Now that you have set up your store on Amazon and are up and Selling on Amazon FBA, it’s time to understand some pitfalls as well. These pitfalls will help you stay on track if you are informed about them and be able to take appropriate actions to counter them.
Since it is easy for new sellers to get caught up in the excitement of selling on Amazon FBA to millions of shoppers worldwide, they often do not pay attention to the flaws. We have gathered a few points which you should understand to avoid any losses while selling on Amazon FBA.
Here are the 7 most common issues you may come across while Selling on Amazon FBA:
- Tax Setup:
Many sellers While Selling on Amazon FBA, forget to set up the tax thinking that Amazon will take care of everything. While Amazon may be willing to collect taxes on behalf of its sellers, it does charge a fee for the same which also includes remittances. To me, this seems unnecessary as it can eat away your margins. A good idea is to collect your taxes and pay your liabilities on time to avoid incurring long dues.
When you sign up for your Amazon account, fill out “Tax Settings” in Seller Central before making any sales. This way you will not have any tar surprise at the end of your financial year.
- Incorrect Prices and Inventory:
When you create a listing on Amazon, the prices go live immediately as there is no option for a practice box where you can see everything before it goes live. Indicate zero inventory if you do not have one. Also, do not overstate if you have an inventory. Overselling may also lead to account suspension.
Check your prices before you list your products and do not indicate low prices if you do not wish to sell your products at those prices. Apply true price on every listing to save any loses.
- Wrong Product Listings:
‘Almost’ is not considered good on Amazon. Try to match your products to the correct listing and double check it. Stating it’s “almost” the same colour, or “almost” the same style may not work in your favour and customers may turn to other sellers. It is your responsibility to ensure that your products are listed under appropriate listing. You can also get suspended for not correctly matching your products to the listing in the catalogue if a customer complains.
- Slow Customer Service:
As an Amazon seller who are Selling on Amazon FBA, you get 24 hours to respond to each customer inquiry received, irrespective of the time of day, or of the week. Amazon can ding you if you take more than 24 hours to answer and too many dings will result in your account getting suspended. However, there is a workaround for this. There are eternal softwares to address this issue and Reply Manager is one of them and offers reply assistance for staffing gaps.
- Customer Feedback:
Customer feedback is tracked for quality (e.g., 5 out of 5 stars), as well as for quantity (typically 2-5 percent of all sales should get feedback). Amazon’s Seller Policing Department for Seller Performance & Product Quality checks this.
This applies to even large and established sellers and they are expected to get continuous feedback from the customers.
- Fulfillment Errors:
There are some sellers who when new to the system of FBA tend to make mistakes in Selling on Amazon FBA such as late shipping, error in providing shipping information, or cancellation of orders due to unavailability of the products. They also tend to forget to inform Amazon about it. Therefore, it is imperative to get things in order from the very start of your FBA service.
As a new seller who just starts selling on Amazon FBA, you should make sure the first 10 orders are perfectly fulfilled – shipped on time, and their tracking information is timely entered into the Amazon system.
- Competing Against Amazon:
This one is a bit tricky. If your products compete directly with Amazon Retail, don’t expect to get many sales, or at profitable levels. Since Amazon Retail controls its ability to win the competitive sale even at unprofitable levels, you are sure to lose and leave.
It is a good practice to check whether Amazon Retail sells the same items today for which you plan to buy an inventory. You can also make use of free tools like CamelCamelCamel.com or Keepa.com which will help you find if Amazon Retail has recently offered that product but may be currently out of stock.
Conclusion:
Read the above pitfalls carefully and make no mistake while selling on Amazon FBA. Apply these while you set up your seller account on Amazon and enjoy the joy of selling to millions of shoppers looking for your products online. For any assistance on Selling on Amazon FBA and its setup for your store, you can contact WebBee Global and the experts will assist you thoroughly. 2018-04-11 08:05:18