Is this a legit way to make money?

Did you know that you can go to clearance aisles in stores like Target and find items that will still sell well on Amazon? You just need to pay attention to the seller ranking for that item to make sure it will sell.

Search Google for "Amazon FBA strategies" and start digging in. It's a relatively sure thing once you get the hang of it.

One of my friends has made some extra cash doing this.

As far as reselling directly to Ebay, I'd probably be a little annoyed. Even though you won't have done anything wrong. I could see people leaving negative feedback, which would hurt future sales.

Well... yes it would seem odd to get an amazon box instead of an ebay one, but depends from person to person. Very ethic and legitimate it is not, for sure, but creative it sure is.

hmm )) Cool idea. Please post to this topic if you will get positive experience with that combination.

Firstly, I think this is the terms of both sites that this is forbidden, but there are plenty of people out there doing just that.

It wouldn't really bother me if I ordered something of ebay and it came in a Amazon box, but you might come across a customer who does query this with the company.

Here is one of the links from the war room or just do a search for eBay and amazon arbitrage.
http://www.warriorforum.com/war-room...g-service.html

This is not a right way to earn money.
This will indirectly going to affect both ebay and Amazon market and will result in bad name for those to brands.

What I suggest.. if you ever hope to make more than $100 a month.. is to set up a LEGIT online business. Something that will

- Give you a passive income
- Have the ability to scale to 100k+ a year
- Won't fade out in 3 months to nothing

Provide VALUE to people and you will be rewarded

This is a wrong way for establishing your marketing strategy or earning money online. It is not the question about whether the amazon owners or buyers have any problem, but it is not a good way of earning money or starting your business.
Try to apply some good tactic for earning money, because these type of business may give you the money but do not last for long.
All the best!!

BH for sure.

There are ethical, WH, ways to spin the idea, though.

Who cares?

Even if it is, it's not scalable.

Would you rather own a business that works for you or just create a JOB for yourself?

It's a legit way to make money but risky. Even if you choose only top Amazon sellers you still don't have a single ounce of control over what they do or how they treat customers. I can't be sure but I think there's something in Amazon's terms of service against this. There are a bunch of threads on this forum about this practice you might want to check out.

There's even a bigger potential problem. eBay customers can be fussy and if they get something from an Amazon seller containing info or comments not related to them specifically they can cause you problems even if there are no real problems. What if the Amazon seller mentions a bunch of stuff about his or her other Amazon products? Now your buyer is wondering what the hell is going on. There are a lot of eBay buyers that are really trigger happy dishing out negative feedback, which can be the kiss of death for you as a seller.

There still might be a way to do it but for my money, there are easier business models out there.

Ebay traffic has gone down and I agree with one post here that it's not scalable very easy. Lots of work for not huge profit. But I have not tried it I'm just speculating so good luck if you try this, let us know if it works.

John, travlinguy and the rest have said everything that needs to be said.

I'd only add two things:

1. Even if it works, it seems like a really, really boring way to make a living. Maybe it's all about the money for you, but as for me, I need to enjoy what I'm doing for a living (at least most of the time) and I'd quickly tire of this and look for something new to do.
2. Even if it's a bad idea (and for the reasons mentioned by so many above, I do think it's a bad idea), my hat is off to you for some creative thinking. While I doubt you were the first (or last) to try what you described, it was still a clever idea. Now put the same sort of lateral thinking to coming up with creative ways to solve a problem or meet a demand for people and build a real business.

There is a problem with this strategy and I will tell you what it is. I bought a camera on amazon. They were suppose to delivery it Dec 25 of last year. Well, to make the long story short, the camera never arrives. I desperately needed a camera this year. I went on amazon. Well, I paid $150 EXTRA for next day delivery and one week later there is no camera. Hey, all you need is a few bad marks on your ratings and your selling days are over. It is up to you.

It is legit and is the strategy of virtually all stores! Where does Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, or any eBay and Amazon seller get their merchandise? They buy it at a lower price somewhere else (primarily China) and sell it somewhere else at a higher price! It has its risks as all business does, but more power to you! By the way. your model is similar to DS Domination. My two sense!

With all the millions of possibilities available to build a legitimate online business I am constantly amazed at the sketchy, quasi-legal, "wing and a prayer" nonsense people come up with.

I predict great success in this venture!

Right on Man. Right on!

Although I don't know all of the details of the method you're implementing, I think a good 'rule of thumb' is that if a method is questionable, and the results may cause problems, it's probably not a good way to go.

I can't condemn that method, without knowing more about it, but it doesn't sound like something that will get you to where you (probably) want to go....which is making REAL money online....not a few dollars here and there, but serious money.

If you do continue with it, I wish you the best. Beyond that, I encourage you to be sure that you are building a LIST of buyers, along the way.

Best,
Phil W.

I would not advise this. Ebay likes to make examples out of people who do this.

Clever, but risky if customers start complaining about that Amazon box you could be exposed, but no, I don't see anything illegal about it.

The more people focus on making money.. they less money they're going to make. When that clicks for you, it'll start coming in.

Provide value to people...

...help them get something cheaper
...help them get something that's not available anywhere else
...help them make money
...etc

and they'll give you their money.

Even IF this arbitrage strategy works for you. How long do you think it would last? A month? Personally I want to build businesses that will last me years.. and that I can cash out for a huge sum. Not spend my life coming up with money-making idea after money-making idea.

That's just me, though.

It sounds like pretty much everyone who is calling this a 'bad idea' has never actually done it. I have done this many times and it does not violate Amazon's or eBay's TOS. I don't know where you guys are getting your information from. You can call eBay and verify this pretty easily yourself.

As far as the method itself goes it does work, but you really need to expand beyond Amazon and selling on eBay if you ever want to make big bucks with it. I also know people who have outsourced their entire eBay dropshipping business with oDesk.

Another person I know who makes about $8,000 per month doing this (dropshipping that is, I don't think all of his products come from Amazon) has an employee who handles all of his listings.

As far as eBay buyers caring if the box comes from Amazon, I don't think it really matters to most. I personally have never had a complaint, but I am sure it does happen to some people. I actually do remember reading some comments on one of the Facebook groups dedicated to this idea where a person said that they got negative feedback when the buyer saw that the product came from Amazon. They were able to get eBay to remove the negative feedback because not liking the source of a product is not a valid reason for a negative.

I feel like 90% of the people on the Warrior Forum who bash this method do so based on rumor and conjecture... Not the best things to make business decisions with.

Call eBay, talk to them yourself, and then decide if this is a business model you want to pursue.

The Warrior Forum is great, but take what you read here with a big grain of salt because there are a lot of 'armchair experts' with an opinion on everything...

Test the method out yourself, talk to eBay about any concerns you may have (they actually have really friendly customer service reps)... At the end of the day it will either work for you or it wont, and that is pretty much the only 'opinion' that matters...

With that said... I actually don't use this method anymore because I found it to be mind numbingly boring and I never liked the idea of my income being tied so strongly to eBay. This method does not violate their TOS today, but who can say about a year from now?

May be you can find dropshipppers for your product rather than going on with amazon?? They will ship it for you usually.

Like others have mentioned, it "partially" works and can make you money, but it's probably not the "easy money" you are interested in.

It actually requires a lot of legwork to constantly be listing items on eBay, making sure there is still stock left on the amazon side, managing customer complaints (a few will arise over time).

So, those are some downsides. But the ultimate thing would be that (like others said), it's just a little bit boring and soulless.

It's a lot of hard work for a bit of passive income but it's not that scaleable or rewarding.

I have done something of this similar nature in the past. I wouldn't consider it completely blackhat. It's a smart idea that can be scaled up. I don't do it anymore because of how tough it can be to maneuver across the different platforms being used.

You could also just buy items at a low cost and resell them.

It's a good business model but it's not worth the stress long term.

eBay's new selling standards combined with Paypals new 180 day return policy will virtually kill the marketplace, not to mention that you can't leave negative feedback for buyers and that by just 'requesting' a return virtually kills your ability to sell in the future. eBay is dead.

why not just go to some decent thrift stores start with a low to medium budget and find some decent items to sell you never know what you might find.

My 2 cents!

During my research on the legalities of arbitrating products between Amazon and eBay is how I came across your post.

I realize there are a lot of people that are using this business model and may not realize that they are in a very gray area without proper knowledge.

Allow me to give you some examples how their lack of knowledge can cause serious harm to themselves and others.

Those who want to argue the first sale doctrine; I believe that the first paragraph will moot your argument.

The first-sale doctrine is a legal concept. The doctrine enables the distribution chain of copyrighted products, for example, enabling individuals to sell their legally purchased product to others. In trademark law, this same doctrine enables reselling of trademarked products after the trademark holder put the products on the market. The doctrine is also referred to as the "right of first sale," "first sale rule," or "exhaustion rule." However, if the individual does not legally purchase the product, then they have illegally infringed on trademarked products and trademark holders. The keyword is "legally purchased".


Through my research I have come to realize that there is software that will set up these eBay stores and scrape contents from Amazon such as images and text. Not only is this against Amazon's policies but it is an infringement on copyrights. I have come across several listings of my product on eBay at a much higher price. My products are sold exclusively on Amazon. The logical argument would be "Well that's okay because you are making more sales" this is not true. This deceptive practice causes companies like mine financial harm which brings us into another area of the law.


This area of the law is referred to as the Unfair Competition law.


Unfair Competition law: an overview

"The law of unfair competition is primarily comprised of torts that cause an economic injury to a business through a deceptive or wrongful business practice. Unfair competition can be broken down into two broad categories. First, the term "unfair competition" is sometimes used to refer only to those torts that are meant to confuse consumers as to the source of the product. The other category, "unfair trade practices", comprises all other forms of unfair competition... "https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/unfair_competition



Here's an example of what is taking place with my products through the "Retail Arbitrate" model.

When others list an exclusive product at an inflated price to make a few dollars then order that product through Amazon as a gift. Here is what happens behind the scene on my side:

Amazon charges:
Shipping and Handling: $12.83
Gift Wrapping: $4.95

The customer receives the product at the inflated price. This customer also becomes a customer of Amazon because this product was ordered from Amazon. Amazon then sends this new customer e-mails listing the product that they have purchased from the deceptive listing, but at the original price (lower price). The deceived customer requests a refund from these EBay listings because they can get the product at a lower price and these listings carry a 14 day return policy. The customer is than send a return shipping label to return the product to Amazon. Amazon then charges me a restocking fee of $15. This customer then makes a purchase directly through Amazon at the lower price, costing me an additional $12.83 for shipping and handling.


The results of these deceptive activities cost $45.61 in transaction fees alone on a product that I am selling for $34.95. This is grounds for filing a lawsuit against these individuals. Additionally, these products being returned affect my Amazon account which could lead to termination of the account.


Individuals who do not have the proper knowledge not only can be sued but can have their eBay and PayPal accounts closed. Closing these accounts is as simple as filling out a form online by the person or entity that you have infringed upon.

This lead us back to the question "Is Retail Arbitrage Legal? Only if it does not infringe on others work or cause financial hardships to others and is within the limits of the law.

How do you stay within the limits of the law?
Here is a basic outline that will keep you on the right path and out of trouble and keep you from getting a "Takedown Order".

• Buy the product and have it in your possession. This eliminates the first-sale doctrine legal concept.
  
• Produce your own pictures and description of the product. Do not copy someone else's work as this is a violation of copyright laws.
  
• Eliminate third parties between you and the customer. Do not use someone else's account to fulfill your customers order. This will eliminate third-party financial damages lawsuits.
  
• The transaction should be between you and your customer as this is the best practice since it builds trust between you and your customer.

In conclusion, I hope that this will enlighten others of the legalities of the Retail Arbitrage business model.
Best regards,
John

This sounds like a risky and business filled with headaches. If you are making money then all the power to you, I personally just see this as a big hassle

What you're decribing is s form of "Arbitrage" and it's a legit business model. My brother put himself through college using eBay.

He didn't "middle man" between eBay and Amazon though. He looked at hot selling items on eBay and what they were selling for. He then sourced like items from close out sites (can't recall which ones) and if the members worked, he'd resell the items be sourced on eBay.

I know for the fact that there are lot of sellers who sell on both eBay and Amazon. They also have inventory in FBA warehouses. Whenever they exhaust their inventory with eBay, they just place an internal order through Amazon to fulfill it. As long as you are able to get the item to the buyer, I don't think its illegal. However, you would need to be prepared if the buyer complaints that the package is not received. In this situation, you may not have much of a choice but to refund. Again, you may have to clarify this policy with eBay and Amazon both.

I do the opposite. I bay on ebay and sell the item on Amazon via FBA as a portion of my business. For the items I deal in the prices on ebay are usually lower. I do know that buying from Amazon prior to selling on ebay can be risky because after the item is bought on ebay there is no guarantee that you can still fulfill the order for the price you planned.

I recently bought an item on ebay for about $40. When I recieved the shipment I could see it was shipped from Amazon, Using camelcamelcamel I saw that the seller bought the item for about $85. That item is now listed in my inventory and will soon sell for $98.50.

That is what I mean by risky - he got burned and I made money.

This is something I've been doing for sometime now and make an income (although it does have trends)

If done correctly you can become an eBay top rated seller and receive perks etc...

You basically using Amazon as a dropship company.
I wrote an ebook a while ago and showed how to do this step-by-step.

It takes a little time to set up - but once this is complete, you just need to list your items.
Is it legit??? Well you are just buying and selling !!!!

In short - Yes It does work.

At the end of the day, the goal is for the buyer to get his product in good condition. Where you got it really doesn't matter as long as it is all legal.

Just don't think it is worth the hassle and about the only way to sell on eBay is to have the lowest prices. This is tough to accomplish if you are reselling a product that you got a few bucks cheaper. Would be better off to have an Amazon store or be an eBay affiliate and sell directly from them. I have also heard of people getting thousands of dollars worth of stuff this way and that would make you a pretty nice commission