Amazon Seller Best Practices: 4 Habits of the Best Sellers

Don’t assume that selling on the world’s largest online marketplace is an instant ticket to riches. If you don’t follow rules and adopt Amazon seller best practices, the road to success will be long and uphill.

But have no fear: We’re here to empower you to make the smartest possible decisions with your Amazon store.

That’s why we’ve put together a short list of Amazon seller best practices that you can start using today.

These aren’t the same as the in-depth Seller Best Practices that Amazon published on its site. The image below is just a small sample of Amazon’s own seller best practices, and you should definitely get to know those, too!

The best practices that follow come directly from top Amazon sellers.

The beauty of the habits we highlighted is that if you adopt just one, you’ll see positive effects right away.

Read on to see which Amazon seller best practices you already follow and which ones you should start using today.

1. Plan ahead and stay organized

Planning and organization are vital best practices for Amazon sellers because there’s so much to think about every day.

If you’re just starting out, this could mean organizing your inventory into the most logical categories on Amazon. It could also mean planning your sourcing process and organizing your supplier network.

If you’ve been selling for a while, it could mean planning logistics for shipping and inventory replenishment. For some sellers, it could also entail researching and testing third-party tools and services that can make planning and organization easier to handle in the future.

Certain times of the year, planning and organizing may involve researching products to see what’s trending for different holidays.

And all sellers should plan how to attain (and maintain) Amazon Featured Merchant status.

Sellers should also decide whether to use FBA or MFN. And, if they use FBA, they should organize a budget and plan for shipping to Amazon’s fulfillment centers.

2. Crunch numbers and analyze them carefully

Selling is a numbers game, so if you’re not a math person, you may want to hire someone who is that you trust. Without someone to calculate and analyze your costs, prices, sales figures, and profits, you risk overspending, underpricing, and leaving money on the table.

Amazon also changes its fee structure often, and you aren’t paying close attention to how it affects your inventory and pricing, your sales and profits may suffer.

One goal should be to offer free shipping if your costs allow for it, as doing so could lead to a huge increase in sales. And, if you can speed up your shipping times on top of offering it for free, your sales have the potential to skyrocket.

Use Amazon’s FBA fee calculator to see what minimum prices you need to charge in order to profit on each SKU you list.

3. Embrace new tools and technology to streamline and automate operations

Like many sellers, you may have thought you could handle every aspect of running your Amazon store.

If you’re like the majority, though, you hit a wall after a while and realize you need help.

But that’s okay: there are plenty of tools you can use to automate your workload and make it lighter. Not only can these tools free up time from your schedule, they can also handle tasks more efficiently and effectively than you or your employees could ever do because they work non-stop.

There are plenty of Amazon selling tools you can use to automate parts of your business, from your inventory management to your feedback requests and much more. And, when you crunch the numbers and compare the cost of automation with the cost of human labor to accomplish the same work, you realize just how great a deal these tools are.

In terms of Amazon seller best practices, there’s no consensus on what order you add these tools to your arsenal. For a good place to start, consider what your biggest pain points are as an Amazon seller. Then, figure out what tools will make the biggest bottom line impact in the shortest period of time.

Many sellers opt for an automated repricing tool first to handle the management and optimization of their prices. That way, they won’t have to spend hours making manual price changes, and their prices get optimized continuously 24/7.

It’s perfect for Amazon sellers looking to eliminate a tedious and time-consuming part of running their business and, at the same time, drive their listings into the Buy Box and boost sales and profits.

Take advantage of automation tools that offer a free trial to get a feel for their functionality and power before you commit to a monthly payment.

4. Cultivate deeper relationships with customers

It’s easy to blend in with other sellers on Amazon since there aren’t many ways to stand out. But that doesn’t mean there are no ways to distinguish yourself among sellers.

If you fulfill orders yourself and run into issues with customers, keep an open line of communication with them. And, always treat customers in a friendly way to build rapport and add a human element to your business.

You should also pepper your customer communications with language and imagery that distinguishes your “brand” from other Amazon sellers. Invoices, emails, and any other customer touch points you send out should have a consistent look and feel.

That will get customers to remember you in the future. And when you’re selling the same items as many other sellers, any advantage you can get is important.

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