We have compiled the largest comprehensive list of ways to make money on Amazon.
Why? Because we kept hearing the question “How are people making millions of dollars a year on Amazon?”
We thought the same thing, so we went digging. Talking to dozens of entrepreneurs, developers, gig workers, and side hustlers we found that there is everything from part time work to full scale multinational business making money in the Amazon ecosystem.
Amazon is known for many things – accounting for just under 50% of all online sales, 1 out of 4 US adults are Amazon Prime subscribers, and has a valuation bigger than Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Macys, Kohls, JCPenny, and Sears combined.
You may or may not be aware of these two facts as well –
Fact #1: Yes, people are getting rich selling products and services on Amazon. There are an estimated 40,000 people who are using Amazon to earn over $1 million per year.
Fact #2: Amazon loves acronyms and efficiency. So bare with me while I use (and explain) Amazon acronyms, because Amazon has decided it’s more efficient to use acronyms everywhere. Also that drive for efficiency is applied to every product line you are able to be involved with at Amazon, so buckle up!
- Selling Wholesale Goods on Amazon
It’s Amazon – the world’s largest marketplace.
Case in point… In just one month (September 2019) Amazon had 150.6 million mobile users access the Amazon shopping app whereas Walmart, had a monthly mobile app audience of only 76.45 million users during the same timeframe.
Over 89% of shoppers say that they feel more comfortable buying and shopping on Amazon than any other sites (including directly from a suppliers own website!)
You will need to decide if you are going to be selling a few items or a lot of items.
Why?
If you choose to sign up as an individual seller you will pay $.99 fee per item sold and if you choose to sign up for the professional account you will pay 39.99 month but no per item charge.
All sales have a referral fee that ranges between 8% and 45%. Amazon does have a nice calculator tool that you can use to see if a product is worth buying/ selling.
- Fulfilled by Amazon (commonly known as FBA)
This is a program that you can choose to be involved in with Amazon that will be in congruence with selling goods on Amazon whether they are wholesale, white labeled, your own products or some sort of arbitrage products.
In Amazon FBA you ship your products to an Amazon warehouse and they fulfill the purchase for you.
There are a ton of fees included with this option. Think of it like a concierge service.
- Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon KDP)
We’ve written extensively on KDP, if you haven’t read them yet check ‘em out! In Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) program you can publish your own book. You can publish ebooks and paperbacks directly on Amazon’s KDP platform and an audio version through Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) – for more details see #25 below).
Amazon will also issue a FREE ISBN for your paperback version, they have easy to use tools for formatting your book and you can promote it directly on Amazon.
If you are interested in learning how to publish your own E-Book on Amazon CLICK HERE. If you are interested in learning how to publish your own paperback book CLICK HERE.
Pro Tip: Even if you don’t plan on selling a paperback; still publish one though KDP. They will link your ebook and paperback version together and show the ebook as being “on sale” with the price comparison between the paperback and ebook. - White Labeling
What is it? White label products are sold by retailers with their own branding and logo but the products themselves are manufactured by a third party.
Your first step should be deciding what nitch that you want to sell in.
One of my favorite sites to look for the “next” or “newest” trend is Trend Hunter.
Once you decide what you want to sell you will need to locate a white label supplier for the product(s). This is easily done with a quick google search. You can also utilize white label suppliers directories like wholesalecentral.com for a fee. - Original Product Sales
So far we’ve covered Wholesale and White Label sales on Amazon. While wholesale is selling mass produced items and white labeling is selling a mass produced item with your own branding and marketing, Original Product Sales takes it to a different level.
I’ll use the Onnit brand as an example. Onnit is a health and wellness brand based in Austin. They created and sold a custom line of nutritional supplements and work out equipment such as their famous kettle-bells with the face of a gorilla carved into it. Onnit couldn’t just find a supplier who was already making this product (so it is not whitelabeling) and no manufacturer was churning these out in bulk (no wholesaling). Instead Onnit designed, sourced, and marketed their own products.
Have a product idea? Something that you’ve been developing on the side or that you already have manufactured and want to ramp it up to the next level? Here is the opportunity! - Delivery fulfillment Warehouse Associate
You could always work in the Amazon warehouse! Working for Amazon is a pretty steady job in almost any environment. They offer health benefits, 401(k), discounts on products and stocks. - Amazon Flex
Amazon Flex is basically UBER with Amazon packages being your only passenger. You get to choose, what geographic area that you want to deliver within, how often you want to do it and when you want to do it.
Pro Tip: Think about combining this with Uber or Lyft. More profit per mile! - Amazon Customer Service Specialist
Most of these positions are work from home positions. They pay between $12 and $30 per hour on average. There are full time and part time positions available. - Amazon Affiliate
This program can be very lucrative if done correctly and you are able to reach high amounts of shoppers. As an Amazon Affiliate when you refer customers to Amazon based on products you promote you will be paid a percentage of the sales. So if you have an active blog, online social media following, or email list you can provide links to products for a small cut.
There has been a lot of news around Amazon’s Affiliate Program this year due to Amazon slashing how much they will share with you on each sale.
Is it still worth while being an Amazon Affiliate? Many affiliates have stuck with the program, but it’s worth noting that Amazon can change the percentages they offer at any time.
Below is a sample of the old and new %’s from before April 21st and after April 21st.
| Product Category | Fixed Standard Program Fee Rate – Before April 21, 2020 | Fixed Standard Program Fee Rate – After April 21, 2020 |
| Baby Products | 5% | 4.5% |
| Outdoor Tools | 5.5% | 3% |
| Pet Products | 8% | 3% |
| Beauty Products | 10% | 1% |
- Publishing an ebook- See #3
- Amazon Mechanical Turk
Think Fiverr by Amazon with a twist.
People looking to find gig style jobs can pick up gigs on the MTurk platform and companies that are looking to have various remote tasks completed can post what they are looking to have done and how much they are willing to pay.
I personally know a few people that do this and I have personally explored this option as a side venture but have decided to wait until things settle down in some of my other ventures. - Amazon Handmade
Think Etsy by Amazon. There is an application process that is much more rigorous than that of Etsy.
On the upside that should mean that Amazon Handmade will be known as having high quality products for shoppers. There are very few fees involved in selling through this Amazon platform. - Merch by Amazon
This is a print on demand service by Amazon. Most of the other available POD (print on demand) services are a quick and easy sign up with very little info needed. Whereas, Amazon requires a request form to be filled out prior to anything else.
The request form will ask for all of your information including: name, address, phone number, name of business, address of business, bank account information and a short blurb about who you are and why you want to sell designs on Amazon.
Pro Tip: Think about putting your designs on multiple POD platforms. - Amazon CamperForce
CamperForce is a program for RVer’s who want seasonal work near campsites around the country. While the work is still in a warehouse, it is flexible in hours, starts at $15 /hr and offers $550 a month per campsite, plus medical, overtime, and getting paid weekly. So if you are in the RV lifestyle this may be an option for you!
CamperForce locations are available in Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee . - Amazon Trade-In
While you won’t technically make any “money” with this there is the opportunity to receive Amazon gift cards by trading in your unwanted (mostly) electronics.Pro Tip: if you run out of your own unwanted electronics to trade-in, you could always purchase them locally to you below the trade-in value and trade them in for Amazon gift cards (almost as good as money nowadays right?!?)
- Amazon Vine
It is an internal service of Amazon.com that allows manufacturers and publishers to receive reviews for their products on Amazon. Companies pay a fee to Amazon and provide products for review.
The products are then passed to Amazon reviewers who are then required to publish a review within 30 days of receiving the product(s). You, as the reviewer, are allowed to sell the product after 6 months. - Amazon Services
Think Angie’s List brought to you by Amazon. If you want to be an Amazon certified service tech you will go through a vetting process before you are active on their service platform. Once approved you will have the ability to choose jobs that work for you.
Pro Tip: Sign up for as many of the programs as you are comfortable doing. The wider the net the more fish you can catch!
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- Retail Arbitrage
In short, the idea behind this is buying low (think clearance) at big box retail establishments and other low cost retail outlets. To get started in this you will need to make the decisions described back up in #1.
Pro Tip: Talk to store associates to find out if there are specific days or times that clearance merchandise is labeled or put out. The early bird gets the worm! - Book Arbitrage
This is essentially #18 but with a specialized niche in books.
There are a few apps/ programs that are built specifically around this niche. The top two being BQool and ScoutIQ. Some of the best places to find your books are not going to be big box stores and other such outlets.
For this niche your main focus for goods will most likely be places like Goodwill locations, thrift shops, library book sales and local owned book shops.
Pro Tip: Don’t forget about yard sales! Books are big and heavy so people do want to mess with them so they will normally sell them super cheap at yard sales. - Ebay to Amazon Arbitrage
This is essentially a mix of #1 and #18 but with a focus on utilizing Ebay as your main outlet for acquiring merchandise for resale.
Pro Tip: Many of the sellers on Ebay are sourcing their product like AliExpress and other bulk retailers. Think about cutting out the middleman if you can figure out where to source the product. - Influencer – Amazon Style
The Amazon Influencer Program allows you to get your own page on Amazon with a specialty URL (think weirdmoneyco.amazon.com) to showcase the products you recommend. It is similar to the Amazon Affiliate Program (and technically this is an extension of it) except you now have the ability to showcase products directly on Amazon, making it easier for you to share links on social media platforms where direct linking may not be possible, such as in an Instagram post. - Amazon App Store
Are you an app developer? Amazon currently offers a unique monetization program that offers customers discounts on purchasing apps and games without that discount eating into your revenue as the developer. 65% of developers surveyed said they saw similar or better revenue from Amazon as they did from the competing platforms (such as Apple and Android). - Amazon App Monetization API
Let’s say you have an app or mobile game already developed and want to make it ad supported (so it is free to your users!), the Amazon App Monetization API allows developers like you to quickly and easily add ads to your apps. Amazon provides easy to insert code, often in 5 lines or less and you can use auto sizing or manually set the ad size. - Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX)
If you are looking to publish a book on Amazon (or any of the other sites) you may be interested in having an audio book created for your book. This is the place to have it done.
Do you enjoy reading?
Well you can make money here also! You can sign up to be the voice for others books. It is a bit of a process to sign up for the service (to be a reader) but it has the opportunity to pay you decently.
Part of the process to become a reader is an audition. ACX also has a bounty program available for narrators and authors. It is described below in an ACX graphic.
