Selling on Amazon

Amazon is where a large share of casual game buyers already shop, and being absent means being invisible to them. For a small publisher the usual route is Seller Central with FBA, Fulfillment by Amazon, where you ship inventory to Amazon's warehouses and they handle storage, picking, shipping, and returns. Your game becomes Prime-eligible, which meaningfully improves conversion.

The fees stack up. Amazon takes a referral fee of roughly 15 percent of the sale price on toys and games, plus FBA fulfillment fees that depend on box size and weight, plus monthly storage fees that spike in the fourth quarter. On a typical boxed game, expect Amazon's total cut to land somewhere between 25 and 40 percent of the price. That is worse than selling on your own site and better than distribution, with reach that neither can match for mainstream buyers.

Amazon is a search engine, and games win or lose on their listing. Invest in strong photography, a keyword-considered title and bullet points, and early reviews gathered legitimately. Also decide who controls your listing: if you enter distribution, third-party sellers may list your game and compete for the buy box, sometimes below your price. Enrolling in Amazon Brand Registry, which requires a registered trademark, gives you tools to manage your listings and counterfeits.

Watch the operational sharp edges. Amazon's box-size tiers can turn an oversized game into a fee disaster, long-term storage fees punish slow sellers, and account or listing suspensions happen with little warning. Keep inventory in more than one channel so an Amazon hiccup never freezes your whole business.