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Make Money on the Web?

xJulianx

xJulianx

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 1, 2006
776
0
Brighton, UK
I was wondering if anyone has any good idea's as to how I can make some money from the internet, sort of like my own business, but on a small scale.

I'm a 17 year old student on a full time Music Technology course which takes 3 days of my time, I work Saturdays (10-5) and Tuesday evenings (3-8), I tend to see my girlfriend in the evenings so I'm left with about 3 mornings a week when I don't have anything to do.

Basically, Id like something that requires a fairly small amount of input from myself, mainly because I don't want to be particularly tied down completely, but obviously I understand, that with any money making scheme, I would need to give up my time for it. I'm very interested in making some money just through the internet but have no idea how to do it, I can see it turning into a hobby, and of course, the extra cash would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance. :)
 
robPOD said:
maybe you can sell some some stuff on ebay?
Click to expand...

Yeah I do that anyway, but theres only so much stuff I can sell, and I've gotten rid of all of my unwanted items anyway. I'm looking for something that I can keep going for as long as I like. I'm not looking for a quick burst of cash, just a steady bit of money coming in, even if it's virtually nothing, just something that I can say I earnt all on my own :)
 
xJulianx said:
I was wondering if anyone has any good idea's as to how I can make some money from the internet, sort of like my own business, but on a small scale.

Basically, Id like something that requires a fairly small amount of input from myself, mainly because I don't want to be particularly tied down completely, but obviously I understand, that with any money making scheme, I would need to give up my time for it. I'm very interested in making some money just through the internet but have no idea how to do it, I can see it turning into a hobby, and of course, the extra cash would be welcomed.
Click to expand...

Lessee - you're looking for a moneymaking scheme that requires little input from you and no investment, and no committment to being tied down.

There are any number of these, the problem being that they are all dishonest or outright criminal. Spamming, selling worthless items (like ebooks), stealing (whether actual property or intellectual property), or acting as a front for someone else doing all of the above -- such as "Hey, I'll hire you to sell MacBooks for me on eBay. You post the auctions, take the money, keep 20% and send me the rest, and I will ship the MacBooks to the customers directly. I got a whole truckload of brand new ones from an Apple dealer who went bankrupt." Of course there are no MacBooks, and your buddy will disappear with 80% of the money, leaving you with the chargebacks and lawsuits.

xJulian, you can make money either by working to create something, or by buying goods and selling them at a profit. Both of them take an investment in time and money up front. There is no guaranteed return. 3 to 6 hours on weekends sounds much more like a lawn cutting, household maintenance type of thing to me, not getting rich with little effort on the Internet.

There are honest ways to make money on the internet- the classic one is to hone your talents and make websites for organizations who can't afford to hire a professional. You could put in huge amounts of hours and create a website of your own that is so compelling that you get enough traffic that you can sell advertising. But that's a lot of work and there are 500,000 other people with the same idea.
 
As noted by the goaty fellow..

The days of a quick buck on the internet are gone.. about 10 years gone. Now, you have to have a really good idea and work really hard to bring it to fruition. Generally speaking, if someone DID have a good idea for trying to make money on the internet now.. it's either already been done, or someone's trying to do it and unlikely to give the idea away to you (unless they're incredibly stupid).

About the only thing you can maybe make money on with as little time as you are willing to devote.. peddling pornography.
 
I'm not considering anything illegal, dishonest, or unethical. And I am willing to put in more than 3-6hours over a weekend, I probably should have ellaborated more, but I when I say I have 3 mornings free a week, it's more like from 9am till 3pm for 3 days a week, so I have a bit more time on my hands than I originally percieved.

As I stated, I am not looking to make any serious, serious money, I just want something that I can spend a few days a week doing, any money being made will be a bonus.

I like the idea of buying goods and selling them on at a profit, any suggestions? I know consumer electronics can be picked up quite cheap, in sales in shops for example.
 
It's not easy to make money on Internet any more. 5 years ago it would have been doable, 10 years ago it would have been easy. Nowadays too many people are looking for the same thing as you.
 
xJulianx said:
I'm not considering anything illegal, dishonest, or unethical. And I am willing to put in more than 3-6hours over a weekend, I probably should have ellaborated more, but I when I say I have 3 mornings free a week, it's more like from 9am till 3pm for 3 days a week, so I have a bit more time on my hands than I originally percieved.

As I stated, I am not looking to make any serious, serious money, I just want something that I can spend a few days a week doing, any money being made will be a bonus.

I like the idea of buying goods and selling them on at a profit, any suggestions? I know consumer electronics can be picked up quite cheap, in sales in shops for example.
Click to expand...

You can buy cheap lots on eBay and sell the stuff individually and hopefully make a small profit.
 
xJulianx said:
I like the idea of buying goods and selling them on at a profit, any suggestions? I know consumer electronics can be picked up quite cheap, in sales in shops for example.
Click to expand...

In order to sell at a profit, you have to have
1) the goods that are available in good condition and with a fairly reliable supply
2) a group of buyers who are willing to pay more for the goods than you did
3) a WAY TO REACH those buyers
4) a way to transact the money and goods so that the risk is minimized and the shipping doesn't eat the profit.

How are you going to locate and reach the buyers?
eBay - maybe, apart from the other 3 million sellers there underselling you
Web page - not b^@@dy likely that your unconnected "I've got some stuff cheap" page will attract anybody
Contacts, friends, RW networking - possible.

And in any trading transaction, it the the ONE WHO KNOWS MORE that makes the profit. You have to know your products and know your market, so you don't sell to low and buy to dear.

(plus -- you're going to run into payment problems immediately - you need a credit card to set up Paypal, and your buyers will want to pay by credit card. You're not going to find many who will post a money order in advance to a 17 y.o. in another town...)
 
Thanks for the input, I'll do some research of products and find out what everyone else is selling them for, and see if I can sell them for less and at least break even. I will probably use ebay as my selling tool, I am familiar with using it and there are definetly alot of buyers on there.

CanadaRAM said:
(plus -- you're going to run into payment problems immediately - you need a credit card to set up Paypal, and your buyers will want to pay by credit card. You're not going to find many who will post a money order in advance to a 17 y.o. in another town...)
Click to expand...
You don't need a credit card to setup a Paypal account, I have a Meastro (formerly Switch) card, and before that had a Solo card and have had my PayPal account since the day I got the solo card over 2 years ago.
 
CanadaRAM said:
In order to sell at a profit, you have to have
1) the goods that are available in good condition and with a fairly reliable supply
2) a group of buyers who are willing to pay more for the goods than you did
3) a WAY TO REACH those buyers
4) a way to transact the money and goods so that the risk is minimized and the shipping doesn't eat the profit.

How are you going to locate and reach the buyers?
eBay - maybe, apart from the other 3 million sellers there underselling you
Web page - not b^@@dy likely that your unconnected "I've got some stuff cheap" page will attract anybody
Contacts, friends, RW networking - possible.

And in any trading transaction, it the the ONE WHO KNOWS MORE that makes the profit. You have to know your products and know your market, so you don't sell to low and buy to dear.

(plus -- you're going to run into payment problems immediately - you need a credit card to set up Paypal, and your buyers will want to pay by credit card. You're not going to find many who will post a money order in advance to a 17 y.o. in another town...)
Click to expand...

1. Ok,
2. Most people who buy on eBay go for a good deal. They don't enquire about how much you paid for an item. As long as you are not over-pricing it, you will sell most things on eBay fine - providing you can pick them up cheap.
3. eBay, there is no better for someone starting out (unless you can put serious investment into it), starting off small and if you get really good at it, you will get more and more wholesale contacts and in turn, an eBay store... then once you are established, create a company site which is linked to your eBay store. After a while you may start being successful as a small business. which is recognised by many. As with any business, repeat custom is desireable, so treat your customers well and don't rip them off.
4. Ok

Don't worry, if you do your research there will not be 3 million people underselling you. And it isn't always about price - its about: shipping, location, feedback, listing design - just basically the need to create a good impression.

Obviously, Paypal is essential for eBay security. The people who complain about it (and I am likely to get flamed for this) are generally at fault themselves. Note, I say generally. Pay attention to who you buy from, and who you sell to. Make sure you are protected by paypal's seller/buyer protection policy in every transaction or don't complete it!

Good Luck! David
 
You could try a service like ether.com if you know enough about a subject to talk to people about it. I saw this one lady on the news who uses this service and tells people which coupon's to clip and she makes 6 figures doing this.
 
davidjearly said:
Don't worry, if you do your research there will not be 3 million people underselling you. And it isn't always about price - its about: shipping, location, feedback, listing design - just basically the need to create a good impression.

Obviously, Paypal is essential for eBay security. The people who complain about it (and I am likely to get flamed for this) are generally at fault themselves. Note, I say generally. Pay attention to who you buy from, and who you sell to. Make sure you are protected by paypal's seller/buyer protection policy in every transaction or don't complete it!

Good Luck! David
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I'll do some research into Paypal protection and have a good read of Paypal and Ebay's policies on security etc.

I know a fair bit of HTML blah blah, so I should be able to make my items look professional and appealing.
 
davidjearly said:
1. Ok,
2. Most people who buy on eBay go for a good deal. They don't enquire about how much you paid for an item. As long as you are not over-pricing it, you will sell most things on eBay fine - providing you can pick them up cheap.
3. eBay, there is no better for someone starting out (unless you can put serious investment into it), starting off small and if you get really good at it, you will get more and more wholesale contacts and in turn, an eBay store... then once you are established, create a company site which is linked to your eBay store. After a while you may start being successful as a small business. which is recognised by many. As with any business, repeat custom is desireable, so treat your customers well and don't rip them off.
4. Ok

Don't worry, if you do your research there will not be 3 million people underselling you. And it isn't always about price - its about: shipping, location, feedback, listing design - just basically the need to create a good impression.

Obviously, Paypal is essential for eBay security. The people who complain about it (and I am likely to get flamed for this) are generally at fault themselves. Note, I say generally. Pay attention to who you buy from, and who you sell to. Make sure you are protected by paypal's seller/buyer protection policy in every transaction or don't complete it!

Good Luck! David
Click to expand...

Good post!
eBay is all about feedback! Keep your feedback ay 100% and present your products well, with good descriptions and nice pictures and people will come. And treat your customers nice!!!
I've been buying and selling a lot on eBay, and it is time consuming but can be profitable if you play nice and smart.
 
njmac said:
You could try a service like ether.com if you know enough about a subject to talk to people about it. I saw this one lady on the news who uses this service and tells people which coupon's to clip and she makes 6 figures doing this.
Click to expand...

Wow, thats a really cool site, I like the idea. Unfortunately, I don't have anything that people would pay to talk to me about. I'm a good listener though :rolleyes:
 
iJaz said:
Good post!
eBay is all about feedback! Keep your feedback ay 100% and present your products well, with good descriptions and nice pictures and people will come. And treat your customers nice!!!
I've been buying and selling a lot on eBay, and it is time consuming but can be profitable if you play nice and smart.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i have always used Ebay to pick up cheap goods that I don't mind second hand, for example I buy all of my books on Ebay. And I have bought electronics in the past as they can be cheaper on Ebay. my feedback is at 100% and thats from about 20ish people I think. At least I have a bit of a headstart on the feedback side of things.
 
iJaz said:
Good post!
eBay is all about feedback! Keep your feedback ay 100% and present your products well, with good descriptions and nice pictures and people will come. And treat your customers nice!!!
I've been buying and selling a lot on eBay, and it is time consuming but can be profitable if you play nice and smart.
Click to expand...

Exactly, as with most things, the more effort you put in, the more you will get out of it. I have made considerable profit by selling things on eBay following the guidelines I put in my last post.
 
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