What is Online Online arbitrage?
Online Arbitrage is a business model in which sellers purchase products at a low price from one online platform and resell them for a higher price on another platform, such as Amazon. This model has been exceptionally profitable for thousands of sellers on Amazon.
You will need an Amazon Seller Central account to start selling on Amazon. Your standard plan will be a $1 added fee for any item sold on Amazon's platform, or you can upgrade to the "Professional" account for $39.99 a month and dodge the original $1 fee.
Other things we recommend: Creating an LLC with your business, opening a business bank account, starting with a minimum of $2000, and watching ALL of the seller university guides Amazon provides for free! Getting acquainted with Amazon's rules and regulations will help save your account from headaches in the future.
Here is a detailed guide on how to be a successful online arbitrage seller on Amazon:
Research & Source Products Smartly. One of the keys to success in online Arbitrage is finding in-demand, high-quality products with a low price on one platform that can be sold for a higher price on Amazon. A decent strategy is to head to a Major retailer's website, click into a category of a category, and look through every single product. You will need to get acquainted with different products and categories to make finding good-selling products quick and easy. On Amazon itself, You can use tools such as Keepa and CamelCamelCamel to help you find price discrepancies and identify potential products to buy and resell faster and more accurately. A good rule of thumb when sourcing: A product with a buy cost one-third of the selling point are typically winners.
Purchase products. After you have found a source for the product, you will need to purchase it at the lowest possible price. This may require negotiating with the seller or finding coupons or discounts to apply to your purchase. You can do this with Credit Cards and different deals they offer. An excellent place to look are Gift Card trading websites(significant undiscovered discounts are typically found here!)
List products on Amazon. Once you have purchased the product, you will need to create a listing on Amazon(we recommend doing this before purchasing your product to ensure you are ungated and eligible to sell the item on Amazon). You can easily do this by taking the ASIN found on the Amazon listing(typically in the more information table midway through the detail page) and paste it in the Add a Product page on your seller central account. Set your price and make sure you are using Amazon's barcode when it prompts you.
Send to Amazon FBA. Once you have received your purchased items, you will need to prep these units for Amazon. You will need to refer to Amazon's large list of preparation requirements before sending these in. This can include something as simple as a label on the product to bubble wrap and a poly bag over the product. More info here. To avoid any problems with prep you can always use a prep center(like Shipdif), this makes prep easy, and you don't have to deal with the physical product. A prep center gives you a big edge over other sellers and the opportunity to grow quickly as you may not have the space in your home/garage to deal with the extra product.
Monitor and optimize your business. Successful online arbitrage sellers always look for ways to improve their business, whether by finding new products to sell, better pricing strategies, or improving their product catalog.
Some additional tips for success in online Arbitrage:
Start small & learn first: When you are starting out, it's a good idea to start with a small number of products and gradually scale up as you gain experience and build your business. If this is your first time building your business, there is plenty to learn! Take it slow; growth will come quickly the more you learn.
Keep an eye on trends: Online trends can change quickly, so it's essential to stay current on what products are in demand and adjust your inventory accordingly.
Use automation tools: There are many tools available that can help automate various aspects of the online arbitrage process, such as sourcing products, creating listings, and tracking prices.
Find a prep company to help you out! This can be a massive advantage for you as a seller. As the product arrives at the prep company, it will also go out. Some prep companies(like ours) run on software made to keep you organized and the product flowing. They want you to succeed - as they grow when you grow.
This is just the start of our 2023 guides! More of how to sell on Amazon and other platforms to come.
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