Cyber Scribe - Earning Money Online

Jul 12, 2015

Jun 14, 2015

Multiple Sources of Income…..or Just One?

For many years I was convinced the way to go was with multiple streams of income. Eventually I had 5 streams of income and I worked on one each of the 5 days a week. This was my week: Monday – Amazon, Tuesday – eBay, Wednesday – Professional Organizing, Thursday – websites, Friday – write my next book.

But it didn’t take long to realize that you can’t write a book in only one day a week, also I wasn’t looking after my 50 websites very well, and certainly didn’t have time to create new ones. Amazon started to take 2 days and push out eBay, so I made a decision to change to just selling on Amazon.

I’ve never done this before, but I dropped everything and focused on selling on Amazon. I still have my family and church commitments, but I stopped all other outside activities and concentrated on learning Amazon and the selling process there. For the last 18 months I have done nothing but and thought about nothing but selling on Amazon. I have converted a room in my house to a packing station for Amazon and have 3 people who work with me (one day a week each).

After years of trying to get multiple streams of income, I’m enjoying focusing on just one thing, and my success is better for just Amazon FBA than it was for all those 5 streams.

I just want to add here that I’m still getting some income from my books and websites that is purely residual, even though they are not being cared for. And it was just today I took a look at this blog and realized it’s been over a year since I’ve even done an update.

Here is a video I made of my packing room

And here are my first year's sales figures

Feb 5, 2014

My Latest Project is FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)

The second half of 2013 saw me back on ebay, listing and selling like crazy and not making much money. eBay is just too time-demanding to make much money. For each thing I buy, I photograph, write the listing, sit and wait (with lots of unwanted stuff in my office) and then ship. I aim to make at least $10 per item, but even making $10 is not worth the time and the effort I put into one listing.

If only I could sell multiples and re-use that listing more than once......

eBay itself changes policies so regularly it's difficult to keep up. There's the PowerSeller Program, the DSRs, selling limits, VERO, the random rules you don't know about until you break them. And the customer service line that takes you to people who don't speak English is a way I understand.

Added to which, eBay seems to attract buyers who aren't very nice, will scam the seller, leave random negatives, bid and not pay.

If only I could sell multiples and re-use that listing more than once......

Enter Fulfillment By Amazon

I don't know why I haven't done this before. I've been selling on Amazon since 2006, but always liked to keep the stuff myself. Suddenly it seemed a good idea to try. When I did eBay full time, I always loved the buying at garage sales, but didn't like the listing. Selling something on Amazon is so much easier if the listing is already there. You just add your own, pick the condition, choose the price and move on to the next thing to list.

So here I am in 2014 starting Fulfillment by Amazon and Retail Arbitrage. Here's the book that explains it all Arbitrage: The authoritative guide on how it works, why it works, and how it can work for you

And typical for me, as I learn the skill I'm making a webpage and maybe writing a Kindle book so others can learn too.