Introduction
If you haven’t been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of that Discover 22% Apple Pay promo thing. Here’s my one and only post about it. Well since then, it seems like Discover wised up and added “No gift cards” to their terms and conditions. Now everyone is speculating or HOPING that Discover won’t know you bought gift cards and pay out, but Discover has been known to claw back, so instead of crossing my fingers, I’m going a more full-proof route – BACK TO RESELLING!
Staples is your friend
Because Discover is only going to pay out for retail purchases using Apple Pay, the list of reselling retailers that accept Apple Pay basically boils downt to Staples and Best Buy (YMMV.) What this means is that you’ll need to pay attention to Staples sales and pounce before others buy out all the sale items
iPads are your friend
So this past week, Staples had a sale on the iPad Air 2 16GB for $349+tax, the 64GB for $449+, etc. Since I got my iPhone 6S on Friday the 25th and the sale was ending on Saturday the 26th, I called around to all of my Staples to see if anyone had any in stock. I found a store down by the airport (30 min drive.) I went in and talked to the apparent General Manager. I told her I was looking to buy some iPad Air 2 16GBs. She asked, “What color?” I told her, “Any that you have in stock.” She went to look in the back.
She came back and apparently had all 3 colors in stock. I was shocked! I then asked her, “How many can I buy?” Her: “Are you pricematching or something?” Me: “No, my uncle is going to take these to Vietnam. So I’ll take as many as you’ll let me buy.” She then went back to the back and brought out 3 iPad 16GB’s and 1 64GB version. I didn’t ask her for more, but I’m sure she had at least another 64GB back in the back. Anyway, I decided to buy all 4 and they came out to be $1496 + WA tax of 9.5% = $1,638. GREAT! Now I’m 16% of the way to the $10K of spend.
Reselling
So last night, I’ve listed the 16GBs on eBay for $420 each. These are currently going on FBA for $425 or so. So let’s work the math if I sell this on eBay.
- Ebay sold price (hopefully) – $420
- Ebay fees for having a store – $16.80
- Paypal fees 2.9% + $.30 = $12.48
- USPS Padded Flat Rate Shipping – $6.15 (?)
- Total net = $385
Here is what I’d get on FBA:
- FBA sold price – $420
- FBA fees – $25.20
- Additional non-pro seller fee – $1
- Shipping to FBA – $5 (estimate)
- Total net = $388.80
Remind of what it cost me:
- My cost – $349 + 9.5% tax = $382
As you can see, the FBA net is a little higher than eBay. However, the good thing with eBay is that I can say ‘NO RETURNS.’ But if I sell on FBA, this will move within a day! So it’s really “quicker turnover” vs “not having to deal with a return.” For now, it’s listed on eBay, but I may move these to FBA just so I can get quicker sales. Just like regular MS – you want quicker turnover on your money and just assume there will be leakage (returns.)
If I do get stuck with a return, since I can’t return to Staples, I’ll probably just sell as ‘Used’ on Ebay for a little loss.
Remember all this doesn’t take into account the 22% Discover rebate. I’m breaking even right now as is, so once I get the 22%, my profit will be 22%!
So what now that the iPad sale ended?
I don’t know if Staples will have another round of sales on iPads, but clearly if they do, jump on it! Else, I may look into selling Fire TV’s again. Or I’m hoping my local Best Buy will enable Apple Pay. They used to have some great resell items on CLEARANCE and OPEN BOX items. So I’ll go that route as well as Staples.
4% ebay selling fees?? Are you sure they are so low???
Yes, if you have a Basic Store, it’s 4%. If you don’t, it’s something like 10%.
just curious, you said you cant return iPads to Staples… why not? if its still under the 30-60-90 day window, I would try and exchange it for a new one (or diff color to make it seem more feasible) and then relist again as new.
also have you listed or tried selling em on craigslist? I love ebay for the market they provide by hate their highway robbery charges/fees, not to mention the monster that is paypal as well.
“Technology and business machines — such as computers, digital cameras, printers and tablets — may only be returned within 14 days of the date of receipt, including Staples® brand technology and business machine products.”
A guy told me he sold his on CL, so I’ll list it as well. Won’t hurt.
I’m also in WA and found one Staples with iPads on Saturday. I was scared to buy more than one (I have had retail stores give me grief when I tried to buy more than one), so I decided to purchase one and then head to the next Staples. They were out 🙁
Have you found any Best Buys in the Seattle area that take Apple Pay?
I know the one in Issaquah takes it, but haven’t asked others. It sounded to me like the other ones should have been enabled too. re: staples – I figure if you don’t ask for quantity, they won’t give you quantity. Plus, it was in Burien; I wasn’t making that drive for ONE iPad.
Also, when you get a few returns Amazon is likely to suspend your account and lock any funds that are due to you. Then the endless process of getting the suspension revoked which might take weeks if successful.
Do you know how many returns before they do that?
There is no hard and fast rule. But most of the time the return is accompanied by a negative review (so the buyer gets free shipping on the return). This adds to the seller’s metrics that Amazon tracks for triggering the suspensions.
Okay good to know. thanks.
“A few returns” … maybe if you only have “a few sales” this is true, but also highly unlikely that all your iPads would get returns. I have more than “a few returns” and no problems at all with my FBA account. iPads in general are a very low return rate item, although obviously that bumps a bit when prices are unstable and new models may arrive (as now). Even so, when people return under these circumstances, it’s typically still NIB so it goes right back into your inventory. Plus, getting negative FBA reviews is trivial – either say it was a product review or due to the fulfillment process (which 99% of them are – what are they really reviewing about you as an FBA seller anyway?) and it gets nixed.
How much “slower” is ebay, compared to FBA, for selling stuff? Are we talking a day or two or much longer?
I just don’t like the idea that people can return a brand new item in god knows what condition and getaway with. The hassale, stress is just not worth it to me.
Remember that you get 5% back on your purchases due to staples rewards now that you spent over $1k.
Joe,
I have not sent ipads to FBA, but I hear they sell within a day or two. I’ve sold 2 iPads already within 36 hrs now on eBay, albeit at $20 lower than FBA though. It really depends on the item and your pricing on eBay.