The Definitive Guide: How to Make Money on Amazon in 2021
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Making money online isn't easy. Lots of people don't take it seriously enough and think they can get rich overnight.
But it doesn't work. And that's the bad news.
The good news is that if you work hard, you can build an online business that makes thousands or tens of thousands a month.
Hard work will pay off in the long run.
Basically, there are different ways to build an online business. You can go for dropshipping, blogging, affiliate marketing, and so on.
However, start selling on Amazon is still one of the best ways to build a sustainable passive income stream. In recent years, the eCommerce marketplace experienced an explosive boom. According to eMarketer, the growth rate in eCommerce in 2020 is 16.5%.
But there are also several other ways to make money on Amazon. And if you want to learn how to make money on Amazon in 2020, you've come to the right place.
This is a comprehensive guide to 16 ways to make money on Amazon in 2020.
Here's what you will learn:
- How to make money on Amazon in 2020
- How much money you can make
- Which tools you need to succeed
- Lots more...
Let's start.
1. Sell Private Label Products on Amazon
Selling private label products on Amazon is one of the best ways to start a business on Amazon.
Private label products are products manufactured for a particular retailer and then sold under the retailer's own brand name.
This allows the retailer to coordinate certain product characteristics with the manufacturer and to build his own brand. Private Labeling comes from the US and is especially popular among young entrepreneurs who want to establish their own brand.
But how can you sell private label products on Amazon?
It's quite simple. Amazon provides an FBA service (Fulfillment by Amazon). If you use FBA, Amazon takes care of all the hard work, such as storage, shipping, returns, or customer service.
When a customer orders one of your products, the order will be fulfilled by Amazon. All you have to do is make sure that your inventory reaches an Amazon warehouse. However, you have to pay a small fee to Amazon for this service.
Sourcing your products is also easy. You can order your products on Alibaba or Alieexpress online and let them be shipped directly to an Amazon warehouse. You can also use other platforms, here're the best Alibaba alternatives.
Resources
If you want to sell on Amazon, you'll need an Amazon seller tool. Here are by far the best tools on the market:
Helium 10 offers a free plan and you can also use this 50% discount code here:
Here are the best Amazon FBA Blogs:
Here are the best guides that help you get started:
If you're serious about selling on Amazon, check out Kevin King's Freedom Ticket.
This course usually costs $997.
However, if you use Helium 10, you can access it for free. You can use this discount code to get 50% off:
How Much Can You Make Selling Private Label Products on Amazon?
The average product makes about $1000 to $3000 net profit per month. However, you can scale your business and make tens of thousands a month.
2. Sell Wholesale Goods on Amazon
Selling wholesale goods is similar to selling private label products on Amazon. But there is one difference: you do not sell your own branded products, but rather the products from other brands.
The benefits:
- You don't have to worry about manufacturing, branding, certificates, and so on.
- This saves you a lot of time and allows you to focus on growing your business.
Yet, selling wholesale goods on Amazon also has a downside:
The competition is higher.
Moreover, this business model is not as scalable as Private Labeling. It's very competitive and sooner or later you will reach a limit.
How Much Money Can You Make on Amazon Selling Wholesale Goods?
As mentioned above, selling wholesale products on Amazon is not as scalable as selling private label products.
However, you can still make $3,000 to $4,000 a month.
3. Deliver Amazon Products (Amazon Flex)
This is a completely different approach to make money on Amazon. It's not about selling products. You have to deliver products to customers.
The Flex program of Amazon is quite simple. You first have to create a simple Amazon account. With this account, you can sign in to Amazon Flex. After logging in, you have to watch some videos showing you the best practices. Then, you will have to answer a short questionnaire and download the mobile app.
Once Amazon accepts you as a driver, you can start delivering products.
The benefits:
- Hourly wage of $18 -$25
- Flexible working time
- You're your own boss
The Amazon Flex app has a cool user interface to track your revenue in real-time. You can learn more about Amazon Flex here.
How Much Money Can You Make With Amazon Flex?
The hourly wages are $18-$25. The shifts usually last five hours. I've heard from several Flex employees that even if they do shifts faster, they are getting paid all five hours.
Specifically, you can earn between $90 and $125 a day. According to Amazon Flex, you can work seven days a week. Accordingly, you can earn between $2700 and $3750 a month.
4. Kindle Direct Publishing
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a very popular way to make money on Amazon.
KDP allows you to publish your books and then sell them on Amazon.
You can even earn money with KDP without writing a book. To do this, you have to hire a professional author and purchase the rights of the book. You can check out Fiverr to find such an author.
You can also sell your E-Book as a printed version on Amazon. Amazon prints the book and sends it to your customer.
How to Start With Amazon KDP
First, sign in to Amazon KDP here. Then, write a book or hire someone to do it. Upload your E-Book to Amazon KDP, edit the cover, and you're good to go.
It's really that simple.
However, think carefully about what you want to write a book about. People should be interested in your book, but the topic of your book shouldn't be too competitive.
To solve this problem, you can use tools like Helium 10 or Jungle Scout. These tools show you how often a book sells and whether the topic is too competitive or not.
If you want to learn more about Amazon KDP, I recommend this article.
How Much Money Can You Make With Amazon Kdp?
Many authors make up to $40,000 a month. However, these authors are very professional, have hundreds of books published on Amazon, and regularly write new ones.
If you are just starting, you can earn $1500 to $2000 per month.
5. Amazon Associates (Amazon Affiliate Program)
Affiliate marketing is a great opportunity to make money online. It is based on the concept that you refer a customer and get a commission for it.
This is exactly how the Amazon Affiliate Program works. You recommend a product and other people buy it via your affiliate link.
The average margin of the Amazon affiliate program varies from about 7% to 15%.
Affiliate marketing isn't just about creating a website and hoping people will click on your links. There is much more to it, such as email marketing, CR optimization, etc...
Here're the best resources to learn everything you need to become a successful affiliate marketer:
How Much Can You Make With the Amazon Affiliate Program?
Depending on the size of your audience, you can make between $500 and $50,000.
6. Work as an Amazon Rep
According to Wikipedia, Amazon currently has around 798.000 employees (2019). A large proportion of these employees work from home.
So why not earn money from home as an Amazon employee?
How Much Money Can You Earn as an Amazon Rep?
Amazon has a minimum wage of $15 per hour. Check out this site for more information.
7. Amazon Alexa Skills
Have you ever heard of Amazon Alexa? Alexa is a virtual assistant who can help you with your everyday tasks, similar to Apple's Siri.
There's a store for so-called Alexa Skills. Alexa Skills are special skills you can buy for your Alexa version.
If you buy an Alexa Skill, your version of Alexa can perform this "skill" and you can use it every day.
Here are some examples:
"Alexa, open Sleep Sound" will automatically open the music player and play music to fall asleep.
But how can you make money on Amazon with Alexa Skills?
As a developer, you can develop your own Alexa skills and sell them through the store. You can determine the price of your skill on your own.
You get 70% of revenue when a customer buys your Alexa Skill. 30% goes to Amazon.
It is up to you whether you set a one-time price or whether you charge a monthly payment.
If you want to develop an Amazon Alexa Skill, this is your first step.
How Much Can You Make on Amazon With Alexa Skills?
That depends on how many customers you have. For example, Nick Schwab developed an Alexa Skill with 10.000 paying customers.
The average price of the Premium subscription is $0.99 to $1.99, which would be $9.900 to $19.900 per month if you have 10.000 paying customers.
8. Audiobooks
We've talked about how you can make money on Amazon by publishing your E-Books via Amazon KDP. This section is about publishing audiobooks.
From my own experience, I can say that many people prefer to listen to audiobooks, for example when driving a car, because they want to use the time effectively.
To create an audiobook on Amazon, go to Amazon Audiobook Creation Exchange. There, you can find professional speakers who produce your audiobook or upload your audiobook yourself.
What's interesting is that you can either pay the speakers for your audiobook a one-time fee or share later earnings with them.
How Much Can You Make on Amazon With Audiobooks?
The profit margins on Amazon ACX are somewhat more complex and are structured as follows:
For production by a speaker with a one-time fee:
- 40% on exclusive sales on Audible, Amazon & iTunes
- 25% without exclusive distribution (you can sell your audiobook anywhere)
- You need to pay the speaker a one-time fee
Production by a speaker without a one-time fee:
- 20% profit margin for you (the rest gets your speaker)
Own production:
- 40% on exclusive sales on Audible, Amazon & iTunes
- 25% without exclusive distribution (you can sell your audiobook anywhere)
9. Retail Arbitrage on Amazon
Retail Arbitrage is based on the concept of buying items in retail stores such as Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, etc... and then reselling them on Amazon for a higher price.
For example, you buy a product for $9 and sell it on Amazon for $25. After deducting all fees and delivery costs, you earn a profit of $8.
OnlineSellingExperiment generated total sales of $2 million in 2019 with Retail Arbitrage products.
You can also sell your products on other marketplaces such as eBay. However, it's proven that you can make the most profit on Amazon. That's because you can reach many more people with Amazon than with other online sales channels.
According to Statista, Amazon has an average of 209.7 million website visitors per month in 2019, while eBay has only 65.91 million website visitors and Etsy only 39.4 million active users per month.
How to Start With Retail Arbitrage
Here's how to proceed:
- Create an Amazon Seller Account
- Download the Amazon Seller App
- Visit your local retail stores like Walmart, Target, or Barnes & Noble (the list below can help you)
- Use the Amazon Seller App to scan greatly reduced products
- Buy any product that brings $3 profit after deducting all fees and shipping costs.
- List your products for sale on Amazon
Here's a list of stores you can visit to search for products:
- Walmart
- Target
- Kmart
- Meijer
- Lowes
- Staples
Here's a detailed article on how to start with Retail Arbitrage on Amazon.
How Much Money Can You Make on Amazon With Retail Arbitrage?
Unfortunately, retail arbitrage has become very competitive in recent years. Also, Amazon is making it harder to sell well-known brands. However, you can earn between $100 - $2000 a month.
10. Online Arbitrage
Online Arbitrage works similar to Retail Arbitrage. The only difference is that you buy your products on eBay or other online marketplaces and then resell them on Amazon.
Here's an article about Online Arbitrage you should check out.
How Much Money Can You Make on Amazon With Online Arbitrage?
Just like Retail Arbitrage, it's hard to scale and you have lots of competition. However, you will be able to make $100 to $2000 per month.
11. Mechanical Turk Program
Amazon's Mechanical Turk Program is a crowdsourcing platform that enables companies to outsource their processes to professional workers.
These tasks can include everything from simple data validation and research to tasks such as survey participation, content moderation, and more.
Mechanical Turk enables companies to leverage the collective intelligence, skills, and insights of the whole world.
It is well known that the future of work will change. A large part of this change will be influenced by crowdsourcing.
There are already freelance platforms such as Fiverr or Upwork where companies can buy services. With the Mechanical Turk program, Amazon jumped on this train and now provides its own crowdsourcing platform.
How Much Money Can You Earn With the Mechanical Turk Program?
Online reports claim that Mechanical Turk workers can expect to earn between $6 and $10 per hour.
12. Amazon Handmade
Are you creative? Amazon Handmade is a great way for artisans to offer and sell their products on Amazon. If you're an artisan, you can reach a huge target group and sell your products all over the world.
The Benefits:
- An artisanal application and audit process to ensure that Amazon is building a business for real needlework.
- Participation in Amazon Handmade, creating your store, and listing your products is free.
- Your profile has a custom URL so customers can easily find your store.
The cons:
- Amazon Handmade deducts a 15% referral fee on each sale.
How Much Money Can You Earn With Amazon Handmade?
The fees on Amazon are higher than the fees on eBay or Etsy. However, as an artisan, you can reach a much larger audience with Amazon Handmade than with eBay or Etsy. Amazon Handmade even offers the opportunity to promote your products with sponsored ads.
Unfortunately, I have no personal experience with Amazon Handmade so I can't tell you exactly how much you can earn.
I recommend checking out these articles to learn more about Amazon Handmade:
13. Amazon Services
Originally, Amazon started as an online marketplace for products, but now the company also offers services.
As you can see, Amazon Services is mostly about:
- Home & Business
- Yard & Outdoor
- Electronics & Computers
- Carpet Cleaning
- etc...
Whether you're a gardener, a plumber, or a craftsman, Amazon Services lets you connect with people who need you.
You can offer as many services as you want. The only important thing is that customers are willing to buy your services and pay your prices.
To learn more about Amazon Services, I recommend visiting the Amazon Services home page.
14. Work in an Amazon Fulfillment Center
Amazon employees pick, pack, store, and ship products for Amazon and its third-party sellers.
Working in an Amazon warehouse is a tough job, but the wages are fair.
Amazon has a minimum wage of $15 per hour. To work in an Amazon department store you have to apply here.
You can also find more information about a job at Amazon here.
15. CamperForce
Amazon has established the CamperForce program to give RV travelers a job.
In seasonal rushes, these workers help out. The campers have two advantages. They earn money and get to know other enthusiastic campers.
As a Camper Force employee, you can also choose your tasks from different locations depending on availability.
Amazon CamperForce allows you to drive across the country, do a job at Amazon, earn money, and then drive to your next vacation destination.
How Much Money Can You Earn With Amazon Camperforce?
Amazon has an hourly wage of $15. Amazon also pays you the pitch for your RV.
However, you have many more benefits:
Head over to the CamperForce Website to learn more about it.
16. Merch by Amazon
Are you creative? Do you have awesome design skills, but don't want to invest in making your ideas a reality?
In this case, you should immediately take a closer look at Merch by Amazon.
Merch by Amazon is a print-on-demand service that prints your designs on T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, Long-Sleeves, Hoodies, Zip-Hoodies, Tank-Tops, and PopSockets.
Here's how it works:
- Submit your design to Amazon.
- Select a product (T-shirt, Hoodie, etc.) on which the design should be printed.
- Set a price.
- Amazon approves your design (or not).
- Customers buy a product with your design.
- Amazon prints your design on a T-shirt, Hoodie, etc., and sends it to the customer.
How Much Money Can You Earn With Merch by Amazon?
Amazon has predefined prices (that you can choose from) for each product.
Depending on the price you choose, you will earn a Royalty fee between 13% and 37%.
You can check out all prices and Royalty fees here.
Conclusion
From building a business to working as an Amazon representative, there are many ways to make money on Amazon.
Maybe there are even more ways than the 16 I mentioned in this article, but this list should point you in the right direction.
To summarize this article, here's an overview of the best ways to make money on Amazon in 2021:
- Sell private label products on Amazon
- Sell wholesale goods on Amazon
- Deliver Amazon products
- Kindle Direct Publishing
- Amazon Associates
- Work as an Amazon representative
- Develop Amazon Alexa Skills
- Sell audiobooks
- Retail Arbitrage
- Online Arbitrage
- Mechanical Turk Program
- Amazon Handmade
- Amazon Services
- Work in an Amazon Fulfillment Center
- CamperForce
- Merch by Amazon
