A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: We shouldn’t shy away from telling our personal finance stories. I’m a strong believer in sharing your finances because your story shows grit, perseverance, and determination. People will tell you it’s taboo to chat about personal finances, but do you think Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and other wealthy individuals shy away from these conversations? They’re most likely discussing their investments and helping each other out. These next two weeks I’ll be focusing on how to have conversations around money.
I had a friend, Alvin Dharmawan, reach out with his thoughts on writing an article for this week. Alvin’s a virtuoso at the side hustle experience and is quite possibly the hardest worker I’ve ever known. Even outside of the traditional day job, Alvin uses his time to look for opportunities to boost his income. Read his story below on flipping Harry Potter Etsy items in 2011.
Hi, my name is Alvin Dharmawan. I was once a colleague of Jordan at an ad agency. I still work there, he doesn’t. We met at the office hallways and bonded by off-roading a borrowed vehicle that didn’t belong in a mud pit. Needless to say, bad decisions make great stories and even better friendships. We both share a passion for the side hustle, I’m here to share some of the ways I’ve been able to make a few hundred bucks. I’ve been successfully doing this through my hobbies and things I’m interested in. I’ve flipped sneakers, custom jewelry, Hot Wheels, copywriting services, photography services, automotive parts, rims, furniture and most recently, cars.
Growing up as a 1.5 generation immigrant, being a DACA recipient and currently the only breadwinner of the household, making side money for me was always more of a necessity than a hobby. My father used to say ‘work hard and you’ll be rewarded’. I believe that’s the wrong strategy. I’ve since corrected him to simply go by ‘work smarter, not harder’.
I’d like to share is of a quick flip I did around the time Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2 released in theaters. In 2011, the end of the HP movie franchise meant the end of an era for lots of millennials who read the books as they released. The internet’s e-commerce era was still in its growing stages. Etsy was new and flooded with overseas sellers from Asia reselling things available in their market, nowhere near as refined as today. However, eBay is and always has been a primary place for American online thrift shoppers.
When the movie came out, I followed the hype and searched for something I could flip. On Etsy, plenty of overseas sellers were selling a simple pocket watch necklace with wings, much of the same products from different sellers but there was nothing like this sold in American markets. At this point I started messaging them all to see who can get the best price, who I can trust, and who was on top of their communication. The wholesale price varied between 12 pieces for $80 shipped, to 11 pieces for $73 shipped, all were decent but limited to how many they could supply. Eventually, I found someone who was on top of their game and willing to do a bulk sale; 40 pieces for $250 shipped, or $6.25 each. Not much of a discount from the other sellers but the one-time bulk shipment was key. I didn’t want multiple packages. The products arrived right after the first movie released, and I listed the snitch necklaces for sale on eBay for $25 shipped and $20 locally through craigslist and word-of-mouth (WOM) sales. It took about 2 for all 40 necklaces to sell, all right before the last movie release. The profit from eBay was similar to the local sales, so 40 pieces at a rough profit of $20 each, comes out to $800, minus cost of $250, equates to $550 net profit. Not bad for a broke college kid at the time.
This was in 2011, this specific example can still be replicated but the profit margins will be nowhere near what it is today unless you do some harder research. This was specific to an era when Etsy had just launched their platform. Nowadays to find something similar, you would need to scour sites like Aliexpress or Alibaba for bigger bulk quantities. A couple things I would keep in mind, is to take calculated risks and research the hype. I gambled on $250 and I figured the market for Harry Potter during that time was strong enough for me not to sit on a bunch of stock for too long. Thankfully I ended up being right.