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For those who are not familiar, I started a series last week called Turnover Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I would like to highlight one item that I have resold. This will include profitable and non profitable sales. I hope that there is always something to learn.
Week 1 - First attempt at reselling
Week 3 - My iPad mini collection
Week 4 - Bed Bath and Beyond
Week 5 - An iPad Idea for Your Staples Gift Card Collection
My first resale ever resulted in a loss of $10.68 and almost 1,600 southwest miles that have still yet to post. The most significant point of this sale is actually something I learned to look out for when buying on Amazon. You can scroll to the bottom for that.
Here comes my second sale:
I was fresh off my loss from the Sears deal so I was determined to buy something with a larger spread. Slickdeals had the Logitech Z623 speaker system from Newegg for $99. With tax (lesson learned) that is $107.
The poster was even nice enough to provide a link to Amazon
within Slickdeals as a price comparison. Amazon was at $136. That's a $19, after taxes no less! I'm in.
There was a maximum purchase of 3 so of course I bought 3. It's already funny looking back. Final price is $320.97 after tax.
I don't think I had actually started checking the Fulfillment by Amazon Revenue Calculator, but had I checked, I would have seen that I probably would have come away with $109 after Amazon fees. That's not great, but at least I wouldn't be losing anything.
Here is what actually happened:
Southwest was offering 3x miles per $1 spent at newegg. I earned 900 miles from this purchase.
These miles posted to my account even though the purchase was after my first resale which still hasn't purchased. We'll see what happens with that.
Grand Total = 900 Southwest Points
I used a Barclays Arrival to actually make the purchase. Let's call that 2% cashback. It's really a 2.22222% cashback on travel but 2% is easier.
2% cashback on $320.97 is $6.42
I earned $0.00 in EggPoints. I've never earned EggPoints. Still not sure how that works.
Each item weighed over 20 lbs! It was a pain to bring to UPS.
Amazon charged me $23.44 per item or $70.32 for all three.
My biggest problem was yet to be seen.
When I tried to list the item for sale, I noticed something interesting:
Did you catch it?
If yes, good for you. If not, look at the condition the item can be sold as. Refurbished, Used - Like New, Used - Very Good, etc. What's missing? New!
A veteran reseller is not surprised at this. Many items cannot be considered new according to Amazon. I new of this in theory, but I didn't think to check before I bought the item.
I thought about returning the items to Newegg. Newegg offered a refund for the items, but I would have to pay for shipping. Remember when I said they were 20 lbs each? Shipping would be over $100 back to newegg before any restocking fees! That wasn't happening.
I decided to take a chance. I sold them on Amazon as Used - Like New. In the description, I wrote that they are in the original packaging and have never been opened.
Instead of selling them at $134, I put the price at $125. They didn't sell superfast, but within 2 weeks, all three were gone at $125.
$375 in revenue - $70.32 in fees = $304.68
The $320.97 I paid is still more than the $304.68 I got back. I lost $16.29 overall or $5.43 per item.
Cash = -$16.29
Credit Card Points = $6.42 towards travel
Newegg Point = $0.00
Miles = 900 Southwest Points
My second sale is my second fail! Don't worry there are some good lessons from this one and some selling successes coming up as well.
1) Check the condition you can resell before buying!
At this point, I pretty much make a dummy sale before I actually buy the item so that there should be very few kinks going forwards.
2) Don't only buy new items, check the Like New items!
This is the most important lesson. If you are buying an item on Amazon, don't just automatically go to the new items. It could be that the Like New section has items in the exact same condition, but the seller wasn't allowed to list the item as new. You could end up getting a bargain!
Stay tuned for the next Turnover Tuesday!
For those who are not familiar, I started a series last week called Turnover Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I would like to highlight one item that I have resold. This will include profitable and non profitable sales. I hope that there is always something to learn.
Week 1 - First attempt at reselling
Week 3 - My iPad mini collection
Week 4 - Bed Bath and Beyond
Week 5 - An iPad Idea for Your Staples Gift Card Collection
My first resale ever resulted in a loss of $10.68 and almost 1,600 southwest miles that have still yet to post. The most significant point of this sale is actually something I learned to look out for when buying on Amazon. You can scroll to the bottom for that.
Here comes my second sale:
The Item - Logitech Z623 Speaker System
I was fresh off my loss from the Sears deal so I was determined to buy something with a larger spread. Slickdeals had the Logitech Z623 speaker system from Newegg for $99. With tax (lesson learned) that is $107.
The poster was even nice enough to provide a link to Amazon
within Slickdeals as a price comparison. Amazon was at $136. That's a $19, after taxes no less! I'm in.There was a maximum purchase of 3 so of course I bought 3. It's already funny looking back. Final price is $320.97 after tax.
I don't think I had actually started checking the Fulfillment by Amazon Revenue Calculator, but had I checked, I would have seen that I probably would have come away with $109 after Amazon fees. That's not great, but at least I wouldn't be losing anything.
Here is what actually happened:
Shopping Portal
Southwest was offering 3x miles per $1 spent at newegg. I earned 900 miles from this purchase.
These miles posted to my account even though the purchase was after my first resale which still hasn't purchased. We'll see what happens with that.
Grand Total = 900 Southwest Points
Credit Card Points
I used a Barclays Arrival to actually make the purchase. Let's call that 2% cashback. It's really a 2.22222% cashback on travel but 2% is easier.
2% cashback on $320.97 is $6.42
Loyalty Points
I earned $0.00 in EggPoints. I've never earned EggPoints. Still not sure how that works.
Fulfillment By Amazon Fees
Amazon charged me $23.44 per item or $70.32 for all three.
Problem with My Amazon Listing
My biggest problem was yet to be seen.
When I tried to list the item for sale, I noticed something interesting:
Did you catch it?
If yes, good for you. If not, look at the condition the item can be sold as. Refurbished, Used - Like New, Used - Very Good, etc. What's missing? New!
A veteran reseller is not surprised at this. Many items cannot be considered new according to Amazon. I new of this in theory, but I didn't think to check before I bought the item.
I thought about returning the items to Newegg. Newegg offered a refund for the items, but I would have to pay for shipping. Remember when I said they were 20 lbs each? Shipping would be over $100 back to newegg before any restocking fees! That wasn't happening.
I decided to take a chance. I sold them on Amazon as Used - Like New. In the description, I wrote that they are in the original packaging and have never been opened.
Instead of selling them at $134, I put the price at $125. They didn't sell superfast, but within 2 weeks, all three were gone at $125.
$375 in revenue - $70.32 in fees = $304.68
Final Tally
The $320.97 I paid is still more than the $304.68 I got back. I lost $16.29 overall or $5.43 per item.
Cash = -$16.29
Credit Card Points = $6.42 towards travel
Newegg Point = $0.00
Miles = 900 Southwest Points
My second sale is my second fail! Don't worry there are some good lessons from this one and some selling successes coming up as well.
Lessons to be Learned
1) Check the condition you can resell before buying!
At this point, I pretty much make a dummy sale before I actually buy the item so that there should be very few kinks going forwards.
2) Don't only buy new items, check the Like New items!
This is the most important lesson. If you are buying an item on Amazon, don't just automatically go to the new items. It could be that the Like New section has items in the exact same condition, but the seller wasn't allowed to list the item as new. You could end up getting a bargain!
Stay tuned for the next Turnover Tuesday!
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