This guide is meant to walk you through the steps of setting up your first Amazon
listing. Although each product is unique and may require additional fields on Amazon,
this step-by-step will cover all of the basics.
By the end, you should be able to take each step yourself and use them to create your
own Amazon product listing. For the sake of example, I’ll be creating a listing for a
water bottle.Let’s jump in!
STEP #1: After logging into your Seller Central account, click on “Add a Product” under
the Inventory
drop down menu. (Note: You can also upload products by clicking on “Add Products via
Upload”. This method is beneficial for various kinds of products, but if this is your first
listing, you may be overwhelmed by the spreadsheets involved.)
STEP #2: On the “Add a Product “ page, you may choose from three methods. First,
you can add a product which is already on Amazon. You can do this by searching for the
product by name or product ID. Second, you can click on “Create a new product listing”
just below the search box. This is to be used if you are uploading a brand new product
that is not currently selling on Amazon. Third, if
you want to upload multiple products at once, you can use the “bulk upload” feature
to the right of the screen.
For the sake of this guide, I’ll be showing you how to create a new product listing
with the second method.
STEP #3: Once you’ve clicked on “Create a new product listing”, you’ll be asked to
assign your new
product to an Amazon category. You may find the category one of two ways: using
the search feature or by browsing the categories.
For sake of ease, I like to simply use the search engine function.
STEP #4: After typing your product into the search bar, you’ll be given all of the
possible categories for that specific product. For my water bottle, I am given 12
different choices in which my water bottle will fit. Choose the one that is most
appropriate to your product.
For my water bottle, I’ll choose the fourth option, “Sports Water Bottles”.
STEP #5: Fill in the Listing Info for your new product. On the next page, you’ll notice
that your listing
information is divided into 7 tabs: Vital Info, Variations, Offer, Images,
Description, Keywords, and More Details.
I’ll walk you through the major fields of each tab, but let’s start with the first tab – Vital
Info.
Tab #1 – Vital Info
1. Product Name:
Your product name will be the title each customer sees on your listing. It’s essential
that you pack as many keywords and features as possible into your title. Instead of
simply using “Water Bottle” as my product name, I used “Lightweight Insulated Water
Bottle, 18 oz., for hiking, camping, biking, and work”. And my title could continue as
long as I stay within the 250 characters limit.
2. Manufacturer and Brand Name
If you’re selling your own private-label product, you’ll simply use your
brand/company name for both of these fields.
3. Manufacturer Part Number
You won’t need this unless you’re product is actually a replacement part for another
product.
4. Package Quantity
Since I’m not selling a 2 or 3 pack of water bottles, I’ll enter 1 here.
5. Material Type
Click inside the field to be given a list of materials to choose from. I’ll pretend my
water bottle is made of plastic.
6. Color and Color Map
I enter the color of my product, but I leave the Color Map field empty. If you’re
planning on selling multiple colors, you’ll make that clear when we come to the
Variety tab.
7. Shape
If this doesn’t apply to your product, leave it blank. I used “Round”, but I think most
customers would guess that.
8. Lens Color
You can leave this blank as well unless your product actually has a colored lens.
9. Size
Here I could use either 18 oz. or X-Large, depending on what I want to emphasize.
10. Hand Orientation and Tension Supported
Neither of these applies to my water bottle.
11. GTIN Exemption Reason
Most products are required to have a GTIN (Global Trade Identifier Number) which is
generally something like a UPC or (for books) an ISBN. However, you can be given an
exemption depending on your product category. If you’re interested in pursuing an
exemption, here’s Amazon’s guide to product categories and exemption possibilities:
12. Related Product ID Type and Related Product ID
If your product is linked to another product, you should enter the other product’s ID
here. For example, if my water bottle was only compatible with a specific bicycle, then
I’d link my water bottle to the bike’s UPC here. If your product is a solo product, leave
these fields empty.
13. Item Display Dimensions and Weight
Here, you’ll enter the length, width, and weight of your product.
14. Weight Supported and Display Maximum Weight Recommendations
These don’t apply to the water bottle, but if your item is designed to support weight,
then give the customer that information in these fields.
15. Shaft Length
Moving on.
16. Product ID
As I stated above, every product will need a Product ID in order to be sold on Amazon.
This ID (generally a UPC) will distinguish your product from every other product. You can
check with the
manufacturer for this information or if you’ve created a private label product you’ll
want to purchase a UPC code for your new product. There are a variety of websites that
sell UPC codes in various bundles (just search for cheap UPC barcodes).
Congratulations! You’ve completed the first tab of information in your listing. Let’s
move on to the second tab, Variations.
Tab #2 – Variations
If your product will come in a variety of colors or sizes or any other distinct varieties,
you’ll need to indicate that here. Simply open the drop down menu and choose the
type of variation that fits your product.
After you’ve chosen a variation, more fields will be revealed to give extra clarification to
your product listing. Simply fill in the different variations you have within that theme,
click Add variations.
Once you’ve added the variations, they will appear below. Now simply fill in the
appropriate information for each variation, and you’re done!
One more tab done! On to the next!
Tab #3 – Offer
1. Import Designation
You are not required to fill in this tab, but if it will help you, choose the appropriate
designation.
2. Country of Publication
Skip this unless your product was published.
3. Seller Warranty Description
If you offer any kind of warranty or guarantee on your product, enter it here. I
typed, “If for any reason you are unhappy with the water bottle, we offer a full,
money-back guarantee.”
4. Release Date
If you wish customers to know when you released this product, do so here. Most sellers
will leave this blank.
5. Country as Labeled
If your product was not made in the USA and your label reveals the origin country,
you can include that information here.
6. Is Gift Wrap Available and Offering Can Be Gift Messaged
If you’re not using Fulfillment by Amazon and want to allow for gift wrapping and gift
messages for your product, you can do that here.
7. Tax Code
If you are using Amazon tax collection services, you can enter your code here.
8. Fulfillment Latency
If you’re not using Fulfillment by Amazon, you can indicate the time it will take for
you to ship the product once it has been ordered.
9. Restock Date
You can leave this field empty.
10. Legal Disclaimer
Mine reads, “As always, please read and comply with all labels and warnings”. If you’re
not sure about the exact wording of your disclaimer, consult your manufacturer or seek
legal aid.
11. Start selling date
Simply choose the date on which you’d like your product to be available on Amazon.
12. Signed By
If your product is signed by an individual, you can include that information here.
13. Fulfillment Channel
At this point, you’ll choose whether you want to fulfill the orders of your product or
allow Amazon to fulfill them. I heartily recommend using Fulfillment by Amazon if at all
possible.
Boom! You’re done with Tab #3!
Tab #4 – Images
On the Images tab, simply upload the appropriate images for your product.
Remember to comply with the guidelines given by Amazon on this page.
Tab #5 – Description
The Description tab is divided into two sections: Key Product Features and
Product Description. Key Product Features
The Key Product Features fields will become your bullet points of located near the top of
your listing, like this water bottle listing:
There are two facts you need to know about your product features:
1)Though Amazon claims it does not, many expert sellers have verified proof that
Amazon ranks your product based upon keywords within your product feature bullet
points. I recommend shoving as many unique keywords as you can into these features.
2)Amazon says they limit you to 100 characters per field. However, if you use more,
the words still appear on your listing (they don’t truncate the sentence). Now,
Amazon may eventually begin cracking down on lengths of your Key Features, but as
of now, they don’t seem to mind. My recommendation? Use as much space as you
can, and fill that space with keywords.
Product Description
The Product Description is one more opportunity to sell your product to your customer.
Use this field to sell the customer on the benefits of your product. Don’t just talk about
the features, but aim to explain how your product solves your customer’s problems.
You will be limited to 2,000 characters.
Woohoo! You’re on to Tab #6!
Tab #6 – Keywords
Your Keyword tab is a key part of your Amazon listing. Although no customer will
actually see the information you input here, Amazon will use this information
whenever customers search for your product or related products.
Search Terms
Fill each search term field with as many unique keywords as you can, and separate
each keywords with a comma. Remember, there is no need to repeat keywords, so if
you’ve used a keyword in your title or bullet points, you won’t need to use it again
here.
This is why intense research into your keywords is so essential. You want to have
enough keywords to use in your title, bullet points, and in these search terms.
Platinum Keywords
You are not a Platinum Seller, so move along.
Subject Matter, Other Attributes, Intended Use, and Target Audience
The next four sections are all fields based on drop down menus. Simply click on each
field, and you’ll be given a drop down menu of related choices.
You may be tempted to skip this part of the process since it does take some time to
complete (and by tab #6, you’re sick of it). But remember, Amazon uses all of this
information to catalog your product for customer searches.
Why not give them as much information as possible?
Oh, and by the way, you’re on your last tab!
Tab #7 – More Details
I’m not going to walk through the More Details blog for three reasons:
1)This tab is customized based upon your product category. If you’re not in the water
bottle category, it won’t help you to show you how to fill this section out because my
fields will be different than yours.
2)It’s pretty self-explanatory. You simply walk through every field and fill in as many
as you can. Some fields will have nothing to do with your specific product, but
others could be helpful for Amazon to know about.
3)This is the longest tab out of them all!
But I do need to point out that this is the tab on which your price is determined. You
should have two specific places to enter a price:
• Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price: This is not the price your customer will pay.
It’s only the price you determine a customer could pay if you weren’t so generous.
On your actual listing, it appears as the list price. In the example below, the seller
entered $35.95 into their
Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price field.
In the end, this price becomes an “anchor price” for your product. It
gives your customer a sense of comparison and evokes the sensation of
a good deal. Choose it wisely.
• Sale Price: The Sale Price is the actual price your customer will pay on your
listing. In the above previous example, it’s the $11.97 below the List Price.
As I said before, the rest of the fields should be fairly explanatory and customized
to your fields. Remember that many of these fields are optional, so if you don’t
understand them, you can probably skip over them.
Conclusion
Once you’ve walked through each of these steps and filled in the essential
information for your product, it’s time to click on the “Save and Finish ” link at the
bottom.
If the link is still shaded out (not allowing you to click on it), this is due to a missing
piece of essential information. Look back at the tabs and see if there are any that are
tagged with a caution exclamation icon.
If so, go to that tab and fill in the field that is highlighted in red.
If you are still having difficulty, don’t hesitate to use Amazon support by opening
another browser window and going back to your main Seller Central dashboard. Click
on the “Help” link in the top, right-hand corner of the page, follow the appropriate
steps.
Three cheers for you! You just completed all of the steps required to get your
product up on an official Amazon listing!
Of course, you still have to set up your shipping options if you’re using Amazon FBA,
but if you can handle the listing part, shipping will be a breeze.
And depending on your product, you may have a few more fields to fill in. But by
now, all of your basic info should be good to go.
Keep plugging away! You’ve got sales waiting!
