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How to turn $1 into $70 in under 5 minutes

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

AFMKelvin

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Here's a quick story of how I made $70 from a $1 investment in 5 minutes.

I've been on this forum for years and I've read almost every thread there is. I still haven't created my fastlane ticket but I do try to use the advice on this forum whenever possible. The person that help me turn $1 into $70 is @Lex DeVille after reading his copy writing threads. For a few months now I have been practicing my copy writing skills and I have done some freelance copy writing on up work.

As a side gig I flip items I buy from thrift stores. One day I walked into a thrift store and there was this rainbow color monkey for sale for $1. I bought it and took it home. It was sitting in my house for a few months. I never got around to posting it on ebay. Finally I did post it. In all it took me 5 minutes of handling the item from the moment I picked it up, payed for it and took pictures of it.

DSC01929.JPG

Before posting any item on Ebay I checked how much each item has sold for in the past. This monkey has sold in the range of $20 to $40. I knew I could sell it for a lot more with a little help from writing good copy. Here's how my listing looked once it was it was live.

Rainbow Monkey Orignal Listing.PNG

The headline that I used was a description of the monkey, the brand and the keywords Gay Pride because the LGBT community use the rainbow as their flag. I set the price to $99.
A few hours later I received an offer for $80. I accepted it right away. After shipping, paypal fees and Ebay fees I made a profit of $70.

Rainbow Monkey Offer.PNG

I packed the monkey and shipped it. I waited a few days before posting this thread just in case the buyer had buyer's remorse and wanted a refund. It hasn't happen. Now I'm $70 richer.

The other similar listings don't have any copy writing in them. They just post what the item is. I believe it was copy writing that made me an extra $30 from the other sellers.
 
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Veloce Grey

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It's even more impressive because that thing is so creepy to look at. It looks like what you'd send to someone you had a vendetta against......"hey just wanted to send you this monkey, enjoy the nightmares"
 

MJ DeMarco

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Well done!

Reminds me of the Significant Objects project where they purchased things at a thrift-store and then sold them for 5 or 10X by simply attaching a powerful story to it. Marketing is a value skew, as is a good story.
 
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XxThelionxX

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I would kind of feel like I was ripping the dude off. You'd wouldn't want to give out some ordinary monkey. Atleast I wouldn't.
 

Pilot35

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Very simple idea. Straight to what's important - getting paying customers. $70 earned in just 5 minutes of work. Nice one, OP.
 

NewManRising

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Here's a quick story of how I made $70 from a $1 investment in 5 minutes.

I've been on this forum for years and I've read almost every thread there is. I still haven't created my fastlane ticket but I do try to use the advice on this forum whenever possible. The person that help me turn $1 into $70 is @Lex DeVille after reading his copy writing threads. For a few months now I have been practicing my copy writing skills and I have done some freelance copy writing on up work.

As a side gig I flip items I buy from thrift stores. One day I walked into a thrift store and there was this rainbow color monkey for sale for $1. I bought it and took it home. It was sitting in my house for a few months. I never got around to posting it on ebay. Finally I did post it. In all it took me 5 minutes of handling the item from the moment I picked it up, payed for it and took pictures of it.

View attachment 25781

Before posting any item on Ebay I checked how much each item has sold for in the past. This monkey has sold in the range of $20 to $40. I knew I could sell it for a lot more with a little help from writing good copy. Here's how my listing looked once it was it was live.

View attachment 25782

The headline that I used was a description of the monkey, the brand and the keywords Gay Pride because the LGBT community use the rainbow as their flag. I set the price to $99.
A few hours later I received an offer for $80. I accepted it right away. After shipping, paypal fees and Ebay fees I made a profit of $70.

View attachment 25783

I packed the monkey and shipped it. I waited a few days before posting this thread just in case the buyer had buyer's remorse and wanted a refund. It hasn't happen. Now I'm $70 richer.

The other similar listings don't have any copy writing in them. They just post what the item is. I believe it was copy writing that made me an extra $30 from the other sellers.
A great example of using the power of copywriting and creativity. Thanks for sharing.
 

AFMKelvin

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I would kind of feel like I was ripping the dude off. You'd wouldn't want to give out some ordinary monkey. Atleast I wouldn't.

He thought that monkey was worth $80. How is that ripping him off?
 
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theMikeFerrari

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It's not.

Just like MJ wrote in his book, I don't remember the exact words but it's close to: sale is an exchange between perceived values.

The first dude sold it for $1 because he perceived it's value around $1. But Kevin here saw opportunity. He perceived the value more. Therefore the sale was made. What was the monkey truly worth? No one knows.

Then, later on, Kevin injected more value to the monkey by adding story, which the buyer perceived more than $80. The buyer of course thinks that he's the one ripping Kevin's off, since he's buying from eBay. Based on his identy that he's a gay, I'm sure he's a proud one.

Thank you for sharing this Kev, that's a trully great work you did there.
 

AFMKelvin

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JAJT

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I'm thinking as if the perceived value didn't match the real value?

In an open and free market, when perceived value doesn't meet or exceed the asking price - a sale doesn't happen.

In fact - perceived value was PERFECTLY displayed in this transaction because the original offer of $99 was rejected by the buyer. The buyer then countered with their true perceived value - $80. And that was accepted.

The buyer literally got the price they asked for... if anything the buyer will have thought they got a great deal and saved $20.
 

Seamster

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I've never heard the phrase "copy write" to describe you using an alternate (but true) description, but good job and I've done the same!

For future posts, note that I sell on ebay as well and I'm able to list and sell my items higher than others due to by in-depth descriptions and better photos.

$1 into $70 I don't think I've ever done, but, like, I found an empty iPhone box on the side of the road near one of those crappy cell phone stores. I sold it on ebay for $10 (assumedly to someone who is selling his old iPhone and wants to box it up and call it "refurbished" like I've been catching them doing, so in retrospect I shouldn't have helped perpetuate the scam!).
 

karakoram

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I would kind of feel like I was ripping the dude off. You'd wouldn't want to give out some ordinary monkey. Atleast I wouldn't.

Just because YOU don't feel the monkey is worth $80 does not mean someone else does not think so.

There's an old saying: "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I trade a lot and one second I might sell BTC for 12, 000, and only a few hours or minutes later its worth under $10k. Did I rip them off?

2 days ago I bought a used Lexus for $19.3k using my BTC profits. It booked out at 22k, but I also bought from Private party instead of dealer so I saved $2,700 in taxes and fees, plus dealers had the same car listed for $24k. Did I rip off the seller? Did he rip me off? The car has a few hidden issues that I found when I looked at it that devalued the car IMHO. Maybe the car will break down in a bad way tommorrow. Then you might argue he ripped me off. (For the record, I've put 130 miles on it since purchase and no issues, so I think its fine - I'm a car guy and know how to evaluate a used car and know how to work on them)

Value is simply perception. Rich old men were willing to give tons of money to the crew to be first on the lifeboats of Titanic. They decided their lives were worth more than lots of cash. The crew wasn't selling that day. That only caused the rich men to offer even more money. The crew did not VALUE any amount of money over the lives of women and children first.

Price is only loosely correlated to value. Whatever the actual sales price is, is what a buyer is willing to pay. I bought my house in 2002. In 2006 I could have sold it for more than double but did not. In 2012 I could have sold it for far LESS than I paid in 2002! At the current time (july 2019) I could sell it for about 2006 levels.

Did the VALUE of my house change? I would argue that it did not even if price fluctuated. The VALUE for my family is that its a decent place to live. How much is that worth?
 
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Last edited:

markochoa

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The headline that I used was a description of the monkey, the brand and the keywords Gay Pride because the LGBT community use the rainbow as their flag. I set the price to $99.
Well done @kelvinfernandezm!!! You connected this product to a trend/movement with a lot of energy behind it at the moment. It seems like anything to do with saving the planet, pets, women entrepreneurship, and the community you mentioned have a lot of excitement behind them. At least, that's how it seems from what I've seen on the last few seasons of the Shark Tank. Great job!
 

AFMKelvin

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I've never heard the phrase "copy write" to describe you using an alternate (but true) description, but good job and I've done the same!

For future posts, note that I sell on ebay as well and I'm able to list and sell my items higher than others due to by in-depth descriptions and better photos.

$1 into $70 I don't think I've ever done, but, like, I found an empty iPhone box on the side of the road near one of those crappy cell phone stores. I sold it on ebay for $10 (assumedly to someone who is selling his old iPhone and wants to box it up and call it "refurbished" like I've been catching them doing, so in retrospect I shouldn't have helped perpetuate the scam!).

That's what copy writing is. It gets the buyer emotionally involved in the purchase. Once yous sell an item whatever the customer does with it is out of your control. I wouldn't sweat it.
 

XxThelionxX

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In an open and free market, when perceived value doesn't meet or exceed the asking price - a sale doesn't happen.

I love this! Thank you for clearing this up!

There's an old saying: "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

So I'm in charge of the perceived value. This kind of is coming together in my mind. I definitely confused!

Not enough real action haha
 
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rnafees

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Here's a quick story of how I made $70 from a $1 investment in 5 minutes.

I've been on this forum for years and I've read almost every thread there is. I still haven't created my fastlane ticket but I do try to use the advice on this forum whenever possible. The person that help me turn $1 into $70 is @Lex DeVille after reading his copy writing threads. For a few months now I have been practicing my copy writing skills and I have done some freelance copy writing on up work.

As a side gig I flip items I buy from thrift stores. One day I walked into a thrift store and there was this rainbow color monkey for sale for $1. I bought it and took it home. It was sitting in my house for a few months. I never got around to posting it on ebay. Finally I did post it. In all it took me 5 minutes of handling the item from the moment I picked it up, payed for it and took pictures of it.

View attachment 25781

Before posting any item on Ebay I checked how much each item has sold for in the past. This monkey has sold in the range of $20 to $40. I knew I could sell it for a lot more with a little help from writing good copy. Here's how my listing looked once it was it was live.

View attachment 25782

The headline that I used was a description of the monkey, the brand and the keywords Gay Pride because the LGBT community use the rainbow as their flag. I set the price to $99.
A few hours later I received an offer for $80. I accepted it right away. After shipping, paypal fees and Ebay fees I made a profit of $70.

View attachment 25783

I packed the monkey and shipped it. I waited a few days before posting this thread just in case the buyer had buyer's remorse and wanted a refund. It hasn't happen. Now I'm $70 richer.

The other similar listings don't have any copy writing in them. They just post what the item is. I believe it was copy writing that made me an extra $30 from the other sellers.
Awsome!
 

njord

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I've never heard the phrase "copy write" to describe you using an alternate (but true) description, but good job and I've done the same!

For future posts, note that I sell on ebay as well and I'm able to list and sell my items higher than others due to by in-depth descriptions and better photos.

$1 into $70 I don't think I've ever done, but, like, I found an empty iPhone box on the side of the road near one of those crappy cell phone stores. I sold it on ebay for $10 (assumedly to someone who is selling his old iPhone and wants to box it up and call it "refurbished" like I've been catching them doing, so in retrospect I shouldn't have helped perpetuate the scam!).

Ow f*** i dident know they where worth money! I threw away mine last weekend:bored:

Im selling my house so i need to get rid of all my junk i geuss its time to upgrade my copywriting skils lol
 

JAJT

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So I'm in charge of the perceived value.

It's not all on you - there's two parts to this.

Perceived value is always, always, always from the customer's point of view. They are the ones spending money so they are the ones who decide if an offering is worth the price (the price matches their perception of what the price should be).

The second part is your job as a seller to shine the best possible light on your offering to your ideal customer. This is where you identify the kind of customer who will pay the most for your offering and do anything and everything in your power to get the customer to agree that the price matches their perception.

You can alter perception in your customer's mind in multiple ways:

1. Choosing the right customer. In the example above, the seller could have targeted children but the perceived value for children and parents for a rainbow bear is likely $10. However, the seller instead used pro-LGBT phrasing with the rainbow symbolism to attract a higher quality customer. Is $70 for a trait-defining symbol of your values worth more than a colorful children's toy? Yes. Obviously.

2. Pictures. I'll keep this brief: People don't buy products online. They buy photos of products online.

3. Writing. Similar to pictures - people want cues to purchase through information and stories. Copy-writing is all about shaping a customer's attitude towards a product through words. "Rainbow stuffed bear" doesn't warrant $80 quite like "gender neutral, pro-lgbt stuffed animal - perfect for pride week".

4. Shipping options & Pricing psychology. $99 instead of $100 increases perception of value. Free/fast/easy shipping increases perceptions of value. Fast/easy/convenient payment options increase perceptions of value.

There's probably more but you can see where I'm going with this.

At the end of the day, your customer will look at everything you've put together in a nice little package, look at your price, and either say "hmm... that makes sense" or "hell no". Your job is to "guess" the highest price possible to get them to click "buy" based on the strength of your entire offering as a complete package.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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So I'm in charge of the perceived value. This kind of is coming together in my mind. I definitely confused!

Re-read Chapter 21 in Unscripted (pg 133 if you have the hardcopy) -- I go into detail about perceived value.

Perceived value is what makes people buy ... it is MARKETING oriented which is why marketing is so powerful as a value skew ... so powerful that you can have a shitty product but have awesome marketing and STILL make $$ ... we call that bro-marketing around here. An average/good/great product with awesome marketing will turn you into a money printer.
 

Olimac21

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I love this! Thank you for clearing this up!



So I'm in charge of the perceived value. This kind of is coming together in my mind. I definitely confused!

Not enough real action haha

The perceived value is also generated by social proof (Cialdini), when others are wanting what you have is perceived as more desirable. So when Kelvin put LGBT the customer thought: this belongs to my tribe and if other LGBT people are likely having it I should have it too.
 

Champion

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I didn't write copy for the listing just the title.

Oh wow, sometimes less is more indeed!

Thanks for the reply, you're making me really want to try this out now lol :D

I actually have a lot of books that I want to get rid of, since I dont have so much space, so I will go to a flea market soon. I will pick up a couple of 1-5 Euro items, try the same thing and let you guys know the results!

Best,
Champion
 

Dan_Cardone

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Guy on my facebook always brags about buying regular rainbow flags for a few backs and selling them 5x as much to the LGBT community.

I know for a fact there is a company who makes dog shampoo. They sell generic dog shampoo for around $3.50 a bottle and then they have breed specific shampoo they sell for $5.49. Same size bottle and.... same shampoo.

Seriously, no different at all.

Lots of companies do things like this. People gladly pay more if they believe the product is made just for them, their group, their subculture, etc.

Real value in that lesson.
 

ChrisV

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I'm thinking as if the perceived value didn't match the real value?
I the guy purchased it and is happy with the purchase (he consciously decided that he preferred having the item as opposed to having his $80,) then it's a fair trade. Both parties are left better off than when they started.
 

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