One question new entrepreneurs ask constantly: how much do Amazon sellers actually make? It’s a fair question, and the honest answer is that the range is enormous.
Some sellers never move past a few hundred dollars a month. Others run businesses turning over millions. What separates them is usually product choice, marketing and the hours they put in.
This article pulls together what the survey data says about seller earnings, where those numbers come from, and what they can and can’t tell you about your own situation.
One thing to be clear about before we start: every figure below describes other sellers. None of it is a projection of what you will earn.
Most of the figures in this article come from Jungle Scout’s State of the Amazon Seller report, an annual survey of thousands of sellers. Where a number appears below without a source, it comes from that report.
In fact, according to the report, a huge 49% of new Amazon sellers are driven by the desire to be their own boss and 38% are looking for extra income to supplement their existing income. Those motivations shape what sellers do next – someone building a side project runs their store differently from someone replacing a full-time income.
No matter the reason, Amazon selling can be a great primary income stream for many. So, let’s explore the earning potential of Amazon sellers together.
Why Amazon is the preferred destination for online sellers
Amazon puts your listings in front of an audience most standalone stores can’t reach on their own.
Amazon has a user-friendly interface and a simple registration process, which means you can start listing your products and reaching potential customers almost immediately. Plus, with the platform’s wide range of tools and resources, such as Amazon Seller Central, you can manage your listings, inventory, and orders with ease.
More than 89% of US buyers agree that they would rather buy products from Amazon than from other ecommerce sites.
Amazon has 300+ million active users.
Amazon also converts well compared with most standalone stores, because visitors arrive already intending to buy. This means that people who visit the platform are more likely to make a purchase. This is thanks to Amazon’s reputation as a trusted online marketplace. Amazon’s search algorithm is also optimized to help customers find the products they’re looking for quickly, which can increase the chances of a sale.
Finally, Amazon has a very supportive community of sellers who are more than happy to share their knowledge and experience. This can be a great resource for new sellers who are looking for guidance and advice on how to succeed on the platform. Together, these are the reasons most sellers give for choosing Amazon over building an audience from scratch.
How much do Amazon sellers make? [Answered]
Seller earnings spread across a very wide range, and the survey data shows that clearly.
About half of Amazon store owners report monthly sales between $1,000 and $25,000 — roughly $12,000 to $300,000 a year. Another 13% report between $25,000 and $250,000 a month.
Two things are worth noting about these figures. They’re sales, not profit — what a seller keeps after Amazon fees, product costs and advertising is a different and much smaller number. And they’re self-reported by sellers who chose to answer a survey, which tends to skew toward more active businesses.
Selling on Amazon definitely has great potential. So, if you’re ready to start your Amazon selling journey, go for it!
Figures cited describe other sellers and come from third-party survey data. They are not a projection of results for any individual. Sellvia does not guarantee any level of sales or income – outcomes depend on the products you choose, your marketing, and the time you put in.
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What is the profit potential for an Amazon seller
14% of Amazon sellers achieve lifetime profits of over $100,000
Starting an Amazon business? Sales are exciting, but profit is what really matters. Here’s why focusing on profits can help you succeed.
Why profits matter: Profits show how much money you’re actually making after all expenses. Understanding this helps you make better decisions to improve your business.
What margins look like: Around 65% of sellers report profit margins above 10%, and 32% report margins above 20%.
Not everyone is profitable: Not all sellers are profitable right away. About 8% are still working on it. Profit margins can change based on sales and expenses, so it’s important to keep track.
These are lifetime figures: These numbers come from sellers’ total lifetime profits on Amazon. They cover a seller’s whole time on the platform, not a first year – worth keeping in mind when comparing them to your own start.
Sellvia sellers: Two stories
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“It’s been a really exciting journey for me, for sure”
A mother of three came to Sellvia looking for something she could run alongside her family. She picked the platform because setup was simple and it cost little to start.
She works from home and fits the store around her schedule rather than the other way round — which, she says, was the whole point.
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“I knew nothing when I started”
Martin, from Denmark, started his store during the pandemic with no ecommerce background at all.
Learning new skills. Along the way he picked up digital marketing, social media and site management — skills he didn’t have before, and which he says have been useful well beyond the store itself.
What’s next. Martin has set himself a target of $10,000 in monthly profit and plans to open more stores. To expand onto Amazon, he added a Sellvia Amazon Seller Toolkit.
Figures cited describe other sellers and come from third-party survey data. They are not a projection of results for any individual. Sellvia does not guarantee any level of sales or income – outcomes depend on the products you choose, your marketing, and the time you put in.
How quickly can you start seeing profits from selling on Amazon?
How long it takes to turn a profit varies a lot. In the survey, 64% of sellers said they were profitable within their first year. What’s more, 21% of sellers reported profits within 3 months of starting their business, 24% reported profits within 3-6 months, 19% reported profits within 6 months – 1 year and 11% reported profits within 1-2 years.
A further 11% took one to two years, and 2% took longer than two years. The survey doesn’t capture sellers who stopped before reaching profit at all, so the real spread is likely wider than these numbers suggest.
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What is the initial investment required to start selling on Amazon?
One of the biggest issues for people starting to sell on Amazon is the idea that it will cost them too much money. But it’s important to remember that with many things, what you put in impacts what you get out. It doesn’t have to be all about cash, it can mean time, the necessary data to inform your decisions, or simply the will to succeed.
According to statistics, nearly one-third (32% ) of Amazon store owners spent no more than $1,000 to start their businesses. And the majority of sellers (69%) spent less than $5,000 to get started selling on Amazon.
17% of sellers spent less than $500 to get started, while 15% spent $500-$1,000, 19% of sellers $1,001-$2,500, another 19% invested $2,501-5,000, 16% put in $5,001-$10,000 in their business, and 13% of sellers spent more than $10,000.
When it comes to starting an Amazon business, you might be wondering where that money goes. What that covers depends on the model. Amazon’s seller fees and promotion apply to everyone; sellers who carry their own stock also pay for sourcing and samples. But don’t worry, you can find more detailed information on the cost of starting an Amazon business here.
With Sellvia, the Amazon Seller Toolkit comes at no cost, so the setup side of that list is covered.
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How much time investment is required to begin selling on Amazon?
Starting an Amazon business doesn’t have to take up all your time!
In fact, most sellers (64%) spend fewer than 20 hours per week on their business. Moreover, 16% of sellers spend fewer than 4 hours per week, 28% spend 4-10 hours, 20% spend 11-20 hours, 13% spend 21-30 hours, 12% spend 31-40 hours, 6% spend 41-50 hours, 3% spend 51-60 hours and 4% spend more than 60 hours.
And the best part is, you don’t have to wait forever to launch your business. Most sellers (78%) were able to launch their businesses within 6 months. It’s important to remember that you’ll likely give more time to get your business off the ground in its early stages, but once a seller settles on a niche, the work usually shifts from setup to maintaining listings and running promotions.
How much do new Amazon sellers make?
New sellers in the survey reported an average of $11,671 in monthly sales – about $140,000 a year.
Applying the average reported margin of 21%, that works out to roughly $2,451 a month, or around $29,400 a year in profit.
Averages hide a lot here. The same survey includes a small number of new sellers reporting upwards of $250,000 a month, and those outliers pull the average well above what a typical new seller sees. The median would be a more useful figure, but the survey reports the mean.
Figures cited describe other sellers and come from third-party survey data. They are not a projection of results for any individual. Sellvia does not guarantee any level of sales or income – outcomes depend on the products you choose, your marketing, and the time you put in.
What top-performing Amazon sellers do differently
With the right knowledge, you can be on your way to success too. So, what can you learn from the top-performing Amazon sellers? Here are the key things to keep in mind:
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Some sellers move quickly
Around 45% of sellers reported turning a profit within six months, and 21% within three.
A good share of them spend 10 hours a week or less on the business. Speed isn’t guaranteed, but it’s not unusual either.
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Most sellers say it takes real work
60% of sellers agree that it takes effort, but the rewards are worth it.
Many Amazon stores are still growing and evolving, with 45% planning to add new products in the coming year.
Sellers who treat it as a business rather than a side experiment tend to report better results.
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Find the right resources and tools
Sellers consistently name the same two factors: time to commit, and access to reliable information and tools.
Neither guarantees anything, but their absence is the most common reason stores stall.
Start selling on Amazon with Sellvia
Sellvia gives you a ready-made online store plus the Amazon Seller Toolkit – the setup side of everything described above, at no cost to start.
With Sellvia, you get:
- A ready-made online store, set up for you
- The Amazon Seller Toolkit, with everything needed to list and start selling
- Automated order processing
- 24/7 customer support
Sellvia exists to take the setup work off your plate – the store, the listings, the order processing – so the part you spend time on is selling.
If you’ve read this far, you’ve got a realistic picture of what selling on Amazon involves — the range, the timelines, the effort. The setup is the part we can hand you. Start with a free store and the Amazon Seller Toolkit.
