Amazon FBA success stories show that it's possible to succeed in the business model. Tim Sanders, Matt Clark, Tatiana James, Morgan Rainey, and others have inspiring success stories to share. Their real-life experiences show it's possible to earn huge profits from the platform.
Meanwhile, Reddit user greggamingg also shares about selling on Amazon for a year. According to the user, they were able to make $20,000 within 20 days for doing Amazon FBA wholesale. On the other hand, they needed 3 to 4 months before launching products via private label. In total, the Redditor was able to earn over 1 million in a year.
Jingle-Bells1 has is also a private label Amazon FBA business owner. According to their Reddit post, they spent "a couple of months looking at different niches" before deciding what to sell online. Today, their products rank organically within the top 10 to top 20 of their target keywords.
In this feature, we'll share with you the top 10 Amazon FBA success stories, We also give you pointers on how to find profitable products to sell in 2024. Finally, we discuss why we think local lead generation is a more superior business model.
Mina Elias
Mina Elias has a degree in chemical engineering but he worked various corporate jobs. Eventually, his passion for supplements drove him to start exploring Amazon FBA after being fired from work. In November 2018, he launched his online store on the platform and began seeing success. He focused on PPC advertising and gathering customer reviews to boost his business presence. “Through hard work, testing, and implementing a strong review strategy, my monthly profits significantly increased,” he says.
Today, Mina makes $4 million a year, with $1 million in profit. He now has 76 employees and 138 brands under management. He runs a YouTube channel where he shares free advice for aspiring Amazon FBA entrepreneurs. He also has a paid course called Master Amazon PPC: Transform Your Business with Amazon PPC.
Dan Rodgers
Dan Rodgers was initially a self-declared “technophobe” from South Africa. He eventually overcame his fears after discovering the Just One Dime channel on YouTube. He became one of the early students and began doing ecommerce in 2015. Using his learnings, he managed to make a sale of $20,000 in a matter of 7 days.
Dan is now Seth’s co-coach and partner in Amazon FBA Mastery membership program. He has since provided coaching for more than a thousand learners, with some earning over $3 million in their Amazon businesses.
Anna
Anna (last name undisclosed) only had $700 for her initial investment when she started selling ocean-based products. She spent the money for prototype creation, materials, and branding.
In a YouTube interview with Travis Marziani, Anna says she decided to formalize her business by forming an LLC once her shop started making profits. She brought her operations to the next level by selling on Amazon. According to Anna, she spent $2,000 for consultancy services and $250 for UPC codes.
Within a year of doing Amazon FBA, Anna made $1.2 million in sales.
Beau Crabill
Beau Crabill is a successful 7-figure online seller. He began his entrepreneurial journey in 2011 at the age of 12. Beau initially gained attention by selling dyed Nike Elite socks at a higher price, capitalizing on their popularity. Despite being shut down by his school principal, Beau transitioned his business to eBay with the help of his father. By middle school, he was making $200 to $500 weekly.
As Beau progressed through high school, his earnings exceeded those of his teachers. His ventures eventually led him to Amazon FBA, where he started selling private label headsets at age 15. This time, he generated over $35,000 in sales in just 60 days. Over the years, Beau expanded his product range to include video games, toys, electronics, and others.
Alec John
Alec John is an accomplished entrepreneur and mentor. He started his journey in the Amazon marketplace in 2011. By the age of 23, Alec had already achieved $765,000 in sales, attributing his success to persistence. He now has over a decade of experience in selling both wholesale and private label products, which has resulted in earnings of $4.2 million.
Since 2018, Alec has been mentoring over 200 students through his AMZ Fast Lane, a course designed to help people build successful Amazon businesses. He also runs his own YouTube channel where he shares guides and strategies for aspiring Amazon FBA entrepreneurs. In his course and videos, he combines personal experiences, proven techniques, and industry insights to guide beginners and experienced sellers.
Tim Sanders
Tim Sanders has an amazing Amazon success story. He came from a normal family with normal means. He did not have a college degree. In fact, he tried to attend a junior college and lasted less than 1 semester.
Tim entered the workforce at age 15, landing at Costco. He eventually set a goal to work up into management at Costco. Unfortunately, the employee with the longest job history always beat him out, even though he worked harder and smarter.
Tim later decided to get into the world of small business. He experimented with real estate, the stock market, and others. However, the competition was fierce. He finally stumbled on private label products. Today, Tim is an 8-figure Amazon seller. He is also in the top 1% of Amazon sellers, having made over $60 million in the last 5 years alone.
Today, Tim Sanders is the CEO of Private Label Masters, a company he established in 2018. He helps entrepreneurs by sharing high-level information on building a profitable Amazon business. Tim does this throughout his course and the content he uploads on his YouTube channel. Beyond his business, Tim enjoys spending time with his 3 nephews. He also loves traveling and volunteering.
Rob
A student of Tim Sanders, Rob (last name undisclosed) used to be an EMT. Eventually, he realized working online was more profitable and is less stressful. He began making money online within about 6 months of doing online and retail arbitrage. After that, he started his own private label business.
Rob made his initial $10,000 FBA product purchase on a credit card with 0% interest for 18 months. While he knew this was a risk, he laid out a solid plan to market and sell his product. After 2.5 years of selling on Amazon, Rob made over $70K in sales per month. In addition, he only works 20-30 hours per week. He spends about 50% of that time learning how to increase his business. The other 50% is spent optimizing PPC and watching organic keyword rankings. Rob also hires virtual assistants who handle customer service tasks on his behalf.
Matt Clark
As a child, Matt struggled with his parent’s divorce. As a teenager, he got into doing and selling drugs. Fortunately, he later pulled himself away from the less than ideal situation. He made it to college and graduated with 2 degrees.
This was in 2008 and it was probably one of the worst times for a new guy to start a job at an investment bank. Economic issues aside, Matt quickly realized he didn’t want to work for anyone else. So in 2009, he started selling high-end health supplements on his own eCommerce store. His first product, a natural sleep aid, made $700 and helped catapult his online entreprise. Soon, he had 11,000 products on his website.
After 2 years, Matt moved his business to Amazon. He initially faced various supplier issues but eventually doubled his eCommerce business within a few weeks. By the time he turned 26, Matt had built 3 multi-million dollar companies. He would later meet Jason Katzenback and they would create Amazing.com.
As the co-creator of Amazing Selling Machine, Matt now provides behind-the-scenes support. The course is now taught by instructors Mike McClary and Devin Dorosh.
Tatiana James
Tatiana James didn't even own a laptop while she was in college. She originally planned to work in the government. However, she changed her mind when she met now husband Stefan James of Project Life Mastery. Tatiana started exploring Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) but eventually lost interest. Both she and Stefan later signed up for Amazing Selling Machine to learn Amazon FBA step by step. During this time, Tatiana was still taking university classes and working as a server.
Tatiana invested around $300 into her first inventory. Luckily, the product she sold - a natural sponge - brought in $2,000 to $3,000 per month. She switched to waist trainers and became the face of her brand Luxx Health (known today as LUXX Curves). By 23 years old, she was making $40,000 per month off of this product. Today, Tatiana earns a whopping $450,000 per month from her business.
Morgan Rainey
Morgan Rainey used to live in a trailer park. At 13, she picked up free items at garage sales and resold them on eBay for extra cash. Eventually, she listed Goodwill books and other items. She even sold things from around her house. She went to high school and college, and got as a waiter. After college, she went into corporate sales selling dumpsters. Her phone rang all day, and she knew she didn’t want to do this forever.
In 2016, Morgan started selling on Amazon with her partner (who worked as a sugarcane farmer). She went full time on Amazon in 2018, and her partner followed some time later. She also launched Cajunventures with co-founder Brook Theriot in the same year. Today, Morgan has made over $5 million as an Amazon seller.
Charlie Chang
Charlie Chang is a popular YouTuber who has been hustling since he was young. At age 12, he sold candy bars to other middle schoolers. His parents pressured him to be a doctor, even though he hated needles and blood. He went to UCLA and got his bachelor’s in psychobiology.
During his time in college, Charlie explored dozens of side hustles. He even signed to a modeling agency. When he didn’t get into med school, he knew it was for the best. He brought in $800 in his first month on his own. His most consistent side gig was tutoring. Another lucrative hustle was wedding and graduation photography.
Despite his efforts, Charlie still couldn’t reach 6 figures. He tried different businesses that ultimately failed. For example, a clothing company he founded lost $20,000.
Finally, he landed on Amazon FBA and that’s what he still does to this day. With his Amazon FBA income, Charlie got his real estate license and became a loan officer. He is now 29 and a 7-figure earner.
Joshua Crisp
Joshua Crisp is the founder of AMZ Formula, an Amazon FBA private label course. During his younger years, he grew up in and out of homeless shelters. He also couldn't focus in his academics. Schools told his mother that he was bipolar, depressed, and needed to be tested for ADD and ADHD.
During his freshman year of high school, a teacher told him he might as well leave. They said his low grades meant he would amount to nothing in life. He ended up as a drop out but he knew he needed to work to support his family.
Joshua got a job sorting garbage by hand from 7 at night to 3 in the morning. He worked there until he had a wife, a son, and another child on the way. However, it was killing him each time he missed important family times. So, he tried SEO, blogging, and crypto currency. Nothing stuck until his wife’s boss told him about Amazon.
Turning his attention to the platform, Joshua listed three products. Each one of them failed. Then he used JungleScout’s platform for product research and other tasks. This is when everything clicked. The move led to him grossing over $10 million in his first 3.5 years as a seller on Amazon. He even ended up buying the garbage plant where he once worked in and turned it into his inventory.
Kenzo Sobrie
Kenzo Sobrie runs an 8-figure wholesale business. What's amazing about his success story is that he reached that achievement when he was merely 19.
When Kenzo was in 7th grade, he was arrested for selling vape pens. In the 8th grade, he sold T-shirts, and soon he was dropshipping on Shopify and eBay, among other hustles.
Kenzo was only 16 when he finally got into Amazon FBA. He had saved up $7500 from his eBay sales, and he put it into a bulk order of Sharpies. He flipped them, making $25,000 in revenue and $4,000 in profit.
During his time with Amazon FBA, Kenzo drove his pickup truck to his vendor from his parents' house. He ended up moving to LA, where he kept products in his own warehouse. As of late 2021, he had three warehouses in Huntington Beach, one in Miami, Houston, and New Jersey. Kenzo has since moved to a more FBM business model to avoid high fees.
Marvin Leonard
Marvin Leonard makes his money doing Amazon FBA. Today he sells his course, The Wholesale Underground. He also shares free Amazon-related information and self-improvement ideas on his YouTube channel.
Growing up, Marvin Leonard didn’t have much. He also struggled with issues on his weight, anger, and anxiety. Despite this, he graduated from college and joined the police academy. He worked his way from a sniper to SWAT and eventually landed a role as detective. As detective, he worked 60 hours a week with a 2-hour commute. For $80,000 a year, Marvin knew his income wasn’t enough. Plus he wanted to work from home.
Marvin began his search for a way to make money online. He was bombarded with dropshipping promotions, so he started a Shopify shop. The final push to Amazon came from a video that pointed out that with Amazon, the customers come to you. So Marvin took the leap and switched to the platform. He started with online and retail arbitrage. However, he found out that the amount of work it required was not sustainable for the life he wanted. He tried private label and then went right into wholesale at the same time. Wholesale won out, and he continues to sell products online to this day.
Stephen Smotherman
Stephen Smotherman also has an interesting Amazon FBA success story. Divorced from his first wife, he had no way of supporting himself and his four boys. He was desperate to keep his family together and provide for them. Then Stephen found out his youngest son was autistic. This pushed him even harder to find something that would allow him to earn while staying home. He wanted to spend quality time with his children.
Stephen went to garage sales, thrift stores, and retail stores. He followed a retail arbitrage model. He met his now wife, Rebecca, and she became his business partner. Together, they explored different Amazon FBA business models.
During this time, they learned another one of his sons was a Type I diabetic. However, they now had the freedom to take time off, learn about his new diet, and support the family. Today, they outsource much of their business. They now focus on creating content for their Full-Time FBA YouTube channel.
What is the Success Rate of Amazon FBA?
The success rate of Amazon FBA is between 1% to 27%. According to TrueProfit, around 1% of sellers earn around $100,001 to $250,000 per year. 27% make between $1,001 and $5,000 per year, according to TrueProfit.
In a Jungle Scout article, Brian Connolly says 57% of Amazon FBA sellers exceed a 10% profit margin. He also adds 28% achieve over a 20% profit margin while 13% of sellers report insufficient profits. Moreover, sellers make an average profit of $12,000 to $300,000 per year. This means making around $1,000 to $25,000 in sales per month.
How to Find Profitable Products to Sell on Amazon FBA in 2024
Check out Amazon Best Sellers
Checking out Amazon Best Sellers allows you to find popular products on the platform. It makes a perfect starting point because the page is entirely based on sales volume. It's also updated frequently, so you can check back often for best results.
Amazon Best Sellers lets you explore different categories. You can browse top products on electronics, toys, fashion, kitchenware, and more. With this, you can compare pricing and ratings to decide which products are best to sell on your Amazon FBA business.
Do market research for your Amazon FBA business
Doing market research for your Amazon FBA business helps you find profitable products. In a Quora post, Onwordi Fredrick says entrepreneurs should “look for niches with demand, low competition, and decent profit margins.”
To do this, business owners can use research tools, such as Jungle Scout, Helium 10, AMZ Scout. “Remember, success also depends on effective marketing and customer satisfaction,” Fredrick also adds.
See what's trending on social media
You can also use social media to find profitable products to sell on your Amazon FBA business. According to AMZ Scout, it's easy to spot trending products on social media based on shares. The site also says you can even step up your game and become a primary provider by finding trending items “that are not currently being sold on Amazon.” For example, you can specifically check out hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt.
Build a relationship with reliable suppliers
Building a relationship with reliable suppliers can boost your potential profits as an FBA seller. According to Joe Barravecchio of Strictly Commerce, having quality, long-term relationships with vendors has its benefits.
“You can reorder the same products over and over again,” he says in a YouTube video. “You can also get better pricing the more you order. You can use the same items over and over again, or you can get the first in line or discount value pricing based on volume.”
What is Amazon FBA?
Amazon FBA, or Fulfillment by Amazon, is an e-commerce order fulfillment service. It allows third-party sellers to leverage Amazon's logistics systems. With the Amazon FBA program, entrepreneurs can outsource key aspects of their operations. This includes:
- Inventory storage
- Packing
- Shipping
- Product returns
- Customer service
As such, FBA sellers can focus more on their core business activities while Amazon handles order fulfillment. The process starts as sellers send product inventory to an Amazon fulfillment center. Amazon prepares and ships customer orders upon purchase, typically delivering it within two days. The platform then collects payment and disburses it to the seller's bank account, minus any applicable fees.
Common e-commerce business models for Amazon FBA include:
- Private label
- Wholesale
- Retail arbitrage
- Online arbitrage
- White label
Why Local Lead Generation is Better Than Amazon FBA?
Amazon FBA can be a profitable business model. But with an average monthly sales of $1,000 to $25,000, we say local lead generation is potentially more lucrative. I speak from experience as a former FBA seller. Back then, I earned around $15,000 per month. Today, I make an average earning of $52,000 per month with lead gen. It's way simpler and is significantly less competitive than Amazon FBA selling.
With local lead generation, profit margins can go as high as 95%. Essentially, you're building websites and ranking them on search engines. Once you reach top rankings online, you can sell the traffic and leads to local business owners. Plus since you're the owner of your lead gen sites, you also don't run the risk of unexpected account bans and suspensions.
Compared with Amazon FBA, you won't have to worry about attracting new buyers all the time. Your clients will happily pay you top dollars each month as long as you can provide them quality leads. In fact, each site can make you $500 to $2,000 each month. You can further boost your monthly earnings by owning and renting out multiple sites.
Competition is also not as stiff with local lead generation. You're not competing with thousands of Amazon sellers. Instead, you are targeting area-specific keywords. You're merely going head to head against 5 to 10 local businesses. You can easily achieve top rankings by implementing proven SEO techniques.
If you think this business model is a better fit for you, we have a local lead generation course you can check out.
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