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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

#101

My friend does exactly this between IKEA and Ebay. Here in Australia, IKEA does not ship (not sure if they do else where) so she buys a heap of items at the Ikea stores and flips them online. She's been doing it for years and does pretty well at it. Here in Australia, IKEA stores are few and far between so her arbitrage is a huge value add for a lot of her customers since IKEA cannot (won't?) ship and traveling X KM'…

IKEA are stepping up their home delivery game in Australia, hope your friend knows about this.

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/industries/retail/ikea-onlin...

Online shopping is already available in Tasmania, the Northern Territory, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

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

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

So, either they put in a bunch of work to make the house more attractive or the overall market price rose 40%. In either case you just want to exclude the house because you don't want someone to make a profit?

I am ok with someone making a profit but not a 40% in a few years.

Yes that is probably irrational "caveman" thinking. Never said it was logical.

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

#103

Back few years ago I was able to make extra $10,000 on Amazon by selling $200 packs of $2 for around $240 + shipping, because everyone thinks they are super-unique. Meanwhile a mere trip to a bank is required with request for a "$200 BRICK". I takes about 10 business days for BEP to ship it to your bank and you can order multiple times, no problem. My best month was December of course with I believe $18,000 in one mo…

You made $18,000 net?

Years ago, right before everyone had a smart phone, I had a Palm tx.

I was at a going out of business sale at Goodguys.

I saw Halo 3 Collector's edition on sale for $5.00 a game.

I didn't know anything about video games, but in the back of my mind, I remember a friend telling me, "Don't rule out computer Games."

I crossed the street, and got on Larkspur's Library Wifi. It was always on back then. Went to ebay, and even though my TX was slow, I started seeing $50 sales on eBay.

Went back in, and bought all the games on the shelf. People were laughing when I bought all of them.

The Salesman, laughingly said, I have three more boxes in the back. "Want them?" Me, "Yes"

I still don't know why they had so many Halo games, and nothing else?

Anywho--went home, and in the next few months, made $10 grand net on those games, and many happy moms. "I don't know what's in that game, but my son hasen't left his room."

That it. Money gone. Never had a deal like that.

(I have had a hard time competing in business. I just don't like the game of selling. When I had that Palm TX, I had such a gift. I could check out prices before I bought.

I thought I found the keys to the city of selling. A year later, it seemed like everyone had a smart phone. Ugh.)

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

#104

My friend does exactly this between IKEA and Ebay. Here in Australia, IKEA does not ship (not sure if they do else where) so she buys a heap of items at the Ikea stores and flips them online. She's been doing it for years and does pretty well at it. Here in Australia, IKEA stores are few and far between so her arbitrage is a huge value add for a lot of her customers since IKEA cannot (won't?) ship and traveling X KM'…

IKEA are stepping up their home delivery game in Australia, hope your friend knows about this. https://www.smartcompany.com.au/industries/retail/ikea-onlin... Online shopping is already available in Tasmania, the Northern Territory, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

Oh nice, thank you for the heads up. I'll let her know. I was unaware, she may be across it though.

I gave the impression that she exclusively deals with IKEA products but from what I understand it's more diversified than that but, I'd suggest it's still her bread and butter.

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

#105
post #67
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Seminars are mentioned" Ahh, yes, of course.

So, if you knew how to make money doing x and genuinely wanted to share that info, how would you do so effectively without being perceived as a scam artist?

Do it for free, perhaps

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

#106
Problem is, I don't want to work with repacking stuff, or managing others repacking stuff.

I want to build amazing software, and for that I need a larger company who can market my inventions and talk about it on conferences and road shows.

I will earn less, but I will be happy.

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

#107
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in US people are doing that with IKEA. The closest IKEA is about 2.5 hours way and you can put in a order through them and they make a weekly trip to buy your item and you can pickup it up locally.

Ah, thank you for the comment. I'm guessing IKEA don't ship any where in that case and that isn't specific to just Australia. Paying some one else for the luxury and buying it through an online medium like eBay is a pretty decent alternative to a 2.5 hour drive.

Ikea in several European countries delivers.

Britain for example, since it's in English: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/customer-service/faq/dispatch-and-...

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

#108
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, if you knew how to make money doing x and genuinely wanted to share that info, how would you do so effectively without being perceived as a scam artist?

Do it for free, perhaps

I am trying to do exactly that. One establishment would not post the flyer "because it might be a pyramid scheme." So simply being free seems insufficient.

But, thank you.

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

#109

My friend does exactly this between IKEA and Ebay. Here in Australia, IKEA does not ship (not sure if they do else where) so she buys a heap of items at the Ikea stores and flips them online. She's been doing it for years and does pretty well at it. Here in Australia, IKEA stores are few and far between so her arbitrage is a huge value add for a lot of her customers since IKEA cannot (won't?) ship and traveling X KM'…

>Here in Australia, IKEA does not ship (not sure if they do else where)

They definitely have a delivery service in the US.

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/service-offer/delivery/

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

#110

My friend does exactly this between IKEA and Ebay. Here in Australia, IKEA does not ship (not sure if they do else where) so she buys a heap of items at the Ikea stores and flips them online. She's been doing it for years and does pretty well at it. Here in Australia, IKEA stores are few and far between so her arbitrage is a huge value add for a lot of her customers since IKEA cannot (won't?) ship and traveling X KM'…

I used to think IKEA was insane for running such a "20th Century" business model for shipping their products. The fact that you cannot purchase anything from IKEA's website and have it delivered without incurring a $129 delivery fee is crazy when taken at face value.

However, I've come to understand why they have limited their delivery service. Their flat pack products are their profit centers and the packaging that makes them so efficient to store in their storefront warehouses is simply not suited for shipping via 3rd parties (UPS, FedEx, etc). As an extreme example, consider their cardboard honeycomb + laminate furniture (the Hemnes stuff). It takes almost nothing to punch through the flat surfaces of those products if the force is concentrated on a small area and the box offers zero protection (padding) to prevent this. Even the higher end products are packaged as tightly as possible with sensitive surfaces directly touching the box they're packed in. While it's insane to charge $129 for get a pack of their excellently priced "ancillary" products shipped (kitchen utensils, cheap LED lightbulbs), those products are priced desirably in order to get you in the store. If IKEA sold those online with a modern shipping model, they'd forgo the chance of getting you to buy something that is actually profitable. IKEA can't redesign the packaging for their flat pack products without impacting the efficiency of their in-store inventory and they can't ship their existing packages without ironclad damage-free guarantees from the big logistics companies.

Even if they get a guarantee that the logistics company eats the cost of any damaged good, it would still negatively impact customer satisfaction when, for example, the bed they ordered for their new house shows up damaged and needs to be returned/reordered. Every time I've bought IKEA furniture, it's been for an immediate need, and I'm not going to be happy when I have nowhere to sit for 2-5 days because UPS crushed my package.

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