UPCYCLE
verb – reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.
A great example of upcycling:-
The item that is being upcycled here is a page of text taken from an antique book. The seller has overprinted the page with an Alice in Wonderland image and quotation to create a desirable wall hanging that is proving extremely popular on ebay!
click on the images to enlarge them
As you can see, this item has sold 329 times! (7 times in the last month) That is total revenue of $3888.78
Of course, this resourceful seller didn’t stop at creating one design – here is a screenshot from Terapeak that shows their sales activity during the last month:-
The most important numbers are indicated with a red arrow:-
The time period is 31 days
Total sales = $4848.32
Items sold = 428
Not all of the seller’s designs are based on Alice in Wonderland although this is their most popular line but every item they sell is printed onto a page taken from an antique book. (Please note that the frame in the image is included for display only and is not included in the sale)
Impressive?
Very! but the most impressive thing for me is that the designs used to build this multi thousand dollar monthly revenue business are all based on freely available public domain images!
The seller has used copyright free images just like this one:-
This is one of John Tenniel’s original illustrations created for Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There published in 1871 (sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 1865)
If you look back to the image at the top of this post you’ll see that they have cropped the image of Alice, added a dash of color, a handful of butterflies and a quotation (taken from chapter 5 of the same book) and voila, they now have a unique design that only they can reproduce!
Copyright protection has expired on both the book and Tenniel’s illustrations so anybody is free to use this material to create their own products for whatever purpose (including commercial) without paying a penny to do so!
As I said earlier the designs aren’t confined to Alice in Wonderland in fact, there are thousands of different niches that this idea can be applied to – if you run an ebay search for the keywords “prints on antique pages” you’ll see what I mean.
And EACH design, once created, can be sold over and over and over again.
In this business, there’s also no need to carry any inventory as you can just print off orders as they come in!
Profitability
The profit margin on this business model is extremely high!
After the initial design work is done all you need is an ink jet printer, antique book and rigid envelopes.
I buy rigid envelopes (cardboard backed) in boxes of 125 for £18.85 including shipping which is $29.57 (at today’s exchange rate) which equals 23c per envelope.
You can easily source suitable antique books containing several hundred pages for $20 – say – 4c per page!
The cost of your printer ink is nominal – maybe 5c per page.
Your biggest cost is your selling fees which amount to approximately 15% on ebay and around half of this on Etsy.
Your total costs on a $10 ebay sale equal $1.82 and on a similar Etsy sale $1.07 (estimated) which leaves you with a net profit margin of well over 80%!!
This is such a profitable and exciting business model that I just had to share it with you!
I have been researching this idea for months and have decided to use what I have learned to put together a step by step guide so that you can grab a slice of this very lucrative pie for yourself!
My New Course!
My brand new course is going to teach you……..
* How to identify HOT niches to see what’s profitable and what’s in high demand. This research will pay for itself many times over because just ONE niche can provide the basis for the creation of DOZENS of products that we can create virtually for FREE and then print and sell for high profits over and over and over again!
* Where to find popular public domain art images to satisfy the demand in your hot niche(s) – These images can be modified in various ways to create some spectacularly popular products.
* Where to get and how to use FREE software to import, size and crop your images. You will also learn how to add additional images, how to add color and text – you’ll even learn advanced techniques like adding text along a path and adding a color gradient to your text – all simple to do!
* Where the best places are to source your antique books – what features to look for, what keywords to search for and the maximum price points.
* Finally, the pièce de résistance… we will print our designs onto antique book pages to create unique, one off art works that cannot be copied by anyone else.
YOU will automatically have exclusive copyrights to everything you create!
You’ll learn all this and LOTS MORE!
Competition to win my new course for FREE!
I’d like to hear your thoughts on this business model – what do you like/dislike about it, what challenges do you think it will present to you, what niches excite and interest you and all of the feedback received will be used to inform the content of the course.
To encourage your questions and comments I am going to give away free access to the course to 3 lucky readers chosen at random from everybody who leaves a comment on this post with their thoughts and/or question(s)
Your questions will be answered and your name will be added to the draw which will take place on the 28th of May with the lucky winners being announced on my blog shortly after!
So do get involved and help shape this great new course!
Talk soon!
.
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Now that I’ve been pulled back from the brink (stage IV melanoma in remission now), I’m looking for something comparatively easy. Until recently I’ve been crashing around town grabbing up stuff at estate sales to sell online. Your methods sound just too easy! With a return on investment like that, and an armchair office, I can’t resist! Thanks!
Hi Stuart this is an excellent post it looks like it has such a lot of good pictures how much will the course be also what sort of paper do you use if I go thicker on my printer it gets stuck
Thanks
Trevor
I am sure this is going to be another great offer. I can’t wait to give it a go. Thanks Stuart.
Steve
Stuart,
I’ll definitely be picking this up. I would like to see a case study on how you would do it from start to finish and of course what others are doing as well.
Thanks Staurt. I love your ideals on upscaling … I was chatting with a few of my “book” friends and they couldn’t imagine dismantling a book… but i shared with them the wisdom of what a book is actually for… An author doesn’t decide to write a book so it will look good on the end-table or look great on the shelve with lots of other books. It is written so the ideals, the research, the story can be appreciated by many. That is one of the reason that I’m drawn to your ideal, “allow the original work to be displayed and seen”, just like it was originally intended too. I haven’t ramped up my work do this, like I can and should, but this year, i know we will be able to break the $10,000 month mark, just based the little bit of that we have done…
may your skies always be blue, and your success phenomenal !!
Seems a great idea and a real good little side earner, guess it’s a bit of a numbers game as all listings will not be winners. So it would be helpful to get guidance on how to pick the hopeful winners to go for
Hi Stuart
I have seen the artwork on ebay and I think it’s a wonderful innovative idea. I’ve thought about doing something similar but realistically I wouldn’t know where to start. My grandchildren would love these especially the disney characters or animal prints.
I have some antique books of my own but ‘Im not quite sure how to use them to create a product. I’m not technically minded and Im finding it difficult to locate my creative side.
I think producing something as amazing as the Alice in Wonderland picture would be very challenging but I’m determined to give it a go with some help.
Great idea. I’ve tried printing on book paper before. Questions though… Does a thicker or thinner paper work best, and does the subject of the printed page matter?
Look forward to your new course. Thanks.
G’day Stuart,
Great to hear from you and as always your ideas.
I’ve sent you an email with a couple of pictures I did about a year ago. Unfortunately, they did not sell on Australian eBay.
All the best,
Ian
As always an other Great idea. If I should win or not I will have a copy when it comes out.
The printing on old paper also bothers me and finding the copy & composition as I am not overly creative. I will be wating.
Stuart
I use Windows XP Professional.
When I clicked on the WIN to order your course, I got a black screen with the word WIN in the middle. There was no link to anything else.
Hi Stuart,
It’s always exciting to hear that you have another prints related course on the way. Your courses always go into great detail, and are always based on a viable business idea with low outlay and potential high profits.
I’ve seen lots of upcycled prints selling well on eBay and Etsy, usually on old dictionary paper but being somewhat technically challenged I’ve wondered exactly what printer(s) would be suitable, and how difficult it might be to print onto old book pages, especially pages from old dictionaries which were often printed on very flimsy paper.
I’m also not very skilled at using photo editing software such as Gimp so any instructions on that would be very welcome. I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished product.
Thanks
Lynn
Great idea Stuart!! I really love the passion you have for vintage prints!!! You are very inspiring and motivating too!!! Looking forward to the next course!!!!
Hi Stuart
This looks amazing! Just wondering if more recent celebs and pop stars whose pictures are in the public domain can be used using phrases that they have said or sung etc.
Looking forward to the release of this product
Thanks for everything so far
Regards
Very interesting idea! I already do some work with public domain art, but this is something new to me. Interested in seeing how to put this all together.
Does it matter what sort of paper the book page is
I definitely like this idea.And I see the potential of another good business model.I cant wait until you share this with us.
Very interested, sounds good!
Hi Stuart,
What a great idea. I think this product could be a winner mate. I’m sure a lot of folk from the past will have vintage books left over after selling the prints, I have. Looking at the comments everyone getting very excited, bets get going and get it out there Stuart.
Regards
Donald
Alright Stuart
Sounds like a plan mate 🙂
I have a couple of your products made a little cash
There are a few things I would be worried about like printing and creating the designs, but im sure you have it covered in a way that even I can learn
Be a good side business for my misses to do
Good stuff as always mate
Marcus
I have almost 100 listings on eBay and some on Etsy of prints that I gathered from the information from your courses. I have sold numerous prints and would have never know about this niche if it hadn’t been for you. Looking forward to this new course to add to my listings.
Thank You Stuart
Hi Stuart
Thanks again for another great way to add a stream of income, I love the variety of articles and still keeping with the theme of vintage prints.
I love collecting vintage postcards. Any thoughts on ways to upcycle with them?
Thanks again
Don W
Stuart, I am very excited for this program and can’t wait to learn more. I am also a bit challenged by the running of book pages thru the printer as I have not had success on this step in the past.
I have purchased several of you courses and all have been a very good value!
Hello Stuart
I always wanted to create art in a beautiful form, alas I am not and artist. How much imagination does it really take to create what you have proposed? How high of quality does the ink jet printer have to be? Your courses in the past have been reasonably priced with good information to start a prints for profit business.
Cheers
Steve S
This sounds like a really great idea. I’ve loved and purchased everyone of your past products, I cannot wait for this one as well. My only thought is to please have this ready as quickly as possible 🙂 My only concern is that I read somewhere that you cannot use public domain content on Amazon. Not sure if that’s correct or not.
Hi Julie,
Unsure of selling Public Domain on Amazon, but you have eBay and Etsy. Your own products, an original product I might add. I think this could be one of Stuarts best products to date. A very exciting prospect. he certainly comes up with the goods.
Regards
Donald
Hi Donald,
Thank you for the great suggestions. I also agree and I’m looking forward to Stuarts new product. 🙂
Regards,
Julie
I am really excited about this model!! It will fit right in with my current vintage prints business, and of course I have many antique book pages left over from removing the prints. I knew I was saving them for something 🙂 I love hearing all the ideas offered by the posters above me – the possibilities are endless! I’m thinking along the lines of Mexican or Aztec art, since I have a box full of 19th century books with Spanish text. The pages are small though, but I imagine there are color printers that can accept a small page. Ooohhh – I can’t wait!!
Hi Stuart, I enjoy using your products. I have purchased many from you in the past. However I’m not making as much money as I like to, but I’m definitely not going to give up. I have made an investment that I’m committed to. I like this new product “upsale”….I would hv purchased it if it were available right now. It’s intriguing and looks like something I can do well when I learn how to do it. I’m very interested in this product and am waiting for it’s release weather I win it or purchase it! It’s a must have product.
Hi Stuart,
It seems to me your new course offers an exciting and enjoyable way to generate another source of income. My only concern is being able to master the technology involved. Now 73 years young I’m one of those who can be challenged at times by online tech. The bottom line for me is this! You are one of the very few people in online commerce that I trust. I certainly desire to have a copy of your new offering whether I win it or purchase it.
Thank you for encouraging all of us,
Stephen
Stuart this is a genius idea, you always find the goods my friend and I always find value in your products.
Hi Stuart, this is a very interesting business model, especially the profit margin on it! To command $3000-$4000 a month, form something creative & fun? I think the challenges would be in creating something that would definitely sell? Finding a niche may be easy in research and perhaps even locating the antique books, but my only concern would be how to know what you’re putting together will sell even if it is from a hot niche? Creating this stuff sounds like fun, but hopefully not a lot of trial and error in tweaking it so you get a product that sells like hotcakes! Still and all, no overhead, print on demand and the profit margin I believe makes this one of the courses you’ll be putting out that really turns a nice profit for a few hours of work! You may really be onto something here!
Looking forward to the course, Stuart. I’ll be able to share some easy ways to achieve some very cool mods on the images, too.
Hi Stuart,
This is Monique’s husband. We’re still doing quite well from your vintage prints course. And I’ve got plenty of other ideas of yours to pursue… but this dovetails well with what we’re already doing. Monique showed me your email, and I’ve got to admit, you have us intrigued once again.
Winning this course for free would be awesome, naturally. But I have a feeling she and I will once again discuss our options, decide we’ve already succeeded by following your advice, and order the course because you’ve earned our trust.
Anybody reading this might think it’s a shameless plug for you, or to win the giveaway… all I’ve got to say is check out our ebay store: dixiebelle31
Hi Stuart,
I have actually tried to do this in the past, I created a nice image and tried to print it out. The problem is that I just couldn’t get the paper to go through any of my printers properly, I tried 3 different ones. Each time I had the same problem, the paper just seemed to crumple up, or skew, as it went through the rollers. I ended up getting very frustrated with the whole project and binning it. Do you address the ‘printer’ issue in your course?
I would expect be buying this course (unless I win it first 🙂 as I expect it will be up to your normal high standards.
Jim
I did an advanced search on from your ebay link of “prints on antique pages” to see what they were actually selling for and was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a market for these types of prints. How wonderful! I’m excited by the possibilities. In addition, I love the opportunity to be creative in the process! I’m interested in the actual process of getting the prints on the antique pages.
This will be another winner!
Thanks,
Lisa
Hi Stuart, this plan is intriguing. Have you or anyone experimented with making up your own quotes, or mixing & matching quotes from one source with art from a completely different source–not even antique in nature (just for example, Dali with the Dalai Lama). Thanks!
Wow Stewart, your money creating ideas get my old heart pumping.
I would love to win your course but if not a winner let me know when it comes available for sale.
I always enjoy and recommend your products.
All the best,
Kent
I’m always interested in ways to profit from public domain images. Thanks for doing the grunt work for us!
Look forward to seeing the end product and all information is always great as have been your other products.
Stuart,
Thank you for being honest and showing us how to make money online, your’s are the only courses I have made money with. I started with Prints Make Profit and have now made 12 sales on Etsy.com(Great site). I have purchased many products or courses, you should see my lists of purchases on JVZoo, Warrior Plus and Clickbank.
You always have great products and I thank you for sharing them with us.
God Bless
Chris
Stuart,
Your research and knowledge of this model shows. I imagine part of one’s success as a seller on Etsy and eBay is to create unique and desirable products. How are we able to set ourselves apart from everyone else who buys your newest product?
I currently have a black and white laser printer. Can you provide ideas to someone like me who may not be able to purchase a color printer right away in order to get started?
In sum, it would help if you teach us the inexpensive and quickest way to profit using this new idea.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Thom
Hi Stuart, I have been researching this for the last 6 months and must say I think it has loads of mileage yet.
Have been buying Antique Lexicons at Charity Shops for about £3 to £4 per time and consisting of 700 pages approx. Would be interested to know your thoughts on expanding this model.
I have bought items personally from ink-our-nation as a research project. Do you think that they do their own graphics (as opposed to the public domain art) for inclusion on the pages, or have them professionally designed.
Would really appreciate a review copy of your latest course as am now retired and looking to earn more from ebay, etc.
Regards,
Dave Robus (old books make money)
Hi Stuart,
As always good to hear from you. I just want to echo Beth and David questions and concerns ( I think it’s a great idea. I do have a couple of concerns about it, the first being the competition.
There are so many people selling prints on old dictionary pages, so that is a problem. Secondly, it can be difficult to print on a piece of paper that’s 100 year’s old without destroying the page.
If those to issues can be address, then I’m all there! Beth
Can you please include information where you can quickly check if an Artist is in the Public Domain.
Also info on what you can and cannot do regards downloading images). David
Look forward to reading the full information..
Regards
David
Seems like a brilliant idea Stuart. Would it be possible to offer also newspapers off the year of birth of the buyer with an inspirational quote over it ? Or does that sound crazy?!
Stuart,
I, like many others have stated, always look forward to new products produced by you. I’m certain I’ve bought everything you sell. One reason is because you always price so fairly that it’s hard not to buy. Second, you always have good ideas, like this one, and they seem to be interesting to me without fail.
I’ve already thought of a huge niche that is so big it really shouldn’t be called a niche. It would be more of a subject area that’s very popular with more than half the population of the US.
Hi Stuart
This to me is a wonderful idea to create unique items using public domain. However. the question is what are the best niches to use? I have a few ideas what I think would sell well.Only problem is I don’t want to reveal what they are! I know that seems a bit mean.
I’m interested in what the software is that you use.So guess I’ll need to buy your product when the course comes out.
Regards.
Kevin
Hi Stuart,
I would be thrilled to win your new product. I have your Etsy Profit Machine course. It is a very practical, no fluff Ebook. I’ve learned a lot of valuable information from it. I started an Etsy store with handmade cards and scrapbooking pages. I’ve been looking to expand into the prints area with public domain images. Vintage images are my favorite. I’m very excited to hear your book will teach us how to manipulate the images, as this is one of the things I would like to learn. I love the whole idea. There is so much room for creativity. I really hope I’m one of your winners, as your books are always first rate.
Best Wishes for you continued success,
Mary Ann
Stuart: What I great thing you are doing. I wanted to learn how to do this because I saw how well it was selling, but I was missing several “components” to make ti work. Here it is all done for all of us! I look forward to more information and a roll-out of the program so we all can benefit. Thank you so much for putting this together!
Hi Stuart
As with many other people, I always open your emails as soon as I see them. I have been aware of this business model for quite while but thought that specialist printers etc. may be required and also I wasn’t sure about the software for the graphics.
So I am very much looking forward to obtaining your course and perhaps adding these upcycled prints to my eBay and Etsy shops.
Thanks
Anne
This is a very great idea, but it looks like a lot of people are doing this. What ways can you get more sales
Lots of people selling these, so tips on how to stand out from the crowd would be great.