Amazon

The Amazon Seller App: Pros & Cons 2018

By Tinuiti Team

For the on-the-go Amazon retailer, the Amazon Seller App offers a handy way to access your account, check out your sales and inventory, and keep up with orders.

But is it all you need to run a profitable Amazon store with thousands of satisfied, repeat customers? Definitely not.

amazon seller app
Credit: itunes.apple.com

Like anything, the Amazon Seller App has its pros and cons. It’s a great tool for certain aspects of selling, but for others, it’s lacking or offers nothing at all. Luckily, there are other tools that can step in help where the Seller App lags behind.

Let’s take a look at some of the current pros and cons of the Amazon Seller App as it stands right now.


Amazon Seller App – The Pros

The biggest benefit of the Amazon Seller App is the visibility it affords you into your account performance. You can see your current orders, inventory, shipments and more and get important store data in real time.

The Amazon Seller App is also great for:

Communicating with customers:

Because Amazon factors your customer response time into your overall account health grade, communicating with your buyers quickly and often is crucial. The Seller App makes this easy, especially if you’re someone who’s on the go a lot and away from your computer.

Monitoring your disbursements:

Need to make an on-the-fly purchase decision? Wondering when your next payout is and how much it will be? Use the Amazon Seller App to quickly get details on your next disbursement.

Checking your shipments:

The second UPS has your shipment in hand, you can track its progress on the Seller App. See if it’s in transit, processing or any other step along the way, and share that info with your anxiously awaiting customers.

Repricing products:

If you just want to re-price an item or two, the Amazon Seller App is a quick and easy way to make it happen. It’s not ideal for repricing your entire inventory, of course, but if you see an item’s selling fast and want to take advantage by offering a sale, the app’s a great tool to help.

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Understanding HAZMAT and restricted items:

HAZMAT items and other products are ineligible for fulfillment by Amazon, and there may be some products that you, as a seller, aren’t approved to list. The Amazon Seller App will make sure you’re aware of any restrictions like these up front before you buy them.

The Amazon Seller App also lets you manage your returns on the go, as well as access your long-term sales and sales growth stats. This is helpful if you’re looking for guidance on what products to source again (and which ones not to).


Amazon Seller App – The Cons

The Amazon Seller App certainly has some useful tools, but it’s not the ultimate solution for a seller by any means. Currently, the app doesn’t let you:

Price shop:

Tools like Keepa and CamelCamelCamel let you monitor pricing and find the best deal when sourcing products. The Amazon Seller App doesn’t offer these features, nor does it integrate with either tool.

Understand the full scope of fees and costs:

When sourcing items on the Amazon Seller App, you’re only shown the actual price of the product – not the price including your shipping costs, taxes, fees for customs and more. Knowing this number is crucial to buying the right products, pricing them properly and maximizing your ROI.

amazon seller app
Credit: itunes.apple.com

Understanding potential profit margins:

In a similar vein, the Amazon Seller App also doesn’t help you understand the maximum profit potential a product offers. Currently, you can only see the profitability on the lowest priced items.

To a seller, a more important number would be the profitability of the product at its highest price point – or even just its average price point. A tool that lets you change the price point and see profitability after factoring in fees and shipping would be even more ideal.

Much like other apps in iTunes and Google Play, the Amazon Seller App is constantly under development. Make sure you have automatic updates turned on so you can enjoy the latest features and functions as they’re released.

For more information on the Amazon Seller App, email [email protected].

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