Ah yes, the age-old question. What products should you sell on Amazon FBA? 

I’ll get straight to the point, there’s no secret formula to finding the ideal Amazon product. 

Sure, we can talk about what not to sell, but there’s no silver bullet to finding the picture-perfect product. 

There are, however, parameters you can use to increase the chances of finding a product that can be easily sourced, developed, and launched with the best chances of success and churning profits. 

You just have to know what to look for. 

Finding Products in Amazon’s Goldilocks Zone 

In astrology, the Goldilocks zone refers to an area in space that’s close enough to its parent star that it could hypothetically support an Earth-like planet; not too hot, not too cold, everything’s “just right”. 

But I use the term to describe parameters we can use to up the chances of finding a successful product; Amazon’s Goldilocks Zone.

So how do you find products that are just right? 

First, you’ll need product research software to input metrics. I personally use Helium 10, but don’t feel obligated to follow suit. Jungle Scout, Viral Launch, etc, should all have search features that will allow you to search for specific metrics. You just want to make sure you can sort by revenue, price, and reviews. 

Second, understand these are rough guidelines, so feel free to tweak, add, subtract, and finetune to your liking. These are flexible. 

Revenue Between $3,000 and $15,000

I know what you’re thinking. Just $3,000 a month revenue?!

…Hear me out. 

This is the general range I’ve used to find the most successful products with the least amount of competition. While these numbers are not set in stone, I use them as guides when performing product research. 

So why are these the magic numbers? 

Your time and effort in this business are worth way more than $3,000 a month. Products that give you less than this are simply not a good investment, and my guess is margins will be quite dismal, with above average advertising costs, etc. 

But why stop at $15,000 in revenue? 

First, sellers and businesses in high-revenue markets will have less interest in competing with lower-revenue products. To more established sellers, their time is better spent scaling to higher-profit niches. That means you’ll have less work managing an item with revenue under $15,000 than you would with one churning $75,000 a month, for example. 

Second, inexperienced sellers will have a hard time competing in higher-revenue niches. 

Think of this way, established sellers will have a large arsenal of weapons at their disposal to out-compete new sellers that try to weasel into their market. They’ll be able to pump more resources into making sure their product’s protected from competition. 

A Price Tag Between $15 and $50

This refers to the listed price on Amazon (not the wholesale or Alibaba price). 

In my experience, healthy margins are difficult with items priced under $15, mostly due to the associated Amazon fees. On top of that, with recent increases in overseas shipping costs, it’s difficult to hit ideal margins with products under this price point. 

It isn’t impossible, but in my personal experience the majority of the products I’ve invested in, or approved in my mentorship program have been over this price. 

Products over $50 are often too risky of an investment. 

Remember, you’ll need to aim for lower risk products as you’re starting out. In time and with experience, it will be easier to scale to more expensive niches and markets. You just don’t want to over leverage yourself on your first go-round. 

Between 10 and 450 Reviews

Reviews drive sales on Amazon, plain and simple. 

You’ll want to target items and niches with review counts under 450. Listings with over that are generally too difficult to compete with, and it’d be a risk to take them on. 

Again, there’s flexibility here, but as review counts get closer to 1000, you can assume it’s too big of an investment gamble. 

There’s a chance that products with less than 10 reviews are scams, or just garbage listings. Having a decent amount of reviews is usually a good indicator the product’s in-demand and worth looking more into. 

Items That Are Easily Giftable

Gifts are gold if you’re selling on Amazon. Bonus points if they’re non-seasonal, meaning they can be sold year-round. Think novelty jewelry, plush toys, home and garden decor, birthday merchandise, or items you might find at your local novelty or variety shop. For those in the U.S., think of the items on the shelves of Cracker Barrel. 

But why gifts?

Let’s refer to your mug collection. How many of your mugs/coffee cups were gifted by a friend or loved one? Odds are you kept it, not because you necessarily wanted it, but because it was a nice gesture from a thoughtful someone. It’s become a memento. 

Gifts are memorable. They elicit emotions, and bring back memories. 

The point is, folks have a hard time returning gifts. 

Choosing easily giftable items will cut down on return rates, as well as bad reviews. This means less managing as well. A person who receives a product as a gift is less likely to write a poor review. The gifter is more likely to write a positive review (assuming it was well liked).

This is no excuse to invest in poorly made products, but something to keep in mind.

Not Electronic

Electronic items run the risk of screwing up. 

We’ve all been there. You purchase an electronic doohickey online. It’s manufactured overseas. It works fine for about a week, and then the problems begin. Annoyed, you head online to vent your frustration on the product’s review board. 

This isn’t what you want. I recommend staying away from headphones, USB drives, electronic toys, cables, chargers, and anything else with a high number of electrical components. 

Inversely, durable products with few to no moving parts are ideal, as there’s less chance of malfunction both during shipping and during use.  

In Summary 

Again, these parameters are flexible. But in general, we’re searching for products in Amazon’s Goldilocks Zone:

• Revenue Between $3,000 and $15,000
• A Price Tag Between $15 and $50
• Between 10 and 450 Reviews
• Items That Are Easily Giftable
• Avoid Electronic Items

Best of Luck!

Let’s Start Selling on Amazon 

My Amazon Winners Academy (AWA) mentorship guides you through the entire Amazon FBA process and provides a community of support with others on the exact same journey. 

AWA gives you a much-needed safeguard from costly mistakes, dead ends, and failed product investments to get you to your passive income goals efficiently. 

So whether it’s solving issues with your Seller Central account, creative approaches to product research, scaling to new markets and niches, validating product ideas, customer service issues, and more, we’ve got you covered. 

Learn more about it here.