As an eBay or Amazon seller, you’ve probably asked yourself what Amazon to eBay arbitrage means.
Don’t worry. Many sellers have also wondered at one time or another about what it means.
Well, you’re in luck.
In this post, I discuss Amazon to eBay arbitrage in detail. I also discuss other critical information such as how Amazon to eBay arbitrage works, what are its best practices, examples of software you can use, and more.
Let’s get started.
What Is Amazon To eBay Arbitrage?
Let’s start with the most straightforward explanation.
You don’t encounter the word “arbitrage” every day, but don’t be intimidated. In the context of eBay and Amazon, arbitrage is just a fancy word that means to purchase products at low prices in one marketplace and resell those products at higher prices in another marketplace.
In terms of this article, it means buying products from Amazon and reselling them on eBay.
Here’s an example:
You search for products on Amazon and find socks sold at half-price for $5. You buy those socks and resell the same product on eBay for their regular price of $10.
Neat, right? It’s a great idea for sellers who know what they’re doing.
How Does Amazon To eBay Arbitrage Work?
Now that I’ve provided a simple explanation, I’ll delve deeper into how Amazon to eBay arbitrage works.
Online arbitrage is the business practice of capitalizing on a price difference between Amazon and eBay. Sellers source a product from Amazon at a lower price and resell it on eBay at a higher rate.
The process is simple: buy from Amazon, and sell on eBay.
Amazon to eBay arbitrage is a dropshipping business.
Dropshipping means sellers don’t have actual stocks of the products they offer. When customers buy these products, sellers (on eBay) buy from a third party (Amazon) and have them shipped directly to customers. Under the dropshipping business model, sellers don’t handle the products themselves.
A “drop shipper” is a seller that doesn’t need to keep an inventory. The seller just buys stocks of the products as necessary to fulfill customers’ orders.
Does Amazon to eBay Arbitrage Work?
Now that you know it works, you might ask yourself if it’s an effective and profitable business model.
The answer is: yes, it is.
First, it has lower startup costs than a standard retail business model. You don’t have to spend on inventory costs like typical Amazon sellers because you only buy stocks as needed. Second, most sellers will find it’s much faster to start than a standard retail business. With lower startup costs, you can start your business quickly and with less risk.
Why Don’t Customers Just Buy From Amazon If It’s Cheaper?
You’re probably thinking, if Amazon prices are lower, why doesn’t the eBay buyer just go there?
Arbitrage works because the customer has specific habits. The simplest reason is that they don’t check. Often, a buyer won’t bother comparing prices on both amazon and eBay to check for the best price. If they see it on eBay first, they’ll buy it there.
Another reason is that maybe Amazon doesn’t ship that specific product to the buyer’s country, even with a Prime account. Perhaps Amazon’s shipping fees are too expensive. In such cases, the customer may find eBay’s Global Shipping Program a more favorable option, even if the product is cheaper on Amazon.
As an Amazon seller, all you need is to arrange for the item to be shipped from the Amazon warehouse to eBay’s US or UK shipping center. eBay’s Global Shipping Program will take care of the rest and deliver the item to your customer.
Won’t Customers Wonder Why Their eBay Purchase Came in an Amazon Box?
Finally, the order arrive’s at the eBay buyer’s address, and they see it come in Amazon packaging.
Yes, sometimes buyers do wonder. Some buyers get surprised. Some even get upset or angry, especially if they feel like you’ve cheated them. However, this only happens sometimes and involves only a very small percentage of total business, according to industry experts.
If a customer complains and says you’ve tricked them into buying an overpriced item, you can just refund the price difference. Doing so will usually prevent the situation from escalating further.
High-volume sellers on eBay generally don’t worry about this type of problem and just chalk it up to being a price of doing business.
Amazon To eBay Arbitrage Best Practices
If you want to maximize your profits, follow these best practices.
Play Around With Keywords
When starting your business and looking for deals, consider one keyword and focus on that. Put that keyword in the title to show it prominently on the search results page. Expand your keyword searches by removing a letter or two or even an entire word.
As a seller, your goal is to find products people are selling on Amazon that don’t usually appear in search, so don’t be afraid to play around with your keywords and analyze the product listings.
Be Specific
Think of one or two categories you like and offer just those categories to your customers. If you’re passionate about fashion, narrow it down to one or two categories, such as t-shirts and jeans.
It isn’t about selling a wide variety of products. It’s about being an expert in one or two types of products and familiarizing yourself with their pricing ranges, trends, costs, and ROI.
When you’ve sold enough quantities of just one or two categories, it’ll be easier to determine whether the deals you see on Amazon listings are profitable.
Use High-Quality Images
You’ve probably heard the cliché expression, “People eat with their eyes first.” If a particular food looks good and is visually appealing, people will likely eat that food. It’s cliché, but you know from personal experience that it’s true.
The same thing applies to online shopping. When a customer searches for products on online marketplaces like Amazon or eBay, they can’t take the actual product and inspect it up close. The customer relies on images to convey a product’s color, material, texture, and size.
If you want to boost your sales, use high-quality images of the products you’re selling. Find images with different angles to show the entirety of the product. When you use high-quality images, a prospective buyer is more likely to trust you.
Avoid Selling Certain Items
Avoid selling these products:
Food
Food is highly perishable, which means it is risky.
Jewelry
Jewelry is expensive, so you could lose a lot of money if it gets lost in transit.
Expensive items
Large and expensive items such as electronics and appliances are hard to sell and even harder to ship. Selling expensive items will only cost you more money than you earn.
Alcohol
eBay’s policy allows an approved seller to offer only wine and no other type of alcohol. However, wine bottles can shatter in transit, causing a headache for you and the customer. If this happens, the customer will likely leave negative feedback that would affect your seller rating.
Negative reviews aren’t something you want on your seller account, so best steer clear of alcohol.
Amazon To eBay Arbitrage Software
Specific tools or software can help you with Amazon to eBay arbitrage. Here are examples of the best software.
ZIK Pro Tools
ZIK Pro Tools is an add-on for ZIK Analytics, an e-commerce software for eBay sellers. ZIK Pro Tools can help you source products from other marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart and sell them on eBay.
If you need ideas, use Zik Pro Tools’ bulk scanner feature to scan other sellers on eBay and see what they’re selling from Amazon and Walmart. This feature also allows you to view the metrics for the products, such as the price, sell-through rate, and profit.
If you have a niche market, you can use this tool to find products with low competition and sell them for a higher price. The tool’s database contains more than 5,000,000 items from Amazon and Walmart, which makes it easy for you to find products with the lowest competition.
SaleFreaks
SaleFreaks is an Amazon to eBay dropshipping tool with numerous features. It has powerful automation tools that enable you to automate tasks like listing products, repricing products, tracking profit margins, and more. This tool is ideal for online retailers.
This tool’s Locator feature allows you to scan for the most profitable products from Amazon in seconds. You can do thousands of scans each day, and you can even filter products according to metrics such as price, profit margin, and Amazon star rating.
You can also take advantage of SaleFreaks’ managed account service that lets you fulfill orders and ship products risk-free. You don’t have to worry about Amazon account suspensions or shutdowns if you’re a US eBay seller.
BuyBotPro
BuyBotPro is another tool you can use for online arbitrage on eBay. The tool’s automation simplifies and speeds up buying on Amazon and selling on eBay. With the ROI and Profit Checker feature, you’ll know your exact profit after shipping costs, taxes, and other fees.
BuyBotPro also has many analytics-focused features to help determine how you stack up against your competition. Its Competition Analyzer analyzes your competition and provides a view of the top ten sellers, including their products’ prices and stock levels.
There’s also the BuyBotGo mobile app that comes free when you subscribe to the tool. This mobile app lets you perform tasks like deal analysis, historical deal review, and making purchase lists on the go.
AMZ Scout
AMZ Scout has an Amazon arbitrage and dropshipping software that you can install as an extension. This software can increase sales, boost profitability, and cut costs by showing you the most profitable products. With AMZ Scout, making money and growing your business is more effortless.
You’ll be able to check out market trends to identify hot products and eliminate products with low margins or selling limitations. You can quickly check on thousands of items each day. According to AMZ Scout, their software makes the process up to five times faster.
This software also eliminates risk by allowing you to check if products have limitations or require special permissions, such as gated products, hazardous materials, or private label products that are impossible to source. for or dropshipping.
Tactical Arbitrage
Tactical Arbitrage is another software that makes using Amazon to sell on eBay easier. This tool has over 1,000 stores you can source from, and it adds new stores weekly. You can also upload a wholesale manifest that the tool will analyze to provide you with the most profitable products.
Tactical Arbitrage also provides valuable data that you can use to get ahead of your competition. An example of data you can analyze is the historical Buy Box price. This tool shows you an interactive graph that includes sales rank data along with high-demand products.
The Bottom Line
Now that you’re familiar with Amazon to eBay arbitrage, don’t be afraid to take on the challenge and start your online arbitrage journey today. Visit our blog to learn more about maximizing your presence on Amazon.
