How to make money on Amazon

Many of us know Amazon as a handy site where you can buy just about anything you need. But to some, it’s so much more than that – it’s an opportunity to make money. Here’s how.

It’s no secret that Amazon is a very convenient website for shoppers. What’s less well known is just how easy it is to earn an income on there – and not just as a seller.

Selling is one of the most common ways to make money on Amazon, and we’ve got plenty of tips to maximise your profits as a seller below. But it’s far from your only option. It’s even possible to generate passive income through the site. This will let you earn money in your sleep!

Read on for all the info you need on how to sell on Amazon, as well as our list of the best ways to make money from the site (both with and without selling).

How to sell on Amazon

Looking to start selling on Amazon? It’s super easy to get started, but there are a few key things to know before signing up.

The main things to consider are which Amazon selling plan would be right for you and whether the seller fees would be worth it.

Amazon selling plans

There are two selling plans to choose from at Amazon:

• Professional selling plan – If you’re selling more than 35 products a month, you could consider this plan. It costs £25 a month excluding VAT plus additional fees (below).
• Individual selling plan –  This one’s generally better for people selling less than 35 products a month. You won’t need to pay a monthly subscription fee for this plan, but you will have to pay £0.75 per item sold excluding VAT plus additional fees (below).

When choosing an Amazon selling plan, think about whether you’d sell a large enough quantity of products at a high enough price each month to go for the professional plan. If not, it might be better to stick with the basic plan.

If you’re unsure how many things you’ll be selling each month, you could start on the individual plan. If you decide it would be worthwhile, you can consider upgrading to the professional one later on.

But, if you do decide to go for the professional selling plan, it might be worth also thinking about Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). There are added fees, but it means you can reach more customers, and packaging and delivery are handled by Amazon. We go into this in a bit more detail later.

If you haven’t already, check out our list of the best ways to get free Amazon vouchers

Amazon selling fees

As mentioned above, there’s a fee per item for the individual selling plan (£0.75) and a fee per month for the professional plan (£25). On top of these, there are additional fees that apply to both plans.

These are the additional seller fees to be aware of:

1. Referral fee – This fee will vary depending on the type of product that’s sold. It’s calculated as a percentage of the total sales price, which includes the product price and added charges for delivery and gift wrapping. There’s usually (but not always) a minimum referral fee of £0.25 per item.
2. Closing fee – There’s a closing fee of £0.50 for most media items that are sold. This applies to items like music, DVDs, video games and software. Books have a closing fee of £1.
3. Refund administration fee – If you need to refund a customer after receiving payment, you’ll get your referral fee back, but a refund administration fee will be taken from it. The fee will either be £5 or 20% of your referral fee, whichever is less.
4. High-volume listing fee – This is unlikely to apply to you unless you’re selling a lot. If you have over two million active stock-keeping units (SKUs), there will be a fee of £0.0003 per SKU. SKUs are the unique reference codes you give to each product you list.

To find out more, including the specific referral fees for each type of product, check Amazon’s fee page.

Looking for Amazon buying tips as well? We’ve got you covered.

11 best ways to earn money on Amazon

These are the easiest and most effective ways to make money on Amazon:

Did you know that students can get Amazon Prime for free for six months? No wonder it tops our list of the best free trials…