8 Mar 2022

How To Earn Millions From Amazon Every Month?



Whether it’s about adding an income source or the only income source post the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the best ways to earn money online these days is to make money with Amazon. Given that Amazon is the top e-commerce retailer in the USA recording a net sales figure of around 386 billion dollars in 2020, it’s a golden opportunity for those who want to become an eCommerce seller and earn money from Amazon. This post highlights how to earn money from Amazon by selling and even without selling:

Register for Amazon FBA

Once you enroll with FBA or Fulfilment by Amazon, it’s Amazon’s responsibility for the warehousing (storage, picking, packing), shipping, returns, or refunds of your products. However, to start selling with FBA you must find a product (e.g., from Alibaba), make improvements, and label it with your private brand. Sign up for Amazon seller central and submit your product information. Ship your products to Amazon and their fulfillment center shall take care of the distribution. As customers buy your product from Amazon, the delivery will be fulfilled by Amazon.

Leverage Retail Arbitrage

If you are a complete novice in this category, the best way to start earning money from Amazon would be to make use of retail arbitrage and save on the outraging shipping costs. As heavy as the name may sound, it’s a simple process where you simply buy stocks (look for discounted products) from a local retailer and sell them on Amazon with your mark-up for a profit.

Use Online Arbitrage

Same as in the case of retail arbitrage, you purchase inventory straight from the online stores or from a site like eBay for cheap, and list them on Amazon and make profits.

Publish Books Using Kindle

Those with writing skills can kick off their book publishing dreams using the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing service. KDP is a great way to publish digital books within 24 to 48 hours and that’s available on Kindle worldwide. In return, you get the freedom to set your prices, earn royalties up to 70 percent on sales, modify content, and more.

Sell Bulk Products

Amazon Business is a B2B marketplace that allows you to sell products wholesale. It’s a blessing in disguise for business customers as they benefit from special prices while they shop from Amazon. With over 55 fortune 100 companies listed with Amazon and exclusive business features like requests for quotes or the option to showcase your certifications is what makes it is a great way to start as a wholesaler.

Sell Handcrafted Goods

Those with a penchant for craft can join the seller list from over 80 countries with Amazon Handmade. Given there’s a high demand for these goods, it makes a great platform for selling your handmade products at a good margin.

Sell Through Affiliate Marketing

Selling through affiliate marketing is hands down one of the most popular and proven methods to date. Simply sign up with Amazon Associates and start promoting other people's products on Amazon using the affiliate links they provide. However, you must have a website or a blog where you must create a sales copy for that product, for example, if you have signed up for promoting a mobile phone, you may create a product review content with a link (affiliate link) to that product. You can then earn anywhere between 3 to 5 percent of the conversion rates.

Work from Home as Amazon Customer Service Rep

With around 650,000 employees across the world, Amazon is soon to become the next big employer. This is the right time to join the ever-growing Amazon customer service team and work from the comfort of your home. The customer service team is spread across 130 locations across the world and supports 16 languages.

Sell Using Merch by Amazon

If you are adept in designing coffee mugs and t-shirts, have a bunch of ideas but are short of resources, capitalize on merch by Amazon. Upload your design, pick a color and the product type, and your product page is created. It’s as simple as that. Thereon, sit back and relax as the production, shipping, and customer service is Amazon’s responsibility.

Sign up for Mechanical Turk (MTurk) Program

Mechanical Turk (MTurk) by Amazon serves a dual purpose. While the main purpose is to help individuals and businesses to outsource tasks and processes (data entry, data validation, research, etc.) to a virtual workforce, it also benefits those looking to earn through microtasks by joining the program and earn anywhere between 0.10 and 1 dollar for each task. The more tasks you complete, the more you earn.

Amazon Influencer

If you already have a substantial social following, being an Amazon Influencer can help you rake in some good money through commissions earned by promoting products on your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram page and even through your YouTube channel.

Take surveys, write reviews, create webinars, participate in forums, sell used products or professional services, create private brands, or be a drop shipper, Amazon has something for everyone looking to earn money from home. So, while you shop for your favorite products from Amazon, don’t miss the boat of making some good money from Amazon.

5 Mar 2022

NFT: Everything You Need To Know About NFT



Non Fungible Tokens (NFT) 

There has been a growing interest in NFTs in the digital space, a lot of buzzes have been generated and many people are going into minting of tokens. Millions of dollars exchanged hands in the sales of NFTs.


You may get confused and wonder if the NFT trend is a fad or if people are just wasting their money and time. This article breaks down the concept of NFTs.


What is NFT?

NFT simply means Non Fungible tokens. The non-fungible part means unique and non-replaceable. No swapping like for like. They are tokens because they are digital and are protected by blockchain technology, just like cryptocurrencies.


You can sell a digital image as an NFT, the same way you would sell a physical painting. When you sell NFTS, you are the owner of the ‘original’ version, and the NFT artist continues to benefit every time the NFT is resold.


Many digital artists have sold their digital arts with this technology.

 

Because they are “non-fungible”, they are different from other blockchain tokens, such as Ethereum, which are fungible. This characteristic is why NFTS are the perfect model for dealing with digital art and other valuables in the online space.


This uniqueness is why NFTS cannot be exchanged for similar tokens that are equivalent. So, while 1 bitcoin can be swapped for 1 bitcoin, NFTs cannot be swapped because of their unique nature and also because they don’t have similar values. 


This also implies that NFTS can’t be used in business transactions as an exchange standard because none of any two NFTs is alike. The worth of each NFT depends largely on the perception of it by the world and the level of demand for it. 


What is the origin of NFT?

The earliest example of NFTs on the internet is the platform, milliondollarhomepage.com by Alex Tew from 2005. However, it was not based on a blockchain but had attributes of NFTs. The website offered different pixels totaling 1 million in number for sale. 


Then came the advent of coloured coins in the year 2012. This utilized the blockchain of bitcoin. However, it didn’t make much of an impact because the system it was based on was not built to handle substantial NFT features. In 2014, Counterparty came up to fill the gap. 


Counterparty gave the framework for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), memes, and trading cards to operate. At this time, Ethereum rose in popularity and things gradually shifted to its ecosystem. CryptoKitties emerged in 2017 in the Ethereum ecosystem. Using a blockchain to adopt and raise a digital cat became appealing to the world.


What is a token?

A token can be referred to as a digitalized asset that people can own and transfer to other people. The blockchain secures tokens in a cryptographic system, issuing private keys that are the property of the token owner. 


Every token has a public address that is used to identify it. The owner possesses the private keys and uses them to perform some predetermined functions. For example, money can be received at the public address of a bitcoin wallet that everyone can see but you can only use the money in the wallet using the private keys. 


All kinds of information are contained in a token including, images, music files, rights to real estate, motor vehicles, clothing, and other physical properties. 


Tokens are designed for many purposes. There are payment tokens, utility tokens, security tokens, etc. 


A token can be created on the blockchain by following established protocols. Examples include the simple Ledger protocol or Ethereum’s ERC-20, -721, or -1155 standards.


Fungible Tokens compared to Non-fungible Tokens

Tokens are classified into two major classes: 


(i). Fungible 


(ii). Non-fungible.


We refer to Fungibility as the ability of an asset or tangible item to be interchanged with an identical item. Paper money for instance is fungible because one can borrow N1000 from a friend and repay with two N500 notes. Once can also repay with another N1000 note that is not the same one that you borrowed.


The value represented by each note is what is important and not the note itself. 


Non-fungibility is a uniqueness that cannot be copied or duplicated. There can only be one Lionel Messi, for example. Your ATM card is just yours. You can’t find another card with the same name, same number, and same expiry date.


Whereas you can change a N1000 note into N200 notes in five places, your Atm card is not exchangeable because of its non-fungible quality.


What makes NFTs scarce?

The scarcity of NFT is criticized by some people as being artificially induced, however, it is understandable that a non-fungible item is very likely to be scarce. For example, it is possible for a digital painting that is tokenized to be duplicated many times over. So, while the token might be unique and single, the idea behind it can still be duplicated.


The question arises: What is the use for this? Is it not an unwise decision to own an item that is not truly yours?


A simple answer is that it depends. When you buy a token, it becomes yours but the representation of the token is what matters. 


The prices of Non-fungible tokens are going up because more people these days are spending most of their time online and in digital environments. The perception of this increased exposure should lead to an increased demand which drives prices higher.


A second reason is that digital assets can be easily transferred. So, just like one would buy gold, artworks, or real estate to store their wealth, an investor in the same vein can also buy NFTs to store his wealth, and in the future sell them to get his money back.


The demand for NFTs is increasing with their popularity owing to the fact that there is only one version of each token. However this hype is only a thing of the mind, and therefore, anyone who is investing big money on NFTs is simply speculating.


NFTs and copyright

Intellectual property is very important. By law, the original owner of any work is the creator of that work until they transfer that right to another person.


However, you must note that the copyright for a digital work might be included or might not be included in the token. So, if an artist sells an image token to you without the copyright, he or she can still duplicate the same picture several times over and still make them into tokens as well.


If the copyrights to digital art or music are sold to you as an NFT, you can earn royalties from your investment over the years and get tangible returns.


NFTs enabling real estate in the digital space

Real estates in the digital space are now lucrative. Digitally created worlds like Decentraland are putting up plots for sale. But what would anyone gain from buying digital land?


 

This again is because of thinking that there are going to be more human interactions on the internet. As the demand for land in Decentraland surges, the prices of its plots will also increase. MANA is the official currency of Decentraland, thus the need for it will increase.


This implies that just as people buy physical real estate because of speculation, hoping for a price increase, they do the same thing when buying digital real estate.


What are the benefits of NFTs?

Authenticity:  Being based on blockchain technology gives it credibility.


Ownership rights – Transactions are visible to the public and everyone can know the owner


Secure transfer of ownership: This is a result of the framework of blockchain technology.


Ownership of copyright:  You can include the copyright of the work into the blockchain.


What are the uses of NFTs?

NFTs are being deployed in various industries and sectors. The ever-expanding uses cases are felt in the following:


Digital Art: The successful reality of the creation of tokens from digital fine art, animations, etc.


Gaming:  You can find in-game fashion accessories, real estate, and other products being sold


IRO music use – Musicians can now sell their music rights using NFTS. IRO means Initial Rights Offering. 


Assets:  NFTs are sold as assets.


Sports memorabilia: NFTs are now being used by sports fans to demonstrate their support and loyalty to their various teams. 


Notable NFT projects

Cryptokitties: These are real-life cats growing on the blockchain.


MoonCatRescue: Another cat game on the blockchain.


CryptoKicks – This is patent sportswear owned by Nike.


Decentraland:  A digital world with lands owned by users.


NBA Top Shot: This gives you ownership of the best moments in basketball.


FEWOCiOUS x RTFKT sneakers: This product netted $3.1 million in 7 minutes


Beeple’s every day – At Christie’s, this raked in $69 million.


Conclusion

Non-Fungible Tokens thrive on desire, speculation, and value. NFTs are valuable as they offer many benefits. As the trend progresses, more speculators will hop in and prices will only keep going up. You can ape in today and acquire NFts that will bring immense value to your portfolio in the short and long term.

Best Banks In Nigeria For Personal And Business Banking For 2022



A bank is a financial institution licensed by a regulating body to receive deposits and lend surplus money to borrowers, and upon demand, pay the depositor. A bank allows the depositor to open an account, make a withdrawal, pay third parties, and use a debit or credit card, among other services. Banks have different products and services like personal and business banking products for their customers. Personal banking is another name for domestic or retail banking, which involves the bank dealing with you directly or personally. While for Corporate or business banking, the bank deals with a corporate body or an incorporated company.

 

In Nigeria, most of the banks offer a mix of these services, and if you own a small business, your concern is how to get a loan quickly. But for the regular saver, you want a secure bank. The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation secures your deposit of up to N500,000 in all commercial banks in Nigeria in case CBN closes any of them. To help you filter the best out of the number of banks, we will list ten of the best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking to enable you to make an informed choice. Let us start with some examples of both services.


What are examples of personal banking?

Examples of personal banking are savings account, certificate of deposit, credit, and debit cards, financing a car or a house, and remitting foreign currency. There is also private banking service (for high net worth individuals), insurance, stock brokerage, and wealth management, which the bank will sell to you using its subsidiary company. Extra service includes online banking.


What are the examples of business banking?

Corporate banking or business banking services include Loans and advances, treasury services, equipment leasing, trade finance, and small-medium enterprises (S.M.E.) loans, online banking, P.O.S., and more.


After showing you some examples of personal and business banking, let us go straight to the list and examine the best banks right away.

 

The best banks in Nigeria

Here are the best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking:


1. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) is a limited liability company incorporated to carry on the banking business in 1990 and began operating in February 1991. The bank listed its stocks in the Nigerian stock exchange in September 1996.


Through the years, due to sound management, its asset base is now more than 3 trillion naira. The bank has a subsidiary office in the United Kingdom and branches in some African countries like Ghana and Uganda.


GTBank offers excellent personal and business banking to customers using its professional staff. GTbank’s personal banking service includes opening savings and current accounts, nonresident Nigerian service, and private banking, online banking, and A.T.M and P.O.S.


While the business banking gives you access to a GT business account, corporate and commercial banking, S.M.E. and loans and advances, and more.


2. First Bank of Nigeria 

First bank is one of the best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking. Here is why. First bank of Nigeria is true to its brand name and is genuinely the first when it comes to personal banking services.


The bank, which started in 1894, now has close to 900 branches in Nigeria, across ten African countries and the U.K.  First bank has nearly ten thousand employees, and its revenues have continued to grow.


To prove how much the bank has been able to serve its personal banking clients, the bank won “The Asian Banker International Excellence” award for the best personal banking brand five times in a row.


Its personal banking solutions include loans and mortgage, bank cards, payment solutions, online banking and A.T.M and P.O.S and diaspora banking, money transfer, and fixed deposit.


Also, the bank serves its corporate banking customers well, and its loan portfolio continues to increase just like its deposit base. Rest assured that First bank will give you the best of both services.  Its business banking products include Account, S.M.E. connect, loans, e-solutions, payment solutions, Agric financing, and mortgages.


3. Zenith Bank P.L.C.

Zenith Bank P.L.C. is a leading Conglomerate and provides financial services across the globe using cutting edge technology and leads while the other banks follow.


The bank was launched in May 1990 and started operating in July of the same year with a commercial bank license.


In 2014, it transformed into a Public liability company (P.L.C). Also, to meet demands for its services, it has 500 branches in Nigeria and subsidiary offices in the U.K, Ghana, South Africa, and more.


Zenith offers numerous customers customized banking services, which include S.M.E. banking, Personal banking, and Corporate banking, investment and loans, bank account, asset management solutions, Online banking, A.T.M, and P.O.S.No wonder it is now among the largest banks in Africa. Its head office is at Zenith Heights, Plot 83, Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria.


4. Stanbic I.B.T.C. Bank

I.B.T.C. chattered bank started in 1989 and merged with Stanbic Bank Group in 2007. It is now a part of the Standard Bank Group with the Head office in Johannesburg, South Africa.


The bank provides excellent banking services in well over 180 branches locally with 560 Physical ATMs. Its professional staff is up to 3,000 and keeps increasing to match up with your demand for excellent services.


Its foreign remittances service is top-notch. If you are Nigerian living abroad, you may open a nonresident Nigerian bank account with the bank as the cost of transactions is low, and it is easy to monitor your account from anywhere you live abroad.


The bank’s personal and business banking service is first class, with an unbeatable range of services that include financial advisory services, loans, savings, investments, debit and credit cards, mortgages, pensions, and Stockbroking. Its Head Office is The I.B.T.C Place Walter Carrington Crescent Victoria Island Lagos.


5. Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria

Another one of the best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking is Standard Chartered Bank, Nigeria. Its head office is in London, and its branches worldwide are about 1,200. The bank boasts of over 150 years of banking experience.


Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria started operating on 15 September 1999 and has 22 branches with A.T.M’s and more than 900 employees as of 2013.


The Bank in Nigeria provides one of the best business banking services with an efficient, secure, and easy to use free online banking platform, plus a fair exchange rate service.


That said, its retail banking services are equally responsive to the demands of the customers. Its products include personal banking, priority banking, and business accounts for its retail clients.


While its corporate and institutional services include transaction banking, priority banking, and small and medium enterprises(S.M.E.). Its local head office is at 142 Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos.


6. Sterling Bank Plc

When this bank began in 1960, it was Nigeria’s first Investment bank called Nigeria Acceptances Limited (N.A.L.).


Sterling Bank became a complete commercial bank when N.A.L. merged with four other banks in the 2006 bank consolidation era. With that merger, Sterling bank was born and ready to improve stakeholders’ value.


Sterling bank has repositioned itself to deliver both personal banking and business banking services plus some extra banking services. Its products include private banking and wealth management, agent banking, commercial agriculture credit scheme, loans to the telecom, power, and steel sectors.


The bank now has up to 179 branches, 847 ATM’s and 7853 point of sale (P.O.S.) terminals as of 2018.  Its head office is at Sterling Towers, 20 Marina, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria.


7. United Bank For Africa Plc (U.B.A.)

One more bank in this list of the best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking is U.B.A. This bank started in 1949, and they trade the stock in the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Like its peers, it has undergone a lot of transformation carried out by Tony Elumelu. In 2005, he merged U.B.A. with Standard Trust Bank before his tenure as M.D. ended. As a result, the bank is a lot nimbler than the former conservative company.


 

U.B.A. is ready to serve stakeholders and to create an enterprise that will continue to advance strategically and be ahead of other banks in all the services it offers to customers in its branches in 22 African countries.


Its core services are corporate banking and personal banking that include S.M.E. banking and internet banking, money transfer, treasury, trade and savings, current account, P.O.S., A.T.M., and online banking, and more.


The bank’s core values have these three words execution, enterprise, and excellence driving its goal of dominance in the banking sector, and has strategically positioned its subsidiary offices in New York, UK, and France. Its headquarters is U.B.A. House, 57 Marina, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria.


8. Fidelity Bank

Fidelity Bank P.L.C. started in 1988 as a Merchant bank and rebranded into a commercial bank in 1999. It is known for serving startups and has several awards as S.M.E. Friendly Bank, the Most Improved Corporate/Investment Bank, and the Best in Mobile.


It came 4th place as the best retail bank in a survey carried out in 2001 by K.P.M.G. to find out how satisfied customers are about their service providers.


Fidelity bank as of 2017 has 240 branches in Nigeria that includes digital offices with 775 ATM’s and 4346 POS’s.


The bank provides customized products for different customers, corporate banking, S.M.E. banking, private banking, and online banking. Others include mortgages, loans, credit cards, savings, and current accounts and Investments.


Its head office is at Fidelity Place, 2 Kofo Abayomi St, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.


9. Union Bank of Nigeria

The bank started in 1917, and they trade its stocks on the Nigerian stock exchange. Union bank is one of the old generation banks, and like its peers is rebranding its services to become alive to its logo of a galloping Stallion.


That is why it is part of this best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking. As of 2016, it had 320 branches and two fully-owned subsidiaries in the United Kingdom. The bank offers products that target high net worth individuals and S.M.E’s.


Its banking products include savings account and current accounts fixed deposits accounts, mortgages, auto loans, personal loans, bill payments, and debit cards.


The bank’s business banking product includes credit and advances, trade finance, account and cash management solutions, union one and union 360, and local trade, Agric business solutions, and more.


Additional services include Online Banking, Mobile Banking, Debit Cards, A.T.M’s, and P.O.S. Systems. Its head office is at 36 Marina, Lagos Island, Lagos State, Nigeria.


10. Ecobank Nigeria P.L.C.

Ecobank Nigeria is a part of the Ecobank Group. The bank started operations in 1989 to provide financial solutions to enhance its clients’ growth. Ecobank Nigeria is a commercial bank with branches of up to 610 all over the country as of 2011.


It offers personal banking and business banking that includes retail, wholesale banking, treasury, and financial institutions and capital markets and investment banking to its diverse customers. Other personal bank services include Ecobank online internet banking, A.T.M’s, and P.O.S.


The stocks of Ecobank Nigeria is listed on the Nigerian stock market. Its head office is at Plot 21, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos.


Whereas, the parent company Ecobank Group was formed in 1985 to serve the citizens of West Africa. Its headquarters is in Togo employs over 10,000 staff.


The Ecobank Group has a network of over 1,300 branches in 36 countries such as Benin, Kenya, South Africa, including offices in other parts of the world like Dubai, Paris, and London.


11. First City Monument Bank (F.C.M.B.)

F.C.M.B is the last bank in this compilation of the best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking. This bank, which was initially called First City Merchant Bank and launched in 1982,  evolved from City Securities Limited that began in 1977.  In 2001, it became First City Monument Bank and obtained a universal banking license.


F.C.M.B. has roughly 5.1 million customers and 206 branches in Nigeria. It owns  a subsidiary bank in the United Kingdom through F.C.M.B. Bank (U.K.) Limited. The bank aims to become the best financial services group of African origin.


F.C.M.B. offers personal banking products, business banking solutions, and other corporate products for its customers.


Its numerous financial services include micro-lending, asset management, stock-broking, trusteeship, and custodial services, foreign exchange, personal banking, corporate and commercial banking, investment banking, A.T.M’s, P.O.S., and online banking.


Other products it offers clients are commercial, public sector, financial institutions, small and medium-scale enterprises, trade and liquidity management solutions to businesses, and more. The bank’s headquarters is at Primrose Tower, 17A Tinubu Street, Lagos, Nigeria.


Conclusion

In this post, you have a list of the best banks in Nigeria for personal and business banking. We gave you their product so you can make up your mind on the one you like best. If you think their products are alike, you are right, but each bank is unique in the way it delivers similar services.


Tell us the bank that you would choose for personal banking and why and do the same for business banking.