How much does it cost to start a store on your own in 2024? Compared with the initial store preparation, product selection is actually the most challenging project...

Going it alone should be a topic that cannot be avoided when doing business on Amazon, but it is rare to see people share the specific process of getting started. From idea to implementation, it depends on action. Here, I am not encouraging you to go it alone, nor am I advising you to give up this idea. I am not qualified and capable of making decisions for anyone. I just hope that my sharing can help someone.

Please note that the following is based on the premise that you are the legal person of the company. If you are buying someone else's store, the reference value of this article may not be great.

1. Quick Overview (Fee is for reference only)

2. Company Registration

I have shared the details of company registration in plain text. The difficulties and pitfalls of Shenzhen’s online company registration process have been fully shared in the original text.

One thing I need to add is that in 2024, when registering a company, you need to subscribe to the actual amount of capital you filled in when registering. If you don’t have 100,000, 10,000 should be fine.
 

3. Register a store

Amazon account managers can be obtained from the official account "Amazon Global Selling". You need to wait for the account manager to send you an invitation registration link. You can also register directly on the official website sellercentral.amazon.com. It is said that the probability of account verification after the registration invited by the account manager is small. I don't know whether it is true or not, so judge for yourself

Before registering a store, you must prepare your business license, ID card, Visa credit card, payment account, mobile phone number, and email address. You can do a simulated registration online.

Regarding the receiving account, if you withdraw money from Pai*Ying within 12 months, there is an annual fee of 29.95$ if you do not receive more than 2000$, and there is a handling fee of 1$ for withdrawals less than 100$; someone on the forum mentioned that the bank certificate issued by Pai*Ying is easier to pass the KYC review of the European mall, so you can judge for yourself.

After successful registration, Amazon will immediately charge the first month's professional seller monthly fee of $39.99, which cannot be canceled

If you only want to operate the US site, it is recommended to close the European and Japanese sites. This will reduce the impact of other sites being closed for unknown reasons on the US site. However, please note that once closed, the operation will be irreversible.

When registering a TM mark, you can think of several TM marks, i.e. brand names. There is a risk of application failure. If the application fails, you can re-apply, but you need to pay extra money to change a lawyer to apply, which is about 1,000. It takes a year for the TM mark to become an R mark, which means that you cannot use the brand to follow and sell in this year, but you can enjoy all the rights and interests of the brand, including the products you are accustomed to listing and A+
 

4. Other preparations

Prepare a computer that has not logged into the Amazon seller account before, and a stable network environment that does not change frequently. If you need to work on the go, it is recommended to use a fingerprint browser.

Label machines are available in various sizes, ranging from tens to thousands. If you have your own printer, either inkjet or laser will do, you can buy Amazon label stickers online, and they will have A4 sheets cut out for you.

The words "Made in China" need to be on the shipping box. Some people will tape all sides of the box (are they afraid of being soaked in sea water? It won't help even if it's soaked). I tried it a few times, but I found it too tiring and too taxing on my waist and tape. So I just taped the top and bottom sides, and it was OK as long as the things didn't fall out. I like to be lazy.

For the first shipment, it is recommended to ship by sea. The weight and traffic of newly listed products are not high. If your price is not advantageous, then you can only ship by sea if your product conversion rate is particularly high.

Before the brand is launched, you may need to use EAN/UPC if you are in a hurry to launch new products. I wonder how many current operators have used this thing. Before uploading, you need to register the brand, which is another topic. After the brand is registered, you can use EAN/UPC to launch products. As for buying EAN/UPC, it depends on personal preference. Some people buy it on Taobao for 0.1/piece, while others buy it on GS1 for 30$. The authenticity is obvious at a glance. The one on Taobao is usable, but it may explode one day, or it may never have any problems. It depends on your luck.

Whether the store has a brand or not, it needs to register the brand. If you don’t have your own products, you can order a piece of clothing with a brand letter LOGO on Taobao.

I recommend using Outlook as it has fewer advertisements than domestic emails. In addition, Microsoft is a big company and it is more international.