I’ve been wanting to get into Retail Arbitrage
Yesterday I took the first step!
Back around November 2018, I saw a video on YouTube that brought some memories back to me. It was about retail arbitrage.
What is Retail Arbitrage? Well, it is the practice of buying goods in one store, then selling it through another store or platform. For example, maybe you buy some Surge Suppressor Power Strips at Walmart for a low price, then turn around and sell them on Amazon. You might think that the prices at Walmart and Amazon are more or less the same, but in many cases, you would be very wrong. This would apply, especially to goods that are on clearance at Walmart (or whatever store you choose), so you buy them at the low clearance price, and sell them at full retail on Amazon, or another platform.
Yesterday, I took my first step toward actually doing it. I have an eBay account, but on that particular account, I have only bought things. Yesterday, I listed 3 items for sale on eBay. It is a small start, but I had been dragging my feet and it felt good to take that first baby step.
My History on eBay and Amazon
On eBay I have been a seller before, but many years ago. Back when eBay first got started, in 1996, I found out about it, made a couple of purchases, and I was hooked. Soon, I was also selling on the platform, and my sales kept climbing.
At that time, I also had a job as well, I was working for SEH America, a Japanese company that manufactured Silicon Wafers (used to make computer chips). I started selling on eBay to supplement my income, but it did not take long and my eBay earnings were more than what I earned on my full-time job.
When we moved to the Philippines, I gave up eBay, although I did not want to. About 3 years later, though, I was finding it tough to make money in the Philippines, and I was facing a decision of either learning how to earn income there, or moving back to the United States. I did not want to move back to the USA at that time, so I figured out how to make a living there. I started selling on eBay again. And, boy did I start selling. For about 8 years, I was a big seller on eBay. I achieved Gold Level Power Seller Status (you had to exceed US$50,000 in sales for 3 consecutive months to reach that level). So, as you can see, I had a pretty successful run on eBay.
But, I got tired, I was burned out with eBay, so I moved on to other things, and continued to do well.
Back in 2015, I started selling on Amazon. I never have achieved the level of sales on Amazon that I had on eBay in the early 2000s, but I was not really trying to achieve that either.
Being reintroduced to Retail Arbitrage made me want to move
Part of my desire to move back to the USA was because I was really hungry to go big time with Retail Arbitrage. With my past experience on both eBay and Amazon, I knew I could do well.
I have been dragging my feet a bit, though.
Transportation was an issue
Because I have an eye condition that is rather serious, I am not very mobile. I walk a lot, and go all over town both walking and on the bus, but I don’t drive (yet). I am moving toward being able to drive, but I am not there yet.
After a lot of serious thought, I decided that it would be difficult sourcing merchandise to sell due to my vision problem.
I came up with another solution
There is a Liquidation Website where you can buy all kinds of closeouts, customer returns, even salvage goods. The website I am referring to is Liquidation.com.
For a few months I have been following liquidation pallet auctions on Liquidation, and I decided I wanted to move forward.
Today, I made a huge step toward my reselling business
Actually, it started yesterday. I was browsing on Liquidation.com to see if I could find any auctions that were of interest, and that I could make money on.
I found several auctions that looked promising, but one, in particular, was of interest.
I found an auction of Customer Returns of Electronics items. I know that category of goods quite well and thought I’d enjoy selling that stuff. One thing caught my eye in particular. A Dymo 4XL thermal printer. I have been on the verge of ordering a Dymo 4XL. It prints labels to put on products and also for packaging for my arbitrage sales. I kind of need on, at least it would make my job easier.
That Dymo 4XL is $229 on Amazon. It happened that this pallet of electronics items included a Dymo 4XL printer. The entire pallet was available for $200. I started watching it and somebody bid $200 on it. I wanted that printer, and all of the rest on the pallet would be stuff I could sell. I figured up that if I kept the printer, I could sell the rest of the stuff for around $650. I put in a bid of $230 on the pallet.
This morning when I got up, I checked the pallet auction, my bid was still on top. Although I bid $230, my bid was actually $210, but would increase as high as $230 if others tried to bid.
The auction ended at about 1:30 PM this afternoon, and I won! $210 won the auction. I also had to pay a buyer’s premium fee and shipping on the pallet. My total spend was $330. So, for $330 I would get my Dymo 4XL label printer and goods that I should be able to sell for about $650. Not bad.
After the Auction
Within 5 minutes of the auction closing, I paid for the pallet. I wanted to pay quickly, because I heard that if you pay early enough in the day, Liquidation.com sometimes ships your goods the same day. And… they did! The warehouse where this particular lot of goods was located is only a little more than an hour from where I live, so I am scheduled to get my auction goods tomorrow!
I can’t wait to get my stuff and check it out. I will post another article telling about the things I got in the auction, what kind of condition the stuff is in, and so on. I am sure that I will be able to make at least a couple hundred dollars on this purchase, but really the reason I bought it was more for getting that label printer, and having some extra goods that I could sell to get the ball rolling. Making a little money on this will be fine, but that was not so much the goal on this first purchase.
I am really looking forward to getting back into reselling! I know it will be fun for me, and I think it will, in the end, be very profitable too.
Hi Bob,
I wondered what Retail Arbitrage is so thanks for your explanation. I will have to check out Liquidation.com and see what it is all about. I have had good results on Ebay. I retired first of this year so now I have more time to go through stuff I have held on to for years. I have had some great results on Ebay. Vacuum tubes for audio equipment are a hot item. I had a bunch of 12AX7 tubes that I bought years ago for $3.25 each brand new. I sold a bunch of them on Ebay and they are bringing in $20 each !
I do have a bit of a problem on Ebay from time to time, sure I sell stuff but I have to try to control myself from buying too much stuff that others are selling LOL ! There are times when I need something and I will check it on Amazon and then Ebay which more times than not has a lower price even on brand new stuff.
Good luck with the pallet of label printers. Looking forward to see how you do with them.
Hi Bob,
If you already have stuff laying around the house, that is a good way to make some money and also clean up your place too!
I understand about having to control purchases on eBay!
There is only one label printer in the pallet, I will keep that, but lots of other stuff. When I have the pallet (tomorrow) I will make a video of the unboxing, and then update sales as they go along, so everybody can follow along!
Thanks for your comment.
Hi Bob New York,
Long time no chat. Glad to hear that you retired. Bob Martin has me quite interested in reselling also. You know on eBay there are literally millions of people trying to make a buck selling used clothes and such, but people who even know a diode from a triode are very few and far between.
There is certainly “space” for technically minded folks to sell electronics, especially vintage electronics. It really made me do a double take when you mentioned the 12AX7. Back in the day when I maintained analog flight simulators for the USAF the 12AX7 was a very, very common tube in our equipment. Every simulator had cabinets and cabinets chock full or pre-am chassis all loaded with 12AX7’s. Probably at least 5 or 6 thousand tubes per machine … cabinet after cabinet full of them.
Needless to say, we had no trouble keeping the simulator bay warm in the winter š
I agree with you. An “old time” techie guy could be something somewhat unique on eBay. š
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comments. Yes, there is a lot of action on Ebay for vintage electronics, especially Tubes used in audio. I sold a bunch of 12AX7 and the famous EL34 / 6CA7 tubes to a place that makes guitar amplifiers. Another profitable one for me was 7868 output tubes. In the 70’s I used to buy these in bulk for around $3.00 each. Sold my remaining inventory on Ebay for more than $25 each ! I find that if I start at a low bid price it attracts more attention and then bidding feever starts. There are some things people way over price and wonder why they get no bids. Popular audio tube types such as the 12AX7 are still manufactured in Russia and China with the Russian made ones said to have better quality and tighter tolerances.
Browsing Ebay can be like a trip down memory lane for old stuff, I just have to keep my finger off the clicker so I dont buy stuff I don’t need LOL !
Exciting that you are getting started! I hope that this works out well for you.
Thank you, Tom! I do too! š
I canāt wait to see the video. Itāll be like Christmas.
Hi Tony – Coming soon! š
I got the pallet today, and have been busy all day long!
Hey Bob,
I look forward to hearing of your adventure.
I was on a webinar yesterday regarding this topic,
It dealt mainly with drop shipping however.
I’ll stay tuned.
Thanks
Interesting, Bob. Drop shipping is something I don’t care to get involved with. Under current (January 2019) eBay rules, drop shipping is not allowed. Also, I like to have control over the merchandise I sell, want to look at it, judge the quality, etc. However, many people are into drop-shipping, no doubt.
I never knew this had a name. I pick up mostly expensive childrenās clothing (Salvation Army has 10/$5.00 deals at least once a month, anything with a certain color tag is for that price) and resell at a used childrenās clothing store (once upon a child), or on Facebook marketplace. I usually double my money. You may be able to use that platform for reselling too, thereās option to offer shipping or not and itās free to list items there.
You might want to look into selling in eBay. The prices you can get for children’s clothing are great! Good luck!
Hi Bob:
I being quietly following yours posts. First time I write you. I am moving to the Philippines to be with my Filipina Fiancee. I built a small store in Leyte to sell feed for pigs and chickens. I already built an Internet Cafe in Cordova Cebu. I want to retire in the Philippines. I speak Spanish fluently, originally from Puerto Rico, and used to hot weather. I am currently moved to Guam from Ohio, I work 100% remote, to be closer to my Fiancee and wait the K1 Visa process, but plan to move to the Philippines in one year. What suggestions can you give me about creating income in the Philippines? When I move I must quit my remote job because it will be outside of USA jurisdiction. It can only be performed in USA jurisdictions like CONUS or OCONUS, Puerto Rico, Guam, etc. (DoD federal government job) I am a certified Java developer, with 20 years of Web developer experience.
I appreciate your suggestions. I bought your book about Remote jobs.
Jose,
Hi Jose,
Glad to hear from you! Thanks for following my posts!
I wish you the best of life in the Philippines. I lived there for nearly 20 years, and I loved it there, but it had come time for us to move, primarily because it was good for our son.
If you are entrepreneurial there are lots of ways to create income in the Philippines. The best and easiest, in my view, would be to do something online, eCommerce, if you feel that is up your alley. You can always check out my book, 49 Ways to Make a Living in the Philippines (Paperback or eBook), but you are, of course, under no obligation.
Good luck.
Hi Bob:
You said “But, I got tired, I was burned out with eBay”. What do you mean by that? Isn’t just sitting in a desk having fun and making some money? I had not sold in eBay full-time like you. What is the main complaint about that? I am curious, because I want to do just that but I do not want to get onto a “burning out” activity and hate it later on.
Thanks,
Jose,
Hi Jose.
I was totally burned out. I was working 7 days a week, 16 to 18 hours a day for years. If I got up while sleeping, need to use the bathroom or something, I would go check my eBay emails. I am sure anybody would get burned out doing that. It is a high pressure job when you are doing the kind of volume that I was doing.
Hi Bob; I am glad you are safely back Stateside but also sad that you had to leave the Philippines. I live on Palawan. We are Stateside at the moment but will go back soon: I can’t wait! My eyes are not the best, (age related macular degeneration), so I should not spend too much time on the computer but I would really like to run some sort of a business in the Philippines as a couple people I know are doing. I can hear in your words that you miss the Philippines. I hope I can always live there; I would miss it so much. In my 20 years there I have met so many interesting people sine The main town has so many forengers. Good Luck Bob in all you do.
Hi W. A. I didn’t “have” to live the Philippines, I chose to do so. To be honest, I really don’t miss the Philippines. I miss some close friends there, but I am really enjoying my new life here. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!