Amazon’s main objective is to give their shoppers the best experience possible. They have fast shipping, easy checkout, a seamless return process, and impressive package-tracking technology. With so many sellers on the platform, it’s hard to imagine how Amazon keeps track of everything and how they provide a positive customer experience every time.
So how do they do it? They hold their sellers to high standards, give them best practices to follow, and outline clear selling policies with a lot of fine print. And they hold their sellers accountable for
When you’re starting an Amazon store, it can be tempting to skip over those policies and best practices, but they are extremely important and can help you avoid mistakes down the road.
There are 3 main categories of mistakes that people make, and we’ll break this article down into sections based on those categories. They include problems with:
- Your Amazon Seller account
- Product listings
- Customer service
Here are 15 of the biggest mistakes new Amazon sellers make and how you can avoid them.
Table of Contents
Problems With Your Product Listings
1. Directing Customers to Your Website
Amazon is a great place to sell since it gives you a whole new customer base that wouldn’t have found your product otherwise. However, because you chose to use Amazon to sell, your branding and marketing opportunities are more limited.
It’s against Amazon policy to include your website URL in your product listing and try to direct customers to purchase there, so it’s important not to do it. Many sellers don’t know this and it ends up hurting their business in the long run.
2. Comparing Your Store to Others
There are hundreds of thousands of sellers on Amazon, so it’s hard not to look at other stores and copy what they’re doing. No matter how difficult it is to set up your store, resist the urge to copy and paste. As long as you’re up-to-date on Amazon’s best practices, you’ll be able to create an awesome store that you know is on par with Amazon’s policies.
While you’re at it, try not to compare your store to others either. This can get discouraging especially when you’re just starting out, so do your best with what you have and you’ll see better, faster results.
3. Setting Up the Wrong Seller Account
There are different types of seller accounts you can set up, so you need to make sure you’re using the right one. With so many different options, it’s best to research each of them and find out which one will suit your product and business best. Here’s a blog post with everything you need to know about the types of seller accounts you can choose from.
4. Setting Up Multiple Accounts
Amazon has a policy that you’re only allowed to have one seller account per seller. If you violate this, it’ll come back to bite you later so it’s best to just stick with one account. Plus, managing multiple accounts would quickly get very difficult.
5. Not Reading the Fine Print
Amazon wants its customers to have an awesome experience from the moment they start shopping until the product reaches their doorstep, so they’re going to provide their sellers with everything they need to know about setting up a store and selling successfully. These are incredible tools and resources, so take advantage of them. Read everything you can (even the fine print) to make sure you’re getting the most out of your Amazon seller experience.
Problems With Your Product Listings
6. Not Following Amazon’s Product Title Policies
Amazon has product title policies in place so the customer can easily find what they’re looking for. Following these guidelines and policies will give you the most success.
7. Putting Sales/Promo Copy in Product Titles & Images
You might think that putting a sale or promotion in the product title will entice customers to buy the product, but it goes against Amazon policies and will hurt you later on. Stick with the guidelines linked above and avoid promotional copy.
8. Not Following Best Practices for Product Images
Did you know that Amazon has best practices for product images? This is the first thing buyers see when they’re searching for a product, so having a good image is really important. Here’s what makes up a good product image, according to Amazon:
- Avoid promotional copy
- Use a white background
- Only show the product included
- Avoid lifestyle images as the main image
- Avoid drawings or animations
- Make sure the image is clear
- Avoid watermarks and image borders
9. Using the Wrong Categories
When you’re setting up Amazon product categories, make sure they match the Amazon.com browse tree. You can find all of the information about formatting here.
10. Not Putting In Enough Effort
Your Amazon product listings are arguably the most important part of selling on Amazon. It’s the first thing your customers will see, it’s what will make them click on your product, and it’s ultimately what will make them want to place an order. Neglecting your product listings will be detrimental to your business, so make sure you’re paying close attention to best practices and updating them when necessary.
Problems With Customer Service
11. Bad Shipping Practices
Amazon is known for its fast, nearly seamless shipping and delivery, so making sure your shipping practices are on par is very important. Make sure that if your shipping isn’t free, it’s not overpriced. Your customer doesn’t want to pay an extra shipping fee, so keep it as low as you can. And more importantly, make sure you’re on time with your shipping – if you tell your customer their package is coming in two days, make sure it actually gets there in two days.
13. Putting Marketing Materials In Your Packages
If you use FBA, this most likely won’t be a problem because Amazon will be fulfilling your orders. But if you’re doing FBM, you’re in charge of packing your own products and shipping them out. Avoid putting any marketing materials or promotional things in your package so you don’t confuse your customers or lead them away from shopping for your products on Amazon.
14. Being Impatient With Customers
Remember that Amazon is known for having great customer service, so if you ever have frustrating interactions with customers, be patient and try to understand where they’re coming from. They don’t know nearly as much about Amazon as you do, so do whatever you can to solve the issue quickly and in a way that benefits you and the customer. Difficult interactions can be limited when you’re very transparent about your policies on your Amazon listing.
15. Not Getting Authentic Reviews
It’s so tempting to spend a little money to get some product reviews, but it’s one of the worst things you can do when you’re trying to grow your Amazon store. If people see that you’re paying people to review your products, they’ll automatically assume that the reviews are inauthentic and they’ll do the opposite of what they’re meant to. Be patient and let the products speak for themselves – the real reviews will eventually come.
If you can avoid making these mistakes early on, your Amazon store will grow more quickly and your sales will increase. Don’t skip over reading every word of the material that Amazon provides you, because following their rules and guidelines will bring you the most success.
If you need any assistance setting up your store, working through strategies, or making sure you’re avoiding these common mistakes, the experts and Laser Sight Digital are here to help.
