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My First Unpaid for eBay Transaction

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It was bound to happen, but I got my first unpaid transaction on eBay. The buyer made an offer on youth soccer shoes, and I accepted. However, days went by without any payment, and eBay’s recommendation is don’t ship the product until payment is received.

Luckily, eBay has everything covered. It was easy enough to open a case against this open transaction. After several attempts to contact the buyer over a period of days, I finally closed the transaction. eBay then asked if I wanted to relist the item (which I did). Thanks eBay!

Dead Plantronics Backbeat Fit

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Well, this ain’t good. I had been enjoying my Plantronics Backbeat Fit earphones during my runs, but now they don’t turn on. The battery will charge (the LED shows the charging progress), but pushing the power button does nothing. Sadly, this seems to be a recurring problems based on other complaints.

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I don’t remember exactly when I bought the Backbeat Fit – probably a year ago from Costco. They had been working great with good sound and a secure fit. Now I’m looking for something else. 🙁

Reselling Lessons Learned

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Just a few lessons I’ve learned so far during my try at reselling.

Time Consuming

First and foremost, reselling online takes time, a LOT of time. Like a super duper lot of time! But then that stands to reason. If reselling were easy then of course, everyone would be doing it. Actually the fastest part of reselling for me could be sourcing aka finding the items to resell. I’m thinking the most time consuming aspect is listing your sourced items. Taking pictures, doing the research, and actually adding the item to eBay  is much harder than I expected.

Bottomline: If you’re not willing to invest the time, don’t even bother trying to resell.

Know Your Niche

Just what are you going to resell? Whatever it is, be sure to know the subject matter. That knowledge makes it so much easier to know what items have a resale value. For me, it’s shoes. I love me my kicks, and I can easily spot shoes that shouldn’t be at Ross. But then again, I don’t know all the different kinds of shoes out there. For example, track and field shoes sell well online, but I know nothing about them, so I’ve stayed away.

My interest in reselling started with Supreme and its rabid fanbase. It seemed every item released by this popular streetwear company sold out in a matter of seconds. Every single item. Easy money maker right? Just get one item when released and sell it on eBay.

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It don’t work that way. Not every Supreme item has the same demand, hence value. And not knowing the culture, I couldn’t predict the hot sellers. Sure, everything sells out, but not everything is easily resellable. I finally unloaded that Supreme logo-ed, camo wool cap but didn’t make anything from the sale. eBay is flooded with this cap, and I think the upcoming season will see that cap once again.

Bottomline: Stick with what you know. Or learn a niche (quickly). I think I’ll stick with shoes…

Reselling and the Hawaiian High Cost of Shipping

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The first lesson painfully learned for reselling in Hawaii is the high cost of shipping. Mailing a pair of shoes in-state costs around $8, but once that Pacific Ocean is crossed, another $10 is added on. And that makes a huge difference for eBay sales. Paying an additional $18 for shipping on top of the item cost itself makes my listings less appealing.

Reducing prices for my listings is an obvious method but then this almost makes this venture cost prohibitive. USPS flat rate boxes don’t really help either. The medium size flat rate boxes don’t fit men’s shoes, and the large flat rate box costs $18.90. I think I may offer $10 fixed shipping and eat the difference. Sure that eats into profits but hopefully this attracts more customers.

Better in Person

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Gotta file these kicks under “Better in Person.” I’m talking about the Under Armour Micro G Volt Low. When I saw these shoes, I had to pick them up since I couldn’t quickly identify them. And that camo-like colorway on that organic upper is super intriguing. After handling the Volt, you feel the old school, solid construction, not like the woven stuff we see today. The Volt Low just feels solidly built.

Under Armour Micro G Volt Low

I’d never have considered these shoes if I only saw pictures online. These are definitely better in person.

But… I don’t need them (or so I keep telling myself), so they’re available on eBay.

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Turning Passion to Profit?

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Is it possible to monetize a passion and still keep the sanctity of this love intact? I’m going to find out as I take my first steps as an eBay (re)seller. You see, more often than not, when I visit a Ross Dress for Less store, I come across a pair of shoes that’s intriguing. The kicks may rekindle nostalgia, remembering them from back in the day. Or I could have missed out on them when they originally launched or there’s an interesting backstory to the shoe, or they just look cool. But historically, that’s where the story ended when I put the shoe back on the sales rack.

But now things are different. I’m actually buying these gems and then (hopefully) reselling them on eBay after learning about the shoe and possibly getting a new appreciation for them. Take these Air Max 90 from the Campfire Pack. Nope, I never heard of this series nor saw one before. But when I spied the colors at Ross, I knew I couldn’t leave them there. Yeah, they crazy, but they crazy good. Then you learn the Campfire Pack pays tribute to the creation of Nike’s All Conditions Gear (ACG) when legendary designers including Tinker Hatfield met for a true life camping trip.

Sure there’s not much difference in that I’m not actually collecting the shoe for personal reasons, but yet, having the shoe for longer than a moment feels like an elevated experience of satisfaction. After selling some of my older shoes as they fell out of my rotation, I realized that I don’t need them all, and I don’t have to let them sit deteriorating in the Hawaiian humidity.

Maybe my kicks perspective has changed with the rapid-fire nature of the modern day shoe game where new color ways and collaborations are released on seemingly a weekly basis. So a love for a shoe is probably more of an infatuation that will be soon replaced by another crush. But in all of this, getting a few bucks here and there can’t hurt right? I guess I also view this reselling as a curation of kicks for other shoe heads. I’m doing the finding so that they don’t have to. All they need to do is go to eBay and search for a wanted shoe, and hopefully I’m offering that match. I think that ease for the eBay seeker is worth the price differential aka my profit.

So we’ll see how this plays out. It’s surely not a stable affair since there’s no promise of any sort that Ross will have anything worthwhile. But the hunt has been fun, especially when you find something interesting like this Copper Flightposite. I originally thought Foamposite when seeing the silhouette and had forgotten that the Foamposite evolved to the Flightposite.

Nike Copper Flightposite

Stick with me as I explore this new fad, love, interest, adventure, and learning experience!

Trying the eBay Thing

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After watching one too many Hustler Hacks videos, I decided to give the “eBay thing” a try. And it’s a lot harder than initially thought and time consuming. It’s also fun and discouraging at the same time, full of potential and disappointment.

Along with new items, I’m also selling off some of my shoe rotation that’s not a good match for my flat feet. Why wear kicks that hurt me? Better they go off to someone who can love them more.

I’m still figuring out how to create good listings and shipping is an art and a science. Definitely need more experience with regards to shipping.

Where Were You?

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Where were you when the (thankfully) false ballistic missile launch sounded?

Me – eating breakfast waffles at home.

Although a mistake, I’m sure awareness of what to do in this situation is definitely heightened and more people will get prepared

Mentioned by The Verge.

Yahoo News also reported on Twitter but with a mismatching image.

iPhone Battery Replacement Update

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Update 1/5/2018: Battery changed out after making a return “appointment.” Servicing took about 90 minutes. Store is full of customers wanting to check out their iPhone battery condition. iPhone 6 feels noticeably faster with the battery replacement.

Update 1/4/2018: Battery has arrived in store and need to schedule an appointment when to bring the phone in. I also got an email stating stop by anything (within 7 days), but it’s better to call back and actually set a time for the repair (1 to 2 hours).

After hearing that Apple updated its iPhone battery replacement program to begin immediately rather than late January, I made an appointment for Sunday, December 31, 2017. Unfortunately, the Kahala Apple Store Genius Bar had already exhausted its supply of in-house batteries on Saturday.

The Genius did run through a hardware diagnostic as a formality but didn’t find anything wrong with the iPhone 6 or its battery. He did say that we could change the battery for $30 regardless of the battery condition. We now have to wait about three to five days for a battery shipment then return to the Apple Store when notified.

From that point, it’s a one-hour service to swap out the battery. Not bad for $30.

And while you’re at the Apple Store, don’t look at different bands for the Apple Watch. Otherwise you might give in and get something like this deceiptively multi-colored “black” Sport Loop. Although described as black, the band has iridescent qualities showing off red, blue, green, and even more colors. It’s super nice and actually very comfortable!

Found My Next Court Shoe

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For the badminton court that is. Yeah, tennis shoes are a better match for badminton, but we both know my love for basketball shoes runs deep. Gotta blame Nike and that guy named Jordan for this continued love affair. And besides, some tennis shoes look good but not as good as the variety of basketball shoes out there.

For over a year, I’ve been playing in the Adidas Crazy Light Boost 2016. At the time, this shoe was probably the cheapest entry point for full length Boost, and they’ve served me well. Great cushioning and a comfortable fit. Its only drawback is the number of lace eyelets. With essentially only three eyelets per side, tightening the shoe seemed harder than it should’ve been. But still, a great performer on the badminton court at my level.

Over time I’ve noticed that the Crazy Light Boost cushioning isn’t as good where I feel the wear and tear of playing afterwards. A sign to get new shoes right? Only thing is I couldn’t really find a good replacement. I was thinking of using the Adidas Dame 3 featuring Bounce instead of Boost. However, the Dame’s one piece upper has a small opening for your foot, and since I wear an ankle brace, getting my protected ankle in the Dame 3 is just about impossible.

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While doing a routine #rossfinds, I came across the Under Armour Curry 2.5. Overall, I’ve heard good things about UA’s Curry line so while on the high end of Ross prices at $65, I got the blacked out 2.5. Sadly, these didn’t work for me as a badminton shoe. The design needs for SC30 are different from mine, and this shoe while comfortable doesn’t provide enough impact protection.

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The Charged Cushioning does feel interestingly good (though it took me awhile to get used to that foamy feel), but there’s nothing else to absorb impact. That burrito-style wrap also doesn’t really work for me either. I wear the same Zamst ankle brace that Steph Curry wears, but I couldn’t get the burrito upper to close around my brace. Steph Curry must have super skinny ankles to get the proper fit for his shoes and brace. So the Curry 2.5 has been designated as a casual shoe, but with the recent rainy weather, these high tops with a synthetic upper has been great at repelling water.

So where does that leave me in my search for a replacement badminton shoe? My own collection. A while back during a Nike clearance, I picked up the low version of the Air Jordan 31. While I was spying the black and pink color way, I just couldn’t do it and instead got what I thought was black and white. The colors actually were Navy blue and white but still a good looking shoe. Unfortunately as a casual pair of kicks, they aren’t very comfortable due to a snug toe box. But Jordans are always performance shoes, so I figured why not try these on the badminton court. And perform they did!

Supposedly the lightest Air Jordan ever made, they are ultra comfortable to play in, and I had no issues from the start. The snug toe box problem went away as the Flyweave construction stretched out I guess. I don’t recall every owning a shoe with full length unlocked Zoom Air but whatever the case, these just felt great while moving in them. From a mediocre casual shoe, I found my next badminton shoe going back to my roots with the Air Jordan line.

See more pictures of the Air Jordan 31.

Air Jordan 31 Low

Slow Shipping This Holiday Season

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I’m sure it can’t only be me, but has shipping packages this holiday season been slower than previous years? I don’t ever recall having so many parcels delayed or even damaged. I even thought one of my UPS packages was stolen only to find it delivered five days after it was reported. Must be the sheer number of online orders is putting a huge strain on USPS, FedEx, and UPS. Almost every delivery service seemed to have suffered this season.

In years past, purchases with Amazon Prime shipping to Hawaii arrived in 2-3 days, really unheard of compared to the typical 5-7 days of free shipping. But this year, I was lucky to get my Amazon deliveries on time. One order was literally destroyed with only the box label delivered. Yup, just the box label, no actual contents of the box.

Like I said, I had thought a UPS delivery was stolen since it was reported as delivered. I couldn’t find the said-delivered package so reported a lost package and started a claim over the Christmas weekend. Nothing came of it during the weekend and by the time I received a response, the package showed up even though the reported delivery date was five days prior.

I was supposed to have received another Amazon order on Wednesday by 8pm (via USPS by the way). At 8:11pm, I checked the delivery status and saw this.

How was your shipping experiences this holiday season?

 

Scored Yeezys with the Foot Locker App

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The second lucky pickup of the week was thanks to the Foot Locker mobile app. For the launch of the Yeezy Boost 350 Beluga v2.0, Foot Locker was promoting their Launch Locator and reservation system in the mobile app. Being a super duper old school member of the Foot Locker VIP club, I signed up for the Yeezy launch and was given a 6-minute headstart.

Then I forgot all about this. On the afternoon of Black Friday, I got this notification.

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Checking the FL app, I stopped as I saw this.

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But wait, pickup was set for Friday by 3pm?!? It was already 1pm, and I still had time but in my mind, I thought I was misinterrepting this message. Only one way to find out!

Surprisingly getting to Waikiki in the middle of the day on Black Friday was super easy. No traffic or slowdowns whatsoever. At Foot Locker, there was a line for the Yeezy reservation, but guess what? It seemingly meant nothing since you couldn’t actually pickup the Yeezys that were officially launching on Saturday, November 25. The FL employee had a (long) list of reservation winners, and he simply made sure your name was on the list. He didn’t cross off or mark your name indicating you showed up by 3pm as the app instructed. Why I had to go down there I still don’t know and neither did a lot of other irate Yeezy fans who wanted their shoes then and there.

Anyways, being on the list meant my pair was reserved, right? I didn’t want to take a chance of pairs running out, so I came back early-ish on the 25th. Others had the same idea with a queue about 10 deep.

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The line moved along as pedestrians asked what the line was for. After about half an hour, I had my first pair of Yeezys.

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Thanks Foot Locker!

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