Podcast Episode 214 – Top Cyber Monday Online Arbitrage Sourcing Strategies

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Episode 214 Transcript:

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:01.8] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Full-Time FBA Show. In each episode, it’s our goal to help you turn part-time hours into a full-time income, selling almost anything on Amazon. Now, your hosts of the show, Stephen and Rebecca Smotherman.

[WELCOME]

[0:00:21.7] STEPHEN: Welcome to episode number 214 of The Full Time FBA Show. Today, we’re talking about our top Cyber-Monday online arbitrage sourcing strategies. That’s hard to say, considering that this is take three or four of trying to get this podcast started.

[0:00:35.8] REBECCA: It’s a tongue twister.

[0:00:37.2] STEPHEN: It is and to talk about these OA strategies for Cyber Monday that’s right around the corner with me is, Rebecca, my cohost and wife. How are you doing, Rebecca?

[0:00:45.8] REBECCA: Doing good, I kind of introduced myself there by jumping in before you invited me on to the show but –

[0:00:51.8] STEPHEN: Yeah, no problem.

[0:00:52.8] REBECCA: I feel like it’s half my show anyway, so.

[0:00:54.7] STEPHEN: Of course.

[0:00:56.1] REBECCA: I just, I’m here, and I’m ready to talk about Cyber Monday sourcing strategies, it’s a really fun time of the year to do OA, online arbitrage. So, let’s get into it.

[DISCUSSION]

[0:01:08.6] REBECCA: Cyber Monday is coming and to be exact, Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday here in the United States, and the purpose of Cyber Monday is to encourage people to shop online, and as online sellers, this can impact us in multiple ways. The very first official Cyber Monday was back in 2005.

[0:01:35.0] STEPHEN: Wow.

[0:01:35.6] REBECCA: And the marketing around it worked. Retailers online have adopted the term and any online store is sure to have some big-time sales on Cyber Monday. Today, not only do many retail stores have great savings in their online stores but people seem to come out of the woodwork to buy items on Amazon as well and personally, our Cyber Monday sales, every year, are always amazing.

[0:01:57.6] STEPHEN: Yeah, one year, our Cyber Monday sales were actually like, more than double than that of our highest sales day from the previous days of that same year. So, it seems like every year, my Cyber Monday sales are like the highest sales day of the year, and these big Cyber Monday sales numbers are there mainly because of this:

We make sure we have as many profitable items as possible active at an Amazon FBA warehouse by Cyber Monday but of course, that takes months of prepping in advance to make the most of Cyber Monday’s customers on Amazon but it’s been November when this episode drops. So, remember that time for next year, be stocked up, if possible, by Cyber Monday to take advantage of the huge increase in Amazon customers.

[0:02:40.5] REBECCA: So, the purpose of this podcast episode is focused more on how you can take advantage of all the Cyber Monday sales online so that you can source profitable inventory to buy on Cyber Monday, and if all goes well, you can sell that inventory on Amazon in December. All of these tips that we’re going to be talking about will be online arbitrage strategies that are perfect for Cyber Monday sourcing but some of these, you can also use for OA year-round.

So, no matter when you listen to this, right when this episode first drops or later on, these strategies might help you out when you use them. Stephen, kick us off with the first tip for the show.

[0:03:17.4] STEPHEN: So, Cyber Monday sourcing tip number one, and this might save you some good money, so there’s many online stores that feature like a live chat in their webstore. You know, the little pop-up that, well, pops up on your screen and there’s a picture of a pleasant-looking person who is smiling and offering to chat with you via text, to help you spend more money and buy-buy-buy. Sometimes, it’s the chatbot, other times, it’s actually a real person.

So, tip number one is to use the live chat and ask the chatbot or the person who is actually on the other end of that chat, ask them for a coupon code or free shipping. It never hurts to ask and if you get a coupon code, that’s a win. Kind of tip number 1B is to always use the Honey Chrome extension. We use that Chrome extension year-round. It’s a free app that scours the Internet for coupon codes to use before you buy anything online.

You can find that fulltimefba.com/honey but asking a store rep via live chat if there are any coupon codes, that just might be a coupon code just for that day that the Honey app has not found yet and so maybe it will be a percentage off or free shipping, anything helps. So, just ask the chatbot or the chat person if there’s a coupon code and you can save some money.

[0:04:29.0] REBECCA: Our tip number two for Cyber Monday sourcing is that while toys are the number one category to sell on Amazon during Q4, it’s important not to only focus on toys. Strategize ways you can branch out into other categories. Think about inventory items that are good quality, gift-giving items to sell on Amazon as you’re doing this Cyber Monday sourcing.

As always, don’t buy anything to sell on Amazon without checking the price and sales history on Keepa. Remember, Keepa tracks the sales velocity history and the pricing history of almost every item on Keepa. So, it’s a vital tool to make a smart sourcing decision. You can try Keepa out at fulltimefba.com/keepa, and remember, you’re not just thinking about toys, you’re thinking about categories like home and kitchen or pets or sporting goods.

Pretty much, every category that you can think of on Amazon is going to have some great type items. So, make sure you’re not just sourcing toys but expanding your search.

[0:05:29.6] STEPHEN: So, the third Cyber Monday sourcing tip is this: Don’t just look for inventory at the big, well-known retail websites but expand your search for smaller, lesser-known web stores. Spoiler alert, most Amazon sellers are looking at those well-known web stores too. So, you want to go to the websites where the other Amazon sellers are not going. Think about these niche-type stores or websites to source for profitable inventory, get some ideas, and go there.

So, if you need some help with expanding your online arbitrage search with some ideas, check out Jo Ann Zimmerman’s super-sourcing database. You go to fulltimefba.com/supersourcing to get access to the database and that’s a list of over 600 supplier websites where you can go to find profitable inventory online in almost every category imaginable.

You also can get additional links to the store’s sale site or clearance pages and on top of that, every supplier includes a breakdown of exactly what kind of types of products they sell so you can search by keyword for exactly what you want. So, again, that link, fulltimefba.com/supersourcing for some ideas on websites you’ve never heard of to source for inventory.

[0:06:41.4] REBECCA: 600 supplier websites will keep you busy for a long time.

[0:06:44.8] STEPHEN: Absolutely.

[0:06:45.4] REBECCA: Cyber Monday, you’re going to be busy. Our next tip about Cyber Monday sourcing is don’t just focus on Q4 sales when you’re doing your Cyber Monday sourcing. Don’t just think about what’s going to sell in the next five to six weeks. Think about what’s going to be selling in January or February also. Those items are going to specifically include fitness items, health-focused items, and organizational items, those are all things that relate to planning or goal setting for the New Year, people’s New Year’s resolutions.

Even calendars are still selling into January, just don’t go too deep on calendars because those are going to not sell as well later on but Q4 is an awesome time of big sales on Amazon and we want to keep you still selling stuff in the New Year because that’s when you’re going to continue to grow your snowball and make more money as in 2024. So, think ahead passed the holidays, and if you come across some good deals on Cyber Monday that you don’t think will sell in the next five to six weeks for Q4 that would be great for Q1, be sure you grab them.

[0:07:51.8] STEPHEN: So, Cyber Monday and sourcing tip number five is this: If you source for your wholesale, check in with your suppliers to see if they have any special Cyber Monday deals. You know, even if they don’t, they might be like, “Okay, well, here’s a coupon code that’s active right now” and they’ll share with you that special deal just for you. I mean, it sounds crazy but that has actually happened to us before.

We reached out to a supplier, they didn’t have a Cyber Monday deal but they just made up one and we got a percentage of our entire wholesale order. That was a nice thing to happen.

[0:08:20.9] REBECCA: Yeah. So, that’s not really an online arbitrage tip but that’s a wholesale tip, bonus tip right there.

[0:08:26.8] STEPHEN: Yes.

[0:08:27.8] REBECCA: And then our Cyber Monday sourcing tip number six is that surprisingly, some retailers use eBay to unload some of their remaining Black Friday inventory that they didn’t sell on Black Friday. So, check eBay for some of these advertised Black Friday deals that you were looking for and either didn’t find or want to continue to stock up on during your Black Friday sourcing. Any items that are still in stock in the storage you might find them on eBay by Cyber Monday.

[0:08:55.9] STEPHEN: Cyber Monday sourcing tip number seven is this: Think about buying more than just inventory to sell on Amazon. Maybe there’s a Cyber Monday sale on printer ink or a new laptop or a diamond label printer, or more. I mean, the more you can save on your regular office supplies, the more you can use that business capital to spend on profitable inventory.

[0:09:16.1] REBECCA: Yeah. We’ve already talked about a couple of things in the past few weeks. It’s like, “Oh, we need to buy that for our business but I’m going to wait, I’m not going to do it now, I’m going to wait until Cyber Monday.”

[0:09:25.3] STEPHEN: Oh yeah.

[0:09:26.0] REBECCA: I want to get the best deal on it, and if you’re using Keepa, a lot of times you can see how items that you’re buying for your business on Amazon, that is going to be the day of the year when the price is lowest.

[0:09:37.3] STEPHEN: Yes.

[0:09:38.8] REBECCA: So, those are our top seven tips for how to maximize your profits on Cyber Monday and the cool thing is that this episode will always be here for you to listen to every year when Cyber Monday is coming up. So, make a note to come back and read revisit it at episode number 214, fulltimefba.com/214 so that you can be reminded of our best tips for Cyber Monday. In fact, if you have any Cyber Monday tips that you want to share with us, head on over to that episode 214 and comment with your most useful tips, fulltimefba.com/214.

[CLOSING CONVERSATION]

[0:10:13.3] REBECCA: Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Full Time FBA Show. As always, the show notes and transcript can be found at fulltimefba.com/214, along with any links that were mentioned during this episode.

[0:10:26.4] STEPHEN: And next week on the show, we’re going to share some last-minute Q4 strategies to boost your profits on Amazon. Q4 is almost gone, so let’s take care of the last of Q4 and finish out strong with these last-minute Q4 strategies that we’ll talk about next week on The Full-Time FBA Show.

[OUTRO]

[0:10:46.1] ANNOUNCER: That is all for this episode of The Full-Time FBA Show, so head over to fulltimefba.com/podcast, where you will find the show notes and links from this episode. While you’re there, subscribe to our newsletter where you’ll get several free downloads of our popular and helpful Amazon FBA resources. Now, take action on what you have learned today, so you can find success at turning part-time hours into a full-time income with Amazon FBA.

[END]