Tactical Arbitrage

Sourcing role

Tactical Arbitrage describes automated searches across online retailers, including a quick-search workflow using cached retail data. It is designed to help an Amazon reseller narrow a large supply search into candidates that can be investigated individually.

The important validation step

Take a small results set and manually compare each proposed match. Check identifiers, product variation, pack quantity, condition and the retailer’s actual availability. A result that looks profitable can become unsuitable when a multipack is matched to a single unit or a promotional price has expired.

Building a repeatable process

Write exclusion rules before increasing scan volume. Include categories your team cannot source reliably, products with uncertain preparation requirements and purchases whose minimum order exceeds your budget. Record the reason for every rejected candidate. Review staff decisions regularly so that larger scans do not simply create more low-quality work.

Purchase considerations

Check the current subscription arrangement with Threecolts, supported retailers, search limits and the age of cached information. Judge the service by the proportion of reviewed candidates that survive your own verification and cost calculation. Do not treat a software result as an instruction to purchase inventory automatically.