5 ways to make money from empty Gin bottles

Reading Time: 6 mins

With the British guzzling 75 million bottles of the juniper-based drink every year, Gin is well on its way to being an island favourite. But going through all those bottles means a lot of recycling, but instead of filling the bin, some creative people have been using their empties to make beautiful home accessories.

Getting fully on the bandwagon for sustainable living, Brits have been binge-watching Tik-Toks and taking to Pinterest for inspiration and tips on how to turn a normal everyday object – such as an empty Gin bottle – into something beautiful as people look for thrifty ways to liven up their home décor.

And decorative Gin bottles are in high demand by the crafting community, who are scouring eBay to find cheap second-hand bottles for their upcycling projects. So much so, searches for “empty gin bottle ideas” are up 433% compared to pre-pandemic.

Here are five ways of making money from Gin bottles:

1. Sell the empty bottles
2. Light it up
3. A floral arrangement
4. Get scrubbed
5. Scent for days

 

Sell the empty bottles

This is the easiest way to make a bit of extra cash as all you have to do is have a lovely time drinking the gin, give the bottle a good soapy wash, and pop them on eBay. You probably won’t make over what you paid for the bottle of gin and selling on eBay will cost you 10% of the final transaction value, including taxes and postage, but by grouping a few together, you can make a decent bit of pocket money from crafters looking to use them for their own projects.

But how much can you expect to make? Well data analysts at Lifestyle Packaging have found the average eBay resale price for 120 popular and craft gin bottles and compared this against their RRP and the findings are pretty impressive.

Top of the tipples is Mermaid Pink Gin, with its stunning textured blush bottle. Retailing at a rather pricey £38, the average selling price on eBay for an empty bottle of this strawberry flavoured gin is £11.98, giving you 31% cashback per bottle.

In second place is the world’s bestselling gin, Gordon’s London Dry Gin. Retailing at £15.50 for 70cl, eBay sellers can make on average 30% of the RRP back per bottle – £4.65. Surely there must be a nearly empty one of those in your home bar.

The Eden Mill Golf Gin, with its striking green bottle, comes in third place for reselling value. A favourite of golf and gin fans alike, this decorative and unique-looking bottle sells on average for £8.82 on eBay – that’s 29% of the £30 retail price.

That’s not bad at all for something you would ordinarily be throwing away.

 

Light it up

Upcycling is a great way to make extra money and you can really make more than the value of the bottle of the Gin this way. Once the bottle is nice and clean and dry, buy some cheap battery-run fairy lights and pop them inside the bottle. The sparkly lights will make for an atmospheric light all year round, but it will look especially festive during Christmas.

Staying with lighting, there are lots of different decorative filament lightbulbs on the market that are very inexpensive, which will allow you to turn the bottle into a lamp. This will involve slightly more work than the fairy lights, where you will have to drill a hole in the side of the bottle for the light’s cable to be threaded through, but a quick Google should be all you need to give it a go.

These bulbs look great on their own, but if you are searching for a different look, then you can add a lampshade to the top, meaning you can make something that fits in with your décor, but with a cool twist. Making things even cheaper and more sustainable, this will work brilliantly if you have a lampshade lying around that you’re not already using.

However, if all that is too much like hard work, you can buy USB light up corks for under £10 on Amazon and it’s just a case of popping it in. Simple.

If you don’t want to keep these items for yourself, your creations can sell on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and the handmade treasure trove, Etsy.

 

 A floral arrangement

If you’re looking for the perfect vase but you just can’t find one you love in the shops, look no further than your empty gin bottle. After a wash you can pop some freshly picked blooms in there from your garden and there you have it, a brand-new vase. The gin bottle will look just as beautiful with some faux flowers too if you’re not that green-fingered, and they will last forever, saving you cash in the long run.

If you really want to ensure the new gin bottle vase fits with your home décor, give the bottle a paint to match your colour scheme and style before adding the flowers, if you’re not too bothered about losing the actual gin bottle colour. The designs are endless too, just use your imagination, stencils, appliqués, or even freelance a paint design if you have a steady hand, but ensure you add a primer coat before you go in with your paint of choice to give it a professional-looking finish.

Again, have a look on the reselling sites to see what other people are selling and you can join them with your own creative business.

 

Get scrubbed

Using an empty Gin bottle in the bathroom gives you so many options for sprucing the space up, as well as being quite practical too. Once the bottles have been thoroughly cleaned, they can be turned into shampoo or soap dispensers to really give your bathroom a unique look – but make sure your visitors are aware the Gin has all been drunk and they are being used for something else now! All you have to do is purchase a inexpensive pump in the finish of your choice, fill the bottle with your chosen liquid, screw the pump on, and job done.

This idea can make a stunning addition to a bathroom whether you decide to keep it for yourself or sell it, as they make such a unique design idea. They are really popular over on Etsy, so take a look on there and see if you can make some money from selling your creations.

 

Scent for days

Reed diffusers can be very expensive, but they smell amazing. Using an empty Gin bottle as a scent diffuser is a great way to make use of an item that would ordinarily be thrown away, though this works best for smaller bottles. There are a few additional items that you need to buy first, such as a pack of reed diffusers which are very inexpensive, sweet almond oil, and essential oils in whichever scent you fancy.

The amount of oil you need will completely depend on what size bottle you have so it is best to have a Google when you have chosen your bottle. Once the correct mixture has been poured in, sit back and smell the beautiful new scent filling your room. Again, you’ll have to decide whether you sell it or keep it for yourself, either way you will have created a pretty item that will brighten up any room.

 

So, get creative and you can make some extra money for all those Christmas gifts that you need to buy.

 

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post 5 ways to make money from empty Gin bottles appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

The game-changing rewards app leading the consumer data revolution that can earn you instant money

Reading Time: 3 mins

Beat the energy crisis price hikes! MoneyMagpie readers who sign up to Get My Slice can access an exclusive instant £5 reward offer for energy supplier research!*

Do you love saving money? Get My Slice is the game-changing rewards app that enables you to do just that. They’re a new kind of next-gen app that enables you to monetise your data by linking your digital accounts to get personalised offers and better rewards. Their mission is to help you harness the power of your digital footprint and use it for your benefit by putting money back in your pocket.

When you connect your online accounts to Get My Slice it means you can harness the power of your search, social and shopping information to get a personalised experience and fantastic cashback from hand-picked brands across categories like electronics, fashion, beauty, food, travel and home and fitness. There’s no limit to how much cash you can earn from the app – so the more offers you complete, the more money you can make.

Readers of MoneyMagpie have access to an exclusive offer where they can earn an instant £5 by linking their bank card for consumer research on energy supplier price hikes. But hurry, only a limited number of people will have access to the offer! Click the link at the bottom of this article to download the app and access the offer before it runs out.

The Get My Slice app has lots of other offers, too. With over 2,000+ of the UKs best known and fastest growing brands with multiple offers including cashback, discounts, freebies, free trials and more there is something for everyone. Brands include EE, HelloFresh, Levi’s and T M Lewin to name a few.

As well as their exclusive open banking offers within instant cash rewards, Get My Slice rewards customers with a slice of the revenue brands would traditionally spend on advertising. Get My Slice give their members a minimum of 80% of the money brands pay to advertise offers to customers on their app in the form of a reward, plus any of the usual discounts. With such a range of appealing deals they are set to rival the likes of their competitors such as Quidco, Topcashback and Airtime Rewards.

 

Some of the current offers include:

• Instant £5 for shopping research via Rippll for energy supplier research. Limited availability.*
• Earn £72 when you switch to a renewable dual fuel energy plan with Octopus Energy. Pay less on your bills with fairer, transparent prices and go green! Great value for the long term, not just the fixed term.
• A £20 reward when you sign up to a new dual energy plan with BillBuddy who makes sure you always get the cheapest energy tariff.*
• 50% off the first 3 months Audible subscription (usually £7.99 a month) and an £8 reward from Get My Slice.*
• £3 cashback and 60 days free access to tastecard including 50% off 6000+ restaurants, 40% off cinema tickets and more.
• 12% cashback from Nails Inc, a free gift and a 10% discount code on their high-quality range of cruelty-free nail care products.*
• A free box of 8 beers from Beer52 for app users who sign up to their subscription delivered for £5.95 postage, plus a £4 reward from the app*

Oliver Southgate, Founder and CEO of Get My Slice, comments: “Big tech companies have been monetising personal data for ages, and until now consumers haven’t been able to benefit at all. As people become more aware of how their information is collected every time they search or browse for something online, we want to give consumers the chance to take back control. We know advertisers and brands pay lots of money to acquire customers and Get My Slice puts that money back into consumer’s pockets with our personalised offers.”

Since Get My Slice launched during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, they created their Founders Club to reward early members who join the app. With a limited number of points set aside for users, once they reach their target Get My Slice founding members could secure money based on the future value of the company. Points can be earned by completing activities within the app and referring Get My Slice to family and friends. They can also be redeemed for gift vouchers, cash and for planting trees. For example, after completing their first offer members will get 2,000 points which can be redeemed to plant a tree. Members can also redeem their points for up to £50 if they prefer to cash them in.

For shoppers who want to be more mindful of their carbon footprint, the Get My Slice app includes a range of green offers in their dedicated green category including My Green Pod, Pai Skincare and Grubby. Get My Slice have also pledged to plant a minimum of 1,000 trees every month.

Get My Slice is available for FREE on iOs and Android.

*T&Cs apply. All offers subject to availability.

Download the app today.

 

Please note this is a paid partnership between Get My Slice and MoneyMagpie.

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post The game-changing rewards app leading the consumer data revolution that can earn you instant money appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

How to Make Money on Steam – a 4 Step Plan

Reading Time: 5 mins

Most people head to Steam after a long day to wind down with a game of PUBG or catch up with their friends. You may think that only professional game developers can tap into the platform as a revenue stream, but there are a few legit methods with which the average player can make money on Steam.

Making money on Steam takes a lot of patience and some business savviness when buying and selling on the platform’s Community Market. However, if you’re a keen gamer who devotes a fair bit of time to the hobby as it is, you can get ahead of the pack by capitalizing off your down time.

• What is Steam?
• Collect Trading Cards
• Sell Game Items
• Hold Pre-order Content
• Sell Cosmetic Crates

 

What is Steam?

Founded back in 2003 by American gaming corporation Valve, Steam is a digital video game platform with over 47 million daily users and around 150 million users overall. It was initially created to provide updates and fix bugs in Valve games.

Since then, Steam has grown into a multi-faceted community. There’s a whole bunch of things to do on the platform besides playing games, although that’s still a classic use of it! You can chat with other gamers, discuss games in forums, view your friends’ gameplay and distribute games as a developer.

Your Steam Wallet and the Steam Community Market are crucial to making money. The funds in your Wallet can be used to buy games, in-game items and other goods on the Market. You can’t withdraw these funds to your bank account but the more you save there, the less real cash you’ll splurge on gaming. It’s a win-win scenario that helps you save money while enjoying your hobby to the max.

To help you make the most of the biggest digital distribution platform for PC gaming, here are some ideas on how to make money on Steam.

 

1. Collect Trading Cards

Most games hand out Steam trading cards as a reward for consistent gameplay. You’ll probably receive two to three cards per session, with the first arriving 15 minutes in and a second dropping around two hours into a game.

The cards range in value between a few cents and a couple of dollars each, although the pricier ones are less common. It might not sound like a lot but if you’re an avid gamer who dips in and out of twenty or more games, your trading card collection will grow organically.

You might even get rare trading cards with a special foil border, known as foil trading cards. These are collectables that players use to craft a foil badge, so they’re often in high demand. Foil cards can be worth ten times the price of a regular card and have even fetched $1,000 on the Market!

Remember these tips when building your card collection:

• Games notify you about how many card drops are left, so make sure to get all of them.
• You might receive a booster pack of three cards once you collect all the cards for a single game.
• Trading cards from a new game are more valuable so try to play new games fairly often.
• You can use Steam Idle Master to automate the gameplay process and trading card drops.

Once you’ve got your cards, you can automate the selling process with the help of a browser extension like Augmented Steam. The quick sell feature puts your cards on the Market at $0.01 less than the lowest listed price, which means your card will sell first.

 

2. Sell Game Items

Popular games like Dota 2 and CS:GO drop items during gameplay in addition to trading cards. These are often cosmetic items like new armour, character models, decals and weapon skins. Items are stored in your inventory and prices can range from $0.10 to $1,000 depending on rarity.

Don’t fret if you can’t land a rare item! You can make money from common items with a bit of business acumen. The Steam Community Market resembles the real stock market in that item prices change depending on demand and supply. When the player base of a game increases, so does the number of item drops. This increases supply and lowers prices. Try to monitor these fluctuations and sell when your items are rarer or in greater demand.

Alternatively, you can buy items on the Market when supply exceeds demand and wait for demand (and price!) to increase. Always double check the market value of both sides of an exchange before sealing the deal.

 

3. Hold Pre-order Content

Part of the appeal of Steam is that it’s always releasing new games! You can pre-order these games before they’re officially out. Pre-order content usually skyrockets in value over time for the following reasons:

• Pre-order content often includes exclusive in-game items (like armour, skins and decals).
• Most pre-order content can’t be purchased in-game after the game is officially released.
• Fewer people have pre-order content than regular content so demand outweighs supply.

Stocking up on pre-ordered content has proven to be a hugely lucrative method, with some exclusive pre-order items fetching hundreds or even thousands of dollars on the Market upon game release.

Take the case of the Playerunknown cosmetic set – users who pre-ordered PUBG got this set as a freebie along with the game. The set now sells for a whopping $1,400 on the Market, despite the pre-order game costing just $30.

It’s best to hold on to pre-order content until the new game reaches a certain level of popularity, or at the least until it’s officially released.

 

4. Sell Cosmetic Crates

Cosmetic crates contain a bunch of in-game items, some of which can be very rare. You can get cosmetic crates through gameplay but crate drops tend to be rarer than trading card or item drops – CS:GO drops them twice a week, for example.

Cosmetic crates sell on the Steam Community Market for a couple of dollars each. It’s better to sell the cosmetic crates you receive organically instead of buying and selling them on the market because trading is something of a risky business:

• You don’t know what the target crate contains so you can’t be sure that it has rare items.
• The likelihood of getting a rare item in a crate is pretty low. For example, the PUBG Biker crate sells for $0.50 but there’s only a 0.01% chance of you getting the $150 cloth mask.
• If you save the money you make from selling dropped crates, you’ll be able to buy a cosmetic item or a new game sooner rather than later.

 

So there you have it, four ideas on how to make money on Steam. Let us know how you get on!

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post How to Make Money on Steam – a 4 Step Plan appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Team Management Tips From The Pros To Ensure Your Business Is Working Smoothly

Reading Time: 4 mins

Many factors affect the success of a company: product quality, customer service, marketing strategy, leadership skills — but no factor is as fundamental or as overlooked as the members who make up the core of every organization. A company’s culture starts with its leaders (or managers) and trickles down through management layers to supervisors and frontline workers, then back up again in response to feedback from customers about both products and services.

The more time you spend setting your company up for success, the less time you’ll need to expend fixing problems later on. If you do this right, your business will hum along with ease, and everyone involved will get their work done without too much drama or heartache. Here are some tips to help ensure your business is running smoothly.

• Create a power team in your business
• Be transparent
• Monitor
• Advertisements
• Fire

 

Create a Power Team in Your Business

Most companies are hierarchical in structure, with the most important members in management roles and maximum responsibility. It is critical for businesses to have strong leadership at the top of this hierarchy in order to be successful. However, especially when rapid growth might be putting pressure on your company, you need a second tier of talented individuals who are capable of filling in for managers when necessary.

That’s why it is important to create a powerful team of all-star employees, ready to step into leadership roles if the need arises. These are people who have an unshakeable work ethic, great time management skills, and excellent interpersonal communication skills. Their stellar performance will be critical if management fails to meet the business’ needs on some given day or week — so you want to make sure your strongest assets are ready for action.

 

Be Transparent About Expectations

No matter how talented your line employees might be, they still need to know what success looks like in their role at your company before they can begin working toward that end goal. That means setting clear objectives (and communicating them frequently), as well as holding regular meetings with employees to let them know about any issues that might be limiting their ability to meet those goals.

For example, if an employee is having trouble making sales calls, sit down and talk through the problem – and what she could be doing better. If your staff members see you as a manager who cares enough to help them improve even when it means taking time out of your own schedule, they will be much more likely to go above and beyond for you and for the company.

 

Closely Monitor Your Business Operations

A successful company needs to be constantly monitoring what’s happening in the business – from sales numbers to customer feedback, product quality ratings, and operational performance.

If an employee does not have a clear understanding of expectations or specific job duties it can result in missed deadlines and general frustration among staff members who know better than this. To avoid these scenarios, managers need to keep close tabs on how employees are spending their time at work so that no one gets too much “wiggle room.” Try checking out www.workpuls.com if you need more information about how an effective monitoring software works. Employees who are left to their own devices quickly discover that there is always something else they could be doing.

 

Run Advertisement For Your Products and Services

The world of business is changing every day, with new competition cropping up all the time. If you want to grow your company and see it succeed, then you need to make sure that potential customers are even aware that it exists.

Your marketing strategies should include both digital and traditional forms of advertising – including radio ads, social media campaigns, television commercials, print advertisements in magazines or newspapers (as well as direct mail pieces), billboards on busy streets, etc. Even if your production team has done an incredible job creating top-of-the-line products or services for your customers, people won’t know about them unless they’re out there selling themselves.

 

Be Willing To Fire People When Necessary

It is important for business owners to hire people they trust will grow with them – but you can’t keep an underperforming staff member forever. If you see no signs of improvement, it might be time to let someone go.

But before you take this step, make sure you have exhausted all other options and given the individual every chance to succeed. When you have an employee who seems introverted or shy in meetings with customers, consider hiring a speaking coach who can help her learn how to sell herself over the phone. If your employee consistently misses deadlines, perhaps allowing them to work from home one day per week will change their productivity habits for the better. At some point though, you must be willing to cut ties with people who are unable or unwilling to fulfill expectations at your business or requiring more resources than they are worth.

The best way to ensure your business is running smoothly and without any hiccups is by having a strong team behind you. We hope the information provided here will be helpful in getting your business on the path to success and ensuring its day-to-day operations goes smoothly.

 

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post Team Management Tips From The Pros To Ensure Your Business Is Working Smoothly appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

How to Utilize Discount without Big Coupons and Price Cuts

Reading Time: 5 mins

Businesses give discounts to create some necessary hype around their products and maximize their sales. Discount marketing creates a win-win scenario. Companies get to sell their products and customers save their hard-earned money. But discounting can sometimes work against the company.

Marketers often offer deep sitewide discounts to drive up sales and this reflects badly on the company’s bottom line. Many of them don’t know how to offer discounts in a way that doesn’t damage their brand and revenue.

Discount strategy in retail is complicated. Coupons, promo codes, or running a limited-time sale, all need to be strategic and segmented to have the benefits the sellers desire.

Huge discounts not only impact your revenue but create a perception that your product is not worth its full price. Fortunately, there are much better alternatives available.

In this article, you will learn how to advertise special offers without big price cuts and coupon codes.

Let’s dig in.

• Don’t give discounts to everyone
• Use gifts
• Loyalty programs
• Subscriptions
• Lite versions

 

1. Don’t Give Coupons and Discounts to Everyone

Discounting backfires for a business when it’s the regular customers availing all of the deals. No company wants to make less money from people who are willing to pay full price.

“Segmenting the coupons and discounts is a great way to ensure they have the desired impact,” says Julia Markle of the coupon promotion website ClothingRIC. “So next time you’re running a promotion; do not notify people who are your regular customers.”

Marketers should divide their market into different segments and craft unique offers to attract customers for each of these groups. People that regularly receive your emails but never bother clicking could be enticed with an extremely generous discount.

People who are not on your email list and are visiting your website could be persuaded with a ‘welcome coupon’ on their first orders. These first-time customer discounts could either appear as a pop-up or sent via emails if the customer filled a form where they entered their email address. The offer here doesn’t need to be anything extraordinary and simple free shipping or a 5% discount offer could do the trick.

 

2. Win Customers with Gifts

Giving products away for free isn’t something anyone has in mind when first starting a business. It goes against the entire concept of business. But sometimes, that’s exactly what they should do. Attaching something that’s of lesser value as a gift to a high-end product makes the offer much more compelling to the buyer. If you’re wondering how to offer discounts without reducing price, this is it.

The trick is to find a sweet spot where this lesser-value product compliments the main product. Think of smartphones that come with free wireless headphones. Gifts can bolster a company’s relation with its customers and often create a bigger impact than conventional discount offers. When you give free products to customers, it shows you consider them much more than a source of revenue. People put in a lot of effort to make money and gifts from their favourite shows that you respect this fact.

Admittedly, this isn’t a long-term strategy. Gifts are best reserved for special occasions and that’s exactly how companies should view them. Limited-time offers for customers where they get a free complimentary product can be a cherry on the top of your marketing cake.

 

3. Loyalty Programs Still Work

Discount ideas for retail, if implemented correctly, get you a temporary sales uptick. But it doesn’t encourage repeat purchases. This is where loyalty programs work better.

There are many ways to reward customers who are your regular shoppers. You can give them loyalty points whenever they spend a certain amount of money on your products. These points could then be used by customers to redeem discounts on their future purchases.

Keep the entire system simple so you know the worth of your loyalty points at all times. Knowing how much discount customers are availing is essential for avoiding deep discounts which can negatively impact your bottom line.

As mentioned before, you don’t necessarily need to give cash discounts. Loyal customers can be rewarded with gifts and free shipping from the company. At the end of the day, this program is designed to retain customers and give them the motive to buy again. One doesn’t always need to market coupons to instil loyalty.

 

4. Get Customers to Subscribe

When it comes to customer retention, there aren’t many better strategies than subscription plans. For a business, getting customers to subscribe to your products or services means that they aren’t going anywhere else for a certain time. For customers, it means convenience.

Most customers prefer to stick with a brand if they’re being provided with quality goods or services for a fair price. If said product or service is quick and easy to obtain, it makes the whole thing all the more effective. Subscription plans deliver all of this and more to customers.

While they are mostly associated with streaming services and software providers, subscription plans have a use for a wide variety of products. For instance, $1 Shave Club delivers razors to customers’ doorsteps in return for a monthly fee. The company’s success through the years shows this model is worth replicating.

 

5. Create a Mini or Lite Version of Your Products

One has to admit that this isn’t an easy strategy. However, it’s one of the better alternatives to marketing huge discount offers and releasing coupons every month.

Software developers often release lite versions of their applications. These have limited functionalities and are often supported by advertisements. Similarly, many cosmetic companies release mini versions of their products that are much cheaper.

These items are designed for an audience that is not willing to pay full price for your regular products. In many ways, these products are alternatives to promotional discounts. If you were wondering how to offer discounts without sales promotion, this is it. Promote lite or mini versions to customers and there’s every chance they would be impressed enough to buy regular items at a full price later on.

 

Conclusion

Companies craft different types of attractive offers for customers. But this is a slippery slope because it could condition your customers to wait for the next coupon or deal. And no business wants customers who are never willing to pay the full price. There are a number of examples of customer discounts where the strategy damaged the business in the long run.

But various strategies have the same effect of discounts but are unique and different. You must learn how to promote special offers in a manner that’s beneficial to your company in both the short and long run.

Whether you divide customers into segments based on their buying history, give them a complimentary item with your main product or promote a subscription plan —there are plenty of ways to hype up your products while avoiding the side effects of regular discounting.

 

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post How to Utilize Discount without Big Coupons and Price Cuts appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

How to make money on Snapchat

Reading Time: 5 mins

While you may think Snapchat is something that your kids do, or just another teenage fad soon to die away, in reality it can be a great money making opportunity for people of all ages with very little work and a lack of competition…for now. Most brands and businesses aren’t utilising Snapchat’s potential yet, so MoneyMagpie will walk you through how to make money on Snapchat now and get ahead of the pack.

Whether it be you, your business, or your kids, there are many ways to a generate a reliable income from all that time spent on social media and Snapchat is no exception: as the fastest growing social media platform (so fast that it is now being publicly traded and reported revenues of $2.5bn last year) Snapchat also presents a great opportunity for growth moving forward.

• What is Snapchat?
• How much can I make on Snapchat?
• How to make money on Snapchat

 

What is Snapchat?

Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Snapchat differs from other social media platforms in that it is time limited. That is to say, Snapchat is a platform that lets you send ‘snaps’ – photos or short videos of up to 10 seconds – to your friends or contacts or broadcast them publicly in stories, but when time’s up the snap is deleted and no longer accessible to your followers.

Snapchat is huge, and growing. Boasting 280 million daily users (or for us, 280 million potential customers) in the first quarter of 2021 alone, the platform is particularly popular with young people, who create over 5 billion snaps and 18 billion video views a day. Over half (53% according to Statistica) of social media users between 15 and 25 use Snapchat, with a staggering 70% of U.S teens using the app. In fact, among American teens Snapchat is the most popular social media platform, attracting more daily users than both Instagram and Tik Tok.

Obviously, that means any money making methods MoneyMagpie suggest will be best directed towards this tech savvy demographic. With time limited posts, you may be wondering exactly how to make money on Snapchat. Well, you’ll need to hone in on a niche product or service to promote, partner yourself with an established brand or influencer, or use one of Snapchat’s different features.

 

How much can I make on Snapchat?

As with any business venture this depends. The major brands and influencers with enormous social media followings can make millions, but with regular and effective Snapchat use any user can boost their income by several thousand.

 

See MoneyMagpie’s top 5 ways of making money from Snapchat below:

 

How to make money from Snapchat

1. Snapchat Ads

Snapchat Ads can be a great way of advertising your business or a specific product or service to millions of users across the world. Snapchat’s advertising platform, Snap Ads, is viewed by between 500,000 and 1 million users a day, so this is a great option to increase your business or brand profile, and lets you create ads and launch campaigns, though you will need to send traffic to an external page (your company website, or online shop, for example) where they can complete a purchase.

Using a money-processing program like Snapcash can streamline all your payments and transform your social media time into an online marketplace and help you make more money from Snapchat.

 

2. Sell your snaps

If you are an influencer with a big following, or know one (if not, ask your kids!) some companies will pay to advertise their products to your followers. Many are on the lookout for influencers that can attract significant attention and traffic to their products, and offers for sponsored content and ongoing partnerships are common among those with large followings. For the bigger brands and companies, you can make thousands from a single Snapchat story.

Equally, if you are a business owner, this a great way to promote your products or services. The social media heavyweights with huge followings will charge tens of, and perhaps hundreds of, thousands, but fees can be much more reasonable for influencers with a smaller following so shop around to find an influencer who appeals to your niche target market, and budget.

 

3. Use Geofilters

Geofilters are designs put over snaps that are only available if you’re in a specific area at a certain time, and can be a great way to increase awareness for your brand or business in whatever location you select.

If you’re a business, you can include your business name or logo so those who use and see your filter know it’s sponsored and exactly who by.

This is great way to promote a product or brand name and make money from Snapchat. You can use it to promote your online store or redirect traffic to your site, and create a free geofilter for a location that is important or nearby to your business such as a business park or public landmark.

 

4. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is common on many platforms but is a great way to make extra money from Snapchat. Affiliate marketing is essentially promoting other people’s products and earning a commission per sale: if you want to make money on Snapchat, affiliate marketing can be a extremely lucrative and easy way to do it.

The main advantage is that you can start with relatively little fuss or experience and earn more money than other methods because of the commissions. However, like any commission based business, you don’t get paid when you don’t generate sales.

How does it work? If you post a Snap showing off or reviewing a particular product and then include a link to buy it, you’ll make a commission from anything they then buy, not only the specific item you linked to! Sounds good, right? It’s a very easy way to make extra money from Snapchat but you have to be clear you’re using an affiliate link – otherwise you might fall foul of advertising laws!

 

5. Using sponsored lenses

Sponsored lenses are another way to promote your brand or business and make money from Snapchat. Snapchat Lenses are similar to filters, but lenses are more like special effects added to photos or videos. Have you ever noticed your kids playing around with those on-screen dog faces? That’s a lens. Branded lenses usually include your business name, logo, and the product or service you want to promote.

Business like L’Oréal pay for Sponsored Lenses which users then access and share and do the promotion for the company. Lots of big brands use sponsored lenses to increase sales, awareness, and as part of promotional pushes. Note that this is more of a long term – and expensive – method of making money from Snapchat, so is usually only used by established brands.

 

 

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Make Money While Moving: here is how

Reading Time: 4 mins

Moving is an expensive process, right from the packing supplies to professional movers to house rent, it needs a lot of money. There are so many unknown and unavoidable expenses related to moving and we just cannot do anything about it. While we have to invest a lot in our moving process, what if you can make some money too! The best national moving companies suggest that there are some tricks and you cannot only save but can make some good money using these tricks. As you know, moving is the perfect time to downsize and declutter your home, make money by selling all these unwanted and unused items.

So, here we go, follow the tricks given below to lessen your financial burden to some extent:

• Furniture
• Electronics
• Clothes
• Kitchen appliances
• Garage sale
• Moving boxes
• Donate

 

Furniture

If you are planning a long-distance move or you are moving to a smaller place, the one thing that you can take out and sell is all your extra furniture. Furniture takes up a lot of space and if you want to remove a few of your furniture items, you can actually make a lot of money depending upon the quality and condition of it. You can sell them on consignment stores or even on some online stores that sell used items. If you live in a small city, it may take a while to reach a potential buyer while a buyer can show up early in a big city.

Selling your extra furniture will not only make you good money but will also make some space at your new place where you can add your creativity and bring in charm.

 

Old Electronics

We humans have this habit of not letting go no matter if it’s people or things. We keep storing the stuff in the name of saving that we do not even use. You will find plenty of unused or old electronics lying in almost every house. So, make sure you get rid of all the electronic items that you do not use now or have never used. Go through all your drawers and other storage places and take out each item. Check its condition and if it is in workable condition, sell it online or to a nearby electronics store.

If moving to a new home that you have just bought, you might want to install new electronics there, so don’t just toss your old electronics, sell them instead. Sell all those old smartphones that you have been keeping for a long time. You have to come out of this feeling of attachment to bring in some positive energy home by decluttering the space.

 

Clothes

No matter how many clothes we have, we don’t find anything to wear while going out and this shows that we keep stocking clothes that we do not really wear. Consider taking out clothes that you do not wear anymore or haven’t worn in the past year. There might be some clothes that you have not worn even once; it is the right time to take them out. Organizing a yard sale is the perfect way to get rid of these unwanted clothes and make some money out of trash.

 

Kitchen Items and Appliances

Not to mention what we keep stocking in our kitchen. It will not be an overstatement to say that kitchens are filled with repetitive appliances and other kitchenware. Make sure you sort your kitchen before you pack it up for your next move. It is wise to get rid of all the extra items and appliances. There might be a pile of gifted crockery that you have never used and not even planning on using in the future. Take out and sell each of these items and make some money.

 

Garage Sale

All your power tools, kids’ items including old scooters or bicycles, or even old piled-up magazines can bring in some money. Organize a garage sale and sell all old items and make good money from it. Don’t keep things in the name of emotions and memories; take pictures of items of sentimental value to keep memories and sell the actual item. Removing extra and unused stuff from your house will bring in a lot of positive energy and also, you will be able to organize your new home in a better way.

 

Moving Boxes

Once you have moved into your new house and you have unpacked all your stuff, you can still make a little money by selling your discarded moving boxes. Others are looking for some cheaper packing supplies and if you can find someone in need, sell these used moving boxes at a reasonable price and make money.

 

Donate and Make Money

You cannot only make money by selling your items but can also make money by donating them. Donate the items in good condition to a qualified organization and write them off on your taxes. All you have to do is to follow all the rules related to charitable contribution deduction and claim it.

Use these options and you will be able to make a lot of money to cover your moving expenses and beyond.

 

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

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Make money selling personalised items

Reading Time: 7 mins

We have all personalised products in our time. Whether you wrote your name all over your notebooks when you were younger, or put stickers on your backpack, we have all done it.

But even today, personalised items are immensely popular amongst adults and youngsters alike. Coffee mugs and water bottles personalised with names are growing greatly in popularity. Other personalised items, including cushions and jewellery are classic gifts. On Amazon, some of the most shopped items are personalised and handmade items.

Virtually anything can be personalised, and the best part is the gifts are meaningful, making them a popular choice. People also buy personalised items for themselves, adding flare to normal household items.

With an ever-growing number of platforms available for people to sell handmade items, and support for small businesses skyrocketing as a result of the pandemic, now is the perfect time to make money. If you need a side hustle to make some extra cash, selling personalised items is a great way to do so.

• How to start your own business in personalised items 
• Decide which items you will personalise
• Choose a selling platform 
• Look into the logistics
• How much money can you make?
• Leah’s personalised Starbucks cups

 

How to Start your own business in personalised items

Are you debating starting your own business in selling personalised items? It is a good idea to plan out your ideas to ensure you are organised and ready to begin. Planning each step of your business, from start to finish, will also give you peace of mind.

Here are our top tips for starting your own business in personalisation:

Decide which items you will personalise

Start by looking online for inspiration and ideas. Websites such as Pinterest and Instagram have thousands of products and designs to look at. Work out how you can put your own unique spin on existing designs, and what may give your business an edge over similar ones. Some of the most popular items include cups, pens, t-shirts, water bottles and tote bags.

Once you have decided which items you wish to personalise and sell, do some research on how to bulk buy that particular item for the best price possible. There are many wholesale websites which allow you to buy a job lot of certain items for a much lower price than you would if you bought them individually. Websites such as eBay, DHgate and Bizay are useful and accessible websites for this.

It is also important to research the equipment you will need when choosing a product to personalise. It may be a good idea to decide how much you are willing to pay for the initial set up costs.

If you need to spend money on certain equipment, for example vinyl cutters or laminators, work out what you can realistically afford to spend. It may cost you a few pennies initially, but try to think of it as an investment.

Knowing what you are going to sell and how you are going to make it is the first step in your business. Plus, you will be prepared to get started as soon as the orders begin rolling in!

Choose a selling platform

Take the time to compare and contrast various selling platforms. There are many to choose from, but it’s a good idea to take into account whether they take commission or selling fees, and how much they take. You don’t want to find you make little to no profit on your items due to the selling platform taking all your hard earned cash!

Shop around to begin with.

• Make a list of the different selling platforms you can find, and make a note of whether they charge you for your transactions.
• If you have a vague idea of how much you will charge for your items, you can use this to work out potential profit margins. It is only natural you want to make the most profit you can, so spend a few hours doing your research.

Some of the most popular selling platforms include

• Amazon,
• eBay
• Etsy. Etsy is particularly popular for selling handmade and personalised items.

Amazon has different selling plans you can choose from. With the Individual plan, it costs 75p per item sold, and with the Professional plan, it costs £25 a month, no matter how many items you sell. There is, however, additional selling fees added to this.

You can read all about eBay selling fees here, and Etsy’s selling fees here.

look into the Logistics

Finally, it is vital to research and plan the logistics of your business. Knowing how much postage and packaging is likely to cost you will help you work out a price to charge for the product itself. Nowadays, there are many ways to post your items.

We live in an age where there are multiple delivery companies. They all charge differently and offer different benefits.

• Do your research to ensure you get the best price.
• You may decide to offer free or low cost postage to encourage buyers and drive sales.
• Either way, it is important to work out what you can charge and still make a profit.

You can compare different couriers on the website Parcel Compare.

 

How much money can you make?

Potential profits depend on which items you choose to personalise and sell. That is why it is particularly important to research every aspect of the business previously mentioned, from bulk buying items to postage.

When you have sorted out these aspects, you can choose a price for the item itself. It is a good idea to choose a price which gives you a profit, but is still fair to the consumer.

For example, if you buy 50 plain white t-shirts to personalise, at approximately £1.51 per unit as they are on the Wordans website, you will easily be able to make a profit. This Etsy store charges £12.99 for t-shirts consisting of personalised text. They offer free delivery too.

Assuming you charged the same price of £12.99, after deducting the cost of the original t-shirt (£1.51) and the cost of standard second class postage (£2.95), you could make £8.50 in profit.

Once you had sold all 50 t-shirts, your profit margin would be a whopping £426.50! Of course, Etsy selling fees and the costs of packaging would need to be taken into account. Either way, a nice sum could be going straight into your bank account.

Similarly, if you bulk bought 50 of these plain white coffee mugs to personalise, at approximately 65 pence per unit, the opportunity for profit is great.

Many Etsy shops charge about £8 for a personalised mug. If you charged £8, plus postage, you’d only lose out on 65 pence from each sale. This would leave you with almost £370 in profit once all 50 mugs were sold. Again, this doesn’t take into account selling fees, but it would still provide you with a nice chunk of money.

 

Leah’s personalised Starbucks cups

Leah Shave is a 21-year-old student paramedic based in London, who started making personalised cups as a side hustle back in May 2021.

She sells Starbucks cups on Etsy marketplace, and sells them both as blank pieces and with vinyl designs printed on them.

Leah does the designs herself. After buying a personalised Starbucks cup online, she assessed the price she paid for it. “That’s when I thought to myself, ‘I could have made that!’, and so I began to research the idea of making my own online store,” she tells us.

She began to research the cost of buying blank cups in bulk, as well as the price of the machinery she would need. Once she factored-in postage and packaging, she realised there was potential profit to be made. “I bit the bullet and ordered 50 Starbucks cups, in order to trial the business,” Leah tells us. Thus, her Etsy store StarbuckiesCo was born.

You can hear her excitement when talking about her side hustle. She goes on; “I use a Cricut Joy machine, which retails anywhere from £179 to £200. It is a vinyl cutting machine, which makes the vinyl designs possible.” This is a crucial piece of equipment needed for Leah to complete her designs and despite the initial cost, she thinks of it as an investment. “It makes designing my cups so easy, and has such a high quality, professional finish,” she adds.

Her strong work ethic and enthusiasm shine through. Refreshingly, it is clear Leah is not only striving for a profit margin, but genuinely wants to provide a beautiful, high quality product to her customers.

The profits

“I charge £8.40 for the blank cups, and for those with an added personalisation or design, I charge £13.99,” she informs us. A fair price it seems, for the amount of effort which goes into the design and creation of added personalisation. “I offer free postage, as this tends to drive sales.”

She follows up with some advice. “It’s a good idea to do some research before committing to a particular postal provider. I pay £2.95 for Hermes delivery, and they provide tracking, but as I said, I don’t charge for this.”

Then there’s selling fees. “Etsy fees are slightly complicated, but I found it to be the best platform to sell my cups on,” she comments. “When you sell an item, Etsy takes a 5% commission, plus a 20 pence processing fee.”

“I sell about 6 cups a day on average” she adds, “which is a weekly income of around £210. After I have deducted expenses, including postage and packaging prices, the cost of vinyl and bubble wrap, I look at around £500 a month in profit.”

She advises keeping on top of your finances when starting a small business or side hustle. She uses a budgeting app, which allows her to input her income and expenses into one place. It enables her to see her weekly and monthly profits. “It is so important to keep up to date with your earnings to ensure your business works effectively.”

exciting future

After this, she tells us what she’s most excited about in her new venture. “Initially, I used Pinterest to find ideas, and I adapted them to my own unique style. I write lists of ideas that pop into my mind, and designs I’d like to try. Plus, I look at current trends.” Leah also makes cups tailored to specific events and the time of year. “I released an England cup during the Euros recently and made a Pride cup during Pride month”.

Leah says she is looking into expanding which items she personalises. “I’m focussing on expanding my cup designs for now, but I am thinking about looking into personalised clothing too, such as t-shirts.”

Finally, Leah gives this advice to anyone looking to do something similar: “Just bite the bullet! If it’s working for other people, why can’t it work for you? Give it a go!”.

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