to keep in mind when selling with it.
High profits are generated by big investment
Wholesale is one of the most profitable business models but requires essential upfront investment because you must buy many products. Wholesale sellers get low prices directly from brands and can get a good profit on each product. Multiplied by the large number of purchased products they generate thousands of dollars when sold.
Finding wholesale suppliers is a challenge
Popular brands often have an established sales distribution network. That makes it challenging to convince them to sell to one more seller – you. Persuading a brand to work with you requires building a relationship and demonstrating how your business can benefit theirs.
Product research helps avoid risks
Wholesale sellers buy products in bulk and must invest significant upfront costs. Therefore, it's essential to ensure that the products you buy are profitable and won't create issues when selling them, such as intellectual property complaints, restrictions, or product flags, which can lead to financial losses. Wholesale sellers avoid risks with product-sourcing tools like Seller Assistant.
What does it cost to start wholesale?
Starting wholesale is costly. Initial investment can be as high as $2000 and up.
Related: Amazon Wholesale: All You Need To Know
How To Negotiate Prices With Amazon FBA Wholesale Suppliers
Online Arbitrage vs Wholesale on Amazon. What is the difference?
How to Find Amazon FBA Wholesale Suppliers
Dropshipping
Amazon dropshipping is a business model where a seller lists products on Amazon without physically holding the inventory. The dropshipper lists the product on Amazon, receives an order from the buyer, and then requests the supplier to ship it directly to the consumer.
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Dropshipping on Amazon
How does dropshipping work?
With dropshipping, the seller selects a profitable Amazon product and finds a supplier that agrees to ship it directly to the customer. The seller then lists the product on Amazon and notifies the supplier when a customer places an order. The supplier ships the product directly to the customer, and the seller acts as a middleman between the supplier and the customer.
The profit is generated by the difference between the supplier's lower price and the seller's higher price.
3 key things to know about dropshipping
Amazon dropshipping policy
Amazon has specific requirements for dropshippers. Dropshippers must identify themselves as sellers of record and issue all product-related documents in their name. Additionally, dropshippers must remove all third-party retailer signs from the product and packaging. That can be challenging because they don’t see the inventory and have to rely on the supplier to do that.
IP complaints are a challenge
As a dropshipper, you often resell other brands’ products. However, some brands have policies against reselling their products, and they may file intellectual property complaints to Amazon. That may result in listing or account suspension and money loss. To avoid this issue, sellers can use Seller Assistant's IP Alert feature, which alerts them about such products.
Seller Assistant's IP Alert feature
Choose a supplier with care
Because dropshippers don’t deal with the inventory, they have little control over the product quality and shipping times. To reduce these risks of dropshipping, you must choose a reliable supplier that will ship your products on time and in saleable condition.
What does it cost to start dropshipping?
This model is the least expensive to start. You don’t need to invest in inventory upfront. Your only costs are Amazon fees and product-sourcing software.
Related: Online Arbitrage vs Dropshipping: Which Business Model Is Best For You?
New Dropshipping Strategy That Complies With Amazon’s Policy
Retail arbitrage
Amazon retail arbitrage is a business model where sellers buy products from brick-and-mortar stores retail stores at a discount and resell them on Amazon for a profit. This model is great for sellers who like shopping and visiting stores. However, it is a very time-consuming business because you must roam the stores physically.
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Retail Arbitrage on Amazon
How does retail arbitrage work?
Amazon retail arbitrage seller’s target is to find in offline retail stores the products that are priced lower than on Amazon. To do so, they visit stores that offer products at low prices. That could be stores having sales or clearance, liquidation stores, and promotional or discounted offers. When they find such products and make sure they are profitable, buy them and list them on Amazon.
3 key things to know about retail arbitrage
You must research products in-store
With retail arbitrage, you must use a barcode scanner to scan product codes with a mobile app in-store to match them with Amazon products. That is necessary for the app to show you which listing corresponds to your product on Amazon. The app will show product profitability and other data, and you must decide on the spot if you should buy a product you find in a retail store. You must do it quickly because you must instantly buy the products (the next day, the discount may be gone).
Time-consuming model
It takes much time to physically travel from one store to another to find profitable deals and choose the products. You must scan their barcodes and check products one by one on the go.
You must replenish inventory physically
With retail arbitrage, you must go to the physical store to get more inventory when you need to restock it. That can require additional time, effort, and mileage.
What does it cost to start retail arbitrage?
To start retail arbitrage on Amazon, you don’t need much money. You pay Amazon fees and buy cheaper-priced products to sell on Amazon. The startup cost can be around $500.
Related: Online Arbitrage vs Retail Arbitrage on Amazon
Private Label
Private label (PL) is a business model where sellers create and sell products under their own brand instead of reselling existing brands. These products are typically manufactured by a third-party manufacturer but customized, packaged, and marketed by the seller to establish their brand identity on Amazon.
How does private label work?
With private label differs from other models by creating your own brand. You can either manufacture the products yourself or hire a company to make them for you. You must identify profitable product opportunities through extensive market research, find reliable manufacturers, and develop your brand including a name, logo, and packaging design.
Related: Amazon Private Label vs Online Arbitrage – What is the difference?
3 key things to know about private label
Private label brand is an asset
One of the advantages of the private label model is that you own both the brand and the product. This makes PL a valuable asset. If your Amazon business is successful, you can sell it, and the purchase price is often higher than with other business models.
Lower-competition model
A private label product is trademarked, and you have exclusive rights to it. Therefore, other sellers cannot sell these products, and you can be the only seller in the Buy Box.
Higher investment and risks
Compared to other models, starting a private label business takes more time and effort. You need to select a product and arrange for its manufacturing. Typically, it takes 4-6 months to launch a PL product. Because a private label brand is new to the market and has no sales history, it is difficult to predict how well it will sell. Therefore, there is a risk involved when investing money in a PL business.
What does it cost to start a private label?
Launching a private label product requires big money to produce and promote it. On average, Amazon sellers spend $2,500 or more to launch private label products.
Related: Amazon Business Models Guide 2024
How to choose a model for your Amazon business?
Your choice of a business model must be individual, and depend on your resources, sales experience, and product type. Below you can find some tips to help you select the one that fits you.
How to choose a model for your Amazon business_
Tip 1. Start small and test
Start selling with one of the business models that are easy to set up and don’t require a high upfront investment. That will help learn to sell on Amazon without much risk. Dropshipping or online arbitrage are good options if you want to start selling on Amazon.
Tip 2. Consider your budget
Look at the startup costs associated with each model. Private label and wholesale models require more upfront capital than online arbitrage, retail arbitrage, and dropshipping models.
Tip 3. Consider your product knowledge
Assess your product research skills. While online arbitrage and dropshipping require product research, product sourcing tool Seller Assistant, can essentially simplify this task. Wholesale sellers can also use it to validate wholesale products. On the other hand, with the private label, you need to do extensive market analysis and understand the product manufacturing process, branding, and marketing.
Tip 4. Don’t focus on one model
Choosing the right business model is an ongoing process. As you gain experience and scale your business, you can adapt your business model type to your new needs and goals. For example, many successful Amazon sellers have grown their online arbitrage business to wholesale.
Related: Amazon Business Models: How to Choose the Right One?
What to Sell on Amazon?
Choosing what to sell is one of the most important tasks of any Amazon seller. Ultimately, the right product makes you money, while with a problematic item, you can lose all you invested. But how do I select what to sell? What should I look at?
What to Sell on Amazon
Selecting what to sell involves 3 parts: choosing a product category, product research (checking the product for the criteria we will discuss below), and finding a product supplier.
Note. In some business models, the process will look differently, however, you will still need to do product research. For example, wholesale sellers start by finding a supplier, then research the list of products they get from that supplier, and choose the most profitable of them to sell (direct sourcing, discussed below).
How to choose an Amazon product category to sell?
Amazon uses categories to group similar items together. This makes it easier for shoppers to find what they're looking for and for sellers to list their products in the right place. Amazon divides products into main categories and subcategories.
Example: If you sell a smartphone, you must list it in the "Cell Phones & Accessories" subcategory under the larger "Electronics" category.
Some product categories are more popular than others, and you must remember that when choosing a product. Below you can find the categories rated by popularity among sellers.
Top Amazon product categories
Top Amazon product categories
Tips for choosing what Amazon category to sell
If you are not sure how to make your category choice, you can use our tips below.
Tips for choosing what Amazon category to sell
Tip 1. Check if the category is restricted
Start by finding out if the category you're considering is restricted (gated). Gated categories require Amazon's approval to sell. That may mean additional steps like submitting invoices to Amazon and other document verification. In addition, as a new seller, Amazon may not approve you to sell in a restricted category, so it’s better to avoid such categories.
Tip 2. Look for a balance between popularity and competition
Some categories are more popular than others. However, selling in popular categories often means higher competition because everyone wants to sell popular products. Look for categories with a good balance of demand and competition
Tip 3. Consider subcategories
Don't just focus on the main category, explore subcategories. A subcategory might offer a more targeted audience – customers looking for products of your kind.
Tip 4. Use your knowledge and experience
Start selling with what you are interested in and know about. That will be easier for you to handle and get involved with.
Related: Top Amazon Product Categories
How to choose your first product?
When you’ve chosen the category for your products, it’s time to start looking for your first product. In essence, that means you must ensure it meets specific criteria for best-selling products. This is called product sourcing.
To simplify this process, sellers use a product research checklist and make sure the product meets that checklist. If it does, that’s a profitable deal you can sell without hesitation.
Amazon Product Research Criteria
To research a product, we will use Seller Assistant, a popular and effective product-sourcing platform. It allows you to choose items with good profit potential and no issues. It also helps find reliable suppliers with competitive prices.
13 steps to choosing your Amazon product
Step 1. Remove the referral from the product link
Make sure the product link you use doesn’t contain a referral (part of the link, starting with ref=). It can give you wrong information about the product. For example, you may not see all seller offers or product variations (different sizes and colors of the same product).
How to do it. Delete the part of the link, starting with ref= and refresh the page.
To get correct product data, you must remove the referral from the link
Step 2. Check a product for IP alerts
Before selling a product you must make sure it doesn’t have IP (intellectual property) complaints.
IP complaints happen when brands complain to Amazon that other sellers resell that brand’s product without its permission. Amazon will not allow you to list such products because they are trademarked.
How to do it. You can detect products with IP complaints with Seller Assistan’s IP Alert feature. It shows the red triangle icon if a product has IP complaints and the type of IP complaint. That means you must stay away from that product and brand.
Seller Assistant App’s advanced IP Alert feature shows the red triangle icon if a product has IP complaints and explains why
Step 3. Check competition by FBA seller count
The next step helps avoid products with high competition. If many sellers compete, they drop the price and you can lose much of the profit.
The «good» count of FBA seller offers must range from 2 to 15.
- The minimum number of 2 sellers shows that a product is not sold by a brand owner and it doesn’t file IP complaints if someone else sells that brand’s products;
- The maximum number of 15 sellers shows that the competition is too high. If that is the case, the product price can drop because the sellers engage in a price war. That means price dumping and low profits.
How to do it. You can see the count of FBA sellers with Seller Assistant. It shows the count of FBA and FBM sellers on the product and search pages. The number on a blue background is the count of all FBA or FBM sellers. The number on the white background next to it is the count of FBA or FBM sellers offering the Buy Box price +5% (your potential competitors).
Seller Assistant App shows the number of FBA and FBM offers
Related: How to Avoid a Price War on Amazon
Step 4. Check if Amazon is a seller
Amazon can sell some products as a seller in its own marketplace. If Amazon sells a product, it is not suitable for selling. That is because it is almost impossible to compete with them. As a huge retailer, they always get the best offer. Therefore, it’s better to find another product to sell.
How to do it. You can see if Amazon is a Buy Box seller with Seller Assistant. It shows the Red Amazon icon on the product and search pages.
If Amazon is a seller, Seller Assistant App shows the red Amazon icon on the product pages
Step 5. Check out the listing age
The product listing must be old enough so that you can see how the product sales and price behaved over time. The «good» listing age is half a year or more.
How to do it. You can see that on the chart integrated within Seller Assistant (it’s called Keepa charts). If a product is new, the chart will not show you any data before a certain period.
Check out the listing age
Step 6. Find out how well the product sells
Amazon doesn’t show how many products are sold per month. However, you must know how much you can sell.
Amazon has a special indicator called Best Sellers Rank (BSR) to estimate how good (or bad) the product sells, but it doesn’t give you the number of sales. It shows the sales trend. The lower the rank, the better the product sells. It constantly changes, so you must look at the average BSR over 90 days.
How to do it. Seller Assistant calculates how many products you can potentially sell per month in the Sales field. Drops (BSR drops) show how many products were sold during 30, 90, and 180 days.
You can also see BSR figures with Seller Assistant. If the BSR number is green and the arrow beside it points down, the product is a good option for selling. If the BSR number is red and the arrow beside it points up, the product is not a good option for selling.
To estimate him well the product sells, look at BSR trend, drops, sales velocity, and sales based on BSR
Related: Amazon Best Sellers Rank – Everything You Need to Know
Step 7. Estimate the selling price
Look at the maximum and minimum price and average Buy Box price (the offers Amazon considers the best and shows on the listing).
How to do it. Seller Assistant shows the average Buy Box price (Avg BB), and if it goes up or down compared to a 90-day price (green arrow up or red arrow down). It also shows the lowest FBA (Min FBA) and lowest FBM (Min FBM) prices. You can set your price somewhere in between. You can use this price level to calculate if your product will bring profit.
Buy Box
Related: What is Buy Box? How to Win Buy Box on Amazon
Step 8. Research if the product has variations
Amazon variations are different attributes of the same products such as size, color, style, etc. grouped on one listing.
If a product has variations, not all of them will sell equally well. If you want to sell a product with variations, you must select one of the best-selling variations. However, the BSR doesn’t show which sells the best because it is calculated for the whole variation family (all variations together).
How to do it. Seller Assistant’s Variation Viewer lets you quickly see all variations' rating share, total ratings, and the rating percentage per variation (Share). The highest rating percentage indicates the most profitable variations. Variation Viewer also shows if a variation is out of stock.
View Variations
Related: How to Add a Variation to an Existing Amazon Listing — Сomplete Guide
Step 9. Look at product reviews
Reviews are buyer feedback about a product in the form of a star rating or a text. The rating ranges from 1 to 5 stars. If a shopper rated your product over three stars, it is a positive review. If the product has less than three stars, it’s a bad review.
How to do it. Seller Assistant shows reviews on the separate Keepa chart. A «good» product must have reviews. If it doesn’t, it has too recent sales history or doesn’t sell. The average rating must be 4-5 stars, and it must not have many negative reviews.
Reviews are available on the separate Keepa chart built into Seller Assistant App
Step 10. Verify selling eligibility and restrictions
Certain products require Amazon's approval for sale. You may not be eligible to sell some products on your account. You must check that before buying products because Amazon may not allow you to add them to the listing.
How to do it. Seller Assistant shows a green open lock icon if you can sell a product and a red closed lock icon if you can’t.
If you see a green open lock icon in Seller Assistant, you can sell a product
Step 11. Check product for flags
Product flags are alerts prompting that a product can create problems when you sell it on Amazon.
Examples are oversize, fragile, meltable, hazmat, adult, and other products. Most of them are restricted categories. Even if not, they require extra shipping costs like heavy and bulky, hazmat, and fragile, or you can’t add your offer to the listing like with generic brands.
Also, some are not sold all year round like meltables. Some categories are processed in special Amazon fulfillment centers, which delays shipment (oversize, hazmat).
That means it’s better to avoid such products.
How to do it. Seller Assistant shows all product flags directly on the Amazon product and search pages.
Seller Assistant flag icons legend
- Closed Red Lock icon — you can’t sell the product on your account, or it belongs to a restricted category;
- Red Triangle icon — IP alert;
- Red Box icon — a product is oversize;
- Red Glass — a product is fragile;
- Red Drop — a product is meltable;
- Hazmat icon — a product belongs to the hazardous materials;
- 18+ — a product belongs to Adult goods;
- Red Amazon icon — Amazon is a Buy Box seller;
- GB — generic brand (you can’t add your offer to the listing).
Product restrictions
Related: Seller Assistant : What Products to Avoid Selling on Amazon?
Step 12. Assess estimated sales
Estimated sales are how many product units you can sell per month. Your target estimated sales depend on how much you plan to make to cover expenses and make enough profit.
How to do it. Seller Assistant calculates estimated sales for each product if you become one more seller on the listing. The figure appears in the ‘Est’ line. This helps you understand if you can sell as many units as you expect.
Seller Assistant calculates estimated sales for each product
Step 13. Calculate product profitability
ROI (Return on Investment) shows how profitable your Amazon business is. Typically, anything above 10% is considered a “good” ROI for your Amazon business. If your ROI is more than 10%, the product is OK to sell. To calculate ROI, you must divide net profit by total investment.
How to do it. At this point, you will only need an estimated ROI to have an idea if a product is profitable (or not). To calculate ROI, you must know the Cost of Goods Sold (COG, the product price at the supplier). You can look up the price at several suppliers and take the average. Seller Assistant’s Quick Links allow you to quickly search products on Google, Google Shopping, eBay, Walmart, Target, Webstaurant, Katom, The Home Depot, and Alibaba, and find the suppliers and prices. To do that, click on the search icon, and in the drop-down, select a website you want to search. You will be redirected to search results.
Seller Assistant provides quick links to search products on dif
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Zonbase's Complete Beginner's Tutorial guides through the various stages of selling on Amazon, starting from Account Setup to Advertising Choices, Selling Costs, and Much More.
