Passive Income for Life: A Time-Tested Secret Recipe for Building a $50,000 Cash Machine on Amazon.com: In Your Spare Time (Almost Free Money, Vol.5) Paperback – July 11, 2013

I don’t have a review for this book, so much as a plan. I am a fan of plans. I think and think about stuff until I have every major detail planned out in my mind. OK, it’s more like fantasize than plan since I don’t “plan” mishaps and road-blocks when I do this.This book gave me an idea I hadn’t thought about before: you can sell used items on Amazon and it’s free.My plan? To try it.I’m going to start by purchasing cheap items – check garage sales, yard sales, thrift shops, and the Salvation Army for deals.Then I’ll basically follow the outline discussed in Passive Income for Life and start listing items on Amazon.I used to work for a used book store, and I remember what we looked for (condition-wise) when bringing in books to sell. I plan to use this knowledge to aid me.As I go along, I want to track my success. Why? Because I want to see if I am smart enough to pull this off, to make this work. I want to see if the plan laid out in this book will work for the average person such as myself.As I buy items, I will have to store the items I have listed for sale until they sell. Simple plan here. I can just store small items in a diaper box (yes, I still have some of those) in my room where the girls can’t get to it – probably the hall closet.In Passive Income for Life, Eric Michael describes the experience of buying and selling on Amazon, working as a team with his wife. That would be useful in this experience. If I could convince Justin we might be able to make this work (which we might; that’s the point of this experiment) to help with packaging and selling, especially since he’s not working at the moment – beyond helping out on my parents’ farm.What could we sell?BooksCDsVideo gamesVideo game systemsAvon productsAlready, I have made some ground rules for myself. Don’t spend more than $5.00 on any item looking to sell. Only spend about $0.50 on CDs or books from yard sales. Before listing anything on Amazon, make a list of items I already own (the Avon perfumes and colognes for one) that I would be willing to sell. This way, I can keep a tally of the items I sell and keep a chart of how much I make off them. In the case of the Avon perfumes and colognes, I’ll probably lose money, but that’s alright in that case. I just want it out of my house.Currently, I am just going to sell my Avon items and any extra, unwanted items with a barcode lying around the house. Why? Because I want those gone anyway. Might as well use them for this experiment.Wish me luck!

I must write this review of Eric Michael's PASSIVE INCOME FOR LIFE quickly so I can run gather up all my old books and sell them on Amazon! Time's a-wasting, and there's profit to be made!Seriously, this short but clear, detailed, and practical book really has inspired me. Clearly written with step-by-step explanations and procedures, PASSIVE INCOME FOR LIFE walks the reader through the process of establishing, maintaining, and updating a profitable business selling used items online. Although the bulk of the book deals with selling on the Amazon site, eBay, Etsy and Craigslist are also briefly discussed. There are also helpful links and references to other sources of information, including some other publications by the same author.How to sell used items online - especially books, games, and media items - is thoroughly explained in very readable, clearly understandable steps. However, Mr. Michael makes it clear that there is a considerable investment of time, attention, and work necessary to set up and maintain a profitable business. So, this book is not really about "passive" income generators (such as trust funds, IRAs, or annuities). It is about a relatively easy-to-start and easy-to-maintain way of making money, providing one is prepared to devote a good deal of time and energy. In the Preface, the author cautions, "You will have to work, and spend some time on your new business." And as with any business, that work must be attentive and ongoing if the business is to succeed.As in the start-up of any business, market research is necessary beforehand. Buyer demand, trends, competitive pricing, inventory acquisition sources and storage availability, and not least, seller's interest in and knowledge of what he's decided to sell are all critical to success. Inventory must be acquired, organized, posted online, sold, shipped, and restocked. Excellent customer relations and service must be maintained. (And as anyone who's ever worked with the public knows, there are sometimes customers who are difficult, clueless, or just plain ornery. Mr. Michael offers very good and practical advice for dealing with such people, but it takes effort, persistence, and practice to do so effectively.)PASSIVE INCOME FOR LIFE is an extremely well-written and handy guide for starting and maintaining a profitable resale business, especially through Amazon. After reading it, I'm inspired to give selling a try as well! But the title is misleading, as there is really nothing "passive" about running a successful business!

This book details how the author built a collectables reselling business in five years using Amazon.com. It started with the basics of market research, acquiring inventory that is in good shape for the right price, how to list the resale items to attract buyers, and the logistics of fulfillment. The book is filled with pragmatic and clearly-written advice on everything from comparing Amazon.com with other online reselling merchant sites to handling customer complaints.One of the most useful explanations was how to use a smart phone app to scan the bar code of an item at a garage sale, check the current resell price on Amazon, and determine if the profit margin was big enough to buy the item. This is just one excellent tip among many in the book.The book focused on the fun aspects of collecting inventory, attracting buyers, and making passive money. The book did not cover financial recordkeeping and taxes, a must-know for any home business.In all, the book had good advice on inventory and sales for a collectables reseller using Amazon.com. Adding more material on financials and taxes would round out the book and make it a one-stop shop for the collectables hobbyist who wants to turn their hobby into a part-time business.

I bought this after reading the description and some enthusiastic 5 star reviews, but it proved to be a hugely dissapointing read. The description is somewhat misleading - the model states a 'passive income for life', however it seems to me that the method takes up a great deal of time sourcing, collecting, storing, and posting/ packing goods - hardly passive - and for little profit. The $50,000 headline figure is a little misleading too - the author may have sold that amount in a decade or so since starting but in the current climate and market it will take you forever to earn that amount. If you want to spend hours at car boot sales (UK) or garage sales (US) or are happy to buy from ebay with a view to re-listing on Amazon then buy the book, however for me it was a very over hyped description and dissapointing book.

This is a confidently written amazing book. If you ever had any doubt about your ability to make profit with just a little hard work then this is the book to quash those doubts.The chapters are well-organised and clearly divided to allow easy reference and understanding. This step-by-step guide will lead the most naïve person through the stages and challenges of building a selling empire through Amazon, along with other similar sites.The writer gives advice on topics such as choosing what to sell and how to list your items to make them sell in easy to understand steps.A wise investment for the budding entrepreneur!

This is a clear and practical guide to how anybody with a little enterprise and some spare storage space can make income selling second-hand goods on Amazon. It isn't quite passive income and it won't buy you a home in the Bahamas, but it can be a good source of a second income for those of us without much spare cash to invest. There are clear steps and guidelines and plenty of sensible tips born of the author's own experience. This isn't a book of how to make money and become a millionaire by thinking magical thoughts but a thoroughly practical guide to how to improve your financial position now, for the person who is ready and willing to put in some effort and who is able to be organised. Recommended!

This is the first book by Eric Michael that I have read, but it won't be the last. His writing style is very clear, explaining his examples in plain, easy to understand language.Let's face it, who hasn't thought about how good it would be to be able to buy items cheap and sell them for a profit, earning themselves a nice secondary income in the process. Eric Michael's book explains how easy this can be, and why Amazon is the ideal market place.Mr. Michael leaves you in no doubt that this is NOT a get rich quick scheme, but rather a tried and tested long term method. It takes dedication, but it in no way consumes all of your time.Although obviously written for the American market, don't let that put you off. The easy to follow directions are easily translated to suit whichever country you may be in - the UK in my case.Excellently written, clearly explained - a must read for any budding entrepreneur!

This is an excellent book but the author has been economical with facts. He provides the reader with lots of links for more information but the reader end up giving his/her email identity and eventually get caught in the spiders web and spend more and more on other books ,ideas and courses so on. The author should be congratulated for the novel idea of generating passive income in many ways. I would have given 5 stats if I could find all the information without going to various links.