Work from home is a growing industry. No wonder why even big companies like Amazon are getting people to work for them virtually. In fact, there are a number of Amazon virtual jobs available for you to choose from.
Amazon is one of the most successful e-commerce platforms in the world. Although based in Seattle, the company also operates in different sites not just in the United States, but also in Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, China, and Japan, giving employment to over 30,000 people.
Even with that number of workers, Amazon continues to grow. As the company grows, they continue to provide jobs to more and more people. No wonder, why they even extended it to people who prefer working from home.
Over the years, the number of Amazon virtual jobs is growing too. Although this section in the company is still relatively small compared to regular day job, at the end of the day, it still is able to provide people with the means to earn.
If you are wondering what Amazon virtual jobs are available, well, they are mostly related to customer service, which is not surprising given the kind of industry where Amazon belongs. But before we talk more about the different work from home opportunities available at Amazon, let’s do a little walk down memory lane first.
What is Amazon?
As mentioned earlier, Amazon is one of the biggest and most popular e-commerce platforms in the world. It is a massive online retailer, which as of June 2018 has a market capitalization of more than $268 billion. Needless to say, as of 2017, the company has over $177 billion in revenues.
Apart from being an online retailer of a wide variety of products, Amazon also allows individuals and businesses to use the platform to display and sell products online. It is available in various countries and languages, which is why their continues success is not surprising given that even up to this day, they continue to expand and reach more people.
Apart from being an online marketplace, Amazon also offers Amazon Kindle and Amazon app store, both are popular products of the company. Furthermore, the company also offers infrastructure and software solutions for both individuals and businesses.
From its humble beginnings in 1994, Amazon has emerged to be one of the largest and most successful online marketplaces. Needless to say, it also named as the most valuable retailer period having overtaken Wal-Mart I 2015. Amazon was also named as the fourth most valuable company next to equally well-known companies – Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft.
From starting its operations in Seattle, today, Amazon has a storefront website for more than a dozen countries. It also ships to nearly all countries in the world. Amazon also takes pride in becoming a host of popular retail websites like Marks and Spencer, Sears Canada, Lacoste, and many more.
In addition, Amazon also owns more than 40 subsidiary brands like Diapers.com, IMDb, Zappos, and Goodreads to name a few.
With such an amazing success, no wonder why the company continues to give opportunities to more and more people – thus, creating more Amazon virtual jobs, and on-site jobs too.
What are the benefits you will get from working at Amazon?
As compared to other work from home jobs, landing in Amazon virtual jobs is like landing in a regular office job. The company offers really good benefits for their work from home employees (particularly customer service agents) just like how good the benefits are of their onsite workers are.
Some of the perks you will get to enjoy if you work virtually for Amazon are:
– Employee discount
– Health insurance
– Retirement planning (this goes only to some employees)
– Paid time off (also for selected employees only)
– For parents, you may also take maternity and/or paternity leave, as well as receive adoption assistance if needed
Having all these perks, it is no wonder why more and more work from home workers are clamoring to land in any Amazon virtual jobs available.
What are the requirements to land in any Amazon virtual job?
The requirements vary in each position offered. However, as a general requirement, to be able to get into any of the Amazon virtual jobs available, you must be a resident in any of the states where Amazon operates. Amazon is present in approximately 30 states, which include the following:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
It is very important that you reside in any of these states, otherwise, your application will be invalid.
Now, if you do belong to any of these states listed above, you may submit your application for any available positions at Amazon. To make it easier for you to know what are the available positions are in your state of residence, you may check Amazon’s virtual job listings, and filter them based on the state you reside or are relocating.
But apart from your location, just like any work from home jobs, Amazon will also look into the following technical requirements:
– A reliable laptop or desktop computer
– A high-speed internet connection
– A good quality headset, ideally with noise cancellation feature (this one’s very important especially if you are working as a customer service associate or agent)
– A home office that is free from distractions is also very important
What are the available Amazon virtual jobs out there?
While most of their virtual jobs have something to do with customer service, Amazon also offers other equally amazing opportunities. It’s all up to you to choose which among the options is the most applicable to you.
Now, here are some of the most popular Amazon virtual jobs out there:
- Customer Service Representative
If there is one constant virtual job that Amazon offers, that would be this post. Customer service job post is ideal for anyone who has previous work experience as a customer service agent or associate. Although newbies are welcome to apply, it would be quite a challenge because as mentioned earlier, Amazon prefers those with prior work experience in this field.
If you are interested to apply for this position, you have to take note that most of the time, Amazon posts its customer service job opportunities during the holiday season (which is probably because it is peak season, thus, the need for extra helping hands to insure customer satisfaction).
To land in a customer service post, apart from residing in the states where Amazon is present. The company specifically look into the following requirements:
- At least one year of work experience as a customer service representative
- Have acquired at least a high school diploma (although in some cases, a college diploma is highly preferred)
- Have previous experience working from home
In addition to these requirements, you must also be:
- Knowledgeable or have familiarity in using chat services and email programs
- Have basic knowledge in Microsoft Office applications
- Have general online shopping experience
- General computer experience is a must especially since you will be working remotely
- Basic customer service skills, as well as the ability to do problem-solving, is also a must
Apart from all these, we believe that having enthusiasm for online shopping in general, as well as for Amazon business, in particular, will help you stand out from the rest. Having that shopping experience with Amazon will give you an edge – as that basically means you understand or are knowledgeable of how things work on Amazon, and you have also that customer perspective, which will be beneficial especially in dealing with customer concerns.
Apart from working directly on Amazon by being a customer service representative or agent, there are other Amazon virtual jobs available for you depending on your preference. Although unlike CSRs, these jobs or opportunities do not offer the same kind of benefits.
If you are interested to know more about these opportunities, here they are:
- Microtasks via Amazon MTurk
Working for Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is another option to work virtually through Amazon. Amazon MTurk basically offers micro-tasks that enable you to make money. Unlike customer service post though, working on Amazon MTurk does not necessarily mean you will work directly for Amazon.
Amazon MTurk is basically a “crowdsourcing platform” that allows anyone to make money by simply doing small tasks. This is particularly ideal for people who are not ready to commit to any full-time Amazon virtual jobs or any remote work for that matter.
Anyway, you can choose from a variety of micro-tasks available on Amazon MTurk, which ranges from survey gigs to data tagging to transcription, as well as typing jobs and freelance writing. Unlike working directly for Amazon (in the case of working as a customer service representative), do not expect to earn big when working through Amazon MTurk.
But the good thing about working through Amazon MTurk is that, although it does not pay that much compared to other Amazon virtual jobs, the money or your earnings come very handy, which means you can easily withdraw it anytime you need it.
When it comes to qualifications or requirements, it depends on what the company needs or requires. It definitely varies from one job opportunity to another. Same as with how much you can make by working through Amazon MTurk. How much you earn will depend on the type of task you will do and how often you do it. Of course, the bigger the task is, the bigger your earnings will be.
If you find Amazon MTurk ideal for you, all you have to do is send your application through the website. Unlike customer service job posts, anyone from anywhere in the world is welcome to apply and work on tasks under Amazon MTurk.
- Amazon Vine
Amazon Vine is a special program by Amazon that allows you to earn money, at the same time, receive free products specifically for writing reviews. This program though is by invitation only. Reviewers are chosen based on the regularity of their participation, which refers to how often they send reviews and how helpful their reviews are.
As an Amazon Vine reviewer, you are provided with free products by brans so you can review them. What’s nice about this is that you can dispose of the product at your own discretion. When we say dispose of, you can either sell it or make money out of it, or you can keep it for your personal consumption.
- Amazon Influencer Program
You can consider this as one of Amazon virtual jobs wherein you get to earn money by simply become an Amazon Influencer.
To be considered for the Amazon Influencer Program though, you must have a really good number of followers on your social media accounts – particularly the major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Basically, as an Amazon Influencer, your job is like that of Amazon associates. The only difference between the two is that you will have to use social media as your main promotion platform. As the job title entails, you will have to promote Amazon products and influence your followers to patronize these products.
As an Amazon Influencer, you get to make your own page on Amazon, as well as your own vanity URL. You can create your page the way you like it. Once you are done, you may start promoting your favorite Amazon products to your community of followers.
Apart from the number of followers on major social media channels, to qualify for the Amazon Influencer Program, Amazon will also look into your engagement statistics. If you are confident about both, then, you better consider becoming one of Amazon’s pool of influencers and enjoy the perks they offer.
- Amazon Trade-In
This is not your typical virtual job. Amazon Trade-in basically refers to an Amazon program that lets you get rid of your unwanted stuff by trading it in for Amazon gift cards. To be honest, it’s one of our favorite ways of making money through Amazon. If you are not into working fulltime or part-time on a customer service post, or any of the options we earlier mentioned, then this one’s ideal for you.
It’s actually hitting two birds with one stone – you get rid of unwanted items, in return, you make money through Amazon gift cards, which you can use in your future purchases. Yes, it’s like making money out of trash!
With Amazon Trade-in program, you can trade-in almost anything from electronic devises to video games to books, and more. Of course, when trading in, you have to make sure that the items are in good condition.
To process trade-in, you will have to submit your items through the Amazon website or app, once done submitting, you will have to get a quote on trade-in value, print shipping labels, and then send out items. If your items qualify, you can choose an instant payment option so you can instantly get your Amazon gift cards. Otherwise, you will have to wait for up to 10 to 12 days before your cards arrive.
- Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)
If you think you are better off as a businessperson, then Amazon FBA is for you. Amazon FBA has grown to be one of the most popular ways to make money from home through Amazon. It basically helps online sellers become more efficient in what they do.
By being part of the Amazon FBA program, you get to enjoy amazing perks. One of them is letting Amazon take care of everything for your online business. All you have to do is send over to Amazon the products that you are selling, and then Amazon FBA takes care of the rest – from answering customer inquiries to packing orders and sending them out for delivery!
Amazon FBA helps online sellers manage their online business better by helping them with the tricky part of online selling.
With Amazon FBA, you do not need to have special skills. All you need to do is to keep an eye on products that sell, which is actually easy if you just observe and follow the latest trend.
- E-Book Publication
Frustrated author? Well, with Amazon, you can make that dream come true! Amazon gives you the opportunity to self-publish e-books and of course, make money out of it!
You can publish your book through Amazon Kindle anytime you are ready. Once you do, you can make money by around 70% royalty fee, which is quite big enough compared to others. What is nice about this opportunity, specifically pertaining to self-publishing your book is that it gives you the opportunity or the freedom to quote your own price. Needless to say, you get to have exclusive rights in Kindle Direct Publishing.
If you wish to publish a paperback version, that’s possible too! You can earn as much as 60% royalty if you also want to try that path. Again, you get to name your price here as well.
Final Thoughts
It’s actually amazing how Amazon offers a wide variety of options to work and earn virtually. You have the choice to work for them directly through a full-time or part-time CSR job, or you can opt to go another way like putting up your very own business through Amazon FBA.
Regardless of Amazon virtual jobs, one thing is for sure, with Amazon you are safe from bogus work from home opportunities, which are very prevalent in the online world today.
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