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So you've heard about people buying products online and reselling them on Amazon for profit. Sounds simple, right? It actually is, once you understand how it works. This guide walks you through everything you need to know about Amazon online arbitrage in 2026, from finding your first product to making your first sale.
Whether you're looking for a side income or want to build a full-time business, online arbitrage is one of the easiest ways to start selling on Amazon without creating your own product.
What Is Amazon Online Arbitrage?
Online arbitrage means buying products from online shops at a lower price and reselling them on Amazon at a higher price. The difference between what you paid and what you sell for (minus Amazon fees and shipping) is your profit.
Here's a quick example: You find a toy on a retailer's website for €15. The same toy sells on Amazon for €30. After Amazon fees and shipping, you keep around €8 in profit. Multiply that by 50 units and you've made €400 from a single product.
The concept isn't new. Traders have done this for centuries. The difference today is that you can do it from your laptop, scanning thousands of products in minutes instead of walking through stores.
Online Arbitrage vs Retail Arbitrage: What's the Difference?
You'll often hear these two terms together. The difference is simple:
Online arbitrage means you buy products from online shops (like MediaMarkt, Otto, or any e-commerce store) and resell them on Amazon.
Retail arbitrage means you physically go to stores, scan products with your phone, and buy discounted items to resell.
Both work well. But online arbitrage is easier to scale because you're not limited by how many stores you can visit in a day. You can source from hundreds of shops without leaving your desk.
How Does Online Arbitrage Work? (Step by Step)
Step 1: Find a Product with a Price Gap
The core of online arbitrage is finding products that are cheaper somewhere else than they are on Amazon. You need to compare prices across different online shops and Amazon. You can do this manually (which takes forever) or use sourcing tools that scan thousands of shops automatically. More on that later. Good categories to start with include toys, beauty products, electronics accessories, and household items. These tend to have consistent demand and good margins.
Step 2: Check if the Product Is Actually Profitable
Before you buy anything, you need to calculate your real profit. That means factoring in the purchase price, Amazon FBA fees, shipping costs to the warehouse, VAT, and any other expenses. A product might look profitable at first glance, but once you subtract all fees, the margin might be too thin. Tools like ProfitGo calculate this for you instantly, right in your browser or on your phone. Here are the main Amazon fees you need to know about: The referral fee is a percentage Amazon charges on every sale (usually 8-15% depending on the category). The FBA fee covers picking, packing, and shipping your product to the customer (varies by size and weight). Storage fees are charged monthly for keeping your products in Amazon's warehouse. And don't forget VAT, which you'll need to charge and remit depending on your country.
Step 3: Check the Competition and Sales Data
A cheap product means nothing if nobody buys it on Amazon. Before sourcing, check how many units the product actually sells. Amazon now shows estimated monthly sales directly on the listing, from 10 to 10,000+ units. Even if a product or variant only shows 10 sales, that's still a useful indicator. Also check how many other sellers are on the listing and whether Amazon itself is selling the product. Use Keepa to see the price history and sales trends over time. If sales have been consistent for months, the product is worth sourcing. Also check how many FBA sellers are on the listing. If there are only 2 to 5 FBA sellers and the price has been stable, that's usually a good sign.
Step 4: Buy the Product
Once you've confirmed it's profitable and sells well, buy it. Start small. Order 5 to 10 units first to test. Don't go all-in on a product you haven't sold before. Keep track of what you buy in a spreadsheet or use ProfitPath's Inventory Management feature. Note down the purchase price, expected sell price, and quantity. This makes your accounting much easier later.
Step 5: Ship to Amazon FBA
Send your products to an Amazon FBA warehouse. Amazon handles storage, shipping to customers, and returns. This is the easiest way to sell, especially when you're starting out. You'll need to create a shipping plan in Seller Central, label your products with FNSKU barcodes, and ship them to the designated warehouse. If you don't want to handle prep and labeling yourself, you can use a prep center that does it for you. That said, FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant, meaning you ship orders yourself) works great too. When you're starting out, try a mix of both to see what works best for you. A good rule of thumb: large or heavy products like monitors are better shipped FBM because FBA fees would eat your margin. Smaller items like perfume, SSDs, or beauty products are perfect for FBA because you can send a batch and let them sell without going to the post office every day. If you're selling across Europe, you'll want to understand the difference between PAN EU and EFN fulfillment options.
Step 6: Your Product Sells and You Collect Profit
Once your product is live on Amazon and you win the Buy Box, customers start buying. Amazon deposits your earnings every two weeks.
What You Need to Get Started
You don't need much to begin. Here are the essentials:
An Amazon Seller Account. You need a Professional seller account (€39/month) to sell on Amazon. Choose the Professional plan from day one because it lets you sell unlimited products and access features like advertising and detailed reports. You'll also need to register your business and get a VAT number depending on your country. In Germany, for example, you need a Gewerbeanmeldung. In the UK, you register as a sole trader or limited company.
Starting capital. For online arbitrage, we recommend starting with at least €5,000. If you can start with €10,000, it speeds up your progress significantly. With this budget you can diversify across 30 to 50 products and build real momentum. If you're starting with retail arbitrage and FBM, you can begin with €1,000 to €2,000, but it will take longer to grow a significant profit. Keep in mind that there are costs beyond inventory: tax advisor, Amazon seller account (€39/month), software for deal analysis, and shipping supplies. Budget for those from day one.
A sourcing tool. Technically you can source manually, but it's painfully slow. Start with ProfitGo to analyze deals and validate products. Once you see your first wins and want to go full speed, upgrade to ProfitPath where you get the complete sourcing platform plus a full Amazon FBA course and a community of 1,000+ active sellers. If you want to skip the learning curve entirely, go straight to ProfitPath. You'll get everything you need to start in one place.
Why Most Beginners Struggle (And How to Avoid It)
Let's be honest: online arbitrage isn't hard, but most beginners make it harder than it needs to be. Here are the common mistakes:
Buying without checking the numbers. If you don't calculate FBA fees, VAT, and shipping costs before buying, you'll lose money. Always run the numbers first.
Ignoring competition. If 30 other sellers are on the same listing and Amazon is selling the product too, your chances of winning the Buy Box are slim. Look for listings with fewer sellers.
Going too big too fast. Start with small test orders. Once you know a product sells well, scale up. Don't spend your entire budget on one product you've never tested.
Not using tools. Manually browsing shops and calculating profits on a calculator is a waste of time. But even worse: using the wrong tools. Many sellers use software that doesn't update product data frequently enough, so you end up buying something that looked profitable yesterday but isn't anymore. Most of these tools are built for the US market and don't have a deep understanding of EU and UK marketplaces, pricing, fees, and VAT. Make sure you use a tool that actually understands every single European market.
Tools That Make Online Arbitrage Easy
This is where the real difference is. The right tools turn hours of manual work into minutes.
ProfitGo: The Perfect Starting Point
If you're just getting started with online arbitrage, ProfitGo is the best place to begin. It's a Chrome extension and mobile app that lets you calculate FBA fees and profit for any product instantly, scan barcodes in retail stores with your phone, check BSR, sales data, and competition at a glance, and use Reverse Search to find sourcing opportunities.
ProfitGo starts at just €14.95/month, so it's perfect if you want to test the waters without a big investment. Try it free for 14 days.
ProfitPath: For Serious Sourcing at Scale
Once you're ready to go beyond manual browsing and want to find products systematically, ProfitPath is the full sourcing platform. It scans over 1,000 shops and 200M+ products across all major European markets every day.
Supplier Search scans all relevant e-commerce shops and shows you the most profitable products with advanced filters. No more browsing shops one by one.
Wholesale Scanner lets you upload wholesale price lists and instantly see which products are worth buying. What used to take hours of spreadsheet work now takes minutes.
Spy Search shows you exactly what your competitors are selling and where they source their products. Find proven winners without doing the research yourself.
A2A Search finds products that are cheaper on one Amazon marketplace and sell for more on another. Buy on Amazon.de, resell on Amazon.fr.
Reverse Search lets you search by ASIN, EAN, or brand to find products in ProfitPath's database. Great when you want to ungate a brand or find alternatives for out-of-stock items.
Dealwatch monitors thousands of products 24/7 and alerts you the moment a deal hits your profit targets.
On top of that, ProfitPath includes a complete Amazon FBA video course that takes you from account setup to your first sale. The Discord community has 1,000+ active sellers who help each other with questions, share insights, and celebrate wins. There are weekly live calls with experienced mentors, and a product review service where the ProfitPath team checks your deals before you buy them. This is especially valuable when you're starting out and still building confidence in your product analysis. You can try ProfitPath free for 14 days.
How Much Money Can You Make with Online Arbitrage?
This depends on how much time and capital you invest. On average, online arbitrage sellers in Europe work with profit margins between 15% and 20% after all fees. Some experienced sellers push this above 25%, but 15 to 20% is a realistic target when you're starting out.
What does that look like in practice? If you invest €1,000 in products and sell them on Amazon for €1,500, your gross profit before fees is €500. After FBA fees, shipping, and VAT, you're left with roughly €150 to €200. That's your 15 to 20%.
The key to growing your income is reinvesting. Take your profits, buy more products, and increase your capital over time. Sellers who start with €500 and consistently reinvest can realistically reach €5,000 to €10,000 in monthly revenue within 6 to 12 months.
Experienced full-time arbitrage sellers with €10,000 to €30,000 in working capital often hit €30,000 to €80,000 in monthly revenue. At 15 to 20% net margin, that's €4,500 to €16,000 in monthly profit. It's a real business that scales with capital and consistency.
Pros and Cons of Amazon Online Arbitrage
Why Online Arbitrage Is Great
Low barrier to entry. You don't need to create a product, build a brand, or negotiate with factories. Find it cheap, sell it higher.
You can start small. Unlike private label where you might need €5,000+ for inventory, you can start with a few hundred euros.
Flexible schedule. Source when you want, from wherever you want. All you need is a laptop and internet.
Amazon handles fulfillment. With FBA, Amazon stores, ships, and handles customer service. You focus on finding and buying products.
What to Watch Out For
It takes time to learn. Finding profitable products consistently takes practice. Your first few weeks might be slow.
Competition. Popular products attract many sellers, which can push prices down. Finding less obvious deals is key.
Amazon fees change. Keep an eye on FBA fee updates and adjust your calculations accordingly.
Some products are restricted. Not every product can be sold by every seller. Check for brand restrictions and gating before buying. ProfitPath shows restriction warnings directly in the product view, so you never waste money on items you can't sell.
Ready to Start?
Online arbitrage is one of the most accessible ways to build an Amazon business in 2026. You don't need a huge budget, you don't need years of experience, and you don't need to create your own product. Thousands of sellers across Europe started exactly where you are right now. Here's what to do next:
- Download ProfitGo and start analyzing deals for free. It's the easiest way to see if online arbitrage is right for you.
- Find your first profitable product. Use ProfitGo to check prices, fees, and profit margins. Buy 5 to 10 units and ship them to Amazon.
- When you're ready to scale, upgrade to ProfitPath and let the sourcing platform find products for you across 1,000+ European shops.
Thousands of sellers across Europe are already building profitable businesses with online arbitrage. Your turn.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much money do I need to start Amazon online arbitrage?
For online arbitrage, we recommend at least €5,000 to start. If you can invest €10,000, you'll see results faster. For retail arbitrage with FBM, you can start with €1,000 to €2,000, but growth will be slower. Don't forget to budget for running costs like your tax advisor, Amazon seller account, and analysis software.
Is Amazon online arbitrage legal?
Yes, buying products and reselling them on Amazon is completely legal. It's a standard retail business model. You buy at one price and sell at another. Just make sure you comply with local tax regulations and Amazon's seller policies.
How do I find profitable products for online arbitrage?
Use sourcing tools like ProfitGo for deal analysis or ProfitPath for automated product scanning across 1,000+ European shops. They save you hours compared to manual searching.
What's the difference between online arbitrage and retail arbitrage?
Online arbitrage means buying from online shops and reselling on Amazon. Retail arbitrage means buying from physical stores. Both are profitable, but online arbitrage scales faster because you can source from hundreds of shops from your laptop.
What profit margins can I expect from online arbitrage?
Most online arbitrage sellers work with net profit margins between 15% and 20% after all fees. How much profit you make in total depends on how much capital you invest and how consistently you source and sell. Some experienced sellers achieve margins above 25%, especially on seasonal or niche products.
