Assessment VA

Submitted by : Hamza Khalid

Q 1 : 3 Ethical and moral values of VA ?

 A VA should commit what he can do.

 A VA should always be honest with his client , he shouldn’t advise
something that will be disastrous for his client just for the sake of
some money.
 All the information a VA shares with his client should be
confidential.

Q 2 : How can you add value to VA profession ?

 The basic purpose of VA is to solve the problems of his client, so in

order to solve the problems of sellers , a VA should have complete
knowledge of his work.
 Knowledge always come with experience so a VA should engage with
any seller to gain hands on experience.
 A VA should always commit what he can do or what he can offer.

Q 3 : What is Amazon ? Describe its Business models ?

Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer and a prominent cloud

services provider. The company was originally a book seller but has
expanded to sell a wide variety of consumer goods.

Business Models :

 FBA ( Fulfilled by amazon)

  FBM ( Fulfilled by merchant)

Q 4 : What is FBA and FBM ?

FBA : FULFILLMENT BY AMAZON is a process in which all the selling

system i.e shipping , order management , packing and all other matters
are completely handled by AMAZON. Inventory is also in AMAZON
WAREHOUSE. In other words , all the process is on AUTO PILOT .
Amazon deducts its charges of FBA from the linked account.

FBM : FULFILLMENT BY MERCHANT allows seller to handle the shipping

, order taking and all its account management on its own. The seller
only pays AMAZON for the sales but not any extra fees like in FBA. The
inventor is also on the seller’s warehouse.
Pros & Cons of FBA Pros & Cons of FBM
 FBA model is more efficient  No FBA fees in FBM model.
as order management ,  Order management ,
storage and shipping is all on shipping is handled by
amazon. merchant himself.
 In return amazon charge FBA  There’s better profit margin
fees on every order. in FBM model.
 There’s limited inventory  Business management is
available in FBA. tough in FBM.

Q 5 : What is Sub account? How can you create that?

Amazon seller central has option to give acess to multiple users through
a account called child account or sub account.
To give access to any user to this platform seller will send an invite to
user using user permission option to his email , through this invitation
user will have an acess to amazon seller central to sub account. Seller
can choose how much access he want to give to other person through
sub account.

Q 6 : . Difference between Amazon Individual and Professional Selling

Plan?

The main difference between amazon individual and professional

selling plan is projected number of sales each month. Individual plan is
for those who plan to sell 40 or less units per month. And professional
plan is for those who plan to sell more than 40 units per month.

There’s about 40 dollars subscription fee for professional plan. And

seller with individual plan needs to pay about 1 dollar fee when an item
sells.

Q 7 : Why Product Hunting is very important? What if I do not

consider the winning item criteria and chose the product as per my
wish?

Product hunting is one of the most important task in amazon journey.

Because if you are going to launch any product on amazon you first
need to find a winning product. Because if we launch any product on
amazon without any research most probably it will fail because we
don’t know the market demand , traffic on that product , profit margin
on that product , we don’t know monthly revenue this product can
make and what will be the budget . If we don’t research these points
before launching any product we’d probably fail. That’s why finding
winning product is very important.
Q 8 : What are the gated categories? Name them as well?

The products for which we need to provide any certifications before

launching comes under gated categories.

Such as , Medical items, jewelry , music , video , beauty , health and

personal care etc.

Q 9 : What are the points you do see before selecting a product?

The points to be followed before selecting a product are as follows.

 Demand should be high

 Price should be moderate.
 Monthly revenue and sales should be good.
 Competition should not be high.
 Sourcing should be easy.
 Profit margin should be good.
 Should not be gated and patent.
 Should be small in weight and size.
 FBA fees should be low.
 Should be easier to rank.
 Bleeding cost should be low.

Q 10 : How to find the suppliers and what are the major things you
have to consider for choosing a supplier?

Suppliers to source your product can be found locally and on

websites.

The main things to consider before choosing a supplier is that supplier

should have good reputation in the market. Choose that supplier which
gives you best quality and lowest price.
Some websites such as Alibaba , Walmart , Indiamart etc provides
suppliers. To select supplier from that websites make sure that supplier
has trade assurance and it should be verified supplier.

Q 11 : What are the sourcing terms DDP, FOB and EXW? Describe the
difference?

DDP : Delivered Duty Paid is a contract in which the supplier is

responsible to deliver the inventory to your desired warehouse by itself
and includes all the freight charges. You don’t need to hire a freight
forwarder by yourself i.e on the port.

FOB : Free On Board , in this contract , the supplier have to load your
inventory on the port to your desired ship. Later on , your hired freight
forwarder delivered inventory to the warehouse.

EXW : Supplier manufactures the inventory , then your hired freight

forwarder loads it from the supplier’s place and then delivered it to the
port and later on, to warehouse.

Q 12 : Who is freight forwarder?

The person or agnecy that takes the responsibility to take the goods
from the supplier and then delivers the inventory to the market or
warehouse where the owner wants to store it, is known as freight
forwarder.

Q 13 : Difference Between case packed and Individual pack while

creating FBA Shipment?

Individual products if your shipment boxes consists of individual items

with different SKUs or in different conditions. Individual products can
contain different quantities of the same SKU in each case, and can
contain more than 150 units in any case.

Case-packed products if your shipment boxes consist of cases that

contain identical items with matching SKUs in the same condition. You
will then be able to enter the number of cases and units per case for
each SKU in the shipment.

Q 14 : How to calculate Profit margins of a product ?

Profit margin can be calculated by deducting the whole manufacturing

cost ( manufacturing , packaging , shipping to inventory ) from actual
selling price .

The best method to calculate the profit margin is by using FBA

calculator if you are selling through FBA model.

Q 15 : What is Super URL ?

A Super URL is a way to link directly to an Amazon product listing, while

making the ranking algorithm think the click came from an organic
search. This is done by making a URL that replicates certain parameters,
which are meant to show Amazon the exact source of a click.

Q 16 : What is Retail Readiness? How can your listing be Retail

Readiness?

Products are considered retail-ready when your product detail pages

include all the information necessary for consumers to make informed
purchase decisions. This includes informative, SEO-rich titles, bullets,
and product descriptions, clear imagery, engaging videos, customer
ratings and reviews, and ample inventory.
Q 17 : What is competitor Analysis and how to perform it?

Before launching our product on amazon we choose our competitor

from top sellers against which we will launch our product.

To do competitor analysis first of all we check his product dimensions

and his price. Price is the most important thing , lower price with same
dimensions or with some value addition will attract most of the traffic
of our competitor to our product.

We analyze the keywords on which our competitor is ranked , because

we will use same keywords for our product also .

We analyze our profit margin with some value addition to out product.

Q 18 : What is BSR ?

The BSR or Best Sellers Rank is a score that Amazon gives to products
based on its sales velocity. It is updated hourly. It is different for
different category and keeps on changing on hourly basis. The smaller
the BSR number means the bigger sales a product have.

Q 19 : What is buy box ?

For some products , Amazon allows more than 1 customer to sell on the
same listing by taking permission from the listing owner. Hence when
the customer go to that listing , there appears a box on the product
detail page , buy box goes to that seller which provides low price than
others but if the price is same then buy box rotates between different
sellers .
Q 20 : What is Me too listing ?

ME TOO listing is wholesale model in which you become the part of pre
existing brands without building your own brand. You have to take
permission first from the brand of which you want to join. You sell your
products under the listing of that brand. Amazon keeps on rotating buy
box between all the MEE TOO LISTERS considering some factors like
price etc.

Q 21 : What is UPC ?

UPC stands for the Universal Product Code . It is a Unique barcode with
12 digit numbers that is assigned to the product for identification. It is
mostly used for the US marketplace.

UPCs have a number of advantages to businesses and consumers.

Because they make it possible for barcode scanners to immediately
identify a product and its associated price, UPCs improve speed. They
improve efficiency and productivity, by eliminating the need to
manually enter product information.

Q 22 : Amazon title, Bullet points, Description, Images and Backend

search terms guideline?

Title : Amazon has specific guidelines on how product titles should be

written, and they include: Capitalising the first letter of every word (an
exception to this is the word 'and', which should be in all lowercase
letters) and don't capitalise every single word.

Title must not exceed 200 characters. It should not contain promotional
phrases.
Bullet points : Bullet points help you to sell features and benefits of
your product. They are descriptive text about specific aspects of, which
appear on the detail page. Up to five bullet points can be a product
included for each product.

Description : The Amazon product description is an important part of

any Amazon listing. It allows a detailed description of the offered
product as free flowing text and is a substitute for the in-store sales
pitch.

Amazon allows you to utilize 2000 characters for description. Try to use
it efficiently. Use high search volume keywords in a sensible way. Do
not use them as inappropriate in reading. Avoid grammar and spelling
mistakes. After writing description , read it as the buyer’s point of view.

Imaging : MAIN images must have a pure white background pure white
blends in with the Amazon search and product detail pages—RGB
colour values of 255, 255, 255. MAIN images must be professional
photographs of the actual products graphics, illustrations, mock-ups, or
placeholders are not allowed.

Backend search terms : Stay under the length of 250 bytes as specified
by Amazon. Avoid repeating words within the Search Terms field. Avoid
using ASINs, your brand, or other brand names in Search Terms.
Use singular or plural. Include keyword synonyms.

Q 23 : If a client approach you that his listing is not making sale, what
would be your action plan? Breakdown in points below.
First and foremost problem could be the images of product. Because
the buyer only spend 3 seconds almost to take decision that either he is
going to click this item or leaving it. So I will analyze client’s product
images first. After that , there could be some listing optimization
issues. I will make the product listing as Amazon Algorithm friendly as
well as buyer friendly. It is because the listing is the only way to
communicate with buyers. Listing includes Title , Bullet points ,
description and backend search terms. After that , I will run an
effective PPC and advertise the product as much as I can , keeping the
budget of the client in mind. Furter decision could be taken by
analyzing the given circumstances.
Q 24 : Difference between Organic and sponsored Ranking? How can
you rank your product organically with PPC, without giveaways?
Organic product listings are those which appear naturally on the
Amazon SERP because Amazon’s A9 algorithm determined those
products were the most relevant to the customer’s search query.
Sponsored product listings are advertisements that appear above the
organic listings on the Amazon SERP because their sellers were willing
to pay to give their products a boost. Sellers only pay for their ads if
they get clicked (hence, the name “Pay-Per-Click” (PPC) advertising).
Products can be ranked through ppc without giveaways using 'push
campaigns' for two years. 3-4 campaigns on single keywords doing
broad, exact and phrase doing different bid allotments under each one.
On certain campaigns the broad will perform better, others the phrase
will be better and others the exact will perform better.
Q 25 : . Is it necessary to do giveaways for ranking or you have
amazon product ranking ideas?
NO , it is not as such necessary to do giveaways. If we run effective PPC
campaigns and monitor it on daily basis by blocking negative keywords
with no conversion rate and adjusting our bidding strategy by checking
sales on different search terms by the report, then there are more
chances that our product will be ranked sooner and we don’t have to
REFUND the buyers as in giveaways. Moreover , we can run Facebook
and YouTube Adds to gain more traffic to our product page.
 Q 26 : What factors involve in Amazon product Ranking?
 Sales rank. Sales rank (also known as the Amazon Best Sellers Rank) is
one of the most important ranking factors.
 Customer reviews.
 Answered questions.
 Image size and quality.
 Price.
 Parent-child products.
 Time on page and bounce rate.
 Product listing completeness.

Q 27 : Why keyword relevancy is so important ?

Search engines use keyword relevancy to determine what your page is
about, and that is in part what they will use to determine what
keywords you will rank for when doing a search. ... If you don't properly
target the right words based on the content of the page, you could be
missing out on ranking opportunities.
Q 28 : How to fulfil FBM order? Breakdown in short Points?

 First go to orders tab in seller central account to check out

orders.
 Select manage orders.
 Choose action plan how to ship either by self or through amazon
 When we choose self service then fulfill necessary information
such as what kind of courier service we use , print packaging slip ,
tracking id provided by courier service.
 When we choose amazon shipping services then necessary info is
provided to amazon such as product weight and dimensions.
 Print packaging slip on the box provided by the amazon.
  Then ok buy shipping.

Q 29 : What are Amazon business reports? What is the difference

between page sessions and page views?

Amazon business reports are located under reports tab under amazon
seller central.
There are three types of Business Reports:
 Sales Dashboard – A quick snapshot that provides basic view of orders
and sales with a couple of trend graphs to compare across previous
day, week and year performance.

 Sales & Traffic – Aggregate account level sales that can be displayed at
the day, week, monthly and custom date range levels.

 Detail Page Sales and Traffic by ASIN – One for both parent level and
child level. This provides a detailed performance report at the product
level. It is the most granular level Amazon allows for product reporting,
based off a customized date range.
A session corresponds to a customer visit to Amazon.com pages.
During a visit, even though a customer views a number of pages
multiple times (within 24 hours), it will all be considered as one
session. Page views are the actual number of times a customer
visited that page

Q 30 : What are A to Z guarantee claims ?

The A-to-z Guarantee protects you when you buy items sold and
fulfilled by a third-party seller. It covers both the timely delivery and
condition of your items. If you're not happy with either, you can
make a claim. Your item hasn't arrived three days after the latest
estimated delivery date.
 Q 31 : How to remove hijackers from listing ?

1. Rely on your registered trademark. ...

2. Send a Cease and Desist Letter. ...
3. Perform A Test Buy. ...
4. Apply For The Amazon Transparency Program To Prevent Counterfeits.
5. Apply For The Amazon Brand Incubator Program.
6. Apply For The Amazon Project Zero Program.

Q 32 : Benefits of brand registry ?

 Gain complete protection of your brand's product listings. ...
 Boost your product sales and drive more conversions. ...
 Better understand your customers with data-driven analytics. ...
 Get access to Amazon's A+ Content feature. ...
 Deliver a better shopping experience for your customers

Q 33 : Difference between coupons and promotions ?

Between promotions and coupons, the biggest difference is what they
target.
Promotions focus on discounted shipping, obtaining free items, or
getting a percentage off your purchase.
Coupons, on the other hand, focus on taking set money amount off
and require inputting codes to get the discount.

Q 34 : What is A plus content manager ?

Amazon A+ content refers to a listing’s product description of brand
owners which allows them to tell their brand story with enhanced
image and video content.

 Comparison charts of competitors

 High quality images
 HD videos

Only professional sellers who have their brand registered can avail
this royalty.

Q 35 : What are key responsibilities of VA ?

 Product Hunting

 Product Listing (Single /Variation)

 Listing Optimization

 Keyword Research

 Competitor Analysis

 Launching & Ranking

 Reviews Management

 PPC (Pay per click) Campaign Creation.

 Images Designing

 A+ Content Manager

 Coupons and Promotions Creation

 FBM Orders Management

 Creating FBA Shipments

 Me too listings

 Listing Error Fixing

 Q 36 : What is GTIN exemption ?

GTIN exemption is only given to list products without a product ID.

You may be required to obtain additional Brand approval to list your
products. Every time you want to list under a different brand or a
category, you will have to apply for the GTIN exemption.

Q 38 : How to Me too listing ?

Open seller central  Go to CATALOG and select ADD A PRODUCT. 

Paste the ASIN of the product you want to ME TOO.  Then click on
APPLY FOR SELLING on the right side.  After getting approval from
the brand , select the Selling condition from the right side and then fill
the product listing information form.  If you are doing dropshipping ,
then choose FBM otherwise choose FBA.  Now , you too are eligible
to sell that product.

Q 39 : How to optimize PPC campaigns ?

Step 1: Choose a product(s) that you want to promote or sponsor on

Amazon.

Step 2: Choose a few appropriate keywords (with decent searches) for

the sponsored Ad.

Step 3: Set the cost that you want to spend on your ad

 Setup structured ad campaign.

 Come up with convincing ad.
 Be more precise with your ad.
 Use potential keywords in the title.
 Add a high quality picture.
 Create enhanced bid for ad groups.
 Play around with your ads to see what works.
Q 40 : Difference between auto and manual campaign ?
To run an automatic campaign, you assign only the daily budget
and the maximum cost per click (CPC). You can also add negative
words, and the system will automatically do the rest.
In a manual campaign, you add keywords yourself, assign
them maximum bids and match types, and add negative words.

Q 41 : 3 keywords match types used in PPC?

Following are the three match types in Amazon PPC campaigns :
 BROAD
 PHRASE
 EXACT