How to earn money from doing nothing

[ZeTeX]

So I was looking around at eBay for israeli money (my country) just for fun and I have found out that people are selling brand new (2015) money literally for much higher price and people buy it!
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_nkw=israel+money&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1
For example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ISRAEL-2015-200-NEW-SHEQEL-NIS-BANKNOTE-MONEY-COINS-UNC-/172071510393?hash=item281042e179:g:U7QAAOSwhkRWewlO
67.90$ for a bill wroth 52$.
Almost 16$ profit for almost no work at all!

[Towger]

Your can do the same with 500 euro notes.

[dannyf]

someone published an ad in a newpaper way back that simply stated "you have 1 day to send me $10." and numerous people sent him money.

The best making-money-for-doing-nothing is to become a politician.

[Jeroen3]

The best making-money-for-doing-nothing is to become a politician.

In the EU parliament.

But seriously. Get some apparment buildings and start renting those.

[Ampera]

The best making-money-for-doing-nothing is to become a politician.

In the EU parliament.

But seriously. Get some apparment buildings and start renting those.

High sunk costs, a long time to break even.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Shh! It's secret!
http://www.tinaja.com/ismm01.shtml

[wraper]

Almost 16$ profit for almost no work at all!

$10 - shipping cost actually, don't forget about ebay + paypal fees. Then about doing nothing. It's about the same amount of work as if you were reselling some goods. And then some scammer will claim he received nothing, and get refunded so your profits will go down to the drain.

[ZeTeX]

Almost 16$ profit for almost no work at all!

$10 - shipping cost actually, don't forget about ebay + paypal fees. Then about doing nothing. It's about the same amount of work as if you were reselling some goods. And then some scammer will claim he received nothing, and get refunded so your profits will go down to the drain.

shipping cost is 5.8$, but buyer pays for that as well in the listing that I showed as example.
if you ship with tracking number it will much problematic for the scammer to claim he did not relieve it, if even possible (?)

So if a seller ships with a tracking number and the buyer says he did not receive it, would PayPal refund his money?

[John_ITIC]

High sunk costs, a long time to break even.

Better to just get a duplex or another house. A friend of mine bought a 30 unit apartment building for investment and it was like having another full time job. Constant calls to fix this or feuds between neighbors etc..

If you get a duplex or even a second house its much more managable. Let someone else put $2-4k a month away for your retirement. Just a basic apartment in my town is about $1200-1500 a month to rent, those are just basic two bedroom no frills ones.

I own a 2nd rental home. I have a property manager that takes care of all interaction with the tenants, handles repairs etc. If one tries to handle this by oneself, the business model doesn't scale very well. He charges $125 / month, money well spent.

And, it has taken 10 years before I got positive cash flow on that house. By no means "free money"...

[John_ITIC]

And, it has taken 10 years before I got positive cash flow on that house. By no means "free money"...

I don't follow you here. Do you mean the time to pay off the mortage?

No, the time before the property became cash flow positive. The house prices are so inflated that rents did not cover the mortgage unless half the purchase price was paid in cash. As rents go up and as the mortgage is paid down (including refi's), the property became cashflow positive at some point. And that does not include maintenance. Overall, being a landlord is NOT free money...

[CatalinaWOW]

When I was young and hadn't thought through the practical and ethical consequences of such practices I sold some currency at a significant markup.  Used two points to justify the price and make the sales.

1.  The rarity of the bill.  It was the only one in the whole world with that serial number.

2.  I later came up with one that had a minor amount of justification and justified an even larger markup.  Two bills, each as rare as the ones in item one, but even more incredibly, with sequential serial numbers!  Never mind that just about anyone can go to a bank and get a wrapper of newly minted bills with a large number of sequential numbers.

The hucksters who invented the phrase "A sucker is born every minute." knew what they were talking about.

[SteveyG]

You could work in religion. God created the world and everything in it, but he's just really terrible with money and always needs more of it, preferably set up as a direct debit from your account and at least 10% of your wage.

[Alex Eisenhut]

And, it has taken 10 years before I got positive cash flow on that house. By no means "free money"...

I don't follow you here. Do you mean the time to pay off the mortage?

No, the time before the property became cash flow positive. The house prices are so inflated that rents did not cover the mortgage unless half the purchase price was paid in cash. As rents go up and as the mortgage is paid down (including refi's), the property became cashflow positive at some point. And that does not include maintenance. Overall, being a landlord is NOT free money...

Overall, home "ownership" is not an investment, it's a liability. There is so much emotional garbage in the real estate field.

[VK3DRB]

I think one to make money (literally) is to print US currency. The US currency is quite backwards or primitive, so a good quality laser colour printer and some paper should allow the printer to pay for itself within a few sheets. Maybe it is a simple currency for the Federal Reserve can print more of it.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Fortunately for the FBI, members of the Gambino family don't even have the IQ to boot Windows 95, let alone use a printer.

[helius]

I think one to make money (literally) is to print US currency. The US currency is quite backwards or primitive, so a good quality laser colour printer and some paper should allow the printer to pay for itself within a few sheets.

A widespread myth among bogans. This has never been the case (the greenback has always been printed on special paper stock that is not commercially available and printed with details that no reprographic system can duplicate)

[richard.cs]

I think one to make money (literally) is to print US currency. The US currency is quite backwards or primitive, so a good quality laser colour printer and some paper should allow the printer to pay for itself within a few sheets.

A widespread myth among bogans. This has never been the case (the greenback has always been printed on special paper stock that is not commercially available and printed with details that no reprographic system can duplicate)

Maybe, but unlike much of the world the USA make all the money the same size, thus making it practical to bleach dollar bills to get the correct paper for $100 bills. Other countries make each denomination slightly larger than the last so this is impossible. I'm not claiming it's easy to do, but it certainly can be (and is) done and it eliminates one of the largest obstacles to printing money.

[Jeroen3]

Very much correct. When your house is free of debt. You can sell it and rent a senior appartment for the money. Which otherwise you could not afford, since you've given the landlord your retirement money.

[vodka]

And, it has taken 10 years before I got positive cash flow on that house. By no means "free money"...

I don't follow you here. Do you mean the time to pay off the mortage?

No, the time before the property became cash flow positive. The house prices are so inflated that rents did not cover the mortgage unless half the purchase price was paid in cash. As rents go up and as the mortgage is paid down (including refi's), the property became cashflow positive at some point. And that does not include maintenance. Overall, being a landlord is NOT free money...

Overall, home "ownership" is not an investment, it's a liability. There is so much emotional garbage in the real estate field.

Have to disagree with you there. Once you pay your house off all you have to do is pay municipal taxes and insurance and you have a roof over your head. When you pay rent all you are doing is flushing $1500-2500 a month down the toilet.

¿Insurance? For what, this is throwing the money to trash, you are paying during years and when you  pass some issue , the corporation always have an excuse or hidden clause for not paying you .

The taxes municipals are almost  3000€ per year.

Very much correct. When your house is free of debt. You can sell it and rent a senior appartment for the money. Which otherwise you could not afford, since you've given the landlord your retirement money.

This is best sell the house  you will have the money on hand that you take risks to rent somebody that can be a profesional defaulter, or that a gipsy family  or dog-flute will go enter on your home.

[VK3DRB]

I think one to make money (literally) is to print US currency. The US currency is quite backwards or primitive, so a good quality laser colour printer and some paper should allow the printer to pay for itself within a few sheets.

A widespread myth among bogans. This has never been the case (the greenback has always been printed on special paper stock that is not commercially available and printed with details that no reprographic system can duplicate)

I knew a schoolfriend in 1972 who photocopied single sides of a paper $20 note, glued the two sides together, coloured it in with coloured pencils and passed it successfully. That $20 is equivalent to about $250 today. Today we have plastic notes that are extremely difficult to counterfeit. Our government manufactures and exports our notes to many other countries because our technology is the world's best with notes. I won't blow the trumpet too loud though, because of the dark shadow hanging over certain vested interests we are not allowed to mention...

https://wikileaks.org/aus-suppression-order/press.html

How does a blind person know the difference between the different US bank notes if they are all the same size? Ours are different sizes and you can feel the embossed printing section on the clear part.

[Galenbo]

I knew a schoolfriend in 1972 who photocopied single sides of a paper $20 note, glued the two sides together, coloured it in with coloured pencils and passed it successfully. That $20 is equivalent to about $250 today. Today we ...

It is still possible, but it goes wrong everytime because the results are not scalable.
Everybody can print a total of 500 euro/dollar and spend it in small amounts, but once you go big or regular it goes wrong.
No one bought a new car without getting caught. No one spent multiple 20 dollars bills a week during a whole year.

[helius]

I knew a schoolfriend in 1972 who photocopied single sides of a paper $20 note, glued the two sides together, coloured it in with coloured pencils and passed it successfully.
How does a blind person know the difference between the different US bank notes if they are all the same size? Ours are different sizes and you can feel the embossed printing section on the clear part.

Passing counterfeits off a blind person isn't really anything to brag about.

These days there are electronic ways to distinguish between different denominations of currency (http://www.eyenote.gov/), but they still leave the blind at a disadvantage in telling real from fake.

[wraper]

Don't have any dollars on hand but for blind person, it should be possible to distinguish them by texture on the bill.

[jonovid]

socialism in a rich country like the USA - if your socially challenged

[vodka]

I knew a schoolfriend in 1972 who photocopied single sides of a paper $20 note, glued the two sides together, coloured it in with coloured pencils and passed it successfully. That $20 is equivalent to about $250 today. Today we ...

It is still possible, but it goes wrong everytime because the results are not scalable.
Everybody can print a total of 500 euro/dollar and spend it in small amounts, but once you go big or regular it goes wrong.
No one bought a new car without getting caught. No one spent multiple 20 dollars bills a week during a whole year.

This man is a genious copying euro/dollars bills falsifications almost reallies

https://youtu.be/gh_WYHL9CDA

https://youtu.be/_r3NapNCSzs

https://youtu.be/25s4hsO6yxM

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Fund_Yourself