Matched Betting: Prepare Now for the Russia World Cup

Matched Betting: Prepare Now for the Russia World Cup!

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I’ve discussed matched betting a few times on this blog. To recap, it’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.

Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can read my introduction to matched betting here, and why I believe it is such a great money-making sideline for older people in particular here.

The summer is typically a quiet time for matched betting, but come next month all that is going to change. I am, of course, talking about the World Cup in Russia, which kicks off on June 14, 2018.

To be clear, you don’t have to be a big football fan to look forward to this. No, the reason to anticipate the World Cup so keenly is the host of money-making opportunities it will present for matched bettors.

For one thing, the bookies will be pulling out all the stops to attract new clients and get current and former clients back onside. I expect to see a torrent of offers on the World Cup in the next few weeks, followed by many more during the month the tournament is running. All of this gives the potential to generate substantial risk-free profits by applying matched betting principles.

Finding the best opportunities and calculating the required stakes isn’t easy if you are working alone, especially if time is at a premium. I therefore recommend signing up with my favourite matched betting advisory service, Profit Accumulator. I will talk about this in more detail later on. But let’s start with some tips and advice on making the most of the money-making opportunities the tournament presents…

Preparing for Russia 2018

First and foremost, plan ahead. Once the tournament starts there will be a hectic daily schedule, so arm yourself with a planner (all the main daily and Sunday newspapers will publish one) and do as much preparation as you can beforehand.

If you are already involved in matched betting, or planning to start, one key requirement is to ensure you have as much money as possible in your exchange/s, so you can lay bets as required. My favourite exchange is Smarkets for its low commission fees, but the best-known is (of course) Betfair.

Here are a few more tips for making the most of Russia 2018 with matched betting…

  • Keep a close eye on your email and SMS, as many good offers are sent by bookmakers this way. Some of the best offers are sent to selected customers only and not advertised on bookie websites or available generally.
  • It’s also good to check out weekly bet clubs. An example is the Sky Bet Club. This is available every week. If you bet a total of £25.00 across any sport in any market with odds of evens or above before midnight on Sunday, Sky Bet will give you a £5.00 free bet before 7 pm on Monday to use on any sport. By applying matched betting principles you should be able to make a risk-free profit of around £3 from this every week.
  • Refund offers are popular with bookmakers at the moment and should be good money-makers in the World Cup. These vary but generally involve getting a refund if a certain event or outcome happens, e.g. the crossbar is hit during a game or a match ends as a 0-0 draw. The normal way to play these is to back and lay the relevant market. If the trigger event then occurs you will get your stake refunded by the bookie and also win at the exchange, for a good net profit. If it doesn’t, you will make a (very) small loss.
  • Price boosts are another easy money maker. If a bookmaker boosts the price of a certain outcome, you may be able to lay it for shorter odds at an exchange and guarantee yourself a net profit.
  • 2 Up (various bookmakers) and 4 Means More (William Hill) are two more good opportunities for football bettors – though they work best if you can bet during the match itself, so you can trade out if in profit. Like refunds, these opportunities don’t always pay out, and if not you will make a small loss. Unlike refunds, however, you can generally do them even if you are gubbed (banned from offers). And there is no maximum stake, so winnings can be substantial. I shan’t go into any more detail in this post, but you can find out more about 2 Up here and 4 Means More here.
  • If you belong to a matched betting advisory service such as Profit Accumulator, look out for the regular emails they send out with information about offers on the day in question.

More About Profit Accumulator

Profit Accumulator is the marched betting advisory service I use myself and recommend to others. It is suitable both for those brand new to matched betting and for experienced matched bettors.

You can join PA free initially and they will provide details of two bookmaker offers you can take advantage of straight away. These should make you around £45 in net profit. If you wish to proceed further, you can then pay to become a Platinum member and get access to the full range of offers and services. These include an odds-matching tool and calculator for finding profitable bets to use with bookmaker offers and maximizing your returns from them.

A further advantage of joining Profit Accumulator is that you get access to the busy members-only forum, where you can get any questions you may have answered by more experienced members and/or the team behind PA.

If you think matched betting may be for you, I therefore highly recommend that you click through to the Profit Accumulator website to see what they offer and sign up for the free trial. By joining today you will be perfectly placed to take advantage of the flood of bookmaker offers likely to appear in the next few weeks.

As ever, if you have any questions or comments about matched betting or Profit Accumulator, please do post them below.

Disclosure: As well as being a member of Profit Accumulator I am also an affiliate for them. If you join and become a paying member after following any of the links in this post, I will receive a commission for introducing you. This does not affect in any way the cost of the service to you or the benefits you receive.



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Property versus pensions - which is best?

Guest Post: Property Versus Pensions – Which Is Best?

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Ever worry that your pension isn’t large enough to sustain the kind of retirement you’re looking forward to?

On average, British pensioners receive just 29% of their in-work earnings.

This small sum would leave many of us struggling to pay the bills, let alone being able to afford those long-awaited family holidays or treats. Latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show that 18.5% of those aged 76+ in Britain are living in poverty.

Those dependent on state funds are the worst affected and, with pensions failing to provide a sufficient income, many retirees rely on property as an alternative source of income.

Buy-to-let property is a big commitment, both in terms of the capital you need to get started and the long-term nature of the investment. Many of us look forward to relaxing during retirement, and there really is no guarantee of ‘a quiet life’ when you invest in rental properties.  If you were planning to invest all your savings in property, it’s essential to consider how your finances would hold up should the property become vacant or need substantial repairs.

If house prices fall or stagnate, you could be left responsible for a property portfolio that contributes only a minimal amount towards your retirement income. Even if the housing market continues to boom, your personal circumstances may change and, as property is an illiquid asset, it can be tricky to turn your investments into cash at short notice.

So, if you’re in search of a way to supplement your pension and bring your retirement dreams a little closer to reality, you’ll be pleased to know that buy-to-let isn’t the only way to invest in bricks and mortar…

Kuflink’s innovative peer-to-peer platform offers investors many of the same advantages as buy-to-let, including monthly interest payments and property-backed opportunities, without the hassle of maintenance or deposit costs!

Register today to view Kuflink’s portfolio of exclusive short-term property loans offering up to 7.2% interest pa gross*, and invest from just £100.

*Capital is at risk. Rate correct as of April 2018. You should seek independent financial advice.

 

Thank you to my friends at Kuflink for an interesting post. I would just like to add that I am an investor with Kuflink myself and so far have been pleased and impressed with the service received.

As an existing Kuflink investor, I can also offer a special cashback incentive for anyone signing up and investing on the platform via my link. If you click through this special invitation link and invest a minimum of £1000, you will receive cashback as follows:

Investment amount Cashback due
£1,000 – £5,000 2.50%
£5,000.01 – £25,000 3.00%
£25,000.01 – £50,000 3.50%
£50,000.01 – £99,999.99 3.75%
£100,000 4.00%*

*Cashback capped at £4,000

And yes, you really can earn up to £4,000 in cashback. If you invest £100,000 or more, then in addition to the £4,000 cashback, you would receive interest of around 6% to 7%. That means over a year your total returns on your £100,000 investment would be at least £10,000 (and more if you reinvest the monthly interest repayments on Select-Invest loans). Food for thought if you have that sort of money, though admittedly not many of us are lucky enough to do so!

Note that once you make your first investment of at least £100, you will have 14 days to maximise your cashback by making further investments. The 14-calendar day window starts from the moment you make your first investment. There is no limit to how much money you can invest in this window, and the cumulative total of your investments made within this 14-day period will be the total amount eligible for cashback.

The cashback amount will be transferred six months after your first live investment is made (assuming you haven’t sold up via the secondary market in that time). If Kuflink withdraw this offer after you have invested and before your cashback has been paid, you will still receive the cashback reward. The cashback will be paid into your Kuflink wallet, and from there you can either withdraw it to your bank account or invest it in another Kuflink loan or product.

As your referrer via this link or the link above, I will receive a referrer’s fee (variable) if you invest £1000 or more. Note also that once you have invested you will be able to offer the same cashback deal to your friends and colleagues, and get a referrer’s fee yourself as well. There is no limit to the number of people you can introduce through this scheme.

Obviously, this is a generous promotional offer by Kuflink and I assume it won’t be available forever. If you want to take advantage, therefore, don’t wait too long. I will remove this information if/when I hear the offer is no longer valid.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Kuflink, for which I am receiving a fee. As stated above, I am also an investor with Kuflink myself.

Update:: I have now added an independent review of Kuflink based on my experiences of investing with them. Click here to read it.

Kuflink

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Parent Power from Octopus Energy

Raise Money for Your School and Save Money on Your Energy with Parent Power from Octopus Energy

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In Pounds and Sense I aim to bring my readers great ways to save money and make money.

So today I want to share with you a way you can save money on your energy bills and at the same time make money for your children’s or grandchildren’s school!

The company concerned is called Octopus Energy. They are running a referral scheme called Parent Power for schools (and other clubs and organizations). The way this works is that the school signs up to the scheme and then shares information about Octopus Energy with parents via a dedicated website set up specially for this purpose.

If a parent then switches to Octopus Energy through the school’s site, not only will they save money on their energy bills (Octopus Energy is regularly at or near the top of the best-buy tables), the school concerned will receive £50 for each parent signing up. If just 10 percent of parents in a school with 500 parents sign up, that would be fifty lots of £50, or £2,500. The school could buy a lot of books and other resources with that!

The scheme is open to all schools and clubs, so if you are part of a football club, dance school, athletics/running club, scouts or brownie group, get them involved. Basically, this scheme can benefit any organization you, your children or your grandchildren are part of.

Just fill in this Google Form and I will get you registered without any obligation. Your organization’s dedicated website URL will be sent (together with marketing materials for the scheme) to your nominated contact person. Then all that is left is to bring the scheme to parents’ attention and wait for the money to roll in!

If you’d like to ask any questions, feel free to contact me via my blog contact form or on social media via Twitter or Facebook. You are also, of course, very welcome to leave a question or comment below.

Disclaimer – I am working in collaboration with Lynn James (Mrs Mummypenny) and Octopus Energy on this project, and will receive an affiliate commission if your school or organization signs up.

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Sign up now for this free course on successful ageing

Sign up Now for This Free Course on Successful Ageing

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Today I wanted to let you know about a free course I have taken myself and highly recommend. It’s running again in July, so there’s plenty of time to sign up.

The course is called Strategies for Successful Ageing. It’s run by Trinity College, Dublin, under the auspices of Futurelearn, a UK-based platform for short online courses from British and international universities. All Futurelearn courses are free (although for optional upgrades a fee is payable) and open to anyone in the world.

Strategies for Successful Ageing will run for five weeks, two hours per week, starting 2 July 2018. If those dates aren’t suitable for you, you can sign up to be notified when it’s running again.

This course is intended for anyone who wants to learn strategies and tips for successful ageing. On the website, it says:

The knowledge that you gain from this free online course will inspire you to choose activities and behaviours that improve your quality of life. Through this course, we hope you will think differently about ageing and recognise the many contributions that older adults make every day.

As a community of learners, we will discuss what you’re doing to maintain your health, increase your wellbeing, maintain friendships and navigate life’s challenges.

Together, we will discover the many opportunities for personal growth and community-building by exploring the skills, talents and dreams of older adults.

As I mentioned earlier, I took this course myself last year and highly recommend it. The course materials (and tutors) are first rate, and include information on the latest research into ageing that challenges the conventional stereotypes.

As well as the teaching, another big attraction of all Futurelearn courses is the opportunity they provide to interact with other students from all over the world. There can be almost as much to learn from them as the course itself! When I took Strategies for Successful Ageing most of my fellow students were in the 50-70 age group, but there were plenty who were older.

You can sign up for Strategies for Successful Ageing by clicking through any of the links to the course in this post.

Futurelearn also have lots of other interesting free courses, incidentally. I have studied subjects ranging from diabetes to astronomy, but Strategies for Successful Ageing has probably been the course I enjoyed most and got the most from.

If you have any comments or questions about this post, as always, please do post them below.



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How to track down your lost pensions

How to Track Down Your Lost Pensions

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Today I want to talk about what happens when you have several pensions from different periods in your career.

For most of us, the days of “a job for life” are long gone. People now have an average of eleven different jobs during their working lives, and it’s common to start a new pension at each workplace.

You can thus accumulate a number of pensions and it can be easy to lose track of and even forget about some of them.

Tracing Lost Pensions

In most cases, thankfully, tracing old pensions isn’t too difficult.

For one thing, all pension providers are legally required to send you an annual statement showing how much your pension is worth and how much income it could provide in retirement.

If you’re no longer receiving these statements, maybe because you’ve moved a few times, there are various options open to you.

The first thing you should do is contact your old employer in the case of a workplace pension, or the pension provider in the case of a private pension. When contacting a previous employer you will need to provide as much of the following information as possible:

  • Date of birth
  • National Insurance number
  • When you started and stopped working for the company
  • When you joined and left the pension scheme

With a private pension provider you will need to provide:

  • Plan number
  • Date of birth
  • National Insurance number
  • Date your pension was set up

Obviously if you don’t have all this information it’s not the end of the world, but it may be harder for the scheme managers to track your pension down.

Ask the provider for as much information as possible about the pension. This should include what type it is (e.g. defined benefit or defined contribution), how much is currently in the pot, how much income it’s likely to provide in retirement, and (very importantly) whether it’s possible to transfer the pension to another provider and any charges this would incur. The Money Advice Service has template letters you can use when writing to a former employer or private pension provider for this purpose.

The Pension Tracing Service

But what if you’ve lost track of a pension and don’t have contact details for the provider? In that case, the government’s free Pension Tracing Service may be able to help.

All you need to know to use this is the name of your previous employer or pension provider. But before contacting the PTS, gather as much information as you can about the employer and/or the scheme, including the information mentioned earlier.

You can then call 0845 600 2537 or visit the PTS website and they will check your information against their database of over 200,000 pension schemes. They should be able to give you details of the scheme’s administrator, and you will need to contact them for further information as above.

Note that the PTS will only give you contact details for your scheme’s administrator. They won’t tell you whether you have a pension or what it is worth.

Consolidating Pensions

Rather than having lots of small pensions, it can make sense to consolidate them in a single pension.

This will simplify the admin and make it easier for you to see how much you have in your pension pot and what income it may be able to provide for you in retirement.

In addition, if you combine your pensions, you can choose a new one that can be easily managed online. You could, for example, use a self-investment platform such as Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity or Bestinvest (which I use myself). Another possibility is PensionBee, which specializes in consolidating multiple pensions into a single one you can manage online 24 hours a day.

You can then log into your account from any device to check your balance, make a contribution or see your projected retirement income. And you can choose an investment plan that has lower fees and is aligned with your expectations and attitude to risk.

To consolidate your pensions you will need to contact the providers to get transfer values, and then ask them to transfer the funds into your new scheme. This is generally a simple, straightforward procedure, though it can take a few weeks (or longer) for the transfers to go through.

Boosting Your Pension

Finally, here are a few more ways you may be able to boost the size of your pension.

  • Increase your state pension by deferring taking it (see this recent post).
  • You may also be able to increase your state pension by making additional National Insurance contributions to fill in missing years from your record.
  • Set up a private pension and/or pay extra contributions into your workplace pension, up to the maximum allowed.
  • Set up an ISA and/or LISA (under 40s only) for additional tax-free saving.
  • Consider peer-to-peer lending and/or property crowdfunding as further ways to diversify your retirement saving.

Finally, if you’re a house owner aged 55 or over, you may be able to use equity release to extract some of the value of your property, either as a lump sum or a monthly income. Most commonly, this involves taking out a mortgage on your home which is only repayable when you die or move into long-term care. I wrote about equity release in this recent post.

As ever, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.



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How to Profit from Printables

How to Profit from Printables

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If you’re looking for an easy and enjoyable money-making sideline, have you thought about creating printables?

As the name suggests, printables are items of content people can buy and then print out themselves. Common types of printable include planners, artwork, meal plans, inspirational quotes, prayer cards, birthday and wedding invitations, calendars, diary pages, and so on.

One big attraction of printables is that you don’t have to spend time packing and sending physical products, as would be the case when selling on eBay, for example. All you have to do is send your buyer the relevant file by email – and even that can be easily automated using a platform such as Etsy UK or Shopify. Here is a link to a sample Etsy shop selling printable planners of various types. And no, it’s nothing I’m connected with personally!

This is a great sideline if you have a flair for art and design, but that is by no means a necessity. You can use templates as a starting point. There are also people on Fiverr and similar sites who will be happy to create designs for you very inexpensively.

Creating Your Printables

Your first step will be to decide on a niche. If you have a blog or website already, it clearly makes sense to start with that. Otherwise spend a bit of time researching what other people are doing.

As mentioned above, you could start with Etsy, as lots of people sell printables there. Visit Etsy UK and search for “printables” using the box at the top of the screen. You will find literally thousands of printable items listed, and you can also see how much people are charging for them.

For creating your printables, a good choice can be the online design tools Canva or PicMonkey. These both have hundreds of templates you can use and adapt. Here’s a link to an autumn-themed poster I created on PicMonkey in just a few minutes using one of their templates. Feel free to download and print it!

Alternatively go to Fiverr and search for “printables”. You will find lots of people offering this service from around £3.50 (the sterling equivalent of $5). At that price you could afford to commission two or three and go with the one you like best.

Selling Your Printables

There are various ways you could sell your work. As mentioned above, one good choice would be Etsy. This is a popular platform for people selling art and craft products, and they also allow the sale of printables. Etsy provide the means for people to download your printable after they have bought it, meaning orders are fulfilled automatically for you. All you have to do is keep an eye on your dashboard to see how much money you have made!

Setting up an Etsy shop is free. A bit like eBay, you then pay a small listing fee per item and a further fee when you make a sale. You can learn more about setting up an Etsy shop on this help page.

Another option is to sell your printables on Fiverr. Lots of people sell printable business cards here, for example. You may be able to make more money by offering rapid turnaround or additional services.

Finally, you could simply print out your designs yourself, frame or laminate them, and sell them at craft fairs and markets. A friend does well at this, using photos of local landmarks with or without captions.

A Few More Tips

  • Be sure to make it clear in your listings that you are selling downloadable items the customer will need to print out themselves. This will avoid any misunderstandings.
  • Use plenty of clear space on your printables so they don’t look pinched and crowded.
  • Avoid large dark areas. Nobody wants to waste all their ink printing out a sea of black.
  • You can offer editable PDFs buyers can customize as they wish. This adds value and means you may be able to charge a higher price. You will need Adobe Acrobat Pro to do this or perhaps a cheaper alternative such as PDFescape..
  • Printables are low-cost products, so paying to advertise them probably won’t be cost-effective. They are best promoted via social media, blogging, online forums, and so on.
  • Being a visual platform, Pinterest is a great place for showcasing your printables.
  • Giving away some of your printables can be a powerful tactic too. By this means you can attract more visitors to your blog or website, more sign-ups to your mailing list, and so on.
  • You can also take the opportunity to advertise paid-for products and services on your printables, including books, e-books, courses, affiliate products/services, and so on.
  • Printables can also be used as add-on incentives to sell higher-value products such as courses and e-books.

Designing and selling printables is an enjoyable, creative activity, with good money-making potential. On its own it probably won’t make you rich, but it can undoubtedly provide a valuable addition to your sideline-earning portfolio.

  • If you want more information about creating and profiting from printables, my colleague Amy Harrop has a number of high-quality downloadable guides and courses on the subject. I particularly recommend One Page Publishing Profits (affiliate link).

As ever, if you have any comments or queries about this post, please do leave them below.

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Shoirt break in the Lake District

My Short Break in the Lake District

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I recently took a short break in the English Lake District. It was the first time I’d been there in over 20 years (and the previous time was for work so I didn’t see much of the area). So I thought I’d share my impressions here.

I stayed at Waterhead, just south of the town of Ambleside, at the north end of Lake Windermere. I’ve embedded a map below (courtesy of Booking.com) showing the area and available accommodation.
Booking.com

I booked a room at the Waterhead Hotel (pictured below), which is located just a few yards from the lake.

Waterhead Hotel

 

I thought the hotel was excellent. My room was large and comfortable and furnished with all mod cons, including a large flat-screen TV and CD/DVD player. I had a view of the lake, admittedly across a car park!

On my first day the weather was so-so. I began by driving to Hill Top (pictured), the farmhouse where children’s author Beatrix Potter lived and in which she wrote some of her best-loved books. It’s quite small and admission is by timed ticket. I only had to wait about 20 minutes, though, which gave me a chance to look round the garden and take a few photos.

Hill Top

You get a real sense of what the house must have been like when Potter lived there. As well as her furniture and ornaments, there are several writing desks with copies of letters to and from her publishers and a page of her Peter Rabbit story with hand-drawn illustrations. There is a little shop, where I bought a jar of National Trust jam, but no restaurant. There wouldn’t be anywhere to put one, although there is a pub next door if you need refreshment.

After that I drove on to Wray Castle (pictured below), where I spent most of the rest of the day. Wray Castle has only been opened to the public by the National Trust for a few years. It is not as old as it first appears, having been built in the Gothic revival style by a Victorian couple as their retirement home. It has had a varied history since then, including a twenty-year stint as a Merchant Navy training school.

Wray Castle

I went to a free 20-minute talk about the history of the house and then immediately joined a tour of the gardens. The latter took about an hour, and included information about the latest discoveries the Trust have made there, including what they believe are the remains of a Victorian pineapple house. It was interesting and informative, and the guide shared photos from the archives as we went round.

The latter included a picture of Beatrix Potter and her family at Wray Castle. They stayed there for three months one summer when Beatrix was 16. The visit gave Beatrix her first taste of the Lake District, which later of course became her home and an area she loved. With the proceeds from her book sales she bought large amounts of farmland around the lakes, which she ultimately donated to the National Trust.

The next day was sunnier, and I decided to take a lake cruise to the other end of Windermere. I bought a ‘Freedom of the Lake’ ticket, which got me 24 hours’ unlimited travel on any launch or steamer cruise on Windermere. I combined this with a return ticket on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway. The total cost of this on the Windermere Lake Cruises website was £23.80, which struck me as very good value. There are also timetables and cruise routes here, which I must admit took a bit of getting my head around.

Apart from the first leg of the journey (from Ambleside to Bowness), I travelled on the MV Teal, one of the two lake steamers built in the 1930s. These are large, spacious vessels which can transport up to 533 people, so there was plenty of room on board (it’s also fully wheelchair-accessible). You could either go on the top deck to get the fresh air and the best views, the main saloon below that (with a coffee/gift shop) or downstairs in the bar, which served alcoholic drinks. As it was still quite nippy, I spent most of the time in the main saloon.

At Lakeside, which is at the other end of Windermere, I took my return trip on the vintage steam railway to Haverthwaite. The route is only about four miles but it’s very scenic (see photo).

railway view

On my return to Lakeside I paid a visit to the Lakes Aquarium, where among other things I got to admire the piranha fish below. Both the train and the aquarium are easily accessible from Lakeside and would be good choices for trips with children or grandchildren.

piranha fish

Finally I travelled back on the steamer from Lakeside to Ambleside, enjoying the views and the commentary. I had a pot of tea and a piece of Kendal mint cake on the boat – although the latter turned out to be a mistake as (in my opinion anyway) it was just a slab of mint-flavoured sugar.

On the morning of my final day I took the opportunity to walk the half-mile into Ambleside itself. I particularly wanted to see The Bridge House, yet another National Trust property. (As a side comment, if you want to get value for money from your National Trust membership, the Lake District is definitely the place to come.)

The Bridge House is a tiny 17th century building above a river. It was originally built as an apple store, but over its long life it has served many purposes, including a tea room, a weaving shop, and home to a family of eight. The later is particularly hard to imagine – they must have been packed in like sardines! In any event it’s a charming property, and many thanks to the nice National Trust lady who took the time to chat to me about it (and the area generally).

Bridge House

After that, there was just time for a coffee and some gift shopping, then it was back in the car for the long drive home down the M6. The least said about that, the better!

So that was my short break holiday in the Lake District. I enjoyed it very much and hope to return before too long. As ever, if you have any comments or questions, please do post them below.

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Twelve Top Tips for Selling on eBay

Twelve Top Tips for Selling on eBay

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Today I have a guest post for you from Luci Olivia, who runs The Frugal Fox website and blog.

Luci is a highly experienced eBay trader, and in her article she sets out some hints and tips for making the most of this popular sideline-earning opportunity.

Over to Luci then…

 

Making money selling tat from around the house is great, as you’re earning extra cash and de-cluttering at the same time! For someone like me who is looking to buy a house soon, downsizing and making money ticks both boxes.

There are plenty of websites these days to flog your unwanted items. However, eBay is arguably the UK’s most popular customer-to-customer sales site. They have earned this reputation from being incredibly easy to use. They offer an honest way to earn some money, whether you’re organising your house, selling off some vintage heirlooms, or even ‘flipping’ items from a charity shop.

At any given time there are 100+ million listings on eBay worldwide, with 6.4 million listings added every day. In the UK alone there are 17 million people visiting eBay every month and 180,000 registered UK based eBay businesses so it’s certainly a way you can make some money!

There are a lot of beginner’s mistakes to be made and trials and errors to experiment with, but if you’re looking to make a little extra money this year then read these tried and tested tips from myself – an eBay veteran – to make the first time you sell go as smoothly as possible.

1. Pick an Account Name

Your eBay account name is part of what you’re selling. If you want to sell vintage dresses and your name is Laura’s Vintage Dress Store, it’s going to look more professional and instill more faith in your eBay shop than if you called it LauraSmith1975.

2. Fill Out Your Profile

Also fill in your ‘About’ page, add a nice background and show that you are a reputable business that people should have no worries spending their money with. I’m surprised by how few people fill out their profile – it might just make the difference between someone bidding or not bidding.

3. Take Clear Pictures

Make sure the pictures of the items are taken with a plain background, no shadows on the item, by natural daylight, and include any signs of wear or marks. Trust me – it’s much easier to sell to someone who accepts the flaws than sell and refund someone who didn’t know it had marks.

4. Put it in the Correct Category

I know it’s common sense to ensure it’s in the correct category, but eBay suggests a category once you’ve chosen your title and sometimes it gets it wrong! Check the category before you agree and your antique coin ends up in a category with key rings.

5. Use Keywords

Your item is more likely to sell with extra information in the title. For example, if you find an old games console under the bed and decide to make a few quid off it, as a buyer which are you more likely to click on – the listing called ‘PS2’ or the listing called ‘Barely Used PS2 Slim +2 Controllers, Tested and Working’?

6. Double Check the Spelling

If I search ‘Barbie Doll’ but you’ve inadvertently called your listing ‘Brabie Doll’ then it isn’t going to show up for me or anyone else looking for a Barbie. So double check your listing for spelling mistakes to ensure it’s seen by everyone who’s searching for it.

7. Describe it Well

You don’t need to be a salesperson to fill in the description. All I put is a brief description of the item with a few key words and some essentials about the item. For example: ‘Stunning fluffy and comfortable jumper with no snags or signs of wear. This item is from a smoke- and pet-free home and I’m happy to take more photos if requested. Please ask if you have any questions and make sure you see my other items for sale.’ That’s all you need.

8. Time the Ending

When your eBay listing ends is really important, because the more people who are on eBay at that time, the more likely it is that you’ll get a bidding war. You want your listings to end on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday any time from 5pm – 9pm. You can schedule your listing’s start time for free, so set it to go live at 7pm so it will end at 7pm in the future.

9. To Bid or Buy

eBay offers two main options when you’re selling an item: ‘Buy It Now’ or ‘Auction’. Auction items have the bonus of no top price; however, you usually have to start them at 99p to gain attention and appear in the search. Buy-It-Now items can be sold at any point and for the exact price you’re willing to pay. Weigh up your options and pick the right one for your product.

10. Know Your Fees

eBay offers 20 free listings a month but they do take 10% of the selling price so keep that in mind when you see the final figure. They will bill you monthly, so keep 10% aside for that bill. Also keep 3.4% aside as that’s what PayPal will charge. I usually keep 15% aside to be safe and keep my PayPal pot above zero.

11. Deal Professionally with Issues

There will be issues. You can do everything perfectly and there will still be issues. Unfortunately that is part of doing business – so if a customer isn’t happy, it’s best just to keep that smile on, remain professional and help them out (no matter how much they make your blood boil!).

12. Give and Get Feedback

To be a successful seller on eBay it’s important to build your reputation. So always take the time to rate buyers, and ask politely if they will do the same for you. Obviously nobody wants bad ratings, so if there have been any issues (see above) check and double-check that they have been resolved to the buyer’s satisfaction before asking them to rate you.

So those are my top tips for selling on eBay. It’s super easy, especially via the free app, so get listing and see first-hand how stress-free it is and how much money it could make you this year.

Luci Olivia

Thanks again to Luci (pictured, right) for her valuable tips. Please do check out her Frugal Fox website for more advice on saving and making money.

If you have never tried online auction selling before, I hope this post will inspire you to give it a try. It really is as easy as Luci says, and someone, somewhere will almost certainly want anything you have to sell.

In my own case, I recently sold a selection of old beer mats that I had originally scrounged from a local pub for our house-warming party twenty years ago. Although admittedly I did have to re-list them (for no extra charge) as they didn’t sell the first time around!

As always, if you have any comments or questions, for Luci or myself, please do post them below.



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Hands-off ways to invest in property

Hands-off Ways to Invest in Property

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As I said in this recent blog post, I am a fan of property investment, as part of a balanced portfolio.

Property investors typically get a double benefit: rental income from tenants for as long as they own the property, and – in most cases – a profit when the time comes to sell.

A further attraction of property investment is that it can be beneficial tax-wise. Any profit you make when selling property is likely to be subject to capital gains tax (CGT) but there are generous annual allowances you can take advantage of (£11,700 in the tax year 2018/19).

In addition, if you invest via a platform (see below), income from rent is typically paid as dividends, allowing you to take advantage of the separate dividends tax allowance (£2,000 in 2018/19). Even if your dividend income exceeds the annual allowance, most people will only pay 7.5% tax on dividend earnings up to £34,500 (2018/19 figure).

Property investment can also be a great way of diversifying a mainly equities-based portfolio.

One drawback with property investment is that managing a property and its tenants can involve a lot of work. So today I want to focus on a property investment platform that takes care of all this on investors’ behalf (for a fee, of course). This makes it truly a hands-off way to invest in property.

The platform in question is FJP Investments. They partner with experienced developers to offer a range of property investments suitable for high net worth individuals and “sophisticated investors”. I’ve listed some of the main investment options they offer below.

Buy-to-let

This is, of course, the traditional way to invest in property. FJP offer investment opportunities in the UK buy-to-let market as well as overseas.

Student Property

This is becoming a very popular investment opportunity. The market is growing rapidly thanks to a government policy change ensuring an additional 200,000 students will be seeking accommodation in the UK by the year 2020.

Hotel Rooms

This type of investment started in the USA and has since taken off across Europe. Investing in a hotel room is simple. You buy the hotel room and then sub-lease it to the hotel operator. They in turn manage the day to day running, along with generating bookings. All you have to do is sit back and collect your share of the profits.

Car Parking

This is another popular income-generating investment. Investors purchase one or more spots in a car park and then receive a share of the income generated via the operator, who manages it on investors’ behalf.

Car parks are typically at or near airports. This market is expanding rapidly, with passenger numbers set to increase by over 220% in most major airports in the next 20 years. A further attraction in some cases can be free parking at the car park in question.

Care Homes

This involves investing in care homes for the elderly and/or people with disabilities. It is an ethical option but nonetheless one that offers good potential returns. Britain has an ageing population and yet the number of care beds is on the decline. There has been a lack of investment in the care sector which has created a growing demand for nursing homes, and an acute shortfall in the number of available beds is expected by early 2020. There is therefore a huge need right now for care home investment. Investors can profit from this while contributing to the creation of more high-quality care home facilities.

Risk v Reward

The potential returns from property investment are a lot better than you would get from a bank savings account at present, with 10% and upward widely advertised. Clearly, though, there is a greater element of risk with these investments. For example, you are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which will refund up to £85,000 if a bank with which you have an account goes bust. On the other hand, your money is in bricks and mortar, so it’s unlikely you would ever lose it all.

In the case of FJP Investments, as mentioned earlier, they work in association with highly experienced property developers. They set great store by protecting their clients’ money, not least because  their reputation – and indeed their business – depends on this. They take the time to get to know their clients personally and help them choose investment opportunities from the range on offer that will meet their specific needs and goals. These are all, needless to say, hands-off investments.

It is, of course, vital to be aware of the risks associated with investing in property and only to do so as part of a balanced portfolio with assets in a range of classes, including readily available cash. Property can be somewhat illiquid and should therefore normally be regarded as a medium- to long-term investment.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for which I am receiving a fee. Please note also that I am not a financial adviser and nothing in this post should be construed as personal financial advice. Before making any investment it is important to do your own due diligence, and seek advice from a qualified financial adviser if you are in any doubt how best to proceed.

If you have any comments or questions about FJP Investments, or property investment in general, as always, please do post them below.

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Can You Make a Living from Matched Betting

Can You Make a Living from Matched Betting?

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I’ve talked about matched betting a few times on this blog. It’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.

Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can read my introduction to matched betting here, and why I believe it can be a good money-making sideline for older people here.

I am writing about it again now because I’ve seen a number of questions posted recently in Facebook groups and forums asking, if matched betting is so good, can you make a full-time living from it? As a reasonably experienced matched bettor myself, I thought I would share my own thoughts on this subject here.

Don’t Believe The Hype

Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of matched betting, but it’s important to understand what it can (and can’t) realistically deliver.

It’s not hard if you search online to find people claiming to make thousands of pounds a month from matched betting. These claims do need to be treated with a degree of scepticism, however. Here are just a few reasons…

1. Some people when describing their matched betting earnings include money they make from affiliate programmes. As you may know, the main matched betting advisory services all run affiliate schemes that pay commission for referring new members. I am an affiliate myself, but I wouldn’t ever count affiliate commissions as matched betting profits.

2. The inflated earnings figures typically include money from casino offers. While there is undoubtedly money to be made this way, it is not matched betting and it is not risk-free. Casino offers are really a whole different ballgame. I don’t touch this type of offer myself, except occasionally when I am offered free spins by an online bookmaker.

3. Some of the people making big money are doing so by setting up multiple accounts, e.g. in the names of friends or relatives. They then take advantage of bookmakers’ introductory offers several times over. This is of course completely against bookmakers’ rules and regulations, and may well be illegal. It is not something I would ever advocate doing myself.

Also, despite the claims that matched betting is suitable for everyone, there are some people who probably shouldn’t do it at all. I am thinking especially here of people who may have (or develop) a gambling addiction. Matched betting itself isn’t gambling, but if you think it might draw you into it, then you may be best looking elsewhere to generate a sideline income.

There are also some people who struggle with the practical aspects of matched betting. It’s not rocket science, but you do need a basic grasp of mathematics, and to be well organised and logical. If not, there is a real risk you will get stressed out, make mistakes, and lose money as a result.

The Reality

One key fact about matched betting is that the best opportunities are presented by the introductory offers. By following matched betting principles, you can earn a genuine risk-free thousand pounds or more from these.

Once you have exhausted these offers, however, it does become more difficult (and time consuming). There are so-called reload offers, but these are typically not risk-free. An example is horse-racing refunds. This is where you back and lay a horse in a race and hope that a particular outcome occurs that triggers a refund from the bookmaker.

An example would be if a bookie offers to refund your stake if your horse comes second in a race. If the horse does come second, you get your stake money returned by the bookmaker but also win the lay bet, giving you a net profit. This type of offer can be profitable in the long run, but a lot of the time you will lose a small amount backing and laying when the refund-triggering event doesn’t occur.

For all these reasons, as you may have guessed, I don’t recommend looking to matched betting to provide a full-time income. And I definitely don’t recommend giving up your job to do it full-time. After the first month or two you will be relying on reload offers, and this is no way to generate a reliable monthly income that you – and perhaps your family – can live off.

In my opinion matched betting is best regarded as a tax-free moneymaking sideline which you can use to supplement other sources of income. If you are new to matched betting the welcome offers can also provide a quick financial boost – maybe to pay off debts or fund a holiday or other large purchase. But bear in mind that after a month or two, making money this way is likely to become a lot harder as the sign-up offers run out.

Advisory Services

I’ve said this before, but if you’re new to matched betting, I strongly recommend joining up with a matched betting advisory service. As well as providing tutorials to get you up to speed, these services provide essential online tools, including oddsmatching software and calculators. They will also alert you to a wide range of money-making opportunities, and offer support and advice if needed.

There are various advisory services you can use. I currently recommend the popular Outplayed service (formerly Profit Accumulator), This is a dedicated matched betting website. You can join free initially and they will provide details of two offers you can take advantage of straight away. These should make you up to £40 in net profit.

If you wish to proceed further, you can then pay a monthly fee (currently £29.99) to become a ‘Platinum’ member and get access to Outplayed’s full range of betting offers and services. If you are interested in casino offers as well, you can sign up to their ‘Diamond’ service, which additionally gives you access to casino offers and software and costs £49.99 a month.

As well as detailed instructions on offers, Outplayed also provide various online tools you can use. Their oddsmatcher, for example, helps you find markets where the back and lay odds are as close as possible, so you can minimize your losses on qualifying bets and maximize the value of your free bets. They also have calculators, where you enter the back and lay odds and how much you want to bet at the bookmaker. The calculator then reveals how much you need to lay at the exchange to guarantee a set profit (or qualifying loss) with either outcome.

A further advantage of joining Outplayed is that you get access to the members-only community forum, where you can get any questions you may have answered by more experienced members and/or the Outplayed team.

For more information about Outplayed and its different membership levels, just click through this link [affiliate].

  • If you are at all sceptical about the Outplayed service, you might like to check out the reviews on the independent Trust Pilot website. They currently average 4.7 out of 5 stars, with 89% of respondents awarding them a five star (‘Excellent’) rating. That is one of the highest average ratings I can recall seeing on Trust Pilot.

As ever, if you have any questions or comments about matched betting, please do post them below.

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase at the site in question, I will receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect in any way the cost of the service to you or the benefits you will receive.


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