A Beginner's Guide: How to Start Selling on Amazon with a $200 Budget -

Are you ready to dive into the world of e-commerce and start selling on Amazon? Good news – you don’t need a massive budget to get started. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through the process of setting up your Amazon seller account, finding products, and launching your online business with a budget as low as $200.

Step 1: Set Up Your Amazon Seller Account

The first step in your Amazon selling journey is creating a seller account. Follow these steps:

Visit the Amazon Seller Central website: Go to Amazon Seller Central and click on “Sign Up.”
Choose Your Account Type: Select between an Individual or Professional account. For beginners, an Individual account is suitable. However, individual account charges you $0.99 per transaction while Professional account costs $39.99/month and it includes unlimited transaction at no other transaction fees. So, if you think you can make more than 40 transactions in a month, go for professional account.
Complete Registration: Fill in the required information, including your business details and bank account information. However, you don’t need a registered business/LLC to register. You can register your LLC to keep your business separate once your business gets going.
Verify Your Identity: Amazon may ask for additional verification, such as a phone number.

Ta… Da… now you have a Amazon seller account ready to sell your products.

Step 2: Research and Find Profitable Products

Now that your account is set up, it’s time to find products to sell. Use the following resources for your research:

Amazon Best Sellers: Explore the Best Sellers section on Amazon.com to identify trending products.
Product Research Tools: Utilize tools like Jungle Scout or Helium 10 to analyze product demand, competition, and profitability. However, these tools are not free to use and needs monthly subscription use. Good news- while Helium 10 doesn’t offer trial Jungle Scout offer 7 days free trial. So go ahead and try for 7 days for free to see if you want to go this route.
Alibaba: Once you have found your product, source products from wholesalers on Alibaba to keep initial costs low. These wholesalers offer lower Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) for you to test first. They might charge you a higher per unit cost to test but that will come down once you order in large quantity. You can talk to them to find out the lowest per unit cost for higher order quantity in future.
Perform Product Analysis: Amazon has a Revenue calculator here that can help you calculate all the fees and charges to sale your product. Enter all your costs and selling price as shown in the picture below to find out what will you make on sale of each of your products. From this calculator, you can determine if the product you chose will be profitable for you to sell or not. You want to find a product that has a margin of atleast 30%. Search for any product name to get started and select any product from other seller to analyze. Adjust the sale price that works for you.

Step 3: Startup Costs

Determine your startup budget, keeping it under $200 for initial testing. Consider the following expenses:

Product Cost: Allocate a portion of your budget for purchasing initial inventory (something like $100).
Amazon Fees: Account for fees like the referral fee, fulfillment fee (if using Fulfillment by Amazon – FBA), and subscription fee (for Professional accounts). However, these fees are deducted from your sales. So you dont need to worry about paying it upfront unless you sign up for professinal account then you will have to pay the $39.99 upfront.
Shipping and Packaging: Estimate shipping costs from suppliers to an Amazon fulfillment center. The supplier can help you to find the shipping company and will also provide quote for it.
Ad Campaign: You want to allocate about $50 for ad campaign as you will need to advertise your product on amazon to be able to land your product listing on first page of amazon search result and compete with other sellers.

And thats all the cost you need to start your amazon FBA business. Once your product start selling you can use the profit to reinvest to grow or also add some more money to purchase more inventory to grow now that your product is proven to sell.

Step 4: List Your Products on Amazon

Now, let’s get your products listed on Amazon:

Product Listings: Write compelling product titles, descriptions, and include high-quality images. Utilize FREE AI tool called Chat GPT to write a great product title and descriptions.
Pricing Strategy: Set competitive prices based on market research and competitors.
Optimize for Keywords: Use relevant keywords in your product listing to improve visibility.

Step 5: List Your Products on Amazon

When selling products on Amazon, you can choose between two fulfillment options:

Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA):
- This is a commonly preferred option where Amazon takes charge of packaging, labeling, and shipping your products. All you need to do is coordinate with Amazon and deliver your inventory to one of its warehouses.
Merchant-Fulfillment:
- Opting for Merchant-Fulfillment means you will manage all logistics to fulfill orders for your customers. Amazon charges you for shipping based on product category and the selected shipping service by the customer. If there’s a difference between what Amazon charges and what the customer pays, you will be credited.

Step 6: Launch and Promote

Time to launch your products and start making sales:

Run Promotions: Use Amazon’s promotional tools (Amazon Ads) or discounts to attract initial customers.
Social Media Marketing: Leverage platforms like Instagram or Facebook to promote your products if it fits in your ad budget.
Collect Reviews: Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews.

Step 7: Monitor and Optimize

Regularly review your performance and make adjustments:

Analyze Sales Data: Use Amazon’s analytics tools or third-party apps to understand sales trends.
Optimize Listings: Adjust product listings based on customer feedback and changing market conditions.
Scale Up: Reinvest profits into more inventory or explore additional products to scale your business.

Resources:

Starting your Amazon business with a modest budget is entirely possible. With dedication, continuous learning, and strategic planning, you can turn your initial investment into a thriving e-commerce venture. Good luck on your Amazon selling journey!

A Beginner’s Guide: How to Start Selling on Amazon with a $200 Budget