As you may know by now, I sell eBooks and one printed book on Amazon.com, and the monthly checks are consistent from this effort. However, they are not huge. I don’t recommend this as a full time business model unless writing and selling books or eBooks is your passion.

However, I do believe in multiple channels of income. Selling ebooks on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and Apple is one of them. Here is a short introductory video on this:

Another channel I opened up several years ago is selling tangible products on Amazon. We list them, and then when someone orders we ship them! It’s simple (after you understand and navigate your way through their selling platform).

It’s another channel that brings in consistent monthly checks. However, they are not huge checks either. But I am thankful for it.

The next area of Amazon that we are starting to explore is selling through Amazon’s FBA program. This is similar to listing products for sale on Amazon and fulfilling the orders ourselves, but the FBA program is different in that Amazon fulfills the orders for you.

What you do is load up a box full of stuff you want to sell, ship it to Amazon, and the collect the money when someone orders.

Sounds easy in theory but there is an entire system that you have to understand when you sell through their FBA program, and you also have to have a few tools as well.

The problem is that they take a percentage of your sale as well as other fees for shipping, storage, etc.

But the cool thing is that millions of buyers choose to order through Amazon Prime or the Free Super Saver Shipping program.

Now you are confused. There are basically three ways a customer can order a product on Amazon.

• You can order directly from Amazon and pay shipping and handling. This would usually only apply if the total amount of the sale is under $25.

• You can order from a third party vendor, like myself. You’ll see these vendors under ‘New’, ‘Used’, or ‘Collectable’. Sometimes Amazon will be listed there as well, it just depends on whether Amazon has the product in stock or not.

• You can order as an Amazon Prime member. Prime members pay a $79 annual fee to get free second day shipping on qualifying products (and there are tens of thousands, if not millions of them). And Prime membership sales have surpassed Free Super Save shipping orders (people who order $25 or more and are not Prime members).

• This article explains the differences very well.

When I list a tangible product for sale on Amazon, I have the option of choosing to fulfill the order myself, or have Amazon do it for me. Usually I have Amazon do it if the margins are high

Amazon Selling Tip:

You can command a higher price than third party vendors because Prime members want free shipping, they want their product ‘now’, and they are more comfortable with Amazon shipping it. But even if you are not a prime member you are more likely to choose the free super saver option, and as an FBA seller my product would be listed first, assuming I have no competition as an FBA seller, or I priced my product well.

Some sellers are making a fortune through the Amazon FBA program. And it is possible, however like any business it takes time to understand, and effort to find products to sell.

But the rewards an outweigh the drawbacks, and I am really excited about it. We just sent out our first FBA box to Amazon yesterday.