JS, the founder of ShockedIO, doesn’t want to reveal his name. But he will tell you how he made $4.4 million since launching his subscription-based reselling community in 2020.
For most shoppers, a PlayStation 5 listed for $50 would seem impossible. For the members of ShockedIO, it can trigger hundreds of notifications within seconds.
Behind the alerts is an army of software bots scanning thousands of online retailers, watching for inventory restocks, limited-edition product launches and pricing mistakes that can turn into profitable resale opportunities before retailers notice them.
JS told Fortune that “back in the day,” he was part of a paid subscription group for shoe resellers, but he realized he could make his own community after poaching a staff developer.
“We kind of felt like this is something we could do ourselves,” he said. “It started off just being a free server. But as we kind of grew, we started to do the subscription-based model, starting at like $25 a month.”
That subscription fee, now sitting at $100 per month, has netted the Wyoming-based LLC and its anonymous founder nearly $4.5 million in less than six years, according to documents reviewed by Fortune.
The company now employs roughly 30 to 50 developers, researchers, and admins serving about 850 paid members, said JS, who declined to disclose his identity, citing financial privacy concerns.
“I would prefer to not go by my full name because I do a lot of crypto trading,” he said, explaining that he has a public crypto wallet under his legal name. Also, it should be clear that the implications of this business model fall into a legal gray area. Walmart’s terms of service states that users cannot use applications to “scrape” or “datamine” materials from its site to train artificial intelligence, but does not refer to monitoring the site for purchasing.
However, the Gen Z millionaire asserts that his methods are “all 100% legal,” and many of their deals come from promotions that are sent out by the companies themselves.
“For example, Fanatics was giving away free gift cards for their event the other day,” he said. “We just found it before the general public did and claimed them.”
ShockedIO takes advantage of many states that have codified laws that allow consumers to resell retail products within the First Sale Doctrine.
The current member count is less than the company’s all-time peak, according to JS, noting that there have been better markets than now. “At previous peaks when the market was really good, we reached 1,500 members at a time,” he told Fortune.
How he “cooks”
Rather than functioning as a traditional marketplace, ShockedIO acts more like a research terminal for resellers. Members pay a monthly subscription to gain access to real-time alerts on discounts, inventory restocks, price discrepancies, and limited releases across dozens of retailers.
“We’re on top of every restock,” JS said. “These monitors are scraping product pages 24/7. As soon as Walmart puts something back in stock, it alerts us instantly.”
The software doesn’t buy the products itself. Instead, it constantly monitors retailers for changes that regular humans most certainly would miss.
“We’ve gotten things like PS5s for $50, $100 laptops, even free laptops,” JS said, noting that retailers sometimes cancel mistaken orders before they ship.
The practice is known within the community as finding “cooks,” products that can be purchased at discounted price, or can be sold for larger profit. According to JS, the entire network is supported by external software engineers that build automated bots that can scrape entire retail sites.
“For the actual monitors, we outsource them to developers that we’ve hired just over the years,” he said. “They’re pretty common at this point, but obviously the faster they are, the better.”
The implications of this business model are legally gray. Walmart’s terms of service states users cannot use applications to “scrape” or “datamine” materials from its site to train artificial intelligence, but does not refer to monitoring the site for purchasing.
A niche that is no longer niche
What began as a niche community for resellers has evolved into something closer to an information business, reflecting a broader shift in how Americans are building side hustles.
“The opportunities that are available to people that want to have side hustles definitely increased, mostly thanks to technology,” said Gian Luca Clementi, an economics professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “These platforms solved major problems by making it easier for people to find opportunities, build trust through reviews and coordinate payments.”
For reselling in particular, the biggest change has been scale.
Years ago, flipping collectibles or apparel could realistically sell only to neighbors or local buyers. Today, online marketplaces allow sellers to reach customers worldwide almost instantly, dramatically increasing demand and potential resale values.
“The ability to reach anyone worldwide at essentially no cost broadened the market dramatically,” Clementi said. “Years ago your market was your neighborhood. Today, your market is essentially the entire world.”
JS launched ShockedIO during the early months of the pandemic after noticing supply-chain shortages that made many products scarce and millions of Americans suddenly searching for ways to make money online.
“I graduated high school in 2020 around when COVID was happening,” JS said. “We were seeing huge supply chain issues, and everybody was home on their computers looking for a way to make money. Those two things kind of went hand in hand.”
According to an internal survey shared by ShockedIO, 40 of 44 new members report recouping the cost of their subscription within their first week.
The founder also believes that the community is much more than a professional reselling industry. He called the group his “second family,” particularly noting how helpful everyone in the space is.
“We definitely have people who are focused on expanding their net worth,” he said. “Then we have moms and dads who are just trying to save money on household cleaning supplies or stuff for their kids.”
Clementi cautions that the rise of these technology-enabled side hustles does not necessarily mean Americans are becoming financially worse off. Instead, he argues technology has simply expanded the number of opportunities available.
For ShockedIO, that means selling access to information rather than merchandise.
JS said he’s seen his subscription-based model grow very popular over the last few years. “I think it’s almost completely normalized at this point, and I think people in the past may have thought it was a little bit scammy,” he said, “but I think nowadays people realize that there’s definitely opportunity in it.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
