How to Sell on Amazon Australia

It’s not hard to register on them, and there are many Aussies selling on the Australian version of the platform part-time. We talked about everything you need to know about it, and how you can become a member too.

What Products Can You Sell on Amazon Australia?

Your products would have to fit into one of 14 categories. They are pretty broad. In time, the site may include more, letting more sellers in. The categories are:

• Home and home improvement
• Kitchen and dining
• Lighting
• Movies and TV
• Stationary and office products
• Software
• Toys and games
• Auto
• Baby
• Clothing and shoes
• Books
• Computers and electronics
• Beauty
• Health

If you haven’t decided what you want to sell, pick a category from the above that is popular. You’d have a better time finding customers selling clothing and shoes than stationery and office products. Of course, there’s more to being successful than that. We discussed this in the latter part of our article.

There are some products they don’t let in. These are tobacco, ammunition, guns, illegal drugs, and any type of prescription medication.

What Do You Need to Sign Up?

Do you already have an Amazon account? If it’s a customer account, you don’t have to create a seller account. But doing so would let you include your business email. You’d need to send the platform your:

• Phone number
• Tax information
• Government ID
• Chargeable credit card number
• Business email
• Bank account
• Address

You may be wondering why you’d need to issue a credit card number. That’s because you have to pay to utilize their services. This is true for whichever country’s Amazon you use. Your bank account number lets them send your proceedings to you.

How Much Does it Cost to Sell on Amazon.com.au?

There are two main ways you’ll be charged. The first would be through a monthly subscription, while the other would be a commission fee.

The subscription amount would be fixed each month, regardless of how much you make. And the commission depends on the products you sell. It could be between 6-15%. If you’re selling higher-end items, you’d see the commission going towards the higher end of the spectrum.

In terms of how much the subscription costs, it would be $49.95. If you just started and your sales are not looking up, paying such a sum when you’re probably not making much puts you in a sticky situation.

If you’re planning on selling media, like books and TV shows, Amazon Australia charges another fee. It’s thankfully not much. It is just $1 per closing.

If you refund a customer, the site requires you to pay a sum. It’s also not much. It would be either 20% of the product’s referral fee (the commission) or $5.

The main Amazon website offers two subscription plans, unlike its Australian counterpart. You’ll be paying either $39.99 a month, or $0.99 per product sold. The latter is a good option if you’re just trying to test the waters out.

How Do You Sign Up?

Since you know everything that you need, let’s run through the process you’ll have to follow to register.

1. You’ll have to visit Amazon’s seller hub. Once there, you’ll see an option called “Start Selling’. Click on it to get to the portal.
2. If you have a customer account, you can sign into it. Otherwise, you’ll have to click the Create An Account option.
3. When you go to the page to create it, you would have to include all the information we mentioned. First, your business email and phone number. When you include your number, you’ll receive a text from Amazon. It would be to verify that the number is yours.
4. You’ll have to include a business name. You probably already have one in mind. However, it should be unique as the marketplace does not allow you to use one that has been taken. Take your time and think of a name as it would influence how well your business does.
5. An international credit card would have to be included on the next page. You can insert the numbers of Mastercard, Visa, and Amex cards.
6. The final bit to creating an account would be you telling Amazon about what you’re trying to sell. This would be done through a set of close-ended questions. Some of the questions include, “do you manufacture and brand the products you want to sell?”, “do you have Universal Product Codes for all of your products?”, and “how many products do you plan to list?”.
7. With the above done, your account would be created. The platform would review your application, and you would be called by one of their representatives. We recommend that you include two-factor authentications on your account, as this prevents anyone from ever breaking in.

How Do You Price Goods?

Pricing what you’re going to sell is an art. Even if you’re selling in a popular niche and have high-quality products, expensive prices would not let you be successful. Unfortunately, there’s no science to it. It’s all up to you, but you can consider a lot of things to get the fairest rates.

In terms of what you should consider, they are the following:

• Taxes – The Australian government charges a Goods and Services Tax on everything you sell.
• Demand– Amazon Australia is huge. But it’s nowhere near as massive as its American counterpart. It only brings in 14 million users a year, while its sibling boasts of over 2 billion. This influences how many sales you would make.
• Shipping – You should probably join FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon. You’ll be saving a lot on the dispatching and storing of goods.
• Costs – To sell the products, you’ll either have to buy or make them. This would cost money. You’ll also be spending for an account on the site. Don’t forget that you’ll be charged a commission per product sold, a closing sum if it’s any type of media, and another fee if you’re planning on giving a customer a refund.
• Competition – Probably the best way to figure out how much your products should cost is by looking through competitors’ shops. Check out the most successful ones. They might be doing so well as customers are happy with their prices.

You can also look at guides online to find out more. Forums are available as well. You should think about visiting the latter as you’ll be able to speak to other sellers, getting their expert opinions.

We believe making use of Amazon’s sales margin tool would be helpful. You’ll include the cost of your goods, listing price, product category, and fulfillment method. You’d then get a good breakdown of your sales margin. This would let you know if your price is realistic or not.

When beginning as a seller, you should not have a store full of items. It’s recommended that you ease into it. This would help you nail your metrics and marketing. When you add more products, you’ll know exactly what to do. As a result, you won’t be losing cash, as you won’t be spending on new goods that no one purchases.

How Do You Ship Items?

You can either ship the items yourself or through Amazon’s fulfillment service. If you are doing it yourself, you need to find a dispatching service that is not too expensive. They each charge differently per kilogram.

Be sure to make note of your inventory. If you’re low on stocks, but you keep accepting orders, you’ll have to issue refunds. This not only would cost you extra, but you would leave customers with a negative experience. You should also regularly check orders so that you can have them shipped on time. Not doing this quickly enough would leave them angry.

We recommend you to use FBA. We touched on it a bit earlier. However, it lets you use Amazon’s warehouses. Your products would be stored and dispatched from them. What’s great about their fulfillment service is that you can charge free shipping. This would be enticing to customers. And you’ll be able to provide two-day delivery to Prime members. Thankfully, you won’t be spending a lot on the service as it’s pay-as-you-go. You’d have to pay for the storage you’re taking up and the orders the company has to do.

One of the perks of using it is that you can get products wrapped too. Along with free delivery, this is a little something customers would appreciate.

Can You Work with International Buyers?

Although the site mainly caters to Australian buyers, you can sell products to people across the globe. That being said, you’ll have to find a way to convert currencies in a way that you won’t be losing cash. There are two ways you can do this.

Have A Foreign Bank Account

This option is complex, unfortunately. You need to have accounts in the countries you’re willing to take buyers from. One of the reasons it’s so complex is because each country would have different regulations for foreign citizens trying to make accounts. You’ll also face heavy fees they’d cut for converting cash.

Money Transferring Services

This is probably the most common way you’ll be working with foreign buyers. You’ve probably used money transfer services before, they are applications like PayPal, Google Pay, and Venmo. They offer seller accounts. You can get one that’s capable of holding many currencies, and get superb exchange rates and you thankfully won’t face hefty conversion fees.

Be mindful of the transferring service you use, though. Although you might be a fan of Venmo, a lot of people don’t utilize its services. This is true for Google Pay too. You want to attract the most customers, so think about using something popular like PayPal.

How Do You Become Successful on Amazon?

To become the best seller, you need to have prices that are not too high. No one likes spending more than they should. Your products should also be enticing. You should invest in a copywriter who can write good product descriptions. If you’re not the best with words, there are writing services that you can utilize.

Social media would be helpful too. Your best bet would be Facebook and Instagram. You’d get detailed breakdowns of how much traffic your posts are getting. This would help you know how effective your marketing tactics are being. With a lot of people directed to your page, you can send them to your store.

Also, be as friendly as possible to customers. No one likes to spend more than they should, and they especially don’t like working with rude people. By being helpful and considerate, you’re increasing the chances of word of mouth spreading as well.

Final Thoughts

If you’re interested in joining Amazon Australia, you should think about taking the leap. The platform is one of the largest marketplaces in the world, and around 14 million people visit it in a year. That being said, its American counterpart towers over it, with over 2 billion visits a year.

The marketplace isn’t hard to join. You can sell a range of products on it too. There are restrictions in place, however, so if you’re planning on selling anything deemed illegal, you had best look elsewhere.

When using the service, you’ll have to pay. This would be your monthly subscription as well as a commission the company takes per unit sold. The latter depends on the type of product you’re offering. They also charge a $1 closing fee if it’s any sort of media.

With some good marketing, you can become very successful. There’s a formula to follow, which you can learn from looking up various guides online. You can also make use of their Fulfillment service. A lot of cash would be saved on the dispatching and storing of goods. You’d also pique customer’s interest as you’d provide 2-day delivery to Prime members, free shipping, and gift-wrapping. You can’t go wrong if you cover all these bases, and you’d become successful in no time.