Sell on Amazon UK in 2024 with Complete Guide for Beginners
Amazon UK offers sellers a great opportunity to grow their business, even if you're a non-resident. By opening an account, you’ll tap into a vast customer base, totaling 500 million visits in September 2024 alone (according to Semrush). Plus, you'll also gain access to all of the European marketplaces, which enables you to expand both your reach and profit potential.
In this article, we'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to start selling on Amazon UK.
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How to Sell on Amazon UK
Selling on Amazon UK can be relatively easy and profitable as long as you set it up efficiently. However, it can also be a bit overwhelming for beginners, so we’ve put together a guide with six key steps to help you get started smoothly.
Step1: Create an Amazon Seller Account
In order to sell on Amazon UK, first you need to set up your Amazon Seller Account. This is a straightforward process that consists of a few steps:
1. Go to the Amazon website.
2. Choose your selling plan: The Individual plan charges £0.75/sale, while the Professional plan costs £25/month and offers advanced features for high-volume sellers.
3. Enter your personal and business information. You will need to provide your personal details, such as your address (verified by various documents such as bills), phone number, and more, along with your business information to complete your account setup.
4. Submit your documentation. You will need to provide a bank statement and a photo of your ID. Once these are submitted, Amazon will schedule a verification video call. Make sure you have your ID and a valid credit card with you.
Note: U.S. citizens must provide pictures of their passport or driver’s license and birth certificate.
5. Complete the verification process. After providing the required documents to Amazon, you’ll need to wait while they conduct the verification with Amazon Payments Europe.
Once you’re approved, your account will be activated, and you can start listing products for sale.
Step 2: Choose Products to Sell
Many sellers often feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of products available on Amazon UK, and struggle deciding what to sell. While browsing Amazon’s bestseller list can show what’s currently trending, it doesn't provide enough sales data to make informed decisions. In order to find products to sell on Amazon UK and maximize your potential profits, deeper product and market research are needed.
Analytical tools like the AMZScout toolkit can be incredibly useful, as they offer detailed insights that help sellers pinpoint what to sell on Amazon UK. Here’s how to identify the best-selling items for your business:
1. Access the Product Database. Enter your email address to start a free trial.
2. Apply search filters. To narrow your search effectively, apply specific filters tailored to your preferences and needs. Here are some universal filters to consider:
Estimated Sales: Set a minimum threshold, such as 200 sales/month, to ensure consistent demand.
Category: Choose the specific category you're interested in, such as books, or you can select all categories. You can also add optional keywords, like “children's book”, to refine your search further.
Weight: Limit the maximum weight to 3 lbs to reduce shipping costs and potential customs fees.
![How to find products with the AMZScout Product Database]( "Find products with the AMZScout Product Database")
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Use filters based on your approach: limit the seller count to reduce competition for reselling, and keep the number of reviews low to target less competitive products for private labels. The rating filter helps resellers find quality items and highlights areas of needed improvement for private label products.
3. Check the results. Click Find Products to create a list of items that meet your specifications. From there, make a list of products you are interested in to evaluate further.
4. Install the PRO Extension. This tool enables you to check each item individually to ensure that it aligns with your business model and is profitable for your store.
5. Search for the product you’re interested in on Amazon. Enter the name of any product you found from the Product Database into Amazon's search bar. Then, access the PRO Extension by selecting the icon in the lower-left corner of the page.
6. Assess the niche potential. Product performance can be influenced by factors like the seller's personal skills. That’s why it’s important to evaluate how this type of product is performing overall to ensure it’s worth your time. Click on the Niche Score in the upper-right corner to check its performance. A score above 7 indicates a favorable assessment based on the combination of demand levels, competition, and profit margins.
7. Evaluate product performance. If the niche looks promising, you can analyze specific items you like. You have the option to select products based on your criteria. For instance, if you're interested in top performers, you can click on Estimated Sales to sort by sales figures. Then click on Product History under the item in the displayed list to monitor fluctuations in both price and sales.
8. Assess how well each product aligns with your business model. Click on the Product Score next to any item to see its suitability for resale or private labeling. Keep in mind that scores below 7 may indicate that a product isn't a good fit for your business and may not warrant your time and effort.
9. Check profitability. Click on the Profit Calculator located under each item and enter the associated costs to determine the profit margin. If the margin exceeds 20% after accounting for all expenses, this confirms that the product is likely to be profitable, allowing room for advertising and reinvestment.
This approach will help you pinpoint the best opportunities for your store while saving you both time and effort. Now, let’s explore where to buy products to sell on Amazon UK, especially if you’re not focusing on handmade items.
Step 3: Find a Reliable Supplier
Once you've gathered ideas of what you want to sell, the next step is to source products. One of the most popular platforms for this is Alibaba, which is known for offering a wide range of products at low prices. It’s easy to find suppliers directly through the PRO Extension by clicking Find on Alibaba.
When selecting a supplier, it’s important to assess their reliability by reviewing ratings and feedback. Additionally, a quick online search can help to ensure that they haven’t been associated with any scams.
To compare quotes and find the best offer, ask these key questions:
- What is the minimum order quantity (MOQ), and are discounts available for wholesale orders?
- What are the expected shipping costs and timeframes?
- Can they provide DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) to cover customs fees for the U.K. or U.S. (if applicable)?
- What kinds of recognized quality certifications can they offer for the product?
- Are there options for product customization? If yes, what are the conditions?
- What types of testing standards do they follow to ensure durability and safety?
- What kinds of warranties or guarantees are offered for the product?
(...and any other details relevant to your business model.)
If possible, start with a small trial order to test product quality and get a feel for the supplier's communication style. This will help you gauge whether they’re a reliable long-term partner before making a larger investment.
Step 4: List Your Products
To sell products on Amazon, your first step is listing them. If the product is already available on Amazon, you can simply join the existing listing through your Amazon Seller Central account.
If your product is new to the marketplace, you’ll need to create a listing from scratch, including indicating the condition (new or used), setting the price, and entering other details. Optimizing your title, bullet points, and description with SEO-friendly content are also key to ranking higher on Amazon’s search results.
A key element of SEO optimization is using the right keywords. Gathering high-performing keywords and integrating them into your listing is vital, but can also be time-consuming if done manually. Tools like AMZScout’s Keyword Tool simplify this process, as it offers insights into search volume, relevance, and sales trends to help you choose effective keywords that set you apart from competitors.
Whether your listing is new or existing, you can leverage Amazon Build International Listings to automatically translate your text into a variety of European languages, and sync offers, currency, and price. This ensures that your products are accessible in both the U.K. and European countries.
Before finalizing your listing, you'll need to decide on your fulfillment method. We'll explain this further in the next section.
Step 5: Choose Your Fulfillment Method
Each fulfillment method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so you'll need to weigh each one based on your business needs. There are two main options for how to sell on Amazon:
FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon): You send your products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, where they manage many things for you, including storage, packing, and shipping to customers, and you pay a fee for these services.
FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant): You handle your own inventory, order fulfillment, and shipping. Effective inventory management and shipping are essential to avoid order cancellations or delays.
If you're selling across Europe, FBA might be more practical, as Amazon handles all of your customs and shipping logistics, which helps to streamline delivery. This also applies to returns, where Amazon manages customs documents for the customer. In contrast, with FBM, customers would need to handle their own return documents, which could lead to dissatisfaction.
After choosing your fulfillment method, your listing will go live. To attract customers, it’s helpful to advertise your stuff on Amazon UK to boost visibility and drive sales.
Step 6: Promote Your Products with Amazon PPC
PPC is one of the most effective ways to advertise products on Amazon UK. Once your ad is live, it will appear across the Amazon site, boosting your product's visibility across the site, which helps to increase its sales potential and helping it rank higher in organic search.
To maximize the impact of your ads, you need to set them up correctly. You can check out an A to Z guide on how to make your ads more effective. Here are a few key tips:
Use effective keywords: Target keywords with high search volumes that are relevant to your product in order to reach the right audience. Check here to learn how to identify the best keywords for your products.
Utilize negative keywords: Exclude irrelevant terms to avoid wasting your ad budget.
Bid adjustments: Optimize your bids regularly based on ad performance for more effective budget control.
PPC is a powerful tool for driving traffic to your store. Over time, you'll make them more cost-effective as you learn what works best.
Now, let’s explore the steps you need to take to stay compliant with legal requirements.
Requirements to Sell on Amazon UK
When you enroll in the program, be sure to verify your eligibility and understand the costs associated with running an Amazon business in the U.K. Here are the requirements:
Valid credit card: Non-UK cards are accepted.
Valid passport or ID: This applies to both residents and non-residents.
Valid VAT registration: You need to register for VAT in any country you plan to sell in. For more details, check here.
Registered trademark: If you’re selling products under your own brand, the trademark must be registered in each country where you intend to sell.
Registered company: You can use an overseas LLC or start a new U.K.-based business.
Note: If you're a U.S.-based seller, you have two options: continue using your existing LLC, or register a new U.K. business. Using your LLC links your Amazon U.K. and U.S. accounts, so any problems with one could affect the other. On the flip side, setting up a new U.K. business keeps them separate, but also requires a bit more effort for registration.
How Much Does It Cost to Sell on Amazon UK?
The costs associated with selling on Amazon UK include fixed expenses, such as your Amazon account fee (£0.75/sale or £25/month), and variable costs like referral fees (averaging around 15%, depending on the category) and FBA fees (if you choose that fulfillment method).
By reviewing these factors carefully, you can set up your business efficiently. As you refine your strategies, you’ll also position your business for long-term growth and increased profitability.
Conclusion
Selling successfully on Amazon involves managing various aspects of your business, with product and keyword research being crucial. Using the AMZScout toolkit can help you identify top-performing products and the most effective keywords to optimize your listings. This approach not only saves you time for other important tasks but also boosts your potential for business growth in the United Kingdom and Europe.
