The Biggest Mistakes on Amazon
In this article we’ll cover the most expensive mistakes Amazon sellers make and the ways to avoid them.
Amazon Mistake #1 – Breaking the rules
When selling on Amazon, make sure you understand what you can and cannot do. If you break certain rules, or violate Amazon’s Terms of Service, Amazon can and will shut your account down.
While many examples in this article can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars, getting your account suspended — particularly if you’ve delivered inventory to one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers already — is the most expensive Amazon mistake a new seller can make.
And know this: if you cheat, eventually you will be caught.
Amazon is nearly a trillion-dollar company. They have hundreds of thousands of employees and some of the most advanced technology in the world. They also have the resources to police Amazon seller behavior, and won’t suffer big financial losses by banning a seller here and there.
So, when you start selling on Amazon, know and understand their rules. And if you aren’t sure, do your research. We cover what you need to know about Amazon’s Terms of Service in order to protect yourself against these risks.
Potential financial loss
If your Amazon account is shut down, first you’ll lose access to any inventory you have stored in Amazon’s warehouses. That alone could cost you thousands of dollars. Plus, you won’t be able to sell on the platform again. That’s a potential loss of a six-figure income or higher.
Amazon Mistake #2 – Ignoring the competition
Make sure that when you do product research, you look at the number of competitors in your space. Focus on the number of reviews, too. If the first 10 sellers in your product search results all have more than 100 reviews, the product is too competitive.
Potential financial loss
If you can’t sell a product, you’re bound to lose (at minimum) the capital it took to invest in the product in the first place. That’s usually two or three thousand dollars. And if you try to get attention for your product by paying for ads with high-click costs, you’re looking at losing hundreds of dollars more.
Amazon Mistake #3 – Failing to vet your supplier
Constant quality control is the basis of a successful business on Amazon, especially when dealing with Chinese factories.
Flawed items, lower quality materials, inappropriate packaging, incompliance with Amazon standards are some of the common problems. Even shipments from the same supplier may differ in terms of quality. The reason is not just in the lack of attention to details or the absence of quality control, but in the differences between western and eastern mentalities as well. What we may see as a clear defect, in China may be regarded as a norm.
For that reason, you should work with suppliers that you can trust. And the number one way to discover whether a supplier is trustworthy is a factory audit and a quality control inspection. Having conducted more than 4000 QC inspections, we can state it with certainty.
Potential financial loss
Failure to properly vet a supplier could easily result in serious financial and reputational losses on Amazon because of partially or fully defective batch.
Amazon Mistake #4 – You don’t improve on what’s come before
Several years before you could create a product on Amazon that was almost an identical copy of what was already on the search page. These days, that is a major waste of time.
Not only does Amazon’s algorithm pick up on copycats, but shoppers are smarter, too. If they have to choose between two identical products, chances are they’re going to choose the one that has the most reviews. And if your product entered the market second, then it’s unlikely to be yours.
Therefore, when you start researching a product or product niche, make sure to review the comments. Look for customers’ pain points. Figure out what’s not working with the current product and look for ways to improve it.
For example, if people complain that the best selling garlic press on Amazon is difficult to clean, perhaps add a removable, washable silicon cover, or a brush to clean it with.
Potential financial loss
A product that lands with a splat on Amazon could end up costing you your entire investment, especially if it fails to get better reviews and ratings than the competitors whose products you copied.
Amazon Mistake #5 – Lacking a review plan
Reviews are crucial to your success on Amazon. A recent study by G2 and Heinz even reported that 92% of shoppers who read a positive review follow through with a purchase.
So, when you launch, you want to get positive reviews on your products as quickly as you are able. Therefore, you need to have a review plan in place. You also need to make sure that your review plan follows the rules. Using unethical, “black hat” practices can end up costing you even more.
Potential financial loss
Imagine that the conversion rate for a product with good reviews is 20%. Using the metric from the G2 research study, that means only 1.6% will convert with no reviews. With 1,000 impressions, that’s a difference between 200 sales and 16 sales.
Amazon Mistake #6 – Poor listing optimization
If you enter a department store and the place is a mess or you have trouble finding what you’re looking for, chances are you aren’t going to buy, right? You’re going to turn around and walk out.
The same goes for Amazon product listings.
A lot of new sellers fail to recognize that their product listing is like a storefront and an advertisement for your product all in one. For that reason, make sure your product listing is as perfect as it can be. That includes using expert product photographs, effective titles, detailed descriptions, and providing competitive pricing.
If you aren’t sure how to create a perfect listing, turn to a professional.
Source: JungleScout
