You cannot start Amazon FBA with no money, but you can start with less than most guides suggest. The cheapest real product test in our data costs $395: 100 card decks like Spite House Games' for $63, plus $332 of launch ads. Add the few costs Amazon will not let you skip and the floor comes to about $735, or $885 with a trademark, which turns out to be the better deal. This page shows the cheapest tests among the 18 businesses we track, what each cost line is for, which ones can be skipped, and which Amazon incentives cut the cash you need.
For the full startup cost of every business we price, see how much Amazon FBA costs to start; for niches beyond Amazon, how much it costs to start an e-commerce business.
The short answer: it is never zero
FBA means Amazon stores and ships products you own. Someone has to buy those products before the first sale, and that someone is you. Every route that promises "no money" either moves the cost somewhere else (your time, a credit card, someone else's stock) or skips the step that tells you whether the product sells.
What you can do is make the first bet small. The estimates in our data are built on a validation test: buy the smallest first order the factory allows, send 30 units to Amazon Vine for early reviews, then pay for just enough ad clicks to see whether the other 20 sell. If they do not, you stop, having lost hundreds of dollars rather than thousands.
The cheapest real tests in our data
Of the 15 businesses we can price, six could be tested for under $1,300. "Back if it passes" is what the 20 units sold through ads would pay out after Amazon's referral and FBA fees; the units left over from the minimum order are stock for the next round.
| Business | The test | First order | Launch ads | To test | Back if it passes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spite House Games | 100 card decks | $63 | $332 | $395 | $87 |
| Mount Cleverest | 100 trivia decks | $130 | $477 | $607 | $207 |
| KALOTOYS | 50 personalised name puzzles | $453 | $444 | $897 | $445 |
| White Mountain Puzzles | 200 jigsaw puzzles | $680 | $268 | $948 | $211 |
| Gamblin' Golf | 500 scratch-off golf games | $665 | $419 | $1,084 | $278 |
| WOODLANDS USA | 50 bamboo and 50 teak utensil sets | $774 | $453 | $1,227 | $519 |
All figures are our estimates for launching a copy of each business's product today, not what the founders spent. Three patterns are worth knowing before you choose a product on budget alone.
On the cheapest tests, ads are most of the bill. Spite House's decks cost $63; the clicks to test them cost $332. The clicks are what you are paying to learn, so they are the last thing to cut.
A low test does not mean a small business. Spite House, the cheapest test here, made an estimated $89,989 of revenue in September 2026. Mount Cleverest, the second cheapest, runs an estimated margin of about 50%.
Minimum orders set the floor. Gamblin' Golf's factory wants 500 units, so the order is $665 even though only 50 are needed for the test. A product a printer will run in hundreds, like cards, keeps the first order under $150.
The costs on top, and which ones you can skip
Our estimates add $790 to $2,420 of fixed costs to every test. Here is each line and what happens if you cut it:
| Cost | Our range | Can you skip it? |
|---|---|---|
| Professional selling plan | $40 to $120 | No. Amazon's plan comparison shows ads only on the $39.99-a-month Professional plan, and Vine requires it. The $0.99-per-item Individual plan has no monthly fee but cannot run the test. |
| Samples | $100 to $300 | No. It is the cheapest way to find a bad product, and since de minimis was suspended samples pay import duty too. |
| Trademark filing | $350 to $700 | Yes, but it costs you Brand Registry, and with it the Vine credit and referral-fee bonus below. |
| Photos and listing content | $200 to $800 | Yes, if you can shoot and write them yourself. |
| Packaging design | $100 to $500 | Usually, by using the factory's standard packaging or designing it yourself. |
Amazon itself says you do not need an LLC or registered business to sell; you can register as an individual. There is no fee to open the account, only the plan.
One cost is missing from our estimates and should not be: Amazon Vine. Amazon charges by the number of units you enrol per parent product: nothing for up to 2 units, $75 for 3 to 10 and $200 for 11 to 30, billed only once the first review is published. Our tests send 30 units, so that is $200. A new seller with Brand Registry gets a $200 Vine credit that covers it.
Two other costs depend on the product. Since 2 November 2026, products in categories Amazon flags for enhanced safety, children's products among them, need $1 million of liability insurance before they sell at all; we priced that in Amazon's 2026 insurance requirement. And an original design needs a mould before it needs stock, which is why products like Draft Top's can opener cost thousands to test.
The real minimum budget
Take the cheapest test, Spite House's decks, and add only what cannot be skipped. There are two ways to do it.
| Without a trademark | With a trademark | |
|---|---|---|
| Professional plan, first month | $40 | $40 |
| Samples, low end | $100 | $100 |
| First order and launch ads | $395 | $395 |
| Trademark, one class | none | $350 |
| Vine, 30 units | $200 | $0 after the $200 credit |
| Cash needed | about $735 | about $885 |
The trademark route costs $150 more and is the better deal. Amazon accepts a pending trademark for Brand Registry, and Brand Registry is what unlocks the Vine credit, A+ content, and the new-seller referral bonus: 10% back on your first $50,000 of branded sales. The USPTO fee is $350 per class for an electronic filing, and more with a free-text description of your goods; we cover it in the e-commerce startup costs post.
Both columns assume you take your own photos and use plain packaging, and that the product needs no insurance or tooling. For the median business we price, the test alone is $3,565.
Amazon's new-seller incentives
Amazon offers new-to-Amazon sellers on the Professional plan a set of credits it markets as worth over $50,000. Most of that headline is referral-fee bonus you only earn by selling. The parts that cut what a small launch needs in cash, from Amazon's New Seller Incentives page:
- Ad credits. Spend $50, $200 or $1,000 on a first Sponsored Products campaign and get the same amount back as ad credit. The campaign must start within 90 days of listing, and the spend must happen within 30 days of launching it. On Spite House's $332 ad budget, the $200 level could cover the last $132 of clicks.
- $400 of inbound placement credit, for sending stock to one fulfilment centre and letting Amazon split it, plus $100 off shipments through the Amazon Partner Carrier programme.
- Free storage, liquidations and customer returns on eligible new products through the FBA New Selection programme, if you send them in within 90 days of listing.
- A year's exemption from the low-inventory-level fee and the storage utilisation surcharge.
- $200 of Vine credit and the referral bonus, both through Brand Registry, and a $50 coupon credit.
Most of these have deadlines counted from the day you list, so they reward having the product, photos and campaign ready before you create the listing, not after.
What about arbitrage, wholesale and dropshipping?
These are the models usually pitched as "no money" Amazon businesses. We cannot tell you whether they work on a small budget, because 17 of the 18 businesses we have researched are private label and we have measured no arbitrage, wholesale or dropshipping seller. What we know about each model, including Amazon's rules on dropshipping, is in private label vs wholesale vs dropshipping. Each still needs stock or a supplier before the first sale; none removes the money, only changes what it buys.
After the test: the money you need next
A test that passes does not pay for itself. Spite House's 20 sold decks bring back about $87 against $395 spent, and White Mountain's puzzles about $211 against $948. What a pass buys you is evidence, plus the unsold units from the minimum order to keep selling. The next order has to be paid for before those sales come in, so budget for a second order of the same size before you start.
Before you pick a product, put its price, size and cost into our FBA calculator to see what Amazon's fees leave, and use the ROAS calculator to check what your ads have to return to break even. Whether the margin is worth the money at all is in is Amazon FBA still profitable.
FAQ
Can you start Amazon FBA with $0?
No. You need stock, the Professional plan to advertise, and samples at the least. The lowest honest budget in our data is about $735.
Can you start Amazon FBA with $500?
Only for the very cheapest products, and only by cutting samples or ads to the bone. Spite House's test is $395 before the plan, samples and Vine.
Can you start Amazon FBA with $1,000?
Yes, for a light, cheap product a factory already makes: card games, puzzles, simple wooden goods. Four of the 15 businesses we price can be tested for under $1,000 before setup costs.
Is it free to open an Amazon seller account?
Opening the account is free. Selling costs $0.99 per item on the Individual plan or $39.99 a month on Professional, plus selling fees.
Where these figures come from
Test costs, first orders, ad budgets and pay-outs are our estimates from each business's profile in our data, read 10 November 2026; our setup ranges are our own, except the plan and trademark lines. Amazon's terms were read the same day on its own pages: selling plans and fees, New Seller Incentives, Amazon Vine, the seller registration guide (no LLC needed, Brand Registry with a pending trademark) and the monthly storage fee page. Incentive terms change and have conditions; check Amazon's page before you plan around one.