Introduction
Mark, one of my readers, wrote about how he did on those Amazon Fire HD tablets on MTM 3 months ago. I had also bought 32 (16 of the HD7 and 16 of the HD8.) Instead of flipping immediately, I knew the market would be flooded, so I waited until holiday time to list them on Ebay. It was a gamble because if Amazon had come out with a newer version, I would have lost a lot of money. Luckily, nothing changed.
The math
I listed the Fire7 for $50 and the Fire8 for $60. They actually sold fairly quickly and I probably underpriced them. I have an Ebay store, so my fees are lower than Mark’s. My Ebay fee is 4% for tablets and 3% for Paypal ($3.50 fee total.) I also realized the Fire 7 is about 16 oz, so I paid for first class shipping which was $4.16, so total fees were $7.66.
- Gross – $50
- Fees – $3.50
- Shipping – $4.16
- Net – $42.34
- Tablet cost – $16.50
- Profit = ~$26 (157% ROI)
The Fire8 numbers were a bit similar. Shipping was in a padded flat rate envelope, so the profit was only ~$22 for each of them (80% ROI).
All 32 tablets netted me a profit of $768.
Issues
One person wanted to return because they needed more memory. Sorry, no returns! One wanted to return a Fire 7 because they wanted the bigger Fire 8 instead. Sorry, no returns! I had one Paypal chargeback, which it still pending, but I should win since I proved I shipped it out.
Conclusion
I took a gamble by waiting for Christmas versus unloading them immediately. If you are presented with a similar opportunity, you should Google product release timelines. For instance, if Best Buy has an iPad sale and it’s been a year since the last iPad launch, you should Google if it’s near a launch event. If it is, you should pass. If it has only been 6 months or so since the launch, then it’d be a good flip opportunity.
by the way how’s the harry potter resell market going?
Haven’t sold any yet
Smart waiting to sell them. I have an issue with space living in NYC when you’re paying $$$$ per square foot and kids, can’t have the apartment becoming a warehouse. I sold them for about 44 and 54 each. On the bright side, they were all gone under 24 hours sitting with my doorman to be picked up by USPS.
Nice job, Vinh. I resold a few when they came out but chicken-ed out and returned the rest.
Awesome write up – now I am really kicking myself! Getting hit with 15% in fees killed me some on top of that. I did love that the 7’s came in right at 16 oz shipped.
I profited about 20-27 per tablet, not taking into account any CC cash back or points. I sold many through eBay and three in person through FB – the guy actually paid me $60 in cash for three of them AND met me across the street from my house in West Seattle. That was a good run! Wish I had bought many many more, but I’m still learning about reselling.