Amazon

Amazon Placement Fees: What Sellers Need to Know to Protect Your Profits

Introducing Estimated FBA Storage Fees: Stay Ahead of Your CostsAt ConnectBooks, we’re always looking for ways to give you greater control over your business expenses. Our latest feature, Estimated FBA Storage Fees, integrates directly into your Profit & Loss (P&L) reports, providing real-time visibility into your monthly storage costs.

The allure of financial freedom draws many entrepreneurs to the vast online marketplace that is Amazon. But knowing where to begin your journey with Amazon FBA can feel like stepping into a dense jungle. Imagine turning Amazon FBA into a reliably lucrative business - that's exactly what this article helps you do, providing a roadmap to prosperity.

At first glance, selling on Amazon seems like the perfect way to build a strong, profitable eCommerce business. After all, Amazon is the largest eCommerce website in the world, and it gives your store unprecedented access to consumers across the globe. However, there’s a catch. Actually, there are quite a few catches. The reality is that it is not free (or even cheap) to sell products on Amazon.

It’s not always easy to get the hang of Amazon’s internal algorithms. As a general rule, products that have a better selling history will rank higher in Amazon’s search results. However, selling history isn’t the only factor to consider, and a good selling history still won’t guarantee that your products get seen ahead of the products of your competitors. This is why it is so important to analyze up-to-date and accurate data when you want to make more sales, create more opportunities, and ultimately scale your Amazon business.

Having Amazon inventory is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you have items to sell; on the other hand, you have to figure out a way to store, ship, and track every single item. It can be overwhelming, and if you don’t have a system in place, you could end up losing money and customers. Fortunately, Amazon makes it pretty easy to choose how you want to manage your inventory.

A lot of online business owners treat QuickBooks as the be-all and end-all of eCommerce bookkeeping — and for good reason. QuickBooks simply does more than most other accounting software options out there, and typically at a better price point. But if you specifically sell on Amazon, you might wonder if QuickBooks is actually the right solution for you.

It’s easy to get bogged down in all of the different data and financial reports compiled while running an eCommerce business. Though you should always stay on top of your finances and work to make sense of the information at your disposal, it’s particularly important to understand profit and loss (P&L) statements and how they can help you build sustained growth and profitability in the eCommerce space. Naturally, a financial statement won’t magically make your eCommerce store more profitable, but it will give you a lot of the tools you need to understand how to cut costs and maximize profits.

Deciding which selling channels to use for your eCommerce store is a huge part of planning your business. While many business owners choose to sell on more than one channel, you’ll only want to pick selling channels that can meet your needs. Some are objectively better than others, but many of the biggest players in the business — like Amazon FBA and Shopify — are great all-around options.

Figuring out how much you’re making, how much you need to make, and how much you could be making is integral to running an Amazon business. Fortunately, some of the information you need is already built into the platform via Amazon’s business reports. That said, these reports on their own don’t offer much insight or enhanced Amazon sales analytics. For this reason, it’s important to consider what kind of additional data you need to evaluate profitability.

Many Amazon Sellers who are just starting out might be able to get by with Amazon’s built-in reports. While they are very limited, these reports can accommodate sellers who just make a handful of sales per month or use Amazon as a side hustle.

Whether you’re just starting out as an Amazon Seller or you’ve been managing an online business on the platform for a while now, you may be wondering if it is a profitable endeavor over the long term. Naturally, profitability is highly dependent on a wide range of factors, from product selections to market conditions.

As an Amazon Seller, fees can seem like the bane of your existence. You work so hard to sell and market your products, only to see your profits hampered by endless fees.