To keep it simple, we are going to show you how to create a basic product listing with Amazon.com. But it’s a similar process in the other marketplaces. And don’t worry about the low-level detail of your listing, just do the basics.
Now we’ve got that covered, let’s get into the steps of a basic product listing:
1. From your Seller Central account hover over Inventory and select ‘Add a Product‘ from the dropdown list.
2. Click on Create a New Product Listing.
- This is because we aren’t selling someone else’s brand, we are selling our own, so the product doesn’t yet exist in Amazon.
3. Select your product’s category.
- If you know your product’s category, enter it into the Search for your product’s category search box.
- If you don’t know the category, use the Browse for your product’s category section to find the most relevant category.
- If you don’t find the category you were looking for, it’s possible that you need to submit an application to be accepted as a seller in that category. If you need to do this, click Learn more and follow Amazon’s directions to raise a case ticket with them.
Pro Tip: As part of your product research you studied your competitors’ product listings, so go back and review these pages to see what categories they are listed in. It’s likely that you would want to be in the same category as your competitors because it’s the most product specific one. Being in the right category is important for both Amazon and Google SEO.
4. Next, you need to fill out product listing specific information tabs.
- Note: Mandatory information is different for every category. So enter what you NEED to, skip over everything else for now if you don’t.
5. Enter the necessary information in the Vital Info tab.
- Product Name is your Product Title. We’ll be teaching you how to write an optimized product title in Module 8 – Create Your Optimized Product Listing. For now just use a placeholder, such as ‘Tea Pitcher’.
- Manufacturer is your company name.
- Brand is your product’s private label brand name.
- At the bottom of the tab you’ll see Product ID and it’s likely a mandatory field.
- Even if it’s not, still add it. This is your barcode which we got in the prior Module 5 – Design Your Labels and Packaging.
6. Click on the Offer tab.
7. Check the tick box Let me skip the offer data and add it later. There are no mandatory fields on this tab. However, we will enter some fields.
8. Enter the highest possible price you’d charge into the Your Price $ text box.
- You will set the real price later on, in Module 9 – Set The Price For Your Product.
- If for any reason Amazon loses an incoming shipment you should be compensated based on the products retail value listed here.
9. Scroll to the bottom. Under Fulfillment Channel select I want Amazon to ship and provide customer service for my items if they sell.
- This is where you tell Amazon the product will be FBA.
10. Click on the Description tab.
11. In the Description field, enter a placeholder text (if necessary). We’ll be teaching you how to write this in Module 8 – Create Your Optimized Product Listing, so for now just use a placeholder such as Tea Pitcher.
Note: At this point, you don’t need to write the product description or concern yourself with any off and on page optimization tasks. That will come later. Just put enough characters to be able to save the listing.
12. Click on the More Details tab.
13. Enter any additional mandatory information fields (if necessary).
- Mandatory data fields are highlighted with the red asterisk.
- Fields vary greatly based on product selection, so we can’t cover every field. If you get stuck with a field, use the Amazon help function.
14. Click on Save and Finish
- If the button is grey then you haven’t entered the necessary mandatory fields.
- Go back and find which tab has the missing mandatory information.
Now on your Manage Inventory page you will see your new FBA listing. Your listing won’t yet be live as we checked the box for it to remain inactive, but you will now have an ASIN assigned to your product, and have a link to the product listing page.
