Are you happy with the number you see in your bank account? Are you even making a profit?
After all, most businesses take at least a year to get out of the red and into the black, and plenty of companies never even take off altogether.
Every entrepreneur aspires to build a successful business – you know, one of those things where product sales continually flow out, revenue grows, and profits climb sky-high.
However, according to Forbes, 80% of businesses fail.
Zen Arbitrage – like most eCommerce programs – wants you to believe you can build and run a successful business that’s automated, profitable, and generates cash around the clock in less than 90 days…
With just a couple hundred dollars in inventory…
…maybe you could even do all this from the beach?
Sounds a little too good to be true, huh?
Look, as far as most online businesses go, you could do a lot worse than selling books online.
But does that mean it’s the best solution for you?
That’s what we’ll find out in this Zen Arbitrage review.
The biggest things you have to consider here are:
- Inventory Management
- Product Selection
- Time to Profit
While you can make good money with Amazon FBA book sales, it’s not as easy or simple as most course creators make it sound. Let’s break these 3 down real fast:
1) Inventory Management: If you’re doing an FBA business, the promise is that you don’t need to worry at all about inventory, because Amazon takes care of packing, shipping, customer service, etc.
However, you still need to get products to Amazon. And Amazon has very strict rules all sellers have to follow when preparing products for their warehouses.
This includes packaging, labeling, and registering products in their system. If you’re preparing all products yourself, you’ll spend a TON of time on this step (potentially 4-5 hours a day). So if you’re looking for a passive, automated business that runs itself, this might not be the best fit.
Now, yes, you can hire an Amazon prep center to do all this for you, but that eats into your margins. And remember that Amazon takes around 30-40% in fees for using the FBA program, so your profits are pretty tight to begin with.
2) Product Selection: E-commerce is a cyclical business. “Hot” products are always going in and out of fashion, which means, as an Amazon seller, you constantly need to be on the lookout for the next big thing.
That means monitoring trends, searching for products that might be popular down the line, and constantly in a rat race to – essentially – predict the future.
Sure, you can play in the evergreen market (things people always need and buy), but how much profit margin are you really going to get on meal prep containers, rubber spatulas, and golf umbrellas? Especially when there are hundreds of thousands of other sellers all swimming in that same ocean.
And because you’re constantly hunting for new hot products to sell, that takes up all the valuable time you could be using to travel, explore, read, surf, hike, or whatever else.
3) Time To Profit: Now, this isn’t the slowest turnaround time, but if you think you can put a dollar into inventory today and come out with two tomorrow, you’re sadly mistaken. From the time you first buy products to sell, you could be looking at anywhere from 4-12 weeks before you see a dollar come back.
And it could take twice as long before you break even.
Now, that’s not terrible, but what if you could start building a different (non-Amazon) income stream today, and see your first profits tomorrow?
What if you could build a passive income stream that’s actually passive?
An income stream that doesn’t require:
- Inventory
- Low margins
- Constantly looking for the next hot product
An income stream that brings in consistent revenues every single month (from a couple thousand dollars to well over $10,000)?
An income stream you could actually build in your spare time, and grow as large or as small as you want to, without having to spend hours a day packing, prepping, and researching?
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out Digital Real Estate!
However, if you’d still like to know more about Zen Arbitrage, keep reading.
Overview
Zen Arbitrage is a program run by Peter Valley that teaches you how to turn cheap books into profitable books via your Amazon seller account. Amazon FBA has been declining in its efficiency in recent years, but Valley insists you can still make good money on the platform.
But are the lessons of Zen Arbitrage legit? And how much does this all cost, anyway?
Let’s dive in and find out.
What Is Zen Arbitrage?
Zen Arbitrage is a custom-made online book arbitrage.
The whole idea of a Zen Arbitrage is built on custom-built software developed by Peter Valley, the company’s founder.
Essentially, the software is used to search for books that you can buy and resell anywhere in the world with a mark-up on Amazon FBA.
The software scans for prices of Amazon new and/or used books then compares them with the current prices of books on FBA that have the same or similar condition.
For example, I found one for $51.73 from the cheapest source, including sales tax and shipping, which I can resell for $119.99 and get a good profit of $33.86.
The program allows you to see whether there are other book sellers who offer the same book at a lower price.
It also uses a calculator option where you can enter the amount you might pay for the book and the current price on Amazon FBA less the Amazon fees which are automatically deducted by the calculator, giving you an approximation of your profit margin on that specific book.
Unfortunately, the calculator does not account for sales tax, so if you live in a state that charges tax on online orders, you must compute the cost with the sales tax manually, and input it into the profit calculator.
How Does It Work?
- Search Amazon for books using the book arbitrage tool.
- Calculate the book’s FBA price. including the taxes and fees.
- Calculate to find out whether the listing price of the book is competitive.
- Purchase the books online and have them delivered to your office, home, prep &pack firm, or FBA warehouse.
- Post it for sale and begin receiving orders.
Peter Valley, an Amazon veteran since 2007, is the man behind the Zen Arbitrage subscription.
Among the Amazon Sellers online courses he designed and created are Feedback Autopilot, FBA Mastery, Book Sourcing Science, Textbook Annihilation or Trade in Arbitrage.
They’re basically all the same thing.
Who Is Peter Valley?
Peter is a serial author (not a serial killer, despite the image above) who has been selling on Amazon since 2007. Before anybody had thought much of “online shopping,” Peter has mastered it via the Amazon platform.
He has also authored several books on the ‘Art of Selling Books on Amazon,’ with not one, but a total of 14 books about the subject.
He is also in the business of training and teaching people and is an authority figure in this area. Many have had successful results who were mentored and trained under him using the program.
Besides this, he also runs a YouTube channel where he shares valuable information about buying and reselling books on Amazon.
He developed this program to make the process of identifying and screening books for future sale easier.
What’s Inside Zen Arbitrage?
Peter Valley’s approach allows you to buy books from Amazon and resell them through Amazon FBA.
Unfortunately, selling books won’t really get you that far because of the very low profit margin in this line of business.
But Why Does The Profit Have To Be Low With Books?
With Zen Arbitrage, some people have sold a $5-book for $70.
The idea of this system had me scratching my head, curious to know why one would buy on Amazon and again, sell through Amazon FBA.
What’s the need for such a program when you can just go to regular Amazon and purchase a book at a cheaper price?
Well, not every order you find in Amazon is “fulfilled” by them. We all know that there are loads of resellers on the site which mostly are not very trustworthy.
So when an order is “fulfilled by Amazon,” people tend to trust more – and may be willing to pay more.
Amazon ensures secure delivery and follows strict precautions that other third-party sellers do not do.
Additionally, someone with Prime may prioritize Amazon Fulfilled products since they may be eligible for a two-day delivery.
Features Of Zen Arbitrage
1. Huge Database
The program has a large database of books. When a person considers purchasing fewer books, the huge selection of books available will drive them insane.
Unlike other sites which contain roughly 3 million books, the Zen Arbitrage platform boasts of approximately 21 million.
They also have ten times higher return rate than any other method. If a person is still unable to locate a book, they can browse from more than 40 websites offered just by the program.
To compare, eFlip and Zen Arbitrage are both great for book arbitrage, but eFlip has some advantages over Zen Arbitrage because the tool can be used for flipping different products such as Vinyl, CD’s, DVD’s, and so on. Generally, it relies on the requirements of the user.
2. Laser-Precise Search Options
Many options are available for searching, including the sales rank, number of offers, book category, new or used price, title, and Amazon’s pricing.
The search choices are quite straightforward and can assist them in getting to where they want to go. This saves you the trouble of browsing through pages and remembering every single one.
3. FBA Automator Present
Zen arbitrage can automatically:
- Scan for books across 40+ sites.
- Obtain real-time FBA pricing.
- Obtain real-time 3PL pricing data.
- Obtain real-time shipping costs.
- Track your profitability and sales.
- (On Legal Permissions): Check if the book can be sold before buying.
- Forecast wasted investments: Do not hoard books which you cannot sell.
- Provide Real-time price history charts: With the use of the Keepa API
- Provide Real-time sales history charts
- Trends and profits: Identify the books the books that are trending in real time plus their profits
4. Biggest Book Arbitrage Video Library
The program contains the largest arbitrage library in the world.
There are books for every skill level available on the site which is very helpful for someone looking to make money online.
This video library helps people make the best judgment possible based on projected investments, future profitability, and long-term sales.
The arbitrage library carries more than 50 videos.
5. Textbook Database
No other sites have ever supplied textbook databases on book sales and purchases.
Furthermore, there’s nothing formal about the database, yet it has a selected compilation of more than 300,000 textbooks as well as a library of more than 20 million web-based materials.
You’ll find a lot to discover in this platform and your options are almost entirely limitless.
6. Historic Rank And Sales Data
There are data available online on previous sales and rankings.
This enables you to make the best selection of books and identify which of them has seen a lower profit in the market. In this way, it will help you avoid making lesser profits and makes zero-loss percentage.
Also, it helps you make the best selection of books and identify which of them has seen a lower profit in the market. In this way, it helps you avoid making lesser profits and reduces the loss percentage, even down to zero.
You can also find sales history charts in real time and also projected wasted investment.
7. Arbitrage Marketplace
The program not only guides and provides purchase alternatives for books, but it also offers a platform for selling.
Aside from selling on Amazon FBA, the Arbitrage Marketplace allows you to acquire and sell leads to increase your income.
This is yet another unique Zen Arbitrage feature which nobody else has offered.
8. Business In A Box
It’s not uncommon to find products and services which have features that charge you extra for unlocking them.
But this isn’t the case with Zen Arbitrage. With the monthly subscription fee, you get everything – no surprises.
In other words, all you have to buy is the Zen Arbitrage software and you’re good to go – it’s a business in a box indeed.
9. 10 Ways To Arbitrage
Zen Arbitrage provides ten different ways to earn from your arbitrage:
- Searching
- Selling leads
- And buying leads
- and seven other ways!
If you want to purchase or sell leads, they also provide a lead liquidation service that’s exclusive to the software to help you with selling your books.
Zen Arbitrage users get access to a special arbitrage books marketplace.
10. Price Drop Alert Feature
Every time the price of a book drops, an automated message is sent to notify you.
11. And More Features
- Full training inclusive of 50 videos
- Live monthly webinars
- Peter Valley’s cell number!
- Email and chat support
- No commitments or contracts
- 100% web-based
- Prep service partner
- Private Facebook group for Zen Arbitrage members
Zen Arbitrage Customer Reviews
Let’s get some feedback from the people:
“I trusted this man with what little money I had left, trying to get my family on it’s feet. Sure it was a gamble on my part, but little did I know it was going to be a SCAM. This man said time, and time again he would show me the “world of making money.” Well now I know how HE MAKES HIS MONEY. I paid his start up fees, and was supposedly going to get guidance on his so called “SOFTWARE”.
I never got a lick of help, after time and time again asking for what I was promised. I was told it is a SIMPLE program. After months of trying, I never got a single profit that his SO CALLED SOFTWARE was going to be EASY to help me profit. After I was down and out all the money I threw at this shady character, I asked a refund. I was told that if I was not happy, I would receive a refund. Multiple times I have tried, and tried to get in touch with Mr. Valley and his “Team”, I was basically non existant in their “world of money”. I never one time found a profit that I was guaranteed that I would find.
If you are looking to do business with this man, you are better off throwing your money in a blender, cause that’s all about you are going to get!!!”
Oof, not great! Let’s dig into another:
“Peter Valley or so he says that is his name is the biggest scamming ripoff con artist I have ever encountered in all of my years.
Peter Valley of Zen Arbitrage, zenarbitrage, zenarbitrage.com and he has now changed his site to just zenarbitrage.co I bet the name change to try and run away from his scams he is running. He runs a complete and total scam of a website and supposed software program.
I purchased his “software” and “program” several months ago and am still trying to fight to get my money back.
He offers a software program called zen arbitrage that is supposed to allow you to find books to resell on Amazon. The software program doesn’t work at all. Nada. All of the data in his software is either old or fake or both. It is impossible to find any deals at all with his program. Total ripoff.
Worse is the fact that he is just a total arrogant jerk of a person. When I showed him exact examples of how his software didn’t work at all and pointed out his training was a joke he absolutely refused to give me a refund. Not only did he refuse to give me a refund but he charged me several more times the very next day!!!! I don’t know if he was storing my credit card information or what but the very next day 4 more charges appeared on my statement.
This is illegal and he should be arrested.
He flat our refuses to refund me and stated, “hell will freeze over before I give you a dime of your money back” “so what if I rip off other programs and bad mouth them that has nothing to do with your refund”
I have since learned by looking at his blog and more online research that all he does is rip off other software programs and I called him out on that. He actually admits directly to this in one of his blog posts and brags about how he stole another software program and admitted to me in an email. Lunacy.
There are wayyyyyyy better programs out there. I plan to do whatever it takes to get my money back from this scammer. Run far away.”
Is Zen Arbitrage A Scam?
So, is Zen Arbitrage a scam? Not technically. You can make money with this program, but it’s definitely not as easy as Peter Valley makes it sound.
There’s a ton of work to be done upfront, no real guarantee of success, and – most importantly – you need to do a ton of volume to make any real money.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with front-loading the work and making the money later.
But if you’re grinding it out for 3 months, $3-5k in the hole on ads (because that whole “get started with $5 a day” thing is total BS) and then your reward is 15% profit on a $12 product (which comes out to $1.80), it’s not really worth it.
What if, instead, you could do that same 3 months of work (in your spare time), and your reward was a $500 to $2,000 payment that came in every single month?
And what if you actually didn’t need to wait 3 months? What if you could get started today and have your first payment in a week?
And what if you could double it next week?
Well, that’s the power of Digital Real Estate.
And, unlike eCommerce, you can legitimately do this from anywhere. It’s a true lifestyle business.
Your laptop and an internet connection are all you need.
Some of the most successful students in this program run their entire 6-figure businesses from:
- A camper in the middle of the woods
- A beach chair on the water in Mexico
- A small villa in Greece
They’re able to travel around, living their lives first, and focusing on their income second.
Because even if they stop working for an extended period of time, the money keeps coming in.
So adventure, memories, and experience are the top priority.
And they never have to worry about how to pay for the next trip, or consider asking for time off.
If this sounds more like the type of life you want to lead, just click here to find out more about Digital Real Estate.
How Much Does Zen Arbitrage Cost?
Zen Arbitrage has been mysterious about their pricing. Peter Valley has claimed that he charges $79 monthly inclusive of all functions and features, while also touting all sorts of “free” material.
However, complaints like the one shown above indicate it is likely he is not telling the full story, and may set you back thousands of dollars in upsells.
If it was $3500 in 2019, I’d imagine inflation has raised it even higher since.
Trial Period
Zen Arbitrage has a free trial period days and supposedly does not require a credit card – although some have complained that it is hard to cancel their account.
Zen Arbitrage Refund Policy
As you can tell by the policy above – it will be hard to get a refund from these guys if you don’t maximize their free trial.
If you just buy without trying it, you’ll be limited to a 24-hour timer before you can say goodbye to your money.
Are There Alternatives To Zen Arbitrage?
Yes, there are plenty of eCommerce programs and resources to choose from if you want to pursue this business model. Here are just a few:
What Is Our Top Recommendation For Making Money Online In 2023?
Our review team has spent months researching, reviewing, and vetting dozens of business models and thousands of programs.
While there may be no “perfect business”, the research IS conclusive:
Digital Real Estate is the #1 online business model for those just starting out.
Whether you’ve never made a dollar online, or you’ve been in this space for a while but never really “made it,” Digital Real Estate is for you.
Why?
1) It’s Flexible: got an hour a day? You can do this. Ready to drop everything else and dive in full time? You can do this. Yes, the more time you put in, the faster you see results. But even with a little time each day, you can move the needle in a Digital Real Estate business.
And because this system is so flexible, you don’t have to constantly be working to make more money. It’s called PASSIVE INCOME because if you stop working, the money doesn’t.
Imagine taking 3 months off to just tour around Europe, rent a cabin in the woods to write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, or live on the beach and surf all day.
This is only possible if you have an income stream that’s not tied to your time.
2) You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With eCommerce, you don’t really own anything. You have no control over the quality of products. You don’t even own the products because they go straight from the supplier to the customer.
Yes, if you’ve got a Shopify store, you technically own that. But if every ad platform suits you down, you’ve got a store with no customers. Which is literally worthless.
With Digital Real Estate, you own the assets, which means you have all the power and all the control.
3) Little To No Startup Costs: It’s possible to get into Digital Real Estate with zero dollars upfront. Because, using the strategies outlined in this program, you can get a client to pay you BEFORE spending a penny out of your own pocket…even before you do any work.
Even without getting paid in advance, you can have your first Digital Rental Property up, running, and generating profits for less than $100.
4) No Inventory: Ok, so technically you don’t have to worry about inventory since you’re not filling up your garage or a warehouse with products.
But, you still have all the headaches of a physical products business.
Since most dropshipped products come from China, you already have a 2-3 week wait time from when a customer places an order.
But right now, with global supply chain issues, your customers would be lucky to get anything in less than a month.
Imagine finally landing your first customer after months of experimenting, and then getting hit with a refund request or chargeback because they had to wait 6 weeks to get their order.
With Digital Real Estate, a 100% online business, you never even have to think about that risk.
5) Easy To Duplicate: Ok, here’s the best part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up and running, you can literally DOUBLE your income with a few clicks, a couple keystrokes, and a single phone call (and you don’t actually need the phone call).
Remember: each Digital Rental Property is worth $500 to $2,000 a month in semi-passive income (over 95% profit). Every time you decide to create another one and increase your income, it gets easier.
Because you have more knowledge, more experience, more results, and more momentum.
If you wanted to double your income with eCommerce, you’d have to double your inventory, your profit margins, OR your average order value. And, guaranteed that’s a lot harder than a few clicks and a few minutes of your life.
6) Make Money Helping Real People: This part is what makes it all worth it. 99.9% of the time, eCommerce provides no value to anyone but the seller.
In a lot of cases, it has a negative impact on the customer because of poor product quality and an overall bad experience (i.e. waiting 6 weeks to get your order).
And that makes it pretty hard to sleep at night.
But with Digital Real Estate, you’re actually helping people by solving your clients’ biggest problem:
Small, local businesses need more customers, and with Digital Real Estate, you are unleashing a flood of happy, paying customers for these businesses.
You make money by helping them make money.
Not a big, faceless corporation either…a small business owner who’s using that money to put food on the table for their family, start a college fund for their kids, or take care of a sick parent.
Once you see how Digital Real Estate makes a real impact in the lives of real people, you’ll sleep like a baby with a big smile on your face.
Now, the choice is yours. You could continue browsing, looking at opportunities like Zen Arbitrage which could one day make you money.
You could continue researching, never making a decision.
OR, you could take a look inside, consider what you really want, and join a program that makes your dreams a reality. At the same time, joining a community of over 2,000 successful students that are living life on their own terms thanks to Digital Real Estate.
A consistent, reliable, semi-passive stream of income that doesn’t depend on you or your time to keep producing profits.
All while genuinely helping real people who are grateful and happy to pay for it.
If this sounds more like what you want out of life (or if you just want some nice side income), click here to learn more about Digital Real Estate.
