It's not easy nowadays to run any sort of online business without using one or even many paid websites, chrome extensions and software tools.
This is especially true for Amazon FBA arbitrage sellers, but if you use the right tools in the right manner then they should really pay for themselves.
Using an arbitrage software should be considered an investment in your business, not an expense.
And more often than not, the hardest part is actually choosing a tool because a lot of them appear to do the same or very similar things.
That's why today we're going to help you cut through the noise and lay down the facts in this Tactical Arbitrage vs OAXray review.
What is Tactical Arbitrage?
Tactical arbitrage is a product research tool that helps Amazon sellers find potential products that they can buy and resell on Amazon.
With Tactical Arbitrage, Amazon arbitrage sellers can access a database of 885+ retailer websites to find better OA leads and opportunities.
Tactical Arbitrage has a variety of pricing plans to suit beginner sellers right through to seasoned arbitrage experts and even those who want to focus on Amazon to Amazon flips.
What is OAXray
It would be very easy to say that OAXray, pronounced "O.A. X-Ray", is just the same as Tactical Arbitrage and while they are similar tools, there are some differences that you need to know about.
We will get more into the side-by-side comparisons of these tools later in this review, but OAXray scans retailer websites and compares products to Amazon listings so you can find arbitrage opportunities.
This might sound like both tools are identical, there are not only differences with how they handle data, but also the use-ability and the pricing differs too.
Tactical Arbitrage vs OAXray Features
Let's take a look at the features of both of these Amazon research tools to see which one is going to be more suitable for your business.
Learning Curve
If you're new to Amazon FBA then you'll have to learn to use these tools from scratch regardless, but when comparing them it's no secret that Tactical Arbitrage does have a much steeper learning curve than OAXraay.
The explanation for this is pretty straight-forward though; Tactical Arbitrage is simply a much more powerful tool. OAXray is easier to get up and running but it does have some limitations.
Supported Sites
At the time of writing, Tactical Arbitrage supports 885 sites and OAXray supports just over 400. While both of them are big numbers, being able to access product research data on almost 900 sites is very appealing. Another tick for Tactical Arbitrage on this feature.
Tactical Arbitrage will also allow you to add your own sites, known as adding Xpaths, so that you can source sites that aren't available to everyone else.
Search Filters
Tactical Arbitrage has a huge amount of filters available when it comes to conducting product searches. While this might seem daunting, the search parameters are far greater than that of OAXray.
Live and Cached Scanning
Both of these tools scan their supported sites and return data back to you, but Tactical Arbitrage has an amazing feature that allows you to run a live scan.
This is going to get you accurate, live data whereas the cached scanning that OAXray and other similar tools use may return outdated data, like items that are sold out for example.
To be fair, Tactical Arbitrage does offer a cached data scan feature which can make your scans much faster.
Tactical Arbitrage vs OAXray Pricing
The price of software tools is always one of the first questions raised, but they're not all built the same so sometimes paying more means you get more.
Regardless of that, lets take a look at the price difference between Tactical Arbitrage and OAXray.
To start with, Tactical Arbitrage offers a 7-day free trial (10-days for Clear The Shelf readers - click here to read more about it) and OAXray is currently offering a 10-day free trial.
OAXray costs $99 per month, but they also give a discount based on longer subscription periods as per below.
OAXray Pricing
- $99 for one month.
- $282 for three months.
- $594 for six months.
- $975 for one year.
They also offer a one-day pass for $14.99.
Tactical Arbitrage Pricing
Tactical Abritrage has a wide range of plans available, each with different functionality.
To be completely fair to OAXRay, the $59 per month "Flip Pack" plan with Tactical Arbitrage is very minimal and doesn't even include product searches.
The Online Arbitrage plan for $89 per month is the minimum I would recommend for any serious OA seller.
As you can see from this table, the prices previously mentioned are also discounted by anywhere from 15-26% if you pay annually.
With the annual discount you are looking at $70 per month for the Online Arbitrage plan or $95 for the Full Suite.
Clear The Shelf Readers are also eligible for a 10-day free trial - Check out the details here.
Can Tactical Arbitrage and OAXray be used Together?
They are both great tools if you're an Amazon seller running an arbitrage or wholesale business and while they essentially do a lot of the same things, there is a use case for having both running at the same time.
The Tactical Arbitrage live search takes time and may not be available to view until several hours after starting a scan. Now if you're running a virtual assistant for product research and sourcing, this might result in some down time.
This is where you may consider using OAXray in between tasks you are running in the background on Tactical Arbitrage.
Bear in mind that Tactical Arbitrage does allow you to have 10 searches running and another 10 in the queue, so if you find yourself needing to add on a tool like OAXray then you must be running a beast of an Amazon business!
Tactical Arbitrage vs OAXray - Which One is Best?
There's always going to be some personal preference when it comes to choosing between two similar product search tools for Amazon sellers.
After testing both of these tools I have decided that the stand-out winner is Tactical Arbitrage.
There's many reasons why, but here are the stand-out features that really sealed the deal for me:
Live Search Feature - it takes longer but it's super accurate.
Supported Sites - close to 900 supported sites is very hard to beat.
Product Search Filters - your product research can be ridiculously laser targeted once you get the hang of Tactical Arbitrage's search filters.
Add More Supported Sites - you'll need a developer (unless you have the know -how) to hook this up for you but you can actually include your own sites in the search.
Set and Forget Scanning - With OAXray you need to be on an actual product catalog page so you can click the chrome extension and start a search. Whilst this is quite handy and simple to use, Tactical Arbitrage allows you to set up a search and leave it to scan saving you time.
What Other Tools do I Need for my Amazon FBA Arbitrage Business?
This is quite a common question because many Amazon entrepreneurs are budget conscious, and I totally get that.
I do wholeheartedly believe though, that your Amazon FBA business will be very hard to scale if you don't invest in the right tools and spend the money to help you make money.
Tools I recommend to help you sell on Amazon:
RevSeller
I've written a full RevSeller review if you want to learn more about this amazing online arbitrage extension. No other tool can help your business see profitability and product variation data with ease like RevSeller can.
Tactical Arbitrage
You've learned a lot about this tool in this article and I see this is an absolute must for any Amazon seller.
IP Alert
I created this tool and while it is often copied, quite poorly might I add, it is still unmatched when it comes to helping sellers avoid sourcing products that can open them up to Amazon IP claims and complaints.
Keepa
An absolute staple for any Amazon FBA business. Keepa is an amazing price tracking tool that doesn't cost the earth.
Aura Repricer
Once you start getting a large volume of product listings on Amazon, you're going to need arm yourself with a repricer tool. My Aura Repricer review outlines why I think this is the best tool for any Amazon seller.
The Final Word on Tactical Arbitrage vs OAXray
I like to think that I provide relatively unbiased and impartial reviews of various products on my blog, and I hope this rings true in the articles that I write for my fellow Amazon sellers.
After all, I'm an online arbitrage seller myself in addition to running programs like the OA challenge so the tools I recommend are ones that I use in my own business.
Will your business suffer if you use OAXray as you primary product research tool? Of course not, it's still a great tool. It's probably the only tool that comes close to Tactical Arbitrage in my opinion, but it still isn't quite on the same level.
If you're interested in learning about a special offer that Clear The Shelf readers get when they use Tactical Arbitrage, take a look at the details here.
Thanks again for reading, I look forward to seeing you in my FB group or on my weekly email list some time soon!
