How to Start Selling on Ozon: Step-by-Step Guide
Practice4 minInnovialabs editorial team
In short
Sign up in the Ozon seller portal, upload your catalog manually, via a template or the API, choose a fulfillment scheme (FBO, FBS or realFBS), set prices with a minimum price for promotions and automate stock, prices and orders through the Seller API.
The short answer: five steps to your first orders
- Sign up in the seller portal: country, company details, bank details, acceptance of the offer. Ozon works with sellers outside Russia too — the terms for your country are shown during registration.
- Catalog: product cards, photos, attributes, brand rights and certificates where required.
- Fulfillment scheme: Ozon warehouse, your warehouse or your own delivery.
- Pricing and promotion: price, minimum price, promotions, ads.
- Automation: once you have more products than you can comfortably manage by hand, connect the Seller API or a ready-made integration with your accounting system.
Seller onboarding
- Prepare registration documents, bank details and a contact person.
- Pass verification. You can prepare product cards while it runs.
- Learn the portal sections: products, prices, logistics, orders, finance, analytics. You will spend most of your time in Products and Finance.
- For brands and regulated categories, upload brand rights and conformity documents in advance, or cards will not pass moderation.
Catalog upload
There are three ways, and you can combine them:
| Method | Best when |
|---|---|
| Manually in the portal | A few products, testing the marketplace |
| Category XLS template | Dozens or hundreds of items already in a spreadsheet |
| Seller API | Large catalog, frequent changes, an ERP or 1C in place |
If your product is already sold on Ozon by other sellers, you can join the existing product card instead of creating a new one.
What to check on every card:
- category and product type — they define required attributes and the commission;
- seller SKU — unique and stable, since you will sync stock and prices by it;
- barcode for each variant;
- packed weight and dimensions — they drive logistics costs, and mistakes are expensive;
- photos, description and attributes — search and filters run on them.
Choosing a fulfillment scheme
| Scheme | Who stores | Who delivers | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| FBO | Ozon | Ozon | Fast movers, quick delivery, minimal operations |
| FBS | You | Ozon (you hand over packed orders) | Wide assortment, you want control over stock |
| realFBS | You | You or your courier service | Bulky goods, special delivery terms, own logistics |
Schemes can be combined: the same product can ship from both Ozon's warehouse and yours.
Pricing and promotions
- Price and pre-discount price. The crossed-out price must be honest — the marketplace checks discounts.
- Minimum price. The floor below which a product will not drop when it is automatically added to promotions. Derive it from unit economics, not intuition.
- Promotions. Ozon regularly offers campaigns. They bring traffic but cut margin — add only products that stay profitable after the discount.
- Price index. Ozon compares your price with other marketplaces, and this affects product visibility.
- Ads. Promotion in search and on product pages, paid per click or per order. Start with a small budget on your best-converting products.
Connecting via the Seller API
The Seller API lets you manage products, prices, stock and orders and pull financial reports from your own system. The key is created in the portal settings. Every request is a POST with a JSON body and two auth headers:
curl -X POST "https://api-seller.ozon.ru/<method-from-docs>" \
-H "Client-Id: <your-client-id>" \
-H "Api-Key: <your-api-key>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{}"
What sellers usually automate first:
- Stock sync with the accounting system, so you never sell what you do not have.
- Price updates based on rules.
- Receiving and processing FBS orders.
- Exporting financial reports for reconciliation.
Methods and their versions get updated — check the official Seller API documentation and store the key as carefully as a password.