Selling on Amazon can open valuable opportunities for business owners—whether you’re a small shop launching your first product line or an established brand aiming for global reach.

As the world’s largest online marketplace, Amazon boasts more than 300 million active customers each year and unmatched brand recognition. The good news? Getting started is relatively simple. Through Amazon Seller Central, you’ll gain access to powerful tools and resources to help manage and grow your business.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through practical tips and proven strategies to set your Amazon store up for success.

How to Sell on Amazon for Beginners

1. Conduct Market Research

Before you list anything, it’s essential to understand the market. Use market research and competitive analysis to identify products that are trending, have strong profit potential, and face relatively low competition. Exploring current Amazon listings, checking best-seller rankings, and analyzing customer reviews can help you pinpoint which products are worth prioritizing.

Review Amazon Bestsellers Lists

Amazon’s Bestsellers page is an excellent resource for spotting product ideas based on what’s currently popular. While it can take time for a product to climb the Bestsellers rank—which is determined by sales volume—you can still gain valuable insights into consumer demand. Consider whether you can offer a variation of a popular product that caters to a specific niche or addresses an unmet need.

Use Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research tools like Jungle Scout can help you refine your list of potential products to sell on Amazon. By leveraging these tools, you’re making data-driven decisions instead of guessing. Pay attention to product search volume—it’s a strong indicator of consumer interest and can guide you toward items with higher sales potential.

Read Amazon Reviews

Customer reviews are a goldmine for uncovering market opportunities. By reading Amazon product reviews, you can see what buyers like—and dislike—about specific brands and products. Look for recurring complaints or gaps in existing offerings; these insights can help you create a product that solves a common problem and stands out from the competition.

Check for Restrictions

Once you’ve chosen the products you want to sell, it’s important to review Amazon’s list of restricted items to ensure compliance. Certain products—like fine art, surveillance equipment, and recycled electronics—are prohibited, while others may require preapproval before you can list them. Take the time to read Amazon’s product category overview before setting up your Seller account to avoid potential issues down the line.

2. Choose a Selling Strategy

Your selling strategy on Amazon will depend on the products you plan to offer and the amount of capital you have available. Here are the most common approaches:

Retail Arbitrage – This involves buying products below market value and reselling them on Amazon at a higher price to earn a profit. Many sellers source discounted or clearance items from stores like Target, Best Buy, or Big Lots, then list them for sale online.
White Labeling – With white label products, you take generic items and add your own branding, logo, or packaging. You don’t need to create the product from scratch—your focus is on sourcing quality items and building a strong brand presence.
Private Labeling – Private label products are manufactured by third parties according to your specifications, then sold under your brand. Platforms like Alibaba and Thomasnet make it easy to find manufacturers and launch your own branded products.
Dropshipping – Dropshipping lets you sell products without holding inventory. When a customer places an order, the item is shipped directly from a third-party supplier to the buyer, allowing you to manage your store with minimal upfront costs.

3. Write a Business Plan

A clear business plan is essential for guiding your Amazon venture and ensuring long-term success. Your plan should outline key strategies and action items, such as:

Listing Your Products – Decide which products you’ll sell and how they’ll appear on Amazon.
Determining Product Pricing – Set competitive prices while ensuring healthy profit margins.
Defining Your Marketing Plan – Identify how you’ll promote your products, from Amazon ads to social media campaigns.
Choosing Your E-commerce Business Model – Determine whether you’ll use retail arbitrage, private labeling, dropshipping, or another approach.
Planning Inventory Management – Create a system for tracking stock levels, restocking, and fulfilling orders efficiently.

A well-thought-out business plan helps you stay organized, make data-driven decisions, and scale your Amazon business successfully.

4. Create an Amazon Seller Account

Before you can start selling, you need to set up an Amazon Seller account and choose the plan that best fits your business: Individual or Professional. The right plan depends on your expected sales volume.

Individual Plan – This pay-as-you-go option charges $0.99 per item sold and provides access to basic listing and order management tools. It’s ideal if you plan to sell fewer than 40 items per month. Selling more than 40 items monthly makes the Professional plan more cost-effective.
Professional Plan – For $39.99 per month, this plan includes advanced tools and benefits such as global selling programs, detailed business reports, and eligibility for Amazon’s Featured Offer position. It’s the preferred choice for sellers with higher sales volume or long-term growth plans.

Once you’ve chosen a plan, you can create your account through Amazon Seller Central. You’ll need the following information:

Business email address
Bank account number and routing number
Active credit card
Government-issued ID
Tax information
Phone number

After your account is approved, you’re ready to list your products and start selling on Amazon.

5. Decide Which Fulfillment Option to Use

As an Amazon seller, you can choose between two fulfillment methods: Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) or Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).

Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) – With FBM, you handle order fulfillment, shipping, returns, and customer service yourself. This method works well for made-to-order products or items that require longer processing times.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) – With FBA, you send your inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers. Amazon then takes care of storage, shipping, returns, and customer service. You still own the inventory until it’s delivered to the customer, and you pay storage fees plus a fulfillment fee per unit sold. FBA also allows you to receive payments through Amazon, giving you access to their trusted customer service team for handling questions, returns, and refunds.

Choosing the right fulfillment option depends on your product type, business model, and how much control you want over shipping and customer interactions.

6. List Your First Product

When listing products on Amazon, there are two main scenarios:

Products Already Sold on Amazon – These items have an existing Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN), and your listing will be combined with the product detail page for other sellers offering the same item.

For example, if you’re selling wholesale travel mugs that already exist on Amazon:
- Copy the ASIN from the product details section of the existing listing.
- In Seller Central, go to Catalog > Add Products and paste the ASIN into the search bar.
- Select the condition of your item (New, Used – Like New, Used – Very Good, etc.).
- Click Sell this product, set your price, choose your fulfillment method (FBM or FBA), and follow the prompts.
- Optionally, enter a SKU for your item, then click Save and Finish.
- You can manage and view your listing from the Manage Inventory page.
New Products Not Yet on Amazon – These are typically private-label or unique items you’re listing for the first time.

To list a new product:
- In Seller Central, click Add a Product > I’m adding a product not sold on Amazon.
- Select the appropriate product category.
- Enter all relevant details, including the product title, price, description, photos, and fulfillment options.
- Click Save and Finish to submit your product for approval. Amazon will assign an ASIN once approved.
- Access and manage the listing through your Manage Inventory page.

Once your product page is live, shoppers can discover it via Amazon search. With strong marketing and appealing product listings, you can start attracting orders and growing your business.

How to Create Successful Product Listings on Amazon

The product detail page is where the magic happens on Amazon—this is where sales are won or lost. Every piece of information you include helps shoppers decide whether your product meets their needs. For example, candle brand Homesick has an outstanding product page that demonstrates how to combine clear descriptions, high-quality images, and compelling branding to drive purchases.

1. Write a Targeted Product Title

Your product title is one of the first things shoppers notice—it needs to grab attention and clearly convey that they’ve found the right item. A well-crafted title with targeted keywords not only improves your click-through rate but also boosts your SEO ranking within Amazon’s search results.

While Amazon allows product titles up to 200 characters, Seller Central recommends keeping them under 80 characters. Concise titles are easier to read on mobile devices, which account for more than 50% of Amazon traffic. Longer titles often get truncated on smaller screens, so brevity matters.

Every word in your title is searchable. Include essential information such as:

Brand name (e.g., Homesick)
Product type or line (e.g., Scented Candle)
Style or variation (e.g., Hawaii)
Key features or scents (e.g., Pineapple, Coconut)
Size or container details

By combining clarity, relevance, and targeted keywords, your product title can attract the right shoppers and drive more sales.

2. Upload Clear Product Images

Your product images are crucial—they’re often the first thing shoppers notice. The main photo should clearly display the product, while additional images can show different angles, highlight features, or include lifestyle shots that demonstrate the product in use.

Adding video is another powerful way to give shoppers an in-depth look at your product. High-quality images and videos allow buyers to zoom in and examine details, helping them decide if the item meets their needs. Investing in clear, professional media can significantly boost customer confidence and increase conversions.

3. Write Thorough Product Descriptions

Your product description should clearly communicate the specifications and benefits of your item. Using bullet points is a highly effective format, as it makes key information easy to scan.

For example, Homesick highlights essential details like burn time, scent notes, and wax type in concise bullet points. This approach helps shoppers quickly understand the product’s value and makes it easier for them to decide to buy. Include relevant keywords naturally to improve your product’s visibility in Amazon search results.

4. Include Product Variants

Offering product variants allows you to showcase the same item in different sizes, colors, or styles. Each variant has its own ASIN and detail page, but grouping them under one listing makes it easy for customers to switch between options.

Providing clear and organized variants improves the shopping experience, helps reduce confusion, and can increase your overall sales by making it simple for buyers to find exactly what they want.

Cost of Selling on Amazon

When starting on Amazon, it’s important to understand the fees involved, as they can impact your overall return on investment (ROI). Here are the most common costs to keep in mind:

Referral Fees – Amazon charges a commission on each sale, which varies by category. On average, it’s around 15%, but it can range from 8% to 45%.
Closing Fees – Products in media categories (like books, DVDs, music, software, video games, consoles, and accessories) incur a $1.80 fee per unit sold.
FBA Fees – If you use Fulfillment by Amazon, you’ll pay fees covering picking, packing, shipping, and customer service. Costs vary depending on your product’s size, weight, and category, starting at just a few dollars per unit.
Additional Fees – Amazon also charges for inventory storage in fulfillment centers, with extra fees for items stored more than 181 days. You may also incur costs if Amazon returns, discards, or liquidates unsold inventory.

Understanding these fees upfront helps you price your products correctly and maintain a healthy profit margin.

Tips for Selling Your Products on Amazon

Selling on Amazon gives ecommerce businesses a unique opportunity to reach a broader audience while boosting brand awareness. To make the most of the platform, consider these key tips:

Encourage Product Reviews

Customer reviews can make or break a sale, even if your product is priced higher than competitors. One effective way to gather reviews is by sending a follow-up email after a customer makes a purchase.

Amazon allows automated follow-up emails tied to specific orders, but there are rules to follow:

Do not include marketing or promotional messages.
Do not include links to websites outside of Amazon.
Do not ask for or incentivize positive reviews.

You can politely ask customers to leave a review, as long as you don’t request a positive rating specifically.

For best results, keep your email strategy simple: send no more than two emails—one during order confirmation or delivery, and one after the customer has received the product. Following these best practices helps build credibility, trust, and higher review rates.

Run Sponsored Product Ads

Amazon’s advertising platform offers a powerful way to promote your products directly to shoppers. Sponsored Product Ads operate on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, allowing your listings to appear above, alongside, or below search results, as well as on relevant product detail pages.

Here are some key tips for running Amazon PPC campaigns:

Start with Automatic Targeting – Let Amazon’s algorithms suggest a broad set of potential keywords for your products. Begin with a flat default bid to gather data on which keywords perform best.
Evaluate Your Automatic Campaign – After a few weeks, analyze which keywords drive the most clicks and conversions. Use this insight to create a manual campaign focused on the most effective keywords, where you can adjust bids individually.
Iterate Your Manual Campaign – Test different bids and keywords to optimize placement and ROI. Continuous refinement helps you find the strategy that delivers the best results.
Optimize Product Detail Pages – Use insights from your PPC campaigns to identify high-performing keywords. Incorporate these terms naturally into your product titles, bullet points, and descriptions to boost organic traffic alongside your ads.

Running effective Sponsored Product Ads can increase visibility, drive more sales, and provide valuable data to improve your listings over time.

Take Advantage of Promotions

Running promotions on Amazon is a powerful way to boost sales and grow brand awareness. One popular option is Lightning Deals, which are time-limited flash sales featured on the Amazon Deals page—one of the platform’s most-visited sections.

Lightning Deals can help you:

Increase Product Discoverability – Especially during major events like Prime Day and holiday sales.
Generate More Reviews – Greater sales volume often leads to more customer feedback.
Boost Conversions After the Promotion – Increased sales can improve your search ranking, driving more organic traffic.
Test New Products – Promotions give new items a chance to reach a wider audience and win repeat customers.

You can find Lightning Deals in the “See All Recommendations” section of Seller Central. These deals are available across many categories, including health and personal care, home and kitchen, consumer electronics, fashion, grocery, and more. Leveraging promotions strategically can help accelerate growth and visibility for your Amazon business.

Drive External Traffic

Many brands focus their marketing efforts on driving traffic to their own ecommerce stores, but the same strategies can be applied to boost your Amazon listings.

Collaborating with bloggers and influencers is a great way to expand your reach. Programs like Amazon Associates and Amazon Influencers make it easy to work with content creators who can promote your products directly to their audiences. You can also leverage external platforms such as Shopify Collabs to connect with influencers and maximize exposure.

Driving external traffic not only increases visibility but can also improve your Amazon sales rank, helping your listings perform better organically.

Get Your Pricing Right

Pricing your products correctly is crucial on Amazon, where shoppers can easily compare multiple sellers. To find the right pricing strategy, consider the following:

Amazon Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy

Amazon’s Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy ensures that sellers maintain pricing practices that protect customer trust. Under this policy, you cannot set prices that are considered misleading or unfair.

Examples of actions that may violate the policy include:

Pricing a product significantly higher than recent prices on or off Amazon.
Selling bundles at a higher per-unit price than individual items.
Adding excessive shipping fees.

Adhering to fair pricing not only helps you stay compliant but also protects your account from potential suspension and builds customer confidence in your brand.

Automate Pricing

Amazon offers tools like Automate Pricing in Seller Central to help you manage prices efficiently. This free repricing tool lets you set rules and parameters for your products, automatically adjusting prices to remain competitive.

Using automated pricing ensures that your listings stay attractive to shoppers without constant manual updates, helping you maintain sales momentum and protect your profit margins.

Complement Your Shopify Store by Selling on Amazon

At first glance, Amazon may seem like a competitor to your ecommerce store—it’s a massive global marketplace and a top destination for online shoppers. However, when used strategically, Amazon can be a powerful tool to grow your business and generate additional revenue.

Think of your Shopify store as your home base and Amazon as an opportunity to reach millions of new customers worldwide. With careful planning, experimentation, and consistent effort, selling on Amazon can complement your existing ecommerce strategy and help your business thrive.

Selling on Amazon FAQ

Is it free to sell on Amazon? Selling on Amazon isn’t entirely free. The platform charges a referral fee on each item sold, which varies by product category, typically ranging from 8% to 45%.

What is the startup cost to sell on Amazon? Creating an Individual Seller account is free—you only pay fees when you sell products. A Professional Seller account costs $39.99 per month but offers additional tools and benefits for higher-volume sellers.

Can I sell on Amazon from home? Yes! Many ecommerce entrepreneurs run successful home-based Amazon businesses, making it a flexible option for starting an online business.

What are some good products to sell on Amazon? Popular product categories include:

Toys and games
Electronics
Video games
Books
Clothing and shoes
Jewelry

How to Sell on Amazon in 2025: 6 Easy Steps for Beginners