How to make money from Amazon without selling products
Amazon is undoubtedly a haven of business opportunities.
As it expands rapidly into countries all over the world, the online retailer has transformed the industry it operates in and offered chances to people in all manner of professions.
The main way to capitalise on Amazon’s vast reach and trusted systems is to sell on the site - but it isn’t the only avenue available to innovative entrepreneurs. You can take surveys, write reviews, promote other people’s products in various ways, work for Amazon’s customer service team or even publish your own book.
Craig Gedey, who has vast experience of Amazon’s systems and is the managing partner at Thompson and Holt, looks at five other ways to boost your income via Amazon.
Profit through Affiliate Marketing
“This is one of the most proven and popular methods of making money on Amazon without selling your own products,” Thompson and Holt’s Gedey explained. “It means you promote and sell other people’s products via a website or blog that you run. You simply sign up with Amazon Associates, and link the product you’re looking to sell to your site. You might be writing reviews of various different items, and while you’re doing it, link to them on Amazon. Conversion rates allow you to earn between three and five percent.”
Sign up to be an Amazon Customer Service Rep
“Amazon is now estimated to have around 650,000 employees around the world, and they offer the opportunity to work from home. That means you can work for the ever-growing Amazon customer service team from your front room. There’s plenty of openings - Amazon serves 130 countries across the world, covering 16 languages.”
Publish Books Using Kindle
“If you fancy yourself as a novelist, you can realise your writing dreams using the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing service,” Thompson and Holt’s Gedey said. “KDP, as it is known, allows you to publish digital books within as little time as 48 hours, and makes them available on Kindle worldwide. What’s more, you can set your own prices and earn up to 70 percent on sales.”
Register for the Mechanical Turk Program
“Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing marketplace that allows individuals and businesses to outsource their processes and jobs to a distributed workforce who can perform these tasks virtually. This could include anything from conducting simple data validation and research to tasks like survey participation, content moderation, and more. Pay sounds like it starts low, but the more tasks you complete the quicker it can build up, especially if you’re committed and organised.”
Become an Amazon Influencer
“This one does require a starting point - namely a large social media following,” Thompson and Holt managing partner Gedey added. “But if you do have that, you can make some serious money through commissions by promoting other people’s products on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.”