How to Become an Amazon Virtual Assistant [BEGINNER’S GUIDE]

Ready to take your sweet virtual assistant skills to the world of Amazon but don’t know where to start?

You’re in the right place. 

Amazon sellers are BUSY. They’re trying to scale their business on Amazon, but they’re in desperate need of help.

Here’s how you can tap into this behemoth market right now and become an Amazon virtual assistant 😎.

How Amazon FBA works and why you’re needed

Amazon FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) is a service that Amazon sellers use for processing their orders. They send their inventory to Amazon, and Amazon handles all the packing and shipping. 

Running an Amazon FBA business is a LOT of work. Especially for one person. 

That’s why these sellers need you (yes YOU!) to help with anything from writing SEO-optimized product descriptions so their listings appear on page one, to responding to customers and keeping them happy.  

And that barely scratches the surface.

How to become an Amazon virtual assistant without experience

Have you ever written about a product? Have you ever researched something online? Ever helped a customer before?

Chances are, you’ve got TONS of relevant experience that’ll help you become an Amazon virtual assistant. 

Becoming an Amazon VA without experience is completely doable as long as you’re willing to learn.

Step 1. Learn the essential Amazon VA skills

If you’re already freelancing as a virtual assistant, you’ve got the necessary skills and tools to begin working with FBA clients right now. 

That said, there are some specific skills related to working on Amazon’s platform that are super helpful to learn. 

These skills increase the value you add to your client’s business, which allows you to charge more for your services.

You can learn these skills for free by poking around Youtube, or you can take an Amazon virtual assistant course.

And if you really want to impress clients and stand out from the competition, you can take an Amazon seller training to learn the ins and outs of the business model.

As you can see in my Proven Amazon Course review, it won’t cost you much to learn everything you need to know about managing an Amazon business.

Not all of the following skills are necessary to begin working as an Amazon VA. But the more you know, the easier you’ll find work.

Research

FBA clients may have you research sales trends in Jungle Scout to learn about the latest hot ticket products they could sell.

Maybe your client’s competitor is crushing it, so you dig around and find ways your client can tighten up their business strategy. 

Clients will love you for handling all the nitty-gritty research for them.

Inventory management 

Making sure your client’s products actually arrive at the Amazon warehouse is sort of a big deal, right?

Leave it to a trusty Amazon VA like yourself to keep everything tracked, labeled, and accounted for. 

You help your client know how much stock to order and even spare them the headache by tracking down that missing unit. 

Managing inventory and shipping is a great way to add value to any business. 

Customer service

One way to help your client stand out in the pack of competitors is to offer rockstar customer service. 

Following up with product reviews on Amazon with professionalism and personality shows customers you mean business.

Being proactive about answering product-related questions can also help customers sitting on the fence pull the trigger. 

Keeping the reputation of the business rock solid with next-level customer service is an outright gift to any client lucky enough to land you.

Sourcing

Speaking of communication, let me ask about your negotiation skills. 

Think you can negotiate a better price for those cameras? Find a new wholesaler for sourcing those watches?

Consider working behind the scenes with the client’s business partners. 

If hunting for the best deals and top products for your client sounds like an exciting challenge, this is for you. 

Effective product sourcing is an invaluable skill that gives you some serious credibility as an Amazon virtual assistant. 

Content creation 

Content creation is all about hooking up customers with free and useful information. 

It’s a win-win for both the customer and the client since customers gravitate toward product listings that provide the most insightful content. 

As an Amazon VA, you can record product demos or write product guides that give your client a clear edge over the wanna-be competitors.

If they have a website outside of Amazon, you can pump that with useful content as well. (And if they don’t have a website, there’s another service you could offer!)

Copywriting & SEO

SEO-trained copywriters can offer clients double whammy value.

First, you research the exact keywords to include in their listing to crank up its ranking to page one. Higher rankings = more eyeballs on their products.

Then, you use your persuasive writing skills to convert those newfound eyeballs into sales.

More sales = another happy long-term client for you.

Social media management 

Working as an Amazon FBA virtual assistant doesn’t mean you have to be tethered to Amazon Seller Central all day.

With folks spending over two hours a day on social media, your magic touch for attention-grabbing posts can give your client’s business a real boost. 

Social media marketing is a high-value service that drives traffic right onto your client’s page. If you’re a high-engagement social media user, you’ve already got a head start.

Graphic design 

Imagine selecting a listing on Amazon. The product image is slightly blurry and because of the awkward angle of the picture, you can’t make out the actual product features. Yeah, no. I’ll pass.

You can guarantee that doesn’t happen to your FBA client by producing crystal-clear product images that comply with Amazon’s guidelines. 

Whether you help design the brand logo, edit images, or take photos — you can take your client’s visual game to the next level. 

Advertising 

Your client will likely carry similar products to other businesses, so investing in ads becomes a no-brainer for getting more attention than the competitors. 

Learning how to help your client’s products become a “Featured Offer” on Amazon is one of many high-value advertising strategies you can offer to help increase your clients’ visibility. 

You may even be charged with running ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram to drive more outside traffic to their products.

Product listing 

FBA businesses outsource to Amazon VAs to make sure their product listings remain dialed in. 

If a client’s product listing is a train wreck, Amazon is NOT going to put that listing anywhere near the first page.

That is, until they hire you to work your VA magic and “optimize” the listing by cleaning up the title, descriptions, and images. 

Contact building 

Your client can pull off a crazy amount of sales on Amazon, but it’s tough to gather customer information as Amazon keeps it under tight wraps. 

As a list-builder, you find creative ways to encourage customers to check out the brand website or social media. 

Building a contact list for your FBA client outside of the Amazon platform helps them launch new products, receive feedback, and create brand loyalty. 

Step 2. Find Amazon virtual assistant jobs for beginners 

Now that you’ve got a grasp on the skills, here’s where to look for your first FBA client.

Facebook groups

Amazon virtual assistant Facebook groups allow you to hang out where the clients look for VA talent. Who knows, you might make a friend or two and pick up some valuable insights while you’re there. 

Here’s two highly active Amazon VA groups worth joining: Amazon Virtual Assistant & Clients and Amazon Virtual Assistants

Upwork

Upwork is a ginormous marketplace for freelancers. 

You can either:

• Look for FBA clients on the Project Catalog page.
• Create a sick profile and let them come to you.
• Do some mixture of both.

But is Upwork worth it?

Well, the platform charges a 20% service fee for all transactions $500 and below and 10% for all transactions between $500.01 – $10,000 — so eventually, it might be worth transitioning loyal clients off the platform.

Fiverr

Fiverr is the world’s largest online marketplace for buying and selling digital services. 

Landing your first FBA client on Fiverr begins with making an eye-catching profile so you can sell “gigs.” These gigs would include your vast array of Amazon VA services like social media management or copywriting. 

Fiverr takes a 20% cut for each gig and applies a 5.5% service fee for the buyer. 

Freelancer

Freelancer is another job marketplace filled to the brim with freelance opportunities. 

Freelancer breaks down your  “Amazon virtual assistant” search into useful categories like “Amazon Listing Optimization” and “Amazon FBA” which is great for narrowing in on the right client. 

Freelancer takes a smaller cut at 10% for projects. 

PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour uses artificial intelligence to search different project listings and match you with the right client.

Something we can all get behind is spending less time searching for the right client and more time doing the client work you’re great at doing. 

Just make sure to create a robot-stopping profile listing all your Amazon VA skills.

PeoplePerHour charges the standard 20% for projects priced at $350 and less. After $350, the fee drops down to 7.5%. Not too shabby. 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is known as THE professional networking site of the internet. 

Network away with folks who can verify your VA skills. Set your profile to public and “Open to Work” so FBA clients know you’re ready to get down to business.

Best part of all, it’s totally free.

Indeed

You might also want to check this little known job site called Indeed.

As the world’s largest job site, sifting through endless pages of job listings could be overwhelming.

But if you’ve got your niche locked in and know exactly what you’re looking for, you’ll save loads of time. 

You can apply for jobs directly with your Indeed resume and save even more time by making your resume public so FBA clients can find and reach out to you. 

Your existing network

Perhaps the best place to look for your first client is your existing network.

In fact, recent virtual assistant statistics show that 37% of VAs find their first client through their personal network, making it the most common method to find your first client.

So, do you know anyone with an eCommerce store?

What about a well-connected contact who may know someone else in the industry?

As a brand new Amazon VA, searching for clients via your network and word-of-mouth can speed up the process.

Normally, it’s hard to find your first client because when you don’t have a portfolio to show, it’s harder to prove your skills to potential clients.

But if your potential client already knows and trusts you (or you’re recommended by someone they know and trust), then that serves as their “proof”.

How much does an Amazon virtual assistant make?

How much money you make as an Amazon virtual assistant is entirely up to you. 

One of the awesome advantages of freelancing is the say-so you have in determining how much to charge for your services. 

The more value you offer, the more you’re worth.

That said, it’s still helpful to look at the average Amazon virtual assistant salary so you can get a ballpark estimate of how much you may earn. 

According to Indeed, the average pay for a US virtual assistant is $24 per hour. Amazon virtual assistants are a specialized type of VA, and if you’re skilled at all the services we covered today, odds are you could charge more.

That number is only an average estimate. 

High-value skills like running ad campaigns or expert copywriting can literally transform an FBA business. If you offer higher-value services, you should negotiate higher pay.

Does Amazon hire virtual assistants?

By Amazon virtual assistant, we’re referring to a virtual assistant who specializes in helping Amazon FBA businesses. While there are plenty of open positions to work directly for Amazon, there are no remote virtual assistant roles. 

The roles that are available at Amazon generally require you to live in certain areas, and they are mostly normal employee positions — some full-time, some part-time, and some seasonal.

Amazon virtual assistant tools 

You wouldn’t want to try scaling Mount Everest without the proper tools and equipment, eh? Cliche and overused, but you get the point. 

Having communication tools like Slack in place or scheduling tools like Calendly will only make your life easier as you begin working with different FBA clients. 

Here’s our complete list of the top 11 free virtual assistant tools that all VAs should be using. 

Go bring in those clients now, I’m pulling for ya!