Avoid These
A common mistake sellers make when creating listings on Amazon is they think adding a product and image will be enough to sell products. The marketplace has become so competitive that nowadays, there’s a lot more that goes into creating a successful listing. If your business uploads an improperly optimized listing in a competitive category, there is a good chance your listing will never be seen through organic traffic. In addition, if you were to run paid traffic to the un-optimized listing there is a good chance you that your ad spend would be wasted and you’d see little to no conversions, and in turn hurt your listing in organic placement on Amazon.
The goal is to sell and sell a lot on Amazon. However, overselling and running out of stock on Amazon can not only hurt your product listing but it can also hurt your Amazon seller account as a whole. Amazon is focused on providing the best customer experience possible. Maintaining inventory will help establish a stronger selling rating with Amazon and help build trust with the consumer.
For something so simple, this Amazon seller mistake can really cost you. When you receive a message from a customer you have 24 hours to respond regardless of the time or day of the week. Amazon takes customer service very seriously and will penalize your account if you don’t respond in a timely manner. If you receive too many penalties your Amazon Seller or Vendor account can be suspended. The sooner you reply the better. Good customer communication can often help make the sale and save yourself from a bad review.
One of the most common Amazon seller mistakes is not understanding your margins. Between the product cost, shipping cost and Amazon fees it can be hard for sellers to be profitable. Amazon’s fee structure is the following:
| Seller Fee | Amount | Based on |
| Referral Fee | Ranges from 6% to 20%, most sellers pay 15% | Category |
| Minimum Referral Fee | $0-$2, if Referral fee is under minimum fee | Category |
| Variable Closing Fee | $1.80 | All Media Categories |
Due to the amount of competition on Amazon, advertising on the platform has become a must. Especially for new sellers or brands that are just joining the Amazon marketplace.
So understanding and avoiding the five Amazon seller mistakes above will help you to run a successful channel on Amazon. Understanding your margins, having a fully optimized listing, providing great customer service,keeping up with inventory and being sure to invest in Amazon Advertising will help drive traffic and generate conversions for your products on Amazon.
Amazon gives a guide and general rules to follow to when creating content. The Amazon style guides can be found Amazon Services Quick Start Style Guide. Each category has its own guidelines and is displayed differently on the Amazon platform so it’s important to understand what template you are uploading your product into and how it will display. You can find the templates for specific categories at Templates for Specific Categories.
