Amazon FBA for Beginners Guide (2024) – Start Selling Today!

Whenever you think of becoming an Amazon seller, everyone recommends you go for Amazon FBA.

No, it’s not just hype. Rather, it’s the most profitable and streamlined way to generate sales – no headache of order fulfillment, return handling, and delivery tension. And these are the reasons why 90% of Amazon sellers rely on Amazon FBA to grow their business. 

But the problem comes when you search for the exact ways to start with Amazon FBA. Sure, all the information is there on the internet, but in a scattered way!  

That’s why, in this guide, I’ve given you a streamlined step-by-step guide on how to start with Amazon FBA  with proper takeaways.

 Let’s dive into it!

What’s Amazon FBA, And How Does It Work? 

Simply put, Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is an all-in-one service that allows you to deploy the order fulfillment process to Amazon. 

Now, maybe you are thinking, “But how does it work?”

Well, let me decode the process for you. 

If you opt for Amazon FBA, you only have to do product research, product sourcing, and marketing. You can eliminate the extra headache of order fulfillment and delegate it to Amazon. For example, let’s say you want to sell stationery items or beauty products on Amazon via FBA. Now, you’ll source the items and ship them to Amazon’s warehouses. 

It’s necessary to mention that Amazon has million-acre fulfillment centers managed by robots and Amazon employees. When Amazon receives your products, they store them with utmost care at a competitive cost. 

And when an order comes in, Amazon receives it and completes the rest of the process without any friction. 

Now, the best part? You can leverage the full advantage of Amazon’s distribution network, super-fast delivery, return system, and customer service process. 

That’s why, no matter whether you are a newbie seller or an experienced one, you can always take advantage of Amazon FBA to skyrocket your business growth. 

Is Amazon FBA Worth It?

Amazon FBA had been a trend around 2019-2021. It was a golden age for Amazon sellers. 

But as time goes by, more and more sellers have registered to this platform and made the market saturated. From this standpoint, many doubt: “Is Amazon FBA worth it now?” 

The Simple answer is: Yes if you do it strategically! 

Undoubtedly, the number of Amazon FBA sellers has grown over the past few years and is still increasing. But, the number of online shoppers is also on the rise simultaneously.  eMarketer’s study claims that over 60% of online shoppers start their product search on Amazon. It means more market demand and increasing market demand leads to more sales and revenue. 

Even the study by eMarketer also predicted that Amazon would rule the online retail place, generating more than $746.22 Billion in sales this year and beyond. 

In this context, Chloe, an Amazon FBA seller with years of experience, says:

“Yes. Because it’s a massive marketplace with a global reach, and you don’t need to be an experienced seller to start the business. It’s really easy to start. Once you’ve found your niche and get your listing done, with the help of some stellar tools, it’s easier for you to do that.” 

Thus, with all the states and viewpoints in mind, it’s clear that Amazon FBA is still worth it if you go beyond the traditional ways of selling products and adopt the brand-building ways by putting yourself in the shoes of your potential customers. 

Now that you have laid down all the basics, let’s do some practical work and check how to start with Amazon FBA. 

Step-By-Step Guide To Start With Amazon FBA

Here, I’ve shown you a 7-step guide that’ll help you kickstart your Amazon FBA Journey. Let’s start!

1. Develop A Bullet-Proof Amazon FBA Plan

Suppose you’ve started a journey without knowing where to go. Would you ever reach your destination? Obviously no!

Likewise, you’re most likely to fail in your business if you don’t have a bulletproof plan. Hence, before starting an FBA business, take some time, brainstorm, and come up with solid plans to sustain in this game. 

For example, 

• Ensure who your target audience is – who are you trying to sell to?
• Calculate your budget. How much do you want to invest in product sourcing? Do you want high-ticket items or not? This stage is crucial since you have to pay Amazon based on your storage, products, and order fulfillment.
• Define how you’ll market your products and how much you’ll invest in marketing.
• Do you need other employees or want to start as a solopreneur? Decide on that.
• Decide how you’d build a solid brand in this saturated market and set yourself apart from the crowd.

When you’re just starting out, these frameworks are enough to build a solid framework for your business. As you move on and grow, you can modify your business planning as per your goals and budget. 

2. Create An Amazon Selling Account

First things first, if you want to start Amazon FBA, you must set up an Amazon selling account – so obvious! 

Remember that Amazon offers two types of plans to the sellers – Individual Plan and Professional Plan. Though the individual plan is free, you’ve to pay $0.99 every time you sell an item. On the other hand, if you go for the professional plan, it’ll cost around $39.99/month without any limitation on selling. 

So, first, choose a plan and create a seller account. However, I always recommend you to go for the professional plan if you’re looking for enormous growth with Amazon FBA. 

But, before signing up, ensure you have these required things in hand:

• A business email address
• A credit card (Make sure it supports international transactions)
• Government verified ID
• Bank Information
• Phone no

Once you’re ready with all the credentials, sign up on Amazon, and create your profile to set up FBA. 

3. Decide On The Products You Want To Sell On Amazon

Let’s say you are selling an item that has no search volume, or suppose you’re selling an extremely competitive item and standing against big brands. 

What would be the end result? Zero traction. Zero sales. Zero revenue. 

Thus, what products you want to sell on Amazon ensures your growth. If you take any wrong decision at this stage, you’ll waste your time and money. 

But Product searching might be a bit daunting. I understand!

That’s why I’ve listed a few tips to help you search for profitable products with high search intent and less competition. 

• Find The Products You’re Passionate About.

People mostly find it easy to market and sell products they’re passionate about. It helps them build USP and advertise their products in a unique way. 

It might be handbags, headphones, or any outdoor items. Pick the products that align with your interest and develop a niche category as soon as possible. 

• Check Amazon’s Best Sellers List

It’s one of the fastest ways to find the most profitable products. Start with Amazon’s best-selling category – choose your niche under the “Any Department” section and find the hot-selling products. 

By the way, your work doesn’t end here. Once you get the best-selling products, go to Google’s Keyword planner or SEO tools like Semrush or Ahrefs and check their search volume and related items/keywords to understand the selling potential better. 

• Check On Your Budget

Budget plays a great role in finding relevant products for Amazon FBAs. 

Why? Let’s say you are just starting out and have a limited budget. Now if you source an item for $20 and sell it for $25, you have a profit of $5. Now, think about product inventory costs, Amazon FBA fees, and Marketing costs. To cover everything, you have to sell more items. 

On the other hand, if you sell a product for $300 that costs your $150, you’ll have a higher profit margin by selling just one product. But here’s the catch! As these aren’t impulse buys, your selling speed would be slower, and you need higher investment. 

Thus, check on your budget first and then choose whether you’ll go for high-ticket products or low-ticket ones. 

• Leverage Steller Tools

Manual product search needs lots of time and brainstorming. 

So, let some stellar tools guide you!

These tools would give a clear idea of the products’ monthly sales volume, historical data, search intent, and estimated sales so you can narrow down your product list more efficiently. 

I would personally recommend you two tools – Jungle Scout and Helium 10. Not only because they are affordable, but they provide the most accurate data among all the Amazon seller tools in the market. 

• Evaluate Market Gaps

Once you gather a rough list of the products you want to sell, it’s time to check on your competitors and evaluate market gaps. 

But how? 

Take an example: when you search for “bags,” it has around 60,000 results – a highly competitive market. On the other hand, if you search for “tote bags for women,” it has only 2000 results, but this particular keyword has over 40k search volume. 

Another way to find the gap in the market is by hopping on product reviews. Conduct thorough research and check what customers want and what your competitors are lacking. 

However, here are a few profitable product categories you can try your hands on:

• Books
• Grocery
• Home Products
• Furniture
• Beauty products
• Luxury items
• Shoes
• Equipment

Note: Once you’ve decided on the products, ensure they are not patented, trademarked, and restriction-free. 

4. Source The Products You Want To Sell

Once you have a clear idea of what you want to sell, it’s time to get those products in hand. There are a number of ways you can source your products:

•  Find manufacturers on Alibaba.com, Thomasnet, etc.
• Google suppliers with your product niche and region.
• Use the supplier database provided by JungleScout
• You can also resell items. For example, go to other marketplaces, find a product on a lower budget, and sell them on Amazon at a higher profit rate. 

But before choosing your favorite suppliers, make sure to give a look at their background – check their experience, ratings, and their professional details. Once you find the perfect one, order your items. 

But always order sample products first to examine their functionalities and product quality. 

5. Ship Products To Amazon Warehouses

It’s quite a simple and fast process. Once you send the quantity to Amazon FBA, it will then send you packaging guidelines and shipping requirements. You have to level those items with Amazon-provided barcodes and package them properly so your items safely reach Amazon warehouses.

Here please note that Amazon will charge you for storage space and order fulfillment.

6. Set Up Product Listing

Now comes the most crucial part of all – product listing. 

Why? Amazon Listing is what your customers will first see when they search for a particular item. So, you can’t take it lightly. Make sure it’s well-optimized and full of important information about your products. 

Here are some best practices that’d help you create a successful product listing:

• Find Relevant Keywords

You can use different Amazon seller tools like Jungle Scout and Helium 10 to find high-volume keywords. You can also enter competitors’ ASINs to check what keywords they are ranking for. 

• Add Product IDs And SKU

You need a unique product identifier like GTIN, UPC, ISBN, or UAN to indicate the products you are selling and ensure accurate listing. However, you can directly get a UPC code from GS1. 

You also need an SKU to track a product for inventory and sale purposes. 

• Create An Optimized Product Title

Make sure the product title is keyword-rich, punctuation-free, and easy to read to help customers easily find your products. Amazon requests the seller to use max 200 words in the title and capitalize the first letter of the words for better discovery. So, abide by these guidelines and use as many words as you are allowed to. 

• Use a bulleted list 

Customers usually skim products before purchasing. Thus, instead of using a long wall of text, use a bulleted list to highlight the product features for a better customer experience. 

Here’s an example:

• Write A Top-Notch Product Description

Writing an exceptional product description is one of the best ways to promote your business. Make sure to add high-quality keywords – but never stuff keywords. Let the words flow naturally. 

You can also use both images and words to present your product better. Below is a perfect example of the same: 

• Add High-Quality Images

High-quality images are the deciding factor of whether your customers will buy your products or not. Amazon allows you to add 500×500 pixels or 1000 x 1000 pixels to increase listing quality and lets you add up to 9 images. 

Apart from that, ensure the main image should be a “product only” photo on a white background. You can also play around with props or use real-life photos to attract customers. 

Here remember that once you create a new listing for a product, change the “Fulfilled by” section from merchants to Amazon. 

Now, recheck everything and go live. 

7. Market Your Products

Your work doesn’t end here! 

You’ve to market your products for constant sales. If you don’t show up, you’ll never land your first sale. 

That’s why – 

• Focus on building a brand on social to build a solid customer base.
• Try to understand your customers’ challenges. 
• Focus on fast-delivery and excellent packaging for a better consumer experience.
• Run sponsored ads.
• Play with pricing and offer deals and discounts without ripping off your pocket.
• Go for PPC campaigns.
• Listen to your customer and check what improvement you need in your business. 
• Create your own website and start creating content.

Conclusion: Take Your Business To The Next Level With Amazon FBA

Getting profit on Amazon FBA is no rocket science!  

In a world full of competition, you’ve two options as an FBA seller – 1. Follow the years-old tradition, indulge yourself in the rat race, and end up with zero revenue, and 2. Have a concrete marketing plan, play smartly, and win the game. 

If you choose the second one, obviously you won’t get the first sale overnight. But you’ll build a long-term plan that will give you a solid income stream and profit with time. 

However, I’m sure this step-by-step guide with the latest tactics and insights will help you take the first step in your FBA journey. 

Still, have doubts? Contact me via the comment section below. 

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