Amazon sellers face a crucial decision when sourcing profitable products: spend hours manually searching for deals or invest in professional lead generation services. This guide compares both approaches to help you choose the right sourcing strategy for your FBA business.
You've heard the success stories, watched the YouTube videos, and decided to start your Amazon FBA business. Then reality hits: finding profitable products takes way longer than anyone mentioned in those "easy money" tutorials.
If you're spending hours browsing retail websites with little to show for it, you're not alone. Most new sellers underestimate how much time product sourcing actually requires and how steep the learning curve can be.
You probably started by randomly checking websites for price differences between retail stores and Amazon. This approach feels logical, but it's incredibly inefficient. Without knowing which sites to check, what products to avoid, or how to calculate true profitability, you're essentially gambling with your time and money.
New sellers typically need months to develop an eye for profitable products. Meanwhile, you're competing against experienced sellers who know exactly where to look and what to buy.
Manual Sourcing: Learning the Hard Way
You can continue doing everything yourself, gradually getting better at finding deals. This path teaches you valuable skills and costs nothing upfront. However, expect to spend 4-6 hours daily just searching for products, with inconsistent results for the first few months.
Manual sourcing works if you have plenty of time and enjoy the research process. You'll learn which websites offer the best deals and develop intuition about profitable products. Just remember that your time has value too.
Automated Software Tools: The Middle Ground
Various programs scan websites for price differences and provide product data. These tools can check more sites than you could manually, but they find the same deals everyone else discovers. When multiple sellers find identical opportunities, competition drives profits down quickly.
Software tools cost monthly fees and still require significant time to review results and make purchasing decisions. They're most effective when combined with your own product knowledge and market understanding.
Professional Lead Services: Outsourcing the Heavy Lifting
Some companies employ full teams to find profitable products and deliver curated lists to subscribers. This approach lets you focus on buying, listing, and growing your business instead of spending all day hunting for deals.
Professional services typically provide detailed product analysis including profit calculations, competition levels, and sales velocity data. The best services limit their subscriber base to prevent oversaturation.
Your choice depends on how much time you can dedicate to sourcing and whether you prefer learning through trial and error or getting guidance from experienced professionals.
If you have 20+ hours weekly for product research and want to understand every aspect of the business, manual sourcing teaches valuable lessons. Just prepare for a slow start and inconsistent results initially.
If you'd rather focus on the business side—inventory management, customer service, and scaling—professional lead services let you skip the time-intensive learning phase.
Start by honestly assessing your available time and patience level. Especially if you're treating this as a part-time venture, it might be worth investing in professional services to maximize your limited hours.
Consider testing one approach for 30 days, tracking both profits and time invested. Include your hourly value when calculating true costs—spending 25 hours to make $200 profit might not be worth it if your time is valuable.
Remember that successful FBA sellers often combine multiple sourcing methods as their business grows. You might start with professional leads to generate quick wins, then gradually compliment them with manual sourcing skills for long-term success.
