One of the easiest ways to make money online is to buy and sell items at retail price, then resell them online. One of the best items for retail arbitrage is used books, especially when starting out. These are items that most people already have, so the challenge becomes finding someone willing to sell them. But don’t despair – I’ve been where you’re at and made some money doing this with excellent results!
So how do I identify which items are best for retail arbitrage? The best prices are often to be found on eBay – particularly for items in the newly released categories or in hot niches. For example, one of the best sellers in my two years of selling on eBay was the Harry Potter books. They were released at a higher price than their normal release but quickly sold out due to demand and their demand-side power.
Another item that I find is relatively common and easy to get – and sells very well – our perfume bottles and tubs. This is because people are less likely to throw away their old bottles after using them once – they’re more likely to just label them and put them in their cabinets or bedroom. You can also find many of these items marked for private labeling on eBay. Private labeling reduces the competition for products and makes the product less likely to sell at a higher price than its retail price.
Another great idea for retail arbitrage is selling on eBay locally. This means selling things from your own home or from a garage sale, thrift store, or local store. In my experience, the items sold on eBay from local stores are generally of higher quality than those sold on eBay by individuals who are not interested in selling. But it is important to understand that eBay sellers are selling these items because they are interested in making money, so if you are selling something that the average buyer will be willing to pay more for, you may have a greater chance of profiting off of it.
For example, let’s say you’re selling books on eBay. You go to the library and grab a couple of books that you know are selling for less on eBay. Go back to eBay, search for these books, put them up for bidding, and then see what the seller bids up to. What do you think you would get from this transaction? If you had made your initial purchase at the library, you would probably make your second purchase.. etc. This is why I advise buyers to buy their books from local stores..
And if you’re a seller on online marketplaces, you will have a much easier time finding items that will sell for less than their “real world” value. The reason for this is that buyers from online marketplaces are often motivated. They want something that they can get for a lower price.. which is what typically happens with someone looking to buy books from a local store. They don’t necessarily have the extra funds to cover the purchase (unless they happen to come across your library and realize how much they are spending on the books, and they have an unlimited credit card..)
So you can see that finding products to sell in retail arbitrage is easier online than offline. However, both methods have their drawbacks. In the case of online reselling, it can be harder to find products to sell, because people are going to a lot of effort to make sure they are legit. Offline, you can go to a library and find products to resell, but you may have a hard time finding someone who will be interested in bidding on the book. If the book is rare or not used often, you may not find buyers for the book.
I hope this quick guide to retail arbitrage gives you some ideas of how you can find products to resell online and start profiting today. The methods listed above are among my favorites and can be done both offline and online. However, the best method is probably sourcing online. The only reason I like sourcing offline is that you can find products to resell in bulk. Bulk buying allows you to buy large quantities for less than you could buy them individually.
