Can I start Amazon FBA with $500?

You can open the account and cover the fixed costs easily at that level. Whether you can buy sellable inventory depends on the product. A small, light, low-cost item with a negotiated low minimum order can fit a tight budget, but you'll be launching with very few units, no ad cushion, and no reserve for problems. It's tight, not impossible, and it leaves little room for a mistake.

Do I need an LLC before I can sell on Amazon?

No. Amazon lets you register as an individual sole proprietor, and plenty of sellers start that way. An LLC is about liability separation and how you want to be taxed, not about Amazon's requirements. If you form one, check your state's filing fee and ongoing annual obligations, since those differ a lot from state to state.

What's the single biggest cost when starting FBA?

Inventory, almost always, followed by freight and duties to get it to Amazon. Everything else combined is usually a fraction of that first purchase order. That's why the product you choose determines your budget far more than any subscription or software you sign up for.

Should I budget for advertising at launch?

Yes, as a separate line from inventory. A new listing has no ranking history, so ads are how you get your first impressions and first sales. Assume that early ad spend is buying data and momentum rather than immediate profit, and size the budget so that running it doesn't force you out of stock.

How Much Does It Cost to Start Amazon FBA in 2026?

There is no single price tag on starting Amazon FBA. The account itself costs less than a phone plan. The inventory is where the money goes, and that number depends entirely on what you decide to sell. Here is every line item you should expect, which ones are fixed, which ones you control, and how to turn all of it into a budget for your own product instead of someone else's.

The short answer: three buckets, only one of them is big

Your startup cost splits into three groups. Fixed platform costs are small and predictable. Setup costs are one-time and mostly optional at the beginning. Inventory and logistics are the real bill, and they scale with your product choice.

That last point matters more than any average you'll read online. A first order of 300 lightweight kitchen accessories and a first order of 300 stainless steel appliances are not in the same universe. Anyone quoting you one universal launch number is guessing.

So instead of a number, work with a method: lock down the fixed costs, estimate your unit economics, then decide how many units you're willing to buy for round one.

What Amazon charges you

The Professional selling plan is $39.99 per month. It gives you access to advertising, bulk listing tools, and eligibility for Brand Registry once you have a trademark. The Individual plan has no monthly fee but charges $0.99 per item sold, which stops making sense past roughly 40 sales a month.

On every sale, Amazon takes a referral fee. For most categories it's 15% of the total sales price, with some categories set higher or lower. This is a percentage, not a startup cost, but it belongs in your math from day one because it shapes whether a product is worth launching at all.

FBA fulfillment fees are charged per unit and depend on the size tier and shipping weight of your packed product. Small and light items sit at the bottom of the fee table, oversized items at the top. There are also monthly storage fees per cubic foot, higher in the fourth quarter, plus surcharges if inventory sits too long.

None of these are optional, and they're the reason a product with a great margin at the supplier level can end up flat once it goes through Amazon. Run the numbers on a real product before you commit any cash to it.

Professional plan: $39.99 per month, cancelable anytime
Individual plan: $0.99 per item sold, no monthly fee
Referral fee: commonly 15% of sales price, varies by category
FBA fulfillment: per-unit fee based on size tier and weight
Storage: monthly fee per cubic foot, higher October through December

Your first inventory order

This is the number that decides your total. Two variables drive it: unit cost from the supplier and how many units you buy.

Suppliers set minimum order quantities, often a few hundred pieces for a simple product. Some will go lower for a first order, especially if you pay a small premium per unit or accept stock packaging. It's worth asking. A smaller first order costs more per piece but tells you whether the product sells before you tie up thousands of dollars.

Before you order anything, buy samples. Expect to pay for the samples plus express shipping, and expect to order from more than one supplier so you can compare. It's the cheapest insurance in this whole business. A bad product doesn't just lose you the inventory cost, it earns you reviews that follow the listing forever.

Payment terms usually mean part of the order up front and the balance before shipment, so plan for the cash to leave your account weeks before anything is sellable.

Getting the product from the factory to Amazon

Freight is a separate cost from the goods themselves, and beginners routinely leave it out of their spreadsheet. You have two realistic modes: air freight, which is faster and costs more per pound, and ocean freight, which is far cheaper per pound but takes weeks and adds port and drayage charges on the U.S. side.

Rates move with the market, so get live quotes from a couple of freight forwarders using your actual carton dimensions and weights. Don't work off a number you saw in a video.

Then there are import duties. Every product has an HTS classification with its own duty rate, and additional tariffs can apply depending on the country of origin. Ask your customs broker or forwarder to confirm the classification and total landed rate for your specific item, in writing, before you place the order. A duty surprise on a full container is a genuinely painful way to learn this.

Finally, Amazon has prep requirements: barcodes, poly bags with suffocation warnings for certain items, box labels, weight and dimension limits per carton. Your supplier can usually handle most of this for a small fee, which is cheaper than paying a U.S. prep center to redo it. You may also see inventory placement fees depending on how you choose to send shipments into the network.

Air freight: days, higher cost per pound
Ocean freight: weeks, lower cost per pound, plus port and drayage fees
Import duties: rate depends on HTS code and country of origin
Prep and labeling: cheapest done at the factory
Inbound placement: fees vary with how you split shipments

The costs people forget

Product photography is not optional. Amazon is a scrolling contest and your images are the whole pitch. You can shoot a simple product yourself with a phone, a white sweep and window light, but for anything that needs lifestyle shots, budget for a photographer or a studio.

A trademark isn't required to sell, but it's required for Brand Registry, which gives you A+ content, better protection against hijackers, and Amazon's brand tools. Filing with the USPTO costs a few hundred dollars per class of goods on the government fee alone, more if you use an attorney, and registration takes many months. Plenty of sellers launch first and file in parallel.

An LLC also isn't required to open a Seller Central account, but many sellers form one for liability separation. State filing fees range from modest to a few hundred dollars, plus annual reports or franchise taxes in some states. Check your own Secretary of State rather than a generic figure. You'll also want a business bank account, and you'll need to handle sales tax registration where you have obligations.

Advertising is the last one, and it's the one most first-timers underestimate. A brand new listing has no sales history, so Amazon has no reason to show it to anyone. Sponsored Products is how you buy your first impressions, and you should assume you'll spend on ads during launch without breaking even on those clicks. Set aside a launch ad budget separate from your inventory money.

And keep a reserve. Returns happen, a shipment gets delayed, a unit fails inspection. Launching with zero cash left over is how a workable product turns into a stuck one.

Product photography: DIY or paid, but never skipped
USPTO trademark: a few hundred dollars per class, months to register
LLC formation: varies by state, plus annual fees
Business bank account and bookkeeping
Launch advertising budget, separate from inventory
Cash reserve for returns, delays, and a second order

How to build your own number

Start from the sell price, not the supplier price. Pick a realistic price based on what comparable listings actually charge, then subtract the referral fee, the FBA fulfillment fee, your landed unit cost including freight and duties, and an allowance for advertising and returns. What's left is your real margin per unit.

If that margin is thin, the product is fragile. A fee change, a freight spike, or one competitor undercutting you erases it. If the margin holds up, multiply your landed unit cost by your first order quantity, add the fixed and one-time items above, add your ad budget, add your reserve. That total is your honest startup cost.

Do this for three or four candidate products and you'll notice something useful: the cheapest product to buy is often not the cheapest to launch, because size and weight quietly move the fulfillment and freight lines. Small, light, and simple keeps every cost in this article smaller at once.

Our calculator handles the fee math so you can compare products side by side instead of rebuilding a spreadsheet each time.

Ways to keep the launch cheap without crippling it

Choose a small, light product. It lowers fulfillment fees, storage fees, freight, and the cost of your samples all at the same time. This single decision moves your budget more than any negotiation tactic.

Negotiate a smaller first order rather than the standard minimum, and accept the higher per-unit price as the cost of testing. Getting real sales data on 200 units beats guessing on 1000.

Ship your first order by air if the volume is small. It's more per pound, but you start selling weeks earlier and you learn faster.

Skip what can wait. The trademark, the fancy packaging, the second variation, the branded inserts: none of those need to exist for round one. Get one product listed, priced right, and selling, then reinvest.

What you shouldn't cut: samples, decent photos, and your cash reserve. Those three are what keep a modest launch from becoming a dead one.

Frequently asked questions

Can I start Amazon FBA with $500?: You can open the account and cover the fixed costs easily at that level. Whether you can buy sellable inventory depends on the product. A small, light, low-cost item with a negotiated low minimum order can fit a tight budget, but you'll be launching with very few units, no ad cushion, and no reserve for problems. It's tight, not impossible, and it leaves little room for a mistake.
Do I need an LLC before I can sell on Amazon?: No. Amazon lets you register as an individual sole proprietor, and plenty of sellers start that way. An LLC is about liability separation and how you want to be taxed, not about Amazon's requirements. If you form one, check your state's filing fee and ongoing annual obligations, since those differ a lot from state to state.
What's the single biggest cost when starting FBA?: Inventory, almost always, followed by freight and duties to get it to Amazon. Everything else combined is usually a fraction of that first purchase order. That's why the product you choose determines your budget far more than any subscription or software you sign up for.
Should I budget for advertising at launch?: Yes, as a separate line from inventory. A new listing has no ranking history, so ads are how you get your first impressions and first sales. Assume that early ad spend is buying data and momentum rather than immediate profit, and size the budget so that running it doesn't force you out of stock.