All you need to know about consumables in traffic arbitrage

Today we decided to make a detailed analysis of one of the most important parts of traffic arbitrage — consumables. They are necessary for traffic acquisition from most sources, so it's important to know how to work with them correctly. In the article, we talked about their structure and application, the right choice before purchasing, and popular services for buying proxies, phone numbers, payment cards, and hosting. Let's get started!

Hosting services

Hosting is a service through which a webmaster rents space on servers. In practice, hostings are needed to host landing pages, purchase domains for them, and rent space for server-side tools such as trackers or cloakers. You need to choose a domain and rent server space, and then upload websites and tools through control panels. Different hosting providers may have different control panels, so we recommend consulting the official guides of the services in case of any questions.

Hosting selection principle + compilation of popular hostings:

• Rental format. As we explained in the previous section, depending on the tasks, it’s worth choosing shared or VDS/VPS; 
• Server’s GEO. It should be as close as possible to the country you plan to target; 
• Capacity and memory volume. It's worth taking extra if the webmaster plans to develop websites and add new pages; 
• Presence of SSL certificates. Without them, the audience won't be able to access the website directly from search engines and social networks.

Also, it won't hurt to check hosting reviews or consult with colleagues before making a purchase. If someone has encountered data leaks or instability, it's worth considering other options. Popular options:

Beget. A popular hosting with data centers worldwide. It offers convenient website migration and a free one-month trial period.

Leaseweb. A popular hosting with numerous data centers across Europe. It impresses with stability and enhanced protection against DDoS attacks and bots.

Proxies

Proxy is a remote device through which a webmaster routes their outgoing traffic. Proxies are necessary for running campaigns on most major advertising networks like FB, Google, TikTok. Without proxies, it's impossible to spoof the webmaster's location and IP data, which is essential for creating multiple advertising accounts.

Advertising networks track user data to combat multi-accounting. If a user has multiple accounts on one IP, they can be blocked in succession. Additionally, if a user encounters a block, they won't be able to create a new trusted account without changing their IP.

Proxies are classified based on several parameters, which we'll discuss in more detail below:

• Access level. Proxies can be shared, divided among multiple users, or private. Use only private proxies, as other options are easily detected by sources;
• Address type. There is IPv6, which is faster and cheaper, but it only works with major platforms like FB and Google. If the source doesn't support IPv6, you'll have to use IPv4;
• Protocol. There's HTTPS and Socks5. The latter is more reliable but costs more. Choose it if your budget allows.

The most crucial choice when purchasing proxies is between mobile and residential proxies. This choice significantly affects the price and the principle of how proxies operate.

• Mobile proxies are expensive but provide much better protection since many users share the same IP, making it disadvantageous to block it. They are better suited for long-term strategies and working with high-quality accounts;
• Residential proxies are cheaper and are tied to a specific IP and device, making them easy to block. They are better suited for working with low-quality accounts that are likely to be quickly blocked.

Several services where proxies are often purchased:

SOAX. A large international proxy provider with high prices and a quality product. They offer only fresh IPs from real devices starting at $99 per month.

Proxys.io. A source of affordable proxies for 14+ foreign countries. Prices start from ~$1.5 per proxy.

Phone numbers

Rented mobile phone numbers are needed for registration on various platforms. Even if a number isn’t mandatory for registration, it's still worth attaching it to strengthen trust in the account.

Renting phone numbers is straightforward in practice. You just need to select the platform and the GEO of the numbers. After payment, the webmaster will receive a phone number, which needs to be entered during registration. When an SMS or call comes to the number, the service will copy the data and pass it on to the renter.

You can obtain numbers in various ways, the simplest being to rent them online. For example, you can do this on sms-activate.org/en.

Payment systems 

Cards that can be purchased or rented for paying for advertising on international sources. They are necessary for running campaigns on any platforms where the webmaster uses multiple accounts. Therefore, the main thing when working with payment systems is to keep track of the relevance of different services and the feedback from webmasters, changing services as needed.

To avoid making a mistake with your choice, consider the following details when making a purchase:

• Region. Choose local cards from the country you are promoting in, or cards from trusted GEOs like the USA or Germany. It's better if the card is in euros or dollars;
• BIN. These are the first six digits of the card, which can be used to track the bank and country. Ad networks use BINs to differentiate payment systems, and you can check the trust level on services like Bincheck;
• Terms. Evaluate the service's terms, check the minimum deposit and withdrawal amounts, learn about fees, and balance protection. Remember, every fee affects the overall ROI.

To ensure successful linking, use up-to-date payment services and assess webmasters' reviews before starting cooperation. For example, Karta.io. 

Accounts 

Accounts are often blocked due to violations of promotion rules, so it's always important for a webmaster to have a flow of accounts. However, the accounts must be of high quality, as not every profile has stable access to advertising.

For a profile to gain access to advertising on major platforms, it must meet a number of requirements. Launching promotions from a brand-new account is not allowed; the anti-fraud system must verify that the account belongs to a real person.  Account trustworthiness is influenced by its age, social activity, campaign history, and absence of anonymity issues.

When purchasing, first pay attention to the type of account, here are the different types:

• Brute or logs. These are obtained through hacking, and each account's trust level will vary. We don't recommend using them for arbitrage because the owner can detect data breaches at any time and revoke access; and, yeah, it’s also illegal;
• Auto-reg or self-reg accounts. These terms refer to fresh profiles with low trust. To use them, you'll need to further farm them or link them to a trusted profile. This is more of a way to save time on registration and aging;
• Farmed accounts. Profiles prepared for running the campaign, the most in-demand format. The longer the farming and the more history of spending on white offers, the higher the trust and price;
• Rented profiles. These accounts are rented from real users. The price tag is high, but the level of trust is also high. In case of blocking, the account can be easily restored by the original owner;
• Accounts with RDP connection. These profiles remain on the device from which they were farmed for their entire life. Managing accounts will be done through a remote desktop, meaning there's no need for an antidetect browser and proxy, as the profile remains on the native hardware. This option is expensive and suitable for teams with large volumes;
• Agency accounts. Advertising accounts of agencies that share access with webmasters. They have the highest trust level, but to launch campaigns, you'll need to adjust creatives to meet the agency's requirements and pay a commission for access to the account.

Depending on the strategy and budgets, you can choose any type of account except for brute and logs.

Summary 

• Proxies are necessary for substituting the GEO and IP of the webmaster, which is essential for creating multiple accounts. They are used in conjunction with antidetects;
• Choose mobile proxies when working with trusted accounts, and residential proxies for launches from a multitude of low-quality profiles;
• Through hosting services, you can rent servers for publishing websites and installing tools. When choosing a hosting, the location of data centers and the rental format are important;
• Phone numbers in arbitrage are necessary for creating profiles. It's important that the number is fresh and corresponds to the targeting GEO;
• Payment systems are needed for advertising payments in large international sources. When choosing, rely on the relevance and feedback from webmasters;
• Accounts can be prepared independently or purchased ready-made. When buying, pay attention to the timelines and methods of farming, as well as the campaign history.

Did the material help you understand the topic of consumables?