Did I leave money on the table?

March 5, 2018 9:23 AM

I was in a Best Buy the other day that had an Nvidia-manufactured Geforce GTX 1080 with 8GB of RAM for sale for $589.

I saw recently a post claiming GTX 1080s are going for high $700s.

Two questions:

1. Was I an idiot for not buying this and trying to resell it?

and

2. Where/how would I have resold it? I don't have an account on any online selling platform like ebay with any history.

posted by Number Used Once to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Best answer: They're not going for enough to make it worth the flip, unless you find someone on Craigslist. Ebay and Paypal fees, plus your local sales tax on the $589 (assuming there is one) would make it too slim a margin. Not worth your time/effort.
posted by Slinga at 9:41 AM on March 5, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: You probably did leave a little money on the table.

But when you factor in the knowledge that this is a very hot item, and lots of people are probably willing to scam you out of your graphics card because it has some value (today, at least)...the end result is that it's probably not worth it in the long run.

What would your profit have been after acquiring it, posting it online, paying ebay/paypal fees, etc? Maybe $100? You could also sell it on a free site like Craigslist or Letgo, which comes with it's own set of headaches shipping it (high scam potential) or meeting the buyer in person (what's your tolerance for meeting a stranger while holding a valuable item?)

Is the profit worth the trouble?

and, what Slinga said above
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:42 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: From what I understand many of these cards are prized by people who mine cryptocurrencies. I assume you could resell it, but likely would have to post to sites like ebay, etc. Once doesn't need a selling history to sell. As long as you don't screw someone, they will buy it.
posted by terrapin at 9:44 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Ebay fees are around 8-10%. Paypal fees are 3%. Sales tax, maybe 5% as a rough number. $589*1.05=618.45
Sell it on eBay for $725 (maybe). $725*.88=$638. Minus $10 for shipping, $628.
posted by Slinga at 10:01 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

I doubt it. Apparently when it came out two years ago, it was selling for $700. Prices fluctuate a lot in technology and the longer something is around, the more it is likely to go on sale, and it's not like this is a rare graphics card that is hard to find. Also, it was a great card when it came out but I'd assume some other graphics card has supplanted it by now. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. With all the fees and shipping to sell on eBay, you wouldn't end up making a ton, and it looks like eBay has some for less than $700.
posted by AppleTurnover at 11:06 AM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

To add to Slinga's point add an hour or two of your time at at least $15-30 an hour (I value my free time at least at half my billable rate at work)
posted by bitdamaged at 1:12 PM on March 5, 2018

To answer your above-the-fold question: no, you didn't leave any money on the table, because you kept it in your pocket the whole time.
posted by gyusan at 3:25 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]