As I have mentioned often here, my resell strategy, for the most part, was focused on big ticket items.  In my previous post I outlined what I’ve sold in the last 12 months and the various returns on investment (ROI) I have had on those items.  My bread and butter for the last 12 months were iPads.  The ROI was ok, 13%.  While I used to think that was a great ROI I have since come to the opinion that I can do better, and the pros often do.

I focused on big ticket items, in part, due to my funding strategy.  I am not doing this reselling thing with a lot of money. The most I am willing to float is $2,000.  Consequently, I would wait until my items sold and I received payment before making my next round of purchases.   Such a strategy caused me to focus on the specific dollar amount I was receiving as profit instead of the ROI.  So, I focused on big ticket items (iPads) because I wanted to make as much money on one item as possible.  My average profit per iPad was $65.  I’ve come to realize the error of my ways.

My biggest error was not thinking about efficiency.  Let’s compare an iPad that I sold (prior to the bottom falling out) versus three items I recently sold on Amazon.

iPad Pro 128 GB

• Cost = $754.30
• Sale Price = $886.99
• Fees = $60.21
• Profit = $72.48
• ROI = 8.9%

This particular iPad sold in one day and I earned $72.  Not bad.  Now compare to three items I recently sold.

Brother Label Maker +  WD Elements 2TB HD (x2) + Crayola Color Pencils (x8)

• Cost = $87.27
• Sale Price: $34.98, $83.00, & $7.16 respectively
• Fees = $80.74
• Profit = $90.25
• Average ROI 30.2% (Low of 17.76% and high of 93.52%)

In all I sold 11 items and they all sold out over a 3 day period.  I earned more profit on these 11 small ticket items than I did on one iPad.  Most importantly, I only had to float $87 compared to $754.30 for the iPad.  Less risk and more profit; a model in efficiency.

I feel like a dunce for not figuring this out sooner, but better late than never.  This does not mean I would not turn down a good deal on a big ticket item like an iPad.  It just means my focus when searching for deals will be on smaller priced items with high ROI and a good sales rank.  When I find those I will buy as many as I can.