I am not a big fan of people selling books, informational C.D.’s, etc. on “How to Make Fast Money Online.” The fact is, I don’t recall ever reading anything that gave me an “ah ha” moment that had the words “How To” tied together in some fashion with “Make Money Fast.” I guess an article on robbing a bank or store or something can lead to fast money…provided you don’t mind the jail time that goes with it.
I won’t say that it’s not out there somewhere in the big wide world, but I’ve never seen it. I don’t read junk like that anymore, and professionally, don’t recommend getting involved with any “business opportunity” that requires me to part with money in order to “join a club” without first running it through an attorney.
If the opportunity isn’t good enough to pay an attorney $450 an hour to make sure it’s legitimate, legal, and your interests are protected, to me, it just does not seem like it would be a good opportunity. In my opinion, there are just way too many “too good to be true” schemes for my taste.
That being said, you’re reading this post for a legitimate way to make money online fast. Again, I will say the same thing I said in my business series: I am embarrassed to post this on my company blog (and fortunately, it will get archived and go away sooner or later)…
Now, we’ve all heard you can make a lot of cash on eBay.
Here is my legal disclaimer: This article represents the opinions of the author through personal first-hand experience. As with anything, results will vary based upon your “business skill level,” the decisions you make, and the products you choose to buy and resell online. As with any business scheme, the probability exists you could lose money using this information. You are exclusively responsible for the results of your own actions, and by using any information contained within this post, agree to hold SEO King, Inc. and its owners harmless from any claims of damage, both financial and emotional. In other words, use this information at your own risk.
A bloody shame that this day and age you have to put some type of legal disclaimer on something that seems so obvious, but you know there will always be “one” who can’t take responsibility for their own decisions, much less do their own homework…tsk
Now, I personally did this right around 7 or 8 years ago to supplement the $235.00 a month in child support my ex-wife was paying me and that was only briefly. It worked quite nicely for me and helped me with making a very nice amount of extra cash every month – let’s just say it was even more than my day job, until I got on my feet.
Things have changed on eBay and with PayPal, but buyers have not. Why did I stop if I was making such good money? eBay.com is a lot of work, and when you’re dealing with a lot of products, shipping, and buying, it can become a full time job. It was boring and exhausting, and as a final excuse, I believe I have ADD given how bored I get so quickly…lol
I think it is why I have stuck with this company for so long. Every project is unique and interesting. The site-based SEO wraps up fast enough I don’t have time to get bored with them and then they move on to my Internet Marketing team.
Anyway…The answer for fast cash? Go buy used products and sell them on eBay.com. That’s something you can dive right into and start making money within days if you do it right. The fact is, you can make a few hundred to multiple thousands a month if you’re willing to work hard and target the right products.
Here in Tampa, FL, we have a local weekly-classified rag that you can advertise “I Wanna” for buying stuff. It only costs around $37.00 a week, and in Tampa you’ll get responses. The fact is, pick the right products, be willing to show up at their house, and you can replace the local pawn shop. (Again, legal disclaimer: there are plenty of nuts out there in the real world. Going to a stranger’s house is a HUGE risk to your safety. I did it, but that does not mean it is safe to do.)
I mean, who likes to go into a pawn shop to “hock” something? Talk about a walk of shame! Buy a Rolex for $1000 and sell it on eBay.com for $1300 – a 30% return in 7 days – and holy cow, you should be saying, “sign me up for that one!” Of course, you need to make sure it’s a real one…lol
Look, there are a lot of people that don’t buy everything new. I’m one of them. I am cheap as heck. Why I am going to go pay $2,995.99 (plus tax and delivery) for a 55″ Sony HD TV when I can buy the same one 6 months old, with a little research and finding the right hardship, for $700.00? Yeah baby!
Why buy an Xbox 360 for $300.00 when you can get one with 10 games, 3 controllers, and pay $150.00. I love my 360 and Xbox Live! Many people shop smart for luxury items. You can take advantage of that market big time because eBay is so convenient for finding just those items you’re looking for!
Research what’s selling on eBay.com and what’s not. When you’ve identified what’s selling, and it’s something easy to get hold of (for example, video games and game systems), you now have a built in database of past sales prices by product, make, and model.
Using our example of video games and game systems, the past sales prices on eBay.com help you know what you can afford to pay for what games and consoles and still make a profit. That’s one of the great things about eBay.com. You have a built in database of information related to sales for a huge assortment of products – fantastic information to use when considering selling any product online.
Again, using our video game and console example, build in your eBay.com and PayPal.com (credit card transaction) fees and then add those costs into shipping. Then, for good measure, add a handling fee into your shipping to cover shipping materials and time. You really have to look at what your competition on eBay is doing to see what you can get away with.
If items are selling at a sustainable price with a $5.00 shipping fee, you can get away with charging $5.00 for shipping. If items are not selling with a $5.00 shipping fee, you adjust accordingly. Don’t assume you can charge “X” in fees and still sell a product. Look at the historical database and see what is selling for what price, what they are charging for shipping, and then just adjust your strategy accordingly.
Here’s An Example For You:
“A” game (you pick “A” game title – i.e. Halo for Xbox) sells for $5.00 on average on eBay.com. You traditionally need at least a 45% gross margin for a decent net profit. You buy this particular game at $2.50. Let’s assume our fees for posting, selling, buying, and shipping this product are $2.50. Your total overhead is $5.00 as a fixed cost, but your profit, in effect, comes in recovering a shipping and handling fee for the game at $3.00.
Sell a hundred games a week (pretty easy to do), you’re now making $300.00 extra a week. Remember, with many low cost products the real profit comes in the shipping you charge. Depending upon the present listing and selling fees, if you paid a dollar for the product and it sells for a dollar and costs a dollar to ship, with sufficient shipping and handling you can still make a profit.
In addition, when you buy things like games, people tend to have 8, 9, 15, or more games plus a game system they want to sell. You have to know what you can pay to make enough of a profit to make it worthwhile for you to buy and resell the individual components. You don’t do one-off trips; instead, you schedule days to inspect and buy new inventory – saving fuel and time.
Naturally, when purchasing anything that is used, you want to test each item to ensure it works.
This is a pretty easy, pretty straightforward process of having a low risk, low cost online money making business. You really only need a little bit of start-up capital to get the ball rolling.
Added Bonus Material:
I’ll give you one additional piece of business advice. With eBay focused products, shipping can be one of your largest expenses. Boxes aren’t cheap, packaging isn’t cheap, and who has time to drive around in circles looking for odd ball size boxes from multiple retail chains and grocery stores that you might or might not actually be able to use…
Here in Tampa, we have a manufacturer of boxes. You can buy a 6 foot tall bag of popcorn (packing material) for around $30.00 a bag – try checking out the prices on this stuff at Office Depot. Boxes of all sizes start at 27 cents each and go up as the size goes up. You pick the sizes based upon your products.
Yes, you have to buy bundles of 25 boxes, but it sure beats searching for them; plus, it puts you in control of your actual costs to ship. Now that you have fixed costs, you can accurately calculate. So, check your local area for a box manufacturer. I’ll bet they’ll sell to you and you’ll save time and money in the long run.
More Added Bonus Material:
Nobody says you have to sell on eBay.com. You can effectively buy and resell items on craigslist.org or other classified sites. Use your imagination, do your homework, and look for gems in the market to buy and resell used items. Making money buying and selling stuff is all about what you pay for it, what you sell it for, and what it costs you to complete the entire transaction process.
So, you now have an easy, proven business model that can make you a few extra bucks online every month pretty quickly. So, go make some fast money and forget about the rest of the Internet business series…it’s most probably going to be dry, boring, and un-inspiring anyway.
Until Next Time.
George Chaney
President/CEO
SEO King, Inc.
