Start Selling on Amazon – The Basics

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Every business should consider having an Amazon strategy, even if that strategy is NOT to be on Amazon. It would be a mistake to not consider the world’s leading e-commerce site for your brand when it hosts 20 (soon to be 23) global marketplaces offering a staggering 350m products globally.

And did you know that anyone can sell products on Amazon.com? Whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a sole trader selling products from home, you have the chance to reach millions of customers by selling on Amazon. 

While the competition has been heating up for quite some time, this is still the case in 2023.Amazon is still a massive market and there are plenty of opportunities for new sellers to establish their brands and launch their products on the numerous Amazon platforms.

So if you’re reading this, you’ve probably been thinking about it long enough to want to know the steps you need to take to start selling on Amazon – and it is not a difficult as you might think!

Individual vs. Professional Amazon seller accounts

If you want to start selling products on Amazon, the first step is to set up a Seller Account and Amazon has two options, an Individual Account, which is free, and a Professional Seller Account, which is £25 per month (exc. VAT) plus selling fees.

Once Seller Central approves your account, you can list products when you are ready.

Individual account – if you sell fewer than 34 items per month

  • No monthly cost
  • £0.75 per-item fee per sale
  • Not eligible for the Buy Box
  • Not eligible for Amazon Advertising
  • No access Seller Reports or advanced selling tools
  • Cannot set shipping rates for seller-fulfilled orders

Professional account – if you sell more than 34 items per month

  • £25 per month regardless how many items you sell
  • Access to Amazon Advertising tools such as Sponsored Products
  • Access to Business Reports to evaluate how your business is performing
  • Ability to connect your Amazon account with 3rd party APIs and advanced selling tools
  • You want to sell with Amazon programs like Launchpad or Handmade
  • You want to sell products in restricted categories
  • Eligible for the Buy Box
  • Add users to your account

If you plan to sell more than 34 items per month and want access to the Buy Box and Amazon Advertising, we recommend signing up for the professional seller plan. If you have the individual plan and sell more than 34 items per month, the £0.75 per-item fee will cost you more than the professional plan. 

We recommend signing up for the individual plan and upgrade to the professional plan when you are ready.

Additional Fees On top of these costs you also have to factor in: Fulfilment Fees – the cost to ship your orders depends on whether you fulfil your own orders or Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). Other Costs – some selling partners may incur additional fees (such as long-term storage fees) or pay for optional programmes like advertising or premium account services. Referral Fees for each item sold – the amount depends on the category, most referral fees are between 8-15%. To see what referral fee applies to your products enter your email for our Referral Fee Sheet. You now understand the difference between the two seller plans and have an idea of the fees involved. what to have a chat about how we can help set up your business? To see our document on ‘Amazon Referral Fees by Category’ please enter your details for your free PDF download. Orread our next blog article: ‘Amazon Business Models – Different Ways to Sell on Amazon. Drop us an email now or read our next article on the different type of Amazon Business Models and the different ways to sell on Amazon