There is no doubt that you can find some really cool things on Amazon. They offer
But just what can you sell on Amazon? It is true that there are some limitations on what can be sold on the platform. However, most legitimate offerings that fall within all applicable laws can usually be sold on Amazon. Amazon sellers should be aware that there may be some caveats such as warnings or specific language or policies that must be included depending on applicable regulations.
If you want to get started making money with Amazon, you might be wondering what you should sell. If you only have a few unique items of your own, you might be looking for other things to sell on Amazon to boost your income. If that is the case, this guide is for you. We are going to go through everything you need to know to find and sell products on Amazon, step by step.
Let’s start by looking at what products you can sell on Amazon.
Rules That Govern What to Sell on Amazon
While Amazon makes it easy for anyone to become an Amazon Seller, there are some rules that govern what you can sell on Amazon, as well as how you can sell it. There are some limitations of which you should be aware. Details are complex, but you can check out these resources to see if the products you want to sell fall within the rules.
- Amazon Seller Policies and Seller Code of Conduct — This regulates how you sell your products online.
- Restricted products — This document shows products that either cannot be sold on Amazon or can only be sold when certain requirements are met. There are also some links here to get additional information for particular product categories with limitations.
- Requirements and restrictions — This is a complete list of the product categories you can sell on Amazon. There are also links to additional information for particular categories with specific requirements.
- General Listing Restrictions — This is a quick list of some of the restrictions placed on product listings within specific categories, or for specific products. The most commonly sold items are listed here, but there are also links to additional information and other categories.
What Are the Best Products to Sell on Amazon?
There are a lot of factors to what products will sell the best on Amazon. Determining the best products to sell requires looking at the entire picture, not just a few statistics. There are 3 things to consider when determining the best products to sell on Amazon — the product categories shopped most frequently, the products that offer the highest profit margins, and what to sell on Amazon to make money with the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program.
What to sell on Amazon — the most popular product categories
If you are embarking on your first online store from scratch, looking at the most popular product categories is a good place to start. Amazon provides a listing, updated hourly, of the Amazon best sellers products and categories. The most popular categories are not necessarily the most profitable, but knowing what categories are trending might give you other ideas as well.
Currently, the most popular product categories are:
- Toys, games, and puzzles
- Electronics like video games and cameras
- Books
- Clothing, shoes, and accessories
- Household and pet needs
These product categories are always popular, not just around the holidays. If you want to choose products that will be purchased
What are the best products to sell on Amazon — high-profit products
The most popular products to sell aren’t necessarily the ones that will earn you the most money. The most profitable products to sell are those that are both in a trending product category and have a low cost of goods sold.
What is the cost of goods sold? Your costs for the goods you sell encompasses more than just the price you pay for the products initially. It also includes certain expenses such as shipping fees, storage fees, and other costs incurred while selling the products. If you’re not familiar with this term, here is a comprehensive definition from Investopedia.
Currently, the most profitable products to sell on Amazon are:
- Books — whether digital or print, books have the lowest cost of goods sold
- Office supplies — This is one of the least costly and highest profit product categories, made even more popular by the
work-from-home movement. - Clothing, shoes, accessories, and apparel — personalized products particularly are in high demand and a great option for the creative who wants to start selling products on Amazon.
- Electronics like video games and cameras can be profitable through retail arbitrage (more on that in a bit)
If you need more product ideas to sell online, visit our database of profitable products to sell.
The best products to sell on Amazon FBA
Amazon offers a service to sellers that allows you to sell products online without the hassles of shipping out after sales are made. Fulfillment by Amazon does come with some fees, but overall it can be much cheaper than paying for your own retail or warehouse space.
If you only sell products online, or if you only sell products sourced through retail arbitrage or private label, Amazon FBA might be the way to go. The most profitable products for those using Fulfillment by Amazon are:
- Books and office supplies — This is where Amazon started, and it is still the place to begin if you want to start selling online right away.
- Products that cost between $18 to $50 perform the best with Amazon FBA
- Small and lightweight items to sell on Amazon come with cheaper shipping and lower storage fees
- Durable items that won’t be easily damaged during shipping
As mentioned above, FBA does come with its fees, and one of these to keep careful attention to is
The amount of time can vary depending on the product category you are selling in, but they are expensive regardless. You need to make sure your products are selling well, or
Amazon FBM
There is also the option of selling on Amazon, but fulfilling the orders yourself. This is known as Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM). There are pros and cons to doing it this way. The primary benefit is that you can save quite a bit on expensive Amazon fees as part of your sales. However, the major downside is that you will be covering all shipping costs and have to handle it all yourself.
The Amazon algorithm does tend to push FBA products to the front and center more commonly than FBM items. Additionally, many Amazon shoppers are members of Amazon Prime, which can give them additional discounts and
If you have an extensive catalog, FBM can be beneficial for products that have a low sales velocity. This simply means that they don’t sell a lot of units daily. In these cases, having an FBM listing gives an option for those who really want it without having to deal with storage fees.
How to Find Products to Sell on Amazon
If you aren’t going to manufacture your own product to sell, you need to find other products to sell on Amazon. There are a few different ways that you can get these products, but before you jump in with a supplier make sure that the product you are choosing to sell on Amazon will make money.
There are a few things you should consider while doing your product research to determine what items you will sell. Get a basic idea of your desired product category to narrow your search or you will be overwhelmed with options. In addition to the points described in the next section, you should keep in mind that:
- You will have to promote your store, so make sure you choose a product category for a target market or common trending topics with which you are already familiar. This will make blogs and social media marketing much more effective.
- Look at the shipping costs and requirements and choose the one that is easy to ship. If you are considering Amazon FBA, compare DIY shipping with Amazon’s shipping and storage fees. These are in addition to your Amazon selling fees, which are applicable to everyone but may vary based on the products offered.
- Read customer reviews for any products or brands you will be getting from other retailers or manufacturers to make sure you have a viable and quality product to sell.
- Check out the listicles on best Amazon products (for consumers) for more product ideas.
Let’s start the breakdown with where to get products to sell on Amazon, then we’ll get into how to conduct effective product research.
Online and retail arbitrage vs wholesalers
Most people have heard of wholesalers, and upon reading a description of retail arbitrage may mistakenly believe that the two are the same. There is actually a very important difference between the two. Wholesale means that you are buying directly from the manufacturer, while retail arbitrage refers to buying the products from another
Retail arbitrage (sometimes called online arbitrage) is a practice in which you source your inventory by purchasing a popular item at a deep discount from a retailer, either online or
Both retail arbitrage and wholesale sources come with no worry about rights infringements, as the items are already labeled for resale. Going through a wholesaler gives you the biggest profit margins because you are getting the items at cost. Even if you sell them for a higher amount, you can undercut the competition and still make money.
On the other hand, the advantage of using retail arbitrage is that you don’t have to buy large quantities to resell items. Since you’re getting your products at a deeply discounted price from another retailer, you can buy whatever they have in stock, or whatever you can afford at the time. This makes it the perfect way to scale up an ecommerce business using Amazon.
Private label products with your branding
Private label products are items that are not sold by the manufacturer. These items are sold to individual brands who then remarket them as their own products. Some of the most common private label products are:
- Water bottles
- Party games
- Gadgets and electronics
- Phone accessories
- Clothing
- Snacks and drinks
Make your own personalized gifts to sell on Amazon
Making your own personalized gifts or novelties to sell on Amazon is similar to both retail arbitrage and private label. Most sellers who personalize items purchase plain
The thing to remember here is that you cannot personalize items with trademarked or licensed artwork or branding. For example, Amazon will not allow you to sell a coffee mug with Taz from Looney Toons printed on it, even if you rearranged it and added your own logos or catchphrases. Make sure that you stay within Amazon’s policies for rebranded or personalized items.
How to Conduct Effective Product Research
Knowing about the most popular products and finding profitable categories is a place to start, but for most
Browsing product listings on Amazon can give you some great product ideas, as well as an average price range, but product research goes beyond this. It also includes:
- Keyword research — What products get the most search volume? However, make note that when it comes to advertising, higher search volume keywords will be more expensive per click. So, be sure to review the
cost-per-click amounts for various keywords as well. This can help to estimate what your advertising budget will be to compete in that space. - Research about your competition — Low competition for a unique item or emerging product category means you can grab more of the market. Take a look through their reviews to see what people like about competitor products and what they don’t. This also means researching the keywords that your competitors are going after. Your competition can be one of the best sources of key data for selling on Amazon.
- Topic research — What do people want to read? Can you deliver to gain traffic and sales?
It might seem that product research isn’t necessary if you are selling products from your own brand, or if you are using retail arbitrage alone to source your products. But there are still some things you will need to know no matter how you get your inventory.
Luckily, there are some great research tools available to the masses.
Best research tools
Amazon Sellers are a very diverse group, with each seller facing their own blend of common circumstances. Extensive product research may not be necessary for most retail arbitrage businesses, but some research will still be required.
- Google Trends — This comprehensive market research tool gives you additional synonyms and phrases related to your niche or target market based on what is currently trending. It’s pretty straightforward and can be used for
location-specific marketing as well. - Google Keyword Planner — This keyword research tool is really important, but it can’t be utilized by everyone. Although the tool is free, you must have an active Google Ads account. You must also set up at least one ad campaign, although you don’t need to actually run it to take advantage of the keyword tool.
- Jungle Scout — This popular Amazon product research tool is suitable for most Amazon beginning or intermediate sellers.
- AMZ Scout Pro — If you want to use Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), this is the tool for you. They also offer a free version strictly for product research called AMZ Base for those who are just starting out selling on Amazon.
- Helium 10 — Helium 10 is a comprehensive Amazon selling tool that can help you do almost anything you would need for an Amazon store. It is one of the more expensive services, but if you need more features you can save by paying for only one SaaS.
- Keepa — This is an Amazon price tracker, perfect for making sure you have competitive prices. It will even notify you of a sudden price drop so that you can react accordingly.
Let Ecwid Help You Easily Manage Your Amazon Store
In fact, if you want to manage inventory in an online store as well as within Amazon, Ecwid can work seamlessly with that platform, as well as the accompanying tools. Whether the help you need is within Ecwid’s services or other apps, we will always strive to give you the best tools for your Amazon business.
If you want to learn more about running a successful online business on Amazon or any other platform, check out the Ecwid Academy. You can also browse our other blog posts for a wealth of information on everything you want to know about ecommerce. We wish you the best of luck with your new ecommerce adventure!
