It’s Official – Ross at Windward Mall
It’s now official though it seems Ross employees already knew, but a new Ross location is indeed opening at Windward Mall.
All In with the Seaweed Crunch
Who else out there is all in with the Seaweed Crunch snack available at Hawaii Costco locations? Who knew almonds and nori pairs nicely? And 36 pieces in one serving size! That’ll definitely fill you up.
Since you never know if Costco will continue to carry this (or any) product, you might as well stock up while you can!
Searching for the Curling Look
Gotta love the guys who won gold for Team USA in curling during the 2018 Winter Olympics. So of course, now I gotta look for apparel to mimic that curling look.
Found this at Ross but not close in design and size at XXL.
Reseller’s Positive Thinking
Consider this positiving thinking. I ordered a bunch of Priority Mail Shoe Boxes from USPS to be ready for shoe sales.
These sales will come, won’t they??
Instagram, a Reseller’s Frenemy
Be it any social media circle, but Instagram by far is a double-edged sword for resellers. Sure, you know what to keep an eye out for at your local discount stores when you see pics on IG. In that regards, Instagram is your friend, giving you scouting information.
But then Instagram can easily make you feel defeated when you see the hauls and pickups others are finding. Yeah, not you, others like Hustler Hacks, The Hustle Bee, Nachoaveragefinds, and Soupyz11 for example. Seeing the quality and quantity of their finds is simply discouraging.
My First Unpaid for eBay Transaction
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
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.
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. š
Reselling Lessons Learned
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 Ā 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.
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
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
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.
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.
Starbucks Haupia Nitro, a Hawaii Exclusive
The Starbucks Reserve Roastery location in the Waikiki Trade Center is the only place in all of America where you can order a Haupia Nitro. Yup, that’s a nitro cold brew infused with a coconut blended mixture. The walls of the special Reserve cup are lined with condensed milk (I think), and the finished drink looks like this.
Like any other Nitro cold brew, this drink is amped on caffeine. The taste is kinda strong for my preferences, but the haupia mellows it out overall. This is an expensive libation though, coming in at $6 for a grande, but keep in mind that since there’s no ice added, it’s allĀ unadulterated coffee.
If the Haupia Nitro is not for your palette, be sure to check out the other unique menu items at the only Reserve Roastery in Hawaii.
Or better yet, ask the barista for a recommendation, and let her photobomb her creation for you.
Turning Passion to Profit?
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.
Stick with me as I explore this new fad, love, interest, adventure, and learning experience!