Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Uncle Peter's shopping tips
Dad, Diana, and I got this email message from Uncle Peter. Thought I'd post it here since he is indeed a Hallman! I wrote him an email about visiting Vegas sometime next year. Kevin and I are thinking of visiting Vegas some time. If you have any suggestions of where to stay and what to do--please let us know! We are definitely not going to gamble very much at all.
Without further ado, here is Uncle Peter's email....
Tis the season to shop so I thought I would give you my 2 cent tip.
I love Ebay.
Here is an example: I bought a speaker in August 2006 for 286. I just sold it today for 356 less 39 shipping cost for a net profit of $31 after using it for over a year. If you have a lot of spare time on your hands like me it can be fun. This works well for home theatre electronics, tools and cameras. I currently have 7 other ads on Ebay for my old equipment. I have bought or sold almost 100 items on Ebay in the last year and half. This allows me to buy new equipment every year at low price and sell it a year or so later for more than I paid for it. You can check out some of my Ebay ads by searching for nv_kid.
Here is how it works. Everything in retail is usually marked up 100% by the retailer. The retailer buys from the distributor at 50 and sells it at 100 (except clothing & jewelry which are marked up higher).
You just buy the items new on Ebay auction – just make sure you buy it near or a little above wholesale price. If the bid goes to high – don’t buy it. Wait for your price. I generally watch the prices on the item I am interested for a couple of weeks so that I have a feel for the bottom market price. Be sure to keep the boxes the items comes in with all the packing material which you will reuse when it comes time to sell. Generally don’t try to buy between 11/15 – 12/25 as you will have to much completion and will end up paying over the market price.
Use it for a year or so and sell with your 10 day auction timed to end at 6pm Sunday. This gets two weekends of maximum prime time bidding action on your item up for sale. The best time to sell of course is the first week of December.
If you can buy just after a new model comes out (buy the new model). Sell the old one after your new one arrives. Many Ebay buyers are unaware that the new models have come out so they believe that the last year’s model you are selling is the current model.
The worst items to sell – are furniture and clothing. You can only sell them for pennies on the dollar. If you need them you can buy them cheap on www.craigslist.org or free by registering with www.freecycle.org.
If you are needing a new kitchen – I currently see a lot of new kitchen cabinets and appliances on the market. It appears that house flippers who have been unable to sell their flip are stripping the new houses they bought and are selling the kitchens. They show up for sale on craigslist. Just be sure to plan and measure your remodel twice and buy only once. I use Craigslist to upgrade my rental house appliances annually. I will find bargain appliances a year old or younger at cheap price and sell my old still working appliance for about the same or greater price I purchased their replacements. The trick is you have to be able to rush and buy the bargains within the first hour they hit the internet. I typically purchase a slightly used washer, dryer, or stove for $150 or less each which originally retailed for $375 or more.
My shopping pet peeve:
Why is it that men’s slippers are only on sale in for three weeks of the year? It seems they don’t appear until after Thanksgiving and by December 12th all of my size are sold, gone for a year. This has been my experience for the last 5 years.
Merry Xmas and happy shopping.
Without further ado, here is Uncle Peter's email....
Tis the season to shop so I thought I would give you my 2 cent tip.
I love Ebay.
Here is an example: I bought a speaker in August 2006 for 286. I just sold it today for 356 less 39 shipping cost for a net profit of $31 after using it for over a year. If you have a lot of spare time on your hands like me it can be fun. This works well for home theatre electronics, tools and cameras. I currently have 7 other ads on Ebay for my old equipment. I have bought or sold almost 100 items on Ebay in the last year and half. This allows me to buy new equipment every year at low price and sell it a year or so later for more than I paid for it. You can check out some of my Ebay ads by searching for nv_kid.
Here is how it works. Everything in retail is usually marked up 100% by the retailer. The retailer buys from the distributor at 50 and sells it at 100 (except clothing & jewelry which are marked up higher).
You just buy the items new on Ebay auction – just make sure you buy it near or a little above wholesale price. If the bid goes to high – don’t buy it. Wait for your price. I generally watch the prices on the item I am interested for a couple of weeks so that I have a feel for the bottom market price. Be sure to keep the boxes the items comes in with all the packing material which you will reuse when it comes time to sell. Generally don’t try to buy between 11/15 – 12/25 as you will have to much completion and will end up paying over the market price.
Use it for a year or so and sell with your 10 day auction timed to end at 6pm Sunday. This gets two weekends of maximum prime time bidding action on your item up for sale. The best time to sell of course is the first week of December.
If you can buy just after a new model comes out (buy the new model). Sell the old one after your new one arrives. Many Ebay buyers are unaware that the new models have come out so they believe that the last year’s model you are selling is the current model.
The worst items to sell – are furniture and clothing. You can only sell them for pennies on the dollar. If you need them you can buy them cheap on www.craigslist.org or free by registering with www.freecycle.org.
If you are needing a new kitchen – I currently see a lot of new kitchen cabinets and appliances on the market. It appears that house flippers who have been unable to sell their flip are stripping the new houses they bought and are selling the kitchens. They show up for sale on craigslist. Just be sure to plan and measure your remodel twice and buy only once. I use Craigslist to upgrade my rental house appliances annually. I will find bargain appliances a year old or younger at cheap price and sell my old still working appliance for about the same or greater price I purchased their replacements. The trick is you have to be able to rush and buy the bargains within the first hour they hit the internet. I typically purchase a slightly used washer, dryer, or stove for $150 or less each which originally retailed for $375 or more.
My shopping pet peeve:
Why is it that men’s slippers are only on sale in for three weeks of the year? It seems they don’t appear until after Thanksgiving and by December 12th all of my size are sold, gone for a year. This has been my experience for the last 5 years.
Merry Xmas and happy shopping.
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Market price, opportunity costs... spoken like a true Hallman. We should get Uncle Pete on the Blog.
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