Is excellence possible on Amazon? Or at the very least, is it possible to differentiate your products from others selling the same products? I think it is possible – in fact, I often sell the identical products that others are selling and I get higher prices!  Here are some methods I use to accomplish this:

Sell on Amazon FBA.  This is the most obvious first step in differentiating your products on Amazon from other sellers.  The benefits of selling with FBA are numerous:  you attract Amazon Prime customers, shipping cost is included as part of the price thus giving you a higher listing against others with the same or even lower price, and Amazon ships your item for you – giving your customer a fast and professional service.  I joined Amazon Prime a while ago and now I exclusively only buy products from FBA sellers (I’m sure most of the other Prime customers are the same way).

For proof of this, here is a book I sold yesterday (ASIN 0345464060).  I sold this book for $8.99 and netted $4.82 after fees.  My price was higher than all of the copies listed here – in fact my take home pay was higher than most of their prices!

Once you have your products listed with FBA there are still other ways to differentiate your items and even from other FBA sellers (these methods will help you even if you are not selling on FBA):

Use condition descriptions:  It’s amazing the number of sellers and FBA sellers who do not describe the condition of their items at all. While it’s true that a lot of customers do not read the descriptions – for the ones that do, having a good description could be a deal maker for you. This only applies to used products however.

Describe conservatively:  I always see FBA sellers in forums complaining about the number of refunds that are issued for their accounts.  While it is impossible to avoid issuing refunds, a lot of them can be avoided if you describe or choose your condition conservatively. I describe most of my books as in “good” condition – I describe my like-new books as “very good”. I get a lot of good feedback responses from customers who receive a book in better condition than they expected.

Be the sole FBA seller: The holy grail for differentiating your products is Amazon is of course being the only FBA seller for a particular product. If you can achieve this, you can charge more than all other sellers (besides Amazon itself if applicable).  While it is hard to be the only FBA sellers for a lot of products, there are a couple of things you can do to help your odds. One thing is to avoid a selling a product that already has several FBA listings. Another thing you can do is not chase the lowest FBA price. If your book or product has a good ranking, let the low-balling FBA seller sell out, then get the price you want for your listing.

I hope this post gives you some ideas to fine-tune your listings and sell your items for higher prices!

One of my favorite authors – Steve Weber – is offering a free digital download (or Kindle) of his updated book “Sell on Amazon”. I read the original book in 2008 and here is a brief review I wrote about it:

“While there are literally thousands of books on how to sell on eBay, finding good books about how to sell on Amazon is a lot harder. Sell on Amazon by Steve Weber is the only good one that I have found. Not just a how-to list and ship products guide, it is filled with valuable information that would be hard to figure out on your own. One such example is the revelation that Amazon has a drop-ship service. There is also explanations given of the Fulfillment by Amazon program, and advice on how to use lists and reviews to your advantage. I also like that the book can be read straight through or be used as a reference as every topic is broken down in the contents. I was selling on Amazon a little, but with this book I am gearing up to take my selling to the next level! Great Book!!”

Little did I know how much my Amazon selling would ramp up in the next 3 years – I even received a 1099 form from Amazon as proof of that a few days ago!

Steve has recently updated the book to include info on FBA long-term storage fees and sales tax info.  Pick up your free copy here but do it fast – it’s only available free until Feb 5th.

When I go food shopping I will usually go to the high-end store rather than go to Walmart.   I will end up paying 10%-20% more on my total bill.  Why do I do this? Because I know that my trip will take me 30 minutes instead of an hour, I won’t have to wait in line for 20 minutes to check out, I won’t have to fight through people pushing huge carts, and I can feel safe in their parking lot at night.

I recently bought a new bike at the local bike shop and spent twice as much as I would have at a department store.  Am I rich? No, but I know when I’m ready for a new bike in a few years this bike will have resale value and the one from the department store will be in the garbage.  I also think that if a store only sells bikes, the staff probably knows more about bikes than the department store which is selling bikes in one corner and hunting rifles in another.

To me and others in my area, these stores have achieved excellence – we choose to go these stores knowing up front that we are going to pay more and we are happy to do it!

This got me to thinking “is it possible for me to achieve excellence on Amazon?”  The answer is probably “no” as my books and products are usually competing against other sellers selling the same exact product.  So then, am I doomed to compete based only on price (like Walmart)?  Or are there ways I can differentiate my exact products from other sellers and get higher prices (and higher profits)?  I believe that there is and I will share my techniques in Part 2 later this week.

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