How to Build an Online Arbitrage Buy List in 30 Minutes

1. What an Online Arbitrage Buy List Actually Is

A buy list is a spreadsheet of products you've already vetted and decided to purchase. Each row has the store, the source URL, the buy price, the Amazon ASIN, your net profit after fees, and your ROI percentage.

You don't spend a dollar until the product is on that list and passed your filters. That discipline stops you from buying random products on impulse at 11 PM because the margin "looked okay."

The buy list is the foundation of the full OA system. If you're new to how this business model works, start here first: how online arbitrage works on Amazon.

2. Why You Need One Before You Spend Anything

Most beginners buy reactively. They find a product, the numbers look decent, they click buy. An hour later they do it again with something else. There's no system, no tracking, and no way to review what worked.

The result: a mix of inventory that sells fast, inventory that sits for months, and zero clarity on which sourcing decisions made money.

Sellers running $10K-$100K per month all source first and buy second. The buy list enforces that separation.

3. The 3 Tools You Need Before You Start

You don't need to spend $200/month on software to build your first buy list. Three tools cover it:

1. SellerAmp SAS or Revseller - browser extension for instant profit and eligibility checks. My Revseller vs. SellerAmp comparison breaks down which one fits your stage.
2. Keepa - price history and sales rank trends. The free tier works when you're starting out.
3. Google Sheets - columns: Store | Source URL | Buy Price | ASIN | Amazon Price | Net Profit | ROI | Decision.

No Tactical Arbitrage subscription required. You can build a solid buy list with those three tools in one sitting.

4. Step 1 - Pick Your Stores and Category (Minutes 0-5)

Don't try to source everywhere at once. Pick 2-3 stores per session. Good starting points: Walmart.com, Target, Walgreens, CVS, Home Depot. Rotate them across sessions.

Pick a category you're already approved to sell in. If you haven't gotten ungated yet, read this before you waste an hour sourcing products you can't list: how to get ungated on Amazon.

Set a 5-minute timer. Open your first store, go to the clearance or deals section, and start scrolling.

5. Step 2 - Pull 20 to 40 Candidates (Minutes 5-15)

This phase is collection. Skim through products that might have margin and paste the store URL plus the buy price into your spreadsheet.

Aim for 20-40 candidates in 10 minutes. Three minutes per product burns the whole session. Grab the link, grab the price, move on.

If you're using sourcing software, set your filters to flag products with at least 30% ROI and a BSR under 100,000 in your chosen category. That narrows the candidate pool before you open the sheet.

6. Step 3 - Qualify or Kill Each Lead in 60 Seconds (Minutes 15-22)

Getting fast at yes/no decisions separates $2K months from $20K months.

"Most of the leads that you are going to look at, you're going to disqualify them." Chris Mangunza, Unbelievable Results From a $100 Leads List (June 2023)

Most leads die in this step. Run each candidate through this filter:

1. Profit check: Open SellerAmp. Does this hit 30% ROI and at least $3.00 net profit at the current Amazon buybox price? If no, kill it.
2. Eligibility check: Are you approved to sell this ASIN? Restricted, IP complaint flag, or hazmat - kill it.
3. Competition check: Count the FBA sellers at or near the buybox price right now. Eight or more is a warning sign.

Products that pass all three go to your "maybe" column. Delete everything else and keep moving.

7. Why Paid Lead Lists Are a Trap

I get asked about lead lists at least once a week. Students want to know if they should pay $100-$300/month for a service that sends them products to buy. My answer hasn't changed.

"I'm going to tell you why you should not buy lead lists. Because if you believe that they are a shortcut to success on Amazon, you are just wrong. Let me just tell you - you are wrong." Chris Mangunza, The SHOCKING Truth About Online Arbitrage Leads Lists (May 2023)

The math explains it: by the time a paid lead list reaches your inbox, every other subscriber on that list saw the same product. They're buying the same inventory and shipping it to FBA at the same time. Then they all list on the same ASIN. Price tanks and margins disappear.

A list you built yourself is the only one where you found the product first.

8. Step 4 - Keepa Check Before You Commit (Minutes 22-26)

Every lead in your "maybe" column gets a Keepa check before it moves to "buy."

You're looking for two things: price stability over the last 90+ days, and a sales rank that moves. A product sitting at BSR 180,000 for 6 months is not selling. A product that bounces between BSR 8,000 and 45,000 is moving units.

If the Amazon price dropped fast in the last 30 days, find out why before you send inventory. That kind of crash usually means a bunch of sellers flooded the listing. My Keepa graph tutorial shows you how to read those patterns and spot trouble before you buy.

9. Step 5 - Lock In the Final Numbers (Minutes 26-30)

Your "maybe" list is now a short list. For every product that passed the Keepa check, you run the final math.

I use SellerAmp or the Amazon FBA fee calculator to confirm four things:

• Net profit per unit after all FBA fees, not the referral fee alone
• ROI at the current buybox price - not best-case price, not 30-day peak price
• Estimated monthly sales from BSR data
• How many units you can sell in 30-60 days

If it still passes at 30%+ ROI and $3.00+ net, it goes in your "buy" column. If the numbers shifted since your first filter, cut it. Don't rationalize a bad ROI because you spent 90 seconds on the product.

10. How to Protect Yourself From Price Tanking

Price tanking is the single biggest margin killer for new OA sellers. You buy at $16 cost expecting to sell at $34, and by the time your shipment checks in at FBA, every seller has dropped to $21.

You build that protection at the sourcing stage, before you order:

"You need to choose better products. You need to apply those strategies before actually purchasing your product." Chris Mangunza, The BEST Strategies to Avoid Price Tanking on Amazon (Feb 2023)

The practical rules: require 30% ROI at the current Amazon buybox price, not the 30-day high. Confirm 90-day price stability in Keepa. For any product you haven't sold before, buy 2-3 units max on the first order. Prove it moves before you go deeper.

If you're worried about fees eating into those margins before you calculate ROI, read my breakdown of Amazon FBA fees explained so you know every number going in.

11. What to Do When Your Buy List Is Done

Batch your purchases. Don't buy one product on Monday, another on Wednesday, and three more Friday. Do all your buying in a single session once the list is complete.

Batching your orders is how cashback stacking pays off. If you're routing purchases through portals like Rakuten or TopCashback, hitting a store's purchase threshold in one transaction beats spreading orders across multiple sessions. I cover the full strategy in my post on cashback stacking for online arbitrage.

After you order, update your spreadsheet with order numbers, expected arrival dates, and which prep center each shipment is going to. Your buy list becomes your inventory tracker. The same sheet follows each order from purchase through FBA check-in.

I run this entire process live every Thursday at 8 PM EST. Reserve your free seat here and watch me build a real buy list on screen.

12. Next Steps

You now have the 30-minute buy list framework. Five posts to go deeper on each piece of the system:

• How to Find Profitable Online Arbitrage Products
• The Online Arbitrage Daily Routine That Scales
• Best Online Arbitrage Software Ranked
• Keepa Chrome Extension Tutorial for Amazon FBA
• Online Arbitrage Mistakes Beginners Make