Listing a product on Amazon is one of the final steps towards getting your product on the market, and it can be a daunting task.
Researching nitty gritty details such as a GTIN for each product variation and package dimensions from your supplier can be intimidating, and that’s not even touching the keywords and images you’ll need to make your product shine on Amazon.
There’s a lot to take in, and we know this because we’ve been through the product listing trenches ourselves. But mastering listing a product on Amazon can be hugely rewarding, especially when you attract customers to buy your product.
Think of a listing page as your personal store. How would you want it to look? What would you want it to say? Will it grab a customer’s attention? Once you get the hang of filling out essential listing details, setting up a product listing will become a breeze.
This guide will help you learn how to create a product listing on Amazon, along with how to get what you need and a few tips to help get you started.
See more:
- How to create an Amazon FBA US account outside the US
- What to sell on Amazon? Here’s how to find out
Can I hire someone to list a product on Amazon?
Before we get into making a product listing, it’s good to know that you can hire an Amazon Product Listing Specialist to craft a listing for you.
An Amazon listing specialist will optimise a listing to increase sales and visibility. They are experienced in how Amazon works, using seller software tools and knowledge to research product categories, compare similar items listed on the marketplace and make your listing stand out.
An Amazon listing specialist can cost anywhere between $5 to over $200, depending on your needs. They can find the best keywords to use, write engaging descriptions and create enticing images for your page.
There are many places to hire a freelance specialist, such as FreeUp or Fiverr (also a great place to hire someone to design a logo for your Amazon product).
Hiring a freelance Amazon listing specialist is a great route to take, especially if you’re looking for creative ideas to boost your products reachability. However, it’s worth learning the ropes of creating a listing yourself, as it helps you know what’s needed when setting up your product on Amazon. Plus, you won’t have to pay a dime to make a quality listing of your own.
How to create an Amazon product listing
Setting up a product listing first requires you to create an Amazon seller account, and we’ve got just the guide to set that up.
All done? Let’s get started in creating a product listing.
Add a Product
1. On your Amazon Seller Central homepage, click the Menu icon in the top-left corner.
2. In Catalog, click on Add Products.
On the Add Products page, you’ll have a few options to add your product. Depending on what you’re selling, you can search for a product that’s already on Amazon’s catalog using the product name, UPC, EAN, ISBN or ASIN (more on these later), upload a fil to add multiple products or add a product not sold on Amazon.
If you’re reselling items through wholesale or retail arbitrage, searching for a product and requesting to Apply to sell is the method you’ll need to take.
For those adding a product not already on Amazon, whether you’re selling under private label or have manufactured your own product, click the I’m adding a product not sold on Amazon option.
Select a product type
Here, you’ll pick a category your product will fall under. This can be done by either searching for a category you know your product will fall under or browsing through Amazon’s categories.
Amazon offers 27 categories, each with their own branching sub-categories. Find the type that best suits your product. If you’re not sure, look up similar products listing on Amazon and see what category they come under. However, if you think your product belongs in another category, go with your gut.
1. In the Search field, type in your product’s name.
2. Find the category that best matches your product. Then press Select.
3. Alternatively, you can select categories under the Browse option.
Product Identity
This is where you’ll start filling out all the important details about your product listing. It’s the most important state of the process and can take a while to fill out. Don’t worry though; it isn’t as daunting as it seems.
The first tab is Product Identity. Let’s walk through what you’ll need for each.
1. Select if your product has different Variations. This includes material, colour, number of items, style, size, package type, item shape and hand orientation. If you’re selling just one type of your product, select No. If it does have variations, select Yes (you’ll need to fill out more details in the Variations tab).
2. Type in your Item Name. This is the name that will represent your listing, meaning it will be what your customers see. It’s the title that pops up in search results, so we recommend stuffing this title with the name of your item and relevant keywords.
The item title also plays into Amazon’s algorithm. The more keywords that’s in it, the more likely it will boost your product’s ranking and shoot it to the top of search results – and that’s what you want.
Don’t just overstuff the title with keywords; create a title that states what your product is, has keywords that can improve visibility and that is attractive to potential customers.
3. Type in your Brand name. If you’ve created a brand name for this product and added it to the Amazon Brand Registry, then put it in here. If your product doesn’t have a brand, then you can click the This product does not have a brand name box.
4. Enter your External Product ID. This can be a doozy. If you’re unsure what this is, you can check out our guide on how to find your Amazon Product ID for new product listings.
5. When you’re done with this section, we recommend clicking Save as draft. You do this for each section you finish. Wouldn’t want to lose all that work, right?
Vital Info
Another important step in creating a product listing. The information put here will appear on the product detail page, both in paragraph form and in bullet points. There’s no real limit in how long these can be, meaning you can pack even more essential keywords here.
1. Enter your Product Description. This field lets you write an in-depth summary of your product that comes in the form of a paragraph on the listing page. This is another selling point to convince customers to buy your product, so you’ll want to make it as attractive as possible.
Of course, putting keywords here is good, but you also don’t want to droll on forever in a boring compilation of words. To make the paragraph more enticing, it’s good practice to use an an HTML editor. It allows you to bold letters and other signs to attract a potential customer’s eye. You want to keep them on your listing page for as long as possible, after all.
2. Type in your Bullet Points. Similar to product description, just in bullet point form. Try not to use the same information you’ve typed in the description. The bullet points are an opportunity to show off your product’s strongest features.
3. Choose your Item Type Keyword. Another opportunity to get your keywords in. Using the write words will help determine the category that best describes your product. As Amazon states, choosing the most relevant terms will increase the chance of buyers finding your product.
4. Fill in the rest of the criteria, including the Model Number, Model Name and Manufacturer. This information can be found by contacting your supplier/manufacturer.
Offer
The Offer tab is where you’ll find to important options: putting your product’s selling price and whether you’ll use Amazon FBA (where Amazon ships and provides customer service) or MBA (ship the product yourself).
1. In the Price section, put the cost of your product you want to sell it for in the Your Price field.
The List Price field lets you put in the suggested retail price of your product that’s provided by the manufacturer or supplier. Ideally, if this is a higher number than what you’re selling it for, you can put the cost here. Your listing page will then show a discount, making it more attractive to the buyer.
2. Click on the fulfillment method of your product, whether it be FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) or FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant).
3. Fill out any other necessary details and information you have. This include the Offering Condition Type (if it’s a new product you’re selling, select New).
Product Details
This section is all about describing your product in detail, along with throwing in a few extra keywords that are relevant for customer searches.
You’ll need to fill in the number of items in the selling unit for the customer, item type name, colour, including components, and item dimensions (length x width).
It’s good to fill out as much information you can, especially in the Generic Keyword field. It’s another chance to throw a net and cpature any terms relevant to your product.
Variations
The Variations section is for those that have multiple sizes, colours, styles or more of their unique product. If you selected this in the Product Identity tab, you’ll need to fill this out.
As previously mentioned, this includes material, colour, number of items, style, size, package type, item shape and hand orientation. Check the box for what you need and enter the different details your product comes in.
You’ll also need a Product ID for each variation. Check out our Amazon Product ID guide for how to get those.
Safety & Compliance
This section is mainly for sellers that need to fill out safety information for products with batteries or other details. However, you’ll need to fill in information including the product’s Country/Region of Origin, if batteries are required, Dangerous Goods Regulations and Mandatory Cautionary Statement.
If your product doesn’t require any of these (other than country of origin), you can select the Not Applicable option.
Images
As it says on the tin, this section is about uploading images that represent your product.
Amazon allows up to 9 images to be uploaded, and you can place the images in any order. The main image is the picture customers will see during their search, so make this a strong one.
Many of the best listings on Amazon have an eye-catching image of their product on a white background, and it’s a good idea to follow suit. If you’re in need of your product shown on a white background, use a background remover tool and edit the photo using photo-editing software (Photopea is a great, free online photo editor).
Otherwise, other images are extra icing on the cake. You can take photos of your product from different angles, how it looks when being used and even further descriptions of what it can do.
Shipping
The final section before you can post your listing. Hoorah!
The shipping section is simple. You’ll need to input your item package’s Length, Width, Height and Weight, along with the number of boxes it comes in. If you’re getting your supply from international manufacturer, you can contact them for additional details of the package it comes in. If packaging the product yourself, then this section will be a breeze.
Click Save and Finish
All set? Click Save and Finish!
Your listing will be processed and Amazon will then give you a unique ASIN number. It can take time for your listing to appear (Amazon says around 30 minutes.)
If you have changes to make on your listing, you can head to Manage Inventory and select the listing from there.
Still figuring out what to sell on Amazon? We’ve got you covered.
