Let’s discover 4 business models to make money on Amazon.
For beginners, the best approach is to understand how each model works, what it requires, and how it generates income before investing time or money.
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Amazon.com, Inc. (doing business as Amazon) is an American multinational conglomerate. It is engaged in e-commerce, retail, cloud computing, online advertising, and artificial intelligence. It was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevue, Washington.
Making money on Amazon does not necessarily require buying products in bulk, managing inventory, or shipping orders yourself. Although selling physical products is a popular business model, Amazon also offers other business models to make money online.
4 Business Models to Make Money on Amazon
Let’s explore how these business models work and how you can use them.
1. Amazon Merch on Demand: Sell Custom Designs
Amazon Merch on Demand allows creators to upload original designs for products such as T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts, long-sleeve shirts, and hoodies. When a customer orders a product featuring your design, Amazon handles production, shipping, and customer service.
You concentrate on creating designs and making them available to shoppers rather than managing physical inventory.
How Does Amazon Merch on Demand Work?
The process is straightforward:
- Create an original design for a T-shirt or another supported product.
- Apply to join Amazon Merch on Demand.
- Once accepted, upload your design and choose the eligible products and colors.
- Set your price within the program’s requirements.
- Amazon displays the product in its marketplace.
- When a customer purchases it, Amazon produces and ships the item.
- You receive a royalty according to the program’s pricing structure.
For example, imagine a T-shirt sells for $22.49 and generates a royalty of approximately $3.25. If 100 shirts sell at that royalty, your total would be $325 before any applicable taxes or other personal expenses.
This is an illustration, not a guaranteed earning rate. Actual royalties depend on the product, marketplace, price, and applicable costs.
What Do You Need to Get Started?
You need original design ideas, a design tool, and an approved account. You do not need to purchase stock or arrange your own shipping.
You should also understand basic design principles and how shoppers search for products. Designs that appeal to a clearly defined audience can be a useful starting point, such as camping enthusiasts, pet owners, hobbyists, or particular professions.
Practical First Steps
- Choose a specific audience instead of creating random designs for everyone.
- Research existing products to understand customer interests and competition.
- Create a few original designs that serve the chosen audience.
- Check relevant trademark databases before using phrases, names, or slogans.
- Verify that your design assets and fonts permit commercial use on products sold through print-on-demand services.
- Review the program’s current application requirements and royalty terms.
Important: Do not assume that a phrase is safe to use simply because a quick search returns no obvious results. Check relevant trademarks and avoid copyrighted artwork, protected logos, and designs that imitate other brands.
Is It a Good Option for Beginners?
It can be attractive if you enjoy design, research, and creating multiple products. However, approval is not guaranteed, and publishing designs does not guarantee sales. Competition, product visibility, and customer demand all affect results.
The main advantage is that Amazon manages the physical fulfillment process, allowing you to focus on developing a useful collection of designs.
2. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing: Publish Your Own Books
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, commonly known as KDP, enables authors and publishers to make books available through Amazon. Customers can purchase digital books or physical books printed when ordered.
You do not need to operate a traditional publishing business or maintain a warehouse of books.
How Does Amazon KDP Work?
The general process is:
- Choose a book idea that serves a specific audience.
- Prepare the manuscript or interior pages.
- Design a suitable cover.
- Format the book according to Amazon’s current specifications.
- Upload the required files to KDP.
- Complete the book details, pricing, and publishing settings.
- After publication and any required checks, customers can discover and purchase the book.
- You earn royalties according to the applicable terms.
Amazon handles printing and shipping for eligible print-on-demand books. Your earnings depend on factors such as the selling price, format, marketplace, printing costs, and royalty arrangement.
What Types of Books Can You Create?
You do not necessarily have to write a lengthy nonfiction book or a novel. Beginners can explore several types of useful books, including:
- Puzzle books: Word searches, crosswords, and other activity books.
- Logbooks: Records for maintenance, travel, equipment, or other activities.
- Journals and planners: Structured pages for planning, reflection, or tracking goals.
- Workbooks: Guided exercises that help readers practise a skill.
- Reference books: Carefully researched material that answers a specific need.
These are often described as low-content or medium-content books, depending on how much original material they contain and how they are structured.
For example, a camping logbook could help travellers record destinations, expenses, maintenance, and trip details.
The important point is to create something useful rather than publishing large numbers of nearly identical books simply to increase your catalogue.
What Do You Need to Get Started?
You need a book idea, suitable content, a properly formatted interior, a cover, and a KDP account. Design templates and formatting tools can simplify the process, but you must still ensure that the final work meets quality standards and complies with publishing rules.
AI tools may assist with brainstorming, editing, or formatting. However, you remain responsible for originality, accuracy, rights to the material, and compliance with Amazon’s current content and disclosure requirements.
Practical First Steps
- Identify a particular audience and a problem your book could solve.
- Examine existing books in the relevant category to understand their formats, reviews, and gaps.
- Develop one useful book concept before planning a large collection.
- Create an original interior and cover using assets licensed for your intended commercial use.
- Check the final files for errors, formatting problems, and readability.
- Review KDP’s publishing requirements, royalty rules, and account eligibility before submitting your book.
Is KDP suitable for beginners? It can be perfect if you enjoy organising information, designing activity books, or producing practical resources. Nevertheless, competition and discoverability remain challenges. A published book is not automatically a profitable book.
3. Amazon Associates: Earn Commissions Through Affiliate Marketing
Amazon Associates is Amazon’s affiliate marketing program. It allows eligible participants to recommend products through special tracking links and earn commissions on qualifying purchases.
Instead of creating or manufacturing products, you help potential customers discover products that match their needs.
How Does Amazon Associates Work?
The process typically follows these steps:
- Apply to the relevant Amazon Associates program.
- Build an eligible website, social media presence, or other permitted publishing channel.
- Create useful content that helps people evaluate products.
- Generate affiliate links through the program’s approved tools.
- Place those links where they are relevant to your content.
- When visitors follow your links and make qualifying purchases, you may earn commissions.
For example, a website about digital entrepreneurship might publish a guide to laptops for bloggers. The article could explain important specifications, compare suitable models, and include affiliate links to relevant products.
If a reader clicks a link and makes a qualifying purchase, the publisher may receive a commission. Depending on the program’s rules, other eligible purchases made during the applicable attribution period may also generate commissions.
The commission rate, qualifying purchases, attribution period, and payment rules vary by marketplace and are subject to Amazon’s current operating agreement.
Where Can You Promote Affiliate Links?
Depending on the relevant program’s requirements, permitted channels may include:
- A website or blog.
- Product comparison articles.
- Tutorials and buying guides.
- YouTube videos.
- Eligible social media content.
For a website owner, search-focused articles can be especially useful because they address questions people are already asking. Examples include:
- Best laptops for beginner bloggers.
- Essential equipment for starting a home office.
- Tools for managing an online business.
- Product comparisons for digital entrepreneurs.
The goal is not simply to insert links. It is to help readers make informed purchasing decisions.
Practical First Steps
- Choose a focused niche with products that genuinely serve your audience.
- Research questions people ask before purchasing those products.
- Publish helpful reviews, comparisons, tutorials, and buying guides.
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of products honestly.
- Add affiliate links only where they are relevant.
- Clearly disclose your affiliate relationship and follow the applicable program policies.
- Track clicks and qualifying sales to understand which content performs best.
Important: Amazon Associates is not a guaranteed source of income. Results depend on traffic quality, reader trust, product relevance, conversion rates, and commission rates.
If you already operate a website, this model may be particularly appealing because you can build affiliate recommendations into useful content instead of relying entirely on social media followers.
4. Amazon Influencer Program: Earn From Product Videos
The Amazon Influencer Program is related to Amazon Associates, but it offers additional features for eligible creators. One of its opportunities is submitting product-related videos that may appear on Amazon product pages.
This creates a different way to reach shoppers: instead of relying only on people discovering your content on an external website or social platform, your videos may be shown while customers are considering a purchase on Amazon.
How Does the Amazon Influencer Program Work?
The process generally involves the following steps:
- Maintain an eligible social media account with authentic content and engagement.
- Apply to the Amazon Influencer Program through the appropriate marketplace.
- If approved, complete the required account setup.
- Create original videos about relevant products.
- Submit the videos according to Amazon’s content requirements.
- If eligible videos are displayed and generate qualifying purchases, you may earn commissions under the applicable program terms.
Product videos might demonstrate how an item works, explain its features, show how it is installed, or describe your genuine experience using it.
For instance, someone who owns a desk lamp could record a short demonstration showing its brightness settings, build quality, and practical uses. A clear demonstration may help a shopper decide whether the product meets their needs.
You do not necessarily need to publish every video on your own social media account. However, acceptance into the program, access to particular features, video placement, and commission eligibility are all subject to Amazon’s rules.
What Kind of Videos Should You Create?
Focus on products you understand and can demonstrate honestly. Useful formats include:
- Short product demonstrations.
- Setup and installation guides.
- Practical feature explanations.
- Comparisons of relevant features.
- Reviews based on actual use.
A simple, well-lit recording with clear audio can be more useful than a heavily edited video that fails to answer the shopper’s questions.
How Can You Improve Your Chances of Earning?
Product selection matters. If many creators have already submitted videos for a product, your video may face greater competition for limited placements.
A practical strategy is to examine products you already own and identify those for which you can create genuinely useful, distinctive content. Where reliable research tools are available, investigate competition and product demand before deciding what to record.
Avoid choosing products solely because they appear to have little competition. Customer demand, video quality, eligibility, and the likelihood of placement also matter.
Practical First Steps
- Review the current eligibility criteria for the Amazon Influencer Program in your intended marketplace.
- Build an authentic social media presence before applying.
- Identify several products you already own and understand well.
- Plan concise videos that answer common customer questions.
- Record and edit the videos to meet Amazon’s requirements.
- Submit the videos and monitor any available performance information.
- Improve future videos based on what you learn.
Is this a passive-income business? It can generate income from previously published content, but it is not completely passive or guaranteed. You must create useful videos, comply with the rules, and adapt to changes in product visibility and program eligibility.
Which Amazon Business Model Should You Choose?
Each model offers a different way to create value. The right choice depends on your existing skills and the type of work you prefer.
Business model | Main activity | Best suited to |
Amazon Merch on Demand | Creating original merchandise designs | People interested in design and niche research |
Amazon KDP | Publishing books and practical resources | Writers, researchers, organisers, and designers |
Amazon Associates | Recommending products through affiliate content | Bloggers, website owners, and content creators |
Amazon Influencer Program | Creating product videos for Amazon | Creators comfortable demonstrating products |
All four models can be operated without personally storing and shipping physical inventory, although each has different responsibilities and eligibility requirements.
You do not need to start all four at once. Choosing one model and learning it properly can be more manageable than dividing your attention among several unfamiliar business models.
Can You Make Money on Amazon From Outside the US?
If you live outside the US, this question deserves special attention. Do not assume that every Amazon program accepts applicants from every country.
The four models discussed here have different eligibility rules, account requirements, payment arrangements, and marketplace restrictions. Availability can change, and eligibility for one Amazon service does not automatically establish eligibility for another.
Before investing time in a project, check the official requirements for your country and intended marketplace:
For each program, verify whether the residents of a particular country can register, which identity and tax details are required, what payment methods are supported, and whether you can meet any application or audience requirements.
Do not use a false address or provide inaccurate residency information to bypass eligibility restrictions. A program may reject an application or restrict an account if its requirements are not met.
For website owners, affiliate marketing is worth investigating because it builds on an existing content-publishing business. However, you should confirm that you can join the relevant Associates marketplace and receive payments before making it a central part of your monetisation plan.
How Much Money Can You Make?
There is no universal income figure for these business models. Earnings depend on different factors in each case:
- Merch on Demand: The number of products sold, the royalty per sale, and the quality and relevance of your designs.
- KDP: Book demand, sales volume, pricing, production costs, and the applicable royalty structure.
- Amazon Associates: Qualified traffic, click-through rates, conversion rates, commission rates, and eligible purchases.
- Amazon Influencer Program: Video quality, product demand, visibility, competition, and qualifying purchases.
For example, if an affiliate website receives 1,000 relevant visits in a month, 5% of those visitors click an affiliate link, and 4% of those clicks lead to qualifying purchases, the result would be approximately two purchases.
If each purchase generates a $10 commission, that would amount to $20 in commissions for the example period. Actual performance could be higher or lower, and the calculation does not account for website costs, taxes, or other expenses.
This illustrates an important principle: income depends on the entire business process, not simply on joining an Amazon program.
Common Mistakes Beginners Should Avoid
Before choosing a business model, keep these common mistakes in mind.
- Expecting immediate income
Publishing a design, book, article, or video does not guarantee that customers will discover or purchase it. Building a useful catalogue or audience takes time.
- Ignoring copyright and trademarks
Using protected phrases, logos, illustrations, photographs, or other material without the necessary rights can lead to rejected listings, removed content, or account problems.
- Copying competitors
Researching successful products can help you understand customer demand, but copying another creator’s work is not a sustainable strategy. Develop original content that serves a clear purpose.
- Publishing low-quality content
A large collection of weak designs, repetitive books, or unhelpful product reviews is unlikely to build lasting customer trust. Prioritise usefulness and quality.
- Overlooking eligibility and payment requirements
Check the relevant program’s current rules before committing significant effort. This is particularly important if you live outside the United States.
- Treating passive income as effortless income
Some content may continue generating revenue after publication, but research, creation, quality control, compliance, and occasional updates still require work.
Concluding Remarks
Amazon provides several ways to build an online business without personally managing physical inventory.
Merch on Demand lets you sell original designs, KDP enables you to publish books, Associates rewards qualifying product referrals, and the Influencer Program offers eligible creators an additional way to earn through product videos.
For beginners, the best starting point is not necessarily the model with the biggest advertised earnings. It is the one that fits your skills, resources, eligibility, and willingness to learn.
Choose one approach, research its requirements, create something genuinely useful, and measure the results. With realistic expectations and consistent improvement, you can evaluate whether it deserves a larger role in your online business.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. Earnings are not guaranteed. Amazon program availability, eligibility requirements, fees, commission rates, and policies may change. Always consult the official terms for your intended marketplace before getting started.
Image Source Acknowledgement: Unsplash
