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.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
(Lots of?) Free Tall Starbucks Drink(s?) at Target Stores
Target is sending out coupons to many people's email addresses offering a free Tall (that's another way of saying small, duh!) drink at Starbucks in your Target stores. The email comes with a unique bar code to scan.
Coupons expire on 3/19/2016
It's nice to have a free drink available when you are sourcing, I mean shopping, at Target.
If you look at the Terms and Conditions, you may be able to use this coupon 4 times a day, every day until the 19th. That's pretty amazing! We'll see if it work
∗Item Coupon. Valid in store only. Limit one manufacturer and one Target coupon per item. Limit of 4 identical coupons per household, per day. Void if copied, scanned, altered, transferred, purchased, sold or prohibited by law. Item(s) may not be available at all stores. Quantities limited; no rain checks. Maximum retail value $14.95 for free item. Coupon value may not exceed value of item purchased. No cash value.
(highlighting is my own)
Coupons expire on 3/19/2016
It's nice to have a free drink available when you are sourcing, I mean shopping, at Target.
If you look at the Terms and Conditions, you may be able to use this coupon 4 times a day, every day until the 19th. That's pretty amazing! We'll see if it work
∗Item Coupon. Valid in store only. Limit one manufacturer and one Target coupon per item. Limit of 4 identical coupons per household, per day. Void if copied, scanned, altered, transferred, purchased, sold or prohibited by law. Item(s) may not be available at all stores. Quantities limited; no rain checks. Maximum retail value $14.95 for free item. Coupon value may not exceed value of item purchased. No cash value.
(highlighting is my own)
Sunday, March 6, 2016
A Good Day to Look at Kohl's...
There are quite a few reasons why today is a good day to look for items to buy from Kohl's
If you have a Kohl's Charge Card use coupon code SUNNY for 30% off.
Earn $10 in Kohl's Cash for every $50 you spend
Earn $5 in Yes2You Rewards (need to enroll to earn Yes2You) for every $100 you spend
Use Upromise Shopping portal for 7% cashback.
Use a discount gift card for 12% off (current rate at Raise - affiliate link). You can earn 2% cashback from Splender for the first $1,000 you spend at Raise across all portals.
Here is an example of what you can save:
If you spend $145, your total will be $101.50 after the coupon and you will be eligible for free shipping ($100 after all discounts).
You will pay about $90 for that $101.50 when you pay with a gift card.
You will also earn $2 from your credit card assuming you paid for the gift card with a Credit Card earning 2%.
In addition, you will earn $7.10 from Upromise, $20 in Kohl's Cash and $5 in Yes2You Rewards.
Let's assume you value Yes2Rewards and Kohl's Cash as regular money (you most definitely should not!), you are actually paying about $67 (add in tax somewhere there) for $145 of merchandise.
Goodness gracious!
If like a good lemming (joking of course), you bought Kohl's Gift Card on eBay when I suggested, your gift cards will actually be 17% off (instead of 12%), with 8% in eBay Bucks and 2.5% from Top Cashback on top of everything else.
If you don't have a Upromise account you can email me at orensmoneysaver@gmail.com for a referral and we will both get $20.
If you have a Kohl's Charge Card use coupon code SUNNY for 30% off.
Earn $10 in Kohl's Cash for every $50 you spend
Earn $5 in Yes2You Rewards (need to enroll to earn Yes2You) for every $100 you spend
Use Upromise Shopping portal for 7% cashback.
Use a discount gift card for 12% off (current rate at Raise - affiliate link). You can earn 2% cashback from Splender for the first $1,000 you spend at Raise across all portals.
Here is an example of what you can save:
If you spend $145, your total will be $101.50 after the coupon and you will be eligible for free shipping ($100 after all discounts).
You will pay about $90 for that $101.50 when you pay with a gift card.
You will also earn $2 from your credit card assuming you paid for the gift card with a Credit Card earning 2%.
In addition, you will earn $7.10 from Upromise, $20 in Kohl's Cash and $5 in Yes2You Rewards.
Let's assume you value Yes2Rewards and Kohl's Cash as regular money (you most definitely should not!), you are actually paying about $67 (add in tax somewhere there) for $145 of merchandise.
Goodness gracious!
If like a good lemming (joking of course), you bought Kohl's Gift Card on eBay when I suggested, your gift cards will actually be 17% off (instead of 12%), with 8% in eBay Bucks and 2.5% from Top Cashback on top of everything else.
If you don't have a Upromise account you can email me at orensmoneysaver@gmail.com for a referral and we will both get $20.
Friday, March 4, 2016
Amazon and the Mysterious Case of the Lost Inventory - Part 1 - Let's Do Math!
I really enjoy reselling merchandise on Amazon. The buyer's experience is incredible and the number of customers is phenomenal. I want to sell products where people are buying and that's the main reason I choose Amazon. It also helps that Amazon has set up FBA and I don't have to store items or fulfill the orders.
After reselling for close to a year, the honeymoon stage has started to wear off and I'm beginning to see some major issues in the reselling platform specifically related to inventory tracking.
For a long time, I was using a spreadsheet for all of my tracking which was working for me but it becoming rather time intensive. I looked to Inventory Lab for a solution and to avoid manual tracking. I was extremely excited with Inventory Lab's capabilities but I've started to realize that Inventory Lab is great for tracking sales and COGS of those sales but does nothing for inventory tracking and reconciliation.
I need to know that if I sent in 10 units of one SKU into Amazon, that those 10 units have been received by Amazon, placed in my inventory and then sold. If they are lost or damaged by Amazon, I need to know that I was reimbursed. If there is only 8 units in my inventory and I only sold one, that's a major problem.
What happened to my missing inventory? If I don't get reimbursed for that it's a straight loss and my wallet refuses to accept that.
The situation has gotten quite bad from Amazon that I am back to using a spreadsheet to track all of my inventory and whether anything is missing. You too might be missing lots of inventory and you might not know it if you don't do a great job tracking.
This is part 1 of a series highlighting the major issues I have found in the Amazon tracking software. Some are major only because of the consistency of the issue (a few dollars here and there really adds up) and some are major even if they happen just one time.
Amazon has a very powerful reconciliation tool built into Seller Central. You can put in any SKU for any time period and it will tell you in detail what has happened to this item.
Here is how to find it:
Click on Reports>Fulfillment
and then you can click on Inventory Reconciliation on the Left
Let's take iPad Air 2 64GB Space Gray as an example: Here is what comes up for me from the start of my selling history.
The most surprising thing to me is that I only sold 5 of them. Really? I guess it's possible. Either way, I sent in 5, I sold 5 and I should have none in my inventory and I do not. Everything checks out just fine. Yay for Math!
Here is another more complicated example but once again everything is fine.
I sent in 15. 2 were lost but 2 were found. I sold 15. That's great. 3 were returned (that's what happens when you sell bad products) and 3 were removed and are currently in my basement.
What happens when it doesn't check out? Let's take one example:
Hmm. I sent in 5, didn't sell any and now I have 1. None were lost or damaged. Why do I have 1 instead of 5? That's not good. Especially since I have no reimbursement for that SKU. How many do I actually have in my inventory? You guessed it, one!
How about this one?
I sent in 14. 14 were received, 1 was lost and 1 was found. How many should have? 14
How many does Amazon say I should have? 11. How many units do I actually have? 9
Now, to Amazon's credit, the first screenshot was taken a couple of days ago. The newest reconciliation correctly shows that I have 9 units but once again does not accurately reflect how they got to 9 when I sent in 14. Of course, I have no reimbursement for these units because they aren't lost according to the system.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Amazonian math.
I hope you enjoyed Part 1. More fun to come in upcoming posts...
After reselling for close to a year, the honeymoon stage has started to wear off and I'm beginning to see some major issues in the reselling platform specifically related to inventory tracking.
For a long time, I was using a spreadsheet for all of my tracking which was working for me but it becoming rather time intensive. I looked to Inventory Lab for a solution and to avoid manual tracking. I was extremely excited with Inventory Lab's capabilities but I've started to realize that Inventory Lab is great for tracking sales and COGS of those sales but does nothing for inventory tracking and reconciliation.
I need to know that if I sent in 10 units of one SKU into Amazon, that those 10 units have been received by Amazon, placed in my inventory and then sold. If they are lost or damaged by Amazon, I need to know that I was reimbursed. If there is only 8 units in my inventory and I only sold one, that's a major problem.
What happened to my missing inventory? If I don't get reimbursed for that it's a straight loss and my wallet refuses to accept that.
The situation has gotten quite bad from Amazon that I am back to using a spreadsheet to track all of my inventory and whether anything is missing. You too might be missing lots of inventory and you might not know it if you don't do a great job tracking.
This is part 1 of a series highlighting the major issues I have found in the Amazon tracking software. Some are major only because of the consistency of the issue (a few dollars here and there really adds up) and some are major even if they happen just one time.
It's Math Time
Amazon has a very powerful reconciliation tool built into Seller Central. You can put in any SKU for any time period and it will tell you in detail what has happened to this item.
Here is how to find it:
Click on Reports>Fulfillment
and then you can click on Inventory Reconciliation on the Left
Let's take iPad Air 2 64GB Space Gray as an example: Here is what comes up for me from the start of my selling history.
The most surprising thing to me is that I only sold 5 of them. Really? I guess it's possible. Either way, I sent in 5, I sold 5 and I should have none in my inventory and I do not. Everything checks out just fine. Yay for Math!
Here is another more complicated example but once again everything is fine.
I sent in 15. 2 were lost but 2 were found. I sold 15. That's great. 3 were returned (that's what happens when you sell bad products) and 3 were removed and are currently in my basement.
What happens when it doesn't check out? Let's take one example:
Hmm. I sent in 5, didn't sell any and now I have 1. None were lost or damaged. Why do I have 1 instead of 5? That's not good. Especially since I have no reimbursement for that SKU. How many do I actually have in my inventory? You guessed it, one!
How about this one?
I sent in 14. 14 were received, 1 was lost and 1 was found. How many should have? 14
How many does Amazon say I should have? 11. How many units do I actually have? 9
Now, to Amazon's credit, the first screenshot was taken a couple of days ago. The newest reconciliation correctly shows that I have 9 units but once again does not accurately reflect how they got to 9 when I sent in 14. Of course, I have no reimbursement for these units because they aren't lost according to the system.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Amazonian math.
I hope you enjoyed Part 1. More fun to come in upcoming posts...
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Referral Links for 35k Starwoods Personal and Business
Hi All,
As I'm sure you are all aware, Starwoods just came out with an increased sign up bonus. It is normally 30k Starpoints when it increases and it now 35k Starpoints.
You can check out "The DoC" for more information on the card.
I don't have a referral link myself but here is one from a friend of the blog:
American Express Starwoods Personal
American Express Starwoods Business
As I'm sure you are all aware, Starwoods just came out with an increased sign up bonus. It is normally 30k Starpoints when it increases and it now 35k Starpoints.
You can check out "The DoC" for more information on the card.
I don't have a referral link myself but here is one from a friend of the blog:
American Express Starwoods Personal
American Express Starwoods Business
Best Buy 5% Cashback Removed from Discover Deals
When I checked last night and again this morning, 5% cashback at Best Buy had been removed from Discover Deals.
The only deal available to me was 20% off one appliance. Both deals were available as of yesterday afternoon.
This is a big hit. I spend a lot at Best Buy (watch out for bans, they do happen!) and the next best portal is 2%. That's a big difference especially with Discover hopefully doubling my money soon.
What do you guys see in your Discover accounts?
The only deal available to me was 20% off one appliance. Both deals were available as of yesterday afternoon.
This is a big hit. I spend a lot at Best Buy (watch out for bans, they do happen!) and the next best portal is 2%. That's a big difference especially with Discover hopefully doubling my money soon.
What do you guys see in your Discover accounts?
Portals May No Longer Pay Out for eBay Gift Cards on eBay
HT: @joeyredmond
eBay has sent a notice out to their affiliates that they are no longer considering purchases of eBay gift cards to be a revenue sales and are therefore not going to pay a commission on those sales
I don't know the ins and outs of portals but my understand is that many portals use a similar program for tracking of sales. If true, this would mean that portals would no longer pay out for purchases of eBay Gift Cards.
The truth is that portals already exclude eBay Gift Cards from cashback but in practice many times you still get cashback for that. This may no longer be true after March 6th. Time will tell.
Here is the whole email:
eBay has sent a notice out to their affiliates that they are no longer considering purchases of eBay gift cards to be a revenue sales and are therefore not going to pay a commission on those sales
I don't know the ins and outs of portals but my understand is that many portals use a similar program for tracking of sales. If true, this would mean that portals would no longer pay out for purchases of eBay Gift Cards.
The truth is that portals already exclude eBay Gift Cards from cashback but in practice many times you still get cashback for that. This may no longer be true after March 6th. Time will tell.
Here is the whole email:
Dear Valued Publisher,
|
We wanted to inform you of changes being rolled out regarding eBay gift cards, and to let you know how these changes may affect your affiliate promotions. Beginning March 6, 2016, eBay will no longer count sales of eBay-branded gift cards within checkout metrics, as they will no longer be counted as revenue-generating items for eBay. What this means for our partners is that you will no longer be able to earn affiliate commissions by driving sales of eBay-branded gift cards after March 6. While no other merchant gift cards sold on eBay are affected by this change, you should be aware that gift cards in general can result in little to no affiliate commissions based oneBay’s revenue on these products. Because we want to make sure you are maximizing your affiliate earnings, we also want to remind you that products which earn little to no affiliate commissions include items sold by charities, extended warranties, and occasionally items sold on eBay Stores with seller fee promotions. We welcome any questions regarding these changes at epn-cs-english@ebay.com. Thank you for your continued partnership. Sincerely, eBay Partner Network |
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Turnover Tuesdays - I Should Have Taken My Own Advice
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.
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