Chapter 8: Why am I seeing few or no results?
An empty Vault or a scan with a handful of results is the most common problem new users hit, and it's nearly always the filters. This page shows you why, how to find the filter that's doing it in a few minutes, and what to do when a single result looks wrong.
Every filter has to pass at once
ArbiSource only shows a result if it passes every filter you've set, all at the same time. Each filter on its own can look sensible, but together they can remove almost everything.
A quick example. You ask for at least $4 profit, at least 50% ROI, a high monthly sales figure, a maximum of three sellers and 90% match confidence. Each sounds reasonable. But fast-selling products usually have more sellers, and well-priced products rarely make 50% ROI as well as high profit. Very few products clear all five, so the page comes back nearly empty.
Set each filter to the lowest value you'd accept if everything else about the product were perfect. You still judge every lead with the Lead Check (Chapter 20), so filters only need to remove the obvious "no"s.
Find the culprit: remove everything, then add filters back one at a time
This is the fastest fix, and it teaches you what each filter does.
- Open the Vault and pick a store you know has results (the store tile shows roughly how many).
- Open the Filters drawer (the funnel button) and choose No Filters from the Filter Set dropdown. If results appear, your account is working and the problem is your filters.
- Add your filters back one at a time. After each one, click Apply Filters and note how many results are left ("Showing N of N results" at the top right).
- When the count drops sharply, that filter (or that filter plus one you added earlier) is the culprit. Loosen it.
- When you're happy, click Save Filter Set and give the set a name such as "Starter". To make it your everyday default, set the same values on Account → Global Filters.
If you've changed things in the drawer and want to start again, Reset to Account Filters in the drawer puts back your Global Filters.
the Vault Filters drawer in a US account with the Filter Set dropdown open on "No Filters", and "Showing N of N results" visible at the top right of the page.
"Why am I seeing no results?" walkthrough of the remove-and-add-back method, recorded on the US version.
The usual culprits
These are the settings we see behind most empty pages, roughly in order of how often they cause trouble.
- A high minimum for Monthly Sales. Under Sales Velocity, a high estimated or confirmed sales minimum removes most products on its own. Start low and raise it slowly.
- BSR and sales filters used together. They do the same job. Use one or the other while you're learning. A minimum BSR is the worst offender: a low BSR number means a product sells well, so a minimum BSR removes the best sellers (Chapter 7).
- A low maximum for Total Sellers combined with high sales. Products that sell well attract more sellers, so "fast sellers with almost no competition" is a very small group.
- Exclude When Amazon on Listing and Exclude Results Without Buy Box (shorter label in the drawer: Exclude Results w/o Buy Box). Both remove a lot. Amazon being on a listing isn't always a reason to pass; Chapter 32 explains when it's fine. Leave them unchecked until you know you want them.
- Only show EAN/UPC matches switched on. This drops every result from retailers that ArbiSource matches by text and image, which is most of them. Leave it unchecked for everyday use (Chapter 11).
- Match confidence set very high. 90% or more removes many genuine matches. Around 70% is a sensible minimum.
- Stores you've excluded. If you've unchecked stores in the store selection on Account → Global Filters, they're hidden from the Vault, Price Drops and the Store Scan list too, not just from your results. If a retailer has disappeared, re-add it there. Price Drops also has its own Hidden Stores & Categories list for stores and categories you've hidden on that page.
- Exclude Restricted/Gated on a new seller account. Restrictions affect every seller, and new accounts are usually restricted in more brands, so this can remove a lot. That's useful, but expect smaller numbers (Chapter 9).
- A Fixed Cost plus a high minimum profit. A Fixed Cost is added before your minimum profit is checked, so $1 of Fixed Cost and a $3 minimum means each product needs about $4 to appear (Chapter 3).
- A high minimum Product Cost (under Miscellaneous) together with high profit and ROI minimums.
A few exclusions are on by default and are worth keeping: Exclude Results with Missing Fees, Exclude Results Without BSR, Exclude Out of Stock and Exclude Mismatches.
Empty scans
Scans behave a little differently from the Vault.
- A scan's filters are fixed when you create it. When you start a scan, Filters offers Account Filters (or a saved filter set), Customise Filters or No Filters. Loosening your filters afterwards won't bring back products the scan didn't keep, so re-run it with looser filters (Chapter 6).
- To test whether a store is the problem or your filters are, run a small scan of one or two categories with No Filters. Products that appear are matches that aren't profitable at today's price or that your filters were hiding.
- If a store keeps returning no matching Amazon products at all, even with No Filters, the retailer may have changed its website. Email support@arbisource.com with the store name.
- For a Custom Scan or a custom link, check you started from a category page with a grid of products (Chapter 13).
- For a Reverse Search, check the list. Private-label and Amazon-only products rarely have retail sources (Chapter 12).
- Check your marketplace. Amazon.com ASINs need a US ArbiSource account linked to your Amazon.com seller account. The marketplace is chosen at sign-up; email support if it's wrong.
When a single result looks wrong
Sometimes the problem is one result rather than the whole page.
The products don't match
Hover over the match confidence at the bottom of the panel to see the image and title scores. If it's a mismatch, click Report Mismatch on the right-hand side of the panel. Exclude Mismatches then hides it for you, and reports from several users help improve matching for everyone. If a small black circle with an arrow appears next to the Amazon product name, ArbiSource found other possible matches: click it, then click the right product name and the result is worked out again for that listing (Chapter 11).
The price or data looks old
The Vault uses the data from the last time ArbiSource saw each product. Click the refresh icon on the result to fetch the latest retailer price and Amazon data. If lots of results from one store look old, run a Store Scan of that store instead.
The fees are shown in red
Amazon hasn't provided enough information (usually the product's dimensions or weight) to work out the fulfillment fee, so treat the profit with caution. ArbiSource keeps retrying, so the fees often appear later. Exclude Results with Missing Fees hides these results.
"We have limited history for this product"
ArbiSource has no history to show yet, or hasn't captured it yet. Check again later, and use your Keepa button in the meantime.
A Price Drop's price is wrong
Report it in the ArbiSource Discord or by email, and check the retailer's site before buying.
Still stuck?
Email support@arbisource.com from the email address your ArbiSource account uses, with a screenshot of your filters and the page or scan you're looking at.
Checklist
- I know a result must pass every filter at once
- I can find the culprit with No Filters, then add filters back one at a time
- I use either a BSR filter or a sales filter, not both, while learning
- I've checked I haven't excluded stores I want to see
- I know how to report a mismatch, pick another match and refresh a result