How to see the FBA offers on your scanning app that Amazon doesn’t want you to see: A guest post from Nathan Holmquist of Scanlister.
Introduction by me, Peter Valley.
Amazon sourcing apps aren’t showing you FBA data anymore. That’s why the next two posts are important.
This is the first of two articles on how FBA sellers can interpret the data they can see to determine which products have a high likelihood of high-priced FBA offers (or none at all) – without having to click through to the Amazon website.
This is some next-level stuff, but it’s not complicated. Basically products with no FBA offers (or high-priced FBA offers) leave clues, footprints we can look for. When you can spot the evidence, it’s like having x-ray goggles.
Understanding this gives you a massive edge over nearly all other FBA sellers.
(And if you had no idea your scanning app isn’t showing you most FBA offers anymore, you absolutely must read this article first.)
***Begin guest post***
Seeing invisible FBA offers your app won’t show
By Nathan Holmquist
For this post, I’m going to discuss my personal buying criteria when sourcing books. I’m also going to show how to determine when there are FBA offers (even though the scanner may not show it).
Remember, third-party apps do not show all the FBA offers. In 2012, Amazon changed their API formula which only shows the top 20 competitive offers. Therefore, if there are any FBA offers past the 20th position, they will not show up. This is especially relevant for books, since many have hundreds of sellers for each listing.
Here are some specific examples of some books that I have rejected and accepted. The screenshots are from Scoutly.
Reject Example #1 – All Merchant Fulfilled (MF) offers are 1 Penny
The first thing I do is look at all five of the MF offers. If all five of the offers are listed at $.01, I do not buy – even if the scanner shows no FBA offers. There is a good chance that there are some FBA sellers in the $5-6 range. The scanner is not showing FBA sellers because Amazon considers the penny sellers more competitive. See picture below.
Reject Example #2 – Low FBA Price is under $8
If there are any prices above 1 penny or more in the MF column, then I look at the FBA column. If there are any FBA sellers below $8, I would not buy.
The situation is better. There are less overall sellers and the MF values are higher than $.01. As a result, if there are any FBA sellers present, there is a much better chance they will actually show up on the scanner. In this case, two FBA sellers are showing. Since one of them is under $8, I personally would not buy this book.
Accept Example #1 – Low FBA Price is above $8
If there are any FBA offers at $8 or more, I would buy. Here is an example below. This is getting close to my minimum listing price of $9.95. I would be willing to list this book at $9.95 even though there are some sellers at a cheaper price.
Accept Example #2 – No FBA Sellers and MF Column has Value
If there are no FBA sellers AND the Merchant fulfilled columns has offers above one penny, I would buy. Here’s an example.
In short, the higher the spread of MF offers the better. This means there are a low number of sellers, a low number of FBA sellers, and a better likelihood of the FBA prices being accurate on the scanner
If all of this is very confusing there is another simpler approach that I use. If any of the offers in the MF column are over $2, I would buy. There is a very good chance that I could sell those books at $9.95 or higher.
Since this buying criterion involves buying books with lower value, the following is recommended:
- The book cost less than $1. Preferably 50 cents or less.
- The books are listed at a minimum FBA price of $9.95. Many Amazon customers will buy an FBA book for $9.95 even when there are MF offers selling the same book for pennies.
- A repricing program to price and re-price the books. In my opinion, taking the time to manually price each book is very time consuming. I use Repriceit.com.
- The books are listed in bulk. Since the minimum profit is around $3-4, I don’t want to spend much time listing.
- A database scanner. ASellerTool and Neatoscan have options where Amazon’s data can be stored on your phone or PDA. As a result, each scan is instantaneous.
Nathan Holmquist has been selling books on Amazon FBA since 2007. He runs a blog at BooktotheFuture.com and is the founder of the bulk-listing software ScanLister.com.
This is so fantastically useful! Thanks so much Nathan and Peter and looking forward to part 2.
Thank you for your comment Josh. I’m glad you found the article useful!
I agree. This is very helpful. Looking forward to part 2 and more online arbitrage info.
Thanks John. I am also looking forward to part 2. I’m curious to what Peter’s view is on this subject.
Thank you so much for this. Question: In example three, if the FBA used price was higher than the MF new price including shipping, is that something that can work? In other words, do you find that FBA “used” books sell even if the price is greater than then MF “new” price. I have always avoided listing higher than MF “new” but have been wondering if I am leaving money on the table?
Hi Eric,
I have sold books were the FBA price was $10-20 higher than the lowest MF new price. In my opinion, the only real competition is other FBA sellers and Amazon themselves.
Regards,
Nathan
That’s great to know. Thank you Nathan!
Thank you for another easy to understand article! Nathan, you’ve been such a huge help and inspiration for this newbie. You rock.
Thank you Barbara. I’m glad you enjoyed the article!
Hi Nathan,
In an earlier post you have said that when using Asellertool, FBAscan that you set your triggers at a minimum offer price of .49 cents and a maximum rank of 2 million. Do you find that to still be a useful setting or do you have better advice?
I have been using those parameters for some time now and am open to any suggestions.
Peter… love what you share. I have all your books and really appreciate your insights!
Thanks so much!!
Hi Jim,
Yes, that trigger setting still works.
Great post.
I am obsessed with this issue. And have Nathan to thank for helping me figure this out a few months ago.
I have been using this method: I put a lot of emphasis on the total number of sellers combined with the rank. After thousands of scans, if you pay attention to the trinity of 3 stats (low prices, rank, # of sellers), and try to guess what the lowest FBA price is, then click through to see if you are right, you can get very good at predicting that low FBA price. Plus it is fun.
But even just the 2 stats of # of seller and rank are powerful.
I find that even for flooded books (massive number of penny sellers), if the rank is low enough, there can still be FBA value hiding there. The opposite is also true: for dry books (very low number of sellers), even with a high-ish rank, there can be FBA value in the book even with penny MF sellers present. Both these calculations have little to do with price, and I find them useful.
David
This is *exactly* what my next post is about. Stay tuned in the next day or so.
Nathan,
Would you buy if there’s a MF >2 but a fba <8?
At what price would you buy a book over 2mil in rank?
Would you buy a book with no rank?
Thanks!
I probably wouldn’t buy it unless the book was in like condition with an excellent rank.
I will buy books with a ranking over 2 million if I can make over a $10 profit on it.
I normally do not buy books without a rank.
As always, Nathan, thank you for the insights. I’ve figured SOME of this stuff out through a lot of trial & error since Amazon changed their MWS but learned some more here! Have you ever discussed your repriceit templates anywhere? I’ve been using them awhile and still find sometimes that I sell books below where I would’ve wanted. I know there is something in my templates that needs tweaking.
Is there a Part II? Or is it, like Chekov’s gun, waiting to be dramatically revealed in the third act? 🙂
The subsequent post was the “Part II.” Sorry for the confusion.