To succeed on Amazon, it’s crucial that you have a sound business model, cater to your consumers, and market your product effectively. However, other key areas could help you increase revenue, avoid extra costs, and ultimately boost your bottom line.
From new seller incentives to bonus programs, Amazon offers plenty of opportunities to increase cash flow.
But don’t forget about possible overcharges, discrepancies, and costly shipping issues. With some knowledge, diligence, and expert partnerships, you can get reimbursed for hidden costs and fees related to inbound shipments, lost or damaged units, weight and dimension fees, and more.
So what specific steps should you take to boost profits and minimize costs? We spoke with an expert from GETIDA to dig into the details.
Whether you’re just starting your Amazon journey or are a seasoned seller, the platform has a few bonus incentives to push your brand forward.
New Seller Incentives
If you register your brand on Amazon and open a new account, they’ll reward you with a 5% bonus. This bonus is capped at $1 million, but this incentive program could put an extra $50,000 back in your pocket. This program not only applies to new brands but is also available to existing sellers who are expanding their brands into other countries.
Brand Referral Bonus Program
In addition to Amazon’s new seller incentives is a brand referral bonus program. If your brand is registered on Amazon, you can opt into this initiative and make the most of your non-Amazon marketing. If you use a special Amazon link to drive outside traffic into Amazon’s marketplace, they’ll give you a 10% bonus — with no cap. This program can be used for email campaigns, TikTok, Twitter, and other strategies.
Between FBA fees and Amazon seller fees, your brand could lose a significant chunk of revenue. What can you do about it?
Yoni Mazor, Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder of GETIDA, offers a simple solution: package smaller, lighter, and smarter when selling online.
If you’re a potato chip brand on grocery store shelves, you want to avoid deflated packaging that takes up as little space as possible. You want inflated chip bags that stand out on the shelves. But for Amazon sellers, consumers are already sold on your product from their online browse — you don’t need fancy, expensive packaging that will reduce your profit.
Shipping costs are often higher than necessary because products are big and bulky. Whether it’s deflating a soccer ball or rolling up a pair of jeans, if there’s a way to pack more efficiently, do it. You’ll have fewer fees and more revenue.
For many third-party Amazon sellers, reconciliation for inbound shipments, lost or damaged goods, and overcharges can be a headache. The team at GETIDA has some strategies to protect your costs.
Inbound Shipments
When a vendor packs items for shipment, it can be difficult to analyze where any issues took place. GETIDA suggests this solution: when logging into seller central, you can click the icon that says “manage FBA shipments.” From there, you can look at the FBA details, research missing units, and present proof of delivery and proof of purchase for reimbursement.
Lost or Damaged Units
Like inbound shipment issues, lost or damaged units can affect your bottom line. To reconcile lost or damaged products, you need two reports: your inventory ledger for the past 18 months and a reimbursement report. Amazon has its own reconciliation tool to help you in the process, or you can use an expert partner like GETIDA.
Whether your products were lost, damaged, overcharged, or not delivered to the correct location, the key is to take action as early as possible. Amazon has specific timeframes for reconciliation cases, and you want to ensure that you stick to the guidelines and meet those deadlines for maximum reimbursement.
“Selling on Amazon is like being on a battlefield in a warzone,” Yoni says. Bullets are flying at you constantly in the form of sourcing, launching, marketing, advertising, customer support, and logistics, to name a few. But Yoni goes on to say, “You don't want to stop everything [and say] ‘hey, let's look back [and] see what happened the past 18 months,’ because it’s very difficult over time as you scale.”
Yoni suggests developing a responsible team dedicated to FBA auditing, reconciling discrepancies on time, and replying to already-open cases instead of opening new ones. He also emphasizes the value of hiring a team of experts when needed and maintaining professionalism throughout the process. You don’t want to be pushy or dishonest with Amazon — in the end, upholding a professional and honest profile will help you reap the platform’s rewards.
