Have you been aiming to sell online but don’t quite know how and where to start? Digital e-commerce is a thriving part of cyberspace, and it can be overwhelming where and how to start. But if you focus on only one selling method that’s easier to navigate, then Online Arbitrage could be the one for you!
What is Online Arbitrage?
As fancy as the name might sound, Online Arbitrage (OA) is a simple process of canvassing and buying items from other online retailers. The only goal? To resell those products at a higher price to gain profit. OA sellers sell on multiple marketplaces like eBay and Facebook Marketplace, but most sales come from the giant online marketplace, Amazon.
This business model allows you to source profitable products from thousands of websites versus limiting yourself to the physical retail stores in your area. You’ll also save on gas, mileage, time, and the potential frustration of not finding any viable products in-store.
The best part is that anyone can do it! You don’t need a special business license to buy products to resell as you do with wholesale. You simply place an order as you would with any other online purchase.
And yes, online arbitrage is legal to practice. Once you purchase a product, you have the right to resell that exact same product. But as in any kind of business, it’s important you understand the pro’s and con’s of OA in the Amazon space if you want to succeed.
PRO’S
- Start With Very Little Capital
How little are we talking about? For as low as $200, you can start sourcing products and sell them for profit! In contrast to other business models like Private Label that requires more capital, OA skips the need to pay for marketing, branding, manufacturing, and more.
SInce you will be selling a brand that’s already established and out there, there really is no need to create the brand from scratch. As the reseller, you get the advantage of piggybacking from known brands and make profit from it.
- Requires Less Time to Manage
As a reseller, you do not need to attend to suppliers, advertising, or monitoring of an entire operations team. All you have to do is buy stocks and restock again when needed. The process is so straight-forward that it can be done even while you keep your full-time job or have any other businesses running at the same time!
In fact, many resellers report that once their Amazon store stabilized, they spend time checking on their stores for only an hour or less, and when they wake up to check how much profit they got overnight.
- Still a Trend in 2023
Many people wonder if it’s still a good idea to sell on Amazon considering there’s now nearly 2 million small and midsize third-party businesses selling on Amazon. But remember that it doesn’t beat the increasing number of buyers as well! As of 2022, Amazon has 300 million active users. Among them, 197 million people visit Amazon each month.
- A Store From Home
This is perhaps the most rewarding part of every e-commerce business. As long as you’ve got a computer and internet connection at home (or while you’re on a nice, beach vacation) you may go ahead and work on your first store.
More interestingly, you may open a store and sell on a certain marketplace despite not actually being in that country. For example, if a Filipino residing in the Philippines would like to open his own Amazon store that sells in the US marketplace, he’s allowed to do so! You may even go as far as selling on the global scale, if you wish.
- Source From Thousands of Stores
When it comes to online arbitrage on Amazon, the possibilities are endless. There are thousands of retail stores that offer profitable inventory to resell. You won’t be limited to selling only one kind of product line, either. If your store sold beauty product, that same store can actually sell other goods such as items from the food and beverage line.
CONS
- There’s More Competition
Since anyone can shop in the same stores from anywhere, there’s room for more competition with this model. In simple terms, there’s more resellers online than resellers shopping in physical stores.
- Consumes Time at the Beginning
It can be tedious at the start since finding good deals can take more time than you think. Online arbitrage consists of a lot of analyzing of prices and working on getting permission to resell.
That’s really pretty much it for the cons — that’s why more and more people are paying attention to Online Arbitrage as it is the simplest selling business model out there. So now that you know the pro’s and con’s, how do you start? Can a total Amazon newbie really become a successful reseller?
Start with the basic things you need. Good news is that there aren’t much — a computer, internet connection, an Amazon Seller account, and some tools you can get for free on the web. One essential question to raise is this: Even after securing all those things, would you know how to do the A-Z steps on opening the store and sourcing your products on your own?
That’s a resounding yes! Technically, you can really go DIY. However, if you want to cut the long and heartbreaking road of trial-and-error, there’s a hack waiting for you.
Check out this Online Arbitrage course called the Dollar Profit Mastery, and join more and more Filipinos who have learned to buy items from outlet stores and list them on Amazon.com… and
have started to generate over Php 100,000 a month starting with as little as 15K pesos!
The course is comprehensively designed to be beginner-friendly. So if you’re an e-commerce newbie with zero business experience who wants to run a profitable international business that you can run right here in the Philippines, then this is definitely for you.
Online arbitrage is definitely a fantastic chance to make some money online. There’s great opportunity in reselling in the world’s biggest marketplace, and the first step is up to you.
Do you have any questions about online arbitrage on Amazon? Let us know in the comments!