Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Turnover Tuesdays - What Happened to My Surface Pro 3?




For those who are not familiar, I started a series a while back called Turnover Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I 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 2 - My second straight fail
Week 3 - My iPad mini collection
Week 4 - Bed Bath and Beyond
Week 5 - An iPad Idea for Your Staples Gift Card Collection







The Item - Microsoft Surface Pro 3 i5 128GB


Best Buy had a flash sale on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 i5 128GB. Instead of the regular $800, it was being sold for $750.

I didn't post about it because I was making the purchase for Best Buy status.  Not too much profit to be had.

With tax,  it came out to $802.491.







Credit Card Points 
I earned $16.05 on my Discover it Credit Card ($8.02 now and $8.03 in 12 months).

Shopping Portal

At that point, Discover Deals was paying 5% for Best Buy.  That is $37.50 now and $37.50 after the 13th credit statement. 


Loyalty Points 

At the time I was Elite status (I am now Elite Plus) so I received a 10% bonus on points. Instead of earning 750 points,  I earned 825 points.  That's worth $16.50 towards a future Best Buy purchase.


Fulfillment by Amazon Fees


Amazon's FBA fee was about $52. and shipping was about $3.  Let's call fees $55 altogether.


The Haul  


I thought I would sell for about $860-$870 which was the going rate (maybe even a little bit more).  At that price,  I would break even and possibly make $10-$15 on the sale.  Meanwhile I would keep the portal money, credit card rewards and Best Buy rewards and get closer to more status.


That didn't happen.  I shipped the Surface in and it made it to Amazon.  Normally, it takes a maximum of a day to check in and be available for sale.

A couple weeks went by and it still wasn't available.  I started to get worried.  I filled out a report to reconcile my inventory.  At least I thought I did.  A couple more weeks went by and no response.  Turns out I never fully submitted the reconcile report.   Once I did it correctly,  I got a response from Amazon in two days.

Amazon said my surface was lost and I would be reimbursed in 48 hours if they didn't find it.  Normally they have a 45 day window but it had already been close to that.

I was offered $755.  It is nice to be reimbursed but I paid more than that when you include tax.



Appeal

I submitted an appeal.  I sent a picture of my invoice and said that the surface costs $800 (true when it isn't on sale) and was planning to sell for more and that $750 is not an acceptable reimbursement.

My appeal was approved and my reimbursement went up to $800.  Nice!  Less than the $860 I would have sold for but I didn't have to pay FBA fees and no chance of returns!




My Final Haul



I paid $802. My reimbursement was basically the same.




Here is how the numbers worked out:

Cash = $-5.50 (shipping fee)
Credit Card Points = $16.05
Portal Points = $75 from Discover
Loyalty points = $16.50 in Best Buy Rewards.


If you include the value of the credit card points, portal and loyalty points, the gain is ~$92, ~11%.  5% of that will not come until 12 months.  If I didn't appeal, the profit would have been about $50, all of which would be coming after 13 months.

It's nice to know that Amazon will reimburse you for lost items.  It's even nicer to know that they will legitimately listen to appeals if you can prove the item is worth more.
Posted by Oren at 8:00 AM
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