When I started researching what to sell on Amazon in 2017 and how to go about it, I put out feelers to see which products Amazon sellers recommend. I received few responses, but that’s no surprise. After all, what successful Amazon seller is in a hurry to give away their profit-turning secrets?
But I did get several good product recommendations and category ideas, along with quite a bit of sound advice. All of it confirmed what I already knew about deciding what to sell on the Amazon marketplace:
Success on Amazon isn’t luck, it’s science.
But luckily Amazon itself provides you with plenty of data to help predict if certain products are likely to bring in profits. And if you don’t have a product starting point, Amazon also gives you to the tools to search for products that might be worth pursuing. Best of all, you can do all of this research for free, and before ever spending a dime on stock.
As of 2016, Amazon accounts for nearly half, 43% to be exact, of all online purchases in the US, as reported by Internet Retailer.
Why not try to capture some of those dollars yourself? In this guide, we’ll show you how to research promising products to sell on Amazon. Then we’ll explore advice and tips from several successful Amazon sellers. And last, we’ll look at places where you can source products to sell on Amazon.
Speaking of dollars: Amazon only pays its sellers every two weeks. To avoid cash flow problems, you’ll want to try Payability. Payability provides next-day payouts of your Amazon earnings for just a 2% fee, and you can even earn 2% back on purchases, making it a very cost effective way to cover expenses and stay stocked up. Click here to check it out.
How to Discover Profitable Items to Sell on Amazon
Without any selling experience, can you find products that are likely to be profitable and just start selling on Amazon? Yes you can! And Amazon gives you much of the data you need to get started.
But before we dive into what Amazon’s product listing details can tell you, we need to look at what makes an item profitable for Amazon sellers. From ship weight, to sturdiness, to category popularity and competition, there are many factors to consider. Your best bet is to identify a product that meets most, if not all, of these criteria.
Product Specifications: The Salable & Shippable Factors
Keep the following factors in mind to be sure products you’re considering can bring in profits after your costs: wholesale price, shipping costs, and Amazon seller fees. Products with the following specs are a good place to start:
- Target sale price between $10 & $50
- Cost is 25% to 35% of your target sale price
- Lightweight, easy and cheap to ship: 2-3 lbs. max, including packing materials and box
- Simple, unbreakable items that won’t break during shipping or in use
- Evergreen items, meaning they’re not seasonal or holiday-specific
- Superior quality compared to the competition
- Expansion opportunities into complementary products
You can keep your shipping costs down by using Stamps.com as your shipping software. It integrates directly with Amazon, so it automatically imports your orders. Then, Stamps.com lets you select the best shipping method based on price and delivery speed, and emails your customers their tracking information. Click here to start a 4-week trial and get $5 in free postage.
The Competitive Environment on Amazon
In order to make money, an item that’s profitably priced and easy to ship still must be in-demand and easily found by Amazon shoppers. Here are key factors that indicate whether or not a product has enough demand, and not too much competition, to be profitable. We’ll explain these key points in further detail below:
- Products aren’t being sold by big brand names or major Amazon sellers
- Similar items have an Amazon Best-Seller Rank (BSR) of 5000 or lower in the main category
- Items can be searched and listed under multiple keywords and product categories
- Top product keywords have more than 100,000 monthly searches
- Similar product listings have less than 50 customer reviews
Keyword research is vital for remaining competitive on Amazon, especially with many sellers selling similar products. Sellics is an all-in-one Amazon software that offers a free keyword research tool. It shows you exactly which keywords potential customers search when looking for a product like yours. You can then add those keywords to your Amazon product description to optimize your results, or you can start a 14-day free trial using Sellics’ software to optimize and scale your Amazon store. Click here to use Sellics’ keyword research tool.
What Amazon Product Listings Can Tell You
Every Amazon product page is a goldmine of information, and several nuggets of valuable information appear under the product description. This lists under the product image, but above the customer reviews, on Amazon’s product pages.
Source: Amazon
How Can You Use this Information to Spot Products to Sell on Amazon?
Let’s see what the product description tells us about this item: a lightweight fashion scarf that can be sold and worn year-round which, to start, meets our evergreen item criteria.
A. Item Pricing
This item’s list price is $24, but is listed On Sale at $13.99. Even on sale, it’s over our $10 target minimum. There’s a good chance that this seller uses a popular Amazon pricing strategy that make items “On Sale” all of the time. You can check out the seller’s other listings to see if they’re all “On Sale.” If so, you’ll know this is how they always price their items.
“Buyers on Amazon are looking for good deals, so if you can offer them a fair discount, your product will sell well. I use a classic trick of artificially high price and a big discount. For example, I set regular price at $34.99 and sale price at $18.99. Buyers like to feel that they’re getting a good deal, and my products sell much better this way.”
— Paulina Masson, Amazon FBA Seller & Founder of Shopkeeper
“Buyers on Amazon are looking for good deals, so if you can offer them a fair discount, your product will sell well. I use a classic trick of artificially high price and a big discount. For example, I set regular price at $34.99 and sale price at $18.99. Buyers like to feel that they’re getting a good deal, and my products sell much better this way.”To be profitable competing at $13.99, you need to find this type of item at a wholesale cost of around $3.50 to $4.90 to meet our cost = 25%-35% of the sales price criteria. Note total wholesale cost also includes your cost of shipping items from your manufacturer.
One way to determine an item’s potential profitability is by using a barcode scanner when product sourcing. InventoryLab is an Amazon software that offers solutions for Amazon sellers, including Scoutify, an app that turns your mobile device into a barcode scanner. After scanning an item, it shows how often the item sells along with its historical profit margin, and it compares sales in other online marketplaces. Click here to start your 30 day free trial.
B. Item Weight & Dimension
This is useful to see if an item is costly to ship. The weight of this item is just 3.2 ounces, which is light enough to ship inexpensively via US Postal First-Class mail. Its size seems large at 9x7x1, but since it’s a scarf, we know it can fold and ship in a lightweight mailer envelope. So it meets our cheap-to-ship criteria. Also, since it’s a scarf, it won’t break in shipping, which meets our easy-to-ship criteria.
C. Item Sales Ranking for Overall & Specific Niche Categories
This information tells us several things. First, this scarf’s Best-Seller Ranking in its largest category, Clothing>Men’s>Shops, is #2709, well under the BSR 5000 that we look for.
Then in two niche categories it really ranks high. It’s in the Top 100 Women’s Scarves and in the Top 10 Men’s Scarves. This item really is a mover in its categories. Why? Probably because it offers so many color choices. That’s something to keep in mind. Customers like options.
Another reason for its success is that it has appeal to men and women, and therefore multiple keyword opportunities for both Men’s Scarves and Women’s Scarves. That makes it a far more marketable, and salable, item compared to products that target just men or just women. That’s another thing to keep in mind when thinking about what to sell on Amazon.
And speaking of keywords, Amazon doesn’t give you a great tool to research the number of keyword searches for a product, but this website does: MerchantWords
Source: Merchant Words
As you can see above, in a basic search of the keyword women’s scarf, there are more than 880,000 monthly searches on Amazon. So this item meets our 100,000+ keyword search criteria. And that’s just one possible keyword for this item!
Merchant Words is just one of many excellent Amazon seller tools that can streamline your keyword research and much, much more. In fact, there’s a huge assortment of cost-effective apps and tools designed to make every aspect of selling on Amazon more efficient and profitable. Download Smart Inventory Management for Increased Profitability from Payability and you’ll get tips on inventory management, legal tools, cash flow, and more!
D. Customer Ratings
This item is well over our target of 20 to 30 customer ratings. This is important because Amazon uses customer ratings as a ranking criteria in shopping search results. This can be a negative for a potential item since it’s hard to beat a listing with so many high rankings. But you can look at this another way, too.
500+ reviews is a very respectable number. In fact, you’ll see that many of the Top 100 Sellers in Scarves all have well over 50 reviews, as shown below. That tells you scarves are hot, and lots of people search and shop Amazon for them. Yes, you might face competition, but there’s a lot of demand, too.
Source: Amazon
If a niche category Top 100 is filled with products having 50 or fewer reviews, that indicates there’s not a lot of demand from buyers. Sometimes selling in a hot category with some competition is better than having the top items in a low-demand category.
— Paulina Masson, Amazon FBA Seller & Founder of Shopkeeper
Speaking of top sellers and high-demand items, below are links to Amazon’s Top 100 Best Seller pages and other sales tracking pages. These are great places to get ideas for what to sell on Amazon.
Amazon Best Sellers – Top 100 in All Categories
This is the running average of the Top 100 best-selling items on Amazon on any given day. If you’re serious about selling on Amazon, this is an interesting page to watch. From this page, you can drill down into the Top 100 best sellers for countless categories and subcategories. This is really useful for researching best-selling niche items.
Source: Amazon
From this page, you can click on the tabs at the top to see the following:
- Hot New Releases
- This tracks new Amazon product listings that have a trending upswing in sales. Like the other pages, you can drill down to see the Hot New Releases in specific categories and subcategories. This is useful for seeing what’s new and popular in niche categories.
- Movers & Shakers
- This page shows you the items that are quickly moving up in BSR in all categories. This can indicate a hot trend or seasonal sales. If you’re serious about selling on Amazon, this is an interesting page to watch. Like the Best Sellers pages, you can drill down to see Movers & Shakers in specific categories and subcategories. This is useful for finding hot niche items.
- Most Wished For
- This tracks the item that registered Amazon users are saving to their wish lists. It doesn’t indicate purchases, but still gives you an idea of what customers like.
- Gift Ideas
- This tracks the products that registered Amazon users are purchasing as gifts, as indicated on the order checkout. This page is a good indicator of best sellers within niche categories for many specialty, seasonal, and holiday-related items.
Now you have some research tools in your Amazon selling arsenal, but the possibilities are still enormous. How do you spot a golden nugget of opportunity? What potential products should you research first? Let’s narrow the field by taking a look at what seasoned Amazon sellers find profitable.
What Do Others Successfully Sell on Amazon?
So what do sellers, large and small, find profitable on Amazon? The answers may surprise you. From live crickets, to private-label brands, to yard sale finds, successful Amazon sellers move all sorts of products through Amazon at a profit. Here’s what several have to say:
Self-manufactured & Handmade Items
— Andrew Jacobs, JAM Paper & Envelope
“The best products for a small business to sell on amazon are products the business makes themselves. If the business doesn’t make any of their own items, then they should focus on items that aren’t that popular – where they will have less competition. A small business on Amazon needs to compete on items that aren’t that competitive. And don’t focus on items too cheap. The fees will end up eating all of your profit.”Original Games
— Brad Hines, Startup Advisor, Digital Marketing Strategist, BradfordHines & YumDomains
“I am the creator of the kid’s tangram game Crickets?!?
— Jeff Neal, Amazon Seller, The Critter Depot
“I sell live crickets on Amazon. Although Customized & Unique Items
— Jeff Moriarty, Tanzanite Jewelry Designs
“I have been doing Amazon selling for clients for over 5 years now. This is what I have learned. Do not sell a commodity item. Too competitive and Amazon will just eventually sell it direct when it sees how popular it is. Sell something customizable and unique. Amazon is now making it easier to customize items for sellers. Jewelry is one area where the margins are still good and very little competition on specific items.”Sporting Goods & Consumable Items
“Sporting goods is a category which I am successful in selling. Also, consumable products are difficult to replicate and have good margins because of repeat purchase. The price point which works best is $15-$50. Niche items sell better now because there is too much competition for mass based products.”
— Rohit Malhotra, Amazon Seller
Resale & One-of-a-Kind Items
— Sonja Fisher, Amazon Seller
“I sell stuff I don’t want anymore around the house or products I get that look new at garage sales/estate sales. I find the best products that sell on Amazon are rare or unique books or other items that there are not tons of copies of. The best price point is to go a little lower than the lowest price. If you have good traffic the minute you drop the price you get customers wanting to purchase. Niche products definitely sell better and also you can gain more profit on them.”Private Label & Private Brand Items
— Paulina Paulina Masson, Amazon FBA Seller & Founder of Shopkeeper
I’m starting to see a trend here. It looks like small sellers find success selling niche items, customizable products, one-of-a-kind pieces, unique jewelry, and even live bugs. Overall, small sellers avoid competing against large volume sellers and Amazon itself on mass-market goods.
Of our respondents, only one focused his selling on mass-appeal products such as sporting goods and consumables. But remember the product research tips we covered earlier. Even within large categories, there are still plenty of ways to stand out within niche categories with unique items, private label, and self-branded goods.
So we’ve covered how to research profitable items and have seen what the pros have to say. Next let’s take a look at where you can source products to sell on Amazon.
Where to Source Products to Sell on Amazon
Once you do your product research and have an idea of what products to target, it’s time to start searching for product suppliers. Here are a few good places to start your search:
Alibaba
Source: Alibaba
Alibaba is a gold mine for finding inexpensive import suppliers for Amazon products. It also provides excellent resources to help you learn all about product sourcing and importing process. Learn how to get started sourcing imported products to sell on Amazon here.
Wholesale Buyers’ Markets and Dropshipping Catalogs
There are wholesale buyers’ markets and dropshipping catalogs that focus on every industry imaginable, from pet products, to healthy living, to hardware.
The most numerous and accessible markets and catalogs are those catering to home, kitchenwares, gift, fashion, baby, and accessories categories. Inventory Source is a supplier network and dropship automation software that connects sellers with dropship suppliers. After connecting you with a supplier, it automatically uploads products, syncs inventory and routes orders to most marketplaces, including Amazon. Click here to get started for free.
Here are some other major wholesale markets and catalogs that are worth a visit, especially if you’re seeking items in the home, garden, and fashion categories:
- Americas Mart — Atlanta
- NY NOW Wholesaler Gift & Home
- Windy City Gift & Home — Chicago
- Los Angeles Gift & Home
- LasVegas Market
Wholesale buyers’ markets and dropshipping catalogs are great places to find private-label opportunities, trending items, and new product releases for whatever you’d like to sell. Usually, in the case of wholesale buyers’ markets, you just need a DBA and state sales tax certificate to gain entry, but always contact the market office first. Many buyers’ markets require proof of business ownership, like a company check, and even pictures of a physical store or ecommerce website.
Who knows? If you do your research and seek out a great supplier, you might be the one who finds the next big thing on Amazon.
Don’t Forget About Order Fulfillment
Keep in mind that Fulfillment by Amazon isn’t your only fulfillment option for Amazon sales. If you are handling order fulfillment yourself, Stamps.com is a shipping software that makes it easier. It automatically imports orders from your Amazon account, selects the best shipping method based on price and delivery speed, and emails your customers their tracking information. Stamps.com also sends you a free shipping scale, so you can accurately weigh your packages, and calculate and print USPS-approved postage from your home computer. Click here to start a 4 week trial and get $5 in free postage.
The Bottom Line
Amazon accounts for nearly half of the online sales throughout the US and the world. Some categories and product lines have such competition they’re not worth considering. But plenty of profitable opportunities remain for sellers who are willing to do a little homework, such as:
- Seeking niche, unique, and even private-label type goods
- Conducting sales and competition research using Amazon’s own BSR data
- Considering high-demand categories, even with some competition
- Seeking products that appeal to many buyers, not just men or women
- Keeping product costs under 35% of the selling price so the item is profitable even after shipping costs and Amazon seller fees
- Selling items that are lightweight and unbreakable, therefore easy and inexpensive to ship
- Setting price points or using “On Sale” tactics that convert browsers into buyers
- Look to Amazon seller tools to streamline product research and profit analysis as you grow
It’s a lot of work at first, but clearly this process leads many sellers, both small and large, to profitable sales on Amazon. And remember, you can get your money even faster by using Payability‘s factoring services. So why not give it a try?
Global Metal Company Hardware
Hi Krista, nice to see your insightful post about selling online thru Amazon. I have an entirely different question here.
I own a manufacturing setup, Global Metal Company in India. As a mid-size manufacturer of brass hardware and decorative products (mostly in the price range $ 3~20), I often find it challenging to reach out to potential sellers who may wish to sell our products internationally thru Amazon. I do not wish to sell on Amazon myself in order to focus on our core competencies in manufacturing. What would be some good ways for manufacturers like us to find such sellers? Thanks!
Raheel A.
Krista Fabregas
Hi Raheel,
You can reach many Amazon sellers looking for products on international wholesaler networks like Alibaba, GlobalSources, and more localized networks like TradeKeyIndia. You can find many more by searching “international wholesale marketplaces.” This should get you started down the right path. Good luck!
Cheers,
Krista
ILONA ERST
I paid $800 USD for the “couching” online class that is run for 8 weeks, which gave me exactly same information. Jeez. THank you! Simple and clear. Wish I was a bit smarter to do my research 🙂
Krista Fabregas
Hi Ilona,
Well, thank you — I’m sorry you didn’t find us sooner! Those coaching classes really irk me because while there are best practices to follow, selling on Amazon isn’t rocket science. Taking the time to learn the ropes and having perseverance really are the keys to success. There’s no “proven formula” that I’ve found yet — especially since Amazon constantly changes its own rules and keeps everyone (even the sure-fire method coaches) on their toes. I hope you find something cool to sell and start digging into it yourself very soon! Good luck!
Cheers,
Krista
Ephy
Kriata, thank you for sharing such valuable information about setting up on Amazon. Finding that first product is really tricky but you have provided so much insight and made things so much easier. Thanks
Krista Fabregas
Hi Ephy,
I’m glad the article was helpful to you, good luck with your next steps!
Cheers,
Krista
Aldo
Hi, I just discovered this guide and my question is regarding the searching for a product. What do you make of products like junglescout, or unicorn smasher or amaze owl?
Krista Fabregas
Hi Aldo,
JungleScout is great, but I haven’t tried the others, so I can’t compare. There are so many Amazon seller tools on the market these days, it’s impossible to keep up with them all.
Cheers!
Krista
Anthony Wee
Can I know what are the places I can order goods to sell at amazon?
Krista Fabregas
Hi Anthony,
We list some places to start your search for ready-made products and manufacturers above, but you should also check out our article on working with private label product manufacturers. This is how many Amazon sellers come up with unique, self-branded products to sell on Amazon. I hope this helps, good luck!
Cheers,
Krista