Chapter 12: Store Scans and Category Scans
What you'll learn: how to scan a retailer's website for profitable products, how to allow for a store discount or a multi-buy price, how ArbiSource picks up promotions and newsletter sales, and what happens to your results.
The Vault and Price Drops are shared with every ArbiSource user. A scan is your own search, run when you choose, on the retailers and categories you choose. That's why scans often turn up leads that fewer people are looking at.
Running a Store Scan
- Go to Scans and choose Store.
- Pick a retailer. Use the Search for store… box on the left, or tap the heart next to a retailer to add it to your favourites so it's always at the top (Show Logos switches the list to logos). Each retailer shows its Match Type. You can add more than one retailer to a scan.
- Choose what to scan. Each retailer's categories are grouped into Clearance and Non-Clearance, each with its own Select All:
- All categories: Select All next to the retailer's name. The widest search, but the slowest.
- Specific categories: click the category buttons you want. Quicker and more focused. Good when you know a category suits you, or you're only ungated in some.
- A custom link: paste any category page from that retailer's site (such as its sale or clearance page) into Custom Link and click +. ArbiSource scans the whole category.
- Add a discount or price override (below), if you have one. Once you've chosen categories, a card on the right shows the retailer, the number of categories, and the Discount (%) and Override (£) fields.
- Choose your filters from Filters in the top bar: Account Filters (or one of your saved filter sets), Customise Filters for this scan only, or No Filters (Chapter 13). Exclude sets keyword exclusions: No Keywords, Default Keywords or Customise Keywords. Filters are fixed when the scan is created.
- Check the freshness settings (below) and click START SCAN.
You can leave the page while the scan runs. Tick Email me when scan is complete if you'd like an email when it's finished. Your scans are listed under Completed Scans, where you can View Results, rename a scan, or Re-Run Scan later with the same settings.
▶ Watch Miles (Flips4Miles) set up Store Scans and talk through his retailer strategy, from 7:42 (to about 9:30). This is the US version with US retailers and dollar prices; US payment-card discounts he mentions don't apply in the UK.
Store Scan walkthroughs on two or three UK retailers, recorded on the UK version in pounds.
Discounts, multi-buys and cashback
A saving you can genuinely get changes the numbers. For each retailer in a scan you can fill in two fields:
- Discount (%): a percentage off that retailer's prices, such as a discount code you'll use. Your results show the discounted prices.
- Override (£): for fixed-price multi-buy deals, the price per item. For "2 for £10", enter £5. It applies to that retailer's whole selection, so use it only when everything you've selected is in the deal.
Only include savings you'll actually get on the order. If a code has conditions (a minimum spend, excluded brands, first order only), allow for them.
There's no cashback field, and scan prices don't include cashback. The CASHBACK/COUPONS button next to each retailer opens a read-only list of cashback sites and their current rates for that retailer. Treat any cashback as a possible bonus rather than part of the profit: it can be delayed or declined, so check the terms (Chapter 7).
Promotions ArbiSource detects for you
ArbiSource reads many promotions shown on retailers' category pages, such as buy one get one free, 3 for 2, member prices and some discount codes, and uses them in the price. When it does, a short message below the price explains which promotion was applied. Always read it: a "3 for 2" price only applies if you buy three, and a member price may need a loyalty account.
Freshness settings
Before starting a scan you can use Store Cache (for example One Day) and Amazon Cache (for example 12 Hours) in the top bar to choose how recent the retailer and Amazon data must be. Data ArbiSource checked recently can be reused, which makes the scan much quicker; asking for fresh data takes longer but gives you the latest prices. The options available depend on your plan. As a rule of thumb, use fresher settings for fast-moving sales and clearance pages.
Newsletter promos
Retailers often announce their best sales by email. ArbiSource reads a large number of retailer newsletters and lists the useful ones under Coupons & Promotions → Live newsletter promos, showing promotions from roughly the past 48 hours.
Each card shows the retailer, the offer and any code. The Scan button sets up a Store Scan for you, with the relevant categories (or a custom link to the sale page) already selected. Check what's been selected before you start, as the automatic choice is occasionally off. You can also join the newsletter roles in the ArbiSource Discord to be notified as promos arrive.
Category Scans
A Category Scan starts from a category rather than a retailer. You choose the category, such as Grocery, and ArbiSource looks for profitable products in it across all its built-in UK retailers. It's a natural fit when you're only ungated in certain categories. Category Scans are included from the Pro plan.
Category Scan walkthrough on the UK version.
Reading Store and Category Scan results
Results use the same result panels you met in the Vault, and the same Lead Check applies. Warner's video below is a good example of filtering a fresh set of scan results and quickly checking the most promising ones.
Good to know
- Results are kept for 7 days. Add anything worth keeping to your Sourcing List (Chapter 11).
- Store and Category Scan results can't be downloaded. This protects the value of the leads for everyone. To keep or share a product, add it to your Sourcing List and export from there. Reverse, Custom and Wholesale scan results can be exported (exports are included from the Pro plan).
short "What can I export?" explainer.
- Scans queue. If you start a scan while others are running, it waits its turn and starts automatically. The queue shows how many scans you have queued against your plan's limit (for example 3/50).
- Limits depend on your plan. How many scans you can run is shown on the pricing page.
Checklist
- I've run a Store Scan on a specific category
- I only enter discounts I'll really get, and treat cashback as a bonus
- I read the promotion message below a price before trusting it
- I've looked at Live newsletter promos and started a scan from one
- I save good results to my Sourcing List before they're deleted