Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) lets you send your products to Amazon’s warehouses, where they handle storage, packing, shipping, and customer service on your behalf. Getting started involves setting up a seller account, choosing a sourcing method, finding profitable products, preparing your inventory, and shipping it to Amazon’s fulfillment centers. The whole process from account creation to your first sale can take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on how quickly you source products and get them listed.
Set Up Your Seller Account
You’ll register through Amazon Seller Central, which is the dashboard you’ll use to manage your entire business. Amazon offers two plan types: an Individual plan with no monthly fee but a $0.99 charge per item sold, and a Professional plan at $39.99 per month with no per-item fee. If you plan to sell more than 40 items a month, the Professional plan is cheaper. It also gives you access to advertising tools, bulk listing features, and the Buy Box, which is the default “Add to Cart” button on a product page.
To register, you’ll need your legal name, phone number, email address, and your business’s legal entity type. Amazon also requires your Social Security number or your business’s EIN (Employer Identification Number), a bank account for receiving deposits, and state tax ID information for the state where you have tax obligations.
Amazon verifies your identity during registration. If you’re a sole proprietor, you’ll submit a government-issued ID (passport or driver’s license) and possibly a Schedule C tax form or business license. If you operate as an LLC or corporation, you’ll need documents like your articles of incorporation, EIN confirmation, or a government-issued business license. Everyone also submits a point-of-contact ID, such as a driver’s license or passport. If your residential address doesn’t match the ID you provide, Amazon will ask for a utility bill or phone bill dated within the last 60 days.
The verification process can take a few days. Some sellers get approved within 24 hours, while others face additional document requests that stretch the timeline to a week or more.
Choose Your Sourcing Model
How you acquire products to sell shapes your entire business, from the capital you need to the risks you face. Three models dominate the FBA landscape.
Online and retail arbitrage means buying discounted products from retailers (online or in stores) and reselling them on Amazon at a higher price. This is the lowest-cost entry point. You can start with a few hundred dollars, and because you’re buying small quantities, a bad product pick won’t wipe you out. The downside is inconsistency: deals come and go, prices shift quickly, and you’re constantly hunting for new inventory. It’s a good way to learn the platform without risking much capital.
Wholesale involves purchasing products in bulk directly from manufacturers or authorized distributors, then reselling established brands on Amazon. Startup costs are higher because suppliers set minimum order quantities, often requiring $1,000 to $5,000 or more for initial orders. The payoff is more predictable inventory. The risk is capital-based: if a product doesn’t sell as expected, your money sits locked in unsold stock while storage fees accumulate.
Private label means creating your own branded product, typically manufactured overseas, and selling it under your own brand on Amazon. This requires the most upfront investment (often $2,000 to $10,000 for your first product run, including samples, manufacturing, branding, and shipping). It also takes the longest to launch. But you control your listing, your pricing, and your brand, which builds long-term value.
Find a Profitable Product
Product research is the step that separates profitable FBA sellers from those who lose money. You’re looking for products with strong, steady demand, manageable competition, and healthy profit margins after all Amazon fees are factored in.
Start with Amazon’s own Best Sellers lists to see what’s selling well across categories. Tools like Jungle Scout, Helium 10, or Keepa let you estimate monthly sales volumes, track price history, and analyze competition for specific products. Look for items with a Best Sellers Rank (BSR) that indicates consistent sales, not just a temporary spike from a viral trend.
Before committing to a product, calculate your landed cost: what you pay for the product plus shipping, customs duties (if importing), Amazon’s referral fee (typically 8% to 15% depending on the category), fulfillment fees, and storage fees. For a standard-size item under 4 ounces priced between $10 and $50, Amazon’s fulfillment fee runs around $3.73 per unit. Heavier or bulkier items cost significantly more. A small bulky item, for example, starts at $7.55 plus $0.38 for each additional pound. If your margins don’t leave room for these costs plus advertising spend, move on to another product.
Watch Out for Restricted Products and Brands
Not everything can be sold freely on Amazon. Certain categories require approval before you can list products in them, including grocery, beauty, jewelry, and health-related items. These are called “gated” categories, and unlocking them typically requires submitting invoices from authorized suppliers, product images, and sometimes safety documentation.
Individual brands can also be restricted. Major names like Nike, Lego, Adidas, and Under Armour are gated, meaning you need Amazon’s approval to sell them. Other brands, such as Apple, Braun, and Canon, carry even higher risk because their brand owners have filed intellectual property complaints against unauthorized resellers. Selling these products without authorization can result in listing removal, policy warnings, or account suspension.
Before sourcing any product, check whether it’s restricted. The easiest way is through the Amazon Seller App or the “Add a Product” feature in Seller Central. Search for the specific item, and Amazon will tell you whether you’re eligible to sell it or need to apply for approval. Do this before you spend money on inventory.
Prepare and Label Your Inventory
Amazon has strict packaging and labeling requirements. Every unit you send to a fulfillment center needs a scannable barcode. Most products use an FNSKU (Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit), which is Amazon’s unique barcode that ties the item to your seller account. You print these labels from Seller Central and apply them to each unit, covering any existing barcodes on the packaging.
Products must arrive at Amazon’s warehouse ready to sell. That means they need to be properly packaged so they won’t be damaged in transit or during storage. Items sold in sets must be bundled together. Fragile items need bubble wrap or protective packaging. Poly-bagged items must include a suffocation warning if the bag opening is larger than 5 inches. Amazon publishes detailed prep requirements for each product category in Seller Central.
If you don’t want to handle labeling and prep yourself, Amazon offers an FBA Label Service and FBA Prep Service for an additional per-unit fee. Some sellers also use third-party prep centers, which receive your inventory, inspect it, label it, and ship it to Amazon on your behalf.
Create a Shipping Plan and Send Inventory
Once your products are prepped and labeled, you create a shipping plan in Seller Central. This tells Amazon what you’re sending, how much of it, and where it’s coming from. The process works in six steps: set the quantity for each product, confirm how products should be prepared, label them, review the shipment details, choose your shipping method, and finalize.
To start, go to your Manage Inventory page, select the products you want to ship, and choose “Send/replenish inventory” from the action menu. You’ll confirm your ship-from address and specify whether your items are individually packed or case-packed (multiple identical units in a manufacturer’s case). Amazon then assigns your inventory to one or more fulfillment centers. You may be asked to split your shipment across multiple warehouses, which is normal.
For shipping, you can use Amazon’s partnered carriers (which offer discounted rates) or arrange your own freight. Small parcel shipments go via UPS or other carriers. Larger shipments can go as palletized freight via less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers. Amazon’s partnered rates are often the cheapest option for new sellers shipping smaller quantities.
Understand the Fee Structure
Amazon FBA involves several layers of fees, and understanding them is critical to staying profitable.
- Referral fees: A percentage of each sale, typically 8% to 15% depending on the product category. This is Amazon’s commission for giving you access to their marketplace.
- Fulfillment fees: A per-unit charge for picking, packing, and shipping your product. For standard-size items, this ranges from about $2.43 to $5 or more depending on weight and price tier. Bulky and oversized items start around $6.78 and climb steeply with weight. Starting April 17, 2026, Amazon is applying a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on top of base fulfillment fees.
- Monthly storage fees: Charged per cubic foot for inventory sitting in Amazon’s warehouses. Rates are higher during the fourth quarter (October through December) due to holiday season demand for warehouse space.
- Aged inventory surcharges: If your inventory sits unsold for more than 181 days, Amazon charges additional fees that increase the longer stock remains. This is why choosing products that sell consistently matters so much.
Before listing any product, use Amazon’s Revenue Calculator (available in Seller Central) to plug in your product’s selling price, cost of goods, and dimensions. It will estimate your per-unit profit after all fees.
Optimize Your Listing to Drive Sales
Your product listing is your storefront. A well-optimized listing ranks higher in Amazon’s search results and converts more browsers into buyers.
Your title should include the most important keywords a shopper would search for, along with your brand name, key features, size, and quantity. Bullet points should highlight benefits, not just features. Instead of “made of stainless steel,” say “stainless steel construction resists rust and lasts for years.” Your product description expands on the bullets and addresses common questions or concerns.
Product images are arguably the most important element. Amazon requires a main image with a pure white background. You get up to seven additional image slots, and you should use all of them: lifestyle photos showing the product in use, infographics highlighting dimensions and features, and close-up shots of important details. High-quality images reduce returns and increase conversion rates.
Backend search terms, which are hidden keywords you enter in Seller Central, help your product show up for relevant searches that aren’t in your visible listing. Include synonyms, alternate spellings, and related terms your customers might use.
Launch and Scale
Your first few sales are the hardest to get because new listings have no reviews and no sales history, which means Amazon’s algorithm doesn’t yet trust your product enough to rank it prominently. Most sellers use Amazon’s pay-per-click advertising (PPC) to generate initial visibility. Sponsored Products ads place your listing at the top of search results for keywords you choose, and you pay only when someone clicks.
Start with a modest daily ad budget of $10 to $20, targeting specific keywords related to your product. Monitor which keywords convert into sales and which just burn through your budget. Over time, as you accumulate reviews and sales history, your organic ranking improves and you can dial back ad spending.
Getting early reviews matters. Amazon’s Vine program lets you enroll new products and provide free units to trusted reviewers in exchange for honest reviews. Enrollment costs $200 per product but can jump-start your review count significantly. Outside of Vine, simply delivering a quality product with solid packaging naturally leads to organic reviews over time.
Once your first product is profitable and running smoothly, reinvest profits into additional products. Most successful FBA sellers build a portfolio of 5 to 20 products rather than relying on a single item. Each new product you add diversifies your revenue and reduces the risk of any one product’s performance dragging down your entire business.