Profit Bandit App
This is an app for scouting and scanning products for potential sale on Amazon. Let’s see what this app offers, and what fun and profitable things you can do with it.
But first, let’s take a look at the company which brought us this app: First Light Apps/SellerEngine.
The Company
First Light Apps has two products on CNET’s Download.com website: Profit Bandit and Web Radio Puget Sound. The latter was uploaded in 2011 and never had any downloads whatsoever. The website for that app is now defunct, although its base in Seattle tells us the company is based out of that city.
And why are we guessing? Because there’s very little info at all on First Light Apps. Not even a website. The Profit Bandit App has a website and a Facebook page which leads one to discover SellerEngine.
SellerEngine sells a Profit Bandit too! But unlike the app which is available for a one-time purchase fee of $15, this PB is a monthly subscription service. Maybe they’re moving to subscription service?
Yes, it’s the same company: they feature the same old-skool Profit Bandit logo (the one with the bar code and the electric green font with the word “SOLD” in red above it all). Not only that, but the app website www.profitbanditapp.com redirects to the SellerEngine’s new website. They’ve 100% upgraded their company (now it’s a software company not just an apps company!).
They also have a product called “sellery”, which is repricer for eBay. The company also features a blog sporting Amazon news and it’s actually pretty informative.
Based out of Portland, OR, it looks as if they’ve traded the coffee capital of the US (Seattle) for the bicycle-friendly city of Portland, also known for its rain. So not only did they rebrand themselves, they uprooted themselves and move to a whole new state.
The App
Since its appearance on CNET’s download site in July of 2015, Profit Bandit has been downloaded 138 times. That isn’t to say those are the only downloads it’s had…only those through CNET.
What does the app do, exactly? The idea is for enterprising people to roam retail locations (in person) looking for deals on stuff. Any stuff which might sell for more on Amazon. The problem with this has always been how to get the right info on the spot while you’re in a store handling their merchandise.
The Profit Bandit pretty much automates everything for you in this process. Here’s what it does:
- it lets you scan the barcode of the item
- then it searches CamelCamelCamel, eBay, Pricegrabber, and others from the app
- it highlights offers from high-volume FBA Sellers (Amazon)
- Tap any one of these sellers and the app returns the profit you’ll make (based on Amazon Variable closing fee, Amazon referral fee, postage, and all FBA fees plus your cost to purchase the item)
- you can list the item right then and there from within the app
- shows your scan history
- you can do offline scanning
- you can pair it with a bluetooth scanner so you can hide your phone in your pocket while secretly scanning
- you can search by barcode or by keywords
- you can save the store location in an Excel file
There are other potential uses for the Profit Bandit app. You could visit garage sales and scoop up valuable items (the app can be used with voice activation too). You can scan your own stuff to see what things are worth- so much fun!
It works on iPhones or Android phones and is free on either the iTunes App Store or Google Play. On iTunes it has a rating of 4+ out of 217 ratings. You’ll need iOS 6.0 or later and it’s compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPad Touch.
On Google Play, the app has a rating of almost 4 out of 5 stars, with 582 reviews. According to Google, there are currently somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 installs on Android phones. It requires Android 3.0 and up and it was last updated just a few days ago.
The Verdict
The app gets good reviews on Google Play as well as iTunes. That’s very reassuring because this is one powerful and useful app.
It’s indispensable to anyone who uses Amazon to offload cheap stuff they find in retail stores. For the rest of you, the off-label uses like scanning stuff a garage sales and your own belongings is a golden opportunity to squeeze extra profit from everyone’s extra stuff. I actually can’t wait to get it myself for this very reason!
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