Today I bring you the top 7 mistakes of Amazon FBA Sellers
#1 – Not knowing the costs
This is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to selling online
Most Amazon FBA sellers think they have huge margins but, they have not taken into consideration all the costs associated with selling online.
I often hear people say something like:
“I am selling a product for $8 but I’m getting 60% margins”
This is nearly impossible!
Just think about it, Amazon takes 15% of your gross, then you have $3 of pick and pack fees (unless you are in small and light) That right there is almost 40% and if you add the 15% commission you realize Amazon is taking already 65%.
Then you need to account for the price of purchasing the item, let’s say its $1 to make things simple and another $1 to ship it to the US and clear customs.
Your total costs so far are already over $6 and you didn’t even account for the PPC, returns, taxes, giveaways (if you are doing any), your packaging, photography or 3D rendering, Logo design to put on the package…
Man, you may be losing a couple of bucks every time you sell an item!
Here is my advice, if you are selling a cheap item like that, try to bundle 2 or 3 so you can skip the pick and pack fee and only pay it once, or try to make it a premium looking product and sell it for $12 instead of $8
#2 – Sourcing the same products as everyone else
Most people have
listened to the same podcasts or youtube videos from sellers like me who have
been selling on Amazon for many years.
But what worked for us in 2015 is not what works in 2019.
If everyone is sourcing a small product, without moving parts, that is unbreakable, is in the top 1000 BSR… that means out of the 4 million sellers and thousands of new ones coming in every day, it’s almost sure that at the same time you are sourcing a new product, so are 100 other sellers.
When this happens the only difference is going to be the brand name and probably the logo on the box.
Think outside the box, and if possible source products that instead of being cheap and have a very low BSR, are a bit more expensive or have a higher BSR with low competition.
You can be the big fish in the smaller pond, instead of a guppy in the ocean, because everyone can eat you at any time.
#3 – Assuming and believing
We all are part of Facebook
groups and masterminds where often sellers share something they hear as if it
was true, without testing it.
Test things for yourself!
I know it is a bit more time consuming, but just because someone says for example “Giveaways don’t work anymore”
It doesn’t mean its true. It could be that that person didn’t give away enough units, or used the wrong URL if they even used a special URL for the giveaway.
It could be that that person didn’t even do giveaways, and is just firing it out of their mouth to sound smart.
Or it could even be, that they have a product without any demand!
There are people that have products so bad, that not even for free they can give them away!
And, instead of listening to the market they just blame the giveaway or the FB group they used or blame the cat or the dog…
I’m not saying that giveaways are as effective has they used to be, and this is not even about giveaways… It is about believing everything you hear without testing.
#4 – Asking for a review before starting a conversation
After a client buys from you, you’re allowed to email them internally or by using a tool to do it automatically.
If your first email after the purchase is something like “thanks for buying my Bluetooth speaker set waterproof 4.1 works with iPhone, Samsung smartphone, tablet great sounding wireless best headset” Please leave me a review.
number one, that sounds completely automated, never use the full title in your email.
number two, always mention their first name.
Number 3, what’s in it for them? We know we can’t incentivize, but you can surely offer some value or ask them a question.
If you ask a question, they will be more likely to reply to you. And when they do, you have started a conversation and people now are 80% more likely to take an action you ask them to.
Questions that work very well are:
- The Bluetooth
speaker was shipped to Beverly Hills, is that still your current address?
this is something that will get them answering because it is in their interest
After they answer, you can have your VA or yourself reply manually like
they are talking to a person in real life.
“Awesome, that is a place I always wanted to visit.
Thank you so much for confirming and I hope you love your Speaker as much as I do.
Oh and btw if you have a second can you please leave me a review, it would make my day
You already opened communication, so not only they are more likely to leave one, it’s more than likely going to be a good one. And if they have an issue they will email you back, instead of jumping into a 1-star review.
#5 – Optimizing listings for the Algorithm
Most sellers are still using the 2016 method of writing the listings for the Algorithm instead of writing them to the buyer.
It is true that the algorithm is the one that is going to rank you, but it will not buy from you.
The algorithm will rank you according to how relevant your product is to a certain keyword.
And that is measured by how many people convert to your listing after searching for that particular keyword.
You can trick the algorithm temporarily with giveaways to a super URL, but in no time it will bring you back down if the real buyers are not converting.
#6- Wrong Amazon FBA Category
When listing your products always make sure you are listing in the correct category.
There are a couple of reasons why:
- Some people do category search, and if your product isn’t there you won’t be seen
- Another reason is for ppc, the keywords need to be relevant, or else you won’t get enough impressions.
There used to be a trick used by some sellers that was, listing in the wrong category so they could get the best seller badge, but Amazon’s algorithms are getting smarter and now those products start losing ranking and have to pay extra for ppc
And on top of that, sometimes your product can be relevant to more than one category, and Amazon will automatically place you in more than one
7 – Focus on BSR
BSR means nothing, and it changes hundreds of times throughout the day.
What matters is the organic ranking of each keyword on Amazon FBA