Genius
A budding “little Del Boy” has been making a tidy profit by re-selling empty bottles of Prime energy drink to people dying to get their hands on the popular beverage.
Prime was created by YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul and has become one of the most sort after drinks in the country.
Demand for the drink has been fuelled by the popularity of both KSI and Paul among teenagers and children, with the pair sharing over 50 million subscribers between them.
Charlie Smith, 10, braved excessive queues outside Asda stores last month to get his hands on the drink, which was created by YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI.
But after drinking the contents, he didn’t throw the bottles away, instead seeing an opportunity to turn the empties into cold, hard cash by flogging them for more than they were worth when full.
Using his mum’s eBay account, the young entrepreneur netted his first sale of five empty bottles of Prime for £12, despite the unopened, full bottles normally retailing at £1.99 in supermarkets such as Asda and Aldi.
Charlie’s dad Adam Smith, 38, says it’s “ridiculous” that punters are forking out for the plastic trash but “can’t argue” with his son as he’s pulling in a 17 per cent profit margin.
He said: “I’ll be honest, we think it’s stupid that he’s buying drinks that they’re obsessed with for £2. But we can’t argue with him because he’s getting his money back on it.
“But it’s very normal for Charlie. He’s very good with his money, he doesn’t like spending it, put it that way, so he just thinks it’s brilliant that he can drink it for free.
“He likes trying to buy and sell anything to make a profit. Charlie’s a bit like a little Del Boy.”
Budding entrepreneur Charlie added: “I love it, I love making money. I want to be a businessman when I’m older.”
His dad said Charlie began hunting for the energy drink, which comes in a range of flavours and includes added vitamins, in the lead up to Christmas.
Using the Prime Tracker app on his phone, he located where and when supermarkets would stock the drink, allowing him to purchase a selection of flavours.
But when a friend asked if he could buy Charlie’s empty bottles off him, the ‘little Del Boy’ saw an opportunity.
Adam explained: “He managed to build up a collection of them all. He drank them all.
“Then one of his friends came round and wanted to buy an empty bottle off him. He said ‘no’ to that as he wanted to keep the collection.
“But after a while, as he’d been collecting them and trying to get hold of Prime stuff, he looked on eBay and saw what they were going for.”
Charlie, with Adam’s help, put five different flavours of the drink that he’d collected – ice pop, grape, lemon lime, orange and tropical punch – on auction site eBay. And remarkably, the empty bottles were snapped up for £2 more than the drinks retail for in supermarkets.
Since then Charlie has begun to look for new ways to get hold of the bottles and has started purchasing them from friends for £1 so he can sell them.
Adam said: “He got above the retail price of what they sell for a full bottle, which is ridiculous.
“Now he’s trying to buy them off other people empty for £1 to try and re-sell them.
“He’s got about 25 in his bedroom now. He’s been going through eBay but he was going to try and do Facebook Marketplace as well because there are other things there.”
Adam believed that other kids were keen on getting hold of the empty bottles of Prime as they were now being traded like a “trophy”.
He said: “I asked Charlie, and he said it’s just like having a little bit of a trophy. I think it’s stupid – but it’s just to say that you’ve had it.
“All the kids at his football, everybody has just been saying, ‘Which flavours have you tried?’ I think it’s just madness. Me and his mum find it quite comical. It’s just daft.”
But Adam thinks this might be just the start for Charlie who has always had an entrepreneurial streak.
He added: “He saves up his pocket money – and this is the main project he’s decided to do as he’s got older as everyone is just obsessed with it.
“The fact that you can sell empty bottles of a drink is just ridiculous.
“I was laughing about it because he said, “I wonder if there are any other empty bottles of products that we could buy and sell?” I said, “Absolutely not – this is a one-off!”
Related links:
- Dad spends £1k on Prime energy drink as Xmas presents for his kids
- Aldi shoppers rage at man’s shameless tactic to buy crate of Prime energy drink
- Aldi shoppers queue from 6am in hunt for Prime energy drink
