In September 2023, I moved to the United States. My husband got a job in the automotive industry, and without hesitation, we decided to start a new life in Mississippi. In my home country, I worked as a project manager at an IT company. The work was interesting but demanding, requiring a lot of time and energy. After moving, I decided to do something remotely to adapt to the new environment and gradually improve my language skills. I wanted to gain experience in e-commerce, and the choice fell on one of the most popular and accessible niches—selling on Amazon.

Before starting, I studied numerous YouTube channels, articles, and forums. I learned the differences between online arbitrage, retail arbitrage, and private label. To gain some experience, I decided to start with retail arbitrage and gradually transition to online arbitrage.

Preparation and Start

To begin, I invested in the necessary tools and materials:

Rollo printer for label printing — $200

Amazon Professional subscription — $39.99/month

Keepa subscription — $21.09/month

SAS subscription — $21.99/month

FBA shipping boxes (12x12x10, 10 pcs.) — $23.25

Poly mailers (100 pcs.) — $14.99

Bubble wrap roll — $14.99

Sales officially started on July 30.

Brand Ungating

At the beginning of my journey, I had a mentor who had been reselling for two years. Together, we faced our first major problem: ungating popular brands like Nike turned out to be impossible. My mentor specialized in Nike and was shocked that we couldn’t gain access to this brand. We didn’t give up and switched to Adidas. I followed YouTube tutorials, used templates, but Amazon denied my requests for two months. I even consulted experts and ordered products from trusted distributors, but with 0 result. Two months later, Amazon closed Adidas to new sellers.

I decided to keep going and switched to Reebok. After a month and a half of battling Amazon’s ungate system, I finally got access to Reebok. It was my first success in the clothing and shoes category. During this ungate time, I had been selling FBM items that didn’t require brand ungating. However, the profit was modest: I sold no more than 40 items per month.

First Sales: FBA Experience

All the profitable items I found in the first few months, I decided to send to FBA warehouses. I sent three shipments and spent 60$ on these shipping.My mistake - i did not take a photo of my goods (proof of their existence in these boxes)It took two months for Amazon to process my deliveries —yes, two months my items were frozen!In the end,Amazon did not find 20% of my units. After this negative experience, I decided to focus solely on FBM.

FBM Experience

I drove to stores like Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, and Dress for Less every day, searching for profitable items. I also looked for items online and had them delivered to my home. Sales of Reebok weren’t great: I sold about 10-20 pairs per month. Other items that didn’t require ungating brought in more profit.

FBM Returns

With FBM, there’s always one issue—returns. There were many, especially with Reebok sneakers. Buyers didn’t like the material, color, etc. Each return froze the item for a month, and it was a real gamble: you never know in what condition the item will come back—or if it will come back at all. I still have two open disputes with Amazon totaling 150$. In one case, the buyer simply didn’t return the sneakers back to me but got his money back. In another case, the postal service lost my item, and now Amazon blames UPS, while UPS blames Amazon.I write to both of them every day.

Amazon’s Attitude Toward Sellers

Amazon treats sellers like expendable resources. Support takes days to respond, and if a buyer decides to return an item—even if they burned it—Amazon will refund them without question. All Amazon does is take your money and give it to the buyer. It’s logical, but you need to be prepared to face problems on your own.

Chaos on the Platform

Another issue I encountered was chaos in the listings. Sometimes you have everything you need to sell an item, but the listing is incorrect. For example, someone created a listing for tea instead of shampoo, even though the ASIN and barcode indicate it should be shampoo. I filed complaints, but Amazon did nothing.

Selling Seasonal Items

After disappointing results with shoes and healthcare items, I decided to try selling seasonal products like Halloween costumes. I knew many avoided this due to high return rates after the holiday. But in my case, it went well: I sold $1500 worth of costumes, with only 20% returns, which isn’t bad.

Conclusion

My experience selling on Amazon was both useful and disappointing. I learned a lot—from market analysis to logistics and handling returns—but retail arbitrage turned out to be neither as simple nor as profitable as many bloggers make it seem. If you’re just starting out, I recommend carefully weighing the pros and cons, exploring alternative models (like private label or wholesale), and being prepared for a long and challenging journey. Personally, I’ve decided to focus on other projects, but this experience was an important step in my understanding of e-commerce.