Friday, November 16, 2012

How I made $11,400 selling the Wii U


Just auctioned the last of the wii u preorders I had (actually had 29 of them, I still have 1, but I'm keeping that one for myself).

Sorry I haven't been able to respond personally to any of the comments from the previous posts and the direct messages that were sent were answered as much I could. If I missed you, please feel free to post a comment here or just DM me again. Twitter usually works well too if you happen to be following.

Anyway, with all the dust settling, here's the final tally...

  • 29 total Wii U preorders in hand (Sept/Oct)
    • 10 Basic ($299)
    • 12 Deluxe ($349)
  • 28 listed and sold on ebay:
    • 8 were sold for +$300 or more
    • 15 were sold for +$400 or more
    • 5 sold for +$500 or more
  • Total profit for 28 was $11,400 (this takes into account shipping/handling, tax on the preorders, etc.)
  • 1 for me :) (it's basically free, now)

A few things to note: both deluxe and basic sets sold well, but with relatively slow start at the beginning of the auction (that is expected) with more action at the end. I used 3-day and 7-day auction formats, never used BIN and never had a reserve. 3 and 7 days showed about similar sales figures... it boils down to I think people are looking at auctions ending that day to bid on. One got re-listed because the seller backed out. Thats fine, I actually had a higher final price on the relisting anyway. Had two preorders for games (new SMB), but those don't go for much and should be in stores (somewhat).

So, what's next? Well, preorders were just the start. Much of this madness is due to a couple of things: this is the first console in a long time, its Nintendo and the Christmas season. Lots of people are looking for this and they all know that this will not be one of those "pick it up a week before Xmas" thing. From now until *whenever*, there should be a very profitable reseller market... I remember the original Wii (2006/2007) I actually got four at or near launch, sold them for $1,200 but could never got my hands on any more. Never saw them back in stores for a good six or seven months down the line!

Its different now days and with online retailers and everything, I'll be looking to buy as many as I can online. I'll post links below if anybody's interested, but basically bestbuy, walmart.com, target, gamestop, etc. are your best bets. They will probably get some stock in throughout the next few weeks. But no guarantees. And no guarantees that if they are in stock, you'll be able to get in before they sell out. If I can get another 20... who knows what they will go for on ebay, could go higher as time runs out before xmas... Another 20 units should move for at least $7500.

My advice: Unless you have 20 or 30 preorder slips laying around, use an inventory tracking site to monitor the websites mentioned above. They basically will sell out in minutes, but it is possible to get in during that 10 or 15 minute window IF you get notice when they do. Forget the individual website "email me when in stock" notices. Although they do go out, but they are meant for items that don't sell out in minutes. Usually the earliest you'll get these is an hour or so after they are in stock. Too late for WII U's!

The one I used to get my preorder Wii Us was wiiu4me.com and it worked fine. It's normally $19 to get the text and email alerts, but they run codes for $10 off making it $9.99! Try this link for the promo code, if it's still valid: http://wiiu4me.com?promo=SUPERMARIO

It's not really that complicated and takes a little bit of work. It won't last forever and I am not quitting my day job, but it's definitely worth it for now.

15 comments:

  1. A bit more than I ever thought of yet, though I do have 2 pre orders (one deluxe one basic), but one thing that worried me and therefore didnt sell it early was if the preorder would come in or not on the date they promised. sure the gamestop receipt says launch day, but what if they sell out?

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    Replies
    1. Gamestop has been pretty good about pre-orders but I have gotten notices about preorders that werent going to be fulfilled (by my email). have you gotten an email? If not, you should be good.

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  2. you have to also think. is this the low end or the high end? for some reason, I thought paying $1000 for a Wii U is crazy when just be patient and get one for retail.......

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    Replies
    1. I wouldn't pay 1000 for a wii u either but many people are apparently. I think 1000 is the high ened for a 3oo dollar console. but 500 or 600 dollars for it is not outrageous. We saw it for the xbox, the original wii, the ps3, etc. so why would this be different.

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  3. Though don't agree with buying up dozens just to sell I Have to respect your capitalist spirit!

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  4. Although the trackers work I got email and texts and whatever because online sites do go in stock quite a bit its just normal people (people who dont sit at there computers all day long) dont have a chance to purchase before sellout.

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  5. also, you have to remember that putting something in your cart is not the same as checking out nor does it even "hold it" for you in the system. I've checked out fast and still gotten messages that during the checkout process the system went out of stock! be fast people!!!

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  6. Your profit doesn't seem right. $11,400/28=$407

    Even if you have 28 basics that's $8400 you spent to buy them. You didn't make revenue of $19800. Am I missing something?

    You would have had to sell each unit for $700 to profit $400 on each and make $11400 total...

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  7. Yes this makes no sense...There's no way you made $410 profit on each of those 28 systems. You even stated how much you sold them for and it doesn't add up.

    Anyway thanks for the tip on the inventory tracking site and for taking the time to do this blog post.

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  8. Someone's fishing for hits with the title.

    You didn't make $11,400, you made $2000-$3000 tops (and even that number is high since as pointed out above, the number is high) since you spent at least $8400 on those WiiUs. Very deceptive.

    And if you're not being deceptive, you're just an idiot. I have no idea why anyone would listen to you if you don't know the difference between gross and net profits.

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  9. ...unless he means he sold them for 300 (or 400 or 500) dollars OVER the amount that he paid, this he is stating the profits not the revenues. Then the numbers work out a lot closer to the 11.4K. It might seem a bit high but definitely not "ridiculous". A guy at work sold 5 on CL for that rage of PROFIT, not revenue. Those were preorders.

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  10. Don't know about anybody else, but all very doable. Perhaps nobody here commenting has ever tried? Yes, you personnelly wouldn't buy a Wii XBOX's or whatever for over the going rate but MANY PEOPLE WILL AND DO DURING LAUNCH. eventually u will be able to walk into meijers, or ebgames and buy them but until then, simple law of economics!!!!! if he can make money off it, so be it. and it's not any kind of fake store, why is he writing it if its all just fake stuff. i have sold games like this for a profit many times, not that much (110000 dollars) but I wish I did.

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  11. Checking ebay people are lucky if they make 50$-60$ off each system yet you're claiming to have made 400$ per? I think someone needs to do the math over again.

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  12. Yeah this is full of fail. Apparently 10 + 12 = 29 somehow.

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  13. My advice: Unless you have 20 or 30 preorder slips laying around, use an inventory tracking site to monitor the websites mentioned above. They basically will sell out in minutes, but it is possible to get in during that 10 or 15 minute window IF you get notice when they do. Forget the individual website "email me when in stock" notices. Although they do go out, but they are meant for items that don't sell out in minutes. Usually the earliest you'll get these is an hour or so after they are in stock. Too late for WII U's!
    vumoo

    ReplyDelete