Our retail arbitrage guide shows you exactly where to shop, what to buy, and how to scale.
May 12
Don’t guess what sells. Scan it. These apps help you find profitable Amazon flips before the competition even opens their spreadsheet.
Clicking through Amazon listings on your laptop while looking at spreadsheets of potential inventory isn’t just tedious—it’s outdated. Today’s savvy Amazon sellers are scanning barcodes right in retail stores and making purchase decisions in seconds.
With competition reaching over two million active Amazon sellers, your ability to quickly identify profitable products can make or break your business. So, let’s explore some scanner apps that you can try out to spot opportunities others miss.
An Amazon Seller Scanner App is a powerful tool for informed decision-making by Amazon sellers. These apps are easily downloadable to a smartphone or tablet and streamline product selection, pricing strategies, and inventory management. By scanning product barcodes, users instantly receive data that includes current prices, sales ranks, competitors, estimated profitability, and more.
An Amazon seller scanning app is especially valuable for retail arbitrage, where sellers buy a product in one market and resell it at a higher price on Amazon. Amazon seller scanner apps also simplify your workflow, making data-driven decisions easy.
Here’s how they work:
Basically, Amazon seller scanner apps empower you to make data-backed choices, while also enhancing your efficiency and profitability.
Consider these popular seller scanner apps to boost your Amazon retail arbitrage business.
Amazon’s official scanning app does exactly what new sellers need when they first get started. This free tool connects directly to your Seller Central account, giving you immediate access to product information that drives smart buying decisions.
Key features:
Pricing: Free
Compatibility: Android, iOS
While general scanner apps try to cover everything, ScoutIQ zeroes in on one profitable niche: books. This specialized scanner transforms book flipping from guesswork into a science, helping you find valuable titles that casual resellers walk right past.
Key features:
Pricing: $14/month with live mode only, $44/month for unlimited live mode and database mode, $69/month as part of the Seller 365 bundle, where you can get it alongside 9 other seller apps
Compatibility: Android, iOS
For retail arbitrage hunters who need more than basic scanning, Scoutify delivers advanced sourcing capabilities with seamless inventory integration. This powerful mobile app helps you make lightning-fast buying decisions based on detailed profitability metrics.
Key features:
Pricing: $69/month as part of the Seller 365 bundle, where you can get it alongside 9 other seller apps
Compatibility: Android, iOS
A mid-priced scanning option that offers basic profit calculation features and integration with Amazon’s marketplace data.
Key features:
Pricing: $9.99 per month
Compatibility: Android, iOS
A higher-priced option targeting larger Amazon operations with warehouse management needs alongside scanning capabilities.
Key features:
Pricing: $79 to $199/month
Compatibility: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux
A multi-platform tool that spans mobile apps and browser extensions with mid-range pricing.
Key features:
Pricing: Starting at £13.95/month
Compatibility: Android, iOS, Chrome
Determining which features are essential for your Amazon seller scanner app largely depends on your business needs. However, as your retail arbitrage business grows, certain requirements become more apparent.
Here are key features to consider when selecting your Amazon seller scanner app:
While not essential for everyone, the ability to perform database scanning can be crucial. Some locations, like shopping malls or big box stores, may have poor mobile phone reception, making an internet connection unreliable. In such cases, the option for offline database searching becomes crucial.
Look for apps with criteria that trigger a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ based on your sourcing preferences. This feature simplifies on-the-go sourcing, eliminating the need for mental calculations before purchasing.
When scanning a product, knowing which offer currently holds the buy box and whether Amazon is selling it is invaluable. This information provides quick insights for decision-making.
The scanner app should include a built-in profitability calculator, letting sellers calculate potential profits promptly and accurately for each product.
Access to historical sales rank data is crucial for understanding product demand trends. This feature allows you to make informed decisions by assessing how a product’s popularity has changed.
The ability to set personalized profit margin thresholds is essential. You can define your minimum acceptable profit margins, and the app will provide alerts when potential products meet or exceed these thresholds, making the sourcing process more efficient.
Seamless integration with Amazon Seller Central is crucial for efficient listing and inventory management. Ensure that the app offers this functionality to streamline your operations.
The smartphone in your pocket might be the most powerful tool in your Amazon selling arsenal—but only with the right scanner app installed. From free options like the Amazon Seller App to specialized tools like ScoutIQ for books, today’s scanning technology transforms retail arbitrage from guesswork into a data-driven strategy.
But as your Amazon business grows, your scanning needs will likely evolve from basic price checking to comprehensive inventory and profit management. Rather than piecing together multiple subscriptions, consider an all-in-one bundle like Seller 365 that grows with you and provides all the essential tools under one subscription.
The best part? Two of the powerful scanning tools we’ve covered—ScoutIQ and Scoutify—are actually included in the Seller 365 bundle, along with eight additional Amazon seller apps.
Instead of spending hundreds monthly on separate tools, Seller 365 delivers a complete Amazon seller toolkit at a fraction of the cost. Whether you’re sourcing products, managing inventory, optimizing prices, or tracking profits, you can get it within the bundle.
Try Seller 365 free for up to 14 days and discover why thousands of Amazon sellers are consolidating their tech stack to save money and sell smarter.