john higginbotham

Turning $300 into $1800 – Success with Internet Retail

I would like to preface my post with the following:

You can do as the title suggest over and over if you do it correctly.  I have automated the entire process. If you would like to see the fruits of my bot’s labor,  go to the page below and get access to the asking price and potential profit of each lot (load) you purchase.  It is impossible for me to buy everything out there for sale,  so I’m sharing it for a limited time.

Inventory Research Page

Having Problems?  Contact Me.

Now back to my blog post.

Turning $300 into $1800 – Success with Internet Retail

How many times would you do this?  Of course it’s not quite that easy.  You have to:

  • Find products to sell.
  • Price them for profit
  • List them (and all the headaches associated with the process)
  • Sell them quickly
  • Deal with Returns
  • Deal with Customers
  • Maximize profits by selling on multiple channels

etc. etc. etc.

At this point,  I sell mostly pre owned products I find on various outlets.  I don’t sell them as brand new unless I purchase it directly from the manufacturer.  I usually purchase in bulk with the minimum purchase being $300, including, auction premiums, bank fees and shipping.   After I receive the items,   they are shipped off to Amazon where they are processed for fulfillment.   The entire fulfillment process is automated.   Amazon ships the merchandise and deals with customer service, including returns and processing payments.  My primary job is finding and paying the lowest price possible while focusing on quality products. I also have the task of getting product to Amazon’s fulfillment centers efficiently as possible.

I have future plans to develop my own product and sell on Amazon and other sales channels.  I also intend on experimenting with drop shipping, which I have some experience in.  I will post when these ideas start to materialize.

But for now, this is the business model.  I do not purchase from a vendor unless they supply me a manifest.  I don’t like feeling around in the dark,  so it’s imperative I have this information.  By using the retail value, sales rank and the price I paid for it,  I can calculate how much profit I will make and how long it will take to see a return on my investment.

I used to do this by hand or have freelancers do it for me.  Those days are long gone.  I now have a windows BOT I can upload a manifest and it will spit out the following:

  • The product’s highest selling price on Amazon
  • The products lowest selling price on Amazon
  • The sales rank (a good indicator of how long it will take to sell)
  • The # of competitors selling the product

I then plug these numbers into a template where I calculate how much profit I expect from each unit.

The spreadsheet tells me:

  • Cost of Goods Sold or how much I paid for each item
  • Overhead costs for each item (which for me personally,  I separate from COGS)
  • FBA Fees charged by Amazon  (I outsource the entire fulfillment process)

If you are viewing the spreadsheet on a mobile device,  be sure to scroll to the right of the screen to see all of the data it presents.  

I then get a total number that I calculate as my profit.  I expect to get this amount of profit within 6 months if I’ve done my homework correctly.

Since I (like most people) have a limited amount of money to spend on inventory,  this helps me tremendously to find out where I want to invest my money in.   I keep a list of inventory that I’ve analyzed and whether I’ve purchased it or not.

Submit your email address to watch the video with details on how I do this. When you submit your email address you also get live access to the database I store all the results in.  It will include the amount it will cost, gross revenue and your net profit.  You will receive the link immediately upon your email submission.    

Click to See a spreadsheet example of how I analyze a purchase for maximum profit. 

Again, if you are viewing the spreadsheet on a mobile device,  be sure to scroll to the right of the screen to see all of the data it presents.  

Below is a screenshot of the table you will receive access to.   Today is the first day it’s been populated with data.

inentory1222

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have Chromecast I encourage you to use it,  it is much easier to see the spreadsheets and bot this way.

Submit Your Email for Access to the Bot Video Demonstration and Data Table.  

Access to Spreadsheet (no email required to view)

Follow Me on Facebook


My Podcasts