[d4nth3m4n]

After freezing my ass off today in line, i walked out of a local shoe shop with two pairs of Dinosaur Jr. nike dunk sneakers (size 9 and 9.5). i bought these with the intention of flipping them on eBay.

here's where it gets interesting: i only have 4 feedback on ebay, so i know i'll have to post a lot of pics to show these are authentic, and to top it off, i've never sold anything on the site. as of today, there are around 40 pairs on the site going for around $200, which would net me around $80/pair profit. i KNOW these are more in demand than that, so i'm relying on you, the ones who have flipped highly sought after items on ebay, to show me the light. note that this isn't necessarily a sneakerhead only thing, there must be at least a few of you have bought a ps3, wii or something like that and tossed it up on ebay and made a tidy profit.

now for some straightforward questions: is now a decent time (they were released on friday and sold out in hours) to put these up for auction? or should i wait until the initial flood on ebay is over and hope that someone late to the party will step up to the plate? should i bother with the buy it now route? how about a 3 vs 5 vs 7 day auction length? also, standard picture formats (like handwritten tags with my username next to them)?

i'm really just looking for someone who has some experience on this one, so any of you out there who have any experience with this, please chime in. i think this could be a fairly instructive thread for many of us, as we've all heard stories of things like 5 figure ps3's and so on.

oh, and can we please not derail this thread into a discussion about the ethics of buying something so sought after only to make a quick buck? thanks.

sorry for the lack of pics, i'm at my girlfriends and i left my camera at home. they'll be up tomorrow.

for the record, this is a one time only release of [presumably] less than 1000 pairs, and the buzz around these shoes has been amazing.

[d4nth3m4n]

stock photo-

[rickey939]

I've done this a few hundred times....and ironically, I do it with Nike shoes the most often. Personally, I hold off for as long as possible to post them on eBay. The longer you hold out, the faster the world will be out of them and then BAM, you post yours and all of those who lost out earlier come in and pay big-time money for the item. I still have a few pair of Air Jordan's around that I'm just waiting on posting. There hasn't been a pair in a few months already, but I know each month I wait longer, the more money I'm going to get. I paid only $100/pair and will probably get $300-$400/pair easily. If you can afford to wait, I would hold off for awhile.

As as far as the BIN (Buy It Now) goes, it just depends. I mean if you know the average price is selling for $200 on eBay and you slap a B.I.N of $300 on the item and get it, then so be it...you did good. It's not going to hurt anything. On the flip side, every now and then, you'll see where things close absolutely way above the "average" and then a BIN would have been stupid. I personally don't do a BIN and start all of my auctions at $1 and let the bidding wars begin during the last 1 minute of the auction.

Oh, and in case you didn't know, definitely post a picture of your username on top of the shoe box or something when snapping pictures for eBay, with the date clearly visible as well.

Lastly, I prefer to run a full 7-day auction...from Wednesday to Wednesday. No rhyme or reason, it just seems to be a really good time for me personally and pays out well.

[Weezer]

I just sold a wii on ebay and made like $100. It seems like a fundamentally different situation though. With the wii, I had no idea really what the supply situation was gonna be like. The next day Nintendo could unload a million units into the marketplace for all I knew, so I sold it as soon as I got it. If what you are saying is true, that they are only 1,000 and that's it, I would wait a week.

Also, no one bids on the wiis till the last few hours anyway, so I put it up for 1 day auction. Always start with $0.99 opening bid, no reserve. You'll get more people bidding and watching your auction.

I would see what you can confirm about the supply issues. You want to maximize the buzz of the product with the least supply on ebay. If you wait too long, you may lose the buzz factor. Wait a week, put it up for a 3 day auction, count your cash, dont get scammed.

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally Posted by rickey939 

I've done this a few hundred times....and ironically, I do it with Nike shoes the most often. Personally, I hold off for as long as possible to post them on eBay. The longer you hold out, the faster the world will be out of them and then BAM, you post yours and all of those who lost out earlier come in and pay big-time money for the item. I still have a few pair of Air Jordan's around that I'm just waiting on posting. There hasn't been a pair in a few months already, but I know each month I wait longer, the more money I'm going to get. I paid only $100/pair and will probably get $300-$400/pair easily. If you can afford to wait, I would hold off for awhile.

As as far as the BIN (Buy It Now) goes, it just depends. I mean if you know the average price is selling for $200 on eBay and you slap a B.I.N of $300 on the item and get it, then so be it...you did good. It's not going to hurt anything. On the flip side, every now and then, you'll see where things close absolutely way above the "average" and then a BIN would have been stupid. I personally don't do a BIN and start all of my auctions at $1 and let the bidding wars begin during the last 1 minute of the auction.

Oh, and in case you didn't know, definitely post a picture of your username on top of the shoe box or something when snapping pictures for eBay, with the date clearly visible as well.

Lastly, I prefer to run a full 7-day auction...from Wednesday to Wednesday. No rhyme or reason, it just seems to be a really good time for me personally and pays out well.

kent- what sizes have you found to be the most desired? from what i can tell the local skate shop where i got these [which NOBODY knows about and only gets 5 pair size runs 9-11] could be a pretty steady stream of "it" shoes. this might be a steady cash cow.

[rickey939]

Originally Posted by d4nth3m4n 

kent- what sizes have you found to be the most desired? from what i can tell the local skate shop where i got these [which NOBODY knows about and only gets 5 pair size runs 9-11] could be a pretty steady stream of "it" shoes. this might be a steady cash cow.

Size 9-11 is perfect. The most money is brought for 10 and 10.5's for darn sure...at least for basketball shoes.

[Mr Kino]

oh man ebay.

ok i used to do ebay for hotwheel dealers, and the one thing i learned is that you have to put up hot merchandise ASAP, get your profit and move on to the next hot item. Dont sit on hot merchandise. its not worth the gamble, and you might end up getting your money back with no profit for you.

you will win some and then you will loose some. meaning, sometimes you will regret getting the item off your hands asap, and sometimes you will notice that the item you sold a week ago, just tripled and you missed out on some serious dough, but most of the time, you will just be glad to see it go away and your paypal nice and healthy.

Good luck.

[IceEnclosure]

Definitely take good photos with good lighting and such. Every photo in all my listings are shot in the same location on the same wood table with the same camera on a tripod. Many angles, dramatic macro shots, it all seems to pay off. I use GarageSale, it has some great templates and I don't have to go on eBay to list, it does it all from within GarageSale. I've got a feedback score of 12. Sweet.

Oh, you can also go up to a 10 day auction. With something like limited-edition shoes, that could pay off by covering two full weekends.

[Weezer]

dont be like this guy:

globeandmail.com: How a PlayStation speculator misread the market and lost

[TailsToo]

I've done lots of selling on eBay over the years - if you're keen on finding the deals, you can make some money, but you have to be careful... in the last few years, many more people are catching on, and supply of the hot items is more than outpacing demand - see the Playstation for proof this year.

[d4nth3m4n]

hey, thanks all for all the help. i turned $240 into $440. love me some hypebeasts.

[torsoboy]

I have never even heard of those shoes. Someone actually wanted to wear them?? Weird stuff. Congrats on the profit though.

[d4nth3m4n]

two people actually.

they're a limited release. the shoe, the dunk has been around for years, but there are special colorways and embroidery that makes every separate release just as desirable.

just for farts and giggles, here's a pic of them and an Über exclusive pair of air max 90's, the 255 id (the 255's are worth about $700, there are only 20 pairs out in the wild- the other 70 pairs went to employees and VIPs).



check this site out- it's nuts. Main Page - Solepedia.com - Online Sneaker Encyclopedia

this shoe experiment was more of a proof of concept than anything, i have a packrat grandmother and i'd love to clear stuff out (and get the detailed backstory) before she's too old/dead to reminisce. plus the money'd be pretty sweet as well.

[Railroader]

Congrats d4nth3m4n. Sounds like a good gig you got there. Now you if you get more pairs you can relist and save more time and make more money!

[d4nth3m4n]

these specific dunks, the silver ones are a one shot deal, that's kinda the story with shoes, but everything else will be pretty fun to toss up. i have a setup with a local skate shop owner who can hold me a couple of pairs in the future.

my grandmother is recently widowed and my grandfather was almost worse than her. should be interesting to see what she'll let go. i think it's the kind of thing where she sells one thing, sees actual money come in and gets the bug, at least i can hope. she doesn't need the money- 80 years of depression era frugality has gone a long way in her life.

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oh, and call me dan, i kick myself about this username more often than you'd think.

[imitchellg5]

I flipped an iPod nano once. They had a 2 Gb nano at CompUSA for $99 brand new never opened. I sold it for $120. Not a huge profit, but I didn't really care. It was just to try out. Don't do Sunday to Sunday. Those suck. My mom's done that and you get absolutetly no bids on Sunday.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by d4nth3m4n 

oh, and call me dan, i kick myself about this username more often than you'd think.

Oh no, you "da man".

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

Oh no, you "da man".

you always this much of a dick?

[rickey939]

Nice to see you made some killer profit. Well done!

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by d4nth3m4n 

you always this much of a dick?

WOAH! Sorry. I had no intention of being insulting or mean. I honestly was trying to be funny.

OK, I called you "d4nth3m4n", and you said, just call me "Dan", but I am playing on this thread and your success at making some cash so I said you were "da man" is in "Dan is da man!".

I earnestly apologize for offending you.

[d4nth3m4n]

it's cool, sorry, that one went right over my head, i get kinda jumpy when i'm hungry.