Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday, November 27, and Cyber Monday on November 30. For online arbitrage sellers, the Black Friday to Cyber Monday window is one of the best times of the year to buy inventory at deep discounts. Because Amazon’s recommended FBA check-in dates for Black Friday sales were in October, most units you buy during the sales will be selling in December and early Q1, when many prices recover. Below are practical online arbitrage tips for sourcing during Black Friday without hurting your margins or cash flow.
What is Online Arbitrage?
In a nutshell, online arbitrage is the easier and more convenient version of retail arbitrage. In both of these business models, you source discounted products to resell on marketplaces like Amazon and make a profit using the price difference. In retail arbitrage, you must visit several brick-and-mortar stores and scan the products to find lucrative deals.
However, in online arbitrage, you can do the same thing online – in your pajamas! You can sit at home and check out various websites such as Walmart, Target, etc. to source products. For example, you may find a $10 toy on Walmart’s website that’s going for $15 on Amazon. You can buy the product to resell and pocket the $5 difference.
Can You Make More Money from Online Arbitrage on Black Friday?
Black Friday is the most significant shopping day of the year, and there are so many opportunities you can take advantage of. You can make a lot of money by finding profitable deals around this time of year using our online arbitrage tips for Black Friday.
Most people don’t know this, but discounts usually start a week before Black Friday and continue until Christmas. So, you can even start looking for products ahead. Big stores like Walmart often run big discounts on Black Friday because they have to clear out the old merchandise to make room for new products. In addition to Walmart, many other stores do this, including Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s and Home Depot. Keep in mind that Amazon runs its own Black Friday deals too, so Amazon prices on some items can dip temporarily during the event.
Off-price retailers like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ross and Big Lots also act as a clearinghouse for department stores. These are great opportunities that offer incredible deals to buy low and sell high on Amazon.
1) Stay Updated with Black Friday Deals
This tip is quite obvious, but you will miss out on a lot of potential profit if you don’t pay attention to it. Keep yourself informed about all the upcoming sales and unexpected discounts of your favorite online stores.
Instead of using your personal email address, make a new one and dedicate it to subscribing to any stores from which you frequently source your products. You can use this email to subscribe to any website you want – big stores, smaller ones, and so on. If they have an email list, sign up. They will email you about every sale and even send you coupon codes!
And why do we recommend using a dedicated email address? Because receiving more than 20 emails on your private one can quickly become annoying. By using a dedicated email address, you will not feel overwhelmed by all the promotional emails.
2) Increase Your ROI with More Discounts
One of the most helpful online arbitrage tips for Black Friday is using various tools and methods to find more discounts. As an online arbitrage seller, discounts are the pillars of your business, so they make up a huge part of your ROI. Plus, they give you a great advantage over your competitors!
The first way to increase ROI is to get cash-back on your online purchases (using cash-back sites like Rakuten, TopCashback and Swagbucks; compare them in our guide to the top cashback websites for online arbitrage). These websites have Chrome extensions that can make your job a lot easier. If you see an online store that offers cash-back, you can click on their link to shop, and a pop-up at the top of the browser will help you make sure that the store offers cash-back. They also offer increased cash-back percentages on and around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so you can use them to make sure you find the best deals when sourcing products.
Another method is to look for coupon codes every time you want to check out products from an online store. Using these coupon codes, you can get the products at a discounted rate and increase your ROI! Coupon extensions such as Honey or Capital One Shopping automatically test available codes at checkout, which can be helpful during Black Friday sales (just make sure they don’t replace the cashback portal tracking you rely on). You can save a lot of money by checking to see if a website offers coupon codes. Remember that the best online arbitrage tools are the ones that recognize your needs (whatever they are) and offer solutions. Read all about them and select the ones that work best for you.
3) Use Online Arbitrage Tools for Better Results
Black Friday discounts are offered for a limited time, and sourcing products manually requires a lot of time and effort, and it slows you down. If you don’t want to lose out on great opportunities and profitable deals, you’ll need help from online arbitrage service providers such as OABeans.
OABeans offers online arbitrage sourcing lists with profitable deals and the websites that offer them. Using these lists, you can save a lot of time and focus on more important tasks, like promoting and advertising your products or growing your business. This is one of the most important online arbitrage tips for Black Friday sourcing.
OABeans has three plans for US and Canadian sellers:
- Starter: $108/month for US sellers ($58/month in Canada), with 200 leads a month plus bonus leads.
- Growth: $148/month for US sellers ($108/month in Canada), with more leads for growing sellers.
- Scale: $238/month for US sellers ($148/month in Canada), with up to 600 leads a month.
- See all details on the OABeans pricing page.
4) Upgrade Your Shipping
Most online arbitrage sellers search for products with free shipping, because when they save money on shipping, they can invest more in buying inventory.
However, Black Friday is a little different because you must receive the items on time to prep and ship to Amazon fulfillment centers. So, it’s worth spending $5 or $10 for expedited shipping when ordering inventory on Black Friday.
Look for shipping discounts offered by online stores on Black Friday, and check to see if you’re qualified to use them.
5) Check Price History Before You Buy
A “deal” is only profitable if the Amazon price holds after Black Friday. Check each product’s Keepa chart for the last 90 days and the previous holiday season: if the Amazon price usually drops in late November and recovers in December, plan to sell after the dip. Avoid items where Amazon itself is on the listing with a deep discount, and watch for sellers flooding the offer count. Our guide on how to read a Keepa graph shows what to look for.
6) Plan Around Amazon’s Q4 Deadlines, Fees and Capacity
- Holiday peak fulfillment fees: Amazon charges higher FBA fulfillment fees from October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027. Use the updated fees in your profit calculations; a deal that works in March may not work in December.
- Check-in timing: Amazon’s suggested check-in dates for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were in October, and holiday inbound gets slower as December approaches. Ship Black Friday buys to your prep center or Amazon quickly so they are live before Christmas demand peaks.
- Capacity limits: make sure you have room under your FBA capacity limits before buying in bulk, and remember Q4 monthly storage fees are higher from October to December.
- Cash flow: keep enough capital for December and early January reorders, and don’t tie everything up in slow movers.
For the full checklist, read our guide on how to prepare for Amazon Q4.
Final Thoughts
Holidays in general (Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.) provide great opportunities to increase ROI and profits for Amazon sellers. Black Friday is another holiday that is full of opportunities; especially for online arbitrage sellers.
Not only brick-and-mortar stores but also many online websites and eCommerce shops offer huge discounts on Black Friday, but finding them manually can be time-consuming and tiring. In this article, we offered online arbitrage tips for Black Friday to help you source products more easily. One of the best methods for sourcing products – not just on Black Friday – is buying online arbitrage sourcing lists.
With an OABeans plan, you get fresh, checked OA deals in your member panel, ready for Black Friday and the rest of Q4.
FAQ
When is Black Friday 2026?
Black Friday 2026 is on Friday, November 27, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday follows on November 30. Many retailers start early deals the week before.
Is Black Friday a good time for online arbitrage?
Yes, for buying. Retail discounts and boosted cashback rates make it one of the best sourcing windows of the year. The key is to check price history, factor in holiday peak FBA fees, and get inventory checked in quickly so it can sell through December and into Q1.
Will Black Friday buys reach Amazon in time for Christmas?
Often, if you move fast. Order with expedited shipping, use a prep center close to Amazon fulfillment centers, and ship within days. Anything that arrives after the holiday rush can still sell in January, when many prices rebound.
