Frequently asked questions

What is InventorySpread?

A scanner that finds under-priced sponsor inventory across newsletter marketplaces and matches it against affiliate programs where the implied CPM is well below market. We surface the spread (e.g. 2.3×) and the booking URL.

Is it really free?

Yes. The dashboard, live feed, and per-newsletter quality multipliers are open to every visitor with no signup.

How does the spread score work?

Spread = expected revenue per send / slot price. A 1.0× spread means the placement breaks even at typical conversion rates. The dashboard surfaces matches at 1.5× and above by default.

What is the “verified quality multiplier”?

Operators who book a slot can report actual revenue back to us. We aggregate those outcomes per newsletter and publish a confidence-graded quality multiplier (e.g. 0.92× — slightly optimistic). Predictions recalibrate weekly as more outcomes come in.

Why a Hetzner VM and not pure serverless?

Playwright + headless Chromium does not run inside Cloudflare Workers. A €5/mo Hetzner CX22 runs the scanner every 6 hours and pushes findings to the API. The Worker layer handles routing, matching, and the public dashboard.

How do you make money if it’s free?

Affiliate links on the matched programs (when an operator clicks through and books, we earn a share), and brokered listings for newsletters that want to be discoverable inside the marketplace.

What if the scraper is wrong about a slot price?

Email hello@inventoryspread.com with the listing URL and the corrected price. Confirmed corrections feed back into the matching engine and improve next week’s scores.