Amazon Seller Support

Pro sellers: Decrease feed processing time with Pricing and Inventory feeds

Attention Professional sellers who use inventory templates (feeds) to list on Amazon.com: When you only want to update the prices and quantities of your listings, you can use Pricing and Inventory feeds to speed up processing time.

To create a Pricing and Inventory feed, just eliminate from your feed any product data that typically does not change (particularly Product, Relationship and Image information). Then upload that feed to Amazon using the Upload tool in your seller account.

Below are the fields required for creation of Pricing and Inventory feeds:

• sku, item-price, currency – this will update just your price (you can also submit sale prices in this feed)
• sku, quantity, leadtime-to-ship – this will update your quantity; leadtime-to-ship must be included if the item does not have the default 1-2 day leadtime-to-ship

You can maintain a separate feed that contains full product data that you can upload when that data changes.

Manage Your Inventory Proactively

Managing your inventory proactively is one of the smartest things you can do during the holidays. Here are some tried-and-true suggestions from experienced sellers:

• Determine which of your products may be most popular during the holidays and make sure you have enough stock available at all times.
• Match your items by ISBN/UPC to the correct product detail pages. For example, if you list a book, your copy must be listed against the ASIN for the product with the exact same title, author, binding, edition, year of publication, publisher, and ISBN. Mismatched listings can result in poor customer experiences which can lower your Customer Metrics.
• Keep your listing details up to date. When you need to, use the tools in your Seller Account to edit the item description, item price, or the shipping methods you offer. Up-to-date listing details mean fewer potential order problems.
• If you use inventory uploads, remember that all items in a feed must be processed before any of the changes appear on Amazon.com. If you have time-sensitive changes, upload those first in a separate feed, and upload changes that are not time-sensitive in a later feed.

Learn more about managing and relisting your items.

Refresh your knowledge: Selling Policies

We work hard to make Amazon a fun and safe place for both sellers and buyers -- but we need your help!

Whether you're a newbie learning the ropes or an Amazon veteran who just needs a refresher, our informative Help pages about selling policies can help keep you on the right track:

Prohibited Seller Activities and Actions
Prohibited Content
Restricted Products
Product Detail Page Rules
Product Bundling Policy
Selling Textbooks
Selling Software
Selling Ink and Toner Cartridges

Manage Your Inventory Proactively

Managing your inventory proactively is one of the smartest things you can do during the holidays. Here are some tried-and-true suggestions from experienced sellers:

• Determine which of your products may be most popular during the holidays and make sure you have enough stock available at all times.
• Match your items by ISBN/UPC to the correct product detail pages. For example, if you list a book, your copy must be listed against the ASIN for the product with the exact same title, author, binding, edition, year of publication, publisher, and ISBN. Mismatched listings can result in poor customer experiences which can lower your Customer Metrics.
• Keep your listing details up to date. When you need to, use the tools in your Seller Account to edit the item description, item price, or the shipping methods you offer. Up-to-date listing details mean fewer potential order problems.
• If you use inventory uploads, remember that all items in a feed must be processed before any of the changes appear on Amazon.com. If you have time-sensitive changes, upload those first in a separate feed, and upload changes that are not time-sensitive in a later feed.

Learn more about managing and relisting your items.

Without seeing a product, why would I buy?

When I shop online, if I can't see an image of a product, I move on without buying.

Images matter.

Now, this image does not meet Amazon product image guidelines; it's just here to show how much more interesting a page is when it has an appealing image.

Search on "add images" in seller Help for information about formatting your images according to the product image guidelines.

When you submit a product image or change an existing product image from your seller account, remember the following also:

• No placeholder images
  Images identified as placeholders cause image submissions to fail. Also, we remove placeholder images when we find them. Placeholder images include seller logos and images of text such as "no image available" or "image coming soon." These invalid images often prevent the display of valid product images from other sources.
• Image update timing
  When you first add an image to a product, the image generally appears on Amazon.com quickly, but if you replace an existing image, it can take longer for the image to appear.

Find what’s selling on Amazon.com

Both seasoned sellers and new sellers have their own method of selecting products they plan to sell on Amazon.com, but have you ever thought about checking the products that are selling on Amazon.com already? If you are looking to increase sales and visibility on Amazon.com, it’s worth taking the time to check.

Often sellers may choose items that are sold based on what sells in brick and mortar stores or on other online sites. What is popular elsewhere doesn’t always guarantee popularity on Amazon.com. This seems basic, but knowing what Amazon.com buyers are purchasing is important.

It is quick and easy to discover what sells on Amazon.com: just do a little browsing. Start by going to the categories you sell in, browse to subcategories and sort by Bestsellers. Once you get to the results sorted by Bestselling, take a look at the detail pages of the top items.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What is the Amazon.com Sales Rank?
• Does the product have good customer reviews?
• Is this product something customers prefer to buy online instead of purchasing locally?
• Could the related and accessory products tied to the bestselling product be good to add to your inventory?

If you are not selling the most popular products in your category, ask yourself if it would be beneficial to do so; sometimes it isn’t. Consider if selling the item is viable for your business model.

While diversity of products is great, specialty items could appeal to a only small selection of Amazon.com customers. Adding one or more popular items to your inventory that have a high Sales Rank and good customer reviews can give you a higher chance of increasing your company’s visibility and sales. All it takes is a little research to see what customers are interested in, with a bit of trial and error to see what will work best for your company.

Are you using Amazon Selling Coach yet?

Amazon Selling Coach offers suggestions to you as an Amazon seller. Based on your seller profile and the products you list, the coach makes personalized suggestions and provides links to more information.

For example, if you forgot to add a few important details to a lot of your listings, Amazon Selling Coach might provide a report to make it easier for you to find those listings that need more attention. As you know, customers often want plenty of specifics in order to make a buying decision.

Check the upper right corner of your seller account home page to see if the coach has any suggestions for you today.