How to Start an Amazon Business with $0 Budget
Are you interested in starting an Amazon business but think you need thousands of dollars or a big warehouse to get started? Think again! With a small startup budget, you can start making money on Amazon. In this article, we'll show you how to start an Amazon business with $0 and make a profit.
Table of Contents
1. Sign up for a free Amazon seller account
2. Get free inventory to sell
3. Scan the barcode and check the sales rank
4. Box up the profitable books and ship them to Amazon
5. Consider going to local thrift stores
6. Start leveraging the amount of money you're already making
7. Sell name brand products that people already want to buy
8. Use Retail Arbitrage to find higher ROI products
9. Scale your Amazon business with online Arbitrage
10. The ultimate free resource for starting a legit Amazon business
Sign up for a free Amazon seller account
The first step in starting an Amazon business is to sign up for a free Amazon seller account. Later on, you may want to get a paid Amazon seller account, but for now, the free account will suffice. With the free account, you pay a dollar per item that you sell. With the professional account, you pay $40 a month. If you're starting your business with $0, make sure you don't forget to switch to the professional plan after a while. Getting your account approved can take up to a couple of weeks, so in the meantime, start getting free inventory to sell in your business.
Get free inventory to sell
To get free inventory, post something on Facebook that looks like this: "Looking for used books in good condition. Willing to pick up." There are tons of people out there who have a bunch of old books that they're not using and just want to get rid of. Since you have $0 to start, you need to be willing to put in a little bit of elbow grease, and used books are the best way to do work that other people usually aren't willing to do.
Scan the barcode and check the sales rank
Once you have a used book, scan the barcode and check the sales rank. Ideally, the sales rank should be under 1 million, and the book should be generally about $10 to $12 at least in used condition. If you're ever unsure if you can actually make money, you can always click the fee calculator and punch in your potential cost of purchase. If you're ever buying books, you can go ahead and pencil that in on your cost of purchase, and it's going to tell you what your total profit would be.
Box up the profitable books and ship them to Amazon
Once you've found profitable books, box them up, and ship them off to Amazon. This is the only point in the process where paying is truly inevitable. It's about 30 cents a pound, so if you get 10 lb of books and send them to Amazon, it'll cost you a few bucks. Once you've done that, the books are going to pay for all the shipping and everything you need moving forward.
Consider going to local thrift stores
If you want to expand your inventory, consider going to local thrift stores. This is what the author did when they started their business with about $1,500. They couldn't make their own product or do wholesale, so they literally just drove around thrift store to thrift store. Selling used books is a great way to make your first $500 to $1,000, but don't get stuck selling used books for too long.
Start leveraging the amount of money you're already making
Once you've made a few dollars picking up free books, start leveraging the amount of money you're already making. Sell name brand products that people already want to buy on Amazon. When the author started selling books on Amazon, they had no clue that people like you and I can sell big name brands like Nike, Lego, Olay, and really any brand that you want to sell if you can find it profitably.
Use Retail Arbitrage to find higher ROI products
Retail Arbitrage is a great way to find higher ROI products that are already named brand. You can buy multiple units at the store, so you're not just spending $1 on random books here and there. Eventually, even Retail Arbitrage going out to these stores is going to reach a period where you just can't scale anymore. You can only scan so many barcodes on the shelf.
Scale your Amazon business with online Arbitrage
The last phase of your Amazon business that you started with $0 is where you can really start to scale your Amazon business. This is the business that the author still runs today. They started with used books and have been able to grow that into a business selling name brand products. Online Arbitrage is a great way to scale your business. You can usually buy as much as you need versus the other models where you're limited in terms of when you find a winning product.
The ultimate free resource for starting a legit Amazon business
If you're looking to start a legit Amazon business, the author made the ultimate free resource for you. It's over 3 hours of videos, some spreadsheets, including over 1,800 ASINs that you can use to automatically get approved to sell different name brands, and a free Discord community so you can interact with other Amazon sellers.
Highlights
- You can start an Amazon business with $0.
- Selling used books is a great way to make your first $500 to $1,000.
- You can sell big name brands like Nike, Lego, Olay, and really any brand that you want to sell if you can find it profitably.
- Retail Arbitrage is a great way to find higher ROI products that are already named brand.
- Online Arbitrage is a great way to scale your business.
FAQ
Q: Can I really start an Amazon business with $0?
A: Yes, you can start an Amazon business with $0 by selling used books and leveraging the amount of money you're already making.
Q: How do I find profitable books to sell?
A: Post something on Facebook that looks like this: "Looking for used books in good condition. Willing to pick up." Once you have a used book, scan the barcode and check the sales rank.
Q: Can I sell big name brands on Amazon?
A: Yes, you can sell big name brands like Nike, Lego, Olay, and really any brand that you want to sell if you can find it profitably.
Q: What is Retail Arbitrage?
A: Retail Arbitrage is a great way to find higher ROI products that are already named brand. You can buy multiple units at the store, so you're not just spending $1 on random books here and there.
Q: How do I scale my Amazon business?
A: The last phase of your Amazon business that you started with $0 is where you can really start to scale your Amazon business. Online Arbitrage is a great way to scale your business.
