Spoiler alert: Nothing about online book arbitrage is against the rules.
There are two rumors I'll address in this article.
This rumor seems to be spread primarily by uninformed people on Facebook, but the rumor persists.
You don't need to read any further than this next sentence:
Buying a merchant fulfilled item and reselling FBA is 100% compliant with Amazon's rules.
No fine print. No exceptions.
So where does this rumor come from?
It appears to have its origins in one (misunderstood) rule that Amazon does have:
It is against the rules to buy a Prime-eligible (i.e. FBA) item, and resell FBA.
However, that rarely-if-ever applies to the Zen Arbitrage system. True, every now and then you'll see a Prime-eligible offer that is the same price as merchant fulfilled offers. But you'll rarely see a Prime offer priced lower. So just avoid those, buy the merchant fulfilled option, and you'll have no issue.
(And even though its technically against the rules, people still do it sometimes, myself included, and I've never once heard of anyone being banned for it. But better safe than sorry.)
Equally untrue. Again, no rules are being broken here, so no reason to "hide" anything from Amazon. At all.
What if you think Peter Valley is a huge liar?
Hey, I don't blame you for being cautious. So if you have even the slightest doubts (or some know-it-all in a Facebook group somewhere insists this is against the rules), there is one simple way to confirm the truth:
Ask Amazon.
Seriously, just email Amazon and ask them. They'll give the same form-response they give to anyone, confirming there's no rules being broken (and politely reminding you to not resell any Prime-eligible offer).
Simple as that.
- Peter Valley