10 Amazon Myths That Could Damage Your Sales (re-release)

Hello and welcome to bring your product idea to life.

So here we are at the end of August.

Goodness, I can't believe the summer is almost over.

Kids are going to be back to school, Life is normal.

Can we maybe for some of us.

So this week I am on holiday and so I wanted to put out a re release of an older episode that I recorded earlier this year that turned out to be super popular.

So this is an episode where I am talking about all the myths and the untruths you might have heard about Amazon and what the truth actually is, because I know there is just loads of misinformation out there.

If you've already listened to this episode, I hope there's something you can still enjoy.

Maybe you'll pick up on something that you missed last time.

And if you're new to this podcast, welcome.

I think you're going to find this.

Episode a great introduction.

So that's it for me now.

I'm now going to hand back over to me and I'll be back with a brand new episode for you next week.

Welcome to the bring your product idea to life podcast.

This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert.

Every week I share friendly practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses.

Let's get started.

So today I want to talk about something that I'm quite passionate about, which is busting some of the most common myths around selling on Amazon, telling you what's actually true, what's not true.

Because there is a lot of noise out there and I hear a lot of mistruths or I think sometimes people have the wrong idea about something.

So I really want to share with you the truth about some of the common things you may have heard about selling on Amazon and perhaps set the record straight a little bit.

So the first myth is that it will cost you a lot of money to start selling on Amazon.

This is absolutely not true.

You do not need a huge budget.

You can start really small.

You can even start with an individual seller account which is free.

So it doesn't cost you any money to sell on Amazon other than the fee you pay per sale.

Not sure I would always recommend that because you get a lot more features with the professional account.

However, just, you know, trying to show you that you don't have to have the professional account.

While I would advise it, you can start with a small number of products and Also, you can do all of this yourself.

The only time really it's going to cost you any money at all to start selling on Amazon, other than, you know, the things you have to pay.

So the account fees, the referral fees.

You can go back to my previous episodes to find out how much it costs to sell on Amazon.

Some of the things that.

Absolutely unavoidable, maybe sending your stock to Amazon, maybe packaging, whatever it is, there will be some cost.

Yes, you are going to have to pay.

Other than that, you are only really going to have to pay to start selling on Amazon if you outsource it.

And it might be that for you, that's, that's the right decision.

It might be that you don't have the time or you don't put there the energy into it.

Maybe you just find it super confusing and you're like, I absolutely cannot do this myself.

I'm going to pay for someone else to do it.

And if you do that, then yes, of course it'll cost you money.

However, that doesn't have to have to have to cost you a load of money.

There are different people out there that can help you do that.

I can help you do that.

And, you know, and there are plenty of experts out there that can help you get started.

What I will say is, as well, you don't have to outsource the whole process.

So I offer power hours where I can help you with just one aspect or sort of individual questions you have about selling on Amazon.

You can also come and join Amazon Made Easy.

So that is my membership for Amazon sellers and that is a great resource if you're looking to start selling on Amazon and you don't want to do it yourself, but you don't necessarily want to pay someone to do it for you.

That is a great in between.

It's not expensive.

So it's £29amonth, which is a tiny bit less than your Amazon seller account would be, but less than a pound a day.

I keep saying that.

And you can work alongside me and some other Amazon sellers and, you know, together we can help you get up and running on Amazon.

So you'll have access to me in fortnightly Q and A calls.

You can ask me all your questions.

There's lots of resources there, show you how to, how to do things.

Yeah, there's, there's, there's a lot there.

So that's a really nice other option.

If you don't, you know, want to pay someone to do it for you or you don't have the budget to pay.

Pay someone to do it for you.

So definitely consider Amazon made easy if you're looking to get started.

So, yeah, absolutely, you can sell on Amazon without selling a lot of money.

Spending a lot of money.

Of course you can spend a lot of money.

If you've got the budget and you want to outsource the whole thing, let me know, I can do that for you.

But it's.

It's not necessary if that's not what you want to do.

The second myth I hear is that Amazon will automatically bring you loads and loads of sales.

Sorry, this one is also a myth.

I wish it wasn't.

When I first started out, all I heard about were stories of people who were like, oh, yeah, after six months, you'll be making six figures.

It's really easy.

You only need one product and you'll make all this money and then you'll add another product and you'll be making another six figures.

And sadly, I don't think that's true.

I'm not saying it never happens, but I think it's rare.

I think that the people talking about that are massively playing down the work it takes to get started on Amazon.

I'm also thinking that perhaps they had a lot of money to invest.

And as I said on my answer to my last question, you don't need a lot of money to sell on Amazon.

But let's face it, it would help if you had a massive advertising budget, for example, then, of course, you know, you.

You have got the potential to make your first sales quicker and easier than someone with absolutely no marketing budget.

That just makes sense.

But you don't necessarily need to have that.

However, even back then.

So even back when I started selling on Amazon, which was maybe eight or nine years ago, it was a little bit easier than it was now, but it still was never a guarantee that you could add some products and sell them.

Amazon, as you know, has a huge audience.

It's a massive marketplace.

Plenty of people shop there.

But you still need to put some work in, because you're not going to be the only person selling there.

No matter what product you're selling, however unique your product is, you still need to do a really great job of selling your product for your listing to your text, your images.

You need great keywords, and you need a plan to launch.

You need to think about, how am I going to get reviews, how am I going to get my first sales?

Unfortunately, it's not a case of just listing it and the sales will come.

And I don't actually know if that ever was the case.

Maybe in the first couple of years, but certainly not a long, long time.

The third myth I would like to bust is you have to be the cheapest to sell.

Well, no, absolutely not.

You don't need to be the cheapest.

You can be the most expensive in your category.

It really doesn't matter.

Pricing doesn't matter.

But the value or the perceived value is what matters.

So people will pay more for better products if you can.

If you.

Your product deserves to be the most expensive in your category.

I say in your category because let's say you sell baby cutlery and your baby cutlery is more expensive than everyone else's.

If there's a really good reason for that, then then price it at that.

What you just need to do is make sure that your listing reflects that, the value of your product.

So it's really important to have a usp.

It's really important that you can sort of clearly, in your mind, first of all, think, okay, my product should be priced at this.

And you.

And you can sort of justify that to yourself.

And then, as I said, that your listing reflects that.

Competing on price, I think, is just a race to the bottom.

And I've seen it happen.

I've definitely seen people where they have a great product and they price it whatever they think the value should be, and then the competitor discounts their products.

They think, well, maybe I should discount my product, and it just starts going down.

But I really, really stand by this.

Do not compete on price price.

If you've done the work into working out what your product should be priced at, stand by it.

And if you're not getting the sales you think you should take a look at your listing.

Is there something missing?

Because I. I genuinely believe that people will pay a lot of money.

I work with brands who sell really expensive products on Amazon.

Things that you wouldn't perhaps think that people would buy there.

And that's becoming, you know, more.

More and more premium brands are moving on to Amazon, and people will pay the money, but they need to understand the value.

So myth number four is that Amazon controls absolutely everything.

And you have absolutely.

No, no.

Say this isn't true.

I mean, yes, okay, so Amazon does control the platform.

That's true.

Yes.

They could, you know, you could get kicked off the platform.

That is also true.

But let's be honest, that's the same with Instagram, Facebook, most, as I say, with lots of places.

We don't own anything really, do we?

Apart from our own websites.

But you do have a lot more control than you might think.

So you have control over your product.

So it's up, you know.

So first of all, there's very few things you can't sell on Amazon.

Yes, you might have to apply to sell for certain products, but you can still choose what you sell there.

As long as you're working within Amazon's guidelines, you have a lot of autonomy over your product listing.

So yes, the main image you use has to be your products on a white background.

That is the role.

But beyond that, your images can really reflect your brand.

Your personality, your style, all of that can be reflected in your image.

Same with your text.

There are always going to be a few things that you can't words and phrases you can't use in product listings, but you can still say an awful lot.

You can use A plus content and a brand store to get even more of your brand messaging across.

If you are doing your own fulfillment, then that's another, you know, your fulfillment.

And actually even the film and choices you make, that is a choice Amazon doesn't tell you you have to use fba.

Amazon doesn't tell you you have to fill your own orders.

Although I guess there are certain products that you can't send in for fba.

So you would have to.

But what I'm trying to say is there is still quite a lot of flexibility.

The main thing Amazon owns is the customer, so you don't get customer details.

And that.

That is true.

And I know that's not true of every other marketplace.

However, I think you're still getting access to such a lot of customers and there are ways around that as well, which perhaps we can talk about in another episode.

So myth number five is it is too late to start selling on Amazon.

I don't think so.

I think it's absolutely possible to succeed.

And this is actually the opposite of the myth that tells you you'll be a millionaire in six months, isn't it?

It's the complete opposite.

But you know, I hear both.

But the one I hear a lot about now, sort of a few years ago I did used to hear the one about you can make loads of money a bit more.

The one I hear now is all doom and gloom, every category saturated.

It's not worth starting.

No.

Well, yes and no.

Yes, in that Amazon is a busy marketplace.

There are a lot of sellers on there that Bit's true.

However, Newport products launch every single day.

I'm working with some new brands right now and I'll be honest, none of them are selling something really new and groundbreaking.

They are all selling products in categories where products like theirs already exist.

However, I know they're going to do well because they're great products.

They're already proven to sell elsewhere somewhere else.

They fit really well onto Amazon and we've done a really great job of the product listings.

So I think if you can tick all of those boxes, you can absolutely still do well on Amazon.

You know, find, find your niche, do your research, see what else is already out there.

Offers, you know, offer great product that customers really want and sell it really well.

And I think as long as you do all of those things, you can absolutely still do really, really well on Amazon.

Myth number six, you can't start with just one product.

I don't know where this one's come from because, yes, I mean, lots of, lots of brands that I work with already have a range of products before they want to get on Amazon.

But not all do and you absolutely don't have to.

Many successful sellers start with just one product and actually it can be a smart way to start, particularly if you don't want to spend a lot of money.

Maybe you have a range of products but you've got one like bestseller and you think, maybe I'll just put this one on Amazon, find out a bit more how it works, see how it works out.

You know, don't put investment into launching our entire brand just out of one product and see how it goes.

And you can absolutely do that because one single, well optimized product can do really well.

And when it does start doing really well, then you can add on more products or not.

As I say, I think it's a good way of getting started.

You can add more products in time.

There are actually clients on there and non clients.

There are plenty of brands I see on Amazon who sell a range of products, but they still only have one or two that are selling either because people don't realize that they've got other products or because some of their other products don't fit as well.

I also see sometimes a disparity in product listings where some of their products might have really great, well optimized listings and some don't.

There are quite a few reasons actually why sometimes, you know, not every, every single product you have will sell well on Amazon.

So why not just start with one?

If you've got one product or you've got a product out of a whole range and you're like, this one sells really well.

It's a great fit for Amazon.

You know, it ticks all the boxes.

Absolutely.

Start for one.

Myth number seven is you have to run sponsored products ads to get sales.

So this is on, on Amazon advertising.

I actually talked about this in last week's episode, so you may have heard me say this already, but ads on Amazon really, really help.

Customers are there to shop, so when they search something in the search bar, they are looking to buy.

If your product is relevant and your product shows up, whether that's organically in an ad, you've obviously got a good chance of a sale.

But you don't have to use them.

As I said, I think I've got, I've got.

If you want to, I've got a full episode on Amazon ads.

But if you don't, you don't have to.

I'm never here to tell you you have to spend a lot of money.

As I spoke about right at the beginning, you don't have to spend loads of money to get started on Amazon, but you have to do something.

So if you're not going to run Amazon ads, think about what you are going to do to get people over to your listing.

So whether that's your email list, whether it's social media, whether it's telling all your friends and family, whether it's sharing in networking groups, whatever it is.

If you don't want to run ads, absolutely don't.

But what are you going to do instead?

Now, myth number eight is that Amazon closes down accounts all the time for tiny mistakes and your account will get frozen and you'll lose all your stock and you'll lose all your money.

I can't promise that Amazon never closes down people's accounts.

I know.

Yes, it has happened in the past.

Not too many people given the amount of sellers that I've known about.

But what I can say is that they have rules, but they don't randomly shut down your accounts.

If you can stay informed and stay compliant, keep on top of your.

Any notifications you get.

If you're asked to do something, do it.

Because not always, but most of the time you always get some warning of like policy changes.

Not always, tons of warning.

You always get some sort of warning.

You'll also get a warning before anything happens.

So before Amazon even close the product listing down, you usually get a warning to say you're not compliant.

Please do this.

And if you follow the rules and you keep on top of it, you should have no problems at all.

If you do have problems, most issues can be overcome as well.

Clear communication, a bit of persistence and most things can be resolved.

But if you're worried that, you know, you don't even want to get started on Amazon because you're so worried about your account getting shut down, I don't think that's a reason not to start.

I can't imagine you're selling anything risky enough that that's going to happen.

I'm assuming you're planning on following all of the rules.

So as long as that's the case, I really don't think that's something you need to worry about.

Yes, things can and do go wrong on Amazon.

I've spoken about this before, but I do genuinely think that if you follow the rules and what's expected, hopefully you'll be, you'll be absolutely fine.

Myth number nine, it's fine to forget about your own website and just concentrate on Amazon.

No, relying solely on Amazon is really, is really, really risky.

So even if you are, you get yourself on Amazon or you're on Amazon now and you're doing really, really well, even if your website isn't doing that many sales.

Perhaps, perhaps.

I know when I sold on Amazon, I think 80% of my sales are coming through Amazon, other 20% of my website.

But I still had that website.

Because your website is, you know, is there for brand control, gives you some credibility.

It is an alternative sales channel, even if you're not selling as much through it.

If something does go wrong with Amazon, as we've just spoken about, yes, it's unlikely, but let's say something does happen.

You still got your website.

If Amazon closes down, if customers really want to buy your product, they can go to Amazon and buy it.

If you're out of stock on Amazon for some reason, something happens and people can't buy your products on Amazon.

Let's say you're using fba, but you go out of stock.

You don't, you know, you don't send in new stock quick enough.

If customers really want your product, they can go and find you elsewhere.

As I said, it gives you a bit of credibility.

Also, the other thing is you don't get any personal customer information on Amazon.

So if you are looking to get more traffic to your website or get more sales in general selling on Amazon, you, you may got the sales, but you don't get the customer.

If you see what I mean.

Having your own website is great for that.

So you know you can and there are definitely things you can do to get people onto your website.

So your packaging might have your web address, for example, or social media handles.

Because what you don't want is to find a, a time when you're.

You maybe decide you don't want to sell on Amazon so maybe nothing's gone wrong, but you decide, actually I don't want to be there anymore.

But you've lost all of those customers because Amazon was the only place they could find you.

So I think having website, having somewhere people can just go and shop from you if they choose is really, really important.

So however well you do on Amazon, I would say don't neglect your website.

I think you still need to have it.

I'm not saying you have to be doing a lot to drive traffic to it.

That's completely up to you.

But having a website is really, really important.

Okay, my final myth that I hear all the time is Amazon is too hard.

There's too much information.

It's really confusing.

What do I do?

It's just too hard.

Okay, so Amazon can be overwhelming.

Amazon can be hard.

However, if you've got the right support, it's totally doable.

I mentioned Amazon Made Easy earlier.

That's my membership for Amazon sellers or, or those of you who want to sell on Amazon because I think it's a great way of getting support, resources, community, all in one place for a low price and it's, it does what it says on the tin.

Really.

I just try and make selling on Amazon as simple as possible for you.

I answer all your questions, I provide some great resources, I have a community around me.

So there's a small group of members already and we can all support each other, share our own experiences and it's just great.

So if you are selling on Amazon or you want to sell on Amazon, you find it confusing or you just want a community of people who are understand it's a great place to be.

So you can go to vickiweinberg.com forward/membership.

I'll link that in the show notes as well to find out more.

And I will end this episode with some encouragement because I know that sometimes I think we focus a lot on the negatives and the, you know, a lot of the things that we hear about Amazon aren't always that positive.

But don't let this misinformation hold you back.

I work with lots of sellers who do really well on Amazon every single day.

So some of them have only got started, some of them have only started selling this year.

And where are we now?

We're in April.

So do listen to some more episodes if there's something that takes, you know, takes your interest.

Maybe you've listened to every episode up until now, so thank you because there have been a lot of them.

If not, I have an entire back catalog.

These Amazon specific episodes are released on a Tuesday and I have a wonderful, wonderful interview every Friday.

If there's anything you'd like me to cover in one of these episodes, please let me know.

I always love to hear from you.

Vickykiewinberg.com and if not, I will leave you to get on with the rest of your day or your evening and see you again for another episode next week.

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.

Do to you want remember that you can get the Fullback catalogue and lots of free resources on my website, vickyweinberg.com Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful.

Thank you again and see you next week.

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.

Do remember that you can get the full back catalog and lots of free resources on my website, vickywineberg.

Com.

Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful.

Thank you again and see you next week.