Will this work on Amazon or is it forbidden? (Retail Arbitrage)

1. Join as seller
2. Put a book for sale at $45.
3. A person comes to the item page via a direct link and orders the book.
4. I order the same book from a different seller on Amazon for $15 and put the address for (3) as the buyer.

The person who bought the book from me for $45 gets it sent straight to them from the seller (4) and I pocket the $30.

It's similar to drop shipping but I think if you're trying to sell like this, you first need to stock them. Because amazon will normally come to you to pick up the book and send it to the buyer.

Correct me if I'm wrong

People do that, but sell on ebay. I doubt buying and selling on the same platform would work as people would no doubt find the same source you were using.

If you want to do that big time you can use software, such as tactical arbitrage, to scan many sites for different price discrepancies, buy them and resell on amazon with fba.

Possible, but should be hard since the buyers can find those the same items with lower prices on amazon, for sure they won't buy from you. You can try this via ebay to amazon, or amazon to eBay. or just directly from retailers/wholesalers. But amazon to amazon is not good as you cannot add a duplicate tracking number.

igotitfirst said:

It's similar to drop shipping but I think if you're trying to sell like this, you first need to stock them. Because amazon will normally come to you to pick up the book and send it to the buyer.

Correct me if I'm wrong

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No, what I mean is as soon as an order comes in, I buy the product, but put the address in of the person who just placed the order from me. So there would be no need to stock.

GringoMonkey said:

People do that, but sell on ebay. I doubt buying and selling on the same platform would work as people would no doubt find the same source you were using.

If you want to do that big time you can use software, such as tactical arbitrage, to scan many sites for different price discrepancies, buy them and resell on amazon with fba.

Click to expand...

What would you say are the downsides? I guess refunds/sending the parcel back perhaps?

If I buy something off Ebay and put the address in of someone who just bought the item from me on Amazon, it could get complicated?

The main drawback is that it is difficult to consistently find products with a big enough discrepancy at retail prices to make a decent profit on when you take into account shipping, fees and sale platform competition.

GringoMonkey said:

The main drawback is that it is difficult to consistently find products with a big enough discrepancy at retail prices to make a decent profit on when you take into account shipping, fees and sale platform competition.

Click to expand...

Well, all the fees, shipping, etc would be included in the price I see before I purchase it (to ship to my buyer).

I wouldn't actually be handling anything myself.

I see a downside would be refunds - such as items not being delivered and returns.

Someone could order from me - I buy the product, but then they don't receive it (or claim they didn't receive it). So the buyer I get it from would have to offer the same guarantee that I'm offering.

You go to Amazon and look for an item for $25. Somebody is randomly selling it for $125! But if you direct advertise and send people directly to the Amazon page, a % of people will buy, without bothering to compare for cheaper prices.