Should I sell in Amazon?

[brain357]

Every now and then Amazon contacts me about selling on their site. I currently do all my business through my own site. So far I have avoided it as it seems it would lower my margins while telling Amazon what my best sellers are. Is there any benefit to selling on Amazon? Seems like feeding the beast that wants to take over the world. But maybe I am missing out on something.

[Harold Mansfield]

If you're doing fine selling on your own site (which is always best by the way), then why do you need to? Is there something that Amazon can offer you in the way of expanding your market and making more money that you can't do for yourself? And if so, is it worth the fees?

[vangogh]

One benefit to selling on Amazon is you have a better chance of reaching people who shop on Amazon. That happens to be a lot of people. If someone goes to Amazon to search for a product and you aren't selling through Amazon, then you aren't going to sell to that person. It's true your margin might drop, but you probably sell more.

Another benefit is people trust buying from Amazon, because they're probably bought there before. There have been plenty of times where I've looked to buy something online and even after finding what I want, I'll still search to see if it's available on Amazon. It probably costs less on Amazon and I trust that I'll receive what I order or can return it without much hassle.

Neither of those means you have to sell on Amazon of course. Just saying there are some advantages. If you're doing fine without them, you don't need to sell through them. I wouldn't be worried about them trying to get information about your best customers though. I don't think that's how Amazon operates.

[Freelancier]

I used to sell one of my products through a reseller. Spent 3 years selling ZERO COPIES, even though the reseller was an excellent match for the product I was offering and had a number of complementary products that would help drive sales. Not one copy.

2 months after ending that relationship, through my own marketing efforts, I started selling copies. I'm not doing huge volume, but I'm more in touch with who my clients are because they talk with me before the purchase... with the reseller, I was at their mercy for answering product questions correctly.

So... sell on Amazon if your product is a good match for the customers and you are ok swapping potential volume for reduced margins. Or just do it as a test for 6 months to see what happens if you're not sure.

[RobertL]

You do reach a lot of customers that way, but there's a downside. They push similar products from your competitors while potential customers are viewing your product. Also you can get negative feedback by people who don't understand your product. We used to sell a high quality camp stove on Amazon. Amazon kept showing a low quality cheap alternative. Our product was made for serious back-country trekkers and we kept getting negative feedback from car-campers. You can push your product through other channels better. For order fulfillment too, don't go with the big guys, they have zero flexibility. You didn't mention what your product was. <removed>