Explore an idea that was inspired by Avril Harper’s awesome book, “21 Amazing Ways To Make Money FAST From The Public Domain”.
What she found was an idea that ultimately lead to another great idea – selling “themed” collections of public domain magazine content in the world’s largest online auction marketplace ~ eBay!
Public Domain Magazine Content + eBay? Ohh, yeah! Now that’s one project we can sink our teeth into! It’s a great idea but,…will it work?
Follow along with us and find out!
Just Get Rid Of It!
What do you say to yourself when the place you work – rest- eat – sleep and well live… get’s overrun with Stuff? If you are anything like me you reach a breaking point and say “Just Get Rid Of It”!
I’ve hit a point where it’s time to purge – not shuffle or re-file… but – Purge my space of unnecessary stuff.
I’ve always held a theory or solution for getting rid of stuff. Move households – and move often. You will rid yourself of all sorts of extra baggage and “stuff” every time you move.
Why? Because we don’t want to pack and unpack a bunch of junk. So we throw away – give away or sell everything that seems like “junk”. Oh… you might start out packing everything on the shelf… (shelf after shelf)… and then soon you start to get tired and wonder “why am I packing this “stuff”?
Apparently there comes a time in our lives when we stop moving into new homes. The home I live in right now is the one we plan on living in for at least 10 more years (perhaps the rest of our lives). And… we have lived in this house over 15 years already.
So I have been collecting and stuffing our home for a very long time and it’s become nearly impossible to figure out where to put anything new. And – like it or not… we all get new “stuff”.
Why am I sharing this story with you? Well… it does have to do with Public Domain. And eBay. And how I plan to “Get Rid Of Some Stuff”.
I Blame Avril Harper!
Yes… I blame her for this idea. Actually – it’s more of a project than and idea… (As if I needed another project), because it’s going to involve some thinking as well as labor.
Getting rid of stuff or junk (remember when that stuff or junk used to be really cool and neat?) requires labor. Lifting and toting and dusting and cleaning. Moving anything larger than a cup of coffee is labor in my book. 
But… in this particular case… this is not just a labor intensive project - It will require some brain power as well.
The whole idea came about while I was reading Avril Harpers book:
“21 AMAZING WAYS TO MAKE MONEY FAST FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN“
In Avril’s Book is a section called “start a clipping service“. This is interesting to me because I have a ton of public domain magazines that I need to go through and pull out stuff for “me” to use for some projects and then get rid of the magazine. I think I can make more money by “cutting the magazine” into articles or clipping bundles.
I’d like to go through “some” of her suggestions:
- Copy and package advertisements by subject or profession.
- It’s a good idea to create information packs about specific subjects and events and ask a standard price across the board. Her daughter does this on eBay, selling what she calls ‘Doggy Bags’ which include pictures, articles, newspaper cuttings, puzzles, and lots of other printed bits and pieces about individual dog breeds. She only needs one copy of a particular item, in the public domain, which she can then copy to add to hundreds of doggy bags she might sell on eBay each year.
- You might specialize in certain subjects like: genealogical matters, astrology, fishing, gardening, recipes and cooking, and so on. Your service could be marketed on eBay or through magazines targeted at your specific audience.
- Copy and package advertisements by subject or profession. For example, she found dozens of advertisements from butchers, dressmakers, soap manufacturers, and more, in a pile of old Illustrated London News publications from the early 1900s. The entire bundle of twenty plus magazines cost £3 (about $6) and included ten or more full-page prints and posters per issue almost all of which sold at between £5 (about $10) and £30 (about $60). The more successful items she listed in categories described as ‘Hot’ in eBay’s regular Hot Items report. Those categories included specific condiments, such as Mustard; soap and perfumery advertisements went like a bomb under ‘Advertising: Chemists’, and a huge number of sporting prints, mainly horse-racing went like hot cakes under Collectibles: Horse Racing.
And here is one I know that someone will love but I have no interest in:
- Here’s another great idea for out of copyright advertisements, especially smaller classified ads. She created one of her very best selling marketing book both on and off eBay, which she called HEADLINES THAT NEVER DIE, which was simply a collection of headlines she had taken from out-of-copyright, otherwise called ‘Public Domain’ publications. She simply typed them into a Microsoft Word document under categories, such as Travel, Children, Soaps, and so on. She also scanned some of the best advertisements of earlier times into the Word document to make the book visually appealing.
The Big Project:
I will pick a pile of magazines from my stash and go through them… make a plan for using this stack of stuff to sell on eBay. I also have a huge pile (piles) of books that need to be sold. Oh… and I have several bits of marketing manuals and DVD sets to sell as well.
The project would be so easy… if I just picked up a pile and listed them on eBay. Just the way I purchased them several years ago.
But… that’s not what the “plan” calls for. The idea here is to create actual products to sell over and over on eBay… not just one time sales.
Part 1 – What do I have that I’m ready to “Get Rid Of”? I need to be ruthless with this step. If I think too much about all the possibilities – I won’t get any of this “Stuff” out of my life.
- Choose a pile of Public Domain magazines – at least 10 (15+ is best)
- Go through the entire pile to get an idea of the contents. Make notes
- Brainstorm an idea for a product that can be made from this stack
- Quick check on eBay for viability and competition
- If it passes criteria – move ahead with creating a product to sell on eBay.
Check out the rest of this story in “Public Domain Treasure Hunter Magazine” Issue #8 available for download by Clicking Here.
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