Hi everyone,I’m starting retail arbitrage on Amazon FBA and looking for advice from experienced sellers. I’ve been scanning products with the Amazon Seller App and doing research, but I still have a few questions.

A few thing I need help with :Finding Ungated Products – What are some good beginner-friendly categories and products that don’t require approval?

Best Retail Stores for Sourcing – Besides Walmart and Target, where do you find the best deals for retail arbitrage?

What are some pitfalls that new sellers should watch out for?

I appreciate any tips or insights you can share. Thanks in advance!

I don't know if I'm the only one experiencing this issue (I doubt it), but Amazon Retail has been creating parent ASINs for my products without filling in the brand attribute. When my products are then placed into this variation family, I lose my contribution ranking since I am no longer viewed as the brand owner. I have been able to get this resolved in most cases, but it is becoming a time drain playing whack-a-mole and having to check my 60+ ASINs on a weekly basis for this issue. I have several products that keep getting placed into these variation families over and over again. One in particular ends up with a German title when this occurs and sales immediately drop off. Opening this discussion is probably just a waste of time, but no more so than what Amazon Retail is causing by continually creating these variation families. I have opened cases where Amazon Retail is given as the creator of the variation, and then later I am told that Amazon Retail doesn't create variations. Any suggestion or help from one of the mods would be appreciated, but honestly not expected.

I understand that Amazon does not allow retail arbitrage and requires invoices instead of receipts. However, I want to clarify that I was not doing retail arbitrage I was sourcing products through the wholesale model and submitted invoices from a legitimate distributor, not store receipts.

Despite this, my request for brand approval was still denied. If retail arbitrage is not allowed, but invoices from distributors are also getting rejected, what is the correct way to get approval?

Are there specific distributors that Amazon is more likely to accept for brands like Johnson’s Baby, Nivea, and Dove? Or is it that these brands simply do not allow third-party sellers at all?