If you’re worried that you’ve missed the ecommerce boat, don’t worry. It’s just getting moving.
While several ecommerce companies like eBay, Shopify, Walmart, and Etsy allow you to make money from home, in our opinion at Jungle Scout, the best way to make money online is with Amazon.
Amazon is a huge opportunity for those who want to join the world of ecommerce. In 2023, Amazon raked in $574 billion in revenue — over half of which was fueled by third-party sales.
Wondering how to make money on Amazon?
There are tons of great ways to do so (with and without selling), so to help you find what method might work best for you, this article explores how to make money on Amazon with 16 proven and practical ways.
Why trust us? At Jungle Scout, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of sellers succeed and change their lives with their Amazon businesses. Check out one of our case studies on Kim Meckwood of Click & Carry, and how she built her Amazon business with the help of Jungle Scout.
Want to learn more about selling on Amazon? Check out our complete guide.
Want to complement your learning? Check out our Top 9 Ways to Make Money on Amazon from Home (RANKED) video guide below!
Ready to learn how to make money on Amazon? Let’s get to it!
1. Sell your own private label products on Amazon
The best way to make money on Amazon in 2024 is still through private label sales using Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) network. Around 54% of all Amazon sellers run their business using the private label method.
Private label is a process of manufacturing a pre-existing item (preferably, with product improvements), putting your branding and logos on it, and selling it to consumers.
Sometimes, it is referred to as white labeling or brand creation. The process has been around for years and is common in countless retail stores; Target’s Mainstays brand and Walmart’s Great Value are two examples of private label brands.
Thanks to FBA, Amazon is able to ship and deliver your products (typically in two days or fewer; what you likely know as Amazon Prime). This is how ecommerce business owners can list goods on Amazon and make money from the sales.
Amazon makes private labeling even easier thanks to a number of advantages:
- Find a product and estimate your sales. First, you can use a tool like Jungle Scout — the all-in-one platform for selling on Amazon — to estimate the sales your product will make once it’s on Amazon.
- Source products from a supplier. Next, it’s easy to source and manufacture your products with the help of platforms like Alibaba or Jungle Scout’s Supplier Database.
- List products on Amazon. Finally, after you’ve created your product, you can sell it on Amazon using FBA. You don’t even have to ship your own orders!
- Sellers also have the option to ship orders themselves using FBM.
Make money on Amazon with Jungle Scout.
Jungle Scout’s Amazon intelligence tools help sellers start, grow, and scale their business.
How much money can I make selling private label products on Amazon?
Most Amazon sellers make at least $1,000 per month in sales, and some super-sellers make more than $100,000 each month in sales. 40% of Amazon sellers make $1,000 to $25,000/month, which could mean $12,000 to $300,000 in annual sales.
For an in-depth look at how much Amazon sellers make (both sales and profits) and how long it took them to become profitable, check out our article How Much Money Do Amazon Sellers Make?
Where can I learn more about selling private label products on Amazon?
If you want to learn more about how to sell on Amazon and make money with private label products, Jungle Scout offers a free step-by-step guide to help you get started: How to Sell on Amazon.
Or check out our in-depth How to Sell on Amazon for Beginners video on YouTube as well!
2. Publish your own books on Kindle Direct Publishing
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) allows you to publish your own books on Amazon.
In addition to digital format, you can print actual copies of your book too.
The only catch with this option is that you usually need to write somewhat prolifically in order to find success. Though it is possible to publish one or two wildly popular books, volume is the true name of the publishing game.
The more you write, the more you make.
If you’re not a great writer or don’t have any ideas for a book, you can also make money with KDP by creating what’s called “low- or medium-content books.” This basically means creating journals, coloring books, word-search books, planners, and so on.
How much money can I make writing for KDP?
Like any method of selling on Amazon, your income potential is unlimited. We’ve heard that some authors make as much as $40,000 or more per month with KDP. However, even if you can earn a few extra hundred bucks a month, it is still a win since it’s a fairly passive way to earn money on Amazon.
Once you create your ebook, that’s it! You upload it into your KDP dashboard and let the sales roll in. The best part about this method is that you don’t need to worry about inventory.
How can I learn how to make money on Amazon with KDP?
We have a great in-depth guide on how to get started with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
If you prefer video, check out our YouTube video on making money with KDP!
3. Sell wholesale goods on Amazon
Similar to Private Label, selling wholesale involves purchasing bulk quantities of product to resell on Amazon.
The primary difference, however, is that you are selling other companies’ products. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about manufacturing and branding the products.
This is one of the most popular ways to make money on Amazon.
How much money can I make selling wholesale goods on Amazon?
Reselling wholesale products on Amazon is the second most popular way to sell products on Amazon, with 25% of sellers using the wholesale method—26% of those sellers make $5,000 or more in monthly sales, and 34% of those sellers have profit margins over 20%.
Note that it can be more competitive than the private-label market, since you’ll likely be sharing and competing for the Buy Box with other resellers. So it can sometimes be a “race to the bottom” on prices where the only “lever” sellers have to compete with each other is through lowering their price relative to their competitors. But there are strategies you can follow to prevent that from happening to your business.
Plus, the profit is all in the buy. If you can’t buy your goods for a low enough price, you won’t make money.
How can I learn to make money on Amazon selling wholesale goods?
Once you’ve learned the basics, you can use Jungle Scout’s Product Database to sort and find worthwhile products and brands to open wholesale accounts with..
READ MORE | How to Sell Wholesale on Amazon in 2024
4. Become an Amazon Affiliate
Another unique way to earn money with Amazon (without having to invest money in inventory) is by promoting other brands’ products and earning a commission from those sales with the Amazon Associates Program.
How can you promote the products already listed on Amazon? There are a few ways, but the most popular and proven ways are through a blog, YouTube channel, TikTok, and other social media platforms.
Picture this: you find a cool product on Amazon, share the link with potential customers, and, if they buy it, you get paid a commission.
With the use of social media, you have the potential to reach thousands of people who may be interested in the products you are promoting—giving you more of a chance to earn lots in affiliate commissions.
That’s how Amazon’s Associates program works.
Amazon Associates is an affiliate program where you sign up to get special links that only you can share.
Once you share the link and a purchase is made, you earn a percentage of the sale.
How much money can I make as an Amazon affiliate?
Affiliates can earn anywhere from a couple hundred dollars a month to 10s of thousands of dollars per month.
The Amazon Associates program is one of the most popular affiliate program online.
While the commission percentages rates may be low or vary greatly depending on the category, typically around 3-5%, the conversion rates and volume you receive from sharing those links make up for it.
The main barrier to entry is that you need to be an internet influencer. If you don’t have a decent social media or blog following, making a lot in sales commissions will be difficult. But with the power of platforms such as TikTok, you’ll be earning in no time.
How can I learn to make money with Amazon affiliate?
Check out our comprehensive guide on How to Make Money as an Amazon Affiliate.
This guide will teach you everything you need to know about the Amazon Associates program and how you can get started making money promoting Amazon products.
5. Become an Amazon Influencer
Another branch of the Amazon Associates Program is their Amazon Influencer Program, where you have your own dedicated storefront on Amazon with products you love and recommend.
You can also create videos reviewing products and have those videos displayed on the actual product listing on Amazon and earn a commission if someone buys after watching your video. This is called Onsite Commissions (requires a separate approval).
This way of making money with Amazon has become very popular with influencers on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where they will refer viewers to their Amazon storefronts to purchase the very products they’re talking about.
The best part is, you don’t need to have a massive following to get approved. You can still get approved even if you only have a couple hundred followers.
You can apply to the program with your Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube account, but if you are applying with Instagram or Facebook, make sure you have a business or creator account.
How much money can I make as an Amazon Influencer?
Influencers can earn anywhere from a couple hundred per month, to thousands.
Commissions earned vary from 1% per sale all the way to 20%, depending on the category. The more effort you put into your storefront and the more traffic you send to the products you recommend, the more money you can make.
The Amazon Influencer Program is becoming more and more popular with creators and brands so now is the time to start.
How can I learn to make money on Amazon as an Amazon influencer?
Check out our comprehensive guide on the Amazon Influencer Program.
This guide will teach you everything you need to know about the Amazon Influencer Program and how you can get started making money promoting Amazon products.
6. Flip store-bought products with retail arbitrage
If you used to watch the U.S. version of “The Office,” you might remember the episode where Dwight bought up all the Princess Unicorn dolls around Christmas time. His plan was to sell them for $200 (or more) to last-minute shoppers.
And that, in a nutshell, is how retail arbitrage works. Retail arbitrage is actually the third most popular way to sell products on Amazon, with 25% of sellers using this business model.
For arbitrage, you go to a retail store like Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, etc. to find and buy discounted products. Then, you resell those items on Amazon at a mark-up.
How much money can I make doing retail arbitrage on Amazon?
Retail arbitrage can be competitive and difficult to scale but is still a fast and low-cost way to start making money on Amazon. In fact, 21% of Amazon sellers do $5,000 or more per month in sales with retail arbitrage, with 25% having profit margins over 20%.
Though to be an arbitrage seller, you need to have patience. Many times, sellers spend the better part of a day or weekend searching retail stores for products only to come up empty-handed.
But don’t let that deter you! A lot of people start their Amazon selling journey using this method.
How can I learn how to make money on Amazon with retail arbitrage?
Jungle Scout has a great guide on selling retail arbitrage that goes over how to get started finding great products to flip on Amazon.
7. Flip online retail store products using online arbitrage
With online arbitrage, you’re buying products to flip on Amazon from other ecommerce stores, rather than buying products in-store as you would with retail arbitrage.
With retail arbitrage, you’re limited to physical stores in your area but with online arbitrage, the possibilities for purchasing inventory are nearly endless. There are opportunities to flip products from many online retailers such as eBay, Walmart, Target, CVS, Home Depot, and so on.
How much money can I make on Amazon with online arbitrage?
The amount you can make with online arbitrage really depends on how much effort you put into the business. If you have trouble finding products online that will return a profit, you obviously won’t make any money.
With that being said, 19% of online arbitrage sellers do between $5,000 and $10,000/month in sales, and 12.5% do $10,000 – $25,000/month in sales!
There are profitable deals out there, you just have to go find them!
8. Handcraft your own items to sell on Amazon through Amazon Handmade
If you’re creative, Amazon Handmade may be the spot for you!
If you are accepted into the program, Amazon Handmade allows artisans to craft and sell their own goods using Amazon’s platform.
Obviously, this method takes a bit more work to stay on top of your orders, since you would be producing them yourself. But the exposure Amazon offers your brand is massive.
Amazon Handmade can really help a large audience discover your unique products while enabling you to make money from your own home.
How much money can I make selling handmade products on Amazon?
63% of Handmade artisans earn over $1,000 per month in sales.
Though with Amazon’s massive audience to market to, your earning potential with Amazon Handmade is limitless.
Even with Amazon’s fees, Handmade sellers are profitable. 33% of Handmade sellers see profit margins above 20%.
How can I learn how to make money on Amazon with Amazon Handmade?
Jungle Scout has a great article on this topic. We go over in-depth on how to get started selling on Amazon Handmade, along with the best categories to sell in.
9. Sell your own shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and more through Amazon Merch on Demand
Have a clever idea for a shirt or coffee mug, but don’t want to spend the money to create hundreds of them?
Then Amazon Merch on Demand is for you.
Merch on Demand is a print-on-demand service that allows you to upload designs into Amazon’s database. Then, those designs can appear on shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, hats, and more!
When a sale is made, Amazon creates the item for you, ships it, and you make money.
How much money can I make on Amazon through Merch by Amazon?
When you sell an item with Merch on Demand, Amazon will pay you a royalty fee on that sale. The royalty you earn will be anywhere from 13% to 37%—depending on the product’s price. Basically, the higher the sold price, the higher the royalty you earn.
You can see Amazon’s full schedule of Merch royalties by viewing the Royalties resource page.
How can I learn how to make money on Amazon through Amazon Merch?
To learn more about how you can get started selling Merch on Amazon, check out our in-depth guide: What is Amazon Merch on Demand? A Step-by-Step Guide.
10. Sell items without owning any inventory by dropshipping
If you don’t have much money to start with but want a way to earn money with Amazon, dropshipping may be that way!
Dropshipping allows you to list products for sale without ever taking ownership of the inventory. You simply list products for sale and once a customer places an order, you buy the product from your supplier at a lower price and have them ship the order to your customer.
You as the seller earn money without ever touching or seeing the product! Your supplier will handle all of the logistics for you.
How much money can I make on Amazon through dropshipping?
The trick with dropshipping is finding a reliable supplier. Without one, it will be difficult to consistently make money with dropshipping though it is possible.
If you can find a good supply of products to dropship, your income potential is limitless with this method. 25% of dropshippers on Amazon do about $1,000 – $5,000 in sales per month and have profit margins between 16-20%.
Check out our complete guide on Amazon dropshipping.
Dropshipping products on Amazon is a unique business model that doesn’t require as much upfront investment as private label or wholesale would.
11. Sell used products in your home
Believe it or not, selling used products on Amazon can be a decent way to earn some money on Amazon. Now, Amazon isn’t like eBay or Facebook Marketplace, where you can list practically anything used—you need to follow Amazon’s guidelines and allowed categories for selling used products.
For example, you are not allowed to sell used products in the clothing, baby, beauty, or grocery categories (among a few others).
Though a fantastic category that is perfect for used items is the book category. Reselling used books is a popular method among thousands of sellers on Amazon. It is basically ‘retail arbitrage’ but with just books.
How much money can I make on Amazon by selling used products?
Well again, that depends on how much time and effort you put into finding used products or used books to sell. Even if you just want to get rid of a few items around your house, you can easily make a couple hundred bucks doing so.
Personally, I have sold thousands of dollars worth of old non-fiction books on Amazon, so the potential to earn lots of money doing so is there.
How can I learn how to make money on Amazon by selling used products?
Check out our two in-depth articles on How to Sell Used Items on Amazon, and How to Sell Books on Amazon: Tips & Secrets.
How to Make Money on Amazon Without Selling
If you don’t want to sell products or promote other brands’ products on Amazon, here are some tried-and-tested ways you can make money with Amazon without actually selling anything.
12. Offer your services through Amazon Services
Amazon isn’t just a platform for ecommerce. They’re jumping on board the gig economy, too.
Essentially, Amazon Services allows entrepreneurs to sell their services online.
So, if you’re a plumber, a lawn care specialist, a dog walker, or a piano teacher, Amazon Services can help connect you to people who want your help.
How much can I make through Amazon Services?
The sky is the limit! What you make is what you ask for, if the market is willing to pay it.
Yes, it is competitive. But with the right attitude and determination, you can scale your service-based business quickly using the Amazon services platform.
To learn how to make money with Amazon Services, check out their homepage.
It gives you the information you need to get started, as well as all the requisite application forms: Selling your professional services on Amazon.
13. Work in one of Amazon’s fulfillment/distribution centers
This is one that’s been in the news a lot lately: working in one of Amazon’s massive fulfillment centers.
Amazon associates pick, pack, store, and ship products for Amazon and its first- and third-party sellers.
How much money can I make working in an Amazon fulfillment center?
Amazon’s warehouse associates pay is roughly $20 per hour—which equates to around $40,000 per year as a full-time associate.
They also receive benefits from the company. They also receive benefits from the company.
How can I get a job as an Amazon warehouse associate?
You can learn more about becoming an Amazon warehouse associate and apply on their jobs page: Amazon jobs.
14. Join the Mechanical Turk program
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing marketplace.
Amazon has a little program with a funny name called Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Whether it’s data validation, research, or participating in surveys, Mechanical Turk works as a hub for outsourced tasks.
While the name might imply artificial intelligence, Mechanical Turk is actually the combined efforts of hundreds (and thousands) of remote workers like you.
How much money can I make on Amazon with the Mechanical Turk program?
Mechanical Turk is a little more low-maintenance than some of Amazon’s work programs, so it pays a little less.
Nevertheless, online reports say that Mechanical Turk workers can expect to make between $6 to $10 per hour or approximately $120 – $200 for a 20-hour workweek.
How can I learn to make money on Amazon with the Mechanical Turk program?
Just like their jobs and Flex program, the best place to learn more about Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program is through Amazon itself: Amazon Mechanical Turk.
15. Work from home as an Amazon rep
Amazon is one of the largest employers in the world, with over 1.5 million employees across the globe.
Naturally, not all of those employees work at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington.
In fact, many of Amazon’s employees make money from home as remote workers.
How much money can I make on Amazon as a work-from-home employee?
The income you make as a work-from-home employee with Amazon depends on the position, but based on a quick search on Google, many of the available jobs are in data entry and customer service.
Furthermore, Amazon established a $19 minimum wage in 2022. So, at the very least, you could make roughly $40,000 per year as a full-time, work-from-home Amazon rep.
How can I learn how to make money on Amazon as a work-from-home employee?
A Google search will help you find Amazon jobs. But, if you prefer, you can also go straight to the source: Amazon jobs.
16. Deliver goods for Amazon
By now, you probably know that Amazon has its own delivery service. But did you know that you can join Amazon’s delivery fleet as a driver using your own vehicle?
Amazon’s Flex program allows you to do just that. All you have to do is answer a quick questionnaire, download their app, and if you’re accepted, you start making money.
Think of it as Uber, but for Amazon deliveries.
How much money can I make on Amazon working as a Flex driver?
According to Flex’s homepage, Amazon pays drivers between $18 – $25 per hour, and the shifts are typically five hours long.
How can I learn to make money on Amazon as a Flex driver?
Naturally, the best way to learn how to succeed with Flex is through their site: Amazon Flex.
We hope this article helps!
So there you have it. 16 fantastic ways to make money on Amazon.
Here at Jungle Scout, we’re most excited about how to sell on Amazon and make money, but any of the 16 methods we mentioned are viable options for making money on Amazon.
Head to sell.amazon.com to get started selling on Amazon. Based on the information you enter on sign-up, your business may be eligible for a dedicated Amazon account rep.
If you know of additional ways to make money on Amazon, be sure to let us know in the comments below. Good luck!
Make money on Amazon with Jungle Scout.
Jungle Scout’s Amazon intelligence tools help sellers start, grow, and scale their business.
Brian Connolly is an Amazon seller, ecommerce expert, and writer for Jungle Scout. He lives in the New Jersey Shore area with his wife and cat. When he isn’t writing advice online for aspiring and experienced Amazon sellers for Jungle Scout, he spends his free time boating, fishing, and selling boating-themed items on his Amazon business.
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