Online Arbitrage 2018 – How Did I Do?

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At the end of last year, I put together a list of all the ways I was going to alter my online arbitrage business. I thought it would be good to go and revisit it 12 months later down the line to see how I got along, and whether things went to plan.

Spoiler alert: absolutely not.

It’s really good to reflect on how things have gone, especially when you set goals. I make monthly Amazon reports of my own, revising 3, 6 and 12-month goals every four weeks to work out where the business is heading next. My goals at the beginning of 2018 were a world away from the ones at the end of it. 

Things went completely different to how I hoped them to in 2018, and there a lot of lessons that other sellers can take from this.

1. Incorporate More Retail Arbitrage

I had a major lifestyle change in 2018, giving myself a lot more time than I did when I was selling on Amazon in 2016 and 2017. That extra time reconfirmed to me that my time is much better spent hunting for products online, rather than in actual shops.

I might grab the odd thing, but it’s not something I imagine I’ll be doing much of in 2019. But things change.

2. Diversify Even More

My Amazon inventory has gone through several transition since I began. I started fixated on one category (and went hard on it), hopped over to another (spending 80% of my budget on it). After then I went through a long period with lots of experimentation, but then last year I managed to secure a few wholesalers that made it a lot cheaper to source in a couple of categories, so it made sense to focus all of my time just buying and selling those.

It’s one of the things I’m absolutely going to change next year because I know that Amazon switches a lot, changing its mind on what its sellers are and aren’t able to sell. I don’t want to get caught out when I have the opportunity to evolve right now.

3. Conquer Europe

My European sales have been significantly higher over the past 12 months than they ever have been, and it’s because I decided to take those four other marketplaces a lot more seriously. I can see there’s lots of potential to grow that further, but this is one of the only areas where I’ve stuck to what I said I was going to do. Let’s hope the next developments with Brexit don’t impact this.

4. Lower Returns

My returns rate is marginally lower this year. It’s good, but nothing to get excited about. As it’s never been a close that loooooads of my goods are ending back at Amazon fulfilment centres, I’ve been able to put up with it, but it’s always best to keep this to a minimum. By selling more perishables, I’m more likely to keep things going in this direction.

5. Get My Feedback Up

There hasn’t been much change on this front at all. Amazon has been making changes to the way it requests feedback, meaning people are even less likely to. The way I see it, I’d much rather have as little communication with buyers as possible. Feedback solutions are really only needed if you’re trying to dilute negative feedback you’ve had in the past. If you’re getting sales, you’ll get all the feedback you need. 

6. Up My AOV

I had good reason for wanting to increase my average order value, but the nature of my specialist category’s products means that I’m selling things that cost a lot less than the things I used to sell. It’s a volume game and it’s working. I imagine that as I diversify more, this figure will increase, but I’ve been able to increase sales by dropping my average order value down.

7. Get More Help

I was using a range of effective Amazon online arbitrage tools last year, and I’ve got even more in my arsenal now. I’ve got something decent for sourcing, vetting and repricing. This year I was able to get more help prepping by moving back to Nottingham, and getting family involved in that side of things. It’s greatly increased my rate at getting boxes UPS-ready.

8. Go Full-Time

This wasn’t one that I included the first time around because I was keeping it to myself, but it was always in the plan to make 2018 the year that I went full-time with Amazon selling (plus all the other things I do). At the start of Feb, I handed in my notice. By April, I was living in a different city, living in a much bigger house to facilitate an even more efficient online arbitrage business.

I may not have achieve all that I wanted to here, but doing this – freeing up so much of my time – made things a whole heap easier.