This online retailer receives over 2 billion monthly visitors. In 2020, the company’s net sales approached $386 billion. I suspect even Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s former CEO, couldn’t have anticipated just how massive Amazon would become when he started selling books from his garage in 1994.

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Table of Contents

• How to Make Money on Amazon
  • Sell Private Label Products on Amazon
    1. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
    2. Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)
    3. How Much Can You Make?
  • Try Retail Arbitrage to Make Money by Reselling Products
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Try Online Arbitrage
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Sell Items Like T-Shirts via Merch by Amazon
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Make Money as an Affiliate with Amazon Associates
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Make Money from the Amazon Influencer Program
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Get Paid to Do Small Tasks with Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Self-Publish Books with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Find a Work-from-Home Job with Amazon Virtual Locations
    1. How Much Can You Make?
  • Drive for Amazon Flex
  • How Much Can You Make?
  • Be an Amazon Warehouse Worker
  • How Much Can You Make?
  • Get Paid to Shop for Amazon
  • How Much Can You Make?
  • Get Amazon Cash for Your Old Stuff with Amazon Trade-In
  • How Much Can You Make?
  • Sell Through Amazon Handmade
  • How Much Can You Make?
  • Sell Your Professional Services with Amazon Home Services
  • How Much Can You Make?
  • Work for Amazon CamperForce
  • How Much Can You Make?
  • Join Amazon Vine
  • How Much Can You Make?
• FAQs About Making Money on Amazon
  • How Can I Make Money from Amazon at Home?
  • Can You Really Make Money on Amazon?
  • How Can I Make Money on Amazon Without Selling?
  • How Much Money Do I Need to Start Selling on Amazon?
• Final Thoughts

How to Make Money on Amazon

If you’re wondering how to make money on Amazon, give these methods a try…

1. Sell Private Label Products on Amazon

One of the most popular ways to make money on Amazon is selling private label products. With this method, you select an existing product and add your own brand and logo to it before selling it to consumers. Private labeling is also sometimes called brand building or white labeling.

Many stores use this model. You know those private label products you see at your local grocery store? Exactly—they’re basically the same as name-brand products, but they have the store’s name and logo on them!

This is a great model because you don’t have to manufacture any products yourself, but you can still brand them with your own name.

Once you have your product, you’ll need to decide how to sell it. There are two main options:

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is the most popular selling method—57% of sellers use FBA, 34% use both FBA and FBM, and only 9% use FBM alone.

With FBA, you or your supplier ship products directly to Amazon’s warehouses, and Amazon handles everything else, such as shipping.

Here’s how it works:

• Choose the products you want to sell. You can source them from websites like Alibaba if you prefer.
• Ship your items to Amazon’s fulfillment centers.
• Amazon takes care of the rest. It ships the products once they’re sold and even handles customer service.

To provide these services, Amazon charges you fulfillment fees.

Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)

With Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), you list your products on Amazon and are responsible for storing inventory, shipping products, and handling customer support (you can do this yourself or hire a third party).

Obviously, this requires more effort on your part. FBA is definitely the easier option, but you must remember the fulfillment fees Amazon charges for its services.

How Much Can You Make?

With FBA, the earning potential is limitless. Some people make tens of thousands of dollars, while others only make a few hundred. It really depends on what you sell, the profit per sale, and how many units you sell.

If you want more specific examples, let’s look at some insights from Reddit:

• One Reddit user said they make a monthly profit of $17,000. Another Reddit user reported hitting six-figure sales in just 9 months.
• Another Redditor stated their sales in the first month were $1,633.34.

So, it’s entirely possible to earn $1,000 or more per month by selling products on Amazon.

2. Try Retail Arbitrage to Make Money by Reselling Products

Another option is to resell products you buy from physical stores—a practice known as retail arbitrage.

Here’s how it works:

• You buy products that are on sale or part of a promotion. For example, a pair of boots marked down by 30%, or cosmetics with a “buy one, get one free” deal.
• You then list the product on Amazon at full price. For instance, if the boots originally cost $100 and you bought them for $70, you’d list them back at $100.
• When the item sells, you profit from the price difference and recoup your initial investment.

Essentially, retail arbitrage is the process of buying products at a lower price and reselling them for a profit.

You can buy discounted products at:

• Thrift stores
• Dollar stores
• Clearance sections of any store
• TJ Maxx
• Marshalls
• Ross

Additionally, you should keep an eye out for in-store promotions. And don’t forget to check clearance sections for special deals.

Retail arbitrage does require a significant amount of effort—you might spend half a day or a whole weekend searching stores without finding anything.

Nevertheless, many people start selling on Amazon using this method, so it’s definitely worth trying.

Like with private labeling, you have two options for selling your items—you can use FBA or FBM, whichever works best for you.

How Much Can You Make?

Your earnings depend on what you sell and the profit per item. Of course, the number of items you sell also determines your income.

Some Reddit users have reported making $20,000 or $19,000 through retail arbitrage. You might not make that much, but with retail arbitrage, you can easily earn a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per month.

3. Try Online Arbitrage

Next up is online arbitrage. It’s similar to retail arbitrage, but with one key difference:

Instead of buying products from physical stores like Walmart or TJ Maxx, you purchase discounted items from websites like eBay. Online arbitrage is often more cost-effective than retail arbitrage because you don’t have to drive around to multiple stores to find good deals.

This saves you a lot of time and effort. So, give online arbitrage a try!

How Much Can You Make?

Like retail arbitrage, earnings from online arbitrage depend on several factors, such as sales volume and profit per sale. Again, you can earn a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per month.

4. Sell Items Like T-Shirts via Merch by Amazon

Selling products on Amazon is great, but if you’re creative, selling via Merch by Amazon (instead of private labeling, retail arbitrage, or online arbitrage) might be a better fit for you.

To sell t-shirts on Amazon, you upload your designs, and Amazon prints them on t-shirts. You can even choose the t-shirt colors. If Amazon approves your design, the t-shirt will be listed for sale on the platform.

When a customer buys the t-shirt, Amazon prints it on demand and ships it to the customer.

So, you don’t have to handle inventory, printing, or similar tasks—you just need to upload your designs. Of course, you’ll need to do some market research to find out which products are popular and write descriptions for your listings.

You can’t just sign up and start posting designs, though. You have to apply and get approved for the Amazon Merch program.

Amazon doesn’t share many details about its approval process. However, according to online reports, approval can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months. But my husband applied for the program and got approved in just 3 days. So, approval times seem to vary widely.

When you first join Merch by Amazon, you can only upload 10 designs. But if you upload high-quality work, Amazon will eventually upgrade you to the next tier, allowing you to sell 25 t-shirts. If you keep uploading quality designs, you can eventually list up to 500 t-shirts—and some designers even manage to list thousands.

How Much Can You Make?

The great thing about Merch by Amazon is that once you upload your initial designs, it becomes a passive income stream.

As I mentioned earlier, my husband sells through the program. He gets paid every month for designs he uploaded years ago—meaning he can make money even while he sleeps!

Earnings vary significantly. They depend on the price you set for each t-shirt and how many you sell. The more you sell, the more money you’ll make.

You set your own t-shirt price. Amazon takes a cut, but you can see exactly how much you’ll earn from each sale.

So, you can decide how much to sell your t-shirts for—within reason, of course.

One Redditor said they earn around $626 per month from Merch by Amazon.

You get paid 30 days after the end of the calendar month in which the product was shipped. For example, you’ll get paid for t-shirts shipped in June at the end of July. Payments are automatically sent to your bank account via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). There’s no minimum balance required to receive your earnings.

5. Make Money as an Affiliate with Amazon Associates

One of the most popular ways to make money on Amazon is through the Amazon Associates program. This is a great option if you want to profit from selling products but don’t want the hassle of sourcing inventory yourself.

Private labeling and retail arbitrage are good, but they require you to find products to sell. With FBA, you have to ship products to Amazon (which costs money) to let them handle inventory. With FBM, you have to handle everything yourself.

With the Amazon Associates program, you can make money selling everything from Nikon cameras to pet food—without ever sourcing inventory or shipping a single item.

Amazon Associates is an affiliate program. When people make a purchase on Amazon using your affiliate link, you earn a commission.

You can post your links on platforms like:

• Social media
• Blogs
• Websites
• Newsletters
• Videos

This means you don’t have to worry about finding inventory. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to put in any effort—if no one sees your affiliate links, you won’t make any sales.

So, you need to promote your links online to get people to see them and make purchases.

How Much Can You Make?

You can earn up to 10% in affiliate commissions for each sale. Your total earnings depend on the number of sales, the commission rate, and the price of the products you sell.

Let’s look at a couple of examples:

• You post a link for a $400 camera and earn a 10% commission. You’ll make $40 from that sale.
• You post a link for a $10 journal and earn a 10% commission. You’ll make $1 from that sale.

If you have lots of links and get plenty of clicks, you could make hundreds of dollars per month from affiliate sales.

The best part of the program is that even if someone doesn’t buy the item you linked to, you can still earn a commission on other products they purchase—as long as they used your affiliate link to get to Amazon.

For example, you link to a dog bed on your blog. Someone clicks the link and goes to Amazon but decides not to buy the dog bed. Instead, they search for a new TV and buy that instead. You’ll still earn a commission on the TV sale.

6. Make Money from the Amazon Influencer Program

Next on the list is the Amazon Influencer Program—an extension of the aforementioned Amazon Associates program.

If you qualify for the program, you’ll get your own page on Amazon with a custom URL. You can use this page to recommend thousands of products. When a customer shops through your storefront, you’ll earn money on qualifying purchases.

This program is designed for people with qualifying accounts on the following platforms:

• YouTube
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook

Amazon reviews factors like your number of followers and engagement metrics on these platforms. If you want to join the Amazon Influencer Program, you’ll need to choose the social media account where you have the most influence over your followers.

YouTube and Twitter accounts get real-time approval. However, Facebook and Instagram accounts can take up to 5 days to be approved.

According to Amazon, if you don’t qualify for the Amazon Influencer Program now, you can reapply later—since eligibility requirements may change.

If you get approved, you can start curating your page right away. This is a great program because it lets you essentially create your own affiliate store on Amazon.

How Much Can You Make?

As mentioned earlier, the Amazon Influencer Program is an extension of Amazon Associates—so your earnings work the same way: you earn commissions on sales.

Like with Amazon Associates, your earnings depend on the commission rate, the number of products you sell, and the price of those products.

Of course, a larger following will also increase your sales. For example, if you have a large number of Instagram followers and direct them to your Amazon Influencer storefront, you could generate a lot of sales.

Like with Amazon Associates, you could make hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month if you make enough sales.

7. Get Paid to Do Small Tasks with Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)

If you’re busy and want to make money on Amazon in your spare time, I recommend Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk).

To be honest, MTurk doesn’t pay very well—but it does let you earn money for doing simple tasks. It’s a good option for anyone looking to make extra money while working from home or as a stay-at-home parent.

With MTurk, you get paid to do tasks that computers can’t do, such as:

• Tagging objects in images
• Verifying restaurant details (e.g., opening hours or phone numbers)
• Creating content for websites
• Moderating content by reviewing user-uploaded images or videos
• Identifying and classifying objects in satellite imagery
• Removing duplicate content from business listings
• Helping companies select the best product photo
• Completing market research or survey data on various topics
• Editing and transcribing audio content
• Translating content from one language to another
• Rating the accuracy of search results

It’s pretty straightforward!

How Much Can You Make?

Earnings vary by task. I’ve seen people make a few hundred dollars per month on MTurk. Payments go directly to your bank account—which is always convenient (who wants to wait for a check?). You can also choose to have your earnings added to an Amazon gift card instead.

8. Self-Publish Books with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

Want something more creative? Consider publishing your own book on Amazon.

With Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), anyone can write and upload a book for sale on Amazon. Through KDP, you can publish both fiction and non-fiction books.

So, if you’ve always wanted to write a novel, you can publish your own fiction book. Or, if you prefer, you can write non-fiction—like a how-to guide or instruction manual.

If you’ve ever considered writing a book and want to make money on Amazon, KDP could be perfect for you.

How Much Can You Make?

You could make a full-time income from KDP, or just an extra $100 or so per month. It really depends on how many books you sell.

It’s a good idea to have a large catalog of books for sale. If a customer likes your first book, they’re likely to check out your other work. The more books you have available, the more income you’ll generate.

With the KDP program, you can earn up to 70% in royalties—which is excellent! This is far more generous than the royalty rates offered by traditional publishing houses.

If you can drive a lot of sales, KDP can be a lucrative career. And once you list a book for sale, you can keep making money from it repeatedly—even while you sleep! This makes it a great passive income stream. Some authors even make $100,000 per year selling books on Amazon—though this isn’t the case for everyone.

On Reddit, many people report making hundreds of dollars per month from KDP. For example, one writer in a Reddit thread makes $300

On Reddit, there are lots of people making $100s a month from KDP. For example, a writer on this Reddit thread makes $300 to $500 a month selling their books through KDP.

Since there are millions of books available on Amazon, you will need to market and promote your books to drive sales and make yourself stand out among the competition. Like I said earlier, having multiple books up for sale is also a good idea.

9. Find Remote Work via Amazon’s Virtual Locations

If you prefer traditional employment over freelance gigs or starting your own business (like private labeling), take a look at Amazon’s Virtual Locations section.

This platform lists remote, work-from-home jobs offered by Amazon. Opportunities span various categories, including:

• Customer support
• Graphic and UX design
• Marketing and public relations
• Financial and accounting services
• Database management
• Operations, IT, and support engineering
• Solutions architecture
• Fulfillment and operations oversight
• Sales, advertising, and account management
• Software engineering
• Non-technical project/program/product management
• Human resources
• Business and merchant growth
• Technical project/program/product management
• Leadership development and training
• Editorial, writing, and content coordination
• Administrative assistance

In the past, I’ve come across remote roles such as:

• Customer service representative
• Digital devices and Alexa support specialist
• Front-end developer
• Customer solutions coordinator
• Software development engineer

How Much Can You Earn?

Pay rates vary significantly by position. Be sure to review the specific details of the role you’re interested in to learn about its compensation.

10. Earn Money as an Amazon Flex Driver

As you know, Amazon delivers millions of packages to customers daily—and it relies on drivers to fulfill these deliveries. You can sign up to work as an Amazon delivery driver through the Amazon Flex program.

As I explained in my Amazon Flex Driver review, getting started is straightforward. Simply open the Amazon Flex app, browse available delivery blocks in your area, and accept the ones that fit your schedule.

For each delivery block, you’ll see your estimated earnings and the expected time required to complete the tasks.

How Much Can You Earn?

Amazon Flex drivers typically earn between $18 and $22 per hour. Payments are sent via direct deposit twice a week. For more detailed information, check out my post on Amazon Flex Driver Pay.

11. Work as an Amazon Warehouse Associate

If you want a job that gets you out of the house and are interested in working for Amazon, consider a warehouse position. Amazon offers numerous warehouse roles, including full-time and part-time options.

You could work at facilities like:

• Fulfillment centers
• Sortation centers
• Delivery stations
• Prime Now hubs
• Prime Pantry facilities
• AmazonFresh warehouses

How Much Can You Earn?

Warehouse positions start at $15 per hour. Your total earnings depend on factors like your hourly rate and the number of hours you work each week.

12. Get Paid to Shop for Amazon

Why not turn shopping into a paid gig?

Amazon offers various shopper roles with flexible, part-time schedules. As a Prime Now shopper, your job will involve shopping for items at Whole Foods and packaging them for 1–2 hour delivery.

This role is ideal if you want a flexible way to earn extra cash. You can choose your weekly hours, which often include mornings, evenings, and weekends.

Shifts typically last 4–5 hours, and you can work up to 20 hours per week or as little as 4 hours per month. Amazon notifies you when new shifts become available (these change based on business needs). Note that this role only involves in-store shopping—you won’t need to deliver groceries.

How Much Can You Earn?

Prime Now shoppers usually earn between $15 and $22.50 per hour. At the time of writing, Amazon was even offering a $100 bonus for vaccinated workers on their first day.

13. Trade In Old Items for Amazon Gift Cards

If you’re looking for a simple way to make money on Amazon, consider selling your used items through Amazon Trade-In.

The program accepts a wide range of products, such as:

• Kindle e-readers
• Tablets
• Streaming devices
• Echo smart speakers
• Bluetooth speakers
• Headphones
• Home security devices
• Gaming consoles
• Cell phones

Important note: You won’t receive cash through this program. Instead, you’ll get Amazon gift cards. However, if you want extra funds to spend on Amazon, trading in your old items is a great option.

How Much Can You Earn?

Earnings depend on the number of items you trade in and their value. If you have multiple items to sell, you could get gift cards worth several hundred dollars.

14. Sell Handcrafted Goods on Amazon Handmade

If you enjoy creating crafts, consider selling your work on Amazon Handmade.

This platform is designed for artisans who want to sell their handcrafted products online. You can list your items for free and only pay a 15% referral fee when they sell. Plus, you can expand your reach by selling in multiple countries.

Keep in mind that you need to apply and get approved before you can start selling on Amazon Handmade.

How Much Can You Earn?

Your earnings on Amazon Handmade depend on how many items you sell and your profit per item. Many sellers earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month through the platform.

15. Offer Professional Services via Amazon Home Services

You can get paid to assemble or install products through Amazon Home Services.

This service helps customers with products purchased on Amazon, and includes tasks like furniture assembly, home theater setup, and appliance installation.

How Much Can You Earn?

Pay rates vary by service type and complexity. You’ll need to check the specific service guidelines for details on compensation.

16. Join Amazon CamperForce for Seasonal Work

If you own an RV, you can apply for seasonal jobs with Amazon CamperForce.

With this program, you’ll stay at campsites in your RV and work at nearby Amazon fulfillment centers. Tasks may include picking, packing, and shipping customer orders. The application process is simple: apply, reserve a campsite spot, and start working. Both full-time and part-time positions are available.

How Much Can You Earn?

CamperForce associates earn $15 per hour. They also get a $120 weekly stipend to cover campground expenses. Additionally, you’ll receive a completion bonus: $0.50 for each regular hour worked and $1.00 for each overtime hour worked (overtime rules vary by state and isn’t guaranteed).

After 90 days, you’ll be eligible for medical and prescription coverage, plus a 401(k) retirement plan.

17. Participate in Amazon Vine for Free Products

Next up is Amazon Vine. While this isn’t a traditional job and you won’t get paid cash, it’s still worth considering—here’s why: you’ll receive free products, which saves you money on items you’d otherwise buy.

So, what is Amazon Vine?

It’s an invitation-only program that gives free products to Amazon reviewers. Amazon selects trusted reviewers (called “Vine Voices”) to share their opinions on new and pre-release products.

You might wonder why Amazon gives away free products. The answer lies in helping sellers boost sales. Amazon is highly competitive, and new products often struggle to stand out. Reviews play a key role in helping customers decide what to buy—so more reviews can help sellers get more visibility.

This creates a win-win: sellers get more reviews, and you get free products.

Since it’s invitation-only, how do you get selected? Amazon looks at a few key factors when choosing Vine Voices:

• Reviewer rank: Every Amazon reviewer has a rank that reflects the quality of their reviews and how helpful other customers find them. Amazon uses this rank to select participants.
• Consistently helpful reviews: If you regularly write useful, detailed reviews, you’re more likely to be invited.
• Expertise in specific categories: Building a reputation as an expert in a niche (e.g., electronics or home goods) increases your chances of being selected.

If you’re invited, you’ll get free products from participating sellers. In return, you need to test the products and leave honest, unbiased reviews.

How Much Can You Earn?

While you won’t get cash, you can receive hundreds of dollars’ worth of free products through the program.

FAQs About Making Money on Amazon

Below, I’ve answered some common questions people have about earning money on Amazon.

How Can I Make Money from Amazon at Home?

Some of the best ways to earn money from Amazon remotely include:

• Writing and publishing books on Amazon KDP.
• Working remote jobs through Amazon’s Virtual Locations.
• Earning affiliate commissions with Amazon Associates.
• Completing small tasks on Amazon MTurk.
• Selling books (via KDP or other book-selling options).

The best part about these options is that they’re accessible no matter where you live—whether you’re in the U.K., Canada, U.S., Pakistan, India, or another country.

Can You Really Make Money on Amazon?

Absolutely!

If you want to earn a significant income on Amazon, these are the top options:

• Selling private label products with Amazon FBA.
• Reselling products for profit through retail arbitrage.
• Publishing multiple books on KDP and driving high sales.

Other solid ways to make money on Amazon include:

• Selling custom t-shirts on Merch by Amazon.
• Selling handcrafted items on Amazon Handmade.
• Trading in old items for Amazon gift cards via Amazon Trade-In.

How Can I Make Money on Amazon Without Selling?

If you don’t want to sell products on Amazon, there are still plenty of ways to earn money:

• Delivering packages as an Amazon Flex driver.
• Shopping for customers as a Prime Now shopper at Whole Foods.
• Working as an Amazon warehouse associate.
• Completing small tasks on Amazon MTurk.
• Taking remote jobs through Amazon’s Virtual Locations.

How much money do I need to start selling on Amazon?

Okay, so this is one of those questions that really doesn’t have a definitive answer. It depends on your business model really. Reports suggest that starting out with about $500 is a good idea. You can use that to purchase inventory. This will give you a decent number of products to sell so that you can start bringing in sales ASAP without having to worry about running out of inventory in your first week.

If your budget is tight, avoid investing too much upfront. It’s better to take a gradual approach and only put in money you can afford to lose. After all, there’s no guarantee your inventory will sell—and you don’t want to end up with a large backlog of unsold items.

If you can’t afford a big investment, you could try retail arbitrage. Compared to private labeling, it usually requires less initial capital.

Alternatively, you can start by promoting other people’s products as an Amazon Associate. This way, you don’t need any upfront investment, nor do you have to worry about sourcing inventory, shipping, or similar tasks. You can begin with the Amazon Associates program, then use the money you earn to buy inventory for private labeling or retail arbitrage.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, Amazon offers numerous legitimate ways to make money. Just like any other job or business, success here requires effort. So, if you want to succeed, no matter which method you choose, treat it like a real job or business. Before you know it, you’ll be earning money as an Amazon entrepreneur.