Amazon has become the biggest online retailer in the United States. And it’s no surprise that more and more business owners are turning to Amazon to sell their products. While Amazon may seem like the easiest marketplace to sell on, there are some common mistakes that even experienced sellers make over and over again. These issues can get your product taken down or get you banned from Amazon completely. That’s why you need to avoid them like the plague.
In this article, we’ll talk about 15 of the most Amazon common mistakes made by new sellers, and how to avoid them to help your business run more efficiently.
1. Amazon Overview
Before diving into Amazon common mistakes, let’s have a look at some information about Amazon.
Amazon is an American multinational corporation that offers eCommerce and cloud computing services. It was founded on July 5, 1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is considered one of America’s most valuable companies by market capitalization, and according to Fortune magazine is the fourth most valuable public company in the world. As of 2021, Amazon has over 150.6 million mobile users with 4000 items sold per minute.
Amazon Marketplace allows sellers to list used or new goods on Amazon’s websites for sale, usually on a commission basis. Items can be sold directly by Amazon or through third-party sellers who offer their goods on Amazon. The business has branched out to offer services such as cloud computing, online storage, digital video streaming, and audiobook downloads.
2. Top 15 Amazon Common Mistakes
Below is the list of top Amazon common mistakes that every Amazon seller should avoid
2.1 Run PPC campaign without a strategy
These days you can find pretty much everything on Amazon, so it’s no surprise that sellers are jumping in left and right. But what they might not realize is that there’s a lot of competition out there. Run PPC without a strategy, and you’ll just be throwing money down the drain.
Before running an Amazon PPC campaign, you should have a clear strategy. Ask yourself:
- What is my end goal with PPC?
- Is it to drive increased brand awareness and ultimately sell more units at a higher price?
- Is it to drive as many units as possible, regardless of whether or not those units convert at a later date?
You need to come up with relevant keywords, put together great ad copy, and more if you want to avoid wasted spending. This is easier said than done. And that’s why using an experienced partner is usually your best bet when it comes to getting started with Amazon PPC. It takes time to perfect strategies, so find someone who has already done it for you!
2.2 Not Match With Amazon Algorithm A10
Among Amazon common mistakes, not matching with Amazon algorithm A10 is worth noticing. It means that there is a lack of effort in preparing product listings. Amazon uses an algorithm called A10 to decide where to put your product in their search engine results. It is crucial that you match up with their criteria so they can understand about your product that solves a problem for shoppers searching on Amazon.
One of many ways to do this is to make sure your product listings:
- Has solid, informative, and professional information
- Include target keywords
- Focus on clear images
- Has compelling titles
If your listing meets these criteria, it will get picked up by Amazon’s search algorithm and show up in more relevant places in search results for users looking for something similar to what you are selling.
2.3 Fake info seller account
While FBA can be a profitable business, it’s not worth getting kicked off of Amazon. Unfortunately, with so many different sellers looking to cash in on all of those customers, there are lots of people out there willing to sell under fake accounts. This is one of the worst things you can do as an online seller because once you’re caught selling under a fake account, your entire operation could come crumbling down.
All it takes is one product review claiming your product arrived damaged or wasn’t received at all for Amazon to permanently ban your account. So make sure that everything is above board before continuing on with selling on Amazon.
2.4 Overly-priced shipping options
Having an expensive shipping option is amid Amazon common mistakes. You don’t want to send buyers into sticker shock. If your shipping options cost too much, you could end up losing your business to competitors who offer lower prices. Make sure to set your prices low enough so that you can avoid decreasing your margins too much.
You can also use a fulfillment service or another third-party fulfillment option, which lets you ship with discounted flat rates and volume discounts. Or consider offering free shipping if it is logistically possible for you to do so. Doing any of these things will help ensure that there isn’t a surprise when they see their total price at checkout.
2.5 Failure to fulfill orders on time
One of Amazon’s strictest rules is that they must receive all fulfilled orders within 2 days of shipment, or your seller account will be suspended. And since your seller rating depends on how quickly you ship, it’s in your best interest to follow these rules so you don’t lose any stars.
Many first-time sellers make Amazon common mistakes on fulfillment by not having enough inventory to meet demand, not setting up an automation program, and not putting their items on pre-order until they can fulfill them. This can cause big issues because some customers place multiple orders at once only to have one or more shipments get delayed due to lack of stock.
2.6 Running Marketing Only On Amazon
This is a mistake that we see sellers make over and over again. Although Amazon has an enormous customer base, you can’t solely rely on them for your sales. In order to achieve a steady stream of sales, you need to expand your outreach efforts and market yourself in other areas as well. For example, you should also consider using Facebook ads for marketing because they tend to be more cost-effective than other forms of advertising.
If you focus all of your energy on Amazon alone, when customers come knocking they won’t be able to find you – they will simply get lost in the crowd.
2.7 Inventory mismanagement
Another Amazon common mistakes that many sellers make is to take inventory management lightly. You should always carry an exact count of your inventory. If you underestimate, you might find yourself out of stock in the middle of a promotion which can be catastrophic for your business. Whereas, if you overestimate, then there’s always room for expansion and growth in your business. Therefore it’s better to carry an extra amount than not enough while selling on Amazon.
The single most important tool in inventory management is proper forecasting, and it comes from an understanding of sales history and patterns over time. Proper forecasting will help you set realistic inventory levels so that you are not overstocked on slow months or missing out on peak season opportunities.
2.8 Not paying attention to customer service
Amazon is not like eBay or Craigslist where you can haggle with buyers and sellers over prices, products, and shipping costs. Amazon is a big corporation that has customer service as one of its core values. In order to sell well on Amazon, you have to provide better customer service than any other competitor. That includes making sure you answer all customers’ questions, providing free return shipping labels for unhappy customers, and so much more.
If a customer buys from you once on Amazon, they will likely continue buying from you in the future because you have earned their trust as a seller through great customer service. This gets them to convert from being a looker to being an actual buyer of your product.
2.9 Not understanding Amazon profit margins
In the list of Amazon common mistakes, you should be aware of not understanding Amazon profit margins. Most new sellers on Amazon think that as long as their products are selling, they’re making money. In reality, you have to take into account shipping costs, packaging costs, and other fees before you can understand how much profit you’re really making from a sale.
Make sure to consider all of these factors when pricing your items and determining whether or not a sale will be profitable for you. Otherwise, you could end up taking a loss. Bottom line: Always make sure your sales cover every cost before calculating your bottom line profit. This is crucial information that will save you from losing money over time!
2.10 Applying eBay Rules to Amazon
Amazon and eBay are two very different marketplaces with their own set of rules and policies. Amazon sellers should avoid thinking about Amazon in terms of how eBay works, especially when it comes to using Amazon’s merchant fees calculator to estimate profitability. Yes, Amazon has a marketplace fee structure similar to eBay’s but there are also significant differences between Amazon and eBay that must be accounted for.
Amazon is unlike any other platform you have ever sold on and knowing what to expect can be a major advantage when you get started. Therefore, you should avoid applying eBay rules to Amazon – which can be considered the worst Amazon common mistakes.
2.11 Not Going After Reviews
Not going after reviews is one of the most Amazon common mistakes. Reviews are absolutely necessary to get sales. If you want to be successful on Amazon, you need reviews. Reviews help give people confidence in buying your product, which means they will buy more of it, and sooner.
If you don’t have reviews when you launch, you won’t sell much of anything – at least not for very long. Even if you do get reviews, make sure they are good ones! People pay a lot of attention to reviews and some have stopped buying from sellers who receive low ratings over time.
2. 12 Including Your Store URL in the Product Listing
Some sellers mistakenly put their own store URLs into their product listings. However, it’s against Amazon’s rules to include your own URL. If you do so, your listing could be suspended or deleted by Amazon, resulting in all of your hard work being for nothing. Putting your store URL in isn’t even helpful because shoppers will already know where to find your products if they’re interested enough to search for them on Amazon. They won’t need an extra link to take them there!
For more information about Amazon’s policies, click here.
2.13 Not Making Store Policies Clear
If you don’t communicate your policies to your customers, they may be confused about what is and isn’t acceptable. Misunderstandings and arguments can occur, and an unhappy customer can ruin your reputation on Amazon. You need to make sure that you clearly post your store policies for each of your products.
If you don’t currently have any store policies on some of your listings, it’s time to fill it up. Don’t wait until something occurs and then realize they are the worst Amazon common mistakes. Some sellers use their TOS as a place for their store policies as well as their return policy; if that is something that works best for you then go ahead and do it.
2.14 You use inaccurate sales data
Other Amazon common mistakes that sellers make is relying on inaccurate sales data when making business decisions. While a seller’s primary source of sales data should be their Amazon account, they might also use tools such as Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Google Adwords, to see how much traffic they are getting from Google searches and from ads.
The problem with using these tools is that sellers may think they are seeing accurate data for their specific product listings or product groupings when in fact they aren’t. This can lead them to launch products too early, assume performance for a certain SKU will be duplicated for other similar SKUs, or invest in a less profitable product line.
2.15 You ignore the competition
In the list of Amazon common mistakes, one issue that many sellers get is ignoring the competitors. There are millions of sellers on Amazon, so competition is fierce. If you don’t know what others are doing well or where they fall short, it can be difficult to gain traction. You need to stay on top of trends, monitor your competitors’ prices, and find gaps in what you think they do well.
Tools like KeywordSpy can help you find keywords that competitors aren’t using or ranking for so you can gain an edge by simply being different. The idea is simple: give buyers a reason to choose your product over someone else’s.
3. Wrapping Up
As an Amazon seller, you want to ensure that your business operates as smoothly as possible and avoids any mistakes along the way. Whether you’re just starting out or have been selling on Amazon for some time, it can be helpful to be aware of familiar issues that other sellers encounter, so you can avoid them before they happen. Hopefully, with the list of Amazon common mistakes we provided, you can learn from experience and run your store successfully.
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