So, you sell curtains — or peanut butter. You’re an online seller based in Egypt making good money on social media, but you know you must expand your reach to increase your sales.
Fortunately, Amazon is in Egypt – and what better place to boost exposure than on an e-commerce platform of such scale? Semrush says Amazon Egypt gets around 40 million (15 million unique) monthly visitors, and they stay for 10-12 minutes. That’s more than enough time to buy something!
Convinced getting on Amazon is a good idea, you read the Amazon Egypt selling guide and learned sales from third-party sellers (like you) are growing at 52% yearly. You immediately signed up for an Amazon Seller account, verified your identity, and received account approval from Amazon.
Now, you have Seller Central access – but you’re stumped. What should you do next?
Here’s a question that will help you get the answer: What’s the most essential thing an Amazon seller must have? Yes, it’s products. Therefore, the first thing you must do is to list your products. How do you do this? Follow these steps:
1. Enroll your brand or brands.
Do you have a brand? Do you have a registered trademark and sell your products under that name? If yes, enroll your brand first. After submitting your brand registration application, wait for Amazon’s response before proceeding to the next step.
Are you a reseller? If you sell Australian plantation and roller shutters under the manufacturer’s brand name, you don’t need to enroll a brand. Go directly to the next step.
2. Resolve product category, product identification, and brand requirements.
Go to Catalog > Add Products and search for your product. You can also do a brand name search and choose a similar product from the brand.
Choose your product from the search results and see if the product has limitations. It may belong to a restricted product category or subcategory. It may also be gated by the brand owner to ensure that only authorized resellers can sell their products. If your product has either of these limitations, you must fill out the application to sell to gain permission from Amazon or the brand owner.
Additionally, specific products (say, a particular make and model of a motherboard) have a unique identification code or product barcode. This is a product’s Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), and it ensures specific products are listed and described correctly worldwide. If your product has no ID code, apply for a GTIN exemption.
3. Select your fulfillment channel.
Will you fulfill orders yourself, or will you let Amazon do it for you? Fulfillment refers to storing, packing and shipping out orders to customers. It also involves processing returns and exchanges.
If you choose the former, you can save on Amazon fulfillment costs. However, you need to configure your shipping and return settings. This includes deciding the countries and regions where you’re willing to ship, calculating and deciding on shipping fees, determining delivery timeframes, and setting your return addresses, among other things.
The latter means taking advantage of Amazon’s extensive logistics capabilities and facilities. You can store your products in Amazon’s warehouses, reach Prime customers through Prime-only deals, and rely on Amazon for customer support. Of course, you must pay Amazon for its fulfillment services.
Note: If you choose the “Fulfilled by Amazon” option, you will configure your fulfillment settings after successfully listing your products.
4. Create and submit your product listings.
Finally, after going through all the necessary steps – brand registration, getting sales approvals, and choosing a fulfillment strategy – you can create your product listings. You can accomplish this in four ways: uploading manually, uploading in bulk, application programming interface (API) integration, and using the build international listings tool.
Manual
Use this if you have a small number of products. Click “Add a Product” and type the product name onto the search bar. If the product you’re selling already exists in the Amazon catalog, click that in the search results and add your specific offer for it.
Bulk Upload
Use this option if you have hundreds of products in your inventory. Get the bulk upload template from “Go to Bulk Listings,” save it, fill it out with the required details, and upload the file back to Amazon.
Amazon will match your product entries with the items in the catalog and add your offers for existing products. For non-matched products, you must download a category-specific bulk upload template, fill it out, and upload it back.
API Integration
What if you have thousands of products and extensive product variability? You can use Amazon’s API to add specific offers for existing products and generate listings for non-existent products.
Some third-party applications will help you create product listings and fulfill other functions. They are available on the Amazon Selling Partner Appstore. You (or your developer) can also create a custom integration application.
Build International Listings
You can also use the Build International Listings (BIL) tool to replicate the listings of one store to your new store.
5. Register for tax.
Amazon requires registering for tax and obtaining a tax registration number (TRN). Additionally, within 30 days of your sales exceeding EGP 500,000, you must register for Egyptian value-added tax (VAT).
Start From the Very Beginning: Product Listings
Ready to start selling on Amazon? Sign up for an Amazon seller account. After Amazon approves your seller account registration, log in to Seller Central and follow the above guide to create your product listings.
