How to make money on Amazon: every route Amazon offers, and what each one really takes

Amazon's own guide to making money with Amazon lists eleven ways, from specializing in a niche to affiliate marketing and livestreams, and says some need no selling at all while others need little upfront investment. Add Amazon's other programs, such as delivery driving and publishing, and the options group into three families.

The first is selling physical products you stock: private label, wholesale, reselling, handmade and refurbished goods. The second is selling without inventory: dropshipping, print on demand merch and self-published books, where someone else produces or ships each order. The third is earning without selling: recommending products, creating content, or working for Amazon.

Selling physical products is the most direct route. Amazon says more than 60% of sales in its store come from independent sellers, most of them small and medium-sized businesses. The routes differ in where the product comes from and how much control you have.

Amazon lists several inventory-free routes: dropshipping, Merch on Demand and Kindle Direct Publishing. Their appeal, in Amazon's words, is low startup cost, less financial risk and a quick start, because nothing is bought before it sells.

Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP, is Amazon's self-publishing platform for ebooks and print books. Amazon's guide to selling without inventory walks through the steps: create a KDP account, check the manuscript for errors with Kindle Previewer, format it for Kindle readers, then upload your manuscript as a Word document, PDF, plain text, MobiPocket or ePub file.

Next you add the book's details and metadata so customers can find it in Amazon search, add a clear cover that stands out, and select Save and Publish. After Amazon approves it, the book goes on sale. Print books are printed on demand when customers order, so you hold no stock.

You do not need to sell products to earn with Amazon. Amazon's own list includes affiliate marketing, the Influencer program and Amazon Live, and Amazon also pays people to deliver packages and lets agencies sell services to sellers.

Several routes are often described as passive income: affiliate links, merch designs and self-published books. They can keep earning after the work is done, but the work comes first. A book needs writing and promotion, a design needs to find buyers, and affiliate content needs an audience that trusts your recommendations, often built on a blog or social media.

Selling products is the least passive route, even with FBA handling shipping. Product research, listings, advertising, reorders and customer questions continue every week. The trade is that it also has the most room to grow into a business.

Selling has a fee structure every seller should know before counting profit. Amazon's pricing page lists two selling plans: Individual, at $0.99 per item sold, and Professional, at $39.99 a month. On top of the plan, every sale pays a referral fee that depends on the category, charged as a percentage of the total price or a minimum amount, whichever is greater.

Fulfillment is the next cost: FBA fees if Amazon ships, or your own labels and packing if you ship. Then product cost, advertising and returns. Profit is what is left, and it is the only number that answers the question of making money.

Amazon publishes encouraging averages: independent sellers in the US averaged more than $375,000 in annual sales in its store in 2025, and more than 75,000 passed $1 million. Those are sales, not profit, and averages pulled up by the largest sellers. A new seller's first year usually looks very different.

The routes also pay on different timelines. Associates commissions arrive about 60 days after the month they are earned. Selling products ties money up in stock and launch advertising before profit appears. Flex pays for hours worked. Choose a route whose timeline you can afford.

Amazon's guide names nine strategies to scale a selling business. They are the same levers our other guides cover in depth, and most depend on registering a brand first.

Amazon provides most of the tools a new seller needs for free. The Amazon Seller app lets you track orders, add or update product listings and manage inventory from a phone. Product Opportunity Explorer shows unmet customer demand and seasonal trends. The Revenue Calculator shows fees and profit before you buy stock.