If you have products to sell and looking to sell on Amazon, you'll need to set up an Amazon Seller Central account. This free online account can be created quickly, but there are several steps you'll need to follow to make sure that your account gets set up correctly. This guide will take you through each step of the process so that you can get your account established quickly and start selling right away!
Amazon seller account vs seller central account
Before setting up your Amazon seller account, you must know two types of funds available. A complete Amazon seller account can be used for retail and wholesale selling, and a whole Amazon seller central account. The latter is explicitly geared toward sellers looking to sell on Amazon FBA and offers features like bulk label printing and shipping order management tools. For example, suppose you're just starting out with selling online or want to focus solely on selling on Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon). It may make sense for you to go with a complete central account so that you don't have to deal with other aspects of running an e-commerce business, such as keeping stock in storage space and fulfilling orders yourself.
The steps to setting up your account
1. If you do not already have a business entity in place, it is necessary that you choose one. The types of entities available include sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or limited liability company (LLC). An Amazon selling account can be set up using these legal business entities. Once you have determined which entity type works best for your business, follow these steps to apply for an Amazon seller account
Setting up your banking information.
You'll need a business checking account or other merchant account set up with a bank to use Amazon Seller Central. You can either use your own bank or find one through services like Stripe or Square. We recommend using your own, as Stripe and Square take between 2% and 3% of every sale you make on Amazon (or more, depending on how much volume you do). When it comes time to pay your employees, that small percentage can start adding up very quickly. However, if that's not an option for you, sign up with one of these providers instead. Just remember that you might have less negotiating power when it comes time to negotiate rates from them versus from your bank directly.
Shipping your products from the Amazon warehouse
Amazon provides a range of shipping services, and if you're new to Amazon or selling physical products, it can be a little confusing which option is best for you. Generally speaking, fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is a good choice if you're not sure how many units you'll sell. With FBA, your items are stored in Amazon warehouses and shipped. You set up a seller account with Amazon Seller Central, where you manage pricing and inventory, among other tasks; note that it's different from your regular Amazon account.
Uploading Inventory
After setting up your account, you'll want to log in and upload your inventory file. This simple CSV document details what products you sell and where they're located. You can find detailed instructions here, but uploading inventory is pretty straightforward (it's basically a text file with product information). Once you've uploaded Inventory, Amazon should start tracking all of your sales on its marketplace. If everything is in order, it should begin recording revenue from day one. At least that's how it worked for me!
Adding FBA products
Log into your Amazon seller central account, and click on inventory. Scroll down to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and click on Start selling. Fill out your business information and select which category you want to list your products in. Select Add a product and search for or add a product you want to sell. Once you have selected all of your products, complete them all by checking off that they are linked up with their corresponding UPC code. Hit save, confirm shipping rates and complete signup!
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