Gone Til November

My biggest and heaviest flip ever.  When I picked this thing up from the store, I completely underestimated how big the box was.  I had to borrow my parents' minivan and take out all of the seats to fit this.  I was a little hesitant to try to flip this because it was so big and heavy, but it was clearanced for $49 and the deal was just too tempting.

Within 3 days I had two potential buyers, and one seemed definitely eager to make the deal happen.  I tried telling her that this was a big and heavy box, and she said that her SUV could fit it.  WRONG.  I was planning to charge a delivery fee if this exact scenario happened.  But this lady was buying this as a surprise for her husband who is currently deployed until November.  Again, the pay it forward principle came in to affect so my dad and I told her we would deliver it to her house.  She is completely new to the area after coming back from overseas, and we ended up getting to her house before her.

She didn't even try to haggle the price I had listed because my price was already lower than every other store.  So I bought this 200lb, 6ft behemoth for ~$50 and flipped it for $200, easily one of my most profitable deals ever.

Deal Alert: Kindle Fire $200 - $50 Giftcard at Wal-Mart starting 2/5 to 2/14

Props to MAHESHK @ Slickdeals.net Thread

If selling 1 million Kindles each week last December wasn't enough, the Kindle is already going on sale.  Not sure if Amazon will match this deal, but Wal-mart is the Amazon of the brick and mortars.

Year of the Tablet...

This time last year I had never owned a tablet.  Then it started with HP's firesale and I bought a Touchpad.  Around November the Christmas deals started to roll out and within 2 weeks I ended up buying an HTC Flyer, Nook Color, and a Samsung Tab 7, a week after that I bought an HTC View, and then finally another Touchpad.  So I started out 2012 with 6 tablets.

I originally bought them to practice downloading e-books from the library's OverDrive site.  I wanted to gain enough experience to give a detailed review and comparison but I was hooked on the HTC Flyer because of HTC Sense it felt just like a bigger version of my old phone: the HTC Inspire 4G, great phone with a horrible battery, don't buy it! --- I know have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and it really does live up to the hype.  In the end I kept the HTC View (a 32gb, black version of the Flyer) for my personal use.  I gave the Flyer to my sister and a Touchpad to my dad for Christmas, and sold the rest.

I personally LOVE the HTC Flyer/View.  The 7" form factor is perfect to carry around and has enough screen space to read/browse/email comfortably.  Personally, I couldn't spend that much money on a Kindle Fire or Nook Color when I could have a fully loaded tablet.  It's the same size and weight, why not get one that can take notes via a stylus or has front and rear facing cameras?  Then again not many people shop as diligently as I do for the good deals.

Every report from last week's CES says that 2012 is the "Year of the Ultralight" but I tend to disagree.  2012 is the year of the tablet.  With the amount of Kindle questions I am getting at the desk since Christmas, I am in no way shocked to hear that it is estimated that Amazon sold a million Kindles a week during December (one source).  On a side note, Hey ALA, is it now time to pay attention to Amazon or are we just going to chalk it up again as, "Amazon can't beat the library"?  I've never believed that tablets could/would ever replace laptops or desktops now or anytime in the near future; they are just another "must-have" electronic addiction we add to our ever expanding collection.

Today during our monthly meeting, we were told that e-books and a working knowledge of e-readers are now our top priority.  Circ and Info are now supposed to be able to explain to patrons the basics of downloading from OverDrive.  Just a couple months ago, we were supposed to redirect any e-book related questions to OverDrive.  So the library is not the quickest when it comes to adapting to current trends, hopefully they'll act much quicker to unite and defeat the evil empire that is OverDrive.

Amazon Prime Shipping Free for Students for a Year

You library-people like to read, right?  Well, now you can have those beloved hardcovers (as well as every other item that is sold) shipped in 2-business days or less if you purchase them directly from Amazon.

Amazon is again offering one free full year of its Prime Shipping to those with a valid edu email address. It is an excellent service, it's even better when it's free!
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info

If there's one thing all of my coworkers know about me, it's that I like to shop. I don't like to just shop though. I like to think of myself as an educated consumer, who does all of their research in order to make sure that the best price is found. That usually involves looking at cash back sites, coupon codes, rebates, and price matches.  I like to reminince on the days of Bing's 30% eBay cashback deal, I had over$1000 in Bing cashback.  My coworkers are always asking advice on technology and what to buy and where to buy from.  At my first branch, I found the 46" LCD for my supervisor, I helped set up another's cell phone.  I sold two of my coworkers digital cameras which I had intended to eBay hustle but decided they needed it more and I could take the potential loss in profit.  There are always deals to be had and I will always be there looking for them.