I got signed up late last month as a Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) seller.

I wanted to experiment with retail arbitrage as another way to make extra money, and FBA sounded interesting precisely because Amazon would be in charge of fulfilling the orders.

Here’s my experience so far.

Getting ready

I started out by doing a little research so that I could learn at least the basics of what I might be getting into. (See part one of this series for more info on that.) I especially concentrated on Amazon’s shipping requirements, since I wanted to be sure I understood. I decided to look only for items that could be shipped without additional prep, which narrowed down the types of things I would sell considerably.

Then I moved on to what I figured would be the fun part: shopping. (See part two for what I did there.) At this point it was time to actually sign up and sell. » Read more

A couple of weeks ago I decided to try selling on Amazon (using the Fulfillment-By-Amazon service, to be exact).

My first step was to do a little bit of research. I spent some time learning the basics of how it might work, and what I might purchase to resell on Amazon.

Next up was doing the shopping. » Read more

I’m a regular listener to Pat Flynn’s podcast, and a while back he did an interview with Jessica and Cliff Larrew, who have a full time business selling on Amazon.

What she does is called Fulfillment-By-Amazon (FBA). I decided to dip my toe into FBA and report back here on my results for those who might be interested in doing the same. This type of retail arbitrage could be another way to make extra money.

Why FBA vs eBay?

Many years ago, I’d sold a few things on eBay. While it was exciting to make money on things, I hated packaging everything up and sending them out to individual buyers. It just did not appeal to me as more than an experiment, even though I know that some folks do really well with selling on eBay on the side.

My thinking with trying the Amazon route is that may have the appeal of finding bargain items to resell & make money on without the pain of shipping to individuals. (Although obviously there will still be shipping involved.) So I’m up for giving it a shot. » Read more

I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I can’t help it — it’s just how I am. So for me a statement like “Do what you love and the money will follow” makes a lot of sense.

(Mostly because I’m going to do the things I love anyway.)

But, the thing is… » Read more