Every so often, I see Gary Leff put out a post offering to answer travel questions. Its an excellent idea, and over the past couple of weeks, as I’ve been working on guides (like the Primer on National Rental Car), that will be posted in the semi-near future, I thought it would be valuable to get a dialog flowing.
You can always leave questions in Ask Tagging Miles, but, today, if there are any burning Travel, Miles and Points, or Reselling questions you have, please leave them in the comments, and I will endeavor to answer them as best I can!
So, without further adieu, How can I help?
I’m interested in reselling and have tried it before but the language and what I had to do onFBA was confusing to me. Ima senior with plenty of time. Would you consider mentoring me one on one
@Nana, If the Amazon FBA side is the challenge, I’m happy to help and can do so via e-mail if you like; if its sourcing products, that’s a bit more challenging, because there is a lot of trial and error and much is very local based. I am happy to answer any specific questions you have though, if you prefer, you can e-mail me, at Trevor@taggingmiles.com; also, if you do get into reselling, I have partnered with Phil Hall (@MilesAbound on twitter), on the Mile High Reselling Club, which is a subscription based reselling focused facebook group.
I’ve thought of giving reselling a try but realistically I’m limited to using an iPhone for identifying product and listing on FBA. Is it possible or even worth bothering?
@SCJ – I use my iPhone for about 60% of my FBA business (sans accounting). Do you not have a computer and printer? Those are two important things… merely from the perspective of creating shipments and printing labels. But from a sourcing standpoint, an iPhone should be more than sufficient.
I do have them… but they don’t work very well. And life is busy. Thanks for replying 🙂
Well, if you decide to dive into reselling, definitely don’t be shy. I’m happy to help, however I can. Q4 is in full swing, but, there are other seasons; for example, Jan/Feb are much more focused on health and exercise equipment (as folks want to burn off the weight they may have accrued from all the awesome holiday dinners and food!). Besides, getting into reselling at the start of the year also allows you to get your systems and processes up to snuff before getting into the busiest time of the year (Q4).
Starting out with “Every so often, I see Gary Leff put out a post offering to answer travel questions.”….
Smh.
1. Are you in love with Gary Leff?
2. Can you go a post without linking to Gary Leff’s blog?
3. Can you do a post “Why Gary Leff is the best?” I mean, might as well…
You asked to ask you…
@NotGLfan – #1 – No, #2 – Yes, many, perhaps you could peruse my posts, and you’ll see how many times I vary who I link to. The fact is, Gary had a good idea with the post idea, and I believe credit is due when credit is deserved. #3 – I doubt you’ll see such a post. I consider Gary a friend, but I fail to see the value to my readers with respect to such a post.
1. I bought a ton of toys at 90% off and am curious as to the best way in your opinion to sell them?
2. Can you make decent money at reselling or more just for earning points?
@ST – you can totally make decent money, especially on Toys in Q4. Check the prices on the toys, but, often times for highly ranked toys, Amazon and other sellers will run out, letting you raise your prices to make even more.
Tips for getting started? Never done it before. Particular posts of yours you can point me to for beginners?
@ST: I’d definitely point you to: https://saverocity.com/taggingmiles/beginners-guide-to-fulfillment-by-amazon-start-here/
90% off? How’d you manage that?
Are you marking all your stuff up a bit in anticipation for Q4 primetime, just toys, or just what you consider “giftable”? Wondering your overall pricing strategy with regard to Q4 this year.
@Craig – For the most part yes, I’m marking up my prices. That said, come Black Friday, I’ll be tweaking my prices downward, if there are things that are very time sensitive. Think those things that are gifts before Christmas (e.g. advent calendars).
My questions are a bit more broadbased. Like, how can Amazon sellers become powerful enough as a group to have an effect on their retroactively kicking us out of categories where we’ve been selling for months?
I am serious. There are plenty of us who do it professionally, and deserve to be treated like professionals. It’s not like we don’t, individually and as a group, contribute greatly to the bottom line there.
@Mickie – Wow, Great question! Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to do that. I have to believe that if enough sellers band together, it is possible, but, for every seller brand restricted, those that make it through are happier and can raise their prices. I think that actually helps your argument though. Amazon wants lower prices for their customers, so as they continue to restrict sellers, those that make it through should (rightly so) increase their prices, and that of course works contrary to Amazon’s objectives.
So yeah, my advice would be – for those that don’t get restricted – raise your price, you’ll get more profit, and if everyone does so, you might just highlight to Amazon that these brand restrictions ultimately lead to higher prices for consumers, and make Amazon decide which of their priorities is higher – restricting sellers, or lower prices for their customers. Of course, we know Amazon’s highest focus (so far as I’m aware, at least) is a great customer experience… so, in theory, that strategy should help!
On the travel side, I have two business class award tickets on AA to Brazil. My travel plans changed and I will be traveling by ship now. The departure time and date on the original tickets have not changed and are still for Feb.1, 2017. If the times don’t change, is it a good idea to move the travel dates far, far, forward in hopes of a change? And do you know if there is a fee to extend an award ticket?
Thanks,
Bob
@Bob – do you have status with American? If not, I think there’s a change fee. Second, the furthest that you can push the dates out to is 1 year from when you booked the original ticket. That said, 1 Feb 17 is still a good deal in the future, and it is possible that AA *might* still have changes. Additionally, depending on where you are flying from, weather could also provide a way out of the cancellation fees. I’d keep an eye out, but without status, I probably wouldn’t do anything until much closer in, as that increases your chances of schedule change or weather.
Yes! . Searching airfare. Delta is showing r/t at $167. If I go through Chase UR the same exact flight is $210. Hotel on Kayak.com is $110 per night. (No AAA no membership rate. Just plain rack rate) and Chase UR is $147. Every time I check airfare or hotels Chase is always higher. Why?
@Nicole – so it seems like Chase comes back fairly regularly with higher prices for hotels, but, its been a mixed bag for me on flights… Not sure how many different options you’ve put in, but, it definitely is a YMMV and compare with other search engines. I’m not quite sure why though, especially on airfares, because the fare pricing is pretty cut and dry, assuming an apples to apples comparison.
First off, thanks so much for doing this. When Gary does this, it’s an incredibly altruistic thing, and it’s just nice to see. I’ve enjoyed about 40 award nights with Hyatt in 2015/16 after doing a Diamond Challenge at the start of 2015, and have gotten many thousands of dollars of upgrades and benefits. Consequently, I’m making the (questionable) decision to get 25 stays in at the start of next year for whatever the new top status is called, for all of 2017 and 2018. Insert sigh or snarky comment here. Any idea if the Hyatt card will still offer 2 stay credits for January/February?
@Christian – my pleasure! By all accounts, it looks like the spend benefit *should* stick around in Jan/Feb, but I don’t know that Hyatt has confirmed that, but Chase still advertises that benefit on their website, so, I would imagine it would take some time for them to phase it out. I’d definitely try to do the spend as early in the year as possible, so the statement hits in enough time. Good luck with the Mattress Runs in Jan!
This might be my imagination but did I at one point read that you were buying cheap phones to gain some extra phone numbers for deals? Can you explain more about this? I need to see if I can get that free Kroger minutes with fuel points deal to work.
@Alice – I haven’t done that… That said, if you are just looking for extra phone numbers, why not try Google Voice; seems like a lot cheaper option.
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