What to sell on Amazon: which products to list first

“What should I sell on Amazon?” is usually asked by someone looking for a business idea. This piece is for someone else: a brand that already has products, often dozens or hundreds, and wants to know which ones to start with. The answer is rarely “the bestsellers from our own store”. On Amazon, profitability is decided by things invisible in your store: approvals, dangerous-goods classification, commission charged on the price including delivery, the size tier and the cost of returns.

Sources checked: 15 October 2026. Rules and fees come from Amazon's seller pages and the FBA rate card. Amazon changes them independently of us, so check current rates for your category before deciding.

Five filters to run your range through

The simplest way to choose launch products is to run the whole range through five questions, in this order. The first two remove products that need paperwork before launch; the next three remove those that are hard to make money on.

1. Does the category need Amazon approval?

In some categories and sub-categories Amazon requires approval before a listing goes live. Amazon's own examples are food and drink, cosmetics, medical devices, jewellery and watches, and selected regulated or branded products. You check it by finding the product in the catalogue and clicking “Show limitations” (sell.amazon.pl). Approval can be obtained, but usually takes documents and time, so the first wave is better without that hurdle.

2. Is it a dangerous good?

Amazon defines dangerous goods as materials that may pose a risk in storage, handling or transport because they are flammable, pressurised, corrosive or otherwise harmful. In FBA they carry a separate, higher storage rate: on amazon.de, for standard size, 30 EUR per cubic metre per month from January to September and 50.51 EUR from October to December, plus additional inventory fees (sell.amazon.de). Typical examples are products with lithium batteries, aerosols and chemicals. They can be sold, but they are poor candidates for a market test.

3. What margin is left after commission and FBA fees?

On amazon.pl the referral fee is 2.5% to 15% depending on category, charged on the full amount the buyer pays, delivery included (sell.amazon.pl). Add the FBA fee per unit, storage and advertising. A product with a 25% margin in your own store can break even on Amazon. We show how to work it out per product in our piece on Amazon profit margin, and the FBA fees themselves in Amazon FBA fees.

4. Which size and weight tier is it in?

FBA fees depend on size and weight tiers, from envelopes through parcels to oversize (sell.amazon.de). The fee does not rise smoothly; it jumps when a product crosses a threshold. Two similar products can therefore have very different logistics costs, and sometimes a packaging change is enough to drop a tier.

5. How often does it come back, and what EPR does it carry?

Returns carry their own fee on Amazon, depending on size, weight and store. For a standard parcel up to 400 g the FBA rate card effective 1 February 2026 gives 3.50 EUR in Germany. Products customers often return, such as sized apparel, eat margin faster than a spreadsheet suggests. The mechanics are in our piece on returns processing fees.

The second cost is compliance. Electronics and batteries need separate registrations in Germany with quarterly charges, and in France EPR covers 19 categories, from furniture to toys. A product with no batteries or electronics is simply cheaper to run at launch. Country-by-country detail is in our EPR registration guide.

Where to start: margin against complexity

Once your range has been through the filters, plot products on two axes: what is left after Amazon's fees, and how much paperwork and risk the product carries. The first wave is the bottom-right quadrant.

The top-right quadrant is often the brand's best products that simply need preparation: category approval, battery registration or new packaging. Plan them now, but list them once the paperwork is done. The bottom-left quadrant will not make money on its own, but it rounds out the range as variants or bundles.

Three mistakes when choosing first products

• Listing the whole range at once. Hundreds of listings with no sales history spread the ad budget thin and make it hard to see what works. Start with a dozen or so and add more.
• Starting with a product you do not control. If several sellers offer the same product, you compete on price for the buy box. Your own brand with Amazon registration gives more control over the listing; see our pieces on the buy box and Brand Registry.
• Judging by your store margin. Commission on the price including delivery, size-tier FBA fees and the returns fee can reshuffle the profitability ranking completely.

How Amazonway handles it

Before launch we run the client's whole range through the same filters and work out the margin on every product after Amazon's fees. The result is a first-wave list and a plan for the next ones, flagging which products need approvals or registrations. We start with an account audit, and running the account is described on our Amazon account management page.

Let's choose your first Amazon products together →

FAQ: what to sell on Amazon

Which products should I start selling on Amazon with?

Products that do not need Amazon approval, are not dangerous goods, keep a healthy margin after commission and FBA fees, sit in a low size tier and rarely come back. That is usually a dozen or so products, not the whole range.

Which categories need Amazon approval?

Amazon's examples are food and drink, cosmetics, medical devices, jewellery and watches, and selected regulated or branded products. For a specific product, check the catalogue and click “Show limitations”.

Can I sell products with lithium batteries through FBA?

Yes, but they may be classified as dangerous goods. A separate, higher storage rate and additional fees then apply, so they are a poor choice for a market test.

Why is a product that is profitable in my store not profitable on Amazon?

Because commission is charged on the price including delivery, the FBA fee jumps with size and weight, and returns carry their own fee. Those three lines can take the whole margin that your store never shows.

Sources

• Amazon, listing guide (categories requiring approval) and amazon.pl fees
• Amazon, amazon.de pricing (dangerous goods, size tiers)
• Amazon, FBA Rate Card Europe Fees effective 1 February 2026 (returns processing fee)