Quick! Make $250 in Six Months

[Bananas]

I stumbled across this hilarious article and I thought you might enjoy:

When my husband and I moved across the country last year, he had a job lined up — but I didn’t.

Living in a new state without a full-time job, I tried to think of ways to bring in some income. My love for bargain hunting really got me thinking…

Thrift stores and garage sales are amazing places to find a needle in the haystack, a lost Picasso or a first edition Hemingway.

While we hear stories of those lucky few who hit it big on “Antiques Roadshow,” I decided to focus on more common items people tend to throw away.

Specifically: board games.

And not even complete games, but the tossed-aside, falling-apart, missing-pieces games which most people pass up.

Not me. I saw them as potential moneymakers!

In fact, I ended up making $250 from these board games in just six months. Continued at
http://www.thepennyhoarder.com/selling-on-ebay-board-game-pieces/

 

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[Bananas]

The entire article continues in the same happy, excited tone as the article writer thoroughly explains to everyone how they might make $250 over a 6 months period from selling random pieces from board games, which is a grand total of less than $42 per month and I don't think she is even calculating her profits correctly as some of the examples are:

Here’s what I earned selling these pieces: Tokens: $9.50, Instructions: $1.50, Ring: $9.99, Die: $1.50.

I sell on eBay and I can't say I've ever had a profit that ended with such evenness as these examples. I think she is posting selling prices, and failing to realize there are eBay fees, Paypal fees, and shipping costs outside of postage expenses.

 

[Newpollz]

At least she is taking action. Better than 99% of the populace who believe you cant earn a cent without punching a clock.

 

[Bananas]

At least she is taking action. Better than 99% of the populace who believe you cant earn a cent without punching a clock.

Is she though? I disagree.

It's $42 per month. In that month she has to:

Drive to thrift stores
Shop for games, pay for her purchases
Go back home and research the games to determine value
Take photos (and maybe edit them)
Write out the listing description
Answer buyer questions, if asked
Store her game pieces securely while waiting for a sale
Obtain packing supplies
Ship the items when there is a sale

Doing all this is several hours worth of time invested. She is making less than minimum wage. Technically this could be called action and there is experience to be gained here (flipping, learning to sell on eBay).

But the time value of money is something to be considered and so is the rate of return.

With this time investment, she could have researched and then bought one used car, washed and detailed it, and resold it on CL at $1,000 more than she paid for it. Less time invested, more money, a large enough amount of money to actually do something, like invest in some test products to sell on eBay or Amazon.

 

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[Newpollz]

Do not underestimate the power of luck when you are taking action. After all, I have a website and I will probably be making pennies for years in ad revenue. Does that mean I cannot home run in a matter of an email?

 

[Newpollz]

But yes your argument of investing your time in a better vehicle is absolutely valid and logical, but that does not mean that she will not get lucky. You never know in life. I used to make fun of a classmate in high school who is now worth 100M$ for wasting his time with stupid spamming campaigns. I won't make that same mistake again.

 

[fpena911]

What she's doing isn't generating any income right now but once she has perfected her formula if she can find a way to scale her operation it could prove to be lucrative.

So yes, right now her income is a joke but if she has any ambition she should be able to use this experience and build something bigger and better that could actually create a decent revenue stream.

 

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[Bananas]

But yes your argument of investing your time in a better vehicle is absolutely valid and logical, but that does not mean that she will not get lucky. You never know in life. I used to make fun of a classmate in high school who is now worth 100M$ for wasting his time with stupid spamming campaigns. I won't make that same mistake again.

My main problem is the fact she is giving advice to others and recommending her method based on her "success" at $42.00 a month. I don't consider it a success, I consider it a failed test.

Had I attempted the same thing and experienced the same rate of return, I wouldn't be writing an advice article about it and recommending my method to others. I'd be writing (if anything) an advice article recommending that others don't do what I just did. I'm sure there's money to be made in old board games, but not the way that she is doing it.

 

[Newpollz]

Had I attempted the same thing and experienced the same rate of return, I wouldn't be writing an advice article about it and recommending my method to others. I'd be writing (if anything) an advice article recommending that others don't do what I just did. I'm sure there's money to be made in old board games, but not the way that she is doing it.

Why not send her an email explaining the real way of doing it? Why not point her towards the forum while you're at it. Weren't me and you as clueless as her once upon a time?

 

[Bananas]

Why not send her an email explaining the real way of doing it? Why not point her towards the forum while you're at it. Weren't me and you as clueless as her once upon a time?

That's a nice thought, actually. Or a comment on the article itself.

Edit: I went to click on "Share your Thoughts" at the bottom of the article. It currently has 0 comments and the button is disabled.

 

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[luniac]