May 2014

How to Become an Amazon Seller with FBA in 6 Steps

Last Updated:February 5, 2024

If you want to sell products online but don’t know where to start, perhaps becoming an Amazon seller through Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) is the right path for you.

With FBA, you can sell your products without thinking about the logistics of storing your inventory, packing, and shipping each order, and taking care of returns for damaged items.

Today’s article is your guide on what FBA is, how to become an Amazon seller, and how you can build a business from home.

How Does Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) Work?

If this is the first time you’re hearing of FBA, don’t fret.

Quite simply, it’s a way to become an Amazon seller where Amazon does all the hard work for you.

Here’s how FBA works:

First, you send Amazon your products, and then they store it in one or more of their fulfillment centers. Amazon fulfillment centers are these million-acre warehouses run by robots and Amazon employees.
Next, your products are inventoried and sorted so they’re ready to go out anytime.
When a customer places an order for your product, Amazon processes the payment and takes care of crediting your account.
Then, the product/s that the customer ordered is picked from the shelves of the fulfillment center and shipped to them.
Amazon follows up with the customer to make sure that they receive the product. If anything else needs to be processed after that, such as returns, refunds, replacements, or any other processes or requests, Amazon takes care of it, too.

It pretty much sounds like Amazon is doing all the work. What are your responsibilities, then?

As an Amazon seller through FBA, your main responsibilities are to select the products, manage your inventory, and to sell; that is, promote and advertise your products so that customers find them and buy them.

Advantages of FBA

Aside from the obvious benefit of not having to rent a warehouse to store your products and not having to pack and ship products yourself, Amazon has provided a number of incentives to attract more Amazon sellers to use FBA.

Products under FBA are much more likely to have the “buy box”; that is, the “Add To Cart” button inside the white box right beside the product.
Products under FBA are immediately eligible for free Two Day Shipping for Amazon Prime members, and for super saver free delivery for orders above $25.
Amazon takes care of customer service, refunds, returns, and all the other messy details so you can focus on advertising your products and convincing customers to buy your products.

Disadvantages of FBA

Before you get deeper into Amazon FBA, here are some cons you should consider.

Unexpected storage fees – Sometimes, when items have been stored at the Amazon facility for a long time, the company will bill you for items that are slow to sell.
High standards of packaging and labeling – Amazon makes you follow strict and laborious packaging and labeling. This isn’t just time-consuming, but also expensive on your part.
Tax issues – Using Amazon to fulfill orders means your sales tax would be considered state-level, which can be confusing if your business is registered in another state.
Potentially increased returns – Amazon has a no-questions-asked return policy, which means you can expect higher amounts of returns when you sell through Amazon. And if you already know, any returned item means you pay for its journey back to the warehouse without any benefit or sales from your end.
FBA fees – Joining Amazon FBA isn’t free. Sellers must pay fees to use the program. While the benefits of using FBA can outweigh the cons to some sellers, smaller or new sellers may be surprised that the Amazon FBA fees could easily eat into their profits.

How to Become an Amazon Seller in 6 Steps

Actually, before you get too deep into it, get the following ready: your bank account number, bank routing number, chargeable credit card, government-issued photo ID, and tax information.

I’ve broken down the steps you need to take to become an Amazon Seller below. You’ll be surprised at just how easy it is to get your goods listed.

You only need to fill out a few forms to get started.

Starting with…

1. Create your Amazon Seller Account

You can’t really have an Amazon FBA business without an Amazon seller account.

For the time being, you can select the option to ‘Sell as an Individual’ and avoid the monthly fee, especially if you’re just getting started.

As an individual, you’ll pay a flat rate of $0.99 per item sold, with no monthly fees.

This is good for getting your feet wet while saving a few bucks. You’ll be able to try out FBA before making a monthly commitment.

Professional accounts come with a $39.99/month fee but no charge per item sold. The professional level also unlocks more categories and more features.

If you are planning on listing more than 40 items initially, it becomes more cost-effective to sell as a professional. But if not, just work as an individual.

Next, add FBA to your seller account.

2. Decide What Products You’re Going To Sell.

If you don’t already know what products to sell, now is the time to find your niche and do your product research.

Finding your niche is maybe the most difficult part of becoming an Amazon seller. It can be exciting to find an opportunity to build a business, and you tend to want to sell anything you can get your hands on.

But the best way to be successful in this business is to focus on one particular area of interest or industry and be an expert at selling products in that niche.

Growth can come through selling additional products in the same niche, or simply selling more of your best sellers.

Product research is another difficult but necessary part of selling on Amazon. Check out our whole article on product research, but basically, you want to find products in your niche that you know people will buy and you know you can make a decent profit.

Start by finding products that solve problems and checking if such products already exist and are being sold by other sellers.

Check out online stores and see if people are buying the products that you have in mind. See if you can find a gap in the market if you think it’s too saturated.

Of course, don’t ignore the best-selling products on Amazon.

3. Source your Products

Once you know what products you want to sell, the next step is to decide how to source your products.

The most popular ways to become an Amazon seller is to become either a reseller or a private labeler.

Resellers are those who sell already-existing products for a profit. That is, buy bulk at a wholesale price and sell them at retail price.

It’s easy to start as a reseller, as it requires little initial investment but opens up your products to plenty of customers through Amazon.

However, with the amount of competition you face on Amazon, you risk not being able to sell your entire stock and being stuck with a lot of products that aren’t moving and making you profit.

Retail arbitrage involves looking for deals in clearance sales, auctions, retail stores, online stores, and other places to buy products at a cheap price and sell them at a high price.

Though retail arbitrage is technically reselling, buying cheap and selling high is different from buying wholesale and selling retail.

You don’t need to buy too many units of a product to get them at a lower price, but you do have to have time and patience to sift through a lot of deals and sales and see which ones are cheapest and yet give you high-quality products.

Private labelers take an existing product, put their own label on it, and make a profit without having to spend time and money on product design.

They can just go straight to product testing to select which product they’re going to label as theirs.

Thus, the time and money they save on product design can go into improving these products they’ve already selected and making them uniquely their own.

Private labelers deal with manufacturers directly, allowing them to establish their own brands.

Having your own brand is more valuable in the long run, but it’s much harder to initiate. It requires a huge capital investment in time and money.

4. Start Listing Your Products

Choose to ‘Add a listing.’

Because Amazon stores and tracks inventory in marked boxes, you will also need to create a new box for each individual box you send.

Hopefully, your inventory items will have easily identifiable codes like a UPC, EAN, or ISSN, but if not, you can also search on an identical item using Amazon’s search function. When you find a match, click ‘Sell Yours.’

After adding some product descriptors, be sure to check off that the item is going to be sold through FBA. Also, you should switch from the default Individual to Case-Packed Items mode. Why?

You will inevitably be shipping multiple identical items of something (e.g., DVDs), and you will want Amazon to track these multiple items separately.

FBA does this by assigning cases. For example, if you have only one DVD to ship, you’d mark it as 1 unit (i.e., article type) per case and 1 number per case. But if you have three of the same DVD to ship, you’d mark them as 1 unit per case and 3 numbers per case.

Keep hitting ‘Add a Listing’ until all your boxed items are cataloged.

5. Prepare Your Products for Shipment to Amazon

Now, click ‘Work on Shipment.’

This will allow you to create and print shipping labels for your box(es). Choose SPD (small parcel delivery) as your shipping option unless your boxed items weigh over 150 lbs.

The other options are LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) and FTL (Full Truckload), and hopefully, you won’t need to worry about these massive haul options for now.

Select UPS as your carrier because it partners with Amazon; in other words, using UPS gives you a shipping discount.

Now you can start printing out your packing slips and shipping labels.

To this end, it helps if you have your own scale that will immediately weigh your boxes. If not, you can input the dimensions of your box(es) online and have it weighed out at your local UPS. Just be sure you eventually print out your labels using FBA and not your local UPS. Amazon’s reduced shipping rates will amaze you.

6. Collect Your Paycheck

Finally! The reason why you’ve gone through all this trouble: the paychecks!

Once you’ve mailed your box(es), you can track your shipments, and eventually your unpacked inventory, via Amazon.

Amazon will notify you when your products sell and will directly deposit the money right into your bank account. Time to sit back and let the money roll in.

There might be an Amazon App for that

Not all of us are blessed with a smartphone, but if you do have one, you can easily scan your goods and determine their immediate value using either an iOS or Android-based price checker Amazon app on your smartphone.

This is useful if you’re dealing with a lot of inventory or prone to checking out store clearance sales for additional merchandise.

One free iPhone-based Amazon app is Amazon Seller. This app really is the best app for sellers just getting started as there is no charge and it connects directly with your Amazon account. The Selling Family put together a free guide to show you how the Amazon Seller app works.

Tips to Become a Successful Amazon Seller

1. Work on your product listings.

Make it easy for shoppers to find your products on Amazon search by adding descriptive titles and high-quality product photos.

2. Learn Amazon’s policies on customer reviews.

Customer ratings and reviews are important for potential customers’ buying decisions, and you might be tempted to pay your way to positive customer reviews. But this can cause more harm than good. Understand their review policies and make sure you don’t violate them.

3. Keep an eye on your performance metrics.

The key numbers to look at are your order defect rate (customer service standards), pre-fulfillment cancel rate (cancellations by the seller), and late shipment rate (orders that ship beyond the expected date).

4. Study how to advertise and promote your listings.

Springing for sponsored ads, providing promotions and discounts, and offering free shipping and coupons are all great ways to increase your sales, if you do them the right way.

Some things to consider when becoming an Amazon Seller

1. Amazon will charge you for everything.

Aside from the fees for your selling plan (Individual or Professional) and the referral fees (8% to 15%), you’ll be paying plenty of fees.

You’re in charge of the shipping fee of sending your items to Amazon. When you ship inventory to a fulfillment center without proper preparation or labeling, Amazon will charge you for unplanned services.

Amazon charges you for storing your items in their fulfillment center, based on your daily average volume of inventory in cubic feet. Inventory stays there for more than a year? You’ll get charged long-term storage fees.

Of course, Amazon charges you fulfillment fees per unit for picking and packing your orders, shipping and handling, customer service, and product returns.

When Amazon provides a customer with free return shipping, they’ll charge you a return processing fee.

2. Co-mingling issues.

Because Amazon has numerous distribution centers, it uses the distribution center located closest to the customer when shipping products.

As a result, the product you end up selling may not actually be your own if you agree to co-mingle your merchandise. This can happen easily if, say, you are selling a DVD or book that another Amazon seller may also have listed.

The advantage of using co-mingling is that you sell more of your stuff faster.

The disadvantage is that you can’t exactly vouch for the quality and legality of another seller’s merchandise. This can lead to problems or even Amazon account closure because of pirated goods.

3. Sales tax.

You may live in a state that requires you to report your sales tax (e.g., Missouri).

Alternately, your items might be shipped off to a state that charges sales tax.

However, when you work with FBA, you have no good way of knowing which warehouse is stocking your items (especially if you’re comingling) and to which state(s) they are being shipped.

While most state ecommerce tax collection has not been aggressively enforced, it may become so in the future.

4. Competition.

With FBA, you’re not just competing with other third-party merchants on price and selection, you’re also competing with Amazon itself.

This is possibly the biggest strike against FBA versus a selling service like eBay or Etsy.

Definitely check Amazon prices for comparable goods before sending your own stuff to FBA.

Selling through FBA: Is It Worth It?

With all the fees and other issues outlined above, you may be wondering if you can cut some kind of profit margin with FBA. Luckily, Amazon provides a Pricing Calculator and an FBA Revenue Calculator that allows you to determine if FBA is even worth it.

On the other hand, if you can find lots of lightweight inventory cheaply and easily via clearance sales, store closeouts, or even inheritance auctions, then FBA may be a smart solution for you.

If you are looking for a few more success stories, check out how Marvin grew an Amazon FBA business to 10k/month in less than 4 months or how this family travels full time in an RV while making a living selling on Amazon.

For other Amazon-related businesses you can do from home, check out my guide on:

If a business route isn’t ideal for you, Amazon also has work opportunities you can apply to. For example, you can become an Amazon product tester, or Amazon proofreader.

Of course, you can always stick to the traditional Amazon and sell books or other products on the platform.

Writing for Revenue Share Sites: Worthwhile or Waste of Time?

Written By:Halina Zakowicz

Published On: May 12, 2014

Once upon a time, freelance writers could write for content mills like Yahoo! Contributor Network or Demand Media (stock ticker: DMD) and make as much as $2K/month for keyword and link-stuffed writing bits.

Then, the Google Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird updates penalized these ad-heavy and SEO-centric sites and the parent companies suffered. Many content farms either merged, lost/ousted their CEOs and staff, or went out of business altogether.

Demand Media stock price: DooMeD?

Enter the revenue share model

As fewer and fewer content mills pay their freelance writers even the pittance $5 or $10 per keyword-stuffed article, a different writing model has emerged. This model, which operates via revenue share, is gradually replacing the practice of paying writers a set amount of money for published content.

Instead, revenue share sites emphasize long form, quality content and work with their writers to enhance their journalistic skills. In doing so, revenue share sites are more likely to become populated with lots of “newsworthy” content (i.e., high traffic content) that isn’t penalized by the next Google algorithm update. Some examples of revenue share sites include Examiner and HubPages.

Another case in point is Guardian Liberty Voice (GLV), a citizen journalism site that has been operating for about two years now. GLV’s motto states “boldly inclusive,” and GLV is certainly living up to its claim. Recently, the site announced plans to hire 900 new writers. Yeah, that’s nine hundred. How does a roughly 2-year-old company manage to hire and pay this amazing number of writers?

The answer lies in the term revenue share. GLV doesn’t pay outright for published content but works with writers to help them achieve high page view numbers. This translates to a set pay-per-mille or PPM (i.e., pay rate per thousand views) for the writers and thus their compensation.

The actual help that GLV provides consists of a rigorous training period, or “bootcamp” as it’s called. Writers that pass the bootcamp start earning a given PPM. Writers also can become “Senior Correspondents,” and receive not only a higher revenue share for their own content but also a good share of the revenue generated from “members they assign stories to on their team.”

In turn, GLV receives ad revenue from its advertisers for offering a set cost-per-mille (CPM) to their ads. Because GLV is not a subscription-based online newspaper, its major revenue source is advertising (as is the case even with most subscription-based paper newspapers).

Is Guardian Liberty Voice worth the time?

The following are some of my “nays” to writing for GLV:

It’s not serious journalism

From a journalistic standpoint, the majority of GLV’s citizen-produced content is simply rehashed and/or directly quoted content from secondary sources like Google News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Chicago Tribune. I used to work for a small town newspaper and the first thing I learned is that you never quote other newspapers as your primary sources. No, you either go interview people or you quote data findings from primary sources like the CDC, NIH, U.S. Census Bureau, etc.

So, it seems to me that GLV’s bootcamp consists largely of “training” citizen journalists to simply keep up with the latest Google Trends and re-report them.

GLV’s popularity may be overstated

There are worthwhile publishing platforms that oftentimes pay only via revenue share; Entrepreneur, Forbes and Inc. come to mind. However, these aforementioned sites draw huge audiences as well as prospective clients.

With GLV, the audience is just not that big. The following Google Trends graphic compares GLV to other citizen journalistic sites like Examiner and revenue share sites like HubPages. I’ve written for both Examiner and HubPages and even during these sites’ popularity peaks, never did I earn more than $50/month for content that generated tens of thousands of views. If such hugely popular sites like Examiner and HubPages barely generate any revenue share, how is a fledgling site like GLV going to buck the (literal) trend?

A comparison of trending interest in GLV, Examiner.com, HubPages and Demand Studios

Pyramid scheme-like recruitment

GLV has been criticized for its business practices in different writers’ forums; namely, Senior Correspondents earn 20% of the income generated through their writer “team.” As a result, these correspondents go on social media sites and attempt to recruit writers to apply for writing jobs with GLV. Fresh recruits are then put through a three week boot camp during which they produce mass amounts of free content.

According to one Reddit comment about GLV, “It kinda looks like they’re using their “classes” as a content farm – they require more than 20 articles per student in the training period.” Also, the application process itself requires that you submit a sample 500-word article to the site.

Lack of transparency about actual revenue share

The following conversation that Carol Tice had with a GLV writer is quite enlightening (check the comments of the post). In numerous instances, the writer was asked to outline how much money GLV writers earned per article or per hour, and to no avail. To be fair, there was one instance of a rate of $38/hour being named, but no mention of how many articles had been produced to achieve this rate or if the writer was also a GLV senior correspondent.

Should you write for revenue share sites?

Given all these issues and remaining questions about just one revenue share site, here’s my advice to aspiring citizen journalists and writers:

Start your own blog.

Forget about submitting hundreds of articles somewhere else just to eventually earn a “passive income” of $10 or $20 per month. And I quote the term passive income because, on sites like Examiner and GLV, you need to keep submitting regular content each day or month in order to keep collecting your revenue share.

Given that all revenue share sites are not under your immediate control, you could also eventually lose your hard-won passive income should these sites close shop or change their payout rules. In essence, you’re a digital sharecropper and relying on the stability and goodwill of a third party site to make back your initial investment of writing time.

Sure, having your own blog won’t give you the instantaneous audience of Examiner or GLV. However, even revenue share sites rely on you doing your own article PR to generate more page views. Why should you do all this work for just a fraction of the revenue?

On your own blog, you can eventually work with your own advertisers- and keep 100% of their fees. You can also go ad-free and offer quality products or consulting. In the end, having your own blog means having absolute control over your own product- you- without having someone else line their own pockets with your writing and marketing efforts.

How To Start a Web Hosting Business From Home

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:October 31, 2022

Are you a web developer or web designer looking for additional income? Or are you a tech-savvy person interested in starting a business from home? Either way, you may want to start a web hosting business.

With no shortage of new websites being built every day, web hosting is in demand, and there is a market for new and upcoming web hosting businesses.

Today, you’ll learn what web hosting is and everything you need to start your web hosting business.

What Is Web Hosting?

First, let’s describe how web hosting works.

Web hosting is an online service that enables a website owner to publish their website on the internet.

When a user signs up for a web hosting service, they’re essentially renting space on a physical server where all the data and files for the website are stored.

A server is essentially a high-powered computer specially designed and programmed to store large amounts of data and code, process requests to deliver this data over the internet or a local network, and manage the files and processes so everything runs smoothly.

The server is at the heart of your web hosting business, and how you choose to sell web hosting space to your customers impacts the direction of your business and how much profit you can project to earn. Just find a reputable provider for your domain, and you’ll be up-and-running in no time.

Types of Web Hosting Businesses

Below are the three types of web hosting businesses you can start.

1. Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting involves finding a large web hosting company, buy wholesale hosting services from them, and then resell the service to your customers at a profit.

This involves the least amount of technical knowledge, as the company you bought the reseller packages from will take care of server management, operating systems, billing systems, and technical support systems.

In other words, it’s a complete solution that’s very simple to set up. The time you save by going this route can be put toward promoting and marketing your business.

However, the services you provide are limited by the type of service you opted to resell; there’s very little room for customizations.

Also, since you’re reselling, your prices will likely be higher than those offered by bigger web hosting companies.

2. At-home Server

Having an at-home server means you actually buy the hardware, set up the operating system, and then configure it to connect to the internet.

This isn’t for beginners; this is for the technologically savvy who want full control over your server setup, as well as the freedom to pick and choose the services you can offer your customers and the ability to expand as much as you want at any point in time.

However, the upfront costs can be prohibitively expensive; aside from the hardware and software, you would need a reliable high-speed internet connection, an uninterruptible power supply, and a cooling system to make sure your server doesn’t overheat even at peak usage.

3. Datacenter Colocation

A colocation center is a large commercial data center that rents out its hardware, space, and bandwidth to businesses.

So instead of buying and setting up your own server at home, you rent the server and the internet connection from a larger company that takes care of most of the maintenance and the overhead costs of electricity and internet connection.

However, you’d still need some technical knowledge as you’ll have to set up the operating system and all the needed software to be able to manage that server.

What You Need To Start a Web Hosting Business

Technical Knowledge

You need extensive knowledge of web hosting, including server management, data security, optimizing speed and bandwidth, ticketing systems for issues and concerns, control panels, and many more.

If you don’t have this knowledge, you can enroll in courses so you can learn all this or (less preferable) hire someone else who is already knowledgeable to manage the technical part of the business while you handle customer outreach, promotion, sales, and payment processing.

Capital

As you’ve probably learned at this point, you’d need to have enough money to cover your initial costs when starting a web hosting business.

Time

Every startup business demands a major time commitment at the beginning.

Building your website, testing landing pages, creating and tweaking ads, posting on social media, and every other effort to promote your business are all time-consuming.

Not to mention troubleshooting, providing customer support, processing payments, and all other management and maintenance tasks.

Steps to Start Your Web Hosting Business

We highly recommend starting as a reseller, as it’s the easiest to get into and requires the least amount of technical knowledge.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll outline the steps to start your web hosting business as a reseller.

1. Perform your market research.

Web hosting is a competitive industry, but if you do your market research thoroughly, you can find your niche market.

The advantage of targeting a niche market instead of the general public is that you’re able to focus your marketing efforts specifically on the customers within that niche.

Also, you can tailor the services and extra features you provide to your niche market’s needs and goals.

Plus, you can compete more successfully within a niche that has relatively fewer competitors by providing excellent customer service and after-sales care.

Examples of niches you can target:

Small businesses
Local SMBs
Non-profits
Affiliate marketers
Music content
Photography sites
Podcasters
Weddings
Travel websites
Restaurants

2. Choose the right reseller hosting provider.

Choosing the right reseller provider is critical to the success of your web hosting business.

Here are the things you need to look for in a reseller hosting provider:

High uptime rates (99.9%)
Top-level performance (TTFB, page load time)
Security and protection from DDoS attacks
Technical support available 24/7
White label branding (so that your customers wouldn’t realize you’re a reseller)
Simple creation and management of your own web hosting packages
cPanel administration
Built-in billing software
Positive feedback and reviews from other resellers

Based on these criteria, here are some providers to consider:

3. Create your web hosting packages and decide on the prices.

When you’ve selected your reseller provider, you can figure out what services to include in your packages and how much each package will be.

When figuring out your pricing, do your best to get to prices that will allow you to earn a profit after your initial costs that your target niche will be willing to pay.

4. Set up your website and social media.

If a website for a web hosting business looks dated or loads slowly, would you subscribe to them?

Of course not.

Since you’re in the digital industry, your website and online persona will be subject to more scrutiny than usual, so bear this in mind when you decide on your branding, domain name, social media handles, and website design.

5. Implement an automatic billing system.

This part will largely depend on your reseller provider, so make sure you get guidance from them on how to set it up.

6. Select and subscribe to customer service software.

Excellent customer service may be one of your only advantages against your competitors, so it’s critical to choose the right partner.

Remember that your clients will depend on you to handle their technical concerns quickly and on demand.

Your reseller provider should be able to provide 24/7 technical support, but you also need to implement your own customer support channel through email.

Zendesk is a popular choice for digital businesses, but startups may balk at the price. Look into other companies like Help Scout or ServiceNow.

7. Start finding clients for your web hosting business.

Once all of the requirements of your business are in place, you can start spreading the word and finding clients.

You’ll need to advertise your business and make it clear why they should choose your service and not one of the bigger hosting companies.

Your marketing strategy will depend on your target niche. For instance, if you want to get your local businesses to sign up with you, you might have to introduce yourself and your business in person or through your local Facebook groups.

On the other hand, if you want to get online entrepreneurs and startups, you can take out targeted Google Ads and social media ads.

Don’t forget guest posting on blogs related to your target niche. Stress the benefits of your service to them and their business.

8. Keep your clients satisfied.

Treat your clients as if any single one of them can end your business at any time.

Always be transparent about any technical issues and be fair about financial situations.

Pay attention to what your clients like and don’t like, and use this information to improve your business and reach out to new clients.

Start Your Web Hosting Business Today!

Hopefully, this guide to starting your web hosting business has been helpful.

But in case you want more inspiration, check out our list of online business ideas to build.

Or maybe you want to work with your hands instead; here are our guides to some potentially lucrative home-based businesses.

Is Amazing Selling Machine 13 Worth The $4,997 Price Tag?

Written By:Halina Zakowicz

Last Updated:June 8, 2021

Amazing Selling Machine Review At A Glance

The Good / Matt Clark continues to put out a high-quality product year after year. His consistency and dedication to ASM are apparent. He is so confident that ASM is effective that he is providing a 6-month guarantee that if you follow the system and don’t make any money, he will reimburse you for anything spent out of pocket. However…

The Bad / With such a high price tag, it’s hard to justify the cost. Especially when there are cheaper alternatives out there.

My Recommendation / If you have the money and want consistent, high-quality training and support to launch an FBA business, Amazing Selling Machine is a must-buy.

Get a free copy of Million Dollar Brand

Matt Clark is giving out a free copy of his book that walks you through the exact steps you need to take to build a million-dollar brand using Amazon in just 12 months.

==> Make sure you click here and grab your copy now.

My Full Amazing Selling Machine Review

Would you pay almost $5,000 for Amazing Selling Machine, a training program that claims to generate $100,000 per month in profit? Do you believe that this is the answer to your dream of achieving a life of total freedom?

Would you also believe that ASM members who joined between 2013 and 2016, completed the program, and launched a new brand business had a median annual revenue of $60,750.00?

In a nutshell, I’d say that the latest offering of ASM, called ASM Evolution or ASM 13 is a program that can easily be followed as it is designed to be undertaken by beginners and offers mentorship by experienced trainers, as well as a community of fellow learners.

However, you’d have to shell out a bit of cash to enroll in this program, and that’s aside from the capital you’ll spend on your inventory and software to build your own brand.

Today, let’s look at the Amazing Selling Machine, how it can help you, how much it costs, whether it’s worth it, and if there’s a suitable alternative.

What is the Amazing Selling Machine?

The Amazing Selling Machine (ASM) is, in the words of its co-founder Matt Clark, “…a training program and live event teaching entrepreneurs how to build real, fast-growth businesses selling physical products by leveraging the power of Amazon.”

They claim to be the most popular Amazon FBA training course, designed to teach those who are new to selling everything they need to know to build a successful Amazon business from scratch.

Here’s a general description of what you’ll get:

The NEW 8-Module Online Web Class
The ASM Mentor Program
The Amazing Alliance Private Community
The Private Resource Vault

Aside from these core elements, you’ll also get access to a BRAND NEW software tool for product selection, automation tools for your email, keyword research, and advertising, and monthly group coaching calls.

You’ll also get priority access to their live networking events and workshops, including SellerCon.

A purchase of ASM Evolution also includes free upgrades to every new version of the core ASM system whenever they become available. Whenever there are new techniques and concepts that work, ASM gets updated with new lessons to make sure its members have access to the most updated information available.

You also get all this risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 6-month Success Agreement (more details on these below).

Details of the Amazing Selling Machine

Let me give you some more information on what you’ll get when you sign up for this training program.

1. The 8-Module Online Web Class

The creators have completely rebuilt this class for the new economy in light of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

The entire web class is made up of 120 video tutorials, with each module containing between 11 and 18 lessons.

You can learn all this at your own pace, but it needs to be in the correct order because each lesson builds upon the previous ones.

Through this web class, you’ll learn all the latest marketing and operations strategies that successful, 7-figure Amazon sellers use to select products to sell, drive sales, and encourage repeat business.

2. The ASM Mentor Program

The ASM Mentor Program is essentially a group of elite Amazon sellers who are ready to help you build your very own business and answer any questions you might have for them.

So instead of being on your own, trying to hunt around the internet for answers to your Amazon-related questions, you can ask these mentors with a combined 54 years of selling experience and a collective $24M worth of products on Amazon to give you prompt, accurate, and updated answers.

All you’d have to do is post a question in the community, and you’re guaranteed a prompt response no matter the time of day, as ASM Mentors come from different countries and timezones.

You get to save time and effort in looking for the answers in the wilderness of all the user forums, trying to decide which advice to take. When the advice comes from an ASM Mentor, you know it’s been tested and applied to a successful Amazon store.

3. Platinum Lifetime Access to the Private ASM Community

Aside from ASM Mentors, you can get support from thousands of ASM members from 138 countries with your Platinum Access to the exclusive ASM community.

Building a business can get a bit isolating, especially if it’s an online business.

It’s a comfort to know that someone somewhere has had or is having the same struggles as you are. Whatever challenges you’re going through, there’s almost a 99% chance that someone else has posed the question or has solved it.

4. The Private Resource Vault

This is a collection of tools, resources, and contacts that the founders and mentors themselves use to build and grow their own Amazon businesses.

Included here are a variety of templates, such as for supplier contracts, sample and product evaluations, and other useful, proven templates to save you time and help you increase your earnings.

You also get access to contact details of professional services that even the founders of ASM use for their businesses, such as delivery services and photographers. On top of that, you even get discounts on powerful Amazon tools to help your business grow.

The best part is that they keep adding to the vault as new resources become available.

You can’t get these resources anywhere else.

BONUS: The Automation Tool Suite

This is one of the best bonuses of the Amazing Selling Machine.

The Automation Tool Suite includes 3 sets of tools to help you launch your products, maintain consistent traffic to your site, track your sales and inventory, and do product and keyword research effectively.

You get free access to these tools for varying times, from 90 days to 12 months.

What Can One Expect to Learn From Amazing Selling Machine 13?

Essentially, ASM teaches its members how to successfully drop-ship items via Amazon.

That’s it.

This revenue model is not exactly new; in fact, I mentioned online drop-shipping as a semi-viable work-at-home opportunity a few years ago.

Why only semi-viable? One of the biggest issues with drop-shipping is keeping product costs down. Products that are bought cheaply can generate a hefty profit for the seller once they are marked up.

But where is the average Joe or Jane supposed to locate really cheap and fairly decent products? There are only so many hours in the day where one can go to garage sales or store liquidations.

The answer is China. ASM teaches its sellers to contact product manufacturers in China, obtain and test product samples, and, if satisfied, order bulk quantities of those products. Such bulk orders can cost hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, so it pays to know a niche product market well.

The next step is much easier: sellers sign up with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). This way, Amazon stores the inventory for those sellers, as well as takes care of marketing, selling, and shipping the items. Thus, Amazon does all the hard work.

What’s new in Amazing Selling Machine 13?

2020 has brought about some changes that have disrupted nearly every industry; however, more people are shopping online these days than ever before. Furthermore, there are millions of new customers who are first-time online buyers.

Amazon is where they head to first, and thus, ASM Evolution has been updated to help you leverage the power of Amazon.

Aside from a redesign and upgrade of their online web training program, they also beefed up their Automated Tool Suite.

Another bonus in ASM 13 is the expert listing evaluation. You can actually get your first listing evaluated by one of the ASM mentors handpicked by the founders themselves. Your listing will be tweaked and optimized for maximum conversions and rankings.

Why is it expensive, though?

The program, co-developed by Matt Clark and Jason Katzenback, costs $4,997 to upfront buyers and 6 payments of $997 to installment buyers.

They say the entire program is worth around $13,985, so paying $4,997 looks like a bargain.

Of course, in pricing a training program, the value isn’t only determined by the time spent working on it or the knowledge of the ones who developed it. The price is also dictated by the value of the training program to individual members and how far they grew their business because of the training program.

Clues about why ASM costs as much as a used car are in several of Matt Clark’s interviews with online magazines such as Under30CEO, where the very title of the article is ‘The No-Brainer Secret to Success: High Margins.’

Meanwhile, in IdeaMensch, Matt lays out his strategy in detail, noting that, while he started out as an affiliate marketer selling other entrepreneurs’ products and getting a 40%–50% profit margin, it didn’t compare to him selling his own product and making a 400%–500% profit margin (!).

So yeah, profit margins, pure and simple.

Follow the affiliate commissions…

If ASM was simply another online drop-shipping class, it would probably cost no more than two or three hundred bucks. However, as Matt Clark noted above, a business is more worthwhile if it generates high profit margins.

How are high profit margins generated? By convincing customers that the product has very high value and is in limited supply. Thus, the ASM training doesn’t just include the 8-week course but additional value-added items such as the lifetime forum membership and software tool suite.

Likewise, if you go to the ASM website throughout the year, you’ll notice that the course is sometimes unavailable. This is because the training is offered for a limited time only, after which the enrollment link expires. However, at some given point in time, say the following month, that link will reactivate and another limited-time offer will be posted.

Does ASM 13 offer refunds?

Short answer: Yes, they do.

The amount of money involved is a risk, and the creators of ASM know that.

To eliminate that risk, they offer an unconditional 100% 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you decide that ASM Evolution isn’t the right fit for you, simply let them know within the first 30 days and they’ll give you back your entire investment in the program.

This is enough time for you to go through half the web class, talk to Mentors, check out the community, and go through the private resource vault before deciding.

Not only do you get a 30-day, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee with your ASM 13 purchase, but Matt and Jason have also developed an even more enticing offer.

They’re calling it the Success Agreement.

If you buy the program, launch a new product within the first 4 months, follow all the marketing steps you were taught within the first 5 months, and you don’t make money by the 6-month mark from the date you joined ASM 13, they will reimburse 100% of the cost of the program, PLUS they will reimburse you up to $7,500 in unsold inventory.

I have never seen a guarantee quite like this one. Matt and Jason seem to want you to try their system totally risk-free. I don’t say this often, but it really does appear that you have nothing to lose by giving ASM a shot. If it doesn’t work out after 6 months, you’re only out the time invested.

Is Amazing Selling Machine Worth The Price?

Supposedly, even someone with little to no prior business experience can use the ASM course to build a six- or even seven-figure business from the ground up.

But upon searching online, I actually found a few ASM-like courses that not only explain the concept of drop-shipping via Amazon or eBay but are also segmented into various industries so you need not buy shiny yet extraneous materials that you’ll probably never use.

Case in point: Jessica Larrew of Amazon Boot Camp.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income interviewed Jessica and her husband/business partner Cliff and the couple appear to apply all the principles outlined in ASM, except that they don’t source their product from China or other offshore countries (to be clear, they get their deals at places like Walgreens).

Jessica posts training materials online that are very affordably priced. Furthermore, the training materials are segmented by industry; for example, if you want to try health and beauty product drop-shipping, Jessica offers an ebook on the subject for only $27. Alternatively, you can also buy the entire Amazon Boot Camp for $299.

But let’s say you’re hoping to buy bigger lots of wholesale items and really want to see what’s available through offshore countries. Skip McGrath offers an in-depth 350-page printed training manual called The Complete Amazon Marketing System for $127. He also throws in a bunch of free bonuses like a 30-minute coaching call and lifetime membership to his wholesale sourcing website.

A Phenomenal Lower Cost Alternative To ASM…

Over the past years, Marketplace SuperHeroes has become an outstanding alternative to the Amazing Selling Machine program.

At $997, it’s a much lesser investment, and you get an absolutely fantastic program with an incredibly strong support community.

This program was created by Stephen Somers and Robert Rickey, two Irish Amazon Sellers who built their business to multiple 7-figure revenues selling their own private label products.

Despite the fact the creators are Irish, the program is taught for US and international sellers so regardless of where you live, this program absolutely will help you succeed on Amazon on a global scale.

And this is one of the biggest reasons why I believe this program is truly excellent. Not only do they teach you how to sell on Amazon but they also teach you how to take the same products that you find and sell them across multiple Amazon marketplaces.

The Unique Advantage With MPSH

This is huge because outside of the US market, the sheer size of the opportunity to grow on Amazon is unimaginable. These markets are not as well developed as those in the US but they still offer all of Amazon’s incredible services, such as FBA.

Also, because you’re leveraging Amazon, you don’t have to worry about multilingual customer support as Amazon takes care of that for you!

Robert (the main mentor in the program) has been selling on marketplaces for almost 20 years and has sold between $10M to $20M in cumulative sales. As you’ll see when you join the community, Robert knows this business like no one else I know.

Stephen is also a very experienced seller and marketer. He is very much the marketing side of the business but is an expert in his own right as well.

Together they make a really experienced team of mentors. In fact, since the program began they’ve added over 6 additional mentors to the support team. This helps the company provide better support than anywhere else that I’ve seen.

At $997, I can honestly say that no other program even comes close to this value for money.

If you plan to create success on Amazon and you want to go the global route, selling lower competition products and building a ‘mini-empire,’ then you really need to register for this course NOW!

Has anyone tried Amazing Selling Machine?

The general consensus is that ASM is expensive, but if you have the money and want to get consistent, high-quality training and support to launch an FBA business, Amazing Selling Machine is hard to pass up.

However, the alternatives I listed do provide much of the value at a fraction of the cost. ASM 13’s 6-month money-back guarantee does help alleviate some of the hesitation associated with the high costs of the program.

Have you purchased or are considering purchasing ASM? Is there a specific ASM feature that you particularly like? Have you gotten your money’s worth with ASM as opposed to another drop-shipping training program? Please leave your tips, questions, or advice in the comments below!