Even though the recent pandemic has faded significantly, the spike in the home decor market persists. And even after two years of hot sales, there seems to be no sign of the market slowing. This means that those looking to break into selling home decor on Amazon still have plenty of time by most estimates.
This doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t risks or that profit is guaranteed. In fact, one of the biggest reasons that Amazon stores fail is eventual supply chain issues. That being said, there is still quite a lot of money to be made by selling home decor on Amazon, and we’re going to look at two popular ways that people sell home decor.
How To Sell Home Decor On Amazon With FBA
The most common way to sell home decor items on Amazon is with the Amazon FBA framework. FBA stands for Fulfilled By Amazon, which means that once you ship the merchandise to Amazon you don’t have to worry about much else. Once they receive the items they will then manage the storage, as well as all order fulfillment, and all you need to do is pay them a little bigger cut of each sale in the form of FBA fees.
How this works is relatively simple, particularly in home decor. It starts with you sourcing a home decor item at a lower price than the item currently being sold on Amazon. This can be bought from almost anywhere, as long as it has packaging and is in a sellable condition. You can find closeout or clearance items at Target, Walmart, and more, ship them to Amazon and sell them for a higher price, which is an FBA tactic called “retail arbitrage”.
No matter where you source the items from, you will scan the UPC and create a listing on Amazon, then price them as you see fit. When the item sells, Amazon will take care of the picking, packing, shipping, and if needed, any returns or refunds the customer wants. This takes a lot of work off of your shoulders, but also gives you significantly less control over the packing, shipping, and returns of your items.
Another downside to Fulfillment By Amazon is that they don’t provide these services for free. You’ll pay a storage fee in most cases, as well as a relatively small FBA fee per item. This can eat into your profit if margins are slim, but it can also take inventory management off of your plate.
How To Use The Amazon Marketplace To Sell Your Stuff
You can also use the Amazon marketplace to sell your stuff, but keep in mind that Amazon isn’t a flea market like eBay. Your used products will still need to have packaging in most cases, and anything used too roughly won’t be in a sellable condition.
To sell your stuff on Amazon, you’ll need to take each item and either look it up or find its UPC to create a listing. Price your items and you’re ready to go live. Unlike with FBA, you will generally want to keep all of your used item sales as “fulfilled by merchant” so that you can manage the packing and shipping, as well as returns.
Let The Amazon Junkies Handle Your Marketing & Brand Development
For those just getting started selling on Amazon, this can all sound like a lot to take in. If you are looking for an easier solution to managing your Amazon store, consider partnering with The Amazon Junkies to handle all of your store management and brand development projects. Reach out today for more information.
