Independent E-Commerce & Hardware Venture

Overview

I built this venture to fund my education and technical development, scaling it from a high school resale hobby into a specialized electronics business. The business evolved in distinct stages: initially identifying market inefficiencies in collectibles, then pivoting to component-level hardware repair and software modding, and finally establishing an international supply chain for Japanese handheld consoles.

By 2024, the business reached a peak annual revenue of ~$72k ($100k+ lifetime) with a profit margin of ~24%. It served as a practical application of my technical skills, ranging from microsoldering to firmware modification, and provided a hands-on introduction to supply chain management and unit economics before I exited in August 2024 to focus fully on my Computer Science degree.

Phase 1: Market Arbitrage and Capital Accumulation

The initial phase (Feb 2022) focused on identifying undervalued assets to build the capital necessary for technical equipment.

High-Volume Asset Sorting

As a high school senior, I identified a market inefficiency in “Skylanders” game figures. Large, unsorted lots were often undervalued relative to the individual rarity of specific characters contained within them. I researched the values of each character and developed a strong intuition for quickly valuing these lots, purchasing them, and decoupling the rare assets for individual sale while repackaging the rest into custom lots.

Bootstrapping Technical Infrastructure

This initial arbitrage phase generated approximately $10k in first-year revenue. Rather than taking this as profit, I treated it as seed funding. I reinvested the capital to purchase a professional soldering station, a hot air rework station, and a suite of diagnostic tools. This hardware investment allowed me to pivot from simple resale to value-add engineering.

Phase 2: Hardware Restoration and Firmware Engineering

Post-graduation, I utilized my new lab equipment to enter the repair market, eventually finding a niche in the Nintendo 3DS ecosystem.

Component-Level Repair

I began purchasing non-functional and semi-functional devices to refurbish. Using hot air rework and microsoldering techniques, I repaired broken traces, replaced damaged ports, and swapped failing components. This process gave me a functional familiarity with consumer electronics design and troubleshooting common hardware failure points.

Firmware Modification (CFW)

I identified a high demand for “unlocked” hardware. I specialized in installing Custom Firmware (CFW) on Nintendo 3DS consoles. This process involved exploiting software vulnerabilities to bypass the manufacturer’s signed code restrictions, allowing users to run homebrew software and back up their physical media. I effectively converted standard hardware into open-platform devices, significantly increasing their market value.

Phase 3: International Supply Chain and Advanced Modding

The final phase involved optimizing the supply chain and expanding into hardware modifications.

Global Sourcing & Region Swapping

I analyzed the global market and discovered that Japanese 3DS consoles traded at a significant discount compared to North American units. I developed a process to import Japanese consoles and perform a “Region Swap”, a software procedure that changes the console’s firmware to US, allowing it to display English menus and play games from any region.

To stabilize this supply chain, I negotiated a wholesale agreement with a Japanese vendor, securing bulk shipments of high-quality units at ~20% below market rate.

Advanced Hardware Modifications

In addition to the 3DS workflow, I expanded my technical offerings to include hardware mods for other systems such as:

• Console Reshells: Migrating internals to high-quality special edition housings.

• GBA IPS Upgrades: Modifying Gameboy Advance consoles to support modern, high-backlight IPS screens and custom shells.

• GameCube PicoBoot: Soldering Raspberry Pi Pico microcontrollers directly to the GameCube motherboard (via the IPL injection method) to bypass the optical drive and load software from SD cards.

Refurbished New Nintendo 3DS LL with Pikachu Shell