Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Turnover Tuesdays - An iPhone is not an iPad


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 - iPhone 6

I posted a deal for an iPhone 6 being sold on eBay for $600 on October 1st.  I said that you should be able to sell it for $750 on Amazon but I pointed out that I had never sold any phones so I wasn't really sure.  Immediately readers pointed out a few problems.  The main issue being that you need special approval to sell unlocked phones.  The listing, which allows you to sell was categorized as a cell phone case to get around the Amazon listing issue.  In addition, it was for an iPhone 6+ instead of an iPhone 6.

I had already bought 3 and I asked the seller to cancel within 30 minutes.  Apparently it was already too late.  They were going to ship them to me.

Well, I figured it is as good a time as any to figure out phones.  Not a great move

I spent a total of $1,800 on the 3 iPhones.




Credit Card Points 
I paid with a 2% credit card so I earned $36 in Credit Card points.


Shopping Portal

I used Inbox Dollars for 5% cashback, if I ever get paid.  Let's call that $0 for now.
Loyalty Points 


I earned $36 in eBay Bucks for the purchase.


Fulfillment by Amazon Fees


 I found this listing that allowed me to sell the iPhone.  I tried listing for $750, no bites  Then $725, no dice.  Then $700 and still nothing.  Finally, I listed at $675 and all 3 sold.  I don't know if it is because people know the prices they should be paying for iPhones before they buy them or it was just coincidence but that's the only time people bought for a bought a month and 3 were sold in one day at $675.


FBA fees were $54 per phone = $162 and shipping was $5 for all three so fees were a total of $167.



The Haul  

I paid $1,800 for the 3 phones.  I sold them for $2,025 - $167 in fees.  That's a takehome of $1,858.  So I earned a measly $58 or 3.22%



Here is how the numbers work
Cash = $58
Credit Card Points = $36
Portal Points = $0
Loyalty points = $36 in eBay Bucks

When you combine the credit card cash, eBay Bucks and portal cash, I earned an additional $72 (more than the sale - that's usually not a good sign).

My return on investment became about 7% or so.  If I can ever get my 5% from Inbox Dollars it won't be that horrible.

3% is really not enough for me.  None have been returned so far but if there was a return I would end up likely losing money on the deal.  Your profit margin needs to be higher.  I am trying to move towards 20% minimums (I'm referring to just the sale price) but I still will buy the 10% deals when they are expensive. In this scenario 5% from Inbox Dollars might get wiped out.  If I had made 20% from the sale, it wouldn't matter much, since I only made 3% it matters a lot more. iPads sell super fast, iPhones, not so much.
Posted by Oren at 8:00 AM
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