Toys to Retirement Weekly Wrap-Up #16
34k net profit January, a quick poll, and some Marvel news?
**THIS WEEKLY WRAP-UP CONTAINS POTENTIAL MARVEL SPOILERS**
If you wish to avoid the spoilers, do not read the last section of the Weekly Wrap-Up.
Hello friends,
I hope everyone has had a fantastic start to Q1. Still need some stuff to reconcile, but early reporting says I should be finishing around a 34-36k net profit for January across Amazon, Walmart, and eBay.
It pains me to know I’ll be seeing red on the Amazon app all year, but it’s only because I’ve moved a good chunk of business over to Walmart. So Amazon revenue is down, but overall revenue and profit is up.
I’d love to keep these numbers all year with a nice bump in Q4, but it’s going to be tough to match the quality of inventory I have right now as I begin selling out of some hot 100% ROI SKUs.
I’m sitting at a 3.1% return rate for January on Amazon, and a 3.1% return rate for Walmart overall since my first Walmart sale a few months ago.
It’s pretty much exactly where I’d expect it to be — actually a bit better since I anticipated a larger post-holiday return rate.
I’m already seeing the benefits of some cost-saving and profit-generating initiatives I’ve been talking about over the last few weeks, including my efforts to reduce long term storage fees and my more precise repricing strategies with lower maximums but more frequent yo-yo’s.
Several recurring costs have been eliminated or reduced as of last month, so I really feel like I can capture a lot more profit this year than last, especially if production levels in the toy world remain relatively the same as 2024.
LEGO Update
The thing I’m most excited about from this January is how incredible so many LEGO sets have been performing just one month after retirement. Several SKUs I was anticipating having to hold until Q4, but I’m already letting them rip for 80-100% ROI on both Amazon and Walmart. I really hope LEGO keeps production levels the same as last year. The fact that Amazon is now carrying some LEGO store exclusives indicates to me that LEGO does not want to being carrying retired, leftover stock into the new year… hopefully this means they aren’t planning on increasing production.
In other LEGO news, Amazon has restocked several retired LEGO sets at MSRP due to a final production run. You can start to see why I latch onto trying to find sets that I think Amazon won’t restock, rather than picking investments just solely based on how ‘good’ a set is.
While it can be frustrating to see your investment stuck at MSRP, there may be opportunity if Amazon decides to do any sort of discount in the future. Keep tracking those sets!
Lastly, LEGO has two gift with purchases available right now.
While it is very early to start stocking up on sets that are retiring in December, the price thresholds are very low and easy to justify. If you have the spare capital, it could be worth tossing some money at some stuff you think has that ‘Gandalf and Balrog’ potential.
Subscriber Q&A #2
I hope everyone had a chance to see my second Q&A I did this week. Instead of diving into one specific topic, I try to cover a range of questions I frequently get asked and see on social media. You can check it out here:
Don’t hesitate to send more questions for the next round!
Tip of the Week #13
Ever been doing some online arbitrage and can’t seem to find a listing for a toy that’s on sale?
It’s possible that a listing doesn’t exist. But it’s also very possible that the listing is just suppressed and not showing up when you search in Amazon’s search bar.
Not only has Amazon been suppressing more and more listings, but they also really make you work to find listings that don’t have a buy box. You can search an exact item title and still have to scroll to page 2 to find an item just because Amazon deems it overpriced.
When doing manual online arbitrage, I actually prefer to search [ITEM NAME amazon] on Google, in addition to searching in Amazon’s search bar.
This will usually give you the “right” listing to sell on, even if it’s suppressed, and saves you the hassle of having to scroll through a page and a half of un-related toys.
If a toy does happen to be suppressed, I’ve found that it’s mostly related to the item missing a ‘browse node’.
When you go to a listing, you should see the ‘browse node’ at the very top of the listing, it looks like this:
To confirm if the browse node is the issue, click the Help button in the top right on your desktop in Seller Central and select the option ‘Listing not buyable’.
Paste the ASIN, and it will tell you the reason.
If an item is suppressed and browse node is the issue, you can usually open a case, paste a browse node from a similar item into the case, and have Amazon update the item for you. Then the item should become un-suppressed.
Voila! You may have found a lead that others were sleeping on simply because it wasn’t appearing in the first row of search results using Amazon’s crappy search algorithm.
Interest in coaching calls?
Have been receiving a couple messages since the new year asking if I offer coaching calls. It seems people are interested in starting the year off by adding something new to their Amazon business, in this case toys.
It could be about anything toy/Amazon-related, whether we dive into some lead analysis, talk strategy, go in-depth on a certain topic, whatever.
I haven’t taken the time to make a calendar or anything, but wanted to gauge interest before I commit to opening something like this up.
It won’t hurt my feelings if you say no, but just want to make sure I’m offering services people actually want. Let me know by voting on the poll please!
** POTENTIAL MARVEL SPOILERS BELOW **
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Rumors have been circulating that Ghost Rider may be making his return to the big screen sooner than expected, as early as in Avengers: Doomsday slated for 2026.
I think it’s pretty clear that Disney is looking to tie up this multiverse of messiness that we’ve been dealt the last few years, and is ready to turn the page towards a more street-level saga with more relatable heroes.
Street level heroes tend to gain more love from fans than cosmic, end of the universe type heroes with overpowered abilities. There’s a reason that Batman, Spider-Man, Deadpool, Wolverine, etc. are immensely more popular than characters like Captain Marvel or the Eternals. Most fans want realistic stakes, not ‘end of the universe’ stakes in every movie. With Ghost Rider, you naturally welcome in other street level heroes with equally cool character designs. Daredevil, Moon Knight, Blade, etc. All characters that have potential to be just a notch below Deadpool and Wolverine in popularity. If they nail this upcoming season of Daredevil and properly launch Ghost Rider into the MCU next year, it will open up tons of merch opportunities for us toy investors and Disney will catch onto the fact that fans want gritty, cool costumed heroes in New York — not what they’ve been giving us for the last few years.
Along with what seems to be an upcoming era of street level heroes, we will also be starting to be introduced to mutants, the Fantastic 4, and of course the stakes will be at their highest with Dr. Doom and Secret Wars.
In short, I think we’re in for a pretty exciting slew of characters in the coming years, compared to the sub-par heroes we’ve been getting recently from Marvel.
All you have to do is look at the Keepa charts for the last six Marvel movies before Deadpool and Wolverine and see dud merch after dud merch.
I believe with these upcoming ‘cooler’ designed characters, we will be in for a nice revitalization.
With this Ghost Rider rumor, I’m sure you all know what to be keeping an eye on…
Alright friends, gonna wrap it up here. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. One month down, Q4 isn’t far off now!
My answer to the interest in paid coaching is this….if I felt safe about Amazon not regating me on things I was once approved to sell, I would be interested. As a new seller I’m not confident amazon won’t regate me. It’s difficult to scale up not feeling secure in amazon. For my personal situation it would probably be a year or two before I felt comfortable with amazon. I realize we all have to establish ourselves as reliable sellers in their eyes.
What Lego sets are you unloading?