"What I did last summer..."
Over the summer I have discovered a few things. Ironically, they were right under my nose all along, and evidently I don't look there often enough.
As we enter (what is usually) the most profitable quarter of the year, it pays to focus on things that actually make money. My Amazon sales usually slow down over summer, and I get a little "lost." So here are two areas I got lost in:
Less Work, More Money: Amazon FBA (non-books)
I've been a big fan of Amazon's FBA program for a long time. I've told you how my book sales really took off once I jumped in and went 100% FBA. After this summer, I'm an even bigger fan.
Looking back at my sales since first starting with Amazon, I can pinpoint certain things that made them jump in a big way. First thing was getting a book scanner. Since a lot of people have helped me increase my sales exponentially:
- Nathan Holmquist convinced me FBA was the way to go.
- Adam Bertram got me fired up about finding books in great quantity.
- Chris Green hooked me up with FBAPower and FBAScout.
It was FBAScout that helped me turn a corner this summer. Here's my story:
One afternoon, I was picking up a prescription at the local Rite-Aid. I spotted an end-cap full of appliances drastically marked down. There were Black & Decker products, and a few kinds of George Foreman Grills. The Black & Decker products were $8.99-$9.99 each. The George Foreman grills were $9.99-$17.99 depending on the model.
I whipped out my Android phone with the FBAScout app and scanned the barcodes of each product. Each one was a "Buy."
The cashier thought I was a little nuts, but I bought over $120 worth of those dusty appliances that night. I sent them all in to Amazon the next day, about a dozen items. So how did I do?
Well, everything sold in three days. In fact, I'm all sold out right now, but here are the exact products (and current prices) that I got for $8.99 and $9.99 respectively:
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Black & Decker JW200 Lids Off Jar Opener, White Sale Price: $79.99  |
After the first batch sold so quickly, I went and bought all of the rest and sent them in. They all sold in two days.
As I've mentioned here before, I live in an area with lots of small towns. There are about seven Rite-Aid stores within driving distance. So every time I was near a Rite-Aid, I dropped in to see if they had the same sale. Guess what? They did.
I was still skeptical, so I didn't clean the stores out, I just filled my cart at each store and kept sending these things in - and they kept selling. I finally sold 25 Gizmo can openers (@ $34.97 each) and 16 Lid-Off jar openers (@ $49.97 each). In both cases, I offered the best price on Amazon and had the "Blue Box" as long as I had stock. These two items alone brought a profit of $1200.
That got me to looking for other stuff to sell. So I went into Big Lots and tried to strike gold again. (Yes, just a regular Big Lots store.)
There I found a bunch of Hot Wheels-type toy cars related to the Disney/Pixar movie Cars and Cars 2. They were $3 each, and that made me a little reluctant to buy a bunch. But I used the FBAScout program again, and found prices on Amazon for $9-$13 each. Could that really be true?
Well, it was. They have all sold for $10 and up.
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Chick Hicks Green #24 - Disney Pixar Cars Die Cast 1:55 Lenticular Sale Price: $21.49 |
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I've found a bunch of other stuff too. But I suppose you get the point. Selling these products was a LOT easier than scanning, packing, and shipping books. Plus, I didn't have to wrestle against pushy book-dealers or hide from scanner-hating library staff.
But as my last "finds" were selling out, I began to wonder what I'd do to keep the ball rolling. Right about then, I got an email from Jordan Malik talking about his new site FBAFinds.com.
Jordan is a heck of a nice guy who sells things on eBay and Amazon just like us. He has put a membership site together that consolidates exactly the same kinds of deals I talked about above. The thing is, a lot of those deals are online, so even if there isn't a brick-and-mortar store near you, you can earn some amazing profit by reselling the items on Amazon or eBay at market price.
I was surprised at how the FBAFinds community shared their finds with each other on the forum. They are quite helpful and it's pretty exciting when you can jump on the bandwagon and get in on a good deal. One concern I had was whether a rush of sellers would flood the market and drive the prices down on these particular items. However, clearance items are generally pretty limited by nature, so the effect seems pretty insignificant as I've been watching.
Some sellers are showing their savvy by buying items they sense will be scarce during the holiday season and just hanging on to them.
The bottom line is: I think FBAFinds may be another one of those points where my sales take a big jump. It's refreshing to sell something other than books, the items are cheaper to pack and ship, and the profit adds up quicker.
Plus, I am tired of crawling around on the thrift store floors trying to scan the books on the bottom shelves...yuck.
Click here to check out FBAFinds.
Reworking Old Affiliate Sites
This year I start tinkering around with my old websites, tweaking, updating, etc. As I mentioned in a recent email, I found I was actually earning money with some (old) WordPress niche sites.
A few years ago, I set up a bunch of niche websites. They didn't earn right away, so I kind of forgot about them. Some of them just sort of "died" as Google made changes in the way they ranked affiliate sites. But a few survived, and they are earning a little each month - at least enough to make me see what worked and what did not. I inadvertently did a two-year experiment on affiliate sites.
It turns out, that if you actually put a little work into the sites to make them unique, they can earn money. That's true even if you put most of the work in early, and practically ignore them later.
For me it's more enjoyable to work on existing sites than starting from scratch. It's similar to comparing editing to writing. Most people seem to like having something to start with, and then they can "create" from there.
Someone emailed me and asked for links to some of these sites. Giving out my niche site links makes me feel like a cook giving away a secret family recipe. But hey, we're family right? Plus, none of these sites are works of art. My point in sharing them with you, is to show that even an ugly site, or sometimes even a "thin" affiliate site can earn you income each month.
- Radio Gems- This is actually an old BANS (Build a Niche Store) site. BANS was a super-popular program for building websites a few years ago. They were very well tuned for search engines, and some people made a lot of money with literally hundreds of little BANS sites. They were pretty much just full of affiliate links to eBay though. There wasn't much substance to any of them. Finally Google de-indexed most of them and they have died off.
Admittedly, this site doesn't have much substance either. But as the product was updated, with newer versions, I never updated this one. It turns out that a few of the older BANS sites are still around. For some reason, this little site has some loyal visitors that come back several times per week. (And when one of them buys a $3000 radio through my affiliate link - I couldn't be more pleased.) - VW Partfinder - This is an ugly little WordPress site, built from scratch around the best eBay affiliate plugin in the world - phpBay.
This ugly little site still earns between $20-$75 per month, and I've barely touched it in the past three years.phpBay (WordPress plugin for eBay) and phpZon (WordPress plugin for Amazon) has been the best earner for me on anyaffiliate website.
If you know your way around eBay or Amazon, you can build sites with this product that will make money for you month after month. Plus, the phpBay forum is full of other people doing the same thing, and they are very helpful. That includes Wade, the creator of the plugin. I believe he is second to none in personal support of his product.The last site I'll show you is another one built completely around phpBay. - GuitarWrld - I got this domain because it was a misspelling of a much more popular site. I figured I would try to at least catch the visitor's interest since they were there. It worked. This site always ranks well for a few terms on Google and gets organic traffic. And it earns money each month from the eBay Partner Network.
It's a good idea to build affiliate websites (preferably with WordPress). They are relatively cheap to build. With the tools available today, even a novice can build a unique niche website.
And I guarantee that even if two people tried to build sites around the same niche - the sites would be different, because different people just think differently. Their unique ideas will come through.
Not too long ago, I offered a package of three fully-built affiliate WordPress sites. Niche markets include: Woodworking, Learn Spanish, and Tattoo Design. These are areas of proven interest over time. To build these sites from scratch would cost you a bunch. Look at what is included:
- Built-in SEO Optimization - giving you better chances at ranking well with major search engines.
- Pre-installed Premium WordPress plugins that save you hundreds of dollars. Plus, over a dozen of the best, free WordPress plugins on the market today.
- Amazon products already added to each post - generate affiliate earnings as an Amazon Associate.
- Places for ClickBank, and AdSense ads - you just have to paste in your own affiliate code.
- Pre-installed, articles on your niche + another 10-20 ready to be edited and used to make your blog unique.
- A very nice, premium WordPress theme with over 20 different color schemes + 2 layout options - switch colors with the click of a mouse!
- Easy step-by-step instructions on how to install manually or using WP Twin (highly recommended!)
You get private label rights, so you can alter the design and content as you please. They're your websites. You can even sell your site someday.
Available Qty: 49
You will need a domain (.com, .net, etc.) and you'll need a web host. If you're not familiar with those things, click here for a basic explanation.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Steve,
I always love all of your advice, and this is a great tip. But. I have to wonder how long will it be before the stores catch on and it will be just like the book sales where they don’t allow scanning. Don’t get me wrong it is just that so many areas have become saturated, it makes it hard. Keep up the great work, I look forward to all your newsletters, thanks for always being a help to us out here.
Jillian, I believe retail stores won’t behave in the same way as library book sales or thrift stores. Retail stores have existing processes for handling returned “clearance” merchandise. The employees don’t usually have a “stake” in the business. Library sale staff, and often thrift store employees are smaller operations, run by volunteers or family businesses concerned with every penny – they have more of a drive to squeeze all they can out of every item.
So my feeling is that the relatively small number of us sellers who buy reduced-price items and sell them online will not saturate the markets.
Thanks for the info on phpBay and phpZon. I’de heard about those briefly years ago, but never thought much about them. Now I have an OLD domain that desperately needs to be updated and these sound like great things to add. Do you know if you can sell a site built with these plugins or would the buyer have to get their own plugins?
Hi Susan. There is an FAQ on the phpBay site that says:
You could also purchase a license for them (included in the price of your site) and then they would be set up to go right away upon purchase.
Steve,
Great article! Very true about the best finds are usually right under your nose. I consistently find profitable items at a drug store that is within walking distance from my apartment.
Nathan
Steve – I have lots of Rite-Aids near me, and I never knew! Thanks for the tip. Also great to see you back, sharing your success with us loyal readers.
-Jordan Malik