Several months ago, my son came across a Lego’s Star Wars original Xbox game at a garage sale. It was priced at $1. Though we didn’t own an Xbox of any kind, JJ (my son) was hoping to one day get one. Though he had no promise from us that we would get him a video game system, he at least thought it would be cool to own the game. Because of this, he bought the game.
Later that day, we went to a local pawn shop to see if they had any original Xbox (not the newer 360) systems for sale. On that particular day they had several. Since one of them was only $20, we decided to get it. We also purchased an additional controller for $5 more.
While paying for this purchase, the store offered us a six month protection plan for and additional $5. While paying $5 to insure a used electronic device for six months seemed like a fair price, I declined based on the logic that if the game had lasted as long as it had (we tested it before buying it), then it would likely last an additional 6 months.
Well. . . my logic was flawed. Though the game worked well at first, after just a few short weeks, it quit reading disk. After several failed attempts at fixing it, to my son’s disappointment, we unplugged the thing and counted it as junk.
A few days ago, I was cleaning out my garage (actually it’s a partially enclosed carport with a dirt floor and lots of cabinets) when I came across the Xbox. Wanting the shelf space it was occupying, I decided it was time to get rid of it. My first instinct was just to throw it away. However, after remembering that eBay was offering free listings until January 7th, my wife decided that we had nothing to lose by putting it up for auction.
Instead of selling everything together, she decided to sell it in three auctions. One auction was for the cords, one was for the controllers, and one was for the console itself. While I considered it possible to sell the controllers for a few dollars, I didn’t really expect to sell the broken console; after all, someone would have to pay as much just to ship the broken console as we paid for it working. However, I have learned, never underestimate the power of a national bidding audience.
The first auction to end was the one for the controllers. She started them as a pair for 99 cents and $6 shipping. These finally sold for $26.25 (plus shipping). The second auction to end was the console. I must admit that I was surprised when my wife got her opening bid price of $5. But we were all shocked when it jumped to $22.72 just 5 seconds before the auction ended (with shipping, this person paid a total of $37.50). Finally, the cables sold for $1.99 (the opening bid price). So, when all was said and done, we sold the broken system for twice the amount we paid for it working.
Now, once all fees are paid (to eBay and PayPal) you lose nearly 12% of that. However, it’s still not bad for something that was destined for the trash.
In my opinion, I find that listing things can be a little bit of a hassle. However, I must admit that it can also be a lot of fun. Some items are predictable in their sale price. Some items don’t sell at all. But every now and then you unknowingly list a hot item and find yourself surprised at the final sale price.
While we don’t currently use eBay as a way to pay our bills, we do at times use is to fund our “eating out” account. We currently have a PayPal debit card. This card accesses all of our eBay sales money. We use this card when eating out or paying for other recreational activities.
Currently, I am in the process of selling parts off of a chainsaw. I purchased the chainsaw for $10 with hopes of repairing it for personal/business use. However, while working on it, a piece broke that would likely be expensive to purchase and hard to find. Once this happened, I gave up the idea of fixing it. My first instinct was to list it on Craig’s list for $20 (probably a quick sale price). But then I thought of taking it apart and selling it piece by piece on eBay.
Though most of my items didn’t sell with the first listing, several of them did. During the first round of listings I sold $48 worth of parts. If I was a patient at selling things I would just keep re-listing everything until it sold. However, since I am not very patient in regards to selling things, I will probably just lump together my unsold items and auction it as one packages
If I didn’t enjoy taking things apart, then this might not be worth the trouble. But as it is, I always enjoy taking things apart knowing that I don’t have to put them back together. So for me, it is a fun way to earn our “McDonald's money.”
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