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How to Start an Amazon Arbitrage Business

Featured photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

If you’ve ever wondered if you could make some extra money selling products on Amazon with fba small and light program for a profit, you’re right. Amazon arbitrage is one of the latest side hustles to hit the entrepreneurial sphere, and it could be your ticket to some additional income each month.

Of course, you can’t just start off as an overnight success. However, here are some tried-and-true tips for starting your Amazon arbitrage business.

Start with a Seller Account

Up until now, you’ve probably been using Amazon with a buyer’s account. However, with a seller’s account, you will look much more professional. Moreover, you will increase your chances of being perceived as a legitimate business.

It only takes a few minutes to sign up. Plus, if you’re just starting out, you can register as an individual seller. This way, you will avoid the monthly fee of $39.99 for a full-fledged seller’s account.

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Download the Amazon Seller App

Besides registering on the Amazon website, you will also want to download their seller app, which is free. Amazon is no stranger to users buying and selling on their sites. Therefore, they created the seller app to help individuals manage their account settings, track their sales, and stay on top of messages from potential clients.

More than one million people use this app. It has an average user rating of 4.4 stars, so it’s a pretty good resource to have on your side, especially if you’re a beginner.

Once you download the app, you can use it to make the most of the entire buying and selling process. For instance, the app has a feature where you can check out the trending prices for products in your inventory or those that you are thinking of purchasing.

This way, you have an easier time calculating your projected profit. Then you can make the most of your sales strategy. In addition, the revenue calculator will clearly lay out the cost of shipping your product to Amazon’s fulfillment warehouse. Plus, you’ll instantly know how much the item costs to buy, any additional seller fees, and what your potential profit could be.

All of this is at your fingertips with the Amazon seller app. Therefore, it’s the tool you need if you’re going to make money through Amazon arbitrage.

Find Your Items

A seller is nothing without a storefront even if it’s on the Internet. Then, once you have set that up, you will need to source your products.

You can always search for items to buy from the Amazon site itself since there are all kinds of different categories to choose from. Also, you might want to check out popular retail stores such as Target, Walmart, or Home Depot.

Better yet, try a combination of all of these. Use them to compare prices and gauge your profit. Also, different stores hold annual sales at various times throughout the year, and you could cash out on great savings.

If you’ve got a comfortable starting budget, then you can automate the product sourcing procedure. Tools such as the well-known tactical arbitrage can help you do this. However, you have to pay to use these tools. They will help you save time, but they can also reduce your profit margins. Therefore, it’s a matter of testing to see what works best for you.

You can use the Amazon seller app to check out any potentially interesting item and see what it’s going for on the Amazon website. The built-in revenue calculator will take into consideration things such as shipping costs and additional selling on amazon fees to give you an estimated profit. This will help you determine whether or not that item at Target or on Craigslist is really worth it for you.

Remember to set realistic expectations, especially at the start of your endeavor. Maybe you can buy an item for $10 that’s selling on Amazon for $30. This is great. Then again, some products might only get you a two-dollar profit. Here’s a tool that’s pretty functional when calculating potential profit margins.

Final Tips for Starting Your Amazon Arbitrage Business

Keep in mind that starting an Amazon arbitrage business takes work. You can’t expect results overnight. Therefore, you will need to invest a few hours into this project before you can determine whether or not it’s the right fit for you. Some people don’t enjoy it, but in others it ignites that entrepreneurial spark. If you feel that spark, then keep going.

It is also important to know what the various methods are for increasing the exposure of your products to potential customers and how to go about it. For instance, Amazon enhanced brand content, or Amazon ebc, is a great feature that allows sellers to display enhanced images and text for a more professional look. All these small details are what make your products more attractive.

Be honest and attentive to your customers and start small in a niche that you enjoy, whether it’s in automotive, outdoor gear, children’s toys, or some other category. If you stay consistent and repeat the steps in this guide, you will soon be on your way to running your own Amazon arbitrage business.