Sourcing books without leaving your computer is the fantasy – here’s 20 reasons Zen Arbitrage is the most powerful online book sourcing tool.
In this article: The 20+ reasons Zen Arbitrage is the best online book arbitrage tool.
- Biggest database
- Live FBA offers for 20+ million books
- Historical sales and price history graphs
- Prep service set up
- Automated scan of 40+ sites
- Largest textbook-only database
- Pre-sorted lists of profitable books
- Price-drop monitoring tool
- Live pricing data
- 360-degree support & training
- Export searches to a spreadsheet
- Quickstart webclass
- My cell number
- ISBN analysis service
- Multiple ways to profit (not just one)
- “Save Search” feature
- Only tool run by real Amazon sellers
- Trade-in email alerts
- No-click X-Ray pricing
- Built-In profit tracking
Online book arbitrage is the simple practice of finding cheap books on Amazon, reselling at a higher FBA price, and profiting the difference.
I started teaching online book arbitrage three years ago, built the first tool for it (Zen Arbitrage), and even wrote the book on it (get it free here).
And then the clones arrived
People from outside Amazon selling world saw dollar signs, put on an “Amazon seller” costume, and copied Zen Arbitrage almost to the pixel.
One is called “Book Arbitrage.” Another is called “Eflip.” Funny thing about the clones is that they don’t even try to be better – they rely on two things:
- People lured to promote them with large affiliate commissions.
- Inexperienced sellers who don’t know Zen Arbitrage exists.
The clones are either run by pretend “sellers” who started just before they began selling things to Amazon sellers (time to learn just enough to get by in a blog or controlled Facebook group), or have been caught stealing data from Zen Arbitrage.
Nothing wrong with make a quality tool to sell to a market you’re ignorant on. But when you lie about your experience and steal data… Not cool. No one likes a liar.
Some things can’t be faked, and here are the 20 money-making features and technologies that Zen Arbitrage offers which no other tool does.
(Prediction: They’ll try to clone these as soon as this article goes live.)
1. Zen Arbitrage has the biggest database
This one is pretty simple: The more books you have access to, the more money you make.
Other tools do one of two things:
- Steal their data from Zen Arbitrage.
- Prey on newer & inexperienced sellers who don’t know how small their database really is.
Check out the behind-the-scenes promotional material for one called “Eflip”:
Three million books. Yikes.
No wonder other tools have been caught stealing our data.
Zen Arbitrage has over 22 million books – over 10x the size of “Eflip” in a live side-by-side comparison.
Update: Since this article was originally posted, “Eflip” continued to deceive about their database size, so I went deep cover to prove Zen Arbitrage shows has over 10x the books in our database (i.e. 10x the potential profits). Skip towards the end of the video to see the side-by-side comparison:
We call this our “FBA automator” feature, and its extremely simple: For every book in our database, we show you the lowest FBA offer.
This makes Zen Arbitrage as simple as comparing the price you’re going to pay, with the price your’e going to sell it for, calculating your profits (with our built-in calculator), and cashing in.
Other tools? They try to hide the fact they show you barely any FBA results by giving their “features” goofy names, like “outliers.” We don’t show you “outliers,” we show everything.
It makes online book arbitrage so simple it’s scary. It’s kind of like knowing which stock prices were about to go up.
Sidenote: Other tools consider Zen Arbitrage and our FBA price technology to be such an existential threat, they ban anyone from even mentioning Zen Arbitrage for fear of word getting out. Check out this post from the Zen Arbitrage Facebook group:
3. Embedded historical sales rank & pricing history graphs
We merged the power of Keepa with the power of Zen Arbitrage to bring you our latest no-click technology: Displaying Keepa charts for every book, directly in our search results.
Hover over any result in our database and get an instant graph displaying the historical trends.
These historical graphs come in two forms:
- 6-month sales rank history: revealing sales trends over the last six months.
- 6-month price history: Get a second graph showing six-month pricing trends for new, used, and Amazon-direct prices.
On top of all this, Zen Arbitrage reveals a book’s 12-month average sales rank, so you can know a book’s true demand.
An items current sales rank is basically worthless information. The only measure of an Amazon offer’s true demand is its average rank.
Not gimmick figures and fake “escores” some tools use to skirt around the issue that they don’t show average rank – real sales rank data, directly from Amazon.
Zen Arbitrage already shows 12-month average rank, and our graphs take it one step further.
4. We set you up with a prep service (You’ll never have to touch a book)
This is the Holy Grail: Running an Amazon empire from your computer, without ever touching or seeing a book.
We have a plug-and-play system for making this happen.
5. Automated scan of over 40 other bookselling sites
Save massive money by finding the cheapest copy of any book on the internet – without clicking.
Zen Arbitrage automates the search by letting you hover over any book and see the cheapest copy anywhere on the internet.
6. World’s largest textbook-only database
You can profit off online book arbitrage with all categories of books, but without question the most profitable book category is textbooks.
We have a separate, expertly curated database of over 300,000 textbooks – and our system works 24/7 scouring Amazon and adding the latest textbooks.
7. Zen Arbitrage gives you pre-sorted lists of profitable books (so you can skip searching)
This one is too bonkers to explain in one paragraph.
We offer the world’s first marketplace to buy and sell ISBNs of profitable books (not actual books). This amounts to a huge, pre-sorted list of profitable books (accessible for pennies on the dollar), so you can skip searching altogether.
Example #1: Find a profitable book in our database, but don’t want to order, wait for it to arrive, and then ship it to Amazon and wait for a sale?
List if for sale in the Zen Arbitrage Marketplace, and get paid directly via PayPal by sellers who will pay you money to access the ISBN of the book you found.
Totally digital. Get paid literally to search our database for book gold.
Example #2: Wake up in the morning, don’t feel like searching our database, and want to make a quick $30 before breakfast?
Head over to the Zen Arbitrage Marketplace, where you can search a list of books other users have found for you, and pay them pennies on the dollar.
8. Our price-drop monitoring tool
It happens all the time: You find a book that is just outside your price range. Would be a great buy, but you’re not willing to invest $15 when your cost threshold is $10.
Good news: Amazon is like the stock market. Prices go up and go down all the time, and prices can drop in an instant, only to jump back up again an hour later.
Zen Arbitrage has you covered: Set the amount you’re willing to pay for any book, and Zen Arbitrage will instantly alert you over email when the price drops.
Why did I put one of the most important ones so far down the list? I don’t know, but this one is huge.
For the past year, Zen Arbitrage has been displaying live data (no latency), directly from Amazon.
While other tools rely on archived data that may or may not be accurate, we display live data – accurate down to the second.
10. Full 360-Degree Support & Training
Spoiler: There are parts of our support that are so “unsual,” I gave them separate sections below.
From beginner to advanced, we have you covered in all these forms:
- Training Program: Simply put, our video training program is massive. Access over 60 videos on everything there is to know: From setting up your Amazon FBA account to advanced profit tricks.
- Fast email support: Email anytime, day or night, and get real support from real Amazon sellers.
- Live webinars: Join our live monthly Community Calls where Zen Arbitrage members get on a call, we do some live training togther, hang out, and plan world domination. (Bonus: You can access our entire archive of Community Call recordsin on your free trial.)
- Article Database: Not a video person? We have a full searchable aritcle database covering every aspect of the business.
- Built-In Chat Box: You don’t have to leave Zen Arbitrage to get support – drop your question inside our chat box.
Its worth mentioning again: Our video training program is truly massive.
On one hand, online book arbitrage is pretty simple. On the other, you might want to go deeper into this subject than almost anyone ever has. Our 60+ videos let you do exactly that.
With Zen Arbitrage, you are accessing a virtual PhD in Amazon selling.
11. Export searches to Excel spreadsheet
This one is for you Excel junkies: Take any search in Zen Arbitrage, export it to a spreadsheet, and slice and dice the data anyway you want to find untapped gold. Get columns for average sales rank, title, and lots more to become a miner for hidden profit.
12. 90-minute Quickstart webclass
One of the guiding principles of Zen Arbtirage is getting our members quick momentum.
What’s the fastest way to do that? Our 90-minute on-demand Quickstart webclass, where we cover ever facet of the online book arbitrage business.
You don’t need a 90-minute training to hit the ground running, but if you want a hyper-condensed version of all our training in one video, this is it.
13. My cell number (seriously)
People always think I’m making this up, but it’s true: All Zen Arbitrage members get my personal cell number, so they can reach me anytime for any reason.
I always want to make sure people hit the ground running, so I make myself available over text message to answer any questions you have.
Not answered by some assistant or robot: It’s actually me.
14. Personalized ISBN analysis service
I know one of the biggest questions that comes up when people get started is: “How do I know if I should buy a book or pass on it? How do I know what a good book is?”
That’s why I give all members a standing invitation: Email me me the ISBN of any book you’re considering buying. I’ll analyze any book, tell you if I would buy or pass – and the exact reasons why.
With our “one software, multiple businesses” approach, there a numerous business models within the Zen Arbitrage framework.
Other tools? Just one.
Here are just a few ways you can proift with our dynamic database:
1. Book arbitrage: Our specialty.
2. Trade-in arbitrage: Find books cheaper than their trade-in or cash buyback value.
3. Lead Liquidation: List the ISBNs of profitable books you find for sale to other Zen Arbitrage members in our Arbitrage Marketplace.
4. Access Card Arbitrage: Mine our database for textbooks with access cards that can be sold separately for a profit.
5. Price Drop Arbitrage: Use our laser search options to find underpriced books that can be resold at a profit – even merchant fulfilled.
….and tons more. In fact, it seems like every week I’m learning of ingenious ways Zen Arbitrage members are using our dynamic database to find hidden profit.
There’s a virtually limitless number of ways to set the search options in Zen Arbitrage. So what happens when you find a great search combo that returns a huge amount of book gold?
With any other tool, you’re forced to pull out a napkin and jot down all 12+ search settings, or take a screenshot and hope you can find the file later.
With Zen Arbitrage, we make it simple: Click “save search,” give you search a name, and you can return to it anytime with one click.
17. Only tool run by real Amazon sellers
Unfortunately, some marketers adopt an Amazon seller costume to sell you things. Ask founders of other tools for evidence they are real Amazon sellers. They can’t do it.
A few clues you’re dealing with an imposter:
- Will they answer the question: “How long did you sell on Amazon before you were building products to sell to Amazon sellers?“
- Do they refuse to get on a live webinar or other live medium?
- If they do, do they always keep the chat box private so they aren’t caught off guard?
By “real Amazon sellers,” I’m not talking here about staged photos of faux sellers holding books, or blog posts of material stolen from real sellers: Being an actual Amazon seller, not a person who pretends to be to sell you things.
With Zen Arbitrage, you’re getting real support from longtime Amazon sellers with 10+ years in the game.
18. Trade-in arbitrage price email alerts
Like our price drop email alerts, only opposite: We’ll monitor any book with Amazon trade in value that you want, and email you instantly when the price goes up.
19. No-click X-Ray pricing (aka we show shipping cost in all prices)
Another huge one.
While other tools force you to click over to Amazon to see shipping prices, Zen Arbitrage displays the full price you’ll pay for each book – shipping included.
We call this “X-Ray Pricing,” and its based on our guiding principle: We don’t want you to have to leave Zen Arbitrage for anything. Not for training, not for tracking sales, not for shipping costs.
Know the full amount you’ll pay for your books – no surprises.
Bottom line: Boycott any tool that forces you to do their work for them.
20. Built in profit & sales tracking
Yet another feature that eliminates the need to subscribe to outside tools or (even worse) use spreadsheets. (Any tool who tells you to track your profits and sales with a spreadsheet is living in 2008).
With our built-in profit and sales tracking tool, you can:
- Track all purchases.
- Track all sales.
- Track all profits.
- Sort by date.
- Export all purchases & sales to a spreadsheet.
I’ll say it again: Boycott any tool that forces you to do their work for them.
(Okay I lied. There’s more than 20 reasons…)
21. Total integration
Our guiding principle with Zen Arbitrage is that we don’t want you to have to leave Zen Arbitrage to do anything: No clicking to other sites, no “upsells,” no other paid tools required.
We call this “total integration.” With Zen Arbitrage, you get a complete “business in a box” (without the box).
Total Integration, Part One: The Resources
- The tools.
- The training.
- The support.
- The community.
Total Integration, Part Two: The Automation
- Outsource your shipping. (our prep service)
- Outsource your sourcing. (our ISBN Marketplace)
- Outsource everything else. (our virtual assistant training)
Any one of these 20+ features can make you significant money. When added together, well… you can do the math.
Want to see more?
Check out videos of how it works here:
Start your free trial here:
Using any other tool?
Email [email protected] and I’ll set you up with a special deal you won’t turn down.
Don’t want to pay for a tool, and want to do online book arbitrage totally free?
No problem. When I got started on Amazon, I had no money to afford any paid tools (not even a scanning app or PDA). So I get it.
I have a free book on how to do online book arbitrage “the old fashioned way” – with no paid tools.
Just cover printing and shipping ($6.90) and I’ll ship the book to your door.
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Peter everything you’ve said here is true. A lot of people have left “the other guys” facebook group because of his ignorance about Amazon and bookselling and creepy car salesman vibe. Can’t trust someone whos been caught lying more than once. I’ll admit I did check out eflip to compare and with every search zen arbitrage had almost twice as many results. Yours is better in every way.
I won’t mention the names, but virtually all the other book arbitrage solutions are scams, they don’t work, or they’re just there to take (a LOT of) your money. A Zen customer contacted me and said he got stuck so Peter Valley spoke to him BY PHONE. Zen is the best, ignore the rest. My #1 tip for new Zen users: Absorb ALL the training material/FAQ/help videos you get when you sign up. Zen isn’t “push button” but when it’s done right, it’s pretty darn close!
What he said.
PS: Jordan posts more often than I do, so get on his list ASAP: http://jordanmalik.com/blog/
Mr Valley:
I am so glad I found this page and your information. I have seen and experienced the propoganda concerning the C3R(CCCR-“CopyCatC___R___”) “product” that you mentioned here. It disgusts me that someone would premeditate a sinister plan to disguise themself as a trustworthy fan, only to STEAL your data/product and sell it as their own “invention”. I’d rather go hungry than steal someone’s work and sell it as my own. But then, I have a conscience and I know karma is real.
The best news is that your product runs circles around this thief’s attempt to repackage your success and sell it to us unsuspecting neophytes.
I look forward to using Zen Arbitrage as I cancel my “free trial” with the black market, pretend arbitrage, scamware. So glad I found your program sooner than later.
It says a great deal about your character that you would share this with the public to use and prosper WITH you, instead of hiding it away for your sole use and profit. I look forward to learning from you and working with you and the others in your community.
Thanks, and I’ll fill in the blanks you were far too polite to do yourself: Caleb Roth.