Wait! Read this before you sell on Amazon!
In the rapidly growing eCommerce giant, aptly named Amazon, there’s enough for everyone. Anyone with something to sell can do business on Amazon and earn their share of the billion dollar industry.
Well, at least that’s what we all are lead to believe.
What is truth, though? Is it what we see or is it shrouded in a mystery we do not care to understand or is it hidden in plain sight, where we all are looking at it but we just cannot see?
In this heavily booming world, it could be anything. Almost anything is possible these, at least it seems to be. Nothing surprises me anymore and I bet it’s the same with you.
Whatever it might be, we all want to be a part of it. We want to have a big slice of pizza that Amazon is making. The question is, it it wise? Is it wise to enter these unknown tides just with the hope of making it big? Even if there is light at the end of the tunnel, is it the light we are looking for?
To understand all the chaos, I wanted answers to the questions that can help me take the decision and boy was I right? There is certainly a chance to make it big ( however small ) on Amazon but there are things that I need to concern my already confused mind with. Things that I am going to share with you if you want a slice too.
What to sell?
Certainly the most obvious question that hit my mind when I first decided to sell online. I had heard that the billions of people visiting Amazon would all be my prospective customers but my logic, for once, didn’t leave me.
I mean not all the people visiting Amazon would buy what I offered. Why would a man buy a polka dot skirt? or why would a woman buy a Beard oil, for example. I am telling you the hard facts here. If you keep looking deeper, your list of prospective buyers comes down to probably a few thousand or even a few hundreds depending on what you sell.
And not every prospective buyer will actually buy. Some might buy from a different seller ( because there are so many, huge competition: another issue ) or they might not buy at all.
In spite of all this, I still have a shot at it as long as I choose my items based on popular demand and availability of such products on Amazon. Basically I need to choose something that has huge demand but is not available on Amazon, abundantly.
Which brings me to my next concern.
How will I ship everything I sell?
Well, with Amazon, I did not have to worry a lot with this one. Since amazon has various fulfillment models that allows me to choose the best that suits me.
There is Fulfilled by Merchant, meaning I will have to handle everything from the inventory and shipping to the refunds and returns. This would take a lot of my time which it is out of the question.
Next is Easy ship, where Amazon picks up the products from an inventory that I hold once an order is placed and takes care of the shipping from there on. Although I still have to worry about the returns and refunds.
Supposing I can manage inventory and the post purchase choirs, I can do with this one but it will be huge pain if the sales increase, if they ever increase that is.
The only option that remains is the fulfillment by Amazon, in which Amazon takes care of everything before and after the purchase. All I need to do is let them handle my products in their inventory and they will process my orders as they come. This is probably the best option because registering in FBA has other perks too, but that is a story for another post.
Of course none of these services will be free of cost, which brings me to my next concern.
How much will I pay Amazon?
Because amazon never gets tired of providing options, there are two different types of seller accounts based on which the fees will be decided: an Individual plan and a Professional plan.
The Individual plan is for people like me, who expect to sell fewer than 40 items per month. For them, there is no monthly subscription fee. However, they will have to pay $0.99 per item plus a referral fee and a variable closing fee to Amazon, when and if you make a sale.
The Professional plan, for others, who expect to sell more than 40 items per month have to pay a monthly subscription fee of $39.99 to Amazon, but the $0.99 per item fee is waived.
What’s a referral fee? Well you can go through this fee chart here to know the charges.
The percentage is based on the category your product belongs to. The minimum referral fee is $1, which means you’ll pay that to Amazon for every item you sell.
The variable closing fee is applicable only to media (books, music, videos, DVDs, video games, consoles and software).
The closing fee is $1.80 per media item sold.
All things said, I still believe it’s a long shot but maybe it’s worth a try. What is that good old saying?
“It’s better to have tried and failed than to have not tried at all”
In case you make it big, message me, I might charge you for telling you this as well. In other times do follow my blog and SellerGyan for more info regarding selling online.
Until next time!
