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I finished this post about a week ago but the forum ate it. I had it saved so going to try and copy/paste it now. Let’s make this a multi part post and see if that makes the forum elves happy.
Part 1 of 3
90 days ago, I was in the last planning stages of my Chicago trip. In fact, this was when I first saw a posting for the library sale that led to this big haul and the subject of these posts. The trip was pre-planned (attending the National sports card show) but the library trip was spontaneous and acquiring all this new inventory was really spur of the moment. So how did I do?
Book sale direct costs
Order on day 1: $163
Order on day 3: $558.50
Phone order: $307.38
UPS box 1 $83.71
UPS box 2 $77.04
Scale and measuring tape $7.88 (thanks CVS coupons!)
Staples shipping supplies $40.26 (this would have been more but I used staples rewards)Target $27.52 (pillows as void fill plus a few essentials)
Lyft to and from day 3 of sale: $24.98
Lyft to UPS store with my big dumb boxes: $17.28
Total $1309.29Other trip essential costs
Hotel $789.25
Amtrak $455
National card show VIP pass $170
Vetra (public transit) pass $20Total $1434.25
Trip fun money
I spent just over $300 on food and random stuff. More than I thought! I didn’t have any way to cook in my room, so I ate out a lot. I got a few Too Good to Go meals, love that app so much. But I also splurged a few times. I went to a jazz club ($15 tickets) and treated myself to dinner and a drink ($40). I went to Wicker Park Fest (free outdoor music festival) and saw the great band Built to Spill, and when I got hungry I went to a really good ramen place for dinner ($25). I went to Magnolia Bakery twice. Great banana pudding! I got a Chicago dog (different, pretty good) and a Maxwell polish sausage (I liked this better than the Chicago dog). If I had to do the trip over again, I would eat all of this and more. Chicago is a great city for food and culture.
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A couple tips:
Stay at Drury inn, Residence Inn, or Embassy suites for more free food (and drinks!)
Drury Inn and Residence Inn do full breakfasts and full dinners on weeknights.
If you don’t already use a rewards card that gives you hotel rewards. I use a Hilton Rewards AMEX and use pirateship for all my shipping to get 6 points/dollar on shipping (shipping on ebay via paypal with CC will only get 3x rewards). I’m on pace to sell 1500 items this year which will earn me 4 free nights (3 nights on average -30k/night with points plus a free night for spending $15k+) at hilton properties just for my shipping costs – basically free since that isn’t my money! I put all my inventory purchases, expenses, and all my home utilities on this card so I can get multiple free nights which I use to go on weekend getaways to Columbus for scavenging and family fun.
If it is just you traveling, you could also book on Hotwire. It’s not as good as it used to be, but you can still save 20-40% on nicer hotels. I’ve had great results using the info they provide to determine what the actual hotel is. The newest trick to determine the actual hotel is to do a google lens search on the hotel room image if they provide the actual photo of the hotel room. Combine that with the map zone of the hotel and you’ll know the exact hotel. They used to occasionally straight up tell you what the hotel would be but I haven’t seen that in a while.
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Great tips especially about the CC with rewards. That is definitely my plan for future trips and inventory purchases.
I used Priceline to book the hotel and basically did what you said. Like you said, it is ok but not as good as it used to be. Airbnb seems to be similar in most areas. I bought an express deal…but I basically knew what the hotel was because of the zone, amenities and
costof the hotel compared to the express price. Using Google lens on the room is a great tip though. -
I use a Hilton Rewards AMEX
This was the best advice we got last year from you. We probably got 10 nights of free hotels by charging house renovation costs (plus shipping). We paid off bill at the end of each month so no interest. Plus that card gives you access to some airport lounges.
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Sweet! Do you ship on Pirateship or ebay? I went full time pirateship earlier this year and haven’t looked back. It is nice to get the full 6x points on the card. I pull up my listings and look at the “print label” screen in ebay to see what the buyer paid and what shipping method I had on the listing. Then I do the label on pirateship. I have alot of custom templates set up for various weights/sizes. Also a template for padded flat rate envelopes. It is actually quite quick once you have the system down. I also beat ebay shipping’s price on a good percentage of labels due to cubic rate shipping.
I also like that I don’t get shafted on UPS overcharges. They try occasionally but pirateship alerts me immediately and makes it really easy to dispute. I win every dispute.
I saved up so many points and free rewards nights during COVID that last year we stayed at this place for 8 nights on points. 70k points per night, 5th night free when using points, and 3 free rewards nights. No resort fees when using points either.I also did a hilton timeshare tour for 100k points so the whole trip only cost 180k points. That trip would have cost about $5k if booked regular.
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/myreses-embassy-suites-myrtle-beach-oceanfront-resort/
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I am going to try typing out my numbers since copy/paste is not working for whatever reason. In any case…
Card show profits
My net profit from the show was about $400 to $500. One big prize (a trade-in for a bunch of cheap redemptions) which netted me about $350 and a few smaller sales, stuff I bought from one booth and sold at another. I suppose I could have done that for a bit more, but I enjoyed exploring Chicago a lot more. I gave a range on my net because I brought some stuff to the show to sell at the show, and don’t know if that’s technically profit from the trip. But may as well include it.
Book sale profits
I’m not sure how much individual profit on each item matters compared to the overall profit and loss, but I’ll provide my COGS when I remember it and estimate it when I don’t. Most of this stuff was bought on half price day, but there were one or two which weren’t and I think I can remember which is which.
Bach 333 Complete 222 CD box set
Note the damage, which wasn’t from shipping but from the forum’s resident klutz dropping the box and watching it tear (very neatly) down one side.
COGS $125, Gross sale 331.49, Net 225.27
Yo Yo Ma 30 Years Outside The Box 90 CD set
This one was damaged from shipping. Still made a few bucks!
COGS $100, Gross 280.88, Net 202.75
The Menuhin Century 91 disc box set
Like a lot of these big box sets, this was purchased by an international buyer who used a US freight forwarder.
COGS $50-75, Gross 240.73, Net 150.11
Claudio Arrau RCA and Victor 12 CD box set
Promoted listings ate a chunk of this profit, but this was a small set (compared to some of the others) and I was happy to sell these as fast as I could.
COGS $10ish, Gross 80.25, Net 50.32
Hans Knappertsbusch Complete Parsifal Recordings 48 CD box set
I bought two Knappertsbusch box sets. One still hasn’t sold, and I believe that one I bought on full price day for $50ish. Neither of the box sets had any active or sold listings, so I did a little Googling and found discussions on classical music forums which gave me an idea of value. These are long out of print sets made in Japan. This one sold for full price which felt good. Love finding items like this most of all.
COGS $20-40, Gross 217.28, Net 136.95
Marcelle Meyer Complete Studio Recordings 17 CD box set
This one sold at auction for $14.99 opening bid. In hindsight, I could have hung onto it for a few more weeks before sending it to auction. But I like it when things sell!
COGS $5, Gross 21.48, Net 9.32 (yikes)
Philadelphia Orchestra Centennial Collection 12 CD box set
This is the flipside of the Marcelle Meyer sale — I didn’t send this one to auction, and after a month sold it for full price $39.99. There are a bunch of Terapeak sales in similar range so I’m happy with the price I got.
COGS $10, Gross 59.86, Net 34.04
Karl Bohm Complete DG Operas 70 CD box set
This was a purchase over email, and I priced it high and got the thrill of getting a full price sale — $600!!! International buyer who used eBay’s shipping hub, so shipping was a breeze too.
COGS $100, Gross 642.18, Net $490.68
I’ve got more, but don’t want to break the forums, so I’ll save the rest for another post tonight or tomorrow.
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I posted a reply to this thread last night with more sales from this haul, but the post seems to have disappeared. I saved it, so let’s try again.
Here is the rest of what I’ve sold so far from this big haul.
Igor Markevitch Deutsche Grammophon 21 CD box set
COGS $20, Gross $71.48, Net $45.07
George Szell Complete Columbia Album Collection 101 CD box set
COGS 50ish, Gross 191.23, Net 114.75
Sergiu Celibidache Complete DG and Decca 33 CD box set
COGS 20-40, Gross 204.98, Net 151.67
Sir Colin Davis The Symphonies RCA Red Seal 54 CD box set
I bought this set on the first day of the sale for $50. I was a little irritated with myself until it sold because I’m sure it would have been there on the half price day. But it sold full price.
COGS $50, Gross 174.58, Net 106.92
Herbert Von Karajan Complete EMI Recordings Volume 2 72 CD box set
COGS $40-60, Gross 173.99, Net 115.18
Martha Argerich Complete DG Recordings 48 CD box set
This box was damaged which lowered my profit quite a bit, but it didn’t look like shipping crush damage. I think it was damaged when it was donated, and I didn’t notice the damage while I was looking at it in Chicago. This was one of the items I bought through email from the bookshop, and I don’t think I ever touched those items, just took pictures of them to do my research on the way back to New Jersey.
COGS $25, Gross 107.68, Net 68.04
Leopold Stokowski Complete Phase 4 Decca 23 CD box set
COGS $25, Gross 294.69, Net 190.75
Quartetto Italiano Complete Decca Philips & DG 37 CD box set
COGS $25, Gross 263.73, Net 176.64
A Place to Call Home Complete Collection DVD box set
I love weird DVDs and usually I spend my book sale time looking for as many as I can find. But the DVDs donated to the sale were a joke compared to this incredible CD collection. Plus the DVDs were in a different room down a hallway. I snagged this set on half price day after filling up a big library trolley with CD box sets. Surprised no one grabbed this DVD set in that first hour while I was busy elsewhere, but it wasn’t a huge profit, so maybe that’s why.
COGS $10, Gross 64.18, Net 40.74
Glenn Gould Complete Columbia Album Collection USB stick
I saw a sign for this item in the CD room, but it was kept in another room which had a table with all the high-priced items. I overpaid slightly, but a few minutes research made it clear this would sell for $150 or more, and that’s what happened.
COGS $50, Gross 193.04, Net 126.03
Total net sales so far $2435.24
I still have a few items in my inventory from this haul, one $500ish box set (Arthur Grumiaux Complete Philips) and a few in the $50 to $150 range, plus a few odds and ends. Even if I only make another $200 profit from this stuff, I doubled the money I spent with the library. My profits from the book sale, my purchase from the bookshop and the card show paid for the whole vacation, hotels and trains and food and fun.
I have a few lessons learned from this experience. I’ll try and organize them in some way to put a final bow on this haul.
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