Want to know how much it costs to start an Amazon FBA business? Good news! It's not a TON of money, and I'm going to share with you how you can get started for well under $1,000!
One of the BEST things about selling on Amazon is that you don't have to spend a lot of money to do it. There are so many other business opportunities where you have to buy “kits”, pay franchise fees, or build fancy websites.
With Amazon, you don't have to do any of those things!
That means you never have to sell to your friends or pay money to your “upline”. Plus, no money on other online biz basics like email marketing, web hosting, or graphic design.
You can start an Amazon FBA business as a side hustle without having to make a huge investment of time or money. It's a great way to test the waters of entrepreneurship.
I always recommend that new Amazon sellers start small and then invest more in their business later when it becomes more profitable.
That way you know that you're not going to go broke as you try to figure out this whole Amazon thing.
But….this is a business. So of course you have to spend some money. I'm going to break down the essentials for any new seller wondering how much will this really cost me?
3 Must Haves For Starting Your Amazon Business
There are 3 things that I recommend you spend money on when you decide that selling on Amazon is for you.
- Inventory
- Tools & Supplies
- Training
Inventory
Inventory is what you are going to be selling on Amazon. This is the baseline of your business and determines how much money you will make.
Since this is a business of reselling, you have to have things to sell to the customers.
I recommend starting with around $500 in “seed money” that you can use to purchase inventory with.
The reason I recommend this amount is because it will give you a good amount of products so you can start seeing sales right away, without running out of inventory on day one (this is a good/bad problem).
When you start buying inventory, make sure to use the Amazon Seller App or the FBA Calculator to make sure the items are going to be profitable. There are lots of fees that come with the sales you have on Amazon, so they need to be calculated ahead of time.
If you don't use one of those free tools, you run the risk of buying inventory that will either never sell or sell for a loss.
What's great about selling on Amazon, especially with the Retail Arbitrage business model that I teach, is that you don't have to buy a large quantity of products. In fact, I recommend going wide not deep with your inventory.
I'd rather you buy 2-3 of 20 different items than invest your entire $500 in one single product. And with Retail Arbitrage you don't have to worry about purchase minimums from suppliers. You can head into Walgreens and walk out with $20 worth of inventory, no problem!
Tools & Supplies
You can start your Amazon business without many tools or supplies, but there are a few that you MUST HAVE.
To start with, here are the bare minimum things you need to get started:
- Computer – where you work inside your seller account
- Smart Phone – what you use to look up products in the store
- Scanning App – you can use the Amazon Seller App for free
- Printer – to print box shipping labels and product labels
- Paper or Shipping Labels – used for sending your products to Amazon
- Avery Address Labels – used to label the items you send in, so Amazon knows they are yours
- Scale – to weigh the boxes you are sending into Amazon (can be a bathroom scale)
- Boxes – don't have to be new, just have to be clean. You can get free ones from stores like Walmart or grocery stores. Or buy them for around $1 a piece. Here's more info about boxes on a budget.
- Packing / Shipping Tape – To close the boxes you are sending to Amazon
Assuming you already have a smartphone, computer and printer you could get the rest for under $100.
You can see all of the exact versions that we recommend on our recommended tools page.
There aren't many other businesses where you can start with $100 worth of tools! Just think of all the money you'll save by letting Amazon handle the fulfillment for you.
Training
When it comes to starting an Amazon business, taking a training course is absolutely optional! But I highly recommend it.
Our Amazon Boot Camp is a step-by-step video course that will take you from the concept of having an Amazon business to making sales.
Sure, you can spend time checking out all of the free information on YouTube, Google searches, and blogs. But do you really want to spend 20 hours piecemealing a bunch of information from multiple sources?
Or would you rather learn from ONE person who has been where you are now? Selling on Amazon has made us a full-time income for over 9 years now. So we know what we are talking about!
We've now helped thousands of students complete the training as well. In fact, you'll be able to meet them inside of our students' only private Facebook Group 🙂
Ready to get started? Join us here: Amazon Boot Camp
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I would like to get started but I am trying to find out if I sale products in every state that I will have to file tax returns in each state. What do we expect at the end of the year when it comes to filing tax returns? Do we file for each state we sold items in, plus the state we live in and the state that holds our inventory (nexus)?
Some people have said it is necessary to register for sales tax when doing fba. Is this the case? If so does that cost as well?
You will want to check with your CPA for this. There is no cost for registering though 🙂
Hi my name is Ana
I just wanted to thank you for this article, very easy to understand.
Thank God I found you, I was getting a headache watching you tube videos about the subject. Thanks
Is there a way to buy from wholesalers and ship the product directly to Amazon so they can do the rest? Is this possible? If it is, what are some good places or websites to buy from?
It is possible, but not something I have experience with. You can get more information about the wholesale business model here.
Thanks for the article. I would say $1 for a box is pretty expensive. Are there places we can get boxes for cheaper. Definitely big boxes cost more than $1 but what about something that can fit a cell phone.
I am talking specifically about large shipping boxes here 🙂 You can check uline.com for smaller boxes that you are looking for though.
I had a different question about boxes. My Dad gave me tons of boxes from his job when we moved. They have writing on the side sometimes. Like part numbers or logos. Is that ok to use for sending to Amazon? When you say clean, do you mean no rips or messed up boxes?
By clean, we mean literally not dirty. So, no spilled liquid stains or dust from something previous.
My local post office supplies shipping boxes free of charge. Of course, once your box has been filled, you will pay for shipping.
this would end up costing more for shipping to Amazon than using their service.
I see both a USB scanner and a Bluetooth scanner in the list of tools that you use. What is the difference? When would you use each one?
The USB scanner is used at home with the computer to list items on Amazon. The Bluetooth scanner is used when scanning in stores and is connected via Bluetooth to our phones.
When checking your recommended tools, I found the cost was way more than I anticipated. I only have $800 to begin my business (which will have to pay for education, supplies, and inventory). Is that going to be enough?
I Brittany, it is enough. You can really start with any amount 🙂 I would make sure to just get the very basics when starting out. None of the fancy extras 🙂
So does Amazon take out a fee out of your profits? Do I price my own items to be sold on Amazon? And when do you know these items have sold? Also do i get a check or do i set up a Paypal account to get paid once all of these items are sold on my FBA Amazon account???
Amazon does take out fees on each item that you sell. You can check out the Fees They Charge here. You would set up direct deposit by linking your Amazon seller account to your bank account.
I don’t understand why you need a printer and labels, when your using ‘fullfillment by amazon’? It is my understanding when doing FBA that Amazon does all of that for you, so you can free up your time running your busines.
You do need to send your products to Amazon, that is why you need a printer and labels.
I am FBM seller generating $30000 permonth on amazon and other platform.but I am sick of customer services which cost me 40% of time.I am considering transfer my main business to FBA, that’s how I found your blog, very informative, thank you!
just subscribed your list, 5 must have tool is cool!
Does your videos teach people how to sell on Amazon as a “middle person”? Meaning selling products from say WalMart through your Amazon account?
the strategy that we teach is called retail arbitrage. Buying locally or online from major retailers. Then selling them on Amazon.
Hello my name is david im loveing what i see,and im intersted in your Boot Camp on how you teach Retail Arbitrage, but do u teach on how to Private Labelling aswell.
we do not teach private label 🙂
Thank you! I read that the need/requirement for a laser printer had something to do with the labels possibly smudging or rubbing off (before arriving at Amazon???), so do I need to do anything other than print them off and use them as normal before I send them?
Is it necessary to have a LASER printer (at least, in the beginning)? We have an HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus printer, which works great for us, but I ‘ve read that a LASER printer is necessary. I don’t know that I can afford another printer right now, along with the other tools needed, but I want to start off right and not have my shipments rejected by Amazon.
You can use that to start with 🙂