The 2019 Guide to Selling on Amazon FBA in Australia

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Is your business scope too narrow? There is a world of opportunities beyond the sea with the Amazon FBA program in Australia.

Two years ago, Amazon hit the spot – once again – with the expansion of its eCommerce empire to the land where time began: Australia.

In 2018, Australians spent a total of US$ 20.3 billion on online shopping, and it is projected that by 2021, the Australian eCommerce market value will be of US$ 25.2 billion. Having said this, we think exploring the possibility of selling on the biggest eCommerce platform in the world is worth the risk.

Into the bargain, last August 2019, Amazon Australia received 17.94 million visitors. This number may help you picture the amount of traffic and  – hopefully – conversion rates you would be receiving if you use the right marketing strategy. 

You may be wondering: “How am I going to be able to cater to my customers’ shipping needs in the oldest continent?”

It is a fact that shipping could be a hassle, even within the same country, let alone having to send a long-waited package across the pond. While this may represent an ordeal for many, for the US giant Amazon it’s a cinch; sellers can rely on Amazon’s FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) program to meet their customers’ needs.

Read on to learn more about how you can start selling on Amazon FBA in Australia, and let Amazon help you build a strong reputation among your target audience in this unknown terrain.

How Can Amazon Make Free Two-Day Shipping Possible?

eco-friendly packaging box

Simple, Amazon FBA in Australia offers a Prime membership, which makes shopping on the global marketplace more attractive. Mainly, because of the free Two-Day shipping and FREE Shipping, along with other benefits this membership offers. These are just some of the reasons why Prime members tend to spend more than regular Amazon shoppers. Getting a package in such a short space of time can be addictive, and when the hype of acquiring something new is still fresh, it makes you want to buy more and more.

Benefits of Selling on Amazon FBA in Australia

FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) is a pay-as-you-go program that aims to make Amazon Sellers’ storage-and-shipping experience trouble-free.

This is a cost-effective option since you will be charged for storage space and the orders Amazon fulfills ONLY. The cost of shipping is already included in your fees, you don’t get an extra charge for Amazon Prime Free Two-Day Shipping and FREE Shipping on eligible orders.

Although Prime members get to enjoy the wonders of the free Two-Day shipping, Amazon.com.au customers are also eligible for FREE Shipping once you list your products for FBA. Qualified FBA listings are displayed with the Prime logo to let shoppers know that Amazon will take care of all things related to shipping, storage, and customer service.

If you’d like to fulfill orders from your own website or other channels, you can use Multi-Channel Fulfilment by Amazon.

Using the Amazon FBA program in Australia will increase your chances of becoming a featured offer. To put it simply, this means your product will become eligible to win the Buy Box.

Winning the Buy Box

Although becoming eligible doesn’t mean you’ll win it, you shouldn’t settle for less than:

  • Pricing your items competitively
  • Offering fast and free dispatch
  • Providing great customer service
  • Keeping stock available

All of this may sound a bit challenging. Luckily, Amazon offers you a Selling Coach, which offers personalized recommendations and sends you low or out-of-stock notifications in real-time. This feature will help you step up your game and make you feel more confident about the choices you make.

If your products are not eligible to win the Buy Box, don’t get discouraged. They may be eligible for placement in the More Buying Choices Box. Just keep in mind that Amazon does not guarantee a placement in either of both boxes.

2019 Amazon FBA Fees in Australia

Now that you are aware of the many benefits this pay-as-you-go program has, you might want to check out the different fees designed to meet your needs:

  • Per Unit. This is a flat fee paid per unit, which is based on product type, dimensions, and weight. Includes: picking and packing your orders, shipping and handling, customer service and product returns.

2019 Amazon FBA Fees
  • Per Cubic Foot. You only pay for the space you need to store your items, and these fees are based on the daily average volume in cubic meter per month.

You can also have your inventory returned to you or disposed on your behalf in case your items don’t get sold.

***All fees in Australian Dollars and exclusive of GST. Selling fees apply.

Enter your Seller Central account to learn more about the FBA features and fees available at the moment, or download a list of FBA Fees valid as of February 2018.

Getting You Started

  1. Register your Selling account at https://www.amazon.com.au/
  • Add your products to the Amazon catalog one at a time, in bulk, or integrating your inventory-management software with Amazon’s API
  • Prep your products – or choose FBA Prep Service if you want to have Amazon prepare your products for you

If your customers have a Prime membership, rest assured they will get fast, free shipping on your products. If they don’t, remember they can all qualify for FREE Shipping on eligible orders.

If you already have a Selling account, log in and select “Get Started” and have the following information ready:

  • Business name (as you want it to appear on the platform)
  • Your full name
  • Your business’ physical address
  • Credit card, expiration date, and physical address

How to List Products for Amazon FBA

This is what Seller Central recommends when listing products for FBA:

List Products for Fulfilment by Amazon

  1. After you create a new listing for a product, you specify it as FBA inventory by changing the Fulfilled by value from Merchant to Amazon.
  2. When you close or delete an FBA listing, any inventory you have in Amazon fulfilment centers will not be returned or disposed of until you submit a removal order.

Tip: You can view your FBA inventory listings on the Manage Inventory page by clicking Amazon in the Fulfilled by section of the Filters bar.

  • You can add products to your inventory individually or upload a list of products to create multiple listings at once. For more information, refer to any one of the following help pages:
  • Add one product at a time
  • List products in bulk

Make sure that you adhere to the FBA listing requirements when you are filling out the details page for your offer.

FBA Listing Requirements

Keep in mind that if you fail to comply with the following requirements, your products may be suppressed from Amazon search results:

  • Titles must not exceed 200 characters, including spaces.
  • Titles must not contain promotional phrases, such as “free shipping”, “100% quality guaranteed”.
  • Titles must not contain characters for decoration, such as ~ ! * $ ? _ ~ { } # < > | * ; ^ ¬ ¦
  • Titles must contain product-identifying information, such as “hiking boots” or “umbrella”.

List Products for Multi-Channel Fulfilment Exclusively

You can list your Multi-channel Fulfilment inventory without those products appearing for sale on Amazon by entering a Start selling date that is far in the future when you create your product listing.

Important: If you have an Individual selling account, you must list your products for sale on Amazon in addition to filling orders from other channels. If you want to use Multi-channel Fulfilment exclusively, and not list your products for sale on Amazon, you must sign up for a Pro Merchant account.

Close a Listing

When you close a listing, the status changes from Active to Inactive and makes your product unavailable for sale on Amazon FBA in Australia. Your inventory of that product will remain in Amazon fulfilment centers. You can relist your products, submit removal orders, or fill orders through other channels with Multi-channel Fulfilment.

  1. On the Manage Inventory page, select the listings that you want to close.
  2. On the Action on Selected drop-down list, click Close listing.

Delete a Listing

When you delete a listing, any offers that are fulfilled by Amazon remain in your inventory list but are not available for purchase on Amazon. Inventory in Amazon fulfilment centers will remain there until you submit a removal order. For more information, refer to the help page Remove inventory (overview).

  1. On the Manage Inventory page, select the listings that you want to close.
  2. On the Action on Selected drop-down list, click Delete products and listings.

As you can see, expanding your business is not as hard as you thought. Weigh out all the implications doing your own shipping entails, and make your business outreach enjoyable with Amazon FBA.

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