A 27-year-old who makes an extra $4,200 monthly on average by reviewing Amazon products explains the simple 2-step process to starting it as a side hustle — and it doesn’t require any money

• Making money on Amazon can be challenging because it requires capital to get started.
• However, as an Amazon product tester, you can earn commission by writing reviews.
• The following is a step-by-step guide to the dos and don’ts of getting started.

Trevin Peterson, 27, has been selling products on Amazon since 2017. And he has made up to six figures in revenue per month at times.

While using the e-commerce platform to make money can be a lucrative side hustle, it is not simple. His journey began with a few hiccups. Getting his e-commerce business off the ground meant a lot of failures, such as spending money on products that didn’t work out and paying Amazon storage fees that didn’t work out.

Getting the capital to start is one of the most difficult obstacles for most people, he says.

He gradually began to learn the ins and outs of the business, giving him a sense of what worked and what didn’t. Over the last six years, this has enabled him to become a full-time seller. He has since taken his lessons and distributed them via YouTube videos, social media posts, and coaching programs.

One of his favorite strategies this year has been reviewing Amazon products. He got the idea after seeing other people’s posts about how to increase the number of reviews products have on their listings. He became curious as a seller.

“Obviously, I wanted to prove the concept to myself,” Peterson explained. “And if it was as simple as it was made out to be, I thought, ‘Well, I want to do it myself.'” Who doesn’t want an extra thousand dollars in passive income each month?”

The program pays people to make videos reviewing products that are then posted on product listings. If a video leads to a sale, the creator is compensated. Peterson was curious to see how it worked and if it was viable. He also saw it as a non-capitalist Amazon strategy that he could teach his students. As a result, he agreed to participate as an experiment.

“To be honest, I didn’t believe it was true because I am not a believer in get-rich-quick schemes.” And this is not at all like that because you have to put in the effort,” Peterson explained.

He’s been reviewing products since April and believes it’s one of the best opportunities he’s seen since starting to make money online. According to screenshots of his account viewed by Insider, he has gradually scaled to making more than $4,200 on average per month over the last three months.

A straightforward starting point

What’s great about this is that you don’t need a large social media following, which is required for most opportunities like this, he says.

You can film and upload videos directly to Amazon’s platform. As a result, you’re leveraging Amazon traffic for views. You will be paid a commission if a user searches for a product, clicks on a listing, and watches your video before making a purchase.

Commissions vary depending on the product category and price, but typically range from 1 to 3% of the purchase price.

He claims that the only downside or risk to this side hustle is your time. Signing up for an account is free, but there is no guarantee that you will be approved. He went on to say that there is a two-step procedure.

The first consideration is social eligibility. While you don’t need thousands of followers, you do need to be present on social media. Still, it could be as few as 1,000 followers, he said, recalling seeing people with 1,200 followers approved. When you sign up for the Amazon Influencer Program, you must choose a social-media account to use for login. Peterson attempted to sign up through his Instagram account in March but was turned down. He tried again in April via YouTube and was approved. He’s not sure why. According to the program’s frequently asked questions page, follower count is taken into account “in addition to other engagement metrics.”

The second step is known as onsite placement, and it is the most critical part of the approval process, according to him. You must submit three trial videos evaluating products. These will be examined by a human. You won’t be approved if your video is of poor quality, but he added that it’s very simple once you know what they look for.

For example, if you have poor sound quality or background noise, it is unlikely that it will be approved. If you make any medical claims about a product, you will almost certainly be rejected. And if you’re not properly displaying the product or it keeps moving in and out of the frame, that’s probably not a good thing, he says.

You can then upload your review videos to your storefront once they have been approved. What’s cool is that you don’t have to buy anything. You can review and upload the video as long as you have purchased items for your household from Amazon.

Peterson suggests making a lot of videos at first to cast a wide net. After you’ve finished reviewing the products you bought, look for additional items to review at your parents’ or friends’ homes.

He spends about five to ten minutes making one video. When you first start out, he recommends uploading about 200 videos to the platform. This increases your chances of earning more commissions.

Commissions started coming in for Peterson in the first week of April. By the end of the month, he had uploaded approximately 150 videos ranging in length from 18 seconds to 3 minutes. According to screenshots of his account obtained by Insider, he earned $1,680 in his first month. However, he stated that it takes 60 days to receive your commission.

“Depending on how much time you can put in or not, you can ramp up pretty quickly to, I would say, a conservative $500 to $1,000 in your first month, but that’s you putting in an hour or two a day reviewing,” said Peterson.

He now spends less time and only contributes about 4 hours per week to add new reviews.

In the long run, a more targeted strategy could increase your commission, but it would necessitate the purchase of specific products, which he does not recommend while you’re still learning. Additionally, as your credibility and visibility grow, brands will send you freebies.

“Just this last month, I got over $4,000 of free products sent to my house to do these review videos,” Peterson told me.

A bench press barbell, a computer keyboard, a golf mat, and gloves are among them.