During the pandemic, selling on Amazon became more competitive as a lot of new sellers came onto the marketplace looking to replace their jobs. In fact, in 2021 alone more than ​​1,029,528 new sellers signed up to sell on Amazon!

This new influx of sellers meant that Amazon had to start placing restrictions on how many units a seller could send into FBA warehouses.

However, in 2022 many of those new sellers have gone back to their day jobs. This is great news for new sellers who are just starting to learn how to sell on Amazon FBA as it means there are a lot more opportunities out there.

In this short guide we are looking at 4 things that have changed for Amazon sellers in 2022 and how you can take advantage of them.

1) Restocking Limits

In 2021, Amazon places restocking limits on new sellers. The reason they did this was to reduce the amount of dead stock they kept on their shelves and allow more space for new products to come through. Amazon loves having stock that sells quickly, so these restrictions were good for experienced sellers.

However, as the pandemic has calmed down a little bit, these restrictions on stock limits have reduced so new sellers can now send in more stock. This is great news for new sellers who are taking their business seriously, as they can send in more units and grow their brand faster.

Take advantage of these stock limit increases by growing your product range or by ensuring you always stay in stock of fast-selling items.

2) Fees have increased

Amazon has increased the selling fees by 4.3% in order to deal with the rising cost of fuel. These extra costs mean that new sellers need to be particularly careful when working out their profitability numbers. The changes only affect the FBA fulfillment fees, not the referral fees, so if you are shipping the products yourself (as a Fulfilled by Merchant or FBM seller) then the changes won’t affect you.

Make sure you are factoring in the fee increases into your profitability assessments.

3) Pan EU shipments have resumed

After Brexit, Amazon stopped allowing sellers to ship from the UK to Europe using the Pan-European network. This network allowed sellers based in the UK to keep their stock in the UK, but fulfill orders from European countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The reason Amazon stopped allowing the Pan-European network was because Brexit made the cross-border taxes too complicated. However, Amazon have restarted this scheme, which is great news for sellers based in the UK or sellers in other countries who are looking to expand into Europe.

4) Videos on all listings

In 2022, Amazon allowed all listings to have videos. Previously, sellers needed brand registry to have videos. Brand registry involves getting a trademark, so it was a big blocker to a lot of sellers.

Videos can increase the conversion rate for listings by over 20%, so allowing non-brand registered sellers to have videos on the listings is a huge change.

If you haven’t created videos for your products before, then a great place to start looking is Upwork and Fiverr. Fiverr is great for smaller budgets but if you are looking for more professional videos, you can find some amazing freelancers on Upwork.

Some great ideas for videos that will convert browsers into buyers include

• Unboxing videos – Show the customer what it is like to open the product. These videos are great for giftable products as you can get the customer to visualize themselves giving the gift.
• Lifestyle videos – Show some people using the product in their lives. This is perfect for products that are useful. You can show some models using the products and improving their lives.
• Instructional videos – Give instructions on how to use the products. Instructions are a perfect way to get the customer thinking about how they will be using the product in their lives.
• Simple information – Tell the customer some info about the product, such as ingredients or materials. Here is a great opportunity to show off the benefits of the products.

Wrap Up

The pandemic caused some major headaches for Amazon sellers, especially with all the issues with the global supply chain network. However, it looks like things are starting to turn a corner, which is great news for businesses that made it through.

Some of the changes on Amazon will really help new sellers and experienced businesses alike. This is great news for online ecommerce business owners who are serious about growing their business.