Selling on Amazon is a great way to start your business. Statistics show that more than 9.7 million sellers sell on Amazon, and the US is Amazon’s biggest marketplace. However, despite this popularity, Amazon isn’t without its fair share of challenges. Many new and even seasoned e-commerce sellers end up making Amazon FBA mistakes that cost them a lot.
If you want to learn about the most common Amazon FBA mistakes and how you can avoid them to ensure stable business growth, keep on reading!
Common Amazon FBA Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Some common Amazon FBA mistakes range from missing FBA fees to not optimizing product listings. Let’s discuss these in detail, along with their key solutions:
Poorly Optimized Product Listing
In physical stores, customers often rely on a window to peek into what the business has to offer. Product listings are those windows for your Amazon FBA business.
So, you need to make sure that they are accurate and visually appealing. If you upload poorly captured photos and descriptions that don’t match the product features, you may lose customers’ trust.
Not only this, but writing large blocks of text can overwhelm the audience, and they may fail to grasp the core value of your products. All this results in customers clicking away, lowering your sales and impacting overall business profitability.
Best Solution: Hire a professional photographer to capture high-quality product pictures that attract customers. Invest maximum time carefully curating product descriptions and sprinkle relevant keywords for proper optimization.
Use bullet points to highlight product benefits for better understanding and readability. You may rely on AI for this purpose, as more than one-third of Amazon sellers use AI to create their product listings.
Running Out of Inventory
One of the common Amazon FBA mistakes is inventory mismanagement. Even 43% of small businesses do not monitor their inventory. Hence, you may run short on stock (understocking) or end up with dead inventory that just doesn’t move (overstocking).
Understocking results in missed sales opportunities, lower product rankings on Amazon, and even frustrated customers. On the contrary, overstocking leaves you with massive storage fees that impact your financial standing.
Best Solution: Use inventory management solutions like Jungle Scout, Helium 10, and InventoryLab to predict demand and develop products. These tools help you with sales tracking and keep an eye on your stock levels to avoid stockouts.
Overpriced Shipping
Shipping charges are among the top factors that influence the customer’s decision to make a purchase. Statistics show that 85% of Amazon customers hesitate to buy products due to shipping charges.
On top of this, 62% of online shoppers expect free shipping as a standard practice. They say that they won’t be making a purchase if it’s not offered.
If you set high shipping charges for your products, you’ll miss out on potential customers. That’s why it’s essential to find the perfect balance between a customer’s affordability and your profitability.
Best Solution: To lower shipping charges, you should first calculate your margins, keeping the delivery cost in mind. Once done, focus on efficient and lightweight packaging to lower package weight, which ultimately decreases shipping charges.
You can also negotiate with different shipping companies to find the one that best suits your needs. Better to enroll in Amazon programs like Seller Fulfilled Prime to offer fast shipping at a low price.
Overlooking Hidden FBA Fees
One of the common FBA seller mistakes is that you may fall victim to us overlooking hidden FBA fees. Typically, Amazon has a transparent pricing structure, but there are charges that new users may not be aware of. For instance, Amazon will charge you a fee every time if:
- Inventory is stored at a fulfillment center for more than 181 days
- Removing unsold products
- Processing returns for each order
These charges may seem small at first, but not looking at them over time can eat up all your profits.
Best Solution: To avoid making such Amazon FBA mistakes, you should visit Seller Central to stay updated about all fees. Other than that, you can also use audit tools that analyze your account for overcharges and help you recover the amount.
Not Paying Attention to Customer Service
Customers are the lifeblood of every business, and your Amazon start-up or established business is no exception. They can make or break your business reputation with a single review.
For instance, if any of your products get a two or even lower rating, it is depicted as if your product isn’t credible enough, which deters other potential buyers.
According to Exploding Topics, negative reviews can be really costly and one bad review can make a business lose 30 customers, which is huge.
Best Solution: Respond quickly to customer inquiries and concerns. If they have some suggestions for your products, take them into account and shape your offerings accordingly. Know that a happy customer will surely leave a positive review and even tend to word-of-mouth marketing, leading to more sales.
FAQs
What are the best tools to find keywords for Amazon product listings?
Some best tools to find keywords for Amazon product listings include Helium 10, Jungle Scout, and Keyword Tool.
How does ignoring negative feedback damage my Amazon FBA business?
Ignoring negative customer feedback makes them feel as if you don’t care about their opinions, driving them towards competitors. You may also see lower rankings as Amazon considers customer reviews when ranking products.
How can poor packaging and labeling lead to FBA shipment issues?
Poor packaging and labeling can cause multiple FBA shipment issues, such as delayed delivery, excessive returns, and poor inventory count.
Conclusion
You should be very mindful of all the common Amazon FBA mistakes and take immediate steps to ensure you don’t end up making one. However, if you are unable to manage your Amazon FBA business, get help from Prime Path Amazon!
We have a team of professionals who can handle everything for you, from sourcing top-quality products to creating accurate listings and even taking care of the logistics. The goal is to ensure that you can focus on selling your products and catering to customer needs without any stress!
