Selling on Amazon — Getting Started

Why Sell on Amazon? #

Amazon is the world's largest e-commerce marketplace, with over 300 million active customers across 18+ marketplaces. For sellers, this means access to massive built-in demand — shoppers who are already searching for products and ready to buy.

Unlike building your own e-commerce store, selling on Amazon lets you leverage their fulfillment network (FBA), customer trust, and search traffic from day one. The trade-off is competition and fees — but with the right strategy, Amazon remains one of the most profitable channels for physical product businesses.

Business Models #

There are several ways to sell on Amazon. Choosing the right model depends on your capital, risk tolerance, and long-term goals.

FBA vs FBM #

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) means Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships your products. You also get Prime eligibility, which significantly boosts conversion rates. The downside is higher fees and less control over inventory.

Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) means you handle storage and shipping yourself. This gives you more control and lower fees, but you lose the Prime badge and must manage logistics at scale.

Start with FBA

For most new sellers, FBA is the best starting point. The Prime badge alone can increase conversion rates by 30–50%, and you avoid the complexity of setting up your own fulfillment.

Private Label #

Private label is the most common model for Amazon sellers building a real brand. You source generic products from manufacturers, add your branding, and sell under your own brand name. This gives you control over pricing, listing content, and long-term brand equity.

The key to private label success is differentiation — don't just slap a logo on an existing product. Use competitor review analysis to identify product improvements that customers actually want.

Getting Started #

Here's the high-level roadmap for launching your first Amazon product:

Research your niche

Validate demand, competition, and margins before investing in inventory.

Create your seller account

Source your product

Find a reliable supplier, negotiate pricing, and order samples.

Optimize your listing

Write keyword-rich titles, compelling bullets, and create high-quality images.

Launch with ads

Use Sponsored Products to generate initial visibility and reviews.

Iterate and scale

Analyze performance data, optimize your listing, and expand to new products.

Each of these steps is covered in depth in the subsequent guides. Start with Product Research to validate your niche before investing in inventory.

Key Metrics to Track #

Successful Amazon sellers are data-driven. These are the metrics that matter most:

Unit Session %

Conversion rate — orders divided by page views. Healthy range: 10–25%.

BSR

Best Sellers Rank — lower means more sales. Track trends, not absolute numbers.

ACoS

Advertising Cost of Sales — ad spend divided by ad revenue. Target: 15–30%.

TACoS

Total ACoS — ad spend divided by total revenue. Shows true ad efficiency.

Net Margin

Profit after all costs (COGS, FBA fees, ads, returns). Target: 20%+.

Common Mistakes #

Most failed Amazon launches share the same root causes:

Skipping research — Launching based on gut feeling instead of data leads to products nobody wants.
Undercapitalization — Running out of inventory during a launch kills momentum and ranking.
Poor listing quality — Driving traffic to a weak listing wastes ad spend and tanks conversion.
Ignoring competition — Entering a niche dominated by established brands with thousands of reviews.
No advertising strategy — Expecting organic sales without initial ad investment.

The best defense against all of these is thorough product research. Head to the Product Research guide to learn how to validate opportunities before committing capital.

Was this page helpful?

Product Research

Find profitable niches with demand and competition data.