Amazon Seller Tools – 9 Essential Options The Pros Use

Successful Amazon sellers use an assortment of powerful Amazon seller tools to drive sales and operate efficiently. Your Amazon seller account provides basic tools to manage products and orders, but most sellers quickly realize that to grow on Amazon, far better solutions are needed. That’s where third-party Amazon seller tools can help.

You can find third-party Amazon seller tools to improve every aspect of selling on Amazon, from scouting profitable products, creating keyword-focused Amazon listings, and maintaining Buy-Box pricing, to managing inventory, shipping, and much more. The real challenge is understanding all of your options and finding the right mix of tools to efficiently manage your particular Amazon ecommerce operation.

One of the first tools you should consider is an ecommerce platform that lets you sell Amazon products on your own site and manage your inventory and listings as you grow. BigCommerce makes it easy to build your own ecommerce website where you can sell your products, synchronize your inventory with Amazon, process orders and fulfillment, and bulk list products—all from one dashboard. Try it free for 15 days.

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Here’s a look at 9 types of Amazon seller tools designed to help you drive higher Amazon sales, profits, and overall efficiency, plus a selection of popular options for each:

1. Amazon Seller Tools for Faster Payouts

Amazon pays its sellers every two weeks, but payout tools can help Amazon sellers get paid much faster, even daily. This type of service is commonly known as factoring. The service, or factor, pays Amazon sellers daily based on sales totals. Then, the factor collects funds directly from Amazon per the normal payout schedule.

This service can help you grow faster by providing immediate access to cash. Getting paid by Amazon just two times each month can put a real kink in your cash flow. It makes it hard to manage the many supplier, advertising, and operating bills that come due each week. A payout tool pays you daily, so you have control over your cash flow to pay bills on your schedule, not Amazon’s.

There’s one service that has developed a factoring/payout tool specifically for Amazon which provides daily payouts to sellers of all sizes.

2. Amazon Seller Tools for Repricing & Price Management

Amazon repricer tools integrate with Amazon seller accounts to monitor listings and automatically adjust product prices up or down, following competitor moves. Sellers set parameters based on profit strategies and Buy Box pricing targets, then the repricing tool does the work, 24/7. Without repricers, sellers must rely on limited Seller Central pricing features and time-consuming daily management.

If you sell a fair selection of products, manually tracking all of your competitors’ pricing moves and adjusting your prices in Seller Central is nearly impossible. Your Seller Central dashboard gives you basic high/low pricing levels, but that’s all. Since competitive pricing is key to winning the coveted “Buy Box,” position throughout the day, a bad pricing strategy can be a major drag on sales. But Repricing tools can take care of everything price-related, on autopilot, plus help you avoid price wars that can sink profits fast.

3. Amazon Seller Tools for Keyword, Product Research, & Profit Calculators

Amazon keyword research tools and profit calculators allow Amazon sellers to spot profitable product opportunities across all Amazon categories. Sellers use keyword research tools to drill into Amazon’s search data and uncover which products shoppers search for, and in what volume. They then plug these terms into an Amazon profit calculator to determine overall costs and profit potential.

This targeted keyword and profit research is a necessary first step in finding profitable products to sell on Amazon. Plus, the researched keywords help create sales-driving Amazon SEO product listings, so the benefits are twofold. Most keyword research tools also size up the competition for any given term and even give you an educated glimpse at competitors’ profits.

There are many Amazon keyword and product research tools on the market, but 5 stand out from the pack by providing plenty of features at a small-seller price. A few are even free:

4. Amazon Seller Tools for Product Listing & Inventory Management

Amazon listing tools allow sellers to conveniently manage Amazon product listings and inventory outside of the Seller Central dashboard. Listing tools seamlessly connect and sync Amazon product data to an external database. There, sellers can add and change products, track inventory, adjust pricing, and even create new Amazon listings far more easily than within the Seller Central dashboard.

Many Amazon listing tools also sync product catalogs and inventory to other sales channels like Walmart, eBay, and NewEgg, and even online stores. So, if you want to sell some or all of your products across multiple marketplaces, Amazon listing tools make it possible. Most also seamlessly manage orders and shipping for all sales channels.

Amazon listing tools come in all shapes and sizes, but most solutions support some type of multichannel selling need. As advanced as these systems are, several offer very accessible pricing, so even startup Amazon sellers can benefit from listing tools, like the 5 listed below, from day one.

5. Amazon Seller Tools for Order & Shipping Management

Amazon seller tools for order and shipping management let sellers compare shipping rates among carriers and quickly print labels so they can meet Amazon’s stringent shipping requirements. Shipping management tools offer sellers far more shipping options and better rates than shipping through the Seller Central dashboard. Many also provide advanced inventory features and support shipping for other sales channels.

If you sell in volume and ship orders yourself, you’ll appreciate the many time- and money-saving features that Amazon order shipping tools provide. Most give you better US Postal rates that you get buying and printing postage through Amazon. Plus, shipping software lets you conveniently compare shipping rates from UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, and more, at the touch of a screen. Comparing rates is the only way to ensure you’re getting the best deal on every order shipped.

For all that Amazon order shipping tools provide, they’re surprisingly cost-effective. Many even offer the service for free if you ship less than 50 orders per month, you just pay the shipping fees. Here are 5 top-rated Amazon shipping tools to consider as you look for ways to streamline your in-house order fulfillment operation.

ShippingEasy is one of the easiest ecommerce shipping solutions for new sellers. Not only does it get you the best rates from various carriers, but it also helps you manage your Amazon inventory, print shipping labels, and even increase sales through automated email marketing, all from one platform. Try it free for 30 days.

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6. Amazon Seller Tools for Accounting & Expense Management

Accounting and expense management tools help Amazon sellers track standard business expenses and manage budgets, but that’s not all. Some expense management tools help you track Amazon seller fees, plus spot Amazon errors and recover money for things like damaged returns, FBA inventory shortages, and shipment issues. They can even help resolve indirect losses such as negative feedback stemming from FBA errors.

In a business environment where Amazon fees take on average 15 percent of each sale you make, every penny counts. So, Amazon sellers large and small need to apply sound business practices across the board, and that means tracking expenses and recovering Amazon-related losses. Standard business expenses like product costs, taxes, and operating expenses all need to be tracked. Plus, FBA account activity and your own shipper bills need to be scrutinized for recoverable losses such as inventory shortages or late deliveries. If found, those need to be dealt with promptly.

Some services, like AMZ Suite and Refund Retriever listed below, actually recover monies owed to you due to Amazon FBA or shipping errors. If you ship in any volume or use FBA, these are worth considering. Plus, there are simple solutions that help you track expenses in the early stage, but most Amazon sellers ultimately turn to bookkeeping tools to manage the money side of the business.

7. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Tools

Amazon FBA tools streamline Amazon sellers’ FBA stock shipping and inventory tracking tasks and help sellers research profit margins based on FBA fees. FBA inventory tools help sellers prep, label, and ship stock into FBA correctly, track FBA inventory levels, set up low-stock alerts, and more. Profit calculators help sellers test and set profitable pricing for FBA products.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a hands-free way to fulfill your Amazon orders, plus it provides many sales-driving advantages like Prime shipping. But it’s not without management headaches. Stock shipments into FBA must be prepared and labeled correctly, inventory must be tracked and reordered promptly, and you must stay on top of your storage and fulfillment fees. Amazon provides some FBA oversight tools in Seller Central, but to work efficiently, sellers usually turn to third-party FBA tools.

FBA tools can be found both in comprehensive Amazon seller tool software and as standalone solutions. Power sellers typically use a comprehensive suite to streamline many aspects of selling on Amazon, including FBA tasks. But there are other tools, like international freight management and stock label printers, which come in handy.

8. Amazon Seller Tools for Review & Feedback Management

Amazon feedback software lets Amazon Pro Sellers send personalized feedback request emails directly to Amazon buyers. Amazon includes feedback requests in automated buyer communications, but most Amazon sellers find that personalized emails yield more, and better, product reviews and feedback ratings. Feedback software also helps sellers quickly respond to reviews and track feedback and ranking-related data.

Product reviews are a major factor in your Amazon product rankings. Having a high ratio of positive product reviews and seller ratings even helps you win the coveted “Buy Box,” so it’s important that your buyers provide feedback. Even though Amazon automatically emails feedback requests, buyers tend to respond to a more personalized approach. Plus, this gives you another chance to get your business’s name in front of buyers, not just Amazon’s.

Feedback email and review management tools often are part of a full suite of Amazon seller tools, but there are standalone options as well. Some are even free to use if you sell in lower volumes.

9. Amazon Seller Tools for Legal, Tax, & Insurance Needs

Amazon legal, tax, and insurance tools are services that help Amazon sellers keep their accounts and overall businesses in good standing. Amazon-focused insurance agencies help Amazon Pro Sellers get required commercial insurance, and Amazon lawyers help sellers deal with account disputes. Plus, sales tax tools make tax collection, tracking, and payment tasks more efficient for busy sellers.

Sellers new to Amazon are sometimes surprised that Amazon Pro Sellers are required to carry commercial insurance on products sold, plus any Amazon-related operations. Amazon seller insurance can seem excessive if you sell just a few products, but if audited, you could face account suspension without it. Plus, all sellers, individual and pro, should set up a legal business entity to protect their assets and have legal experts in their corner when disputes arise. And finally, all sellers need to understand sales tax collection and payment responsibilities and have a system that collects and tracks these taxes correctly.

There are plenty of small business-oriented insurance and legal services on the market. But finding those that understand the unique challenges of selling on Amazon can be hard. Here are some insurance and legal services that specialize in all things Amazon, plus a sales tax tool that caters to Amazon sellers.

Bottom Line on Amazon Seller Tools

Selling on Amazon is demanding, and the competition is fierce. Your pricing, listings, product sourcing, and fulfillment operations must be spot-on to grow quickly and profitably on Amazon’s vast marketplace. Though Amazon seller accounts provide some basic selling tools, sellers of all sizes usually turn to third-party solutions to increase their selling efficiency, maximize the marketplace, manage their business, and drive success.

An all-in-one ecommerce shipping solution like ShippingEasy is a good place to start if you’re trying to streamline your Amazon selling operation. It can help you choose the best shipping rates between carriers, track and manage inventory, and even sell more with automated email marketing. Try it free for 30 days.

Visit ShippingEasy