Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games
I mentioned in my earlier Yard Sale Arbitrage series on Vera Bradley Purses that I absolutely love arbitrage! This is the process of buying an item for a low price that you are almost guaranteed to sell at a higher price. One is able to do this well if they are familiar with the “market” for the good in question and have a buyer “lined” up to purchase the product. If not, you run the risk of over-paying or getting stuck with the item if you cannot move it.
Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – Background
One item that is guaranteed to move are Video games. If you can fetch them for a good price at yard sales, they sell like hot cakes on sites online auction sites like Ebay. I’ve sold more than 100 video/PC games on Ebay, and I’m constantly surprised at how much some of the rarer games can go for. Check out this post on how I sold my old used Zelda Gameboy game for $80! Other very popular games will not net much money and can actually end up losing you money if you’re not careful (over pay for the game). It pays to have a little bit of knowledge (or a smart phone with Ebay :-)) on which are the rarer games when looking for games at yard sales.
Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – The Find
We were at a community yard sale this past Saturday bright and early when I hit the jackpot. The person was selling some really popular Wii games for $3 each. I happened to know specifically about several of these games as I’ve sold several of my own personal copies for $20+ each. This seemed like a great opportunity to make a quick buck, so I jumped on it. I bought eight out of the nine he had for sale right then and there. I tried to bargain him down on the price since I was buying so many, but he wouldn’t go any lower. I think he was a little suspicious that I was buying so many of them without much thought… Here are the games I bought and the prices I have listed them for on Ebay (green ones have already sold):
- Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – $31.99
- The Sims 3 – $14.46
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl – $22.99
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – $14.99
- de Blob – $4.99
- Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity – $10.99
- Wii Play – $4.50
- Wii Sports – $19.99
I kinda hit duds with the “de Blob” game and Wii Play, but the others will hopefully make up for it.
Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – The Flip
So, how to I plan to get top dollar for these Wii games? Why, Ebay of course! I can set the prices pretty high and leave them as a good ’til canceled auction. It may take a couple of weeks to sell them, but I should average $15 for each of them. Because they are small and easily fit in a cheap envelope, there are ideal for Ebay selling. After all of the Ebay/Paypal fees, I stand to make about 440+% profit. Not too shabby 🙂
Yard Sale Arbitrage – Wii Games – Final Thoughts
In the end, I should make somewhere around $80 profit for selling the Wii games on Ebay. I figure it should take me maybe two hours of my time to post all of the games to Ebay and ship them. That should work out to be roughly $40 a hour. I won’t get rich quick doing this, but it’s not too bad if you ask me 🙂
Flipping Wii games from garage sales for profit…. NICE! I personally wouldn’t have thought you could have made that much from them given the Wii seems to be on the decline, but nice work. BTW, what do you think of the Wii U? That thing just seems to have been a big THUD.
Brock @cleverdude recently posted…My New Grill, and Why Is Customer Service So Hard?
I kinda stay more up-to-date with PC games, but my limited opinion would be the Wii U is a thud. The console manufacturers make all their money from games and generally sell the consoles at a loss. I would imagine that game sales for Wii U are kinda hurting, but that’s with no real data…
Nice job! I actually still have SSB and Twilight Princess. I should probably consider selling them as I haven’t touched them in years. I love Zelda, but I can’t justify buying new consoles just to play the games.
E.M. recently posted…Choose Wealth! Be A Millionaire By Midlife: A Review
Zelda is my all-time favorite franchise, but I really enjoy the 2D ones more than the 3D ones for some reason. I think my next video game console type of purchase will be the oculus rift for the PC if facebook doesn’t screw it up 🙂
I have to get back into the yard sale arbitrage business. It helped put me through college and I’ve since forgetten about it. This post brings back all of the fun and excitement I remember and I might just have to try it out again. Plus, with smartphones, it’s a lot less risky as you can see what items are selling for.
Jon @ Money Smart Guides recently posted…You Are Your Greatest Asset
Jon – exactly! Smart phones can take this to a whole new level. I just found a gamecube game this weekend that I got for $2 that sells for $20-$25. A quick check on eBay let me know that it was worth the risk to get it!