Selling on Amazon is one of the most accessible ways to start a product business in the UK — no shop, no website, instant access to millions of buyers. But "accessible" isn't the same as "easy money", and most guides skip the parts that actually decide whether you make a profit. This is the honest version: how to set up, what to sell, what it really costs, and where beginners lose money.
Step 1: Choose your seller account
Amazon offers two UK selling plans:
- Individual — no monthly fee, but you pay roughly £0.75 per item sold on top of other fees. Best for testing with a handful of items.
- Professional — about £25/month + VAT, no per-item fee, plus access to bulk tools, advertising, the Buy Box, and more categories. Worth it once you sell more than ~35 items a month.
You'll need your identity, a bank account and a card. If you plan to sell as a business, you'll also handle tax (see VAT below). Start Individual, upgrade to Professional when the volume justifies the £25.
Step 2: Decide what to sell — and how you'll source it
There are four common models, in rough order of how much money and risk they need:
| Model | What it is | Upfront risk | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail arbitrage | Buy discounted stock in UK shops, resell on Amazon | Low (a few £ per decision) | Beginners |
| Online arbitrage | Same, sourced from websites | Low–medium | Beginners who prefer sourcing from a desk |
| Wholesale | Buy in bulk from brands/distributors | Medium–high | Sellers with capital + accounts |
| Private label | Create your own branded product | High | Experienced sellers |
For most UK beginners, arbitrage is the sensible entry point — you learn Amazon's fees and systems on real products while risking pounds, not thousands. Start with what retail arbitrage is and how it works, then the step-by-step how to start retail arbitrage in the UK. If you'd rather source from your laptop than a shop, see online arbitrage UK.
Whatever the model, the discipline is identical: only buy a product when its numbers work — which brings us to fees.
Step 3: Understand the fees (this is where profit is won or lost)
On a typical FBA sale you pay:
- Referral fee — a percentage of the sale price, commonly ~15% but lower in several categories, with a £0.25 minimum. Full breakdown: Amazon UK referral fees by category.
- FBA fulfilment fee — a fixed per-unit charge by size and weight (includes a 1.5% fuel and logistics surcharge in 2026).
- Storage fees — monthly, per cubic foot, higher in Q4.
- VAT — see below.
The full picture, with a worked example, is in Amazon FBA fees in the UK, explained. The takeaway: two products at the same sale price can have very different profit once size, category and VAT are applied — so you calculate before you buy, not after.
Step 4: Get VAT right
VAT is the part beginners most often get wrong. In the UK you must register for VAT once your taxable turnover crosses the threshold (around £90,000), but many sellers register voluntarily earlier to reclaim VAT on stock and on Amazon's fees. If you're not registered, you can't reclaim it — but it's still baked into the price you pay at the till, so ignoring it makes your "profit" look bigger than it is.
This is general information, not tax advice — check your position with HMRC or a qualified accountant.
Step 5: Choose FBA or FBM
- FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) — you send stock to Amazon; it stores, picks, packs, ships (with Prime) and handles most service and returns. Scales well, unlocks Prime. Fees per unit.
- FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) — you store and ship yourself. More control, can be cheaper for large, heavy or slow items; no per-unit FBA fee but no Prime badge by default.
Most arbitrage sellers use FBA. New to it? Read how Amazon FBA works.
Step 6: List, ship, and check demand before you scale
For arbitrage you usually add your offer to an existing product page rather than creating a listing. Before committing stock, read the demand: Best Sellers Rank (how well it sells), estimated monthly sales, and how many other sellers share those sales. Buying 100 units of something that sells 20 a month — split between 10 sellers — is how beginners end up paying storage on stock that won't move. Our good ROI and BSR benchmarks set sensible targets.
The mistakes that cost UK beginners money
- Buying on the price gap alone — a £5-to-£14 gap is meaningless until fees, VAT and competition are subtracted.
- Ignoring who else is on the listing — especially Amazon itself; when Amazon sells a product, the Buy Box is hard to win.
- Trusting today's price — check the 90-day history; buying at the top of a price spike is the classic first loss.
- Over-buying — size purchases to about a month of a product's sales.
- Skipping the gating check — some brands/categories need Amazon's approval; discovering that after buying means a trip to the returns desk.
Every one of these is caught by the same habit: run the numbers before the till.
Do the maths in seconds
Working out referral fees, FBA fees, VAT, profit and ROI by hand — in a shop aisle or across browser tabs — is slow and error-prone. The free Axivelo FBA calculator does it for any product at your desk, and the Axivelo app turns an in-store barcode scan into net profit, ROI, your maximum buy price and the demand signals on one screen, with UK fees and VAT built in. Free to start on Android. You decide; it does the maths.
Check any product before you buy
The free UK Amazon FBA calculator applies the 2026 fees and VAT to show net profit, ROI and margin. Axivelo does the same from a barcode scan in the aisle — free to start on Android.
Open the free FBA calculatorFAQ
How much does it cost to start selling on Amazon UK?
You can start on the Individual plan with no monthly fee (about £0.75 per item sold), plus whatever stock you buy — many beginners start with £100–£300 of arbitrage stock. Upgrade to the Professional plan (about £25/month + VAT) once you sell more than ~35 items a month.
Is selling on Amazon UK worth it in 2026?
It can be, for products that sell reasonably quickly at a healthy margin after Amazon's fees and VAT. Thin margins and slow stock get eaten by fulfilment and storage fees. The sellers who profit check each product's numbers before buying.
What's the easiest way to start selling on Amazon UK?
Retail or online arbitrage — buying discounted branded stock and reselling it — because the risk per decision is only a few pounds and you learn Amazon's fees on real products. Wholesale and private label need more capital and experience.
Do I need to register for VAT to sell on Amazon UK?
Not until your taxable turnover crosses the UK threshold (around £90,000), though some sellers register voluntarily to reclaim VAT on stock and fees. This isn't tax advice — check with HMRC or an accountant.
Should I use FBA or FBM?
FBA suits most sellers: Amazon stores and ships your stock and it gets the Prime badge, in exchange for per-unit fees. FBM (you ship yourself) gives more control and can be cheaper for large, heavy or slow-moving items.
UK Amazon FBA seller and the founder of Axivelo. I built Axivelo after one too many trips juggling Keepa, a calculator and a spreadsheet halfway down a B&M aisle — now it shows profit, ROI, MAX PAY and demand on every in-store scan.