Amazon.com offers small businesses and entrepreneurs ready access to a huge customer market for their goods. Of course, sellers pay a price for the opportunity to trade on Amazon’s good name, internet saturation and global market reach. Not only do private sellers often find themselves in direct competition with the internet behemoth for products and services, but Amazon holds all the cards. To protect its own reputation and maintain a satisfied customer base, Amazon’s sellers’ agreement and myriad rules stack the deck firmly in Amazon’s favor.

In order to sell on Amazon.com, sellers must follow an exacting list of expectations that dictate how and when they interact with their customers at every point in the sales process. Fail to meet Amazon’s performance expectations and you could receive a not particularly cheerful “Hello from Amazon.com” letter notifying you that your account has been blocked and your sales listings terminated. And, by the way, Amazon will be hanging onto your money for the next 90 days to cover any unresolved financial issues.

For businesses that rely on Amazon.com as a primary conduit to customers and order fulfillment, receiving one of Amazon’s computer-generated “Hello” letters can spell disaster. A big part of the problem is that the letters are computer-generated. Computer algorithms don’t care if you didn’t respond to a customer within the required 24 hours because you were hospitalized or on vacation. They’re completely unsympathetic that your approval rating appears to be in the toilet not because you provide poor service but because the only customers who have bothered to offer feedback are dissatisfied ones.

Many Amazon.com sellers complain that they’ve been unfairly booted off Amazon because they’ve fallen victim to the “law of negative averages” in which a small number of negative comments can, if they outnumber positive feedback, result in a negative feedback score. For example, if out of 50 sales, 47 customers are satisfied, but only 1 posts positive feedback while 2 dissatisfied customers post negative comments, Amazon’s trackers will record a negative average and you’ll soon be the recipient of a letter from alliance @ amazon.com, Amazon’s enforcement department.

What sends sellers into a panic is the phrase “the closure of an account is a permanent action,” implying that you will be forever banned from selling on Amazon. And the ban will not only affect you, but anyone Amazon’s online trackers can connect to your name, street address or email address. All is not lost, however, sellers can petition Amazon for reinstatement and a number have done so successfully. The process is not easy; and, if reinstated, you can expect Amazon to scrutinize your account carefully for some time (and hang onto your money while they do so); but you can get back in the game.

1. Look carefully at the points made in the letter you receive from alliance @ amazon.com. Review your consumer metrics to see if you’re falling short of expectations.

2. Respond promptly via email, explain that you feel your suspension is unfair and rebut each charge with as much factual information as possible. Attach pertinent records or letters from consumers and offer your explanation of any negative feedback.

3. If you’ve failed to meet Amazon’s performance targets, review your sales practices and provide an action plan to correct the problem.

4. Plead your case, emphasizing your sales and customer service record and pointing out how your product benefits consumers.

5. Monitor your email for Amazon’s decision.

To prevent being terminated, keep a close eye on your email and regularly review Amazon’s agreements and help pages as Amazon may change its procedures and guidelines at any time without notifying sellers. Monitor the customer metrics Amazon provides and compare your performance to the Amazon’s seller performance targets to make certain you are hitting the expected benchmarks.

More than product returns and cart abandonment, third-party sellers on Amazon fear losing sales and access to their accounts due to suspension whether it is valid or not.

Getting banned from Amazon can ruin not only your finances but your life regardless of how long the suspension is.

That especially holds true if you use the Amazon marketplace as your main source of income; you don’t have an eCommerce site, a bricks-and-mortar shop or a regular job as a backup.

When you get banned, it’s like you lost a limb as you lose the ability to pay for your everyday expenses.

Various reasons can lead to a third-party seller’s suspension from Amazon: late response or shipment, high order defect rate, high cancelation rate, etc.

There are also painful instances when a seller gets banned not for their own doing, but as a result of their competitor’s devious stratagems.

Did you know there are sellers on Amazon who would go to the extent of paying large amounts of money in exchange for fake reviews on their biggest competition’s product?

It’s a good thing you can do something about that now thanks to the Amazon suspension coverage which some insurance companies offer.

Protect yourself and your business

Anyone can be banned from Amazon without notice regardless of their seller rating or performance metrics.

It is an ordeal which you never want to suffer, but the odds are high that you can avoid it, so might as well find a way to protect yourself and your business just in case it befalls you.

Lloyd’s of London, which has gained global fame by insuring famous celebrities’ body parts, is one of the insurance companies that are offering insurance plans to compensate sellers for lost sales and expenses during an Amazon suspension.

Businesses of all sizes can be insured; coverage limits range from $50,000 to $1,000,000 for a period of 30 to 180 days.

Monthly premiums depend on many factors, among them are your annual sales, how long you’ve been selling on Amazon and your average feedback rating.

Even sellers who have been suspended in the past can apply for coverage, but this too will influence their premiums.

Be reinstated and receive payout

In case you get banned from Amazon, you can get your account reinstated within 72 hours aside from your payout.

The amount you will receive will be based on your average gross sales volume plus regular day-to-day expenses.

Note that your coverage will only take effect after the waiting period which is stipulated in your policy.

During that length of time, you are expected to shoulder your day-to-day expenses, hence classed as your insurance deductible.

If Amazon lifts your suspension before that period is over, you won’t be able to collect money from your policy.

Getting suspended from Amazon is no joke, so it’s good to know that third-party sellers now have an option to preserve what they’ve worked so hard for.

What are you doing to protect your business from the giant?

The most common company naming trap is this – creating a new business name that’s accurate and descriptive, but utterly forgettable. And it’s easy to see how it happens. Unlike real life application, naming is usually done in a vacuum — with no context, no accompanying logo, web site or brochure copy. A group of key decision makers sit in a boardroom and toss names around in the air. And with no supporting cast, no background, no props, the good names often seem disconnected and even ridiculous. It’s at this stage the mind wants to make sense of the names and without context, without supporting elements, it defaults to free associations from the past. This is what kills off many a great brand name.

Imagine a committee looking for a brand name for a new computer company. Someone suggests the word “apple.”

“Apple?” the group reacts in shock and bewilderment.

“That makes me think of my mother saying ‘One bad apple spoils the whole bunch,'” one committee member protests.

“It sounds like something fruity to me,” claims another. “We can’t be perceived as a fruity company!”

“And what about worms that get into the apples,” a third member agrees. “And the way they rot, and how the juice gets sticky, and how…”

“All right!” the suggestee apologizes, curling up in a near fetal position, vowing she’ll never venture another idea.

And so the group comes to absolute agreement that the name must convey what the company does. So the next set of suggestions seem right on target…

“United Computer Manufacturers”

“General Computer Systems”

“Quality Computer Corporation”

“Superior Computer Builders”

“Global Computer Worldwide”

The closer the committee comes to describing the “what” of the company, the more they become homogenized and blend right into the rest of their industry. They sound more like a business description than a brand name, and in doing so they obscure the very identity they are trying to create. They don’t realize that the new company name will exist in a setting that helps define it, so that the name is free to evoke feeling and emotion. An apple is fresh, approachable, healthy, and invigorating. And so a company can borrow on the attributes inherent in a completely unrelated item to convey the way they approach its business.

So if creative company names are so much more memorable and effective than descriptive names, why is it that so many businesses make this basic mistake? In large part it’s because we conditioned from childhood to conform, to be like others, and to follow the leader. As much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us would rather follow an established trail than to blaze a new one. One of the first questions I ask potential clients is whether they want their new company name to blend in, or to stand out. Most adamantly say they want to stand out, but when stand out names are presented, the red flag goes up.

“I’m not sure,” they might say. “These names are unique, but they’re so different from anything in our industry.”

And so it goes. The names continue to blend in until someone names an airline Virgin instead of Southwest. Or an online job site Monster instead of CareerBuilder. Or a massive online store Amazon instead of Books-a-Million.

Not only are descriptive names less impactful, they are more difficult to visualize. I can picture a Monster, but I have trouble picturing a Career Builder. When it comes to beach shoes, I can imagine a pair of Crocs, but not a pair of Keens. These vivid mental pictures provide yet another way to anchor the brand name in the customer’s mind for easier recall.

Creatives names are also less restrictive. If you have a purely descriptive name, what happens if your company’s core products or services being to change? How much additional advertising does it require for Burlington Coat Factory to convince customers they sell more than just coats?

Are highly memorable names the only way to go? No. Some small businesses don’t have the luxury of a marketing budget and resort to literal names out of short term necessity. And there are other viable naming strategies that work well. But for those looking to build a brand name that will set them apart, and reserve more space in the customer’s mind, then an evocative, memorable name is the way to go. Seth Godin makes a convincing case for memorable company names in his New York Times bestseller, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable.

So whether you name company after a river, a fruit, a dessert, a reptile, or even an odd color bovine, chances are you will, on a minimum, make a name for yourself. And once potential customers notice and remember your company, the rest is up to you. If you do your job well, you’ll have a company that’s not only memorable, but one that’s unforgettable.

Get it seen, get it sold.

Are your listings buried deep in Amazon, rarely seeing the light of day? Did you just create a new listing, and you're waiting for people to start buying? There are a couple of main ways to make your listing visible to potential customers. One way is to improve your ranking within Amazon so that your listing shows up on the first or second page of search results. The other way is to sprinkle links to your listing throughout the Internet. Both of these methods work together to help you improve sales.

Why is linking important when selling on Amazon?

Links can point buyers to your Amazon listing from anywhere on the Internet. If people don't see your listing, they can't buy your product. If a few people see it, a few of those people may buy it. The more people see it, the more people buy it. Your goal is to get LOTS of people to see your listing! Not all of them will buy, but some of them will. And from there, it just gets easier- instead of YOU having to advertise and spread the word about your product, your happy customers will do it for you! Views lead to sales, which lead to customer ratings and reviews … all of which lead to a higher ranking … which starts the cycle over again.

How to Get More Links

Partner with bloggers

Find successful bloggers whose niches align closely with your product, and offer to work out a partnership with them. This is a great way to advertise your product because successful bloggers already have a platform. Their readers trust them, and will gladly buy what they recommend. If they love your product, it will reach a wide audience of buyers who are also likely to be interested in your product! There are bloggers out there in just about every possible category, and it's a win-win situation for both you and the blogger when you offer them benefits like free products and giveaways for their readers. As a bonus, bloggers are skilled at utilizing several different social media platforms in addition to their blogs. Make a deal with a popular blogger and you may find that your product is being linked from Facebook, Twitter, and more!

Use social media

Create a Facebook or Instagram page for your company and update it often with fun and interesting content. Use great visuals of people using your product. This is a great reason to hire a product photographer who specializes in lifestyle images, or if your following is big enough and you're #hashtag savvy, you can even source quality images from customers themselves. Pair these images with glowing customer reviews. In these posts, always include links to your Amazon listing to make it easy for customers to buy. (Unfortunately, Instagram doesn't allow linking from posts, but you can include a link in the description and point people toward that.) There are options to create sponsored posts on these social media sites as well, which is a great way to widen your audience and get traffic flowing to your listing.

Link from your own website

Even if you sell products directly from your website, you may want to add Amazon links as well. Some customers prefer the option to buy from Amazon, especially if they are Prime members. Linking to Amazon also lets shoppers read reviews and potentially score a better price, depending on Amazon's fluctuating pricing engine. When people buy from Amazon (rather than from your website) your Amazon ranking will improve, leading more potential customers to your listing (remember the diagram above!)

What are you doing to increase traffic to your listings? Have you tried any of these methods yet? Remember- Get it seen, get it sold!

Amazon Studios just released a new, FREE scriptwriting software.

Let’s see what it can do.

It’s called Amazon Storywriter and it’s a cloud based app which you can open in your browser. You access it by going to: studios.amazon.com. Click “Register” and enter your Amazon account information.

Create A New Script

To access the Storywriter, go to Create – Write your movie or TV script.

Now we’re in the main interface. It’s all pretty simple and straight forward. You create a new script or import an existing one. To start a new one, just click and you go straight to the page and you can start typing.

Weirdly enough the default format here is action and not Scene heading if you start a script. So, let’s change that to scene heading. You can jump through the formatting presets with TAB and ENTER, just the way you’re used to.

What else can you do here?

You have a title page. If you scroll all the way up, it is revealed at the top.

What else?

You can turn the element menu at the top right on and off, and you can activate typewriter scrolling here if you like.

The menu at the top left lets you:

• Rename your script
• Edit the title page, if you don’t want to scroll all the way to the top

And then you have “Save a draft” and “Create a copy”. The difference is this:

If you save a draft the current version of your script will be locked, and you can save this version as a read only draft.

So you can refer back to it anytime you wish.

If you make a copy, the new version of your script remains editable and you can save it under a different name.

Export Script Formats

You can export your script as PDF, Final Draft and fountain.

And you can submit your script to Amazon Studios. Of course.

What’s missing?

Obviously it’s intended to give you an easy and distraction free way of writing from anywhere you like.

And if that’s what you’re looking for it does a pretty good job.

The only thing that’s obviously missing is italics and bold formatting. And underlining.

So, you might say, it’s a nice, clean, little cloud base writing app that does an OK job.

But you’d be wrong.

Because it offers a very useful hidden functionality which I will show you in a second.

But let’s test a few other things first.

How does it look on mobile?

Not bad, but there is one crucial thing missing: the writing. On your mobile devices the app is read-only. So, no writing on the go. Sorry, folks.

Can you write offline?

Yes, you can. And no you can’t. It depends on the browser you use. If you want to work offline you need to download the chrome browser app. You can get it from storywriter.amazon.com. If you’re logged in you’ll see the writing interface, so just log out, and there you have a button that says “Install the free Chrome app”. This will install the chrome app launcher as well as the offline Amazon Storywriter app.

It’s pretty much the same as the cloud version but there are a few things you need to be aware of if you’re working offline:

• You can’t import a script
• You can’t export
• You can’t submit your script to Amazon Studios, obviously
• You can’t do pretty much anything in the profile menu, because all of that needs an internet connection.
• Except: you CAN sign out

But be careful: if you sign out before syncing your edited scripts back to the Amazon server, you’ll lose all your changes.

How do you sync your scripts?

You go to the Storywriter home screen by clicking on the logo in the upper top left corner, and then click on the cyan coloured sync button next to your script.

This will update the cloud version of your script and if you see the green check you’re good.

A Hidden Gem For Screenwriters

OK. I promised you a hidden feature, and here it is.

Remember, I told you that Storywriter can export to PDF, Final Draft and Fountain?

It can also IMPORT these formats.

That means, whether you want to use Storywriter for writing or not, what you get is a FREE PDF, Final Draft and Fountain converter.

You can import a PDF script, and Storywriter will keep the formatting AND make it editable. So now you can export it to Final Draft or Fountain and do with it pretty much anything you like.

And I think that is really cool.

OK, that’s it. If you want to try Storywriter, give it a spin.

Amazon.com is probably the most prominent website that brought e-commerce to the common man. Although there were other sites that offered goods in exchange for money paid online, Amazon was one of the popular sites that really promoted the concept of online shopping. Amazon started by selling books over the Internet, but it soon diversified immensely to the extent that you can get almost anything on Amazon today. It has grown from being an online book shop to becoming a major e-commerce platform for worldwide trade. But what does this mean to the common man and woman who use the site today for shopping? One of the main benefits is the amount of money that you can save while shopping at Amazon.

Some of the cost savings of using Amazon for shopping are apparent and obvious to everyone. Since the site sells a wide range of items, you can buy many of the goods you need from one source which can save you a lot of time, effort and money. But many of the other ways in which you can save money while shopping at Amazon is not known to many people. We will therefore explore a few ways in which you can save quite a lot of money, as listed below:

1. Look for Today's Deal
2. Use the FREE Super Saver Shipping feature
3. Use Amazon Discount Codes
4. Search for Promotional Codes
5. Subscribe to Newsletters for Discount codes
6. Visit Forums for Discount codes
7. Prepare a list of Websites / Blogs on Discount codes

Today's Deal
The Amazon site has a link called Today's Deals right at the top of the page. Click this link to find out the best deals offered for the day. The items offered here often carry a discount worth hundreds of dollars. So before proceeding to the other sections of the site, you can take a quick peek here to see if the item for the day would be of interest to you. Although not all the items featured here may interest you, when the item you are interested in does get listed, you can grab it for a huge discount.

FREE Super Saver Shipping
Many of the items sold on Amazon are eligible for free shipping. You will find this mentioned just next to the price of the product. In order to take advantage this feature, the total cost of the items in your shopping cart should exceed $ 25. Then when you check out, you need to select "Super Saver Shipping" in the shipping option column. Once the order is placed, the product will be delivered normally within 5 to 9 business days. This feature is available only for shipping addresses in the US. But it is a great way to save a lot of money on shipping.

Amazon Discount Codes
Amazon discount codes are available for a large number of items sold on the site. These codes can be used while purchasing products through Amazon and the discount would be applied to the original price of the item. These discounts are available for a wide range of books, CDs and DVDs sold on Amazon. These discounts are available especially when you buy combo offers and entire sets of books written by a single author. The discounts apply to many used products like text books also which is a very useful feature for students. Popular electronic items like MP3 players and TVs can also be purchased at lower prices with discount codes. Baby products, personal items and even plumbing fixtures have been added to this list. During certain special seasons, discounts are offered for a much wider range of products. Especially during Christmas and New Year, you can find a large number of discounts being offered on a huge range of products available through Amazon.

Search for Promotional Codes
Many of the discount and promotional codes for products sold on Amazon can be found in a variety of places. Many magazines and newspapers carry these promotional codes within their pages. Many websites on the Internet also feature Amazon promotional codes for a variety of products. You can use Google or any other search engine to find these promotional codes online.

Subscribe to Newsletters for Discount codes
A number of newsletters carry Amazon discount codes. You might be able to find a number of them online. You might also find some offline newsletters carrying information on these discount codes. When you subscribe to them, you will get regular updates on promotional codes and the latest hot deals on Amazon. This can be a valuable source of information to help you save a lot of money while shopping online.

Visit Forums for Discount codes
There are a number of forums online which cover a multitude of topics. There are online forums on virtually every topic under the sun. There are a number of them devoted to the subject of some of the best sources for discount codes for shopping on Amazon. Huge numbers of people share their knowledge on where these codes are available so that you can benefit from that information. Online forums can therefore be a great source of inside information on where to find these discount codes.

Prepare a list of Websites / Blogs on Discount codes
Apart from many of the online sources for discount codes mentioned above, many individuals share this information on their personal websites and blogs as well. You will be able to find thousands of websites and blogs on the Internet devoted to the topic of Amazon discount codes and where to find them. You can in fact compile a list of these sources once and then use them regularly to find discount codes for Amazon products on a regular basis.

Most people shopping on Amazon never know about all these saving opportunities and therefore end up paying the listed price for the products that they purchase from the site. But you can use the strategies listed above to get a lot of insider's information which will help you save a huge amount of money when you purchase products from this popular Internet store.

Writing your novel for the Kindle is a lot easier than it may appear. While there is a variety of formats for which you can upload, the best format for most is Word.

Kindle Direct Publishing (formerly Digital Text Platform)

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is the easiest way to publish your e-book on Amazon. For those still unfamiliar with e-readers, Amazon’s wireless reading device, the Kindle, allows you to download thousands of titles. Similarly, these same titles can also be downloaded for reading from your Mac, PC, or other device, such as the Android smartphone.

Overview

Before you can upload your book to the Kindle store, be prepared to supply the following information:

• Book Title
• Description
• Language
• ISBN (optional)
• Publisher (optional)
• Categories (choose up to 5)
• Upload file ( in Word (.doc), Adobe PDF, Plain Text (.txt), ePub, RTF, HTML, zipped HTML (.zip) or Mobi (.mobi)
• Create an Amazon Account

The first step is to create an account with Amazon’s Direct Publishing.

Your Member access to the KDP dashboard is where you will add book titles, enter details and upload the document for Kindle publication. The dashboard also manages sales reports and your account information. Make sure your bank and payee information is correct to prevent any delays to your royalty payments.

In your account area (the link at the top right corner of the KDP homepage) allows you to complete your account set up and become a publisher in the Kindle store. Your name, address and payment settings are required.

Add or Edit Book Title

Add a new title by clicking the “Add a new Title” button, or edit an existing title by scrolling to the right and clicking the “Action” button and select “Edit book details.” You can also delete book title from the Action Menu.

Book Information

NOTE: I am not going into depth in this post as to each section of information you need to add when preparing your book for Amazon. This information will be broken down in later posts. We are mainly concerned with how to upload your files correctly to Amazon using KDP.

Add the necessary information for your book, including the Title, and whether this is part of a series. (Consider Trademarking book series Titles). For contributors, you want to add yourself as the author, and any other people you wish to acknowledge, such as illustrators and editors.

Book Content

Kindle Direct Publishing lets you upload and convert your content from several formats. For best results, we recommend that you upload your content in HTML (HTM).

Supported Formats

The below formats are supported formats by KDP. Click here for samples.

• Zipped HTML (.zip)
• Word (.doc)
• Adobe PDF (.pdf)
• ePub (.epub)
• Plain Text (.txt)
• MobiPocket (.mobi and.prc)

For our example, we will be working with a Word document with images. To upload the Word document with images, you will need to “Zip” the file into an archive.

KDP states, “At this time, documents in.docx format are not supported on KDP. If your content has been created in.docx format, please resave your document in.doc format and use the file to upload through KDP.”

Amazon recommends you save your content file as a.doc (not.docx) by using the save as option from the file menu in Word. Many publishers have reported conversion errors with Word documents saved in the.docx file extension.

Zipping your File

According to KDP, all the files in the.zip archive must be in a single folder, without any files in subfolders (such as image files). Save your content in the web browser using the “Save As Web Page (Complete)” option or similar, which will include any images on the page. Then the resulting files can be put inside a.zip file.

NOTE: I was able to select the HTM file and the folder of images, with no problem on file conversion: however, please KDP’s guidelines should you have any issues.

For PC computers I use WinZip; Mac I use Stuffit Deluxe; however, there are many other Zip services online. Just do a simple search to find the software that works best for you.

Other Information on ePublishing

You can publish content that is in the public domain; however, Amazon may request additional information to confirm it is not under copyright. Copyright protection varies between countries so make sure you indicate your territory rights accurately.

Keywords will be important on how your book is found in the Amazon search. Choose 5 to 7 keywords, separated by commas, that best describe your work.

DRM, digital rights management, means if you want your Kindle book to be solely for Kindle users, or unlockable to be sold and converted to other devices. DRM technology inhibits unauthorized access to or copying of digital content files. Once you publish your title, this setting cannot be changed.

Resouces

Sign up for Amazon’s Digital Text Platform or learn more from the DTP support.

What started as a book store has now branched out its business to become the America’s biggest online retailer. Think of anything from groceries to costumes, electronics to sports, DIY tools to fitness equipment, or home improvement to garden tools – you’ll find it at their online network with price just right to suit your wallet. Amazon coupons make purchases even better deals. With recession busting coupons in hands, shoppers are sure to receive decent price cuts on the purchases of their desired goods. So, all those harboring thoughts of going on a shopping spree for their home, friends or upcoming celebrations then spoil you with delightful Amazon Coupons.

It suffices to say that expenses may mount up when one’s shopping. However, individuals can still maintain their budget by grabbing hold of recession busting codes like Amazon Coupons. If shopping for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas is what you intend to go about then recession busting codes like coupons and vouchers are something you must count on to avail yourselves of nice price cuts on your expenses. These discount codes are solely meant to help customers improve their finances by saving them on their hard-earned money.

Amazon, the online retailer, further reduces prices for all listed items by offering Christmas discounts, Thanksgiving specials and money-off packages for its millions of consumers around the world. With the merchant’s money-saving deals, the high prices of desired goods topple down enabling buyers to grab hold of them at comparatively low rates. Individuals unaware of networks to hunt down discount bargains will be pleased to learn that these can easily be scoured from legitimate websites.

Simply browse the retailer’s official online network or any affiliate site, type the title of the desired product followed by “coupons” keyword like Amazon Coupons. This will display a list of all on-going packages and valid deals.

Using coupons to your advantage is easy. Read instructions to redeem given on the website and put the code into the coupon code box on the payment page. You’re all-set to get instant cash backs. Some of many on-going Amazon coupons will get customers Free Shipping with $25+ Order, Savings on Groceries and Gourmet Food with Instant Rebates and Free Shipping, Free Amazon Prime for College Students, 40% off Good Earth Tea, 40% off select Eddie’s & Mrs. Leeper’s pasta items, 45% off on select Barefoot Contest products, and $25 off $100 men’s & women’s order + FREE Super Saver Shipping and FREE Returns. Make sure you do thorough research for getting your hands on the highest value coupon codes before proceeding with the payment process.

Considering that today’s shopper evades shelling out full price for the goods and appreciates discounts, the merchant keeps updating its inventory with more and bigger value money-saving deals. If you anticipate saving of a few extra bucks on your purchases then Amazon promotional code should be your preferred choice. Since it’s hard to foresee the present economy taking off, getting instant abatement is a smart way to maintain the budget. Indeed, saving of a few bucks will accumulate a good amount at a later point of time. Scour the web to obtain these money-off codes and start saving on your money today!

A question that is on many people lips is "What Is Amazon FBA"? To help me explain what Amazon FBA is, let us look at a little story, of how Amazon FBA can help you take your online selling business to the next level.

Amazon FBA or to give it, it's full name Fulfilment By Amazon is a program set up by Amazon that allows you to use Amazon to warehouse and then send out your items (and also always you to sell your items on the Amazon Site). Amazon FBA is very simple, but at the same time is a very powerful and can take your business to the next level for very low costs.

Imagine the scene you are busy doing your product sourcing and have picked up some books, CD's DVD's, Home and Beauty items a few new toys (Yes items sold via Amazon FBA have to be either new or collectible). Now normally at the back of your mind you are thinking I wish I could buy more stock, but there is no more room at home. This is where the Amazon FBA comes into play. And you can just test the water out of using the basic Amazon selling account or you can be a Pro-Merchant, it does not matter.

You come home and scan or list the items as usual into your Amazon selling account and a few clicks later, you print out some bar codes which you must put over the original bar code on the item (Yes items will need to have a bar code or listed on the Amazon site). A few more clicks and you print out a packing slip which goes in the box or boxes. You then book a pick-up from a carrier and this does depend on where you live and how you pay for it – each country is different.

Next you complete the order and wait for the order to be picked up and within days your item will be in the Amazon warehouse being sold for you and you can sit back and bank the money. Amazon FBA deals with payments, shipping, and customer emails, you just need to source more stock and bank the money.

Yes there are some extra costs that Amazon charges but these are low, and the savings you make on the postage is fantastic – remember you are using Amazon's buying power and no more queues in Post Offices and no more having to buy bubble wrap and boxes.

Something else people do not realize is that you can use Amazon FBA to ship out to your eBay and other buyers. Yes Amazon store the items, and send the items out for you. And for very little cost and in most cases a lot cheaper than you can do. All the pricing information can be found on your countries Amazon site. Just do a search for Amazon FBA.

Go on and give it a go, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

The main problem facing most would-be Amazon is knowing “what to sell”.

This is more than just knowing the specifics about how the process works of identifying profitable products… it’s more about the backend schematics of how the *process* of Amazon selling actually works.

This includes everything from sourcing boxes, getting stock and ultimately building a brand that can withstand the tough-and-tumble of competitive selling.

Fortunately, there is a very simple way to resolve this problem – it’s called the boxed product strategy. This tutorial is going to examine exactly what it is, why it works and what it means for Amazon sellers who either wish to extend their current business, or build a brand new one from scratch…

The “boxed product strategy” is simple.

It suggests that it’s the box that sells the product, not the product itself. This means that if you’re looking to sell a product which has “already been done” – rather than just copying the product in an attempt to get some “me too” sales, you should look at creating a box of stuff to sell.

Think about the likes of boxer shorts / underwear. They’ve pretty much all been done before – every fashion brand has them, as well as all the no-named “big box” retailers like Walmart. Of course, the varying quality and price is determined by the likes of the fabric, name and other attributes.

The secret to “getting ahead” of the curve in that space would be to not just get your own underwear made (which is done with the likes of Alibaba), but them bundling them with something else and including them all in a nicely designed box.

For example, you may have several pairs of socks, a comic book, some other accessories (such as eau du parfum) or simply a “bundle pack” of the underwear you have. Depending on what you put into the box, you can then charge a higher price for the product.

The point here is not that you’re making an Amazon product, but you’re actually able to enter a market which is typically heavily populated with products already.

By offering a higher priced item, you’re essentially positing your brand/product at a completely level to everything else (which essentially removes the competitive element of market penetration – you never want to just rip off someone else’s product because once they find out, they’ll bite you back 10x worse).

Thus, we have the workings of an idea. The idea is that if you’re able to find an unencumbered product (typically something that isn’t patented etc), you should have the opportunity to build a “boxed” version that includes a large number of peripheral items. This is the “boxed product strategy”…

• Find A Product To Sell
  The first step is to find a profitable product to sell. This is relatively simple now, thanks to the likes of Jungle Scout – which provides real product data & sales information.

  There are two ways to approach this. Either you find a product that you want/know how to make (it could be a hobby or something), or you find a product that’s already selling.

  Obviously, going with the latter option opens you up to massive amounts of competition, whereas the former will typically have less interest. Without the demand derived from the market, it’s not going to be feasible to create an effective product.

  I’m not going to get into specifics of this – that is for another article.

• Find A Supplier
  After you’ve nailed down a product, you need a supplier. This typically takes the form of Alibaba, but can actually be a domestic supplier as well.

  Again, this article is not about sourcing product. The point is that you need to either get a product manufactured, or buy in a white label version that you can put your own brand onto. This is what you’ll be selling.

• Get a Box Designed
  Now, this is the important part. Rather than just shipping the products in vanilla white boxes – you need to get a snazzy box designed.

  The important thing to note is that it’s not the “design” of the box that’s going to make a saleable product – but the contents of it, and ultimately what the box actually does.

  For example, if you want to sell “inflatable pool toys” – make a big box with a ton of pictures of the different “animals” you can put in the pool.

  Make them collectible and have a ton of them. This way, if someone is looking to buy a new set of inflatable pool toys, your “collection” will far outweigh the competition who’ll typically have one or two variations for sale.

  Without getting into too much detail – the “box” isn’t about making a big package, or even putting multiple products into the same offer – it’s about creating a compelling solution for their potential issue (inflatable pool toys are generally to keep their kids quiet, hence they need to be fun).

• Start Selling Said Box
  After doing this, you need to start selling the boxed product. This is a case of getting a bar code from GS1 (which costs per year), and then putting it onto the box.

  The product can then be placed onto Amazon proper through a “professional” Amazon account (which costs $40/mo).

  Whilst this might sound relatively expensive, it’s one of the cheapest opportunities of all time – the most important being that you can actually direct customers directly to your Amazon page, giving you a great set of distribution methods for your products.

• Promote The Product In Publications etc
  Once you have a valid product, you need to promote it.

  This is best done by purchasing advertising space in industry publications, then branching out into a wider scope of audience.

  For example, if you’re trying to sell women’s lingerie – buy ad space in women’s magazines. If that doesn’t work, try getting FB ads and then work on getting people to promote the products via word of mouth.

  Another tactic you could use would be to sell to men. Men don’t know what size their partner is (generally), so your hook is to give them a SIMPLE way to buy lingerie. Give them a GUARANTEE – “PERFECT LINGERIE, GUARANTEED”. This way, you could sell to men during the likes of Christmas and Valentine’s day – the TWO days that best represent chocolate sales.

Obviously sounds simple, but isn’t.

As with any business venture, selling on Amazon carries a large amount of risk and you have to be prepared to lose any money you invest.

The above blueprint is just an introduction to the idea that you’re able to package products into “boxed editions” – allowing you to essentially sell them en mass without attracting the wrath of the incumbent retailers.