New to selling on Amazon? This guide explains everything — what FBA is, how it's different from other models, what it actually takes to build a real business, and realistic numbers so you go in with eyes open.
You source branded products from manufacturers or distributors at wholesale prices (40–55% of retail). You ship to Amazon's fulfillment centers. Amazon handles storage, shipping, customer service, and returns. You collect the margin.
Your job: Find products, build supplier relationships, manage inventory levels.
✓ Scalable · ✓ Replenishable · ✓ Real brand demand · ✓ Legal & sustainable
Customer orders from you → you order from supplier → supplier ships direct. Zero inventory risk. BUT: slow shipping kills Buy Box, margins are razor thin (5–15%), Amazon regularly bans dropshippers for policy violations.
✗ Slow shipping · ✗ No Buy Box · ✗ Volatile · ✗ Policy risk
Buy clearance items from Target/Walmart/TJ Maxx, resell on Amazon for a profit. Quick to start, zero supplier relationships needed. But: not scalable, time-intensive to source, supply is inconsistent, margin gets squeezed fast.
~ Good for testing. Bad as a primary business.
Source generic products from Alibaba, add your branding, create an Amazon listing from scratch. Highest potential margins. But: requires significant upfront capital ($5K–$20K minimum), launch risk, review building time, and brand development skills.
~ High ceiling. High barrier. Not for beginners.
These are realistic wholesale scenarios — not best-case. Numbers assume FBA fulfillment, standard referral fees.
| Product Type | Retail / Buy Box | Wholesale Cost | FBA Fees | Net Profit | Margin | Monthly Units | Monthly Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen appliance | $49.99 | $22.00 (44%) | $10.50 | $17.49 | 35% | 80 units | $1,399 |
| Health supplement | $24.99 | $9.00 (36%) | $6.00 | $9.99 | 40% | 200 units | $1,998 |
| Electronics accessory | $34.99 | $16.00 (46%) | $7.50 | $11.49 | 33% | 120 units | $1,379 |
| Sports water bottle | $19.99 | $9.50 (48%) | $5.50 | $5.00 | 25% | 300 units | $1,500 |
| Pet accessory | $14.99 | $6.00 (40%) | $4.50 | $4.49 | 30% | 500 units | $2,245 |
FBA fees = referral fee (~15%) + pick & pack (~$3.50). Storage fees not included (typically small). ROI = profit ÷ wholesale cost. A $1,000 investment at 35% margin on 30-day turns = $350/month profit = 35% monthly ROI.
Register an LLC ($50–$500 depending on state). Get an EIN from the IRS (free, online, 5 minutes). Open a business bank account. This is required before most brands will talk to you.
Time: 1–2 weeks · Cost: $50–$200
Also called a reseller permit or sales tax permit. Free in most states (some charge a small fee). This lets you buy wholesale without paying sales tax — and it's required by virtually every distributor to open an account.
Time: Same day · Cost: Free–$50
Go to sell.amazon.com. Choose Professional plan ($39.99/month — skip Individual). You'll need a bank account, credit card, government ID, and tax info. Get through verification — it can take 1–7 days.
Time: 1–7 days · Cost: $39.99/month
Run the Wholesale scanner. Look for products with Opportunity Score 70+, 2–5 FBA sellers, Buy Box $25+, and no Amazon in stock. The 🔁 Seen Nx badge is your most reliable signal after a few weeks of data.
Start with: Home & Kitchen, Health & Household, Sports & Outdoors
For each product you like: check the price chart (stable for 3+ months?), verify Amazon is consistently out of stock, confirm 3–5 FBA sellers are always present, check 90-day BSR is consistent. Use the Suppliers page to track your research.
Tool: 📊 chart button on each product card
Find the brand's wholesale page or call their sales line. Introduce yourself, mention your LLC, resale certificate, and Amazon store. Ask for their wholesale application. Many brands say yes within a week. Expect 20–30% rejection rate — that's normal.
Template: Use the email templates in the Suppliers page
Negotiate the smallest MOQ possible for first orders (1 case if they allow). Calculate your ROI before ordering: make sure you have 20%+ margin after all fees. Don't place large orders until you've sold through a test batch successfully.
Starting capital needed: $500–$2,000 for first orders
In Seller Central: Inventory → Manage Inventory → Send/Replenish. Label your products (FBA-managed or self-label). Box them up, create the shipment plan, ship to Amazon's designated warehouse. Amazon receives within 2–5 business days.
Cost: $0.30–$1.00 per label + shipping to Amazon
Once your first products sell through, reorder while you still have 2–3 weeks of inventory left. Track sell-through rate (units sold ÷ days = daily velocity). Add new products from this dashboard. Reinvest profits into more inventory and more SKUs.
Goal by month 6: 10–20 SKUs, predictable monthly cash flow
LLC registered, Amazon account live, resale certificate in hand. Using this dashboard to identify 10–20 product candidates. Building a shortlist of brands to contact.
Emailing/calling 20–30 brands. Getting approved by 3–5 suppliers. Placing first test orders (small MOQ). First inventory arriving at Amazon FBA. Dashboard accumulating data on your categories.
First 2–5 SKUs live and selling. Learning Buy Box dynamics, repricing, and what actually sells. May hit some roadblocks (gating, price wars). Reinvesting proceeds into more inventory. Dashboard showing repeat counts on reliable products.
10–20 SKUs across 3–5 suppliers. Predictable monthly revenue starting to form. Identifying which products turn fast and which sit. Building reorder systems. Realistic monthly profit: $1,500–$5,000 at this stage on $10K–$20K invested capital.
30–50+ SKUs. Multiple approved supplier relationships. Cashflow becoming predictable. Able to evaluate new opportunities faster using accumulated dashboard data. Some sellers reach $10K–$30K/month revenue at this stage.
Wholesale FBA focused channel. Real deal teardowns, supplier outreach scripts, realistic income breakdowns.
Product research tutorials, FBA fee breakdowns, Amazon algorithm explainers. Solid fundamentals.
Deep dives into Seller Central, PPC, listing optimization, and brand protection. More advanced content.
Official documentation for FBA fees, shipment requirements, restricted products, and account policies.
B2B marketplace to find brands open to wholesale. Net-60 terms, low MOQ, great starting point.
Active community of FBA sellers. Real questions, real answers. Search before posting — most questions are already answered.
Calculate exact FBA fees for any product before ordering. Enter ASIN or product dimensions to get accurate numbers.
The data source powering our charts. Free browser extension shows price history directly on Amazon product pages.
Realistically: $2,000–$5,000 to start properly. This covers LLC setup ($100–$200), Amazon subscription ($40/month), first inventory orders ($1,500–$3,000), and some buffer for shipping + labels. You can technically start with less using platforms like Faire with net-60 terms (meaning you pay 60 days after ordering), but less capital means slower growth.
You can technically sell as a sole proprietor, but virtually all wholesale distributors require a business name, EIN, and resale certificate before they'll open an account with you. An LLC also protects your personal assets if something goes wrong. Register an LLC — the cost is minimal and it's a one-time task.
Home & Kitchen and Health & Household are the most beginner-friendly. High volume, lots of legitimate brands open to wholesale, reasonable FBA fees, and minimal gating issues. Avoid Electronics for your first orders (higher fees, more returns). Avoid Clothing entirely (size variation = return nightmare). Avoid Grocery (expiry dates, fragile).
Most people who stick with it consistently see $1,000–$4,000/month profit by month 6–9. First year total profit: $5,000–$25,000 is a reasonable range. It depends heavily on how much capital you reinvest (more reinvestment = faster growth), how many suppliers you get approved with, and whether you pick products with genuine demand. This is not passive income in year one — expect to work 10–20 hours/week on it.
This is the biggest wholesale risk. When Amazon jumps in, they usually win the Buy Box on price, and your margins get crushed. Mitigation: always check price history charts for patterns of Amazon reappearing. Diversify across enough SKUs that no single one is make-or-break. Focus on products where Amazon's stock history shows frequent, long out-of-stock periods — they're unlikely to maintain those SKUs consistently.
Wholesale = sell someone else's established brand. Lower risk, immediate proven demand, but you share the listing with other sellers. Private label = create your own brand on a manufactured product. Higher potential margin and you own the listing, but you have to build demand from zero — launch strategies, advertising, review generation. Wholesale is the right starting point. Private label is where you go once you understand the marketplace.
Start with 3–5 SKUs. Not more. You want to learn inventory management, FBA shipment creation, Buy Box repricing, and cash flow timing without being overwhelmed. Each SKU has its own quirks. Once your first batch of SKUs is running smoothly (2–3 months), add more. The goal is not to have 100 SKUs immediately — it's to have 10 SKUs that turn reliably and predictably.
Manual research means visiting Amazon listings one by one, checking a price tracker extension, and guessing at margins. This dashboard does it systematically across thousands of products, filters by your specific criteria, calculates margins automatically, tracks which products appear repeatedly (the best signal), and accumulates a database of opportunities over time. What would take 20+ hours of manual work happens automatically overnight.