Reader Shares His $12,000 Amazon Success Story
After I shared How I Made $10,000 Selling on Amazon, a reader Shaun, wrote to share his success story selling on Amazon. I was so excited when he shared his numbers, because I know there are lots of other readers who like being able to see the numbers too.
Background
Shaun got started 8.5 months ago selling on Amazon. He says:
After reading about your success, I started selling on FBA and have also had great success. Yes, FBA selling has been a lot fun. After reading your blog and the ebook you suggested, I was sold. I really enjoyed when you shared some of your results/numbers in one of the posts, it helped give me a measuring stick to see how I was doing. I’ll humor you and share my strategy because it’s fun to talk about.
Profits From Selling on Amazon
Here is how Shaun’s Amazon FBA Seller numbers broke down over the last 8.5 months:
- Sales: $43.5k on 365 items
- Cost of Items Sold: $26k
- Shipping, Warehouse, Overhead, Workers, etc: $1.5k
- Amazon Fees: $6k
Base Profit: $10k
Shaun also pointed out that the purchases helped him hit multiple spending bonuses on credit cards bringing in an additional $2-3k. We all know one of my favorite benefits of purchasing all the items for Amazon is that it’s a very easy way to satisfy credit card application spree spending requirements and earn credit card rewards!
Total profit: $12,000+
A Different Strategy
I was especially intrigued with Shaun’s strategy since he focuses on different products. For example, I love to buy toys, probably because I have 3 small children. Shaun likes to focus on electronics. It’s also helpful to see how different categories impact the numbers. Here is what he has to say about his strategy of shopping primarily at Best Buy:
- Multiple stores close to my work, home and travel destinations to visit family and friends.
- Each store has a website with clearance items listed. You can order most items online, some you have to call or physically check on.
- Electronics have only an 8% amazon fee, while most product lines have 15%.
- Upromise.com gives 5% back when clicking through to BestBuy.com or with a browser add-on.
- You can bank rewardzone points for purchases made, which paid for my new 60″ plasma.
Amazon in the Future
Thanks Shaun, for sharing your numbers and strategy with us! Please keep us posted and let us know how it progresses! If you also started selling on Amazon to take advantage of the arbitrage opportunity, let me know… I’d love to hear your story!
More on Amazon
- How I Made $100,000 Selling on Amazon Last Year
- How to Get Started Selling on Amazon
- Examples of Profits from Selling on Amazon
- How to Make Money on Amazon
- 14 Ways to Save Even More Money Shopping on Amazon
- How I Earned $16,755 Selling a Private Label Amazon Product
- Selling On Amazon: How You Can Make A Full-Time Income Selling on Amazon (Book)
- Retail Arbitrage (Book)

Amazon will close your account when you start making money and seize your money for 90 days.
Just look at the sellers complaints.
Shaun, Do you ever buy open box items and sell them? Also what kind of sale are you looking for? I know some people look for items that will sell 2.5x the price they bought it for.
Maggie