How much money do you need to start Amazon wholesale?

Ask ten sellers how much you need to start Amazon wholesale and you'll hear ten numbers. The same questions come up in seller forums again and again. Can I start with $2,000? Is "you can start with $5,000" a lie? Can I start with nothing?

Here's the real picture. What Amazon charges you to get going is small. Your number is set by your first supplier's opening minimum, how many products you test, and what you keep back for the reorder. Below: every cost line, a worked first order at three budgets, and what you can do before you spend a dollar.

We make software for wholesale sellers, and you don't need any of it for a first order. Where a paid plan starts to make sense, we say so near the end.

What it costs to start Amazon FBA wholesale, line by line

Every startup cost falls into one of three groups: setting up the business, getting your first order to Amazon, and the money you keep back while it sells.

Amazon's selling plan

Every seller pays for a selling plan, FBA or not. These are the two, from Amazon's pricing page:

Amazon's guide to selling wholesale says you'll want the Professional plan, and its plan comparison suggests Professional once you expect to sell more than 40 items a month. Wholesale moves in cases, so one first order can put you past that. The fees guide compares the plans in detail.

One budgeting point: Amazon's pricing page says you can switch or cancel your plan at any time after you register, and its plan comparison says there's no fee for switching between the two. So if you register weeks before you're ready to buy, you can stay on Individual while you set up and budget Professional from the month your first shipment goes in. Switch sooner if a category you want needs it: Amazon's seller FAQ says some categories require a Professional selling plan.

Setting up the business

• EIN. "You never have to pay a fee for an EIN," says the IRS, which also warns about websites that charge for one. Apply on irs.gov.
• A business entity. Amazon's seller FAQ says individuals and businesses can both sell, but its wholesale guide says you'll typically need a registered business like an LLC to buy from a wholesaler. Filing fees vary by state. In The Checklist lesson, Stef estimates a formation service will set one up for roughly $300 to $600, depending on your state (The Checklist, at 6:43). Filing with your state yourself skips the service's own fee. Whether you need an LLC at all is covered in how to open a wholesale account.
• Sales tax registration and a resale certificate. Distributors usually ask for a resale certificate. Some states charge nothing to register and some charge a fee. The resale certificate guide links each state's page.
• A domain email and a simple website. Distributors screen applications, and an address on your own domain reads very differently from a personal inbox. It's a small cost next to inventory.

Your first inventory

This is the big line, and your supplier sets it, not Amazon.

Distributors usually set a minimum order quantity (MOQ) for an opening order: a dollar amount, a number of cases, or a minimum per product. In Stef's Purchasing lesson, he gives $1,500 as an example (at 1:37), and the distributor he builds a live order for has a $5,000 minimum (at 2:58). Those are examples, not typical numbers. Amazon's wholesale guide says to ask about the minimum and any other expenses, like membership fees.

That's one seller's accounts, not a survey. Minimums vary widely from supplier to supplier, so ask each one before you plan around it.

The other half of the line is how many products you test, and how many units of each. Amazon's wholesale guide suggests you "place a small order so you can test their product quality and shipping speed." Apex University's rule of thumb for a product you've never sold is 24 to 48 units, rounded to the case pack (Purchasing, at 14:05). Your first wholesale order shows how to size each line.

Put those together and you can see what an inventory budget buys at 24 units of each product. It's arithmetic, not advice on what to buy.

That's inventory alone, and nobody should spread a first order across 83 products. The point is the corners: a small budget with inexpensive products still buys a real test across several products, while a small budget with expensive ones buys a single coin flip.

Freight, prep and shipping into Amazon

The supplier's invoice isn't what leaves your bank. Getting the goods to Amazon adds three costs.

Freight from the supplier. Some suppliers ship at no charge above an order size. Many don't, so ask.

Prep and labels. Amazon stopped prepping and labeling US FBA shipments on January 1, 2026 (Amazon's notice), and for inventory shipped on or after March 31, 2026, resellers who aren't the brand's Brand Representative must put an Amazon barcode on their units, even when the product already has a manufacturer barcode (Amazon's announcement). So every unit carries a prep cost, paid to a prep center or in your own time. The FNSKU labels guide covers the labeling.

Shipping to Amazon, and the placement fee. Freight depends on weight, distance and the carrier. Stef budgets 60 cents a pound, a little above what he usually pays, to leave some room (Purchasing, at 3:49). The inbound placement fee guide has his reasoning and a calculator for the fee.

Amazon's help page for this fee needs a Seller Central sign-in, so we couldn't check its current wording. Send to Amazon shows the exact fee before you confirm.

Add freight, prep and shipping to what you paid the supplier and you have your landed cost, what each unit really costs once it's on Amazon's shelves. The worked orders below are counted that way.

Amazon's fees on each sale

These don't come out of your bank. Amazon takes them from each sale before it pays you, so they decide how much comes back to fund the next order. The biggest is the referral fee. In the words of Amazon's pricing page: "For every item sold, you'll pay a percentage of the total price or a minimum amount, whichever is greater." With FBA you also pay a fulfillment fee per unit and monthly storage. The Amazon FBA fees guide explains each one, and the profit calculator checks them product by product.

The money you hold back

This is the line beginners leave out, and it's the one that pays for the products that work.

Amazon pays you as units sell, not when they arrive. Its page on how seller payments work says it typically reserves funds for seven days so customers can inspect their purchases, settles seller accounts every two weeks in general, and that a transfer can take up to five business days to reach your bank. You'll see the hold called DD+7: delivery date plus seven days. The payouts section of our rule changes log quotes Amazon's Seller Central help on it, including that some accounts are held longer, and our guide to Amazon payouts, DD+7 and the reserve shows how to plan cash around it.

Meanwhile, a reorder takes time to arrive. Stef counts it from the moment you order:

"This includes the lead time from our suppliers from the moment that we place the PO until the inventory arrives at our warehouse or prep center. The days of prepping time... and of course, the time that it takes for the inventory to arrive and be sellable within our Amazon account."

From Stef's lesson (Restocking, at 0:34)

So a product that sells well needs reordering before the first order has fully paid you back. Is Amazon FBA worth it walks through one full cash cycle.

There's no standard size for the reserve. A practical way to set it: keep enough to buy again the products you'd reorder if they sell, with their prep and shipping. In the worked orders below, it runs from about half of the first order's inventory cost to nearly all of it. Those are examples, not a rule.

Software

You don't need paid software to place a first order. Stef calls Keepa a must-have for product research (The Checklist, at 5:06). Its full data is a paid subscription, so check the current price on keepa.com. For fees and profit, the profit calculator is free (unlimited, no sign-in), and the tools page has the rest of our calculators and the Chrome extension, with what each one needs. When paying for Apex makes sense is near the end.

Under $1,000

This is enough to set up properly and run one small, careful test. It leaves little room for mistakes, so the order you do things in matters most here.

"So when you are just starting out and you don't have a ton of upfront capital, it is very important to find yourself some wholesalers and distributors."

From Stef's lesson (Finding Suppliers, at 2:15)

In the same lesson he explains that redistributors, which buy truckloads from manufacturers every week, are where sellers go as they grow, and that going straight to a manufacturer doesn't always get a small buyer the best price. The suppliers guide covers where to find wholesalers and distributors.

What fits: your EIN and state registrations, filed yourself where you can; one distributor with a low minimum, in a category that's open on your account (the gated categories list shows which need approval); three or four products, 24 units each; prep at home; and the Professional plan from the month you ship.

What to skip for now: gated brands that need a sizable invoice before you can sell them, a second supplier, and paid research tools or courses.

One worked first order. Here's how $1,000 might go. The numbers are round examples to show the math, not prices from a real supplier and not a forecast. Change each one to yours.

The reserve could buy almost all of that inventory again, so a fast seller can be restocked without waiting for Amazon to pay you. If your state's filing fees take a few hundred dollars of the $1,000, test two products instead of three, or save for another month.

$1,000 to $5,000

This is enough to test properly across several products, use a prep center, and reorder what sells. It's also where a first category approval may enter the budget.

What fits: one or two suppliers whose minimums you can meet without padding the order with products you haven't checked; five to eight products, 24 to 48 units each; a prep center at small-volume rates; and your first approval through a distributor invoice, if a product you want needs one. An approval can cost you an order before you can sell anything from it:

The ungating guide explains the process, and invoice requirements for ungating covers what the invoice has to show.

What to skip for now: brands that sell direct but ask for a large opening order (ask which distributors carry them, and buy there), filling a minimum with products you haven't run through the numbers, and software before you're working through supplier price lists every month.

One worked first order. Here's $3,000, again with round example numbers, not real prices.

Notice where the money went. The products themselves are about half the budget. The rest gets them to Amazon and lets you buy the winners again.

$5,000 to $20,000

Here the question changes from "can I afford a test?" to "can I keep the products that work in stock?"

What fits: two or three suppliers, including ones with minimums in the thousands; ten to twenty products, each sized from its listing's sales; a prep center and reorders on a schedule; and software, once tracking several suppliers in spreadsheets starts costing you real time.

How much stock to keep depends on your cash. In the Walkthrough lesson, Stef sets it in days of sales:

"And right here, depending on how much money you have, if you are not so much, uh, liquid, do fifteen days worth of stock. If you have enough money... do thirty days. That is the default."

From Stef's lesson (Walkthrough, at 23:43)

That's his own rule of thumb for restocking. He recommends 30 days, and 15 is the cash-light version: less money tied up, more frequent orders.

What to skip for now: going deep on products that haven't sold for you yet just because the budget allows it, oversize and slow products that keep paying storage while they wait, and every tool at once.

One worked first order. Here's $10,000, with round example numbers and one real one: the minimum.

At this size, a better price or payment terms start to matter as much as anything on the list. Terms usually come after a few orders paid on time, and they shorten the time your money is out. How to open a wholesale account explains how they work.

$20,000 and up

At this level the opening minimum stops being the limit. Your cash cycle and your time take its place.

• Brand-direct accounts. Brands that sell direct can ask for larger opening orders, and some put authorization in writing. See letters of authorization.
• Pallet freight. Bigger shipments move on pallets, and how you split them across Amazon's warehouses matters more. The inbound placement fee guide compares the options.
• The payout gap at scale. A fast seller can have a week or more of sales held by Amazon at any time. Plan reorders around it.
• Help. A prep partner, a bookkeeper or an assistant becomes part of the budget.

There's no worked order here, because it's the same math with more lines. Don't go deep on untested products, and don't mistake revenue for profit.

Starting with no money: what you can do free first

Wholesale is a buy-first business. There's no honest way to start selling with no money at all, because you pay your supplier before Amazon pays you. What you can do with no money is everything that comes before the first order, and that's most of the learning.

1. Learn the whole process. Apex University comes with a free Apex account: nine lessons, no card. It covers setup, suppliers, research, purchasing and restocking.
2. Get your EIN. The IRS doesn't charge for it.
3. Price real products on paper. Read the fees guide, then pick five products you could actually buy from a real distributor and run each through the profit calculator. If none works after fees, you've learned something important without spending anything.
4. Research suppliers and ask for their minimums. The suppliers guide shows where to look, and our email templates include the first email.
5. Add the Chrome extension after the course. It's free to install, and its numbers open when you finish Apex University. The extension page shows what it adds to Amazon's pages.
6. Save toward one small order, with a target from the worksheet below.

Some people learn the basics with online arbitrage first. It can work with less money, but good deals rarely repeat, and a retailer's receipt isn't the supplier invoice Amazon asks for when a product needs approval. Online arbitrage vs retail arbitrage compares the two.

Here's what you can use from us before you pay for anything, and what needs a plan:

1. No account
   • Guides and articles
   • Profit, ROI and break-even calculator: unlimited, no sign-in
   • FBA calculator: 3 free lookups, then sign in with a plan
   • Calculators inside the guides: no product lookup, no sign-in and no counter
2. Free account
   • Apex University: nine lessons, no card
   • Review Booster: free to switch on until October 31, 2026, 20 requests a month
   • Apex Red (prep and shipments): when your prep center is approved on Apex
   • Bundle Watch: every listing checked against Amazon's January 11 bundle rule, on every plan
3. After Apex University
   • Apex for Amazon Sellers (Chrome extension): free to install, and its data opens once you finish Apex University
4. Paid plans

   Supplier price list scans, Distributor Vault contacts, Purchase orders, Profit and loss, The repricer, on Pro.

   • Beginner, $49.99 a month, plus tax where applicable. New sellers under $5,000 a month in Amazon sales.
   • Starter, $149 a month, plus tax where applicable. Sellers building their first supplier catalog and purchase orders.
   • Pro, $299 a month, plus tax where applicable. Teams running several suppliers and marketplaces at once.

Where beginners overspend, and where they cut too much

• Overspending on depth. A product that hasn't sold for you yet is a guess, however good its numbers look. Test small.
• Paying for things wholesale doesn't need. Amazon's guide to reselling talks about matching products "to listings that are already live," so there are no product photos, UPC codes, packaging or launch ads to buy. Many generic startup guides count them because they're written with private label in mind.
• Paying someone to build you a store. Be wary of anyone selling an Amazon business that runs itself. In 2025 the FTC announced a settlement permanently banning the operator of a scheme that, it alleged, falsely promised people income from online stores run with AI software.
• Cutting the reserve. Spend every dollar on the first order and the products that work go out of stock while your money is still on its way back.
• Cutting the landed cost. Leave prep, labels and shipping out of the math and a cheap product can lose money without you noticing. And pick a prep center on turnaround as well as price, because a slow one costs you sales.
• Cutting setup corners. Different names on supplier invoices and in Seller Central cause trouble with approvals later. The start guide puts the setup steps in the order that keeps them matching.

Plan your own budget

Work it out in this order. Ask each supplier for its opening minimum first, because it decides whether the supplier fits your budget at all. Then size the order, add what it costs to land at Amazon, add the months of fixed costs, and decide what to hold back. If the total is over your budget, cut products or units, or find a supplier with a lower minimum. Don't cut the reserve.

Then check each product before it goes on the order. Put its Amazon price, its FBA fulfillment fee and your prep and shipping per unit into the profit calculator, using your own numbers. Its "Most I can pay" mode works backward from the return you want to the highest supplier cost that still reaches it.

When a paid plan makes sense

Not on day one. Until you have supplier price lists to check, the steps above cover what you need. That's why software only shows up in the worked orders at $5,000 and up.

A plan makes sense when you're scanning supplier price lists, placing purchase orders and tracking what's profitable every month, because that's the work Apex does. The Beginner plan is $49.99 a month, and it's built for new sellers under $5,000 a month in Amazon sales. It scans Unlimited supplier price lists a month, with up to 50,000 lines between them, keeps up to 500 products in your database, and adds purchase orders and profit and loss. 7 days free, then $49.99 a month, plus tax where applicable. Card required, nothing charged until day 8. Cancel any time before then.

As your sales grow, the pricing page shows which plan fits your monthly sales. If you're not sure where you are yet, the Amazon wholesale roadmap shows every stage and what each step costs.