How to start Amazon FBA with a limited budget or little money

How I Started Amazon FBA with £129 and Left My 9-5 (The UK Retail Arbitrage Guide)

Before we dive in, let me give you my back story. It’s proof that a successful online business is possible even with a minimal budget. Rewind to late 2022. I had very little money. My eldest son was two, and my wife and I were constantly worrying about our finances. Whatever we earned, the money never seemed to stretch far enough.

My First Step: The Reselling Side Hustle

I was fed up in my job and actively searching for my next big break. While scrolling through social media, I came across a video that caught my attention. I was catching the tail end of the hype around items like Air Fryers and PlayStation 5s. The video explained that you could buy high-demand items at a normal price and sell them for a much higher price. The barrier to entry was low, and the risk felt minimal, so I thought, “What have I got to lose?”

I started my initial reselling journey with a measly £129 investment from my personal bank account. After just two to three months, I had turned that £129 into around £500-£600, all done part-time around my 9-to-5 job. But the hype doesn’t last forever. As air fryers became easier to find, demand (and profit) started to decline, leaving me with a desire for a more consistent reselling strategy. AC-130 inbound. (Amazon)

What is Retail Arbitrage (RA) and How Does it Work?

The solution was Retail Arbitrage (RA). It’s a popular e-commerce model centred on exploiting price differences between a physical store and an online marketplace. This sourcing method involves identifying products sold at a heavily reduced low price (typically due to clearance sales, deep discounts, or temporary promotions at retail stores and supermarkets) and immediately listing those items for sale at a higher price online.

The art of successful retail arbitrage goes beyond just finding a deal. It requires understanding shop layouts, persistence, planning, and consistency. I understand those are just words, so let me explain what they mean in practice.

Understanding Shop Layouts:

When you start, you won’t know where the deals are. It takes time (maybe 10 to 15 minutes per shop initially) to find the clearance aisles, reduced-to-clear sections, and where staff usually stash the best items. Walk the entire shop, ask staff members, and learn your shops from the inside out.

Persistence:

There will be days when you don’t find anything. That’s okay! Grab a meal deal, sit in the car, eat it, and move on to the next location. This happens to everyone. Remember that although there will be poor days, you will hit the jackpot at times and make significant profit.

Planning:

Establish clear routes you hit on certain days. This means when you finish work, you know exactly where you’re going and can source items efficiently without the hassle of planning every day.

Consistency:

If you aren’t consistent, other people will be. When they are consistent and you’re not, you lose out on profit. Even if you can’t be bothered to do a full route, do the route in rapid time and check the places you’ve had success in at the bare minimum.

The Next Step: Starting My Amazon FBA Journey

With the need for consistency, I kept hearing the words ‘Amazon’ and ‘FBA’ in the groups I was in. At first, I was hesitant, but the popularity continued to grow. A month or so later, I decided to take the leap. It took maybe a week to get fully set up, including registering as a Sole Trader, opening a business bank account, setting up Amazon Seller Central, and gathering the necessary general equipment.

Setting Up Amazon FBA with a £500 Investment

With about £500 to my name, here is what I needed to get going.

Essential Software:

The only software you actually need for the first month or two is SellerAmp SAS. This acts as a deal analyser and mobile barcode scanner. It allows you to scan a product or type in an item name and instantly gives you everything there is to know about that item on Amazon: sell price, projected profit, price history, and everything else needed to make a buying decision. SellerAmp will cost you around £14-£15 a month.

Essential Equipment:

The good news is you can start cheaply. You will need a computer/laptop (which hopefully you already have), a mobile phone (for the software mentioned above), an A4 printer or a thermal printer, labels, weighing scales (you can use human weighing scales to start with), boxes (often available free from supermarkets or shops), and tape.

If you already own a phone, laptop, and printer, your equipment cost is maybe £50-£75. Let’s call it £100 total to get the business operating. This leaves the other £400 to be used to buy your initial stock for Amazon, and this is the magic part!

Your Next Steps on Getting Started in Amazon FBA

In summary, you can start Amazon FBA with little money, it doesnt need a HUGE investment but it helps to have a small budget to get the equipment/software you need to get going and some money to buy stock.

Amazon FBA is accessible to many people mainly because it doesn’t require a large amount of money to get going. Obviously, the more capital you have, the easier it will be to scale faster, but for those who are just starting out, FBA allows you to grow and scale at your own pace.

If you want to get started with Amazon FBA but genuinely want that helping hand, fulfilledby. can help you every step of the way. I started exactly where you are and can show you everything I have learned in my three years selling on Amazon. Click here to learn more about our community and start your journey today;