10 Advanced Online Arbitrage Tips [Updated 2026]

You can run your Amazon OA business with nothing more than a laptop computer from anywhere you can get a WiFi signal, while utilizing one or more Third-Party Prep Services to process and ship your items to Amazon.

There are many online arbitrage tips that can help you scale this business model, whether you are brand new to e-commerce or an experienced Amazon seller. In short: the most profitable OA sellers save research time with a leads list, buy smarter (clearance, free-shipping thresholds, cash back and sales tax), inspect every unit before it goes to Amazon, track deals with Keepa alerts, and know their true profit after every fee.

Below I’ve selected 10 Online Arbitrage Tips and Strategies that you can implement right now to optimize your OA business. Even if you are using software like Tactical Arbitrage or OAXray, these strategies can help you to realize higher profits, fewer returns, and a better overall OA experience.

Feel free to post questions and comments below the article.

1) Use an OA Leads list

Most OA sellers find that it is impossible to research enough products on their own to run a successful full-time OA business. Arbitrage opportunities are usually tied to the fact that the item is on sale, and replenishable inventory items are few and far between. This forces the OA seller to always be searching for new inventory opportunities.

The best way to overcome this obstacle and accomplish this is by taking advantage of other people’s time and expertise.  You could hire and train a Virtual Assistant (VA), but that can be time-consuming on a whole new level (see our comparison of a sourcing list vs. a VA). A better alternative for most sellers is to subscribe to an online arbitrage leads service that delivers pre-researched, profitable deals every day, so you can spend your time buying and prepping instead of scanning thousands of products.

2) Check the Clearance Section

ESPECIALLY the Health and Beauty Categories

At some point, manufacturers may decide to “Improve” an item that they sell, or they may decide to discontinue it if it isn’t selling well (or when they are no longer in business). Here’s the reality: Some people like the original version better than the “New and Improved” product. In fact, they will often pay a premium to get the original version, or the item that is no longer being manufactured.

Just because something didn’t sell well for the manufacturer or one of their retailers doesn’t mean it won’t sell well on Amazon. When the consumer can no longer buy it from their source, they are left with limited choices. If the only place they can get the item that they are looking for is Amazon (or eBay), they are going to have to pay the price, or they will have to go without.

Always check expiration dates and manufacturer’s date codes. Amazon has strict rules here: for FBA, expiration-dated products generally need more than 90 days of remaining shelf life when Amazon receives them, and units that get within 50 days of their expiration date are removed and disposed of. The expiration date must also be printed on each unit (and on the case) in an accepted format such as MM-DD-YYYY or MM-YYYY. Contact the manufacturer directly or check online to understand manufacturer date codes.

Also keep in mind that many health, beauty, grocery and topical products are gated or otherwise restricted. Check whether you are approved to sell an item before you buy it; our guide to Amazon restricted products explains how to check.

3) Purchase Enough to Qualify for FREE SHIPPING

Online arbitrage orders are often shipped for free once you reach the retailer’s free-shipping threshold. Big-box retailers such as Target and Walmart typically set it around $35 for non-members, while other online stores use $49, $75 or $99, and many offer free shipping with a paid membership or store credit card. Thresholds change often, so confirm the current minimum before you check out; shipping costs come straight out of your margin. Our list of the best online arbitrage websites is a good place to find retailers worth bundling orders with.

4) Be Careful Using Cash-Back Websites

Cash-back sites exist for one purpose – to direct traffic to websites that pay affiliate commissions. This is almost always tied to a purchase, meaning the referring website (i.e. the cash-back site) gets paid when the person being referred makes a purchase. In turn, they give some of that money back to the purchaser, hence the term “cash-back”.

The problem lies in the fact that some of the “cash-back” sites don’t give back any cash to the purchaser, keeping it all for themselves. When you click their link, they drop a “cookie” (a piece of computer code) into your computer which lets the retailer know which website you were on prior to visiting the retail website. The referring website, assuming they have an affiliate relationship with the retailer, would then be credited a percentage of the amount you spend. But some “referrers” will claim that there is no cash-back available after you click through their link. In some cases, this may be true, but in other cases, they are just keeping all of the commissions for themselves.

Here are a few tips:

Look for cash-back sites that have affiliate relationships with the most retailers. Rakuten (formerly Ebates), BeFrugal and TopCashback are long-standing options, and it pays to compare rates before every order because they change constantly. See our roundup of the top cashback websites for online arbitrage.

Avoid the temptation to click around. Once you have clicked through to a retailer from a cash-back link, don’t click another link until you have made your purchase. Coupon and cash-back browser extensions can replace the tracking cookie of the site you came from. If you have clicked through Rakuten and then activate a coupon extension such as Honey, your Rakuten cookie can be overwritten by Honey’s cookie, and then you run the risk of getting nothing back, assuming Honey isn’t offering cash-back from that retailer.

5) Open and Inspect every Order

Resist the urge to send your OA products to Amazon without first inspecting every item. If you use a prep Service, they should be doing this for you. Make sure, if you are receiving your own shipments that you are inspecting them and not just slapping a label on the box and forwarding it to Amazon. You need to check the condition of the items, make sure the order is correct, and check for things like price labels and store tags.

Condition – Certain stores (like Walmart) often ship orders with no dunnage or packing materials for protection, so your items might get damaged during transport. Others (like GameStop) ship items that were pulled from retail shelves, so the “new” games you purchase from their website will often be opened when you receive them. Never assume that something is ready to send in to Amazon FBA without first inspecting it.

Accuracy – There will be times in Online Arbitrage when you will receive items that are not what was shown on the website when you made your purchase. Maybe they showed the new version but sent the old version, or vice versa. Maybe they sent the wrong color, or quantity. Always confirm the items shipped match the order that was placed.

Price Labels -Retailers like Kohl’s and Disney will have already added price stickers to their merchandise. If the price is higher than what you will be charging, maybe you won’t have to worry about removing it. But imagine if the Amazon customer receives an item that they just paid $50 for and they discover the $20 price tag the seller didn’t bother to remove. TIP – Disney price tags are often added during the manufacturing process and will sometimes be on the item inside of the retail packaging.

6) Use multiple Prep Services

Getting set up in advance with an additional prep service may prove to be a very smart business decision. Not all Prep Services in existence today will still be in business in 2-5 years. Don’t wait until you need a new prep service to try to find one. If one goes out of business, ALL of their clients will be scrambling to get set up with a new service, so be smart and do it now. Establish a relationship with more than one prep service now (here is how to find prep centers for Amazon FBA). Send in some items. Be ready “just in case”. Plus, you may find that you prefer the way one works better than another.

7) Render unto Caesar…

Wholesale purchases made with a valid resale certificate generally don’t incur sales tax, so there is little added benefit to using a prep service in a tax-free state for wholesale inventory. Retail orders placed online, however, are usually taxed based on the state they are shipped to. Shipping OA purchases to a prep service in a state with no statewide sales tax (Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon; Alaska has local taxes only) can SAVE you real money, and the tax savings alone can cover much of your prep cost. Some retailers also accept resale certificates through their tax-exempt programs. Rules vary by state and retailer, so confirm with a tax professional and read our Amazon FBA sales tax guide. But keep in mind – The money you save can be quickly lost if your inbound shipments are delayed or if it costs more to get your products from the Prep Service to the Amazon Fulfillment Center.

8) Time is Money

As a seller, you have a lot of choices when it comes to analytics tools, both free and paid. Amazon provides a free Revenue Calculator for estimating FBA fees and profit. The old trick of adding 999 units to your cart to see each seller’s stock is far less reliable today, because many sellers set a maximum order quantity and Amazon often limits purchase quantities. You can still click through each variation of an item manually to compare prices, reviews and the number of sellers.

But as your business begins to grow, you will soon recognize the fact that your time has value. Time is money. And you are wasting a lot of time doing things manually that can be automated quickly and inexpensively. The problem is, some of these tools don’t play nicely with each other.

RevSeller is a popular Amazon FBA Chrome extension used by Amazon merchants. It is a fantastic tool for spotting opportunities that make a healthy profit. You could call it an online arbitrage tool.

9) Set Keepa Tracking Alerts

This one is a no-brainer! When you find something that Amazon is selling at a discount, and you can resell it for a profit (known as an Amazon to Amazon flip), set your Keepa extension to alert you when the item reaches the targeted buy price again. That way, if Amazon puts the item on sale again, you will receive an email or a text alert and can potentially buy the product before it is sold out.

Once or twice a month, Amazon receives an item into their inventory that they sell for $20 a unit. It sells very quickly. The rest of the month they are Out of Stock, and the other sellers are selling it for around $60. It does not sell a huge number of units. but it sells well enough that I have my Keepa alerts set to tell me when Amazon is in stock. Four other sellers also have alerts set for this item (Keepa reveals this information). They all have their alert set for $19.99. Amazon sells it for $20, which means that Keepa NEVER alerts the other sellers, since their target price has not been reached. I buy all of Amazon’s supply at the $20 price point and resell it in the $60 range.  Thank you Keepa!

New to Keepa? Start with our guides on how to use Keepa for online arbitrage and how to read a Keepa graph.

10) Know Your True Profit After Every Fee

A deal that looks profitable on a quick scan can lose money once every cost is counted. Before you buy, factor in the referral fee, the FBA fulfillment fee, monthly and aged inventory storage fees, the inbound placement fee (if you let Amazon split your shipment less), prep and shipping costs, sales tax, and an allowance for returns. Amazon updates its fees regularly, so re-check your numbers each year; our breakdown of Amazon FBA fees covers the current fee types.

After you buy, track real results rather than estimates. A profit dashboard such as Sellerboard shows your actual ROI per ASIN, so you can double down on the stores, categories and lead types that make money and drop the ones that don’t.

Online Arbitrage Tips: FAQ

Is online arbitrage still profitable?

Yes, for sellers who buy with data and control costs. Margins are tighter than they were a few years ago because of higher fees and more competition, which is why accurate sourcing, sales-tax savings and fee-aware calculations matter more than ever.

What is the fastest way to find OA deals?

Sourcing software and reverse-searching Keepa work, but they take hours of scanning. Many sellers combine their own sourcing with an online arbitrage leads list that delivers pre-checked deals daily, then verify each lead before buying.

How much money do I need to start online arbitrage?

There is no fixed amount. Beyond your inventory budget, plan for the Amazon Professional selling plan ($39.99/month in the US), tools such as Keepa, and prep and shipping costs. Starting small and reinvesting profits is the safest approach. For the full process, see our step-by-step guide to doing online arbitrage.