With the COVID-19 pandemic so prevalent that it has crippled most conventional ways of doing business, many people are spending more time at home doing nothing. This is causing a lot of stress and anxiety on whether everything is going to go back to normal and allow people to go about their business or not. The honest answer to that is, no one really knows.

However, it is not a secret that most activities are now being done online, and that has presented priceless opportunities for both buyers and sellers to exploit this platform. Multinational companies like Amazon have cashed in on this opportunity by ensuring that it allows people like me and you to make money through its various e-commerce offerings.

There are a lot of ways to make money online, but Amazon always comes top of the list in many spheres. Have you ever wondered why? The company has grown its influence in many directions. That’s why it is in the top 10 most visited websites globally.

You will be definitely surprised that Amazon is no longer just about facilitating the buying and selling of products. The organization has growth opportunities through its acquisitions and thereby providing opportunities.

The main benefit of making money through Amazon.

Customer and Seller trust.

By nature, people tend to have a bit of trust in organizations that are well established, and Amazon is undisputedly one of them. Customers and sellers have faith in Amazon, and this trust has been earned over a significant number of years.

In addition to the trust, customers also have faith that Amazon has the capacity to keep their personal details safe when they transact. Transacting online requires high levels of security on transaction data, and Amazon has provided that over the years.

How you can make money on Amazon.

There are various ways to make money on Amazon, but we will focus on 15 of them.

1. Publish own books on Kindle Direct Publishing.

You can relate that the pandemic has resulted in many people having free time on their hands. Individuals with the enthusiasm of putting their thoughts or experiences in writing have had ample time to come up with articles or even books. Amazon’s Kindle Publishing is one of the best ways for your material to reach millions of readers on Amazon.

Remember that Amazon was initially established to cater to readers worldwide before it ventured into everything else. However, the global market for e-books never diminished, with prospects showing that it is likely to reach a value of USD$23.12 billion by 2026 from a USD$18.13 billion valuations in 2020. This doesn’t need a calculator to notice the growth.

To gain a lot of following, you will obviously need to be a creative writer who can capture the readers’ attention.

As a Kindle author, you will earn 70% of the purchase price for books priced between $2.99 and $9.99. For books outside that range, however, you earn 35% of the purchase price. Ideally, you earn more if your book is priced below $10. There is probably no better way of making books affordable for the readers than this.

Another way you may earn on Kindle is through the Kindle Unlimited program. The program basically rewards authors on the number of pages that will have been read by their readers. So if your material is so good, you will definitely earn more as readers will probably read more of your books.

2. Sell products on Amazon.

In recent years, Amazon has been famous as a platform facilitating e-commerce. Sellers have listed their products on the website, and buyers browse the same site to purchase those products. With the website attracting close to 50% of all product searches in the United States of America, it is beyond doubt that it is your biggest shot at an online business.

It, however, takes a robust entrepreneurial mind to start the business, which you can build over time. Research, in this case, is essential if you wish to venture into this type of business as you need to pick the right product. The right product in the sense that will it be profitable, and will the costs involved be bearable?

To get started, you will need to check on the Amazon website to be eligible to sell in your chosen category. This is because certain products first require approval before you can list them.

3. Sell Products with Amazon FBA.

Amazon’s FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) allows you to store your products in Amazon’s fulfilment centres, and they get to pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service post-purchase. This probably takes away a lot of burden from you and lets you focus on quality and volumes. We have identified this option separately because you will need to become an Amazon seller first before signing up, and not everyone requires this service.

This way of earning money is definitely suitable for people with the vision of moving large volumes. What you can do in this case, however, is to purchase wholesale products on other online shopping platforms such as Alibaba then ship them to Amazon’s fulfilment centre.

The main idea will be to sell the products at a higher price than you would have purchased them. The same precautions will be necessary for making sure that the products have good quality and have sufficient demand that will not result in you losing out on your investment.

FBA sellers are charged by units, depending on size and weight. A storage fee will also be charged per month for products that would not have been sold. That is why it is essential to factor in the nature of the product as well as the demand before starting.

4. Become an Affiliate Marketer.

Making money on Amazon does not always mean that you have to sell a particular product. People possess different skills, and if you have a marketing skill and have a significant following online, then you can make some extra income as an affiliate marketer.

Without selling any product, you will only be required to reach out to your audience and recommend Amazon products by providing links that will lead to the Amazon website. For each purchase made by following the affiliate link, you will earn a commission of between 4% and 10% of the purchase price.

Having that percentage as additional income certainly adds to whatever else you will be making through your website or blog. Think of it as a way of making extra money without breaking much sweat.

5. Retail and Online Arbitrage.

With retail arbitrage, you will have to approach retailers such as Walmart and buy discounted products that you will resale at a mark-up on Amazon. This will require a lot of research as you will be moving around in retail shops searching for cheap goods.

Most people in this trade may establish a niche probably by analysing trends and capitalizing on those opportunities.

Similarly, you may also venture into online arbitrage, which is similar to retail arbitrage. Online arbitrage, however, will involve taking advantage of discounts on online shopping platforms such as eBay and buy goods that you will resale on Amazon at a higher price.

6. Sell Professional Services on Amazon.

Amazon is not only a marketplace for tangible products. Amazon Services provides a similar platform for services as it does for physical products. Services available include:

• Home maintenance
• Events
• Education
• Business
• Home and beauty
• Dog walking

Businesses and freelancers are welcome to join the network, so if you have a skill that suits the categories on Amazon Services, then you can get yourself a job. The good thing is that you will not need any start-up fees or subscriptions. You will also not need advertising but may need to go through a background check. I am sure you can understand the danger it has on customers if they know nothing about you.

Make use of your skills, and Amazon Services will help connect you to where they are needed.

7. Sell your Products by using Amazon’s Private Brands Registry.

Competition exists in selling products, but prominent brands always stand out and give buyers that curious urge to try it out. To counter that competition, Amazon provides you with an opportunity to private label your products so that they stand out against the competition.

The whole idea is to encourage sellers to create their brands and differentiate them from other sellers. The seller, in this case, will have the ability to make changes to existing products to suit what the market needs and sell them as their own branded products.

Where you would come in as an individual is to be that person who can improve existing products through research, you do not necessarily have to be the manufacturer as there are already companies that can do that for you.

All you will need to do is outline product specifications to the manufacturer, including your brand name or packaging. Though it may be capital intensive, your research will have guided you to a market-ready product. This method probably works better if you also sign up for Amazon’s FBA so that you focus on product improvements and other value addition processes.

8. Merch by Amazon

Merch by Amazon is another way to make some money through Amazon without any physical inventory. This program mainly targets the individuals who can create awesome designs which can be used in different lines of merchandise, and then Amazon does the rest.

Buyers will make purchases of those designs printed on items such as hoodies, t-shirts, etc., and Amazon handles the printing process and ships the products to the buyers.

Signing up is pretty easy, and you will have to create your unique design, which you can upload on any merchandise. If you have that creative mind, you definitely need to try this out and earn extra money.

You might think that this is for professional designers only, but you are wrong. You can make use of free online designing tools such as Snapper and create t-shirt designs. Your worries are basically covered. All that is needed is your creativity.

9. Work virtually for Amazon.

Amazon-like any other modern organization has embraced the idea of people working from home, and that being said, this provides an opportunity for you to join the Amazon family. The organization posts vacancies in different fields, some of which do not need your physical presence or may be seasonal.

There are always periods where they experience unexpected surges in traffic in most organizations, and these call for freelance or part-time resources to chip in. Examples of fields that may be available include Customer Support, IT, Engineering, and Sales. Remuneration will be available hourly or even salary-based.

If you are interested in filling any of the available virtual positions, you will need to visit Amazon’s virtual location page and look.

10. Camper Force.

This method is literally made for people who love camping. All you need in this case is to own an RV and be an enthusiast of camping.

As you are aware, an RV in made in such a way that you get to drive around and be able to stay comfortably almost anywhere. Amazon assigns you tasks during busy ordering times, and you will be required to do the receiving, packing, shipping, and picking for them.

In exchange, Amazon will pay up to $550 per month in campground expenses, so you will not have to worry about your RV’s parking fees. In addition to a payment of at least $15 per hour for your services, you will also be entitled to medical and prescription coverage.

If you are that adventurous type, this is your opportunity to make an earning while you get to travel and explore.

11. Deliver goods for Amazon.

In addition to the existing distribution service already provided by Amazon, there are always those small deliveries which they often pass on to people to make a bit of money. You can earn up to $25 an hour in delivering packages or food for Amazon. All you will need in this case is some spare time and the ability to drive.

After signing up on Amazon Flex, the app sends you a notification of where you will pick the package and where you will be supposed to deliver it.

12. Mechanical Turk (MTurk).

MTurk is a crowdsourcing marketplace that was established to cover the gap between computer and human tasks. Not every task can be completed by a computer, so the need for human intervention created this gap.

Though the tasks on Mturk may appear small and earn you not much money, they are very easy to complete. This basically makes money easy to make. In this case, all you will need is a stable internet connection, spare time, and you can earn something for completing the odd jobs therein.

The tasks offered include participating in surveys, data validation, research or even image recognition. Most of them will earn you between $0.10 and $1, so the objective will be to complete as many of them as you can to get a significant amount of money.

13. Trade in your used goods.

You will not be earning actual money through this method but instead, you will get Amazon gift cards. Amazon Trade-In is willing to pay you through the gift cards for your used gadgets, books, and games.

Take this as a better way of getting rid of the items you no longer use through a method that saves you from having a garage sale.

Amazon will give you an estimate of how much you will earn from the items and if you agree, you will earn yourself the gift cards that you can use to purchase other things.

14. Sell your handmade products through Amazon Handmade.

Through Amazon Handmade, you will get an opportunity to sell your hand-crafted products while incurring a cost of just 15% of the selling price. Unlike all the other methods, you will have to be producing your own products, and for them to be popular, your craft should be unique.

Initially, you create a seller account with Amazon in order to sell your merchandise, but the greatest benefit that you get out of this is that your product will be marketed worldwide. The monthly subscription amount for the seller account is, however, waived for handmade sellers. This opens your shop to limitless opportunities by selling through Amazon.

So, on top of the money that you make in selling to your local community, you may end up having customers globally. Amazon Handmade will provide you with a custom URL that will make it easier for your customers to find your shop.

15. Amazon Vine.

This method is probably not for everyone as it rewards influential reviewers with free merchandise for their reviews. If you are an individual who consistently reviews Amazon products, then this is a way to get yourself free merchandise.

Just like Amazon Trade-In, you will not be getting money directly but getting free merchandise will be equally beneficial. All you will need to do is to write your positive experience reviews and you are set for obtaining yourself free merchandise.

Conclusion

One of the things that are inevitable in life is change and now is the time to make changes in the way we do things for our survival in this pandemic. As Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change”. Changes in perception can help you a lot in discovering how much you can earn through Amazon.