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Amazon FBA business is a good way to make money. You can always work on your own schedule and sell what you love. If you have a good product, it can be profitable too. But if you’re new to e-commerce in general, it’s hard to know where to start.

Amazon is a great marketplace, but there are also some things you should know before you dive into headfirst. We spoke with Alex Shelton about his experience with Amazon FBA and how he makes his living selling on Amazon.com

Alex has been selling on Amazon for just over four years now and is making well over six figures per year from his products. He currently has five products that he sells on Amazon and plans to expand even more in the future.

What is Amazon FBA?

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a program where Amazon fulfillment centers handle storing, packing, and shipping orders as well as returns and exchanges. With a flat monthly cost, plus selling fees, you are able to simply send your products to these fulfillment centers. The actual shipping, tracking and customer service experience is then handled by this larger team, allowing you to potentially scale your business and reach more customers.

How do I start an Amazon FBA business?

When starting your Amazon FBA business, you’ll need to consider a few things:

What product should I sell?

This can be a difficult question for many people starting out. From my experience, it’s best to keep this simple and focus on one specific niche or category. If you’re unsure about what you want to sell on Amazon, try finding a product that has at least the following three characteristics:

High demand — people are buying the item in large numbers (or if it’s a new market that has high potential).

Low competition — other sellers aren’t seeing large sales numbers or profits from their products.

High margins — the profit margin on each item is high enough to sustain your business (and marketing efforts).

How to start an Amazon FBA business

If you’re wondering how you can start your own Amazon FBA business as Alex did, you’re in luck. He gave us his five most important steps that beginners need to take when they begin selling on Amazon.

Conduct niche and product research

Amazon sells billions of dollars worth of products a year, but that doesn’t mean you can sell any item and expect to be successful. The very best sellers do many hours of research to find the products that will make them the most money.

Alex recommends thinking of embarrassing items people don’t like to buy in person, eco-friendly products, or items you can bundle together.

Find suppliers

Once you have an idea of what you want to sell, it’s time to find suppliers who will give you high-quality products at a low price so that you can make more money per sale. Alex recommends using Alibaba, Global Sources, and even attending trade shows for this step.

Set up your Amazon account

Selling on Amazon is easy because the online retailer does most of the heavy lifting for sellers. You just need an individual or professional account and some basic information like your address and credit card number to begin selling on Amazon FBA.