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Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

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Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#41

Post by ikeboy »

This was more of a one-time launch, but I made around 25k off it. Half of that went to affiliates.

Bit of background - lots of Amazon sellers use a software called tactical arbitrage that scrapes retailers to get prices and compares prices to Amazon. It comes with a couple hundred sites built in, and the ability to add new sites using custom xpaths. I made a chrome extension that lets you point and click on arbitrary sites to automatically create an xpath file that would be compatible with this software. Charged $199 for it, although I had some launch specials at $149 and above.

Still have a handful of organic sales a year, although it's not really worth the time spent in support anymore. In retrospect I should have made it $99 upfront plus $10/month or something and provided ongoing support.

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#43

Post by awillen »

cableshaft wrote: post #38
awillen wrote: post #2

I really don't like talking about my side projects, so I guess they all qualify, but I'm particularly excited about one at the moment. Right now I'm working on a dog treat business - I make a treat mix that you add water to and freeze for a meat-based frozen treat. I feel really good about the product and the packaging design (and this is the first time I've ever worked on any kind of a physical product, so it's real…

Very cool idea! I went ahead and bought a starter kit. I think you're on to something here.

Thanks so much!

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#44

Post by welanes »

emptysea wrote: post #36
welanes wrote: post #26

I started building Lanes ( https://lanes.io ) in 2016 as a way to learn how to code. Don't talk about it because it's way overdue for an update. But it plods along, earning enough to cover the bills for my second project, Simplescraper ( https://simplescraper.io ). With Wunderlist shut down this year it was the perfect time to relaunch Lanes 2.0 to try capture some of those task-manager migrants. But if there's a sin…

lanes.io has a firebase error for me on Safari 13.1 > FirebaseError: Messaging: This browser doesn't support the API's required to use the firebase SDK. (messaging/unsupported-browser).

Case in point! Thanks, I'll dust off the project folder and get on this soon.

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#45

Post by dm03514 »

I created an opensource tool to generate performance reports based on Github pull requests (think gitprime, codeclimate, gitclear).

I've made $250 in a single year on a single consultation.

The first iteration was a service that listened to build and repository actions. I switched it up to generate static reports. It queries github at a point in time for raw PR data. Then it generates a basic PR report based on that data. It generates CSV so visualization falls on the end user :p

- https://github.com/ImpactInsights/valuestream

- https://medium.com/valuestream-by-operational-analytics-inc/...

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#47

Post by anaxag0ras »

abc126589 wrote: post #30

My app Twitter Archive Eraser ( https://martani.github.io/Twitter-Archive-Eraser ) used to be free, then I added a donation button and people, while barely donated, used to say that this is something they would have paid for! I worked on a paid tier (learnt a tremendous amount about actually selling an app, integration with payment processors, licensing, more legal stuff than I wanted to etc.) Almost from the get go,…

How did you find your early users?

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#48

Post by cdiamand »

jeromegv wrote: post #35
cdiamand wrote: post #33

I've probably been promoting it too much lately, especially on here. I'll pass on this one, but just wanted to say thank you to everyone who shares a project. It really does help others to see what is possible. Sidequestion: Does anyone have any recommendations on simple guides to SEO? I'm realizing the power of search traffic to bring in visitors to sideprojects.

Checkout moz! Very straightforward

Thank you! I will check it out.

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#49

Post by AznHisoka »

I made almost 6 figures a year on an affiliate website promoting natural health products, when they were extremely popular back in 2006.

I would stay awake some nights and jot down every product mentioned in overnight infomercials (before I knew what TiVo was). then write a review on them the next day.

Thousands of people would search for “X review” in the days after watching those infomercials and I would rank #1 because some of them were brand new products.

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#50

Post by omk »

adam_fallon_ wrote: post #37

I copied an app from the App Store. Their business model was free desktop application but $20 for the iOS client and I really wanted it so I made a 'clean-room' implementation with CloudKit and charged $0.99 for a one-off cross platform sale. Bit brazen, but the idea isn't entirely unique. Edit: P.s email me at adam@adamfallon.com if you would like a promo code to get the app for free :). * https://apps.apple.com/us/…

Simplicity. I love it when < 1MB apps provide utility.
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