Price: it’s the primary thing that separates sellers and differentiates online stores which may all be selling the same items. Because this is true, plan for the need to compete with your pricing while keeping profits in mind.

For many sellers, this means selling some products with a higher profit margin to “cushion” products without much profit. For others, it means aiming for much higher numbers than before selling on Amazon. The good news is that selling through Amazon means access to so

many potential buyers that this becomes possible.

Whatever tactic you adopt, keep the following in mind. Remember to account for your costs (Amazon category fees, shipping, etc.) when you’re pricing items. Using repricing software is the best way to ensure your listing prices are competitive and protecting your profit margins.

It may be best to stay on an individual plan when you’re first starting out, but in most cases, the Pro plan is the best bet for business sellers. With the pro subscription, you pay a monthly fee

rather than per listing charges — big savings if you sell multiple items.

It’s $39.99 per month for the subscription, and for individual listings, the charges are $0.99. So by selling only 100 items per month you’ve cut your costs thereby more than half with a Pro Merchant subscription.

There are additional advantages to a professional subscription.

First, you can upload your listings in bulk. This means that you don’t need to list and maintain your products one by one; instead, you can upload your entire inventory using application programming interfaces (APIs) or spreadsheet templates.

Second, you get enhanced reporting options that simplify managing your sales on Amazon. You also receive more selling options, including the ability to list higher-priced items for sale.

Finally, you gain the ability to list new, unique products, a big source of profit.

If you go with the Pro Merchant subscription, take advantage of the ability to use an API, and automate your processes.

Take advantage of third party software that lets you load your listings seamlessly, and updates your product descriptions, pricing, and inventory levels automatically.

This kind of automation lets you manage your FBA items as well as your own merchant-fulfilled inventory.

As a professional seller on Amazon, you can add unique items to your inventory. This means you’ll be able to sell things without any competition to the entire Amazon buyer community.

Even if these unique items are unusual, “niche” products, you’re likely to find buyers in the enormous Amazon marketplace. And if the items are unique, you can offer them at prices that make you more profit.

One of the best things about the Amazon platform is also one of the most easily overlooked: marketing. Your buyers are shopping on Amazon; they don’t think of their shopping as patronizing many smaller businesses as well, even if that’s what happens.

But you have the chance to earn a repeat customer with each Amazon sale. You can offer buyers discounts on future purchases and other incentives to come back to you specifically or offer companion products at a discount.