How to Find Products to Sell on Amazon: Criteria and Filters

1. Demand: is anyone searching for it?

The first question is whether there are recurring searches and sales — not whether the product looks nice. In Seller Central, Amazon offers Product Opportunity Explorer, which Amazon describes as a tool to analyze estimated customer demand for new product ideas. It organizes the market into niches: a set of customer search terms and products that represent a specific customer need.

For each niche, the tool shows search terms with search volume, click-through rate, search conversion and the top three clicked products, plus trends, review insights and returns. Amazon refreshes niches and metrics regularly, and access is for Professional sellers.

Two public signals complement it: the Best Sellers list, which Amazon says is based on Amazon sales and updated hourly, and Movers & Shakers, which shows the biggest gainers in sales rank over the past 24 hours. Amazon itself warns that the overall ranking doesn't always indicate how a product is doing against similar items — that's why there are lists by category and subcategory.

2. Competition: can you compete?

High demand with twenty established brands and thousands of reviews is a tough market for a newcomer. The filters that measure competition:

• Number of sellers on the offer and in the niche;
• Leaders' reviews: few reviews on products that sell well signal room to enter;
• Amazon selling on the listing: competing for the offer with Amazon itself is a different game;
• Listing age: new products selling well show the niche still accepts newcomers;
• Brand or generic: a niche dominated by generics is an opportunity for a private label.

In Product Opportunity Explorer's search terms tab, the top three clicked products for each search show who already captures the demand. To use it step by step and turn the signal into a product hypothesis, see how to validate a product before manufacturing.

3. Margin: is there money left after fees?

A product with demand and little competition may still not pay the bills. Before you decide, run the numbers with Amazon's official fees:

• Referral fee: a percentage by category on the total sales price — most categories fall between 8% and 15% (some tiered by price), with a $0.30 minimum per item in most categories, according to the Seller Central fee schedule.
• Selling plan: Professional costs $39.99 per month; Individual charges $0.99 per item sold.
• Fulfillment: with FBA, the fee is per unit, based on size tier, weight and dimensions, plus monthly storage fees.
• Advertising: a new product almost always needs ads to get seen; set aside margin for it.

Rule of thumb: calculate profit per unit with product cost, sales tax handling, referral fee, fulfillment and an ad budget. Example: a $30 product with a 15% referral fee ($4.50), an FBA fee of about $5.50 and a $9 landed cost leaves $11 before ads — if a sale costs $8 in ads, you keep $3. If the margin can't carry the ads, the product can't carry the launch. See how to do the math in how to calculate real net profit per ASIN.

4. Approval: is the category open?

Some categories and products require approval before you can sell. Restrictions can apply by ASIN, brand, category or subcategory, and when you add the product in Seller Central you'll see whether you can list it or need to apply to sell. Categories that often require approval include parts of Beauty, Health & Personal Care, Grocery & Gourmet, Jewelry, Watches and Automotive — Amazon notes the list can change.

Approval typically asks for documents such as supplier invoices dated within the last 180 days. On top of that, some products are restricted by Amazon's policies even when they are legal. Check both pages before you buy inventory.

The filters in practice

Turning the four criteria into filters for a first screening:

The starting points are references, not rules: a niche with strong leaders can be worth it for a brand with a clear differentiator. The filter is there to rule out quickly what has no chance.

How EcomVision helps

EcomVision's Product Research applies these filters to Amazon US and Amazon Brazil — category, monthly sales, price, reviews, sellers, Amazon on the listing, listing age, weight — and gives each product an Opportunity Score from 0 to 100. Niche Analysis shows, for a keyword, market size, sellers and price and BSR trends. And Pricing runs the margin math for FBM and FBA before you buy inventory.

Sources

• Amazon Seller Central — Product Opportunity Explorer
• Amazon Seller Central — Product Opportunity Explorer FAQ
• Amazon — Selling on Amazon pricing
• Amazon.com — Best Sellers
• Amazon.com — Movers & Shakers
• Amazon Seller Central — Categories and products that require approval
• Amazon Seller Central — Restricted products
• Amazon Seller Central — Selling fee schedule
• Amazon Seller Central — FBA fees