Selling on Amazon FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) can be a wild ride, especially if you’re used to other platforms like Etsy or Shopify. Amazon Seller Central has the toughest learning curve I’ve faced out of all the platforms I’ve sold on.

However, most issues can be handled or avoided once you know what’s coming. Here are five things I wish I’d known before jumping into Amazon FBM, so you can dodge the usual headaches.

Read until the end to find out the most troublesome feature I had to face and how you can deal with it.

1. The Buy Box: Why It Matters and How to Get It

If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon, you’ve definitely seen the Buy Box. That’s the magical “Add to Cart” button on the right side of the product page. Getting the buy box on your listings is critical because it boosts conversion rate by letting customers purchase with just one click.

If your listing doesn’t have the Buy Box, it’ll look “suppressed,” meaning customers have to click extra steps to buy. This kills your conversion rate. Also, when multiple sellers compete for the same product, Amazon awards the Buy Box to the best offer based on price, shipping speed, and seller performance.

It is a myth that only FBA sellers get the buy box. As an FBM seller, you can absolutely get the Buy Box, but it usually takes some time. For me, it was about 3 months after uploading my listings that I started consistently winning the Buy Box. Amazon tends to favor sellers with a solid sales history and great performance metrics.

2. Account Health and the Dreaded OTDR (On-Time Delivery Rate)

If your Amazon account health dips too low, your selling privileges could be suspended. The three main areas Amazon monitors are:

• Customer Service Performance
• Policy Compliance
• Shipping Performance

One of the hardest metrics for FBM sellers to maintain specifically is the On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR). This requires 90% or higher to keep Amazon happy. Unlike Etsy or Shopify, Amazon tracks not just when you ship, but when the carrier actually delivers the package using real time tracking data. This can get annoying because sometimes carriers delay marking a package as delivered, or there are unexpected events (bad weather etc.) and that can unfairly lower your OTDR.

To keep on top of this, I recommend daily checks of your orders’ delivery status, so you can quickly spot and follow up on late deliveries. If a delivery looks stuck, you might have to get creative by contacting customers or updating tracking info, just to keep your account in good shape (see the video to watch exactly how I do this).

3. Messaging Customers: Don’t Get Tripped Up

You can message your customers directly through Amazon’s order page by clicking on their name. This sends an email and you’ll get a reply if they respond. Things to watch out for:

• The buyer’s displayed name may not be the same as the customer’s, especially if you’re selling gifts, so double check before messaging (I’ve messaged the wrong customer more than once).
• Some customers disable messages, which limits communication. Not much you can do in this case.

Good customer contact is crucial for keeping your ratings up and avoiding negative reviews or chargebacks.

4. Amazon Listing Requirements Are Different

Amazon is strict about listing details compared to platforms like Etsy. For example:

• Your product title should start with your brand name if you’re brand registered, then include keywords and the actual product name.
• The main product image must have a pure white background with no logos or watermarks. While you may see some sellers violating this, it is best not to for account health.
• Lifestyle or mockup images can go in the additional image slots, but the first image has to be clean and simple.

This contrasts with Etsy, where lifestyle images often are your main image. Keep this in mind to avoid listing suppressions or rejections.

5. Forced Automated Handling Time: FBM’s Most Annoying Feature

Amazon lets you set your own handling time (the number of days you take to ship an order) when you upload a product. I usually set mine to 8 days to give myself plenty of breathing room.

However, if you sell enough of a specific product (somewhere around 100 sales), and you ship earlier than specified, Amazon forces an automated handling time on you based on your shipping speed. You can’t turn this off anymore. If Amazon decides you ship too slowly or too fast, they’ll assign a handling time (sometimes as low as 1 or 2 days), and if you miss that, you get penalized.

Amazon essentially punishes you for shipping early or late. I’ve tried support, but they just send you in circles telling you to disable it, which you can’t once you’re “automated.”

This forced setting means you have to carefully monitor your shipping and strangely, sometimes hold back on shipping too quickly just to avoid late shipment penalties.

Conclusion

Amazon FBM is a beast compared to Etsy or Shopify. However, once you understand these quirks, it becomes much more manageable. The Buy Box takes time but is achievable. Account health requires attention, especially OTDR. Listing requirements are more stringent, and the risk of automated handling times mean you’ll need to be extra strategic with shipping.

If you keep these five tips in mind, you’ll save yourself a ton of frustration and enjoy some sales on autopilot.