Seventh in a series of how to fund your travels.
Most people would love to travel, but where would they get the money?
Amazon FBA
Seventh in a series of how to fund your travels.
AMAZON FBA (FULFILLMENT BY AMAZON)
For most, this is probably the best way to make a good income but with that comes a lot of work. It’s no different than any other legitimate job or business in that regard. Once I got my eBay business up and running, I began selling online with this program about 10 years ago and did quite well, but frankly, got to the point I did not like handling products. I’m at that age where I’m retired and don’t have to work, it was a way to keep busy, learn a new business and enjoy myself in the process. After a while, I realized I was just not as motivated as I once was about earning extra money. I think a lot of us go through that.
I wasn’t traveling much then, so having a lot of product around was not an issue as I had plenty of room for storage. But when I got the itch to travel, I basically put this business on the back burner as I did not want to be burdened down carrying product around with me. I am still active with Amazon FBA, but not nearly to the extent I once was. I am a PRO Seller on Amazon and one of the many benefits of being a PRO Seller is, I get to take advantage of Amazon’s UPS rates. UPS is a major partner of Amazon and therefore when selling on FBA, my shipping rates are much cheaper than with other logistic companies such as FedEx, DHL or the US Postal Service. UPS Stores are an online seller’s best friend. Look around, they’re everywhere; you’ll find UPS Stores in every town and city. So when shipping product to Amazon, I box my items, take them to a UPS Store and ship them to Amazon. Amazon receives my boxes; unpacks them, sorts them, lists my items on their platform, sells them, ships them, and handles all the customer service including any returns. They then deduct their fees and electronically deposit proceeds directly to my bank account. How great is that?
All this makes selling on Amazon’s platform quite easy. The drawback to this program for one who enjoys traveling, is dealing with products. I just don’t have the room in my van to buy and store a lot of product.
I’ve met folks on the road that travel constantly and who make well over 6 figures a year as part-time sellers using Amazon’s FBA program. But… they have large Class A motor homes that they live and travel the country in. These huge motor homes have plenty of space for storing product that they pick up primarily from garage and yard sales, flea markets and retail arbitrage while traveling.
I touched on Amazon in an earlier post regarding selling T-shirts online. In my opinion, Amazon’s “Merch By Amazon” is one of the best programs available anywhere for one to start a business with no upfront money and earn an awesome income. See my earlier post – Merch By Amazon for details.
NOTE: This post is not about the ‘details’ of selling on any of these platforms, but to show you there’s a way to make money on or off the road. If you’re interested in details, please contact me.
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Until next time…
