Minimum Margin for Profit .. and my first sale!

Fogelbaby · 2014-02-24T12:53:48.000Z

Just getting into Lego investing, mostly for long term. But recently at LegoLand store they had a bunch of the new star wars battle packs. I checked eBay and saw that they were selling at far higher than retail (presumably because not widely available yet) so I bought some at MSRP to flip. And now I sold one. Sold Utupau Troopers for 21.99 inc. shipping. So: 21.99 - .81 for paypal - 2.19 for ebay - 2.25 for shipping I paid 12.99 + 8% tax = 14.03 So, in selling a product tax-free at 9 dollars over retail, I netted a profit of about $2.50. All I can say is, wow! There is really very little profit to be made in flipping small sets... It makes me wonder - every body talks about the profit one will clear from various transactions, but I wonder if people are really taking into account all the expenses. Ebay, paypal, sales tax... Lets say I buy Haunted House for 189 with 5% vip bonus. Thats 189 + 8% tax - 5% = 194.67 effective price If I can sell for $250 I net only $22.83, assuming they pay shipping on top of it. It sure makes LEGO investing look like a hard way to make money! You lose over 20% in transaction fees alone. I'd love to hear the thoughts of the experienced (and profitable) investors out there.