E-bay selling challenge - Skylanders Giants

For a while I’ve been thinking about an e-bay challenge, where I buy something for a £1 and then sell it on ebay and use the profits to buy something else, recycle that by selling it on and seeing how much I can grow my investment.

Well I’ve finally got around to starting. The first step was to decide what to buy, in effect im looking for something that is either over valued on e-bay or something that is sold at a bargain. The key to this challenge is estimating the real value of a product. Well, being the father of a 6yr old, I hope I can be excused for starting with toys, More precisely skylanders. These toys are NFC models which let children have something tangible which then translates on to screen via a games console.  I’m sure they will eventually turn out to be this generations star wars toys or corgi cars. They will be eminent collectable but in about 30 yrs most will have found their way to the local scrap heap.

Though at present there is a thriving second hand market and toys a plenty. New these toys sold for about £15 a model, but now 2^nd hand they can sell for a whole range of prices.

My angle here was to use a the 2^nd hand store CEX via their online portal webuy.com -   you’ll see you can buy a Skylanders Giant’s booster pack for a mere £1 not only does this have a figure included but comes with a game as well.  If fits within my budget, though there is a postage fee of £2.25, which I’ll have to absorb, but in reality it worked as I ordered other stuff as well.   

Interestingly the same figure sells for £1.50 on its own without the game, on the same site. Which, is in itself an odd state of affairs.  

So with step 1 safely completed on to selling it via e-bay. After a week it sold for £4.90 (including £2.70 postage).  Again here I had to outlay on postal costs but hers the figures

• Ø  Product cost  £1
• Ø  Postage receipt £2.25
• Ø  Total cost £3.25
• 
  
• Ø  Money received £4.90
• Ø  Less postage £2.70
• Ø  Total income £2.20
• Ø  Profit\loss -£1.05

Not exactly the result I wanted to start with. Despite doubling the value of my goods, the profit was more than eaten up postage. I’ll try again, but its clear that whatever I buy must be bought locally and then sold on line, that way i have a chance of keeping some of my income.

Total outlay £5.95

Total Income £4.90

Profit Loss -£1.05

Continuing my series of  book reviews for historical fiction, Im jumping back in time tot he House of Hanover, to George III and the Jacobite risings. Its a bit of an odd book as it starts as historical fiction set just after WW2 but then jumps back to the 18th Century.

Right from the start Outlander promised to be a very enjoyable read with the right mix of intrigue and character building. But there is no mistaking its length which in this instance maybe fells like there are 200 too many pages.  

The story itself is very enjoyable and set in the highlands it has a really atmospheric backdrop and an interesting story.  I am a fan of Historical fiction but most of it I’ve read has been focused on battles and war rather than love and romance, so for me it was a different read but one that held up to its own standards.

As a first book, its absolutely amazing and perhaps because it was never intended to be published that Diana Gabaldon  was freed from many constraints of tradition.  The book doesn’t follow a stereotypical historical fiction plot and it doesn’t rest heavily on the time travel complexities, instead it kind of meanders from one scene to the next. Almost as if the story is evolving with each page, and that the author too didn’t quite know where it was going to end up.

The book is full of colourful and intriguing characters that we come across in various situations, and  
they are each built up for a given scenario, but then quite often they are left unceremoniously as we move to a new situation.

 Coming back to the Length which on its own wouldn’t be an issue if it turned into an epic read. The problem is that the there is a key premise to the book, that once you understand needs no further explanation.   This leaves the middle of the book feeling quite repetitive with very little added to the actual plot most of this section is taken up with wishy washy romance, which a book of this length would lose nothing if it wasn’t there.  

The ending too, seemed to drag on for more pages than it needed to. There is a conclusion to the book and it’s a bold one with lots of excitement and a fitting end, the thing is by the time you get there your desperate to know what the ending is so it feels like it’s a long time coming.

Yet despite its length there remains a number of loose ends and unknowns, so I look forward to picking up the rest of the series which hopefully comes back to these left threads.

I would definitely recommend it, but give yourself a lot of time and don’t think too deeply.