How To Make Money Online With Electronics: 5 Proven Methods for Passive Income

Are you sitting on a pile of electronics you never use anymore? Maybe you bought an Atari Jaguar on launch day in 1993 and it has been collecting dust ever since. Maybe your closet has three old iPhones, a wireless charger that came with a phone you already replaced, and a gaming mouse from a PC you no longer own. That technology graveyard in your house is not junk. It is inventory. Alston Godbolt is an affiliate marketer and internet entrepreneur who has helped thousands of people across multiple platforms build passive income online, and in this video he walks through five concrete methods to turn any piece of electronics into a real income stream.

The entire pitch here is refreshingly honest: you do not need to own the latest gear, you do not need a tech degree, and you do not need to spend money upfront to start most of these methods. You need something to teach or talk about, and there are already millions of people actively searching for that content. Here is what Alston covers, method by method.

What You’ll Walk Out With

How to create a Udemy course about any tech you own and earn $4 to $5 passively every time someone enrolls
The five YouTube formats that pull millions of views with nothing but a phone or a gadget on your desk
How a Facebook group built around a single product category becomes an affiliate or direct-sales machine
How to buy iPhone cases for one cent on AliExpress and sell them for $15 to $20 each
Why a 30-year-old Atari Jaguar video is pulling 460,000 views in 2022 and why that proves any tech can work
How a tech blog earns through Google AdSense, affiliate links, product sales, and paid guest posts simultaneously
Why iPhone alone has 99 million monthly searches and 9 million related keywords waiting to be claimed
The free quiz that tells you which of these five methods matches your skills and situation: finder.platformproof.com

Method 1: Create an Online Course on Udemy

The first method Alston covers is building a course on Udemy, one of the largest online education platforms in the world. The premise is simple: whatever tech you own or know how to use, there are people willing to pay to learn from you. When Alston searched “iPhone” on Udemy, he found hundreds of courses covering everything from beginner setup to advanced tips. When he searched “AWS,” he found his own courses on Amazon Web Services sitting right there. When he searched “Xbox,” he found courses teaching viewers how to design their own games.

Photography, podcast equipment, drones, smart home devices, vintage consoles: the category list on Udemy is enormous, and Alston’s recommended research process is just to click into categories and search the name of whatever tech you own to see whether demand already exists. If multiple courses are selling, that is your proof of concept. You do not need to manufacture interest. You just need to show up with a camera and share what you know.

The barriers to entry are genuinely low here. Courses can run as short as an hour and a half or as long as ten hours. You can add sections over time as you think of new material. No formal degree in the subject is required. Udemy is free to publish on, so your only real cost is the time you invest in recording and editing. Most courses on the platform sell in the $9.99 range. After Udemy’s revenue share, you keep approximately $4 to $5 per sale. That is not life-changing on a single sale, but the word “passive” is the key detail: you record the content once and the course sells continuously while you are doing other things.

For validation before you spend hours recording, run a quick search on Udemy for your topic and look at enrollment numbers on existing courses. Hundreds or thousands of students enrolled in similar courses confirms that people are paying for this type of content. That is your green light to build.

Method 2: Build a YouTube Channel Around Your Electronics

YouTube is where Alston spends the most time, and the reason is that a single channel built around electronics can generate income through five different streams at the same time. Each stream is worth understanding on its own terms because they compound together as your audience grows.

Tips and Tricks Videos

People search YouTube constantly for help with their devices. Alston typed variations of “how to unlock iPhone” and found videos racking up millions of views on searches that most people would consider too niche to bother with. The keyword research strategy he recommends is to take the name of any device and type it into the YouTube search bar, then go through each letter of the alphabet after it to see what phrases auto-complete. Every auto-complete result is a phrase real people are typing into YouTube right now. Every one of those phrases is a video topic.

The age of the tech is not a limiting factor, and Alston proves this with a single example. He searched “Atari Jaguar” on YouTube. The Atari Jaguar is a game console from 1993. Alston estimates he was one of roughly 300 people who bought it when it launched. By 2022, when he filmed this video, the most recent Atari Jaguar upload had been posted just three weeks prior and had already accumulated 460,000 views. Old tech still has an audience. That audience is actively searching and clicking. Whatever you own, however old or niche it is, someone out there wants to watch a video about it.

Review Videos

Alston searched “iPhone 13 Pro Max review” on YouTube. The top result had 6.8 million views. Reviews work because people watch them right before making a purchase decision. High buyer intent means high click-through rates on affiliate links in the video description. You cover the strengths, cover the weaknesses, and give your honest take on who should buy the product and who should pass on it. Honest reviews build trust, and trust converts viewers into buyers through your affiliate links.

You do not have to review flagship products to pull an audience. Alston mentions his own Logitech wireless mouse as an example of a completely ordinary piece of tech that can still generate reviews, eyeballs, and affiliate income. The Logitech MX Master line alone has a massive base of buyers researching every generation before upgrading. A detailed, honest comparison of your mouse model earns those clicks.

Unboxing Videos

Alston calls unboxing videos “insanely popular,” and the view counts back that up. His search showed the top result at 1.6 million views. A second result sat at 471,000 views. Even a result further down the page had pulled 22,000 views. For a format that consists entirely of opening a box and showing people what is inside, those numbers are remarkable. The reason people watch is vicarious excitement: they are about to buy the product and want to experience the reveal before it arrives, or they are curious about whether the packaging and contents match the marketing claims.

Alston’s example of what the commentary sounds like: “This mouse here is a little bit bigger than this iPhone, as you can see it’s about the same dimensions…” That is not high-level analysis. It is basic observation delivered in a natural voice. That is the entire format. You do not need scripted lines or production polish. You need the product on camera and your unfiltered reaction.

Affiliate Marketing Through Your YouTube Channel

Amazon runs the largest affiliate program in the world, and almost every piece of consumer electronics is sold on Amazon. When you include your Amazon affiliate link in a video description and a viewer clicks it and buys, you earn a commission. The commission rate on electronics is modest, typically around 3 percent, but the volume of electronics sold on Amazon means even modest rates on high-ticket items add up.

Beyond affiliate marketing, you can sell your own physical products directly to your audience. Alston walks through the AliExpress math: iPhone 13 Pro Max cases available for as little as one cent each, sold directly to viewers for $15 to $20. You can fulfill orders through drop shipping, where AliExpress ships directly to your customer and you never touch the inventory, or you can order a small batch and ship yourself. The YouTube channel is the distribution channel. Your viewers are already interested in the product category. The transition from viewer to buyer requires nothing more than a link in the description and a mention during the video.

Brand Deals and Sponsorships

As a tech channel builds an audience, brands reach out to pay for exposure. A tech company might pay you to feature their product in a video, run a dedicated sponsor segment, or distribute a discount code to your viewers. Alston notes that brand deals are one of the primary ways established YouTubers supplement their ad income. The amounts depend entirely on audience size and niche, but even channels with 10,000 to 50,000 subscribers in a specific tech niche can land deals with smaller brands that want targeted reach.

YouTube Partner Program

Once you reach 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers, YouTube qualifies your channel for the Partner Program. From that threshold forward, YouTube runs ads at the beginning, middle, and end of your videos and pays you a percentage of the ad revenue. The more videos you have and the more views they accumulate, the more ad revenue flows in. This is a fully passive income stream once you qualify: ads run automatically, no additional work per video is required from you beyond the upload.

Method 3: Build a Facebook Group Around Your Tech Niche

Alston pulled up several active Facebook groups dedicated to iPhones. The members of those groups were there for one primary reason: they wanted tips and help with repairs, specifically cracked screens and accessory troubleshooting. This is a pattern worth replicating. A focused community around any piece of tech becomes a captive, high-intent audience for products and information related to that device.

The specific monetization example Alston walks through is iPhone screen repair. A lot of iPhone owners crack their screens and look for DIY fixes rather than paying for a professional repair. A Facebook group full of those users is an ideal distribution point for iPhone repair kits. You can monetize through affiliate links, where you post an Amazon link to a repair kit and earn a commission on every purchase. Or you can source the exact same repair tools from AliExpress, where they are available for as little as one cent, and sell them directly through the group for $5 or $6 each.

The content strategy and the product strategy reinforce each other here. A post walking through how to fix a cracked iPhone screen step by step is genuinely useful content that keeps members engaged and grows the group. It is also a perfect opportunity to link to the repair kit you sell in the comments. Alston’s advice on liability: add clear disclaimers when teaching repair techniques so that members understand the risk and you are protected if something goes wrong during their attempt.

Facebook groups work especially well for products that require community trust before a purchase. Someone is more likely to buy a repair kit recommended by the moderator of a group they trust than from a random product listing. Building the group first and monetizing second is the correct sequencing here.

Method 4: Sell Electronics Products via Drop Shipping or Direct Fulfillment

This method overlaps with YouTube and Facebook but deserves a dedicated look because the economics are so concrete and accessible. Alston opened AliExpress live during the video and searched for iPhone 13 Pro Max cases. He found them listed for as little as one cent per unit. If you source a case at one cent and sell it for $15, that is a margin most retail businesses would consider extraordinary. And unlike a traditional retail business, you do not need a storefront, a lease, or employees.

Drop shipping means the AliExpress supplier ships directly to your end customer. You take the order from your YouTube description link or your Facebook group post, forward the shipping information to the supplier, collect the price difference, and keep the margin. You never hold inventory, never pack boxes, never schedule pickups. The trade-off is that you depend on the supplier’s shipping speed, which can be slow from overseas, and you have less control over product quality until you have tested a few units yourself.

Direct fulfillment means you order a batch of cases or repair kits to your own address, inspect them for quality, and ship from your home or a small storage space as orders come in. This gives you faster delivery times and a chance to verify what your customers receive. The upfront cost is higher since you are buying inventory before you have confirmed demand. Alston’s recommendation is to test the concept with drop shipping first, confirm that buyers are interested and willing to pay your price, and then consider switching to direct fulfillment once you have validated the product.

The iPhone repair tools example is worth walking through in full. Alston searched “iPhone repair tools” on AliExpress and found kits for one cent. You would list those kits in your YouTube description or your Facebook group for $5 or $6 each, pair the listing with a free tutorial video showing how to fix a cracked screen, and let the content do the selling. The viewer watches the tutorial, realizes they need the kit, clicks the link, and buys. Content and product working together is more effective than either approach alone.

Not sure which of these five methods matches your electronics knowledge and schedule?

Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com and get a personalized recommendation in under two minutes.

Method 5: Launch a Tech Blog or Website

Alston’s fifth method is starting a blog or website in the electronics niche. He ran a keyword search on “iPhone” and the raw numbers make the case for blogging immediately: 99 million monthly searches and over 9 million related keywords. That is not a niche. That is a continent. Any coherent slice of that search traffic is significant enough to build a real income stream around.

A tech blog monetizes through multiple channels that work in parallel. Google AdSense displays ads on your pages automatically and pays you whenever visitors click them. Affiliate links placed inside review articles earn commissions when readers buy products you recommend. You can create your own digital products, like step-by-step repair guides or software tutorials, and sell them directly from your site. And as your domain authority grows over time, other bloggers and brands will pay you to publish guest posts on your site because they want the backlink, the credibility, and the traffic exposure your established site provides.

Alston makes a point that applies across all five methods but is especially relevant for blogging: niche specificity is a strength, not a weakness. He searched “Atari Jaguar” in a keyword tool and found active interest from Amazon, dedicated enthusiast blogs, and editorial articles like “Why the Atari Jaguar CD Was a Complete Disaster.” A game console from 1993 that sold to maybe a few thousand buyers on launch day still commands an audience of curious readers in 2022. People are nostalgic about it. Collectors are researching it. Gamers are writing retrospectives about it. A blog dedicated entirely to the Atari Jaguar has a smaller audience than a general tech blog, but it has an audience that is highly specific and passionately interested, which makes affiliate conversions easier.

The compounding nature of a blog is its biggest advantage over social platforms. Each article you publish is a permanent asset that continues to rank in search results and drive traffic for months or years without any additional work from you. A YouTube video can get buried in the algorithm. A blog post indexed in Google keeps delivering visitors as long as the topic remains relevant. That long-tail durability makes blogging one of the more patient but ultimately more stable income paths in the electronics niche.

Honest Drawbacks to Know Before You Pick a Method

Every one of these five methods works. None of them works fast. Here are the friction points Alston does not spend time on in the video but that you should factor into your decision before committing to one path.

Udemy courses take weeks to record and edit, and discoverability within Udemy depends on your course rating and completion rate. Plan for at least two to three months before meaningful passive sales begin.
YouTube requires consistency before the algorithm rewards you. Most channels take six to twelve months of regular uploads before hitting the 4,000 watch hours needed for monetization. The five income streams are real, but they build slowly at first.
Facebook groups require active moderation and daily engagement, especially in the early months while you are growing membership. Groups that go quiet die quickly. Budget real time for community management before treating it as a passive channel.
Drop shipping from AliExpress carries shipping time risk. International shipping from Chinese suppliers can take two to four weeks, which frustrates customers accustomed to Amazon Prime speeds. Set clear shipping expectations in your listings or account for faster local suppliers in your margin math.
Blogging is the slowest starter of the five. A new blog typically takes six to twelve months to rank meaningfully in Google search results. The patience required is real. The payoff once you are ranking is also real, but do not expect revenue in the first 90 days from search traffic alone.

The good news is that these methods layer well together. A YouTube channel and a blog covering the same tech niche drive traffic to each other. A Facebook group feeds product sales. A Udemy course establishes credibility that improves your YouTube authority. Starting with one method and adding others over time is more sustainable than attempting all five simultaneously from day one.

Find Your X

Five methods, one piece of tech, and more income potential than most people realize is sitting right in their homes. The harder question is not whether these methods work. It is which one fits your actual schedule, personality, and starting resources. If you are not sure, do not guess. The free quiz at finder.platformproof.com walks through your situation and gives you a specific starting recommendation based on your answers. Skip the guesswork and start on the method that matches where you actually are right now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to own the latest electronics to make money, or can I use old tech?

Old tech works just as well and sometimes better. Alston’s Atari Jaguar example is the clearest proof: a 1993 console with a tiny original install base still generated a video with 460,000 views in 2022. Older tech has established fan communities, active forums, and buyers looking for replacement parts or accessories that are no longer easily available. Vintage and retro electronics in particular carry collector value that creates real purchase intent around affiliate links and product listings.

How long does it take before a Udemy course starts earning passively?

Creation time varies from two weeks to two months depending on how much content you include and how polished you want the production to be. After publishing, Udemy’s internal promotion algorithm starts sending your course to potential students, but early reviews matter significantly. Plan to promote your first course to your own network to get initial enrollments and honest reviews. Once you have 10 or more positive reviews, organic sales tend to pick up. Most instructors see meaningful passive income within three to six months of publishing a course with solid early reviews.

What are the specific YouTube Partner Program thresholds Alston mentions?

To qualify for YouTube’s Partner Program and start earning from ads, you need 4,000 watch hours accumulated over the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. Both thresholds must be met simultaneously. Once you qualify, YouTube runs ads on your videos and pays you a share of the revenue based on views and ad engagement. The rate varies by niche, audience location, and time of year, but tech channels generally earn in the range of $2 to $8 per thousand views, which is solid relative to other content categories.

Is it legal to buy from AliExpress and resell at a higher price?

Yes, reselling products purchased from AliExpress or any other supplier at a markup is standard commerce and completely legal. The key compliance considerations are accurate product descriptions, honest shipping time disclosures, and not misrepresenting the origin or brand of the product. If you are selling unbranded cases or generic accessories, standard consumer protection rules apply. If you are selling products that carry a brand name, verify that the supplier is authorized to sell under that brand to avoid counterfeit product issues.

Can I run a YouTube channel and a blog about the same electronics topic at the same time?

Yes, and this is actually one of the most effective content strategies in the electronics niche. A YouTube video and a blog post covering the same product review or tutorial reach different audiences through different search behaviors. YouTube searchers tend to prefer visual walkthroughs. Blog readers often want a written reference they can skim and revisit. The two formats reinforce each other: you can embed your YouTube videos in your blog posts for additional watch time, and you can link to your blog from your video description to drive traffic. Starting with one and adding the other after six months of consistency is a reasonable approach.

How do I find my first affiliate products to promote in the electronics niche?

Amazon Associates is the most accessible starting point. You can sign up for free and immediately generate affiliate links for almost any product on Amazon, including every piece of electronics you own. Go to your Amazon Associates dashboard, search the product you want to promote, and copy the affiliate link. Include that link in your YouTube description or blog post with a clear disclosure that it is an affiliate link. Beyond Amazon, individual electronics brands like Logitech, Anker, and Samsung run their own affiliate programs with sometimes better commission rates than Amazon’s, which are worth exploring once you have established content driving consistent traffic.

What if the specific tech I own only has a tiny audience?

A tiny audience online is larger than it sounds. Even a relatively obscure piece of tech typically has thousands of owners, enthusiasts, collectors, and curious people who encounter it secondhand. The Atari Jaguar example shows this clearly. The more important factor is search intent rather than search volume. A small audience that is actively searching for help with a specific problem is more valuable than a large audience passively browsing. If your niche has low competition, your content ranks more easily, and your affiliate links convert at higher rates because you are reaching people who are specifically looking for what you are selling.

How much money can I realistically make starting out with these methods?

Alston’s headline is $100 per day in passive income, which is achievable but not a starting point. It is a destination that requires building real audience and content volume first. A realistic starting expectation for month one or two is close to zero in most of these methods. By month three to six, with consistent output, you might see $50 to $200 per month from Udemy, early affiliate clicks, or small product sales. Crossing $100 per day typically requires twelve to eighteen months of focused effort on one primary method. The passive nature of these income streams means the income does compound and grow without proportional increases in your time once the content base is established.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “How To Make Money Online With Electronics 2022,” YouTube, 2022: https://youtu.be/gwZY0Xp__7E
Udemy course search results for iPhone, AWS, and Xbox as shown in the video
YouTube search results for “iPhone 13 Pro Max review” (6.8M views top result) and unboxing searches as demonstrated in the video
AliExpress listing prices for iPhone 13 Pro Max cases and iPhone repair tools as shown in the video
Keyword research data: iPhone, 99 million monthly searches, 9 million+ related keywords, as demonstrated in the video
Atari Jaguar YouTube search results, most recent video at 460,000 views as of filming date, as shown in the video