Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Turnover Tuesdays - An iPad Idea for Manufactured Spending

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: eBay, Amazon


For those who are not familiar, I started a series four weeks ago 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 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


Normally, I like to talk about deals that I have bought in the past and show what happened start to finish.  Since there is a deal available now and won't be as lucrative tomorrow, I will mention it even though I just bought it.  Here is what I expect to happen.







The Item - iPad Air 2 64GB

Lately, I have been buying mostly iPads.  They sell super fast and I can run through inventory quickly.  If fact, I have a box of 10 iPads waiting to be shipped currently ($5.93 shipping to Amazon for all 10 instead of $4.50 if shipped individually!).




The seller BLUTEK sells on eBay.  I have no specific relationship with them except that I have bought items from them in the past with great customer service.   Items are as they say and they do not charge you for shipping or restocking fee even if the item is returned back to them.

BLUTEK on eBay is currently selling the iPad Air 2 64GB for $499.  Use coupon code C15FATHERSDAY to save another $15 off and knock the price down to $484.99





Notice the big fee for taxes?  Me either.  They don't charge taxes in NJ.  If you send to NY, shipping is over $40.  That's a margin killer!




Total price paid is $484.99








Shopping Portal


Top Cashback gives 1.1% cashback on eBay purchases so the $484.99 in gift cards earns $5.33 from Top Cashback.





Credit Card Points




There are a few ways to maximize this.  You can use the NBA card and earn 5% cashback ($24.25).  You can buy eBay gift cards at the grocery store with the NBA card and earn an additional $12.50 and maybe some fuel points too.

Pair that with your sign up bonus of $100 and it's getting pretty good already.

Let's assume for our discussion that the NBA card can't be used, you don't have any good credit cards to buy eBay Gift cards with and that you don't have any sign up bonuses to spend towards.  Let's use a 2% card like the Fidelity American Express, one of my favorites.  2% will earn you an additional $9.70.

Loyalty Points

You will earn $9.70 in eBay Bucks towards a future purchase.  If you resell, you will always have a future purchase to make ;)



Fulfillment By Amazon

Within the last week, I sold this iPad for $563 on Amazon.  No promises for future sales.

Amazon fees were $34.77.  Assuming you are shipping it by itself, your shipping fees to Amazon will be about $4.50 but much less if you ship multiple items in one package.

Your takehome is $523.73 after Amazon's fees.




Final Tally



$523.73 is better than the $484.99 by $38.74 or 7.99%.  Not too shabby just on the sale!

Here is how the numbers work
Cash = $38.74
Credit Card Points = $9.70 with Fidelity American Express.  Your numbers start exploding with the NBA card or any card with a sign up bonus.
Loyalty points = $9.70 in eBay Bucks
Portal Points = $5.33 from Top Cashback





The takehome is $63.47 if you assume eBay Bucks to be equivalent to regular money.  That's 13.09%!  Not too shabby at all!



If you use the NBA card for eBay gift cards at the grocery store, you will earn an additional $27.05.  Total takehome of $90.52 or 18.66%!  We're not done yet!

If you earn the $100 sign up bonus as well, you will earn $190.52 or over 39%!  Mind, Blown!

All this for about 10-15 minutes of work + the time it takes to buy eBay Gift Cards at the grocery store.




Lessons to be Learned


Even if you aren't going big with the NBA card, 13% is a nice haul.  Reselling can be lucrative if you know what you are doing.  This is also and great and quick wayto get closer to a spending threshold.

Be aware of the possible pitfalls when reselling and stick to deals like this where the margins are hard to miss and you will do much better.