13 Ways to Make Money on Amazon in 2023

‍Amazon is an internet giant with huge turnovers. Over 310 million customers use Amazon, and its annual revenue exceeds $502 bln. Amazon offers third-party entrepreneurs plenty of different opportunities to earn money.

If you’re interested in making money on Amazon, keep reading.

1. Sell Online Arbitrage Products

Online arbitrage (OA) is a business model of reselling for profit products sellers find in online stores. The profit is generated from the lower price in that online store and the higher price on Amazon.

How does it work?

Online arbitrage sellers source their products in online stores, discount aggregator websites, or elsewhere online, or purchase deals on Online Arbitrage Deals Marketplace and resell them on Amazon.

The major challenge of OA is time-consuming product research. It helps select high-margin products that won’t trigger issues in the sales process. Seller Assistant App is a powerful product research extension for arbitrage sellers helping with this task.

Main peculiarities

• fast, easy, and cheap to launch;
• no need to create or produce anything to make money;
• you can find all deals online; you don’t need to travel around brick-and-mortar stores physically.

Related: Amazon Online Arbitrage in 2023: How to Make Money

2. Sell Retail Arbitrage Items

Retail arbitrage is a business model in which a merchant finds discounted or cheaper-priced products in brick-and-mortar retail stores and resells them for profit.

How does it work?

With this model, you can benefit from discounts offered by offline stores and resell those products on Amazon to make money. You can use discounts in local liquidation or retail stores, or other offers and earn on the price difference.

Retail arbitrage is easy and inexpensive to start; however, you have to go around offline to find a product to resell, which takes a lot of time. In addition, you have to restock inventory physically as well.

Main peculiarities

• the profit comes from shopping and reselling, not creating or manufacturing;
• you can benefit from local discounts;
• you don’t need special knowledge or significant capital to do retail arbitrage.

Related: Online Arbitrage vs Retail Arbitrage on Amazon in 2023

3. Sell Wholesale Products 

Wholesale is the business model of purchasing lower-priced products in bulk from a manufacturer, supplier, or distributor and reselling them to Amazon buyers for profit.

How does it work?

In wholesale sales, profit comes from the difference between wholesale and retail prices. When you buy products in bulk, the manufacturer or supplier will prioritize the order and offer the wholesaler a discounted price.

At the same time, this means that the wholesaler needs to invest a lot of cash upfront to purchase an order. Therefore, you should make sure that what you buy is a profitable deal that will sell.

Another challenge with wholesale is selecting the right supplier. Since you’d like to have the best possible price, you’ll talk to a huge brand, which will not be easy.

Main peculiarities

• you can make big money due to bulk sales;
• you don’t have to create new products and listings;
• you don’t need to spend a lot of cash on advertising.

Related: Amazon Wholesale: All You Need To Know In 2023

4. Sell Private Label Products

Private label (PL) means placing your label or brand on a product. You can manufacture the product yourself or order a company to make them for you.

How does it work?

Private label sellers find unbranded products or unknown brands and resell them under their own brand name.

The advantage of private label is that you own the brand, which is an asset. PL products usually have lower competition, and there’s no risk of Amazon account suspension since you own your brand.

However, starting the private label takes far more time and effort than other business models. On average, Amazon sellers spend $2,500 and up to launch private label products. Typically, it takes around three months to start.

Main peculiarities

• you own the brand;
• complete control over your product and pricing;
• you can make good money because the product is unique.

5. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a business model where the seller lists a product online, gets an order from the buyer, and asks the supplier to ship it to the shopper directly.

How does it work?

When dropshippers want to sell on Amazon, they find profitable products, make agreements with suppliers to make shipments to the shoppers directly, then list products on Amazon, get  orders from the buyers, and instruct suppliers to send orders. The profit margin comes from the difference between the lower supplier's price and the higher price of a dropshipper.

However, Amazon allows sellers to fulfill orders with straightforward dropshipping only if they are identified as sellers of record for their products. If merchants fail to comply with Amazon’s dropshipping policy, it will result in a seller account ban.

Main peculiarities

• you don’t need to own a product or care about the warehouse; you are just a middleman;
• you need minimal money to do dropshipping;
• you can start making money as soon as you get the first order on Amazon.

Related: New Dropshipping Strategy That Complies With Amazon’s Policy

6. Sell Handmade Products

Handmade merchants are artists and crafters selling their handcrafted products to Amazon customers. Amazon Handmade is an artisan-only community on Amazon.

How does it work?

If you sell under the Handmade model, your products must be unique artisan items made by hand, hand-altered, or hand-assembled. Mass-produced products are not allowed.

Handmade seller accounts differ from regular Amazon seller accounts. To become a handmade seller, you must go through an application process and get approval from Amazon to sell in the Handmade category. Once you create a selling account, you submit an Amazon Handmade application. You must have a Professional selling account to be eligible.

Main peculiarities

• great opportunity for artisans and crafters to sell product they create;
• Amazon charges only for the items you sell;
• Amazon assigns you a custom URL, allowing shoppers to find your store easily.

7. Offer Services as a Virtual Assistant

Virtual Assistants (VAs) are remote professional experts who help Amazon sellers manage their business. Their services range from sourcing deals and product research to customer services and routine daily operations.

How does it work?

VAs  help merchants in different areas of the sales process. Typically, a seller outsources VA’s services to get professional assistance with any issues related to Amazon accounts and sales.

VAs can give sellers a leg-up with product research, customer relationship management, inventory sourcing, listing optimization, keyword research, image editing, review moderation, and order tasks.

If you have competence in Amazon sales, you can become a VA and monetize your skills. If you have yet to gain experience in Amazon sales, you must join Amazon virtual assistant courses or training to become a VA.

Main peculiarities

• you can monetize your Amazon expertise;
• you can work remotely on a full-time, part-time, or per-task basis;
• you don’t need to run your own business; you can work as a freelancer.

8. Earn Cash as an Influencer

An influencer is a media blogger with a qualified and sustainable social media audience.

Becoming an Amazon influencer is one way to monetize social media content.

How does it work?

Any person with consistent followers on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube can promote seller products and get a reward. To do that, they have to qualify for an Amazon Influencer Program.

Amazon approves them if they meet specific qualification criteria for an Amazon influencer, including loyal followers; a high level of interaction with the content; many likes and comments; an active audience; quality content; and relevance to Amazon. Also, one of the requirements is that an influencer should have a custom store on Amazon. From there, they promote Amazon inventory for sellers with unique links.

Main peculiarities

• you can monetize your social media popularity;
• Amazon assigns you a custom storefront URL;
• an excellent option to earn a commission from advertising.

9. Become an Amazon Affiliate

Amazon affiliates are content creators, publishers, and bloggers monetizing their traffic. Associates promote products that match their blog content or website niche.

How does it work?

To become an associate, you have to enroll in Amazon Affiliate Program. The requirements for the associates are more relaxed than those for the Amazon influencers. For instance, having a custom store on Amazon is optional.

Amazon pays a percentage of sales to affiliates. Therefore, the money they earn depends on their reach, engagement rate, and how often they promote seller products in affiliate links. It also depends on the payment per sale and the product category. Affiliates can earn 4 to 10% in advertising fees from qualified purchases

Main peculiarities

• it’s an excellent option to earn a commission without  selling;
• you can monetize your blog, website, or social media pages;
• you don’t need to have a custom store on Amazon.

10. Join Amazon’s Trade-In Program

With the Amazon Trade-in program, you can trade in used books, games, and gadgets in good condition. However, Amazon pays you with a gift card, which means you don’t get any money directly.

How does it work?

Amazon’s Trade-In program aims to exchange the used items you may have at home for an Amazon gift card. If you have used goods in good condition and don’t want them anymore, you can sell them to Amazon. If you are lucky, you can receive up to 25% of the product’s original price.

To submit a product, you must go to the Amazon Trade-In, find the item of your choice, specify its condition, and send it to Amazon. They examine a product and give you money in the form of a gift card. Products in excellent condition are priced higher, whereas those in poor condition get a lower value.

Main peculiarities

• you can make use of the items you don’t need;
• you exchange your items for Amazon gift cards, not for cash;
• you can get up to 25% of the original item’s price.

11. Sell Books with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

Amazon created a special Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program for those who can write their own content.

How does it work?

With the KDP program, you can self-publish an e-book or a paper book. Each time this book sells, the author gets paid. You can write about anything you wish, as long as the book is attractive to the readers.

To self-publish a KDP book, you must create an Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing account. Then add a Kindle ebook, title and subtitle, author’s name, and book description. After that, you can start selling.

Main peculiarities

• authors can get up to 70% royalty on book sales with almost no investment;
• an easy and low-cost way to start a writing career and publish content;
• you can print both digital and paper books.

12. Deliver Orders with Amazon Flex

Amazon Flex is a delivery service. If you have a car, you can make extra money delivering packages to Amazon customers.

How does it work?

To join the program, you have to download the Amazon Flex app.

Amazon Flex requirements are: age - 21 and up; valid U.S. driver’s license; mid-size or larger car.

Amazon pays $18–25 per hour. Actual earnings depend on your location, how long it takes to complete your deliveries, and other factors.

Main peculiarities

• an excellent option to earn money if you have a car and like driving;
• fast and easy to join;
• you can make $18–25 per hour.

13. Creating Designs with Amazon Merch

With the Merch by Amazon program, you can create designs for t-shirts and accessories and sell them without any upfront cost.

How does it work?

Merch by Amazon is an on-demand printing service. To print your t-shirt or accessories, you must upload your design, select colors, and set a price.

Amazon creates a listing for your t-shirt, and when the customer purchases it, they print the order, pack it, and ship it with Amazon Prime. Once the T-shirt sells, you’ll get a royalty.

Main peculiarities

• you can produce and sell designs on Amazon for free;
• you don’t need to take care of fulfillment;
• Amazon creates a particular listing for your design.

Final Thoughts

Amazon offers plenty of different ways to earn money. Amazon merchants can sell their products, trade in used items, become virtual assistants to Amazon sellers or write and publish their own books.

For Amazon sellers and virtual assistants product research is quite a task. Seller Assistant App lets them see all essential product metrics right on the Amazon product page. It’s a popular new-generation tool that can help not only with calculating Amazon FBA fees but also with overall product research. It offers an impressive portfolio of valuable and handy features.

Seller Assistant Аpp is an all-in-one extension incorporating features vital for product research. Advanced IP Alerts can immediately tell you if a product has any sales restrictions or has led to problems with account health in the past. It combines an FBM&FBA profit calculator, Quick View, Stock Checker, and Restrictions Checker in one tool.