Here is How I Made $491 in Less Than an Hour
Here is How I Made $491 in Less Than an Hour
Nope, this isn't clickbait. It's real.
“Why Not Me? by Jarrylew” is an e-commerce and investment newsletter that focuses around the idea of using efficient income to become self-employed and financially free.
Nothing like this exists on the internet and you’re guaranteed to learn something new by subscribing.
This is a free post, but if you would like to support my work and follow along with my personal projects/investments, I’d be thrilled to have you as a subscriber.
It is once again time to show some real examples of completed e-commerce transactions that made me money over the past few weeks.
I am not showing off, rather showing what is possible if you put in some effort on a business that is as straight-forward as it gets.
As usual, these transactions are non-fiction book sales that were done entirely from home and all online.
Anyone can do this, even if you live outside the United States.
Why do I share this? I’ll explain.
Out there somewhere is someone who is fed up with the idea of strictly trading their time for a fixed hourly rate that they have no control over.
How do I know? I was once this person.
I knew quitting my job right away wasn’t possible. I had bills to pay and things I wanted to buy.
So I did the next best thing…
I started a simple online business, selling things on Amazon.
I didn’t come up with some fancy new invention, I started selling things that already sold really well.
After a few years of reinvesting profits and applying the skills I learned to other areas of online business, I was able to make more money than I made as an Aerospace Engineer.
This snowballed into self-employment and now, financial freedom.
I’m not special, nor am I a genius.
All I did was take what I’m about to show you and double down on it for years until I broke free.
Book #1
Here is a book that I got for $103 (5% cash back) on Amazon. Thanks to the ongoing “busy season” this was sold for much more just a few weeks later.
Cost Basis: $103
Sale Price: $300
Fees: $54
Profit After Fees: $143
ROI: 139%
Book #2
Got this book for $38 on Amazon after it dropped well below it’s usual selling price. I priced it really high and it eventually sold.
The more patient you are, often times the more you are rewarded.
If I really needed the capital back, I would have been more aggressive on the sale and priced lower.
Cost Basis: $38
Sale Price: $170
Fees: $33
Profit After Fees: $99
ROI: 261%
Book #3
Once again, another Amazon to Amazon flip… these are very common.
Selling a book on Amazon for double or triple the price comes down to one thing: shipping speed.
Customers in America love when things arrive quickly. So much so, that they are willing to overpay by a LOT.
So we selectively take couple books here and there that arrive in 1-2 weeks, do the waiting for our future customer, then offer the book with 2-3 day shipping.
It might sound crazy, but if you know anything about people who have more money than patience…. it’s not that crazy.
Cost Basis: $54
Sale Price: $140
Fees: $29
Profit After Fees: $57
ROI: 105%
Book #4
Here we are with another “busy season” book that tends to sell for a lot more during this time of year than the rest.
We paid just over $30 for it and sold it for much, much more.
Cost Basis: $31
Sale Price: $130
Fees: $27
Profit After Fees: $72
ROI: 232%
Book #5
We end this list with an eBay purchase that features two copies of the same book for a total of just over $30.
I rarely buy more than one copy of a book and only do so if it’s a fantastic deal.
This is to avoid fighting other sellers on price.
It’s better to expand horizontally (# of book titles) than it is to expand vertically (# of copies of each book title).
Cost Basis: $16 per book
Sale Price: $100 per book
Fees: $24 per book
Profit After Fees: $60 per book
Total Profit: $120
ROI: 375%
Summary
Total Cost Basis: $258
Total Revenue: $940
Fees: $191
Profit After Fees: $491
ROI: 190%
Time invested: 30-60 minutes
Do me a favor and scour the internet for another e-commerce business that makes a return on investment like this business does…
You’ll be searching for a long time because they don’t exist.
This business can’t scale as far as Nike has, but it can go far enough to make six figures in profit in a single year.
That’s pretty good for something that requires:
No website
No fancy inventions
No branding
No content creation
No marketing
No advertising
We made almost $500 in six total transactions. Six!
Also, do you know anyone else online showing proof of their sales like I do? Doubtful.
If you want a free guide on how to get started doing this, click the button below:
Enjoy this post? Click the heart button to like the post for me please. It really helps with the discoverability of this content.
Tips on finding the right books? Textbooks makes a lot of sense in July/August, but which ones? Do you have success looking for relevant curriculums and finding required textbooks? What about other times of the year - what makes for a good flip candidate in your experience?