All businesses / Private label on marketplaces

Fingerprint: capital · hours · speed to income · margin · ceiling. The dashed line is mid-scale.

Start a private label on marketplaces: the real numbers

Your own brand, sold on Amazon. Below is what it actually costs, how long before money arrives, and the part most guides leave out.

Startup capital

€8,000–€45,000

Hours / week

15–40

First income

~16 wks

Net margin

20%

Saturation

high

Realistic ceiling

€0–€5,000+

This ceiling is not a wall

The figure above is what this earns in the shape described — you, running it. Past that it keeps going, but by hiring people or adding units, not by you working more hours. That is a different job from the one you would be starting, and worth knowing before you start it.

What nobody usually tells you

The platform hands you millions of buyers on day one, which nothing else here does. In exchange it takes a third, competes with you, and can suspend your account without explanation — and your capital is sitting in its warehouse.

The route, in five steps

  1. Validate demand with real sales data before ordering stock
  2. Order samples from three suppliers, always
  3. Budget as much for advertising as for the stock itself
  4. One product done properly beats five launched at once
  5. Your account is the business and the platform can close it

What you'll need to buy

These are the categories every private label on marketplaces pays for in the first month. We break down what each one actually costs at this size on the tools page.

first stock ordersamplesbrand registrationphotographyadvertising budget

Does it hold up for you?

These numbers are the average case. Whether this business clears your target depends on your capital, your hours and how long you can wait — put them in and see.

Run my numbers → See the tool stack