If you're not yet selling on Amazon, now may be a good time to start.

For many sellers, the sheen has come off of Amazon a bit in recent years as fees and competition have steadily increased.

But Amazon has recently notified third-party sellers that it's reducing fees in a number of areas on its site, to incentivize third-party sellers to expand their Amazon offerings and add more inventory, which will increase selection for Amazon shoppers.

If it's been a while since you sold on Amazon, the new reductions in fees may be a good reason to return. (Image: © Ifeelstock / Dreamstime)

The changes are significant:

• Most listing fees down to $0.30. For sellers in most Amazon categories, listing fees will come down to $0.30 from $1 (or from $2 in jewelry categories).

• Baby, beauty, and health: Referral fees reduced to 8%. Referral fees for baby, beauty, and health items will come down to 8% for products costing less than $10, while products costing more than that will remain at 15%.

• Furniture: Referral fees reduced to 10%. Furniture sales over $200 will see the referral fee for the portion of the sale beyond $200 reduced to 10% from 15%. The first $200 will still be assessed at 15%.

• Jewelry: Referral fees also reduced to 5%. Jewelry sales over $250 will see the referral fee for the portion of the sale beyond $250 reduced to 5% from 20%. The first $250 will still be assessed at 20%.

• Grocery and gourmet: Referral fees reduced to 8%. Referral fees for grocery and gourmet items will come down to 8% for products costing less than $15.00.

Take a look at those numbers again—fees are being reduced for affected sellers by double-digit percentages, and listing fees are once again low enough that many sellers will be able to enter the game even with lower sell-through rates.

Making Amazon Affordable Again

Amazon may be feeling a bit of heat both from a resurgent eBay marketplace and from an up-and-coming Walmart marketplace, and that's good for sellers.

These changes should help Amazon to accomplish exactly what they're hoping to accomplish—bringing independent and third-party sellers back around to the idea of selling on Amazon, and getting them to rush to list more Amazon inventory.

If you're an inkFrog user that has backed away from Amazon in favor of eBay or Shopify in recent months or years, now may be a good time to find your footing again on Amazon and generate some sales while fees are still low.

And again, if you're not currently selling on Amazon but have thought about it, now is a good time to get inkFrog and then get started as an Amazon seller!