There are about a million ways to make money online.
My favorite method for online money-making takes a bit of a different path than most, as it involves turning your side hustle into a true business.
Want to take your income to the next level?
You can do this by selling products on Amazon through a program called Fulfillment By Amazon, or FBA for short.
Selling on Amazon?
That’s right, you can sell products on the Amazon platform and gain access to the millions of Amazon customers who shop the site each day.
Amazon allows anyone with a Seller Central account to list and sell products – in fact, approximately half of all products sold on Amazon are from third-party sellers, not from Amazon itself.
In 2024, Amazon has over 2.5 million third-party sellers. Want your piece of that pie?
What is the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Program?
With Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you store your products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and they pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for those products.
The process looks like this:
- You find a product to sell on Amazon
- You list the product on Amazon.com (does not go “live” at this point)
- You prepare the items to send to Amazon’s warehouses
- You ship the items to Amazon’s warehouses
- Amazon unpacks and stores your inventory for you
- Your product shows up live on Amazon.com (according to where you listed in step #2)
- Your product is featured as a Prime Eligible purchase
- Amazon BUYER places an order from you
- The Amazon warehouse workers find and ship your product to the customer
- Your customer receives the product in 2 days (if they are a Prime member)
- The Customer is happy!
Ways to Find Products and Sell on Amazon
As a third-party seller, there are many different ways that you can access and sell on the Amazon platform. You can list products on their platform and fulfill them from your home, this is called Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) and is similar to selling on eBay or Etsy.
However, the most efficient and hands-off way is to let Amazon store, pack and ship your products at their fulfillment warehouses. This is known as Fulfillment by Amazon – FBA.
But what about products? How do you find those items to list and sell on the Amazon platform? And what about Amazon FBA Fees?
Again, there are multiple ways to source products to sell on Amazon. Let’s take a look at the most popular:
Retail Arbitrage
This is where you buy low and sell high. Retail arbitrage is a method of reselling, where you source products from local stores, whether that is a thrift shop, yard sale or big box stores like Walmart or Best Buy.
Online Arbitrage
Similar to retail arbitrage, only you take advantage of pricing differences between online stores and Amazon. This could also involve purchasing returned or overstock products in bulk from online liquidation outlets.
Wholesale
When you sell a product wholesale, you are purchasing products in bulk either directly from a manufacturer or distributor and reselling on Amazon at a markup. This can be especially lucrative if you are able to negotiate an exclusive deal – meaning you are the only reseller authorized to sell on Amazon and thus control the market.
Private Label
Typically the most profitable, but also most time intensive, way to sell on Amazon. Private Label sellers have products manufactured to their specifications and create a brand around those products. As these products are somewhat unique, you don’t have to compete with several other sellers on your Amazon listing (called the buy box).
Why You Should Private Label
I believe that private labeling products gives you the best opportunity to build a business as your side hustle. Once you have gone through the work of creating your product, you can continue to sell it for as long as you’d like.
You can also expand into other products to multiply your sales and increase your brand awareness. You can build an email list for your products, a social media following, it’s own website or eCommerce store, the possibilities are endless.
(Note: Need help deciding if Private Label is right for you? I’ve put together a bonus resource at the end of this post to help you decide.)
Explode Your Income by Selling Amazon FBA Private Label Products
Sound like a lot of work? I’ll be honest with you, it is. But it is also totally doable. How do I know? Well, I’ve done it.
And I’ve done it over the past year while also doing this:
- Moving to a new state
- Working a demanding and time-intensive job (including travel one week each month)
- Getting a promotion (to a more demanding job)
- Growing a YouTube Channel
- Organizing a Podcaster Meetup
- Parenting a 2-Year-Old
I did it by focusing on one step at a time, and not getting ahead of myself. Every day I have an action item to focus on, and I work until that one thing is done. Over time, I have been able to build this business and have plans for massive growth over the next year.
It Is Not Complicated, But It Is Not Easy
None of this matters until you take the first step, which is deciding to start.
But if you want your piece of that 23 BILLION dollar pie, you have to decide to start.
