Common Amazon Seller Mistakes
Whether you’re a new seller on Amazon or have been selling online for decades, you will inevitably going to make mistakes from time to time. Some of them will be minor, while others might have the potential to negatively impact your online ecommerce business.
As such ,we’ve put together a list of some of the most common Amazon seller mistakes so you can avoid making them yourself.
1) Do not break the rules
This is probably the most common mistake that new (and even veteran) sellers make when they start selling on Amazon. The truth is you cannot get past Amazon’s rules and Terms of Service. Nobody can. This is why we strongly recommend familiarising yourself with the Terms of Service before you even start listing products.
Most people break the rules unknowingly, and get their Amazon accounts suspended, sometimes permanently. Having your account suspended can be an expensive (especially if you’ve already sent inventory to Amazon for Fulfillment By Amazon) mistake. Your ecommerce career could end, or at least be put on hold, before it even begins.
So, if you’re unsure about something, don’t just forge on – do your research and find out the right answer.
2) Slow/Bad customer service
Amazon expects sellers to respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours. It doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend or a holiday – you have 24 hours to answer. Sellers who make the mistake of not responding within that time frame will get a warning from Amazon. And if you receive too many warnings, your account may get suspended.
We know that sometimes it can be difficult to reply within 24 hours, but try your best!
3) Don’t choose a flooded niche!
This is yet another very common mistake by new sellers on Amazon, they choose a niche that is already completely full.
You don’t want to try to sell generic women’s dresses or men’s t-shirts when there are already more than 250,000 of them being offered online. This is where research is important. While you might think that a certain product is feasible, and it seems to be a product that your business can get behind, if it’s in a flooded market, you won’t likely be successful.
4) Mismanaging your inventory
One of the worst mistakes you can make as an online seller is running out of stock. On Amazon, this can lower your ranking, but more importantly, this can result in dissatisfied customers. Staying on top of your inventory tracking is crucial. That means that you need to monitor your stock levels regularly.
This means that you have to know when you’re about to run out of your best-selling products. You have to be on top of it, all the time! But having too many products in stock also isn’t good, because it takes up precious storage space in your warehouse.
5) Don’t complete with Amazon
Seriously, you won’t stand a chance. Don’t even think about selling the exact same products as Amazon retail. Don’t waste your time, money, and energy selling the same products. You won’t win. Concentrate on staying ahead of your competitors and try not to pay attention to what Amazon does with products like yours. Luckily, there are enough types of products out there, and people looking to buy them, that you can have a lucrative ecommerce business without taking Amazon head-on.
6) Entering incorrect prices or quantities
When you create a listing on Amazon, the pricing and inventory quantities are live nearly immediately. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t provide a “sandbox” to practice your product listing skills. If you have no inventory, indicate zero inventory; if you have inventory, don’t overstate your quantity.
Far too many new sellers are surprised to find out how quickly inventory can sell on Amazon, and when you oversell, that can start a painful chain effect that often leads to account suspension — quickly.
And don’t play with low pricing if you don’t mean to offer products at those low prices. I’ve seen many sellers lose thousands of dollars when they accidentally apply a low price — like $0.01 or $1.00 — on a new listing. Thanks to deal sites and Internet-fast word of mouth, a deal like that can often get sold out overnight when the seller isn’t paying attention, resulting in a significant loss.
On every new listing, make sure you apply a true price and inventory level so you don’t get burned.
7) Pointing Amazon Shoppers to Your Website
Several sellers have tried including a URL in their product or seller information (such as their product inventory file or business name. This is an Amazon policy violation.
Amazon is a closed ecosystem, which can be a disadvantage for retargeting (remarketing) and branding opportunities. Amazon’s marketplace design and notoriety grant your store to a large shopper base- but that comes at the price of losing the ability to point shoppers back to a seller website.
Take advantage of other selling channels and strategies to increase site traffic and retarget customers rather than trying to game Amazon.
Conclusion
The golden rule is quite simple here: the customer is your main priority. Make sure they can understand what you are selling, make sure you reply to their messages within 24h, and make sure they are happy! And if your customers are happy, they are more than likely to come back to you.
