Amazon has more than two million sellers who sell billions of dollars worth of items every year.
Are you currently selling items on Amazon? Do you feel that you’re earning as much revenue from these sales as you ought to?
If you’re not happy with your current Amazon sales, it’s important to take a closer look at your sales strategy.
A lot of sellers make mistakes that keep them from being as successful as they’d like to be.
Read on to learn about eight common mistakes people make when selling things on Amazon.
1. Not Optimizing Product Listings
One of the most common Amazon selling mistakes people make is neglecting to optimize their product listings appropriately.
Many people don’t realize that Amazon functions like other search engines in many ways. If you want people to buy your products, you need to make sure they can find them.
There are a lot of strategies you can utilize to optimize your product listings.
Start by making sure you’re using the right keywords. Do some keyword research beforehand so that you know which keywords people are likely to use when they’re searching for products like yours.
Make sure you’re abiding by Amazon’s listing rules, too (this includes sticking to character limits, avoiding writing in all caps, avoiding symbols, etc.).
2. Sharing Incomplete or Incorrect Product Data
In addition to optimizing your product listings, you also need to check to make sure you’re sharing the right information about your products. Amazon will penalize you if your product descriptions are not written correctly.
It can be challenging to make sure your product descriptions are correct and complete. This is especially true when you’re selling hundreds or thousands of products on the site.
To simplify the process, make sure you’re sticking to Amazon’s Inventory File Templates. This will help you make sure your items are in the right categories and that they’re described in sufficient detail.
3. Overselling
Avoid overselling your products, too.
Nobody wants to purchase a product only to find out later than the seller ran out of that item and won’t be able to ship it to them when they originally said they could.
Overselling almost guarantees you a bad online review. It can also lead to your account being penalized and even suspended.
Make sure you’re staying on top of your inventory so you’re never in danger of overselling.
You may want to invest in integration software that helps you keep track of inventory. This is especially helpful when you’re selling across several different channels.
4. Late Fulfillment
Late fulfillment is another huge no-no in the Amazon selling world. When people shop on Amazon, they expect to receive their products as quickly as possible.
If it takes you forever to get an item packaged and shipped out, you’re not going to get the kind of positive reviews you need to help more people see your products.
Even if you can’t guarantee two-day free shipping like Amazon can, you at least need to make sure you’re providing customers with reasonable shipping times and rates. You also need to stick to those shipping times as closely as possible.
5. Slow Responses to Customer Inquiries
The faster you respond to customer inquiries, the better.
These days, nobody wants to have to wait around to receive an answer about a product or figure out why it’s taking so long to get to them.
Remember that, on Amazon, you have 24 hours to respond to customer inquiries — it doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend or a holiday.
If you take too long to respond, you could end up getting penalized or even having your account suspended altogether.
Make sure you’re checking your Amazon account on a regular basis so you don’t accidentally miss any customer inquiries.
6. Forgetting About Taxes
Don’t forget to fill out your Tax Settings as soon as you start selling on Amazon — and, if you haven’t done this yet, go do it right now!
Filling out your tax settings properly will help you avoid getting an unpleasant surprise from the IRS and having to cover a hefty tax liability.
If you’re totally confused by the idea of collecting sales tax from your customers, you might want to utilize Amazon’s state tax collecting service. This service is very affordable and can help to simplify the process for you.
7. Not Asking for Reviews
Customer reviews can make or break your Amazon seller account. Positive reviews will help to boost your sales and get your products in front of more people. Negative reviews will hurt your sales and could even penalize your account.
Make sure you’re asking your customers for reviews. Follow up purchases by asking about the customer’s experiencing and encouraging them to leave an honest review online.
If you do receive a negative review, don’t panic or try to have it taken down. Understand what went wrong and make an effort to fix the problem.
8. Competing with Amazon
Finally, avoid competing with Amazon. Before you decide to sell a particular item on Amazon, check to make sure it’s not already being sold.
Competing against Amazon Retail is not a smart business strategy.
They can almost always afford to charge less for the same products. You’re going to have a hard time convincing buyers that your product is better than the one affiliated with Amazon.
Stick to unique products that Amazon isn’t already selling to increase your chances of being a successful seller.
Need More Tips for Selling Things on Amazon?
Are you guilty of any of these mistakes when selling things on Amazon? If so, then it’s time to make some changes to the way you do business.
Of course, it can be hard to optimize your online selling strategy, especially if you’re new to the world of selling products on Amazon.
If you need help selling things on Amazon and getting the most from your sales, we’re here to help at Marketplace Valet.
Contact us today to learn more about our services and what we can do for you. We can’t wait to help you start maximizing your sales!
