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11 Ways to Make Money on Amazon
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With all the spending we do on Amazon, have you ever wondered how to make money on Amazon? From affiliate links to writing a book, there are a lot of ways to get a piece of the pie. Here’s a helpful guide on how to make money on Amazon in 2026. Use this guide to find an approach that fits your skills, time and money goals.
You can list virtually anything for sale on Amazon as a third-party seller. You can expand your inventory beyond just things in your house, although that is one way to start. Here are some common sources of products:
The right approach for you depends on your goals, resources and interests. For instance, selling personal items might be a good way to start with little investment, but if you’re looking to scale up, wholesale or private label might be more suitable.
Amazon provides several different ways for you to make money. And while our guide can help you choose the best way for you to get in on the action, we have even more ways you can up your side hustle game. Check out some of our favorite ways you can make easy money.
The most popular products to sell on Amazon include home products, electronics, clothing and fitness equipment. You can sell new or used items, although some categories lend themselves more to new, such as baby products.
If you’re selling used items on Amazon, follow these tips for successful transactions.
Selling used items on Amazon can be lucrative if handled with care and transparency, catering to customers looking for more affordable or unique options.
Before diving into the world of Amazon selling, do your research. Understand the current market trends, identify in-demand products, and analyze the competition. This step is about laying a solid foundation for your business plan. Consider factors like your budget, target audience and potential profit margins.
To start selling, create an Amazon Seller account. You will choose between two types of accounts: Individual or Professional. Individual accounts are suitable for sellers planning to sell fewer items, while Professional accounts are ideal for higher-volume sales. Provide the necessary information, including business details, tax information and bank account details.
Amazon offers two main options: Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM). FBA allows Amazon to handle storage, packing and shipping for you, whereas FBM requires you to manage these aspects yourself. Consider your resources and preferences when choosing the right method for your business.
This step involves either sourcing products to sell or creating your own. If sourcing products, establish relationships with reliable suppliers. For those creating unique products, focus on quality and differentiation. Always keep Amazon’s policies and quality standards in mind to avoid potential issues.
Creating compelling and detailed product listings is key to attracting customers. Use high-quality images, provide clear and concise descriptions, and incorporate relevant keywords to improve visibility. Also, consider a pricing strategy that makes your products competitive yet profitable.
Effective inventory management is vital to prevent stockouts or overstock situations. Regularly monitor your inventory levels and predict future demand to ensure you always have enough stock to meet customer orders.
To increase visibility and sales, consider using Amazon’s advertising tools such as Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and the Amazon Influencer Program. Additionally, employ external marketing strategies like social media promotion, email marketing, and SEO optimization on your own website.
Regularly review your sales data, customer feedback and other performance metrics. Use this information to optimize your listings, adjust pricing, improve customer service and refine your overall strategy. Staying adaptive and responsive to market changes is key to long-term success on Amazon.
Once you’ve figured out how to make money on Amazon, deciding between Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfillment by Merchant (managing your own logistics) is a critical step in your journey. Here are key factors to consider when determining if FBA is the right choice for you:
FBA means Amazon takes care of storage, packaging, shipping and customer service for your products. This model is designed to simplify the seller’s responsibilities but comes with specific costs and guidelines.
Some products are more suited for FBA than others. Lightweight, small and non-fragile items usually yield better margins with FBA due to lower shipping and storage costs. Conversely, higher fees might make large, heavy or slow-moving items less profitable.
FBA can be more cost-effective for sellers with high sales volumes, thanks to economies of scale. If you’re selling many products regularly, FBA’s streamlined process can save time and potentially reduce shipping costs.
Carefully assess FBA fees, including storage and fulfillment fees. Compare these costs against what it would cost you to store, pack and ship products yourself. Remember to factor in the potential savings in time and labor with FBA.
Try Amazon’s FBA profitability calculator.
FBA might give you an advantage in expanding your reach. Amazon’s vast logistics network can help you deliver products to a broader audience more efficiently, which can be particularly beneficial if you’re looking to scale up.
With FBA, you’ll have less control over the packing and shipping process. If you have specific requirements for packaging or want closer control over inventory, self-fulfillment might be a better option.
Amazon handles customer service and returns for FBA products, which can be a significant advantage. However, if you prefer to manage customer interactions personally, consider this in your decision.
FBA products are automatically Prime-eligible, which can boost sales. Prime customers often search for products with this benefit, so using FBA can increase your product’s visibility and appeal to a large customer base.
Consider your long-term business goals. If scaling your business quickly is a priority, FBA might offer the necessary infrastructure and resources to grow efficiently. For more niche businesses or those with unique products, maintaining control through self-fulfillment could align better with your brand strategy.
To get a job at an Amazon warehouse or as a driver in 2026, follow these steps:
Apply Online: Start by applying online through Amazon’s job portal. For hourly warehouse roles, you don’t need a resume. You must provide some basic information about yourself and select your preferred shift. This process typically takes about 20 minutes. For those without a formal resume, it’s still OK to apply; just briefly describe your background, experience, educational achievements, and skills.
Attend a Pre-Hire Appointment: After applying, you’ll be invited to an in-person pre-hire appointment. Make sure to bring proof of your identity and employment eligibility. This appointment is a part of the application process and is not paid.
Day 1 at Amazon: You’ll receive an email with schedule details for your first day. Before arriving, you must complete some pre-hire checklist items, including checking your contingent offer status, accepting the job offer, completing employment paperwork, ordering safety shoes (Amazon provides a credit) and setting up your employee account.
Onboarding and Training: On your first day, you will receive onboarding and training, including important safety rules. The training could be at a different location than your assigned warehouse, so check your welcome email for details.
Work Attire: Be sure to wear proper attire, which includes close-toed shoes, no jackets or hoodies with drawstrings, no long necklaces, no hoop earrings, and having long hair pulled back and up.
Job Alerts: You can sign up for job alerts by texting a specific code to receive updates on new job opportunities.
Remote Opportunities: While most hourly jobs require being at a local Amazon facility, some roles in customer service and corporate may offer partial remote or work-from-home potential.
As a Fulfillment Center Warehouse Associate, you’ll be part of the team that prepares customer orders. This includes receiving and putting away inventory, preparing customer orders, packing them up, loading boxes onto trucks, using scanners to read barcodes and ensuring product quality.
Amazon offers benefits like flexible shifts, career development opportunities, a great team environment, competitive pay and on-the-job training.
The Amazon Flex program offers a flexible opportunity to make money by delivering packages. As a delivery partner with Amazon Flex, you can deliver various products from Amazon.com, Prime Now, Amazon Fresh and even food from local restaurants. Here’s what you need to know about how to make money on Amazon through Flex:
The process involves downloading the Amazon Flex app, completing a background check and meeting the vehicle and age requirements. While the program recruits in various areas based on need, there’s an option to join a waitlist if your city isn’t currently listed.
Remember, while Amazon Flex offers flexibility and a variety of delivery options, it’s primarily designed for part-time income. The actual earnings can vary based on several factors, including delivery type, location and individual efficiency.
One of the best ways to make money on Amazon is to work remotely for the company. Amazon recruits new employees across its platforms, but the work-from-home customer service jobs prove most popular with our readers.
Why? These positions are fairly entry-level, and you can work from your couch. If you’re looking for something temporary, you can snag a seasonal gig around the holidays.
Customer service roles typically involve interacting with customers through phone, chat or email. These positions focus on addressing customer inquiries, resolving issues and providing support. The average pay is about $16 per hour.
Generally, these roles require a high school diploma or equivalent and some customer service experience. Proficiency in English and basic computer skills are also essential. A reliable wired internet connection is necessary for these roles.
Apart from customer service, Amazon offers various remote roles such as Virtual Technical Support, Virtual Sales Specialist, Virtual Recruiter, Content Writer or Editor and more. Technical roles like Cloud Support Engineers and Technical Program Managers are also available.
How to Apply: Visit Amazon’s remote jobs page, create an account, explore job opportunities, tailor your resume and submit your application.
Recruitment Process: Amazon’s recruitment process for remote jobs includes a resume review, initial screening, skills assessment, behavioral and technical interviews, and a thorough virtual interview setup.
Tips for Success: To increase your chances of success, demonstrate your ability to work independently, manage time effectively and communicate remotely. Familiarize yourself with Amazon’s Leadership Principles as they form the basis of interview questions.
Remember, the nature of remote work at Amazon can vary, with some positions allowing full remote work while others might require occasional office visits during the onboarding process or part-time in-office work.
Want to know how to make money on Amazon with just the click of a link? Amazon Associates, the affiliate marketing program, is a great way to monetize your website or blog.
Basically, you make money with Amazon affiliates by adding Amazon’s special affiliate links to Amazon products you’ve written about or reviewed, and when a reader clicks your link and makes a purchase, you’ll earn a commission. This is called affiliate marketing.
Here’s an example: You use a fancy new kitchen gadget and want to write a product review. Use an affiliate link in your review. When someone clicks to buy that awesome gadget, you’ll pocket up to 10% of the purchase price.
Realistically, you might not earn a ton of money through the affiliate program, but it’s free to join, so there’s no loss in adding these into posts you’re already writing and sharing.
Did you know you can use Amazon to become an author? Self-publishing a book can be a great way to earn passive income.
Amazon offers several options, including publishing to Kindle, print or audio.
Publishing a Kindle book is free. It also takes less than five minutes (not including writing time, of course), and your book will be available to millions of readers within 24 to 48 hours. You’ll earn up to 70% royalty through Kindle Direct Publishing. You’ll also keep the rights to your book, set your own list prices and can make changes within the book after publishing.
Publishing to print through Amazon’s print-on-demand service is also free. Here, you can create, publish and distribute your book within a few days. You’ll still own your copyright, and you set your list price. You’ll also earn up to 60% royalties.
Finally, through Amazon’s Audiobook Creation Exchange, you can publish audiobooks, which you can distribute through Audible, Amazon and iTunes.
If you’re technically savvy and want to know how to make money on Amazon, consider working behind the scenes with the company’s crowdsourcing marketplace. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk offers a variety of “microtasks” known as Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs). These include data entry, audio and video transcriptions, categorizing images, evaluating items for quality, answering surveys, data collection and more. The tasks are generally repetitive and require minimal effort.
The earnings on Mechanical Turk are relatively low, generally ranging from $2 to $7 per hour. On the plus side, you can choose when to work and for how long. There’s also the option to cash out daily without any minimum amount required. The tasks do not require specialized skills, making them accessible to many users.
Users must be at least 18 years old, have a stable internet connection and an active PayPal account for receiving payments.
Love to craft and wondering how to make money on Amazon? Consider Amazon Handmade — the “Etsy of Amazon.” It’s a platform for artists to sell their own products.
To sell on Amazon Handmade, you must set up a Professional Seller Account on Amazon. This typically costs $39.99 per month, but Amazon may waive this fee for handmade sellers for a certain period.
The next step is applying to become an Artisan. This involves providing personal information, details about your organization and production process, and the category of products you plan to sell. Supporting documents like high-quality pictures of your products or your production process may be required.
Upon approval, you can list your handmade items. This requires clear and accurate product titles, descriptions, prices and images. It’s important to craft compelling content that emphasizes the uniqueness and value of your products.
Joining Amazon Handmade is free, but when you make a sale, there’s a 15% referral fee. The $39.99 monthly subscription fee for a Professional selling account is waived for approved applications after the first month.
Payments are either directly deposited into your bank account every two weeks or go to your Amazon Payments account, from which you can transfer funds to your bank or use them to buy products on Amazon.
As a Handmade seller, you need to handle shipping yourself. This includes using quality materials for packaging, offering different box sizes, insuring valuable items and ensuring fast order processing.
Merch by Amazon allows you to upload your T-shirt designs, choose product types and colors, set prices and create product descriptions. Amazon then creates a product page and handles production, shipping, and customer service.
You can set your own prices and earn royalties on each sale. For example, a standard T-shirt sold at $15.99 in the US marketplace might earn you a royalty of $2.21.
As the selling price increases, so does the royalty. For instance, a T-shirt priced at $17.99 might bring a royalty of around $3.72, and this amount increases progressively with higher prices, reaching up to about $9.77 for a T-shirt priced at $25.99.
It’s important to remember that these figures are not fixed and can vary based on multiple factors like the marketplace, the product category, and Amazon’s fees and costs, which include fulfillment, materials, production, customer service and more.
The platform requires an application process, and the market has become more saturated, so patience and creativity are crucial.
Always wanted to be a social influencer? Well, Amazon has a program for that. (Of course!)
The Amazon Influencer Program has evolved to be an effective platform for influencers to monetize their social media presence.
The program is open to influencers with a strong presence on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or Facebook. Amazon evaluates applicants based on the number of followers, engagement rates and content quality. While there’s no specific minimum follower count, a strong, engaged follower base is crucial.
Influencers earn commissions varying from 1-10% on sales generated through their custom storefronts on Amazon. This includes sales from a wide range of products available on Amazon, except for certain non-commissionable categories like gift cards and alcohol.
Applying to the Amazon Influencer Program is straightforward. You must sign up on the Amazon Influencer Program website and link your social media account. Approval can be instant or may take up to five days, depending on the platform you apply with.
Influencers can benefit from Amazon’s high brand trust and flexibility in product promotion. Focus on niche products and create authentic, engaging content. Influencers can also repurpose Amazon review videos for other social media platforms to increase reach.
Creating an attractive and personalized storefront is vital. This includes a logo, background image, page title, tagline and accurate product descriptions. Promoting your storefront on various platforms using tools like Site Stripe can enhance visibility and sales.
Wondering how to make money on Amazon with old tech products? Amazon has a trade-in program. If you’ve got old items sitting around, including gaming consoles, Kindles, books, phones, tablets and smartwatches, Amazon will take them and send you a gift card in return.
Depending on your location, it can take up to 10 days to get paid in Amazon gift cards. (Sorry — no cash with this one, but gift cards are nice, too!)
Now that you know how to make money on Amazon, it’s important to choose an approach that works best for you. Consider these factors:
By carefully evaluating these factors, you can choose an Amazon money-making strategy that suits your unique situation and sets you up for success.
As Amazon continues to evolve, staying ahead of future trends is crucial for anyone looking to make money on the platform in 2026 and beyond. Here are some potential trends to watch:
Staying informed about these trends can help you adapt your strategies and capitalize on emerging opportunities on Amazon.
Is Selling on Amazon Profitable in 2026?
Yes, selling on Amazon can be profitable, but success depends on factors like product choice, pricing strategy, competition and effective use of Amazon’s tools and services.
How Much Investment Is Needed to Start Selling on Amazon?
The investment required varies depending on the selling method. Dropshipping and retail arbitrage may require a lower initial investment compared to wholesale or private label selling.
What Are the Risks Involved in Selling on Amazon?
Risks include market saturation, competition changes in Amazon’s policies and potential financial loss due to unsold inventory or unexpected fees.
How Do I Choose the Right Products to Sell on Amazon?
Research market trends, understand customer demands, check competition and consider profit margins. Tools like Amazon’s Best Sellers, Google Trends and keyword research tools can help in product selection.
Can I Work for Amazon Remotely?
Yes, Amazon offers various remote job opportunities, including customer service positions, technical support, content writing and more.
Is Amazon’s Affiliate Program Worth It?
The affiliate program can be worthwhile if you have a blog, website or social media following. The key to success is creating content that resonates with your audience and seamlessly integrates Amazon’s affiliate links.
How Much Can I Make with Amazon Mechanical Turk?
Earnings vary based on the tasks you complete and the time invested. Generally, it’s a source of supplemental income rather than a full-time earning opportunity.
What Are the Benefits of Using FBA?
Benefits include handling of storage, packaging, shipping by Amazon, eligibility for Amazon Prime, and access to a vast customer base. It’s ideal for sellers looking to scale their operations.
How Do I Become Successful on Amazon Handmade?
Success on Amazon Handmade involves creating unique, high-quality handcrafted products, optimizing product listings, using high-quality images and understanding your target audience.
Can Anyone Become an Amazon Influencer?
While anyone can apply, Amazon selects influencers based on their social media following, engagement rates and content quality. Influencers with a niche audience and consistent content creation have better chances of being accepted.
What Are the Best Strategies for Selling T-Shirts on Merch by Amazon?
Successful strategies include researching trending topics, creating unique and appealing designs, optimizing product listings with good descriptions and keywords, and pricing competitively.
Former Staff Writer Carson Kohler contributed to this report.
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