Signing up to something can either be simple and straightforward, or a matter that takes a little bit more to figure out. Amazon is somewhere in the middle of that, delivering an easy approach with many small details. What can seem confusing about registering with Amazon is it has more than one marketplace: what works in one may differ in another and the trick is keeping track of all of them. That being said, let’s dive in and take a look at what you need for registering in different Amazon marketplaces.
European Marketplaces
There are Three basic things you need to get started on Amazon:
- 1. Valid Credit Card: If you have a credit card solely devoted to your business rather than using a personal credit card, great. It doesn’t make a huge difference which option you choose (personal versus company card), but just try to ensure the one you do use won’t be expiring anytime soon so you can always stay on top of orders.
- 2. Phone Number: This one may seem a bit self-evident, but you have to be reachable in a form other than email.
- 3. Tax Information: There are so many reasons not to evade tax authorities that you definitely don’t want to consider it an option anytime. Just make sure you have all your documents and pieces of information at your fingertips so you never miss a beat.
European Unified Account
Once you’ve registered on Amazon, it’s time to start selling. To make the process even easier, Amazon doesn’t require you to sign up in each Amazon marketplace, but rather you’re given a single seller account from which you can control what gets sold and where.
There are two important things to remember with your European Unified Account, with the first being you’ll need to open up a bank account in any of the countries where Amazon is used. The second is you’ll have to create listings for each marketplace, as Amazon doesn’t automatically transfer them over to each marketplace you want to sell in. It may seem a little bothersome but once you get used to the nuances of creating an awesome listing, you’ll be able to replicate them quickly and with ease.
North American Marketplaces
For both Canadian and American marketplaces, you’ll need the following three bits:
- 1. Valid Credit Card
- 2. Phone Number
- 3. Tax Information
However, the key difference between selling on Amazon in Canada and in the United States is the latter requires you to fill out either a W-9 form or a W-8BEN form. Which one applies to you depends on if you’re an American taxpayer (W-9 form) or a non-American taxpayer (W-8BEN form). But that’s about as complicated as it gets.
Asian Marketplaces
We’ve come to a really interesting crossroads here, as the three Asian marketplaces — Japan, China, and India — have radically different policies in place. Let’s take a look at them, from most open to most restrictive.
Japan
How good is your Japanese? We hope pretty good, because you’ll need to rely on every single verb and conjugation you ever learned, as you can’t register on Amazon Japan in English. And while turning to Google Translate can be a recipe for disaster in communicating with your Japanese clients, there are a couple of different options you can use to expedite the registration process for Amazon.jp.
- Have an English Amazon registration page open alongside the Amazon.jp page to guide you along, and use Google Translate to fill in the blanks.
- Get a hold of Amazon’s Seller Support so they can help you open an account in Japan, and then select either Japanese or English in Seller Central to manage your account.
China
While language barriers may not be as troublesome as with Amazon.jp, the hurdle you might face is selling restrictions. China’s notoriously controlling of what goes in and out of its country, so check out this link to learn what Chinese law restricts.
India
If you don’t own a business in India, you can’t sell on Amazon. You may be able to find ways around this, but that’ll take a fair bit of Google sleuthing to learn how to open a locally owned business in India so you can sell on Amazon.
No matter which Amazon marketplace you choose to sell on, you’ll need to have one ace up your sleeve to go head-to-head with your competitors: repricing. This is the subtle art of always making sure you have the most competitive and current prices available, and RepricerExpress is happy to offer a 15-day free trial to make sure you soar as high as your wings will take you.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Join-Newsletter-for-more-Amazon-Tips”][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
