Part 2 – Why Sell on Amazon?

In this tutorial we take a closer look at why you would even want to sell on Amazon in the first place. I mean after all if you’re going to get it set up you are going to want to know that it’s worth your time and effort.

Why Should You Sell on Amazon?

Amazon has grown massively over the years and 3rd party businesses like yours now account for more than 40% of all sales made on Amazon.

From books and DVDs, Amazon now carries a range of products that used to be only available in big high street stores – from clothes and lawn mowers to children’s toys and dog beds.

You can sell practically all sorts of products on Amazon for as long as they do not fall into any of the following categories:

Fireworks
Drugs
Copied DVDs and Media
Pornography
Human body parts (including yourself and your wife or husband)

How Amazon Benefits 3rd Party Sellers

Many business owners have Amazon to thank for the quick return on their investment.

Whilst Amazon does sell an impressive range of items, over 40% of its sales come from third party sellers.

In 2013, more than two million business owners sold over a billion products on Amazon.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s third party sellers in the USA sold 13 million units on Cyber Monday in the same year; it resulted in a 50% growth for the same period in 2012.

That number is expected to grow in the years to come as consumers continue to move out of big box stores and into the Internet to shop.

eBay vs Amazon

Anyone who’s new to Amazon would wonder how different is it from eBay.

That brings us to a list of similarities and differences between the two platforms just for the sake of comparison.

eBay		Amazon
Each listing is unique	You need to create a new listing from scratch.	Unified catalog	You do not have to create a new listing from scratch.
Numerous facts required about a product	Aside from the product’s title and description, you have to provide item specifics, category, price and images, among others.	5 facts required about product	You only have to provide the SKU, ASIN, price, quantity and condition of the product.
Similar audience	It has over 20 million unique visitors every month.	Similar audience	It has over 20 million unique visitors every month.
Similar pricing	It takes a percentage off your total sale. The pricing is similar with Amazon.	Similar pricing	It takes a percentage off your total sale. The pricing is similar with eBay.
Demanding customers	Customers are more demanding to the point of putting a seller in an unlikely situation.	Less demanding customers	A buyer will only contact you if they didn’t receive the item or they want to return the item.
Sell your data	It sells your sales data to a company called Terapeak.	Likely to ‘mine’ your data	If they want to sell your product themselves, they will go to your source without your knowledge.