Following up on my vent post regarding my discontent with the policies on eBay, I've resorted to another method of selling PSP mod kits. Thanks to the glorious creation of Amazon.com, I've been able to sell my inventory of kits in just 3 days.

No wonder Amazon was able to grow to its currently dominant Internet status. Although the fees for selling on Amazon.com are higher compared to eBay, transactions are completed much quicker. Everything is laid out for potential buyers, like in a store. I don't have to wait for buyers to bid/pay nor do I have to go through Paypal to collect my money. They see what they want and pay. Then I ship the next day. The feedback on Amazon.com is of no major concern to me since I provide the best service possible.

Now I'll be ordering starting materials in larger quantities. In a future post, I'd be describing what steps I am taking to make this side gig more profitable!

Here are some links back to some carnivals in which Realm of Prosperity was cited.

• Carnival of Personal Finance #157: Third Anniversary Edition at Consumerism Commentary
• The Carnival of Twenty Something Finances at Poorer Than You
• Carnival of Money Stories #64 - Time to Listen to Others Edition at Money Ning

Check out the other great articles from other blogs!!

Everyone has their own hobbies and interests where they will begin to gain knowledge and expertise in whatever that activity may be. Some love playing sports, some collect stamps, and some prefer to grow their own plants and vegetables. Often, hobbies and interests are areas where many people's careers revolve around. Sports players go pro, video gamers become programmers, and collectors open their own stores. Hobbies can be an opportunity to make money.

My Hobby
I was an avid collector of exclusive sneakers, namely Nike Air Jordan. Exclusive sneakers have created a culture among many of the youths that are out to make a fashion statement. I could look at someone's shoes and tell the price range of the shoes.

What is unique about these sneakers is the amazingly large demand for a rapidly growing consumer base, which makes these sneakers appreciate in value since they are released in certain styles and colors for limited times in limited amounts. People get on lines in front of sneakers stores many hours before release time for a chance to own a pair of these exclusive shoes. A brand new pair of Nike Air Jordan III White/Cement (as shown in the picture) retailed for $100 in 2003 would now sell for more than $350. THAT IS A 250% INCREASE IN VALUE!! There is no mutual fund out there that can match that type of growth.

How I Make Money From My Hobby
I've spent hundreds of dollars on these sneakers and I've stopped buying them as I grow older. But luckily, many of the pairs that I still have are brand new. Since I'm home from school, I have put them up for sale and business is going great. One pair that I bought last year for about $145 was sold for $170. Sure, it may seem like a bad idea to tie up cash on a pair of sneakers for a whole year but I've come to see it as buying a share of stock with a 17% increase in stock price. If I had bought many pairs (as in buying many shares), it seems to be a much better option compared to the many low cost index funds available, which lately carries no stable guarantee.

Ever since the fall of 2007 (the beginning of the downfall of the economy), the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates many times to prevent a recession. Many banks with high-yield online savings accounts offered a rate of about 5.00% and it was recently around 3.00%.

Now banks are raising the rates!!! Wooooohooo!!

I just received an e-mail notifying me of HSBC Direct raising its rates to 3.50%. A large increase from 3.05%. It is pleasant news to see this and hopefully it is the beginning of more raises to come.

Ever since getting my eBay account reinstated after staying dormant for the past year, I've been excited to make some residual income with the many selling methods that I have. Sadly it seems that eBay has changed a lot during the past year. They've implemented many rules and restrictions that completely eliminated any means of me making some money.

I used to sell "items" in a video game that was represented by electronic data in the form of pixels. So, that was totally removed from selling throughout eBay. Then, eBooks (electronic books in the form of PDF files usually) became a restricted selling category. All information products, which were delivered electronically, became illegal items for selling on the site.

These were the best items to sell because they came at no cost to the seller. Many sellers' annual income came solely from selling on eBay. Their lives have been ruined. They must make their own websites to sell their goods but that will most likely fail due to the minimal exposure they'd receive.

Recently, I've came up with the idea of selling mod kits for the PSP on eBay and as soon as I purchased the materials to do so, eBay started removing those listings due to infringement of Sony's copyrights (when all coding was actually freeware).

This company is bound to lose a lot of revenue from listings if it continues to restrict the selling of items on eBay. It seems to be a dying business model and its sideways-moving stock price in the past couple years seems to be supporting my case.

When eBay was first introduced it was great because it was a great place to sell/buy almost anything possible. Now, eBay's high popularity is actually ruining its business. When I want to buy an item, I go straight to eBay. I do not go to Dell.com or visit a Gamestop store to purchase something. Why pay retail when I can go to eBay to get it for less? Now all the big companies realize that eBay is actually causing them to lose money and threated eBay of legal consequences and rights just so that the big companies don't miss out on the money.

For example: I represent Coach or Gucci. A seller is selling REAL handbags on eBay for a lower price than one would find at the retail store. I would tell eBay that the handbags are counterfeits and demand them to remove those listings immediately. Now, the money spent on the handbag merchandise by the seller is kept by me. AND, any prospective buyer would have to go to the store to pay ME AGAIN to get whatever item that person sought on eBay. By locking up the capital spent on the reseller, a future customer would have to come straight to me to buy something.

Anyways, I might be turning to Amazon or some other site to sell my merchandise. EBay is no good, anymore, for selling but it remains a great place to find bargains for other useful items.

Well, it has been about 4 months since I opened my credit card account and checked my credit report. The first time, I used Equifax and this time I used Experian. I've learned that one must keep their credit in check, just in case of identity theft and fraud.

Aside from my school loans and the debt on my credit card, everything else is clean as expected.

I don't know if I really need to purchase my credit score since it is most likely around average (and I'm not even sure what that is). I may be interested in getting a car sometime this year but that'll probably be another 4 months.