Amazon is a massive platform that reaches literally billions of users. It can be one of the best ways to expand your reach to acquire more customers and more importantly to improve your brand recognition.
Unfortunately, there are costs associated with selling on Amazon, and depending on who you are, what you’re selling, in what volume, and most importantly, how much you’re making on that sale, will determine whether you can afford to sell on Amazon.
Amazon works for both large and small businesses, but the costs associated may be more than the smaller sellers can afford depending on profit margin. Before you decide whether it is worth it to sell on Amazon, we’ll break down how the whole process works and what you can expect to pay so that you have a better idea of what you’re getting into.
We’ll also outline some of the benefits of using Amazon paid ads, besides the massive marketplace. One thing to note is that Amazon offers a number of services beyond just a platform for selling. Most sellers don’t realize at first, that Amazon offers resources for order fulfillment, advertising, affiliate sales linking, and other options. All of these features do increase the overall cost though, so we’ll dive into the benefits of each so that you understand what all you do and don’t need from Amazon before you ever start selling.
The actual setup process for becoming a seller on Amazon is fairly easy. Amazon will actually walk you through the process by making a few decisions and then setting up your seller account.
Before you begin that process though, the key thing is to understand your finances, what you’re looking to do and the scale you’re trying to sell at. Amazon actually offers a marketing agency program to help sellers get to market and offer their goods, but this means additional fees and charges and more work when trying to get ready to sell.
If you’re not going this route and have your own marketing agency, or are doing your marketing yourself, then you would just sign up for a seller account. There are two business models that most sellers use.
Third-Party Seller: This is a person who sells goods that another person makes. This means you rely on the supply you are given by the third party and sell the goods accordingly.
Brand Owner: You make and sell your own goods. This puts you in charge of the supply and sale process. You sell exactly what you are able to produce.
When setting up an account, you should consider whether you want to do one or the other, though some businesses do handle both ends of the process, selling their own goods as well as those provided by third-party suppliers.
Once you know what you want to do in terms of the types of selling you want to handle. Go to seller.amazon.com to register your account. Note that you should already have a standard Amazon account before you begin the process. You’ll also need several pieces of information to complete the actual sign-up process.
We’ll go ahead and bullet point the information you should have for clarity.
All of the information you have to provide is fairly standard for setting up any business type of account, so you shouldn’t have any issues with actually opening your seller account.
When you complete the process, you are given access to a platform called Amazon Seller Central. For informational purposes, we’ll break down Amazon Seller Central into its core components and explain what it does for sellers.
Amazon Seller Central is essentially your eCommerce hub for selling on Amazon. It allows you to manage all aspects of the selling process. They even have tutorials on how to sell on Amazon and a fees calculator to help you see what you’ll be paying for selling your products.
The main benefit of the platform is that you can set up your sales pages, adjust product listings, descriptions, rules, prices, and anything else related to the actual products you sell. It also assists with order processing. From here you can add and edit products as you like, adjust, improve, or remove listings and keep track of all your orders.
Additionally, there are brand services. To access these services, you have to be a registered brand on Amazon. To do this, you must apply to the Amazon Brand Registry, which requires more paperwork.
What you’ll need:
This can be a time-consuming process, even if you have all your paperwork together. Amazon has a brand approval process that can take between 1 and 30 days to complete.
Why is this important? Recognized brands get a number of advantages. They get customized product pages with their brand logos attached, higher brand recognition through the seller platform, and a branded storefront. This level of recognition is invaluable to growing both your sales and your web presence. It guarantees that your brand name and logo will be seen by more people as they browse and buy products on Amazon.
Setting up your Amazon Seller Central can be done manually or you can pay for a service through Amazon to have it done for you.
The last official step before you begin selling is the creation of your actual store on Amazon. This is fairly straightforward and is done through templates. Once you select your brand name and click create store, you’ll be directed to add your brand name and logo and select a pre-built template for your store.
There are a few different options, but select the one that presents your products in the way you want them seen and displays your brand in a way that is visible and identifiable. This comes down to personal taste but is an important part of the store setup process.
From there you move on to the inventory setup process where you can add products to your store. This can be done one at a time or all at once by uploading the products to your store. You can follow the instructions through Amazon’s helpful product upload guide to get the gist of how to do it.
After you have all your product pages set up and you’re happy with everything, the last step before you launch the store so that it goes live is to submit it to Amazon for approval, which takes 72 hours. As you can see, beyond the cost, which we’ll discuss further in a moment, there is a significant type lapse between account creation and beginning the selling process.
Selling on Amazon is not nearly as simple as it may seem at first glance. To sum up the entire process, you need to think about the type of seller you want to be, gather all the important documents, create your seller account, get your brand name approved (if applicable), set up your store, and get it approved.
Now that we’ve broken down the process of selling on Amazon, we’ll do a deep dive into the actual cost of selling on Amazon. This can get fairly complicated so we’ll try to break the fees down in a way that lets you figure out what you have to pay, what you may want to pay for, and what you have no use for.
Beyond just the storefront, there is a whole plethora of options and services that Amazon provides to sellers. The trouble is that each of these services has additional fees associated with them. These costs can really add up, especially if you go in for more than what you need.
Before we begin, one quick thing to note is that the costs we are quoting are at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Use these costs as a guideline for what you can expect to pay.
There are two seller subscription plans and each has its own costs and features.
The individual plan is free to set up and the fee is a flat $.99 per item, at the point the item sells. You can create new product pages with an individual account, but you won’t have access to many of the customized reporting options and inventory management features.
The shipping fees are standardized and set by Amazon instead of the seller. You will also not have access to gift cards and promotional sales options. The individual account is also a single account that belongs only to the account holder, permissions to alter the product pages and other services cannot be given to other users.
We can’t say whether this type of account will be right for you, but for individuals that do limited numbers of sales and just want a marketplace to host their products, this is a good option to start with. If sales volume increases or you need access to other features, you can upgrade. Amazon also offers temporary suspension of sales for any reason to either plan holder. This is useful if you run out of stock or suffer a sudden emergency.
The professional plan comes with a flat fee of $39.99 per month. There is no per-product fee directly associated with the plan (though other fees may apply depending on services). You are also given access to all of the product management and reporting features that are offered through a seller account, unlike with an individual account.
One major difference is that with a professional plan, the seller is able to set the shipping rates instead of Amazon. Sellers are also given access to promotional offers, gift cards, and featured listings on products. You are also able to calculate U.S. sales and use taxes on your products through an available feature. Lastly, professional plan owners have the ability to grant access and use rights to other owners/users.
The professional plan is ideally suited for larger sellers that want more control over their products and reports and who do such a sales volume that the per-item fee would be an unnecessary expense. Starting sellers may choose to go with this plan straight away or may choose to wait and upgrade to it.
These are fees assessed to the seller at the point of sale. For individual plan owners, the fee ranges from $.45 to $1.35 per sale, on top of the standard $.99 fee. This means sellers can expect to pay between $1.44 and $2.34 per item sold. These fees are non-negotiable and are applied by Amazon.
Professional plan fees are percentage-based and can vary greatly. There are two types of fees assessed, closing fees, and referral fees which are paid on a percentage of sale basis and range between 6% and 25%, though the average is 13%. Professional plan holders can track fees with a fee calculator to determine the cost of fees associated with the sale of products.
Depending on the place of origin, taxes can vary wildly so we can’t give you an accurate estimate of what taxes, if any, are applicable. Amazon does provide professional plan members a tax calculator for U.S.-based sales. For multinational sales, the taxes can be quite high, so it is best to do some research into these costs to determine what your product is going to cost you so that you can set your shipping costs accurately.
This is what marketers refer to as the “landed cost” of an item, you take the base price of making the item and include the cost to get it to the customer to determine how much it will cost you in total. If you’re planning on selling on Amazon, it’s important to understand the role taxes play in the sale of products.
The cost of a GTIN may vary depending on the size and scope of your product sales. A standard GTIN for just a few products is a one-time fee of $30. For large companies with many products and expectations to add more, there is an annual fee associated with your GTIN and multiple GTINs may be necessary.
You can get an exemption to this, but to be a legitimate brand you must have a GTIN on every product. This is mandatory and facilitates shipping around the world. You should figure out the monthly cost of your GTINs and factor that into the cost of products just like taxes.
The first thing we’ll talk about, and this is one that big business may want to invest in to protect their property, is a registered trademark. You should already have this if you are a branded company, but we’ll assume you’re just starting and need to know the cost. Depending on the level of protection you want, the cost ranges from $225 to $400. This is not mandatory but should be considered essential if you’re using Amazon to build your brand.
Second, and this is one that has to do with getting your products sold, is Amazon PPC Ads. Advertising is an important part of getting your products sold and investing in advertising through Amazon’s PPC ads can help you drive sales to your store. There are a number of ad types, some are directed at new customers and some are directed at marketing towards existing customers through remarketing ads.
Lastly, there are additional marketing costs for influencer marketing and marketing agency representation. These are associated with the marketing methods you choose and whether or not you employ help from Amazon or an outside marketing agency
The last thing we’ll talk about in regards to fees and Amazon are the fees you pay as part of building your brand and marketing your products on Amazon. There are a number of things you can do from using Amazon’s marketing services to maximizing the SEO on your product pages to improve Google rank or running ads through the Google Ads program on outside sites or through SERP.
Using Google Ads and Ad Extensions can help you develop customer data, but these costs are based on each individual situation, like the optional fees above, these services aren’t necessary, but they may benefit your brand.
Marketing and SEO can get expensive but is one of the main ways to drive your sales up. If you’re looking to build brand exposure and sell more products quickly, then these are important steps to take.
These are the basics of many of the different fees associated with being a seller on Amazon. The exact amounts and total costs will vary, but as we’ve discussed, the total cost versus profit on Amazon is calculated by adding in all of the associated fees, the cost of the product, and subtracting that from the sale price.
By knowing this, you can determine whether Amazon is the right platform for you. You may decide the benefits are worth the increased costs or you may decide that you don’t have the right procedures in place to make it worthwhile. The last tip we will give is to get help from a marketing agency or advertising firm to help you set up and run your online shop so that you can maximize the potential for profits.
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Most marketers love Google Ads.
We're no exception.
But we totally understand that businesses in certain industries sometimes have a deep resentment of Google Ads and their restrictive policies.
Google's policies for advertising are generally intuitive and straightforward, but for certain regulated and sensitive categories, the standards are much higher and less clear. Pharmaceutical companies, gambling websites, political campaigns, and other industries often struggle to get their ads approved consistently.
In fact, if you don't know what you're getting into, trying to advertise as a business in one of these categories can be a recipe for disaster.
How are you supposed to use Google Ads effectively if you belong to one of these regulated or sensitive categories?
Sensitive and regulated categories in PPC advertising face a number of challenges, including:
· Stricter guidelines. Most PPC advertisers are familiar and comfortable with basic Google Ads guidelines. But if you belong to a regulated or sensitive category, you'll have far more guidelines and more nuanced guidelines to deal with.
· Higher scrutiny. Google pays much closer attention to ads in regulated and sensitive categories, meaning you face closer scrutiny when your ads start circulating. Reports will be investigated quicker and much more strictly, and even minor violations can work against you.
· More ad disapprovals. Similarly, ads are much more likely to get disapproved in these categories. You'll face an uphill battle as you try to get your ads circulating.
· The risk of suspensions. Businesses in these categories also face the risk of frequent, ongoing suspensions. This trend is also worsening; in fact, in 2023, Google Ads suspended more than 12.7 million advertiser accounts – doubling their actions over the previous year.
This makes it much more difficult to advertise effectively and secure a positive return on investment (ROI). Additionally, failing to adhere to Google’s advertising policies can hurt your company's reputation and compromise your long-term potential for success.
The most important thing you can do to improve your results in a regulated or sensitive category is to plan for a sustainable, long-term strategy. Every year, thousands of business owners in these categories attempt to fool Google, find clever ways around its policies, and devise techniques that allow them to cheat the system.
These approaches can usually work temporarily. You can cheat your way into the listings and generate some traffic to your landing page.
But inevitably, these techniques fail, and they can ultimately get you blacklisted.
You're much better off taking the slow, steady approach, following the rules even if it means compromising your advertising effectiveness in the short term. Think about the long-term consequences and possibilities of each decision you make.
There is some good news here.
Google isn’t shy about publishing its advertising policies.
If you're willing to do the reading and research, you can thoroughly understand what Google expects from regulated and sensitive categories like yours – and you can easily adhere to the guidelines.
Well, maybe not “easily,” but reliably.
Generally, Google splits content into two types:
· Restricted content. Restricted content is sensitive content that is subject to more regulations. You must precisely comply with requirements for copy, images, website content, and more if you want to remain in circulation.
· Prohibited content. Prohibited content is totally disallowed. You cannot include it without facing significant consequences.
Unfortunately, we can't give you a big list of all the rules you need to follow, as the rules are different for various industries. Some of the most popular industries and categories that face steeper restrictions include:
· Pharmaceuticals and healthcare products
· Weapons and explosives
· Financial services (including cryptocurrencies)
· Gambling/games of chance
· Alcohol, tobacco, and similar products
· Political ads
· Adult content and services
While there are certainly commonalities between regulations across these categories, each category has its own unique blend of restrictions and rules to learn. For example, pharmaceutical businesses require formal certification from Google and are only allowed in some countries. In the financial services industry, you'll likely need a specific license, and you'll need to provide adequate disclosures for your products and services.
The more intimately you know these rules and regulations and how they apply to your industry, the more likely you'll be able to advertise successfully. Don't advertise until you're sure you understand all applicable Google Ads policies.
One other important note here: you need to stay updated.
Google isn't stagnant, and its advertising policies are constantly in flux. Accordingly, you need to stay abreast of recent changes and update your ad approaches in line with them.
The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to Google Ads policy updates, but you should also regularly engage in Google Ads forums. If you're lucky enough to have a representative, maintain open and transparent communication with them and stay in touch regularly; they can be a massive benefit for businesses in regulated and sensitive categories.
The more research you do, the better. You need to thoroughly understand your advertising landscape before you try to thread this needle.
· Google Ads policies. Obviously, read and understand Google Ads policies as they relate to your industry. We mostly covered this in the previous section, but it's part of the research you need to do.
· Licensing and certification requirements. Even if it's not specifically required by Google, it's a good idea to get any appropriate licenses or certifications. It's a mark of authority and trustworthiness that might save you if any of your ads are reviewed for potential policy violations.
· Laws and regulations. Similarly, violating any laws and regulations in the country where you're advertising could be grounds for ad removal or account suspension, even if those violations aren't specifically listed in Google Ads policies. Always ensure legal compliance before advertising with Google.
· Competitor advertising. It's also a good idea to research your competitors. It's very likely that businesses similar to yours, in the same category, are already advertising successfully. Look at what they're doing. How are they phrasing things? Which disclosures are they including? Do you notice anything missing? You can learn a lot simply by studying previously successful ads.
· Market research. The success of your Google Ads largely depends on your ability to successfully target and appeal to your demographics. If you're properly informative and persuasive, with relevant messaging to the people you're reaching, you're much less likely to face reports, removals, and suspensions. Accordingly, you need to do a deep dive into market research so you better understand your target demographics and can appeal to them with relevant content. If you don't have buyer personas, develop them. If you don't know what your target audience is struggling with or what they want to, pause your ads until you figure it out. There are no shortcuts here, so do a deep dive into your market research if you want a reasonable chance to succeed.
When creating and preparing new ads, make sure everything is compliant, including your copy, your images, and any of your website content.
Remember that the rules and restrictions vary by industry, but these are some general rules that can help you get started:
· Stick to the facts. Don't exaggerate. Don't embellish. Certainly don't lie. It's important to stick to the facts as closely as possible, even if it makes your ad a bit stoic or “boring.” Purely factual advertising rarely gets removed.
· Avoid prohibited or sensitive terms. Review prohibited and sensitive terms that apply to your industry, and avoid those terms like the plague. Consider creating a list of alternatives that you can rely on instead.
· Be transparent. Be absolutely transparent with your target audience, even if you're forced to reveal things that weaken the appeal of your products and services. Offer disclosures when required, and potentially when not required if they can boost your credibility.
· Adopt a serious, professional tone. Don't play with fire. Your best course of action is to adopt a serious, professional tone across your ads. It's much less likely to be reported, and it will seem more authoritative and trustworthy.
· Eliminate sensationalism. In line with this, eliminate all forms of sensationalism. Graphic or revealing content, exaggerated claims, and other techniques designed to evoke strong emotions are probably going to work against you.
· Focus on using images for context. If you're going to include images, make sure they provide meaningful context. Advertisers sometimes select images based on how easily they grab attention or how exciting they are, but this is a surefire way to fail if you belong to a sensitive or restricted category.
· Include warnings if necessary. If there are any warnings that are relevant to your products and services, include them. More information is typically better in matters like these.
· Leverage the power of AB testing. The more relevant and effective your ads are, the more likely they are to succeed. Leverage the power of AB testing to learn more about what your audience wants to see and how to give it to them.
Don't forget about your landing pages.
These are important to Google as well.
If your landing pages deviate from Google Ads guidelines, or if they contradict what's in your ads, it could work against you.
These are some tips to get you started:
· Keep it relevant. Always make sure your landing page is completely relevant and in line with whatever is included in your ad. If users click your ad and find something unexpected, unpleasant, or otherwise jarring, Google might take action.
· Issue disclaimers and warnings. This is an opportunity to double down on disclaimers, warnings, and important disclosures. Err on the side of caution and make these prominent to show that you're in full compliance with both Google Ads policies and laws in your area.
· Make your business information accessible. Make your business information transparent and accessible. Offer your brand name and business location information, and give visitors some way to contact you, preferably via phone and email. It's a sign of trustworthiness and it can proactively resolve potential disputes.
· Be straightforward and transparent. Everything on your landing page needs to be straightforward and transparent. Follow the same rules you did for your ads, and avoid exaggerations and sensationalism.
· Double check Google Ads requirements. Always double-check Google Ads requirements when constructing your landing page. You should fulfill or comply with each item on your landing page to be safe.
You've already done significant market research, so make sure you apply it correctly. Target your audience very specifically so that your messages are only shown to people for whom they are relevant. If someone outside the scope of your target demographics sees your ads, they'll be much more likely to issue reports – and your ads will be much more likely to be removed. It's especially important to target people in the right geographic area.
There are some Black Hat techniques designed to circumvent Google Ads rules and regulations, or otherwise give you an unfair advantage in a sensitive or restricted category. These techniques typically violate Google policies and are largely considered unethical by the advertising community.
One of the most prominent examples is cloaking. Using one of several techniques, cloaking can allow you to advertise to audiences with content different from what you showed Google for approval. It's obvious why this is potentially beneficial, but it's also obvious why this is unethical.
As you might imagine, these techniques can work temporarily. They can give you a significant short-term advantage, allowing you a better strategic position and potentially more ad opportunities. However, if you use them, you could get your account suspended, or even permanently blacklisted. Even if you evade that, you could ruin your company's reputation and jeopardize your long-term results.
Do not follow these strategies. If a PPC agency recommends any such strategies to you, fire them.
They simply aren't worth it.
Navigating the world of Google Ads isn't easy.
In fact, it's stressful and incredibly difficult if your business happens to belong to one of these sensitive or restricted categories.
The good news is it's much easier to be successful when you work with a PPC advertising agency that has experience creating and managing ads for a business like yours. We're deeply acquainted with all the rules and restrictions you need to worry about, and we know how to make target demographics like yours convert.
If you’re ready to get started with a free consultation, contact us today!
When you want to use paid search marketing platforms, Google Ads often leads the list. Because of its versatility, simplicity, and popularity, it’s obvious why it’s a popular choice. But when you drop all of your PPC advertising money into one marketing strategy, you could lose some leads.
That’s why some businesses explore paid advertising marketing outside of Google, with many turning to Linkedin Ads.
Google Ads and Linkedin Ads are highly efficient ways to market your products and services to businesses and consumers. But each marketing channel has its advantages and disadvantages. Whatever you choose, make sure you discuss the matter with your web development company.
Below is a closer look at each option.
We think it’s reasonable to conclude that Google reaches a vast audience worldwide – its ad reach is a stunning 4 billion people. Google search handles about 70% of desktop searches, and many companies report that they get about 90% of their organic traffic from the search engines. Also, up to 95% of the mobile search market comes from Google.
People use Google’s search a lot, and having the ability to target search terms with specific search ads is a massive benefit of Adwords. People tend to search for very specific things in Google, so if you can customize your Google advertising for your targeted audience, you’ll receive plenty of leads.
So, we can assume that most people’s targeted audience uses Google to some degree. That’s a massive advantage for companies when they want to target an audience.
However, businesses that want to narrow down their search may have issues getting their Google ads settings right with both Google Ads. And if you blunder when segmenting your audiences, your digital ad campaign could suffer.
LinkedIn features a narrower audience – 500 million users – namely businesses and business professionals. But this more limited audience makes it the perfect place for effective B2B marketing. LinkedIn lets marketers serve online ads to decision-makers and vital audience members in several ways.
Summary: For B2B firms that want to reach decision-makers, Linkedin is a terrific advertising platforms. If your B2C company intends to increase its reach, Google Ads could be the best fit.
When you target your audience with Google Ads, you have a few options: location, affinity, technology, buyer behavior, demographics, and interactions with your app or website.
No matter how much you know about your buyer, you may struggle to avoid clicks from worthless leads that cost too much.
In some cases on Google, people may not even know what they’re looking for. You can try to advertise to your desired targeted audience on Google Ads, but it can be challenging to get to the precise people who will most likely buy what you sell.
When people sign up for LinkedIn, they usually provide many details, such as their occupation, title/job title, experience, industry, education, interests, and more. All of this information can be leveraged for great advantage when you start your marketing campaigns.
Also, LinkedIn users can join many groups, start conversations, and obtain followers. The data is priceless when you want to target a specific audience and market to them. LinkedIn also has a Matched Audience that helps advertisers match their email marketing lists and website visitors with users on LinkedIn.
Many marketing experts think that LinkedIn Ads offer more value. LinkedIn has refined targeting, and you can make your product known to them so that you can tell them about something they didn’t know existed.
Summary: For B2B and B2C companies looking for a broad audience, Google Ads has enough targeting features. But for B2B firms that want to target specific groups, LinkedIn Ads has about 100 segmentation methods for micro targeting.
When you want lead generation, Google Ads has a broader reach and is the most effective. First, you can bring in a lot of prospects to your site without breaking the bank. The audience you’re after on Google visits the search giant with the idea to find the best product or service. This makes generating leads easier.
Getting leads from LinkedIn can be more challenging. Users of the platform may sign in to read industry news or talk to group members. No matter how perfect your ad is, viewers may not be in the mood to buy anything.
That said, Linkedin has a way to target ad leads through in-site messaging, which can generate plenty of leads.
When it comes down to dollars and cents, LinkedIn Ads usually are more pricey than Google Ads. As in Google, you can select cost-per-click or cost-per-impression.
LinkedIn also features a cost-per-send for InMail advertising. Typically, you’ll pay about $5 for each click, $6 for 1,000 impressions, and .80 for each send.
With Google Ads, the average CPC is $1. But to leverage that low cost, you need to work on your audience segmentation. If you don’t your ROI may be below what you want.
Summary: Advertising budgets for each platform depends on several factors. On average, Google Ads cost less than LinkedIn Ads. If your B2B company has a tight budget, you may want to focus on a limited variety of LinkedIn ads instead of a broad range of Google Ads.
So should you advertise with Google Ads vs LinkedIn Ads? Yes!
What we mean is, it depends. The correct choice depends on your budget, product or service offered, marketing goals, and target audience. You should not assume that when you need a digital marketing campaign, Google Analytics Adwords is the only choice.
It’s critical to evaluate the market, understand who your buyer is, and make a data-driven decision about the best marketing platform to reach your well-defined goals. One type of company might do better with Google Ads, and another may find LinkedIn Ads preferable.
The great news is you don’t need to choose between the two platforms. Many businesses use both, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and others. If you have the budget, it may pay off to diversify your paid search advertising to get the best ROI.
