Is retail arbitrage still profitable in 2025?

Can I make money on Amazon as a college student?

How much profit does Amazon actually make from seller fees?

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I'll answer each of these questions in today's newsletter.

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(plus a bonus tip for opting out of a useless Amazon feature that you probably didn't even know you were using)

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Let's dive in.

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Full Time Amazon Seller 🤝 Full Time College Student

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I sat down with full-time college student and Wholesale Network community member Cameron Richard.

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He started with arbitrage then graduated to wholesale where he's routinely spending $10-20K (or more) with brands.

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No joke - here's one of his brand direct POs from last week:

This purchase order should net him over $4,000.

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He graduates in a few months. Needless to say he will not be getting a "normal" job.

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Click Here For The Full Interview

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Retail Arbitrage - Dead Or Alive?

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You probably expected me to say that RA is dead in 2025.

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But that would be completely false.

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Retail arbitrage can seem like a hamster wheel of constantly driving around town to source products.

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And it is.

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But savvy retail arbitrage sellers are treating it like a wholesale business.

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They're building relationships with store managers, getting access to better pricing and exclusive deals in the process.

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And just this week arts & crafts giant Jo Ann announced hundreds of store closures.

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This is a perfect opportunity to build relationships with managers of Jo Ann stores to potentially buy some of their inventory at huge discounts.

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There is an astronomical amount of money to be made from this exact strategy.

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Click Here For The Full Story On Jo Ann Store Closures

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Opt-Out Of This Amazon Program ASAP

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I'm talking about the In Stock Head Start program.

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It seems like a great opportunity on paper - customers get to buy your products before they check into FBA.

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But the reality is a bit different.

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Long lead times coupled with FC transfers and other unforeseen delays can tie up your inventory for weeks.

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In my opinion, this negates the benefit that both sellers and customers would get from this program.

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Most of the mega sellers that I know hate this program and opted-out years ago.

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Simply type "in stock head start" in your Seller Central search bar and pause the service.

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Click Here To Learn About In Stock Head Start

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How Much Is Amazon Making Off Seller Fees?

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One thing is for sure - Amazon is making a killing off the fees they charge to third party sellers.

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But what isn't quite as clear is exactly how much they're profiting from those fees.

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I found this article discussing Amazon's fees and profit centers to be extremely interesting.

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The key takeaways:

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• Last year Amazon seller fees accounted for more than 29% of Amazon's non-AWS revenue (a 32% increase from 2019)

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• Amazon lumps all non-AWS revenue into 2 buckets (North America and International) making it difficult to determine true profitability of seller fees

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But the craziest stat of all:

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Amazon brought in $150 billion in seller fees in 2024.

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According to the article, if that revenue stream was its own corporation, it would rank inside the Fortune 25.

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The sheer scale of Amazon is insane. You can read the full article below:

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Click Here To Read The Full Article

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Hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter.

If you did, hit reply and let me know. I read/respond to all of them.

And remember...

You're only one supplier away!

-Corey

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