How to Start Selling on Amazon

Amazon has become the world’s largest ecommerce platform with 310+ million customers and £717 billion in annual 2025 sales, growing at 12% year-over-year. For entrepreneurs looking to build a profitable business, Amazon offers immediate access to millions of customers without the overhead of building your own website and marketing. This guide walks you through everything you need to know to launch your first product on Amazon.

Why Sell on Amazon?

Amazon’s scale is unmatched. With 310+ million customers and £717 billion in 2025 sales, the platform offers access to a pre-built audience actively searching for products. Unlike building your own ecommerce site, which requires significant investment in traffic acquisition and brand building, Amazon customers are already there, ready to buy.

The platform handles the heavy lifting of customer trust. Amazon’s reputation, returns policy, and buyer protection mean customers are more willing to purchase from unknown sellers than they would from a standalone website. The company also manages payment processing, so you receive reliable deposits directly to your account.

However, Amazon is not a replacement for a complete business strategy. The platform is highly competitive, subject to changing policies, and requires proficiency in advertising, listing optimization, and inventory management. Success requires ongoing investment in product development, customer service, and marketing through Amazon’s advertising tools.

Seller Central vs Vendor Central: Which Should You Choose?

Amazon offers two paths to selling: Seller Central (third-party sellers) and Vendor Central (vendors). Understanding the difference is critical because it determines how much control you retain over your business.

Seller Central (Third-Party Sellers)

Seller Central is the standard path for most entrepreneurs. You set your own prices, manage your own listings, control promotional activity, and retain access to customer data. You ship directly to Amazon’s fulfillment centers or customers, depending on your fulfillment choice. The platform charges referral fees (averaging 15%, ranging 5-20% by category) and additional fulfillment fees if you use FBA.

Seller Central gives you complete control over your product positioning and pricing strategy. You decide when and how to run promotions, which is essential for responding to competition or seasonal demand. You also receive detailed customer and sales data through Seller Central’s analytics, enabling data-driven decisions.

Vendor Central (Wholesale to Amazon)

Vendor Central is for manufacturers or importers who sell wholesale directly to Amazon. Amazon purchases inventory from you and resells it. You have no control over pricing. Amazon sets the retail price. You cannot run your own promotions, and you lose access to customer data. Amazon also holds significant payment terms, sometimes 30-90 days.

Vendor Central is typically only worthwhile for established brands with strong sales velocity and negotiating power with Amazon.

Our Recommendation

Seller Central is the right choice for nearly all new sellers. It offers pricing control, listing control, promotional flexibility, and data access that Vendor Central cannot match. Start as a Seller Central merchant, build your brand, prove your sales velocity, and only consider Vendor Central if Amazon directly invites you.

Individual vs Professional Seller Accounts

When setting up Seller Central, you’ll choose between an Individual account and a Professional account.

Individual Account

Individual accounts have no monthly fee. However, Amazon charges a per-unit referral fee on every sale. Most categories include an additional £0.30 per-unit fee. Individual accounts cannot list certain restricted categories and cannot access key professional features like bulk listing or advertising.

Individual accounts are only viable if you’re testing the market with a few items or have extremely high margins that absorb the extra per-unit fees.

Professional accounts cost £29 per month (exact amount varies by region). You pay only referral fees on sales. No per-unit fee. Professional accounts unlock bulk listing, analytics, advertising tools, and access to restricted categories. This is the standard choice for sellers planning any real sales volume.

However, your initial costs depend on product sourcing, inventory, photography, and branding. Most new sellers invest £2,000-£10,000 minimum in initial inventory, but this varies significantly based on your product choice and sourcing strategy.

The math is simple: if you sell more than 50-60 units per month across your catalog, a Professional account pays for itself. Upgrade to Professional immediately if you’re launching a serious business.

Understanding Amazon’s Fee Structure

Amazon’s fees are the largest variable cost in your business model. Understanding them precisely is non-negotiable.

Referral Fees

Referral fees are Amazon’s commission on every sale. The average is 15%, but the actual percentage depends on your product category. Electronics and jewelry sit at the lower end (around 8%), while sports and outdoor gear sits higher (around 20%). Check Amazon’s complete fee schedule for your specific category before you commit to a product.

Fulfillment Fees (If Using FBA)

If you use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you pay per-unit fulfillment fees that cover storage, picking, packing, and shipping. These fees vary dramatically by product size and weight. A small, lightweight item might have £0.50 fulfillment fees, while an oversized, heavy item could be £5-£15 per unit. Storage fees apply monthly (£0.87 per cubic foot in standard-size storage, £4.27 per cubic foot in oversize storage).

Advertising Fees

Amazon advertising costs are unpredictable when starting, but budget £500-£1,000+ per month if you want meaningful visibility. The industry benchmark ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) is 30%, meaning you spend £0.30 to generate £1 in sales. Your actual spend depends on your margins and competitive landscape.

Total Take Rate: 20-25%

When you combine referral fees, fulfillment fees, and advertising, your total take rate typically lands between 20-25% of your sale price. This means a £10 sale nets you roughly £7.50-£8 after Amazon’s fees. Your profit depends on your cost of goods sold, which must be low enough to leave meaningful margin after these fees.

Use this calculation when evaluating product viability:

Net Revenue = Sale Price × (1 – Total Take Rate %) – COGS

Example: A £20 product with £5 COGS and 23% take rate yields: £20 × 0.77 – £5 = £10.40 net profit per sale. Without positive margins here, the business cannot scale profitably.

The Step-by-Step Process to Launch on Amazon

Step 1: Research and Select Your Product

Before opening an Amazon seller account, validate that a viable market exists. Look for products with demand (search volume), achievable margins given the 20-25% take rate, and competition you can outpace through better listings, branding, or customer service.

Use Amazon’s product browser to explore bestseller lists in categories that interest you. Search tools like Helium 10 or Jungle Scout provide search volume, estimated sales, and competition metrics. The goal is to find a product with monthly search volume in the 1,000+ range, existing sales (proving demand), but not so much competition that margins are compressed to nothing.

Avoid ultra-competitive categories dominated by large brands. Instead, look for product niches where you can differentiate through better customer service, superior design, or unmet customer needs.

Step 2: Set Up a Professional Seller Account

Visit sell.amazon.co.uk and click “Start Selling.” Register with your business information, UTR or VAT number, and bank account details. Amazon will ask about your business type and require identity verification. This process typically takes 24 to 48 hours.

Choose Professional account tier. Set up two-factor authentication immediately to protect your account from unauthorized access.

Step 3: Register Your Brand (Strongly Recommended)

Before listing products, register a trademark for your brand name. This requires filing with your country’s intellectual property office (UK IPO for UK sellers, USPTO for US sellers, etc.). The process takes 3-8 months and costs £150-£300.

Once your trademark is registered, apply for Amazon Brand Registry. This unlocks A+ Content, brand analytics, advertising tools, and protection against counterfeiters and hijackers. Brand Registry is essential for serious sellers and competitive brands.

See our guide on Amazon Brand Registry for the complete process.

Step 4: Create Optimized Product Listings

Your product listing is your sales funnel. A poorly optimized listing gets buried in search results; a well-optimized listing appears on page one and converts browsers into buyers.

Key listing elements include:

• Title: Include your brand, key features, and product type. Aim for 70-120 characters.
• Images: Your main image must have a white background and product fill at least 85% of the frame. Include 5-8 secondary images showing the product from different angles, in-use photos, and infographics explaining key features.
• Bullet Points: Five bullet points highlighting benefits and features. Lead with benefits, not specifications.
• Description: 1,000-1,500 characters of benefit-driven copy. Include your brand story and unique selling proposition.
• Backend Keywords: 250 characters of search terms that customers use but you haven’t mentioned in your visible copy.

See our detailed guide on Amazon Listing Optimisation for structure and best practices.

Step 5: Choose Your Fulfillment Method

Decide whether to use FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) or FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant).

FBA: Ship your inventory to Amazon’s warehouses. Amazon handles picking, packing, shipping, returns, and customer service. You pay per-unit fulfillment fees. Your product becomes eligible for Prime, significantly boosting competitive advantage. Prime members order 24 times per year (£1,400 average spend) compared to 13 times per year (~£570 spend) for non-Prime customers.

FBM: You handle picking, packing, and shipping from your own location. You keep more per-unit margin but lose the Prime badge and Find difficult competing for the Buy Box. Only choose FBM if you have oversized items, slow-moving inventory, or very high margins.

See our guide on Amazon FBA vs FBM for a detailed comparison and decision framework.

Step 6: Launch and Advertise

Once your inventory is in Amazon’s warehouse (or ready to ship from your location), publish your listing. Initially, your product will appear on page 10+ of search results. You must advertise to drive visibility and sales velocity, which improves organic ranking.

Start with Sponsored Products campaigns using automatic targeting. This helps Amazon’s algorithm understand which search terms your product matches. After 50-100 sales, switch to manual campaigns using keywords with proven conversion. Budget £500-£1,000 for your launch month.

See our detailed guide on Amazon PPC Advertising for campaign structure and optimization.

FBA vs FBM: Make the Right Choice

This is the single biggest decision in your Amazon launch. FBA provides the Prime badge, which nearly doubles customer lifetime value. FBM keeps more margin but makes winning the Buy Box much harder.

For most new sellers launching standard-sized products (books, electronics, apparel), FBA is the default choice. The Prime badge is worth more than the fee savings of FBM.

See our complete guide on Amazon FBA vs FBM to make the right choice for your product.

Own-Label vs White-Label vs Reselling

Own-Label (Branded Private Label)

Own-label means you design the product and have it manufactured with your branding. This gives you complete control over product quality, pricing, and supplier relationships. Own-label products have the highest margins and strongest brand equity. However, they require minimum order quantities (often 500-1,000+ units), upfront investment in design and tooling, and time to develop.

White-Label

White-label products are manufactured products you rebrand with your own label and packaging. Manufacturers produce the base product, and you customize the packaging and branding. This is faster to market than own-label but offers less differentiation than fully designed products. Margins are lower because the manufacturer is building the product for multiple customers.

Reselling Off-the-Shelf Products

Reselling is buying wholesale products that already exist and selling them on Amazon. This has the lowest barrier to entry. You can start with 10 units. However, margins are compressed because other sellers are selling the identical product, and you cannot build meaningful brand differentiation.

Most new sellers start with reselling or white-label to learn the Amazon platform, then transition to own-label once they understand the market and have capital to invest in product development.

Common Mistakes New Sellers Make

Choosing the Wrong Product

New sellers often choose products based on personal interest rather than market viability. Never launch a product without validating that customers actually search for it on Amazon and that margins support your costs. Use research tools, study your competitors, and validate demand before investing in inventory.

Underestimating Fees

Many new sellers forget to account for the full 20-25% take rate when calculating margins. They think their COGS is £3, so a £10 sale should net £7 profit. In reality, after referral fees, FBA fees, and advertising, they’re netting £2-£3. Ensure your COGS is low enough to remain profitable after the full fee structure.

Poor Listing Optimization

A listing slapped together in 30 minutes will not compete. Take time to research keywords, create professional photography, write benefit-driven copy, and optimize your backend search terms. Your listing is your primary sales tool. Invest heavily here.

Refusing to Advertise

New products cannot reach customers without visibility. Refusing to advertise because it “costs too much” guarantees failure. Budget for advertising from day one. A 30% ACoS is normal; plan for it in your margin calculations.

Not Monitoring Performance

Set aside time each week to review your Seller Central dashboard. Check search term reports, customer feedback, competitor activity, and sales trends. Data-driven decisions compound over time; ignoring data guarantees you’ll miss optimization opportunities.

Ignoring Customer Service

Amazon monitors seller metrics like order defect rate (which must stay below 1%), on-time delivery (required at 99.75%+), and customer feedback. Sellers who ignore these metrics eventually lose selling privileges. Treat customer service as a core competency, not an afterthought.

Which Amazon Marketplace Should You Launch In?

Amazon operates in 21+ global marketplaces, including US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia, India, UAE, and newer markets like South Africa (launched 2024) and Ireland (launched 2025). Each is a distinct market with its own competition, customer base, and fee structure.

Most sellers start in their home marketplace (UK sellers typically start in amazon.co.uk, US sellers on amazon.com). Once you’ve mastered one marketplace and have operational capacity, expansion to other regions becomes easier because you already understand the platform.

The US marketplace (amazon.com) is the largest by revenue; however, it also has the most competition. The UK marketplace (amazon.co.uk) is smaller but often less competitive, making it a good starting point for UK-based sellers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a trademark to sell on Amazon?

No, you can start selling on Amazon without a trademark through Seller Central. However, registering a trademark unlocks Brand Registry, which gives you access to A+ Content, brand analytics, and protection against counterfeiters. Brand Registry registration requires an active trademark.

Should I choose FBA or FBM as a new seller?

FBA is recommended for most new sellers selling fast-moving, standard-sized products because it provides the Prime badge, improves Buy Box eligibility, and removes fulfillment burden. Consider FBM only if you’re selling oversized items, have slow-moving stock, or have high margins that absorb FBM fees.

What are the total fees when selling on Amazon?

Referral fees average 15% (ranging from 5-20% depending on category). When you add FBA fees, advertising, and payment processing, your total take rate typically falls between 20-25% of your sale price. Exact costs depend on product category, size, weight, and whether you use FBA or FBM.

What’s the difference between Seller Central and Vendor Central?

Seller Central is for third-party sellers who control their own listings, pricing, and promotions. Vendor Central is for vendors who sell wholesale to Amazon. Seller Central is recommended for most sellers because it offers greater control over pricing, branding, customer data access, and promotional flexibility.

How much does it cost to