Understanding Amazon Wholesale Tools
A guide to the types of tools used by Amazon sellers for wholesale sourcing and supplier list analysis.
What is Amazon Wholesale Sourcing?
Amazon wholesale sourcing involves buying products in bulk from distributors and manufacturers at wholesale prices, then reselling them on Amazon through the FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) program. This business model differs from private label (creating your own brand) or retail arbitrage (buying discounted retail products).
A typical wholesale workflow involves: receiving product price lists from suppliers, analyzing which products offer profitable margins after Amazon fees, placing bulk orders for selected items, and sending inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers. The challenge lies in efficiently evaluating large supplier catalogs, which often contain hundreds or thousands of products.
Types of Tools Used in This Process
Wholesale List Analysis Tools
Process bulk CSV and Excel files containing product codes from suppliers. These tools handle large lists with hundreds or thousands of products, mapping codes to Amazon listings and calculating profit for each item.
Single-ASIN Evaluation Tools
Analyze individual products one at a time, typically through manual ASIN entry or barcode scanning. Useful for in-store sourcing or evaluating specific products rather than bulk lists.
Price History Tools
Track historical Amazon pricing and sales rank data over time. These tools help sellers understand demand patterns, price volatility, and seasonal trends for products.
Profit Calculation Tools
Estimate margins after accounting for all Amazon fees including FBA fulfillment fees, referral fees, storage fees, and other costs. Some are standalone calculators, others are integrated into broader analysis tools.
Key Features to Consider
When evaluating tools for wholesale sourcing, sellers typically look for capabilities that address their specific workflow needs:
Bulk File Processing
Ability to process CSV or Excel files with many products at once, rather than entering items one by one.
EAN/UPC to ASIN Mapping
Converting supplier product codes to Amazon identifiers for accurate product matching.
Accurate Fee Calculation
Including all Amazon fees in profit calculations: FBA fees, referral fees, storage, and category-specific fees.
Sales Rank Data
Access to Best Sellers Rank (BSR) to gauge product demand and selling velocity.
Price History
Historical pricing data to understand price stability and identify products with volatile margins.
Export Capabilities
Ability to export analysis results for further review or to share with team members.
Where Profit-Scanner Fits
Profit-Scanner is designed as a wholesale list analyzer, focused on processing supplier CSV files and calculating estimated profit for each product. It addresses the specific workflow of evaluating bulk product lists from suppliers.
One example of a tool designed for this workflow, Profit-Scanner processes uploaded files containing product codes, maps them to Amazon listings, fetches current pricing and fee data, and calculates profit margins. The tool includes features for filtering results, tracking sales rank data, and exporting analysis for further review.