If in a few week’s time if you see a devastatingly handsome homeless person in Southampton with a laptop and a can of Supertenants do say hello to me won’t you….
A couple of months ago I found out that my landlord hasn’t paid his mortgage repayments for a long, long time. For obvious reasons I won’t tell you who he is, but he was a top flight footballer for a fair while – which shows you no matter how much money you have in the bank now you need to prepare for the future. Who knows what’s round the corner?
Anyway this has left me in somewhat of a quandary.
Long story short I’m being turfed out of my lovely apartment very soon and have yet to find somewhere I want to stay. As you may know my living room looks out onto the Ocean Village harbour and now I’ve had this view I’d find it hard to live without it. The problem is there isn’t another flat like mine with this view available at the moment so I’m taking a gamble and hoping that in a month’s time there will be one available. If not, you may just see me wandering the streets of Southampton teaching the homeless about online business!
Without blowing my own trumpet here in Ocean Village I’m quite well known as “the internet guy” in the Pitcher and Piano Bar which I frequent probably a little too often. I always have people asking me what I’m doing at the moment and most of all how I can help them make money. “With as little effort as possible if that’s ok Jon”. Hmm.
So in between “buy me a drink and I’ll tell you” (I’m not a saint, I need some form of currency) I explain to them this quick and easy business. If I started telling them about info products I’d be there all day, it’s not the easiest business to teach people who aren’t sober.
However, this business is not only simple but has virtually zero risks and costs to and is perfect during these times of the credit crunch. It’s a novel way of making money from eBay.
Interested?
Selling other people’s junk – the easiest way to make money from eBay
Now reading that header you’re probably thinking “wow Jon, that’s hardly new information. Sell stuff on eBay is old hat. Do you get beaten up a lot in that bar you go in Einstein?” Well no this isn’t really new information but it doesn’t need to be. Instead this is a simple way you can earn a living helping other people earn a living.
In these times people are going to be looking for anyway they can earn a few extra pounds each week. So why not help them? You can do this by becoming a kind of eBay “middle man”. What you do is you sell other people’s junk they have lying around the house for a commission. In other words you make the listing for them, you take payment, either you or they ship the product and then you split the profits.
Here’s the thing. Whilst many people try selling on eBay, few are any good at it. If you spent a few days immersing yourself in how to write a decent eBay listing, how to find suitable areas of eBay to place your listing and so on, very quickly you could become an eBay seller that is good enough to sell well in the market place. Now all you need are products to sell. And the best place to start is with weird things around your house. And then weird things around other peoples houses.
So what do I mean by weird things?
Well for example I personally don’t think it’s easy at all to sell common household items like DVDs or computers and so on. But in my loft at my parent’s house I found a huge collection of old Beano comics I collected as a little man that I could shove on eBay and sell. Maybe you have the same kind of things. It could be anything that’s slightly different from the “norm” people are flogging on eBay.
Here’s the thing. We all have some things at home we could sell on the site. “If only I had the time” is something I’ve said to myself more often than I care to admit when it comes to eBay. Now though people will be desperate for some “pocket money”. And that’s where you come in as an eBay middle man. They might not know how to sell something on eBay, but you sure as hell can (can’t you!?). All you need to do is put some effort into learning it!
A lot of people are going to be looking for an extra way to make some pocket money. So why not offer them a no risk way to do that? You can become an “eBay Middle Man” and start selling other peoples “junk” on eBay for a commission of the sale. Say to them “I’ll put up the eBay listing, I’ll sell the product, I’ll even ship the product if you want me to. I only get a commission on what I sell. If I don’t sell anything I don’t earn anything and it will cost you nothing to try me out. On the other hand if I do sell it for you I get a commission of the sale. It’s a win-win situation for you”.
You could also approach local businesses that are struggling and offer to do the same. You’ll sell their stock online.
Before the recession this was a little known opportunity people were taking advantage of. Now though, when people really need an extra buck or two from anywhere, this is a very real opportunity for you.
So where do you advertise? Well try word of mouth first. Tell friends and family and just get yourself off the ground. Send an email. Contact your friends on social networking sites like Facebook. Use whatever free methods you can just to get yourself off the ground.
Here’s a cool tip. Ring up your free local newspapers and ask them if they would accept a press release or interview about your new business venture. Any publicity you can get from those types of sources could be huge at a time like this.
Ask in your local newsagents how much an ad would cost in their window for your new business. At a time like this they too will be desperate for any extra money they can pull in.
I really, really like this idea. I haven’t got much spare time on my hands as it is but if I did and was on a tight budget this would really be something I’d be thinking about. I’m pushing my friends and family and random drunk people in bars who are struggling onto this very opportunity due to virtually zero start up costs yet big potential.
This is just one of LOADS of ways to help you take advantage credit crunch that I discuss in the coming issue of the printed Digital Upstart Newsletter.
If you are a subscriber to the printed newsletter I assure you the new issue is a cracker with some crazy ideas, and a really cool business blueprint on joint venturing. It will be with you very soon.
If you’re not yet a member…why not?! It’s cheap as chips and can not only save you a hell of a lot of cash but it can put a hefty wad into your account too regardless of the financial climate.