Hello all,
I have been doing a lot of research into starting Amazon FBA. I have seen mixed reviews around it from people saying they are unable to sell anything due to strict gated rules to people making lots of money.
I am looking for advice and tips? Is it worth starting up? This would not be my primary source of income and more of a side hustle I will mainly purchase from shops and resell as oppose to buying from wholesalers?
It can still be worth starting Amazon FBA as a side business, but I would be cautious about building the whole business around buying products from ordinary retail shops. Amazon itself acknowledges retail arbitrage as a sourcing model, but the practical difficulty is documentation: when Amazon requests approval or investigates authenticity, it commonly requires invoices from manufacturers or authorised distributors, and ordinary retail receipts may not satisfy those requirements.
The gating you are seeing is also normal. Restrictions can exist at category, brand and individual-product level, and they can differ between seller accounts. Before buying anything, scan/check the exact ASIN through your own Seller Central account to confirm that you are eligible to sell it.
I would certainly start small if this is a side hustle. Learn Keepa, Amazon’s fees, sales-rank behaviour, Buy Box competition and FBA costs before committing significant money. Retail arbitrage can be useful for learning how Amazon works, but longer term I would gradually move towards wholesalers or direct brand relationships where you can obtain proper commercial invoices. That gives you a much stronger position if Amazon ever asks you to prove authenticity or your supply chain.