How to Start an Amazon FBA Business: Best Beginner Resources
We did the research to find the best beginner resources for how to start an Amazon FBA business, so you can cut right to the good stuff without all the sales pages and crappy content.
“You sell it, we ship it.” That’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) at its most basic. All you have to do is send an item to Amazon and they store it until a customer orders it, then they pick it from the warehouse, pack it, ship it, process returns, and handle customer service, in exchange for a fee.
It sounds great. And it is great. Many people have started an Amazon FBA side hustle and grown it into a small business.
But of course, the process is not that simple for you. There’s actually a lot of work involved in running a successful FBA business, even before you make your first sale, and there’s a dizzying amount of information out there about how to get started.
The best beginner resources for fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
Any of the high-quality written, video, or audio resources below will give you a basic understanding of what’s required to set up your FBA store in under an hour.
Choose one or two of these Amazon FBA resources that fit your learning style and jump in. You’ll come away with a basic understanding of what you need to do to make FBA work for you and where to go to learn more.
READ + WATCH: Amazon Seller Central
Start from Amazon’s official website for an overview. This page is well-laid out and thorough. If you’re new to e-commerce, don’t worry if it seems a little too thorough. It’s just a starting point.
WATCH: Amazon Seller University
How to do Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Step by Step (6 videos, 35 minutes total).
This playlist of 6 videos is not the most entertaining, but they’re well done and tell you the technical overview about FBA that you need to know, straight from Amazon itself.
If you don’t know much about e-commerce, a lot of it will be new to you, but it gives you a starting vocabulary that will help you understand what third-party resources are talking about as you delve deeper into FBA, so I highly recommend you watch just the first video in the series (about 3.5 minutes).
You can come back to the rest of the series later after consuming a few more basic third-party resources.
READ: How to Get Started Selling on Amazon FBA – The Selling Family
I combed a lot of articles to find one that would really be worth your time. This is one of the best out there.
These folks are successful, smart, and currently practicing FBA sellers; they are gifted teachers and writers; and they’re extremely generous with their knowledge. As a result, they’ve been in the FBA business (and now the FBA education business) for ten years.
This article is a thorough high-level primer on how Amazon FBA works, who it’s for, what you can expect as a new seller, and what to do to get started – all without going deep into technical details that just aren’t helpful for beginners.
WATCH: How to Sell on Amazon FBA for Beginners – ODi Productions + Kevin David (33 minutes)
This an overview video by successful digital entrepreneurs Kevin David and ODi productions, (1.5million YouTube subscribers between them).
If you prefer to learn through a more informal conversation-style presentation, or through the example of others who’ve already gone through the process, this video is a great starting point.
It includes the basics of setup; how much you can expect to make; how much time you’ll need to put in; how to find products to sell; how to begin building the business relationships you’ll need to be successful, and more.
PODCAST: Behind the Scenes of the Full-Time FBA Amazon Business (34 minutes)
If you love a good origin story, this is for you. This podcast is hosted by husband and wife team Stephen and Rebecca Smotherman, who have… you guessed it…. A full-time FBA business.
In this specific episode, the pair share their real-life story of how they grew their Amazon FBA business from zero to double full-time income. Stories like this one help put all the basic technical info into perspective.
Diving Deeper – Where to continue learning about starting an Amazon FBA business
Below are some of the best free resources for general knowledge about Fulfilment by Amazon. If you have a question that wasn’t answered in the resources above, chances are you’ll find a good answer in one of these places.
BEST FBA PODCAST – The Full Time FBA Show
It’s well worth exploring this podcast, beyond the hosts’ origin story.
Reviewers (4.8 stars on Apple Podcasts) tout the easygoing air of the show that compliments the detailed, actionable, and concise content the couple shares on all things FBA. Each episode is accompanied by detailed show notes, including links to the resources discussed, a final level of detail that sets this show apart from most of its peers.
Episodes generally hover around the 20-minute range.
BEST FBA BLOG – TheSellingFamily.com
Probably the best all-around FBA resource I’ve found so far that deals specifically with Amazon FBA. The more you delve into the Amazon FBA education market, the more you see their name pop up on other sites.
Produced by 10-year veterans of the industry who are also gifted and generous teachers, the site is easy to navigate and an absolute treasure trove of well-written, info-dense articles. These folks also sell courses that combine much of the info they give away for free on their blog into sequential, all-inclusive curriculums.
Here are two pieces of their content you’ll want to start with:
Article – Retail Arbitrage for FBA sellers
Arbitrage, which is a fancy term for flipping goods (buying low and selling high) is one of the most common types of FBA businesses. Retail arbitrage refers to buying items from retail stores and re-selling them elsewhere for a profit – in our case, on Amazon FBA.
Article – Online Arbitrage for FBA sellers
Online Arbitrage is the same as retail arbitrage, except instead of buying at retail stores, you’re sourcing goods from….online…
BEST FBA BEGINNER COURSES – The Selling Family
Disclaimer! I haven’t personally bought any of their courses.
But I’ve researched a lot of online courses and bought my fair share, so I’ve learned how to tell good course providers from poor teachers or outright con-men.
Two of the best markers for legit courses are the amount and quality of free content that the course providers give away before ever making a sale. The Selling Family gives away TONS of great stuff on their blog and newsletter.
They’ve been around a long time; they don’t hide their identities between an anonymous sales page; they have a presence on other reputable platforms in this space; they have a 60-day money-back guarantee; and there are many third-party reviews of their products on the internet. With some FBA beginner courses running over $4,000 dollars, The Selling Family is very price competitive, too.
As with absolutely any online course, I recommend you reach out to the provider, ask questions, and establish rapport before any money changes hands to make absolutely sure that not only are they legit, but that the course is right for you.
BEST NEWSLETTER FOR STARTING AN AMAZON FBA BUSINESS – FBA Monthly
Newsletters are a great way to learn more about a subject in bitesize pieces, especially if you’re not in a rush.
My number 1 recommendation is a free, curated Amazon FBA newsletter for the busy businessperson. The publication pulls a few important headlines from the crowded FBA blogosphere and delivers them to your inbox twice monthly. It’s not “how-to” content – it provides easy access to important ongoing industry news that affects FBA sellers in real-time.
You can also read their past newsletters in their archives here, which they offer as a free Amazon FBA resource, so you know exactly what to expect.
The newsletter is free, but they’re funded by paid sponsorships, so be aware there will be some paid content in each publication.
I also recommend you subscribe to newsletters from any of the other sites mentioned in this article. Many content producers really do give away much of their best content in newsletters in the hopes of convincing you they are knowledgeable and trustworthy enough to earn your business, maybe even years down the line.
A word of caution: while the content these folks send you may be valuable, they can get annoying real quick if they send you too much.
Many content providers place you into a sales funnel immediately when you give them your email address, meaning they may email you every week or even every day with messages that, while potentially helpful, are also designed to get you to purchase something.
Not everybody does this, however, and it’s worth working through a few spammy newsletter lists to find the really great ones. Besides, if there is anyone who abuses their access to your inbox, you can always unsubscribe.
“Best” bad experiences with starting an Amazon FBA business
I’m a firm believer that we learn more from our failures than our successes (or preferably, from other people’s failures). So I sought out people who had bad experiences with Amazon FBA to see what it could teach us.
If you only read one negative review of someone who tried starting an Amazon FBA business, make it this excellent piece from Steve Chou of My Wife Quit Her Job.
Article: The Dangers of Selling on Amazon and Horror Stories from Real Amazon Sellers
Video version here (11 minutes)
Steve doesn’t say you shouldn’t sell on Fulfillment by Amazon, but he does tell you in great detail all the potential pitfalls of the platform which Amazon (and people selling you books and courses about FBA) don’t want to tell you upfront.
It’s not a rant from some disgruntled FBA newbie who didn’t have what it takes to make it – it’s an informed cautionary tale from a successful FBA entrepreneur.
Now get out there and start your FBA business
After spending an hour or two with some of these Amazon FBA resources, you should have a much better understanding of what Fulfillment by Amazon is and what it takes to be successful. The next step is to go out and start your own Amazon FBA business. Take a risk (but not too much risk) and have fun!
If you’re hungry for more great advice on running successful side businesses for beginners, check out our article, 10 Best Books for Starting a Side Hustle for a wealth of additional wisdom.
