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28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

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Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#41

Post by [deleted] »

cjensen wrote: post #29
cJ0th wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems he is already moving on by entering the self help/motivational speaker industry. > As his business is increasingly run by his team, Grant has reduced his salary down to $60,000 a year and now dedicates much of his time to getting that message out. He consults and teaches e-commerce classes through the same blog he has been using to track his performance.

In other words, his business isn't working out very well and he has a lot of inventory risk. So he's "pivoting" to self-help.

[deleted]

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#42

Post by forkLding »

wpietri wrote: post #8

Good for him, but I really wish for a better class of business journalism. He's been doing this 4 years, and never made more than $150k/year. So he definitely isn't somebody who "makes millions".

The article might be exaggerating but it did state that he had 'millions in profits' at first paragraph.

Salary is a different matter, CEOs of new companies dont earn from annual revenue but more from stock sales and gains.

Paying 150k is also before taxing and profits and is an expense in wages.

Taking a quick guess and say that this person has 1 million in profits, but most likely 1 million to 2 million in gross profits instead of net from what I can think is more likely and 150k in his salary as well as wages for 11 people and warehouse rent which likely reaches 700k to 1 million, he likely has around 3 to 3.5 million in revenue and net profits of likely 50k as thats your average web retailer net margin

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#43

Post by WalterBright »

Blazespinnaker wrote: post #11

Very hard to believe, you'd have to be very naive to reveal your arbitrage like this.

Back in the 80's, it was practical to buy software packages in the US and resell them in Europe at a substantial markup. After a while, more and more businessmen started doing this until the price differential disappeared. Classic arbitrage.

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#44

Post by rco8786 »

geofft wrote: post #34
rco8786 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly those increases in price are because the person put significant time and money into improving the property. It's not any more of a "reward" than your salary is "reward".

Not certainly - it's very common for a neighborhood to shoot up in value (because of something that individual homeowners don't do, like a major employer moving in or getting successful, or a train station being built, or a nearby neighborhood getting full), and so the market value of the same home at the same condition can increase dramatically just because the neighborhood has more demand.

40% in 2-3 years is pretty unlikely, even in the hottest markets. But even still, does that mean you discontinue shopping in the neighborhood altogether? Because all the surrounding homes would have seen the same increase?

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#45

Post by stevenj »

morganvachon wrote: post #22
Lordarminius wrote: post #13

Title should read: 28 year old used to make millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon; because he certainly will have to live with competition and reduced margins from now on.

Not really. The company I work for has a similar setup; we bid on wholesale lots from the same places that Big Lots and other wholesale-to-retail outfits buy from. We flip those items both in our storefront and on eBay and Amazon. We don't do FBA but that's because we have a huge warehouse and competent shipping staff at our disposal. We clear enough for 10 competitive salaries and a comfortable income for the owners…

What's the name of the company you work for?

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#46

Post by sidlls »

AznHisoka wrote: post #16
wpietri wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will occasionally search Amazon for things whose prices I know, like Trader Joe's items or something I bought at a local store. Sometimes Amazon sells it themselves, in which case the prices are reasonable. But often, somebody random will be selling it at a large markup. My theory is that plenty of people are not particularly price sensitive and just want the thing to appear. I'm stubborn enough (or cheap enough) t…

I have a similar feeling when I look at houses to buy online. If I see the house was bought for 40%+ less just a few years ago, I refuse to give an offer. Even if the price seemed reasonable and it interests me. I refuse to reward people who bought low and want to flip it for much higher (if it increased reasonably, fine)

We bought our house, lived in it for two years, moved and rented it out for a few years, then sold it for a 40% markup. Didn't do anything special.

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#47

Post by Spooky23 »

thecollate wrote: post #3

I am surprised that there is so much margin. Is this because: 1. Amazon product delivery is so convenient that users don't mind paying little extra or 2. Walmart discounts products valuing their warehouse space more. Thus not realizing there was demand for the product elsewhere or at a different time. Seems like it would be simple for Walmart to figure out this arbitrage and shelve products for longer time. Any thoug…

Shelf space is valuable, and customers like full shelves. Walmart warehouses as little as possible — everything gets pushed out to the stores. So you’ll have regional and seasonal variations where a store will overstock to push more product.

When that season ends, it’s more useful for the store to unload the inventory for cash quickly and switchover to the next thing.

You can always spot a struggling general retailer when you see “holes” in the aisles or low-density merchandising... it’s a sign that the vendors are tightening credit terms.

Amazon has a less competitive market position because people are buying stuff for convenience and there’s a high transaction cost due to shipping. Every major retailer is launching subscribe and save programs to nip at those Amazon convenience shoppers. Amazon needs the job-lot people because they are the only folks who can get a tube of toothpaste for 1/3 the retail cost. It’s a great strategy, until some psycho tampers with product by putting poison in toothpaste or acid in shampoo.

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#49

Post by tyingq »

forkLding wrote: post #42
wpietri wrote: post #8

Good for him, but I really wish for a better class of business journalism. He's been doing this 4 years, and never made more than $150k/year. So he definitely isn't somebody who "makes millions".

The article might be exaggerating but it did state that he had 'millions in profits' at first paragraph. Salary is a different matter, CEOs of new companies dont earn from annual revenue but more from stock sales and gains. Paying 150k is also before taxing and profits and is an expense in wages. Taking a quick guess and say that this person has 1 million in profits, but most likely 1 million to 2 million in gross pr…

He also says he's doing $200k/month in one spot, then $8M/year in another. Smells funny.

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#50

Post by Jagat »

I recently bought something from eBay (didn't search on amazon for some odd reason), and I received it from Amazon. Turns out the seller has an Amazon prime account, and all he does is provide the ebay-buyer's address on checkout.

He netted $2 on a $12 product, and I found it amusing.

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