How to Buy an Amazon KDP Account on Flippa: Due Diligence, Transfer and Risks

Buying an established Amazon KDP account means taking over live books, covers and sales history. That is a faster start than publishing from zero, but only if you know how to read the listing and check the data.

In this video, Enrico Carsano, a KDP Specialist at 17 Lives LTD and a certified broker for Flippa, walks through how buying a KDP account on Flippa works, from first offer to transfer. He has been a self-publisher since 2020 and says he has managed the sale of almost 150 KDP accounts.

What you get when you buy a KDP account

Enrico keeps it simple. You get the Amazon KDP publishing account itself. The seller also shares a Google Drive or Dropbox folder with the manuscripts, covers and source files. The asset purchase agreement (APA) then gives you ownership of the copyright for the titles.

He explains why buying can make sense: starting from scratch usually means months without sales. For him, “it took me almost two years before starting really to make real money.” With an existing account, royalties come in while you learn to run ads and test changes on books that already sell.

What drives KDP sales

Enrico points to three things:

• A profitable keyword and angle. A general niche like a Mediterranean diet cookbook gets more specific with an angle, such as one aimed at women over 50.
• Packaging. The title, subtitle, cover and description decide whether shoppers click and buy.
• Amazon Ads. Ads give the book impressions. Without a profitable keyword and good packaging, he says, ad spend will not save a book.

This is also why he is not worried about AI flooding the market. Writing the book “is the easy part.” The skill is finding keywords, packaging the book and running the ads.

Due diligence before you make an offer

Do your checks first, then make an offer. On the listing, Enrico looks at the profit multiple (he says KDP accounts typically start around two times the last 12 months of profit) and the profit margin, where around 50% is the aim and 60% or more is rare. The monthly breakdown shows royalties, expenses (mostly Amazon Ads) and profit.

The key step is a Zoom call where the seller shares their KDP dashboard live, or a screen recording of it. “You cannot fake a KDP dashboard,” he says, because the numbers come from Amazon. Check the books and reviews, and check whether any titles could touch a trademark.

How the transfer works and the broker’s role

Once your offer is accepted, buyer and seller sign a short APA and you send the full amount to escrow through Flippa Pay. Enrico says there is no seller financing for KDP deals. The seller then asks Amazon to merge the account into yours, following Amazon’s own guidelines. The books keep their reviews, and royalties are yours from the moment they appear in your account.

As the broker, Enrico helps the seller prepare the listing and coordinates the process between both sides. He is clear that he does not own the account or do the due diligence for you.

About Enrico Carsano

Enrico is a KDP Specialist at 17 Lives LTD, a Flippa-certified broker that works only with Amazon KDP accounts. He has been a self-publisher on Amazon since 2020.

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This video is for educational purposes only.