I recently went to a few retail stores to buy some things, and I decided to scan some products. I found decent deals. I went to the till and asked if they would stop me from buying in bulk, and I was told that I could buy the whole store if I wanted, just not gift cards in bulk, which is fine.
I will be provided with a VAT receipt but not a proper invoice. I asked them to show me a receipt to see how it looks, and I could see the details of the store, product names, VAT breakdown, etc., but of course, my details were missing.
For those experienced with RA, how do you go about it? I know from others that they get the receipt and take photos with the stock, just in case they need it. Any other advice on how to handle possible violations like authenticity complaints, etc.?
I would like to explore this business model and see how well it works for me. In general, I would like to go for a minimum 10% margin.
Save yourself from the frustrating questions store employees ask. It’s too much work to keep everything organized - photos of stock, receipts, and all that. You’re better off going for a run instead.
What many people do is pay everything and ask them to send it to the prep center. You can do that in some retailers, of course they will charge you a fee.
Not sure what the wireless reception is like in UK stores, but here in the States, it can be hit or miss. I’d suggest getting a mobile hotspot for those times when there’s no free WiFi.
And I’m not sure how it works with bags over there, but in Canada, you’ve got to bring your own. I use trunk organizers to keep everything tidy and maximize my trips—they’re a game changer!
Oh, and one more tip: grab an Eyoyo scanner. It’ll make your life so much easier.
Good luck with your new adventure and enjoy the ride!
I had minimum 50% ROI, over $5 profit, and BSR under 150k.
These rules protected my items from price tankers/price dips. And, also kept me from putting a whole lot of effort for a measly 17 cents profit.
These are just guidelines. If I wanted to, I broke my own rules but I did so knowing what I was doing and was OK with it. (Like, if I could make $100 on an item but ROI was only 32%, I was OK with that.)
I agree with you except for the Eyoyo. Not because you are wrong, but I’m such a slow shopper and take forever to decide if an item is a good buy for RA that the 1 minute (maybe 2 minutes) I would save are irrelevant to how long it takes me to find good items.
I suspect that you move and scan faster than me. I’m just a slow shopper.
I don’t know what store you are in but if they have a way you can buy online, you would probably have all the information you need to make a receipt that highly resembles an invoice. Especially if you add extra information in “Address Line 2”.
For a while until the store shut down, I was buying at a discount store (Amazon Bin Store) new items and sending it in FBA. Amazon never questioned it except when they lost a shipment or when there was an IP complaint. Then I lost money. Just another expense in the business. As I was getting such good deals, I still had pretty good ROI.
As for being self-conscious about standing around scanning items… Get over it. I would be more concerned about some of the stuff I’ve seen you do in public then being a scanner for items at a store. You don’t strike me as shy. And if you are with your kids, have them help you and offer them a finder’s fee if they get you an item with good ROI. Heck, if they get good at sourcing, you might consider getting them phones to do the whole comparison of items to buy. Teach the what dad does. And you can roll the finder’s fee (and extra phones) into an expense for tax purposes.
You would technically be fine in RA with receipts. I do RA but don’t usually scan products in-store, as I have replenishable items that I purchase regularly. I’ve never had any issues submitting my receipts for lost products or even when I had a Section 3 issue. However, I did provide complete details of my card transaction in Section 3 for all my invoices/receipts. On the other hand, I’ve had a hard time using order details or confirmations to request reimbursements in the US.
I’m 90% into retail arbitrage, and I don’t care what people think of me scanning. Most people are too busy thinking about themselves anyway. Use a credit card and take photos of the products with the matching receipts. Great ROI if you catch sales and use coupons.