Online Arbitrage Lead List Expectations

Whether or not you have ever seen/used an online arbitrage sourcing list (lead list) you probably wish you had known more about them prior to that experience. Lead lists aren’t for everyone, and that’s ok, but it’s extremely common to get feedback from clients who’ve just purchased or seen their first lead list and aren’t happy with it. Their unhappiness usually stems from 1 of two things
1- They were gated in too many of the products
2- Their expectations were not realistic because they had no prior experience with a lead list

I like to think that with this article we can overcome the expectation issue that I commonly see. If you have anything you’d like me to add to this article or have any questions please use the comment section at the bottom!

Before we start, if you’re not familiar with what an online arbitrage sourcing list is please first read our article https://oahunt.com/online-arbitrage-sourcing-list

When to try an online arbitrage lead list

Many sellers, especially newer sellers, don’t have the three C’s needed to source completely on their own yet. The three C’s are

• Competence
• Comfortable
• Confidence

Each of these three C’s are a stepping stone to the next one. 

Competence-To source good products you must first be competent. Perhaps once in a while you can get lucky and find a great product just by chance but unless you’re familiar with Keepa, sales rank, profit calculators, and understanding various other data points you just won’t be successful. 

Comfortable- Once you gain your competence you can begin to source products on your own (with or without the aid of softwares). At first you won’t be comfortable doing this but as Robin Sharma said “As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.” Practicing your new skills will help you become comfortable with sourcing.

Confidence- When you reach this step you are probably to the point where you have more money than you do time to source (because you’re likely a master by now!) This is a prime time to find yourself a quality online arbitrage lead list…like one from OA Hunt. 

In the first two C’s you are very likely to be persuaded into trying an online arbitrage sourcing list. There’s never a wrong time to dip your toe in the pool and test the waters but you should really at least be somewhat competent with online arbitrage lead sourcing and data evaluation.

Setting expectations for online arbitrage lists

Let's talk about setting realistic expectations for online arbitrage sourcing lists in general. Here’s some true/false statements and a little explanation…

I can buy every lead on the list-  

FALSE 

Time and time again I've been approached by sellers who expect every lead they see on a list to be a perfect fit for them. Believe it or not I’ve even had  one person tell me that they bought every lead from a list for several weeks and weren’t coming up profitable! This expectation is unrealistic and should be squashed before you ever see a list. Every seller is different and what is a good lead for one may not be a good lead for another. A prime example of this is those who love or hate hazardous products. One seller might live for them while another will never touch them. Perhaps you don’t mind bubble wrapping delicate pieces like glass while me personally…I can’t stand it! 

You can quickly see how expecting every lead on a list to work for you is going to lead you to disappointment. 

Every lead will meet my criteria- 

FALSE 

All sellers have different criteria on what they call a winner. For some they may have an additional $2 per unit cost at their prep center. Others may try to stay above a 40% ROI or a higher dollar amount of profit then others will. Before you check out a lead list it’s important to understand that specific list’s MINIMUM numbers so your expectations don’t exceed reality. While many retail arbitrage (RA) sellers are only searching for products with 100% ROI, those numbers in online arbitrage are much harder to come by. 

Leads prices will fluctuate- 

TRUE

Price fluctuations are all but inevitable in online marketplaces like Amazon. Expecting every product you purchase to hold steady on price is bound to lead you to failure. Understanding the laws of supply and demand are crucial to understanding data points and history charts like Keepa. I consider learning these trends part of the “Competence” level. Another factor that usually relates to falling prices (price tanking) is the number of eyes that are seeing those leads from that list. Simply put, a list being sent to 55 people has a much higher probability of those leads price tanking than does one that’s sent to half the number of people. 

I can use the list to find other profitable leads-

TRUE

Products used in an Online arbitrage sourcing lists should NOT be the only thing you look at when analyzing a lead list. Think of the list itself as a maze with many possible paths to the finish. You can spend so much time going through each corridor by browsing similar bought items, different variations, and corresponding products from sales/coupon codes to build as many branches as you can. This is often called rabbit trailing and one man who’s got it mastered is Chris Grant. He’s got an incredible video on rabbit trails using Amazon and Keepa. I’ll post it near the bottom of this video if you’re interested!

Summing it up

Getting yourself familiar with online arbitrage leads lists can be a great thing for your business but only if you understand how to use them properly and know what to expect, realistically!

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17