Local Radio Shack closed, and I bought $8100.00 of stuff for $100. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Carl_Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 03:37:30 am
content: So my local Radio Shack store closed today. They had a bag sale. $10 for all you could stuff in a small bag, $20 for all that could fit in a medium bag, and $50 for a giant bag.First thing I did was buy every cell phone battery in the store, stuffed into a $50 bag. Original RS price, over $4000.00.Then I went back and stuffed a $20 bag with most every cell phone case and screen protector in the store, a mess of LittleBits Sound Triggers, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. After some thought about how much stuff I needed, I went back and got another $20 bag, and found a mess of digital camera batteries behind the counter. I topped bag three off with more misc stuff like USB 3.0 cables, A/V cables, a few phone chargers, headphones, etc.In the end I got 415 items, with Radio Shack retail price of almost $8100.00, and I paid $107.50. Of course, Radio Shack's retail price was 2 or 3 times other stores.Now, I have to fire up my eBay account and start selling stuff, or have one major rummage sale.Pictures of the haul below:

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 08:16:13 am
content: I wonder if there is a list of store closings. Around here, Northern Illinois, all the nearby stores either closed before I checked them out or are staying open. I thought all the stores that were closing already did. Is there another round of closings? I want a shot at the parts bin, especially relays and if there are any arduinos or shields lying around.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 09:59:19 am
content: Yea, I can't get a straight answer out of my local store of when they will "really" be closing. Urrr. They just say, check back each day! (like I have time for that)I've seen a lot of these "hauls" from closing stores, where the receipt is 50 feet long, and all I can think is...."well, ya bought a bunch of junk at market value! Congrats!"

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 10:20:08 am
content: I agree. You can probably buy the batteries for a few dollars with free shipping from China. It's not even worth the shipping costs to put them on Ebay.For example: a Samsung battery for less than $3 including shipping:http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Lowest-Price-Rechargeable-Replacement-1900mAh-Battery-For-Samsung-I8190/32358494044.htmlIMHO the bag sale seems like a scam. If the inventory had some worth they would have gotten rid of it by selling it to someone who can shift the whole load at once but I guess those people where not interested.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 10:27:21 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on June 27, 2015, 10:20:08 amForgot to mention that those Chinese batteries are worthless junk with half of the rated capacity and will die after a few months.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 12:08:17 pm
content: And you think the Radioshack branded ones will be any better?Same junk for 10 times the price.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 01:23:41 pm
content: If Carl got there early enough to cherry pick the stock, he *MIGHT* have $810 worth of value there. The problem is shifting it quickly without spending double the value to do so. Anything that doesn't sell this summer is wasted money. At the end of the day, making $700 flipping burgers is likely to take less time, be easier and also far less stressful.

author: senso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 01:47:04 pm
content: Batteries and more batteries?Nothing else?If the stores where so stagnated I would take a wild guess and say that half those batteries are already dead.

author: Carl_Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 04:03:41 pm
content: Quote from: george graves on June 27, 2015, 09:59:19 amMy local store spent about 6 weeks doing a going out of business sale. Started at something like 30% off and the percentage off went up each week. I went in about once a week and bought things for myself that I was willing to pay the higher prices for because they were things I could actually use. They wouldn't admit to when the last day was until a couple days before the last day.Quote from: JoeN on June 27, 2015, 08:16:13 amArduino stuff and the parts drawers were some of the first stuff to go at my local store when the closing sale started. Except for fuses, they sat there for a long time. Not sure why when it was all still way overpriced even at 50% off.Quote from: senso on June 27, 2015, 01:47:04 pmMostly batteries, but I did get some other stuff. Some phone cases, screen protectors, several A/V cables, a couple phone chargers, some other random stuff. I got a "3GHz Satellite Finder." Not sure why. It fit in the bag. I also got a box of 10 rechargable 9V batteries. Not sure why, I think the only thing I use 9V batteries in is a couple multimeters and the smoke detectors. And you don't want to use rechargeables in a smoke detector.I'm wondering what's ending up in the dumpster today. They had probably 20 cases of C size alkaline batteries, and a mess of cases of AAAA alkaline batteries (not AAA). They had a bunch of speaker wire left, and dozens of iPod charge cables. Batteries and are of little value in that quantity since they are too heavy to ship to eBay buyers and they have a shelf life. Speaker wire is also too heavy to eBay.We'll see how much money I make. I'll probably regret having done it in the end. The only saving grace is that I have a lot of duplicate items, so it will be a lot easier to do the auctions.I was wondering if my city is going to have one of those community garage sales soon, where you rent a table in a big conference center and sell your junk. Maybe I could unload mobile phone batteries that way and not have do deal with shipping stuff.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 05:36:44 pm
content: Quote from: wilfred on June 27, 2015, 01:41:20 pmThe same can be said about items bought from China directly. If Chinese sell crap on Ebay or Aliexpress the negative feedback will also kill them and that will happen faster than with a shop like Radioshack.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 05:39:21 pm
content: Quote from: Carl_Smith on June 27, 2015, 04:03:41 pmYou could build something old school which uses valves or nixie tubes which run off 90V.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 05:59:10 pm
content: Anything you or your friends can find a use for immediately helps the economics considerably.9V NiMH batteries have their uses on the bench if you are prototyping low noise analog circuits. Four of them, directly clipped to a board with a couple of 100mA regulators and a low battery indicator to give you fully floating +/- 12V or 15V with low capacitance to earth or mains can be very useful. Four more batteries on charge or being maintained by <1mA trickle charge and a couple of spares and that's all ten batteries used.Any odd-ball LiPO batterys you are left with that are recently dated can be re-purposed for your own projects so they may not be a dead loss either.I wouldn't have bothered with the cellphone cases and screen protectors except specific ones for personal use. They are probably mostly for obsolete or unpopular phones and you are competing with dollar stores!

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 06:45:02 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on June 27, 2015, 05:36:44 pmBullshit. You can hardly buy genuine or good battery or charger from ebay. Same goes for fake flash. However they are sold there in huge quantities without any issues. Buyer usually realizes that he got crap when feedback is already left or too late.

author: Carl_Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 07:01:05 pm
content: Quote from: Ian.M on June 27, 2015, 05:59:10 pmYup, I already thought about making a bipoolar supply board for opamp circuits. And the 90V nixie supply Hero999 suggested.Quote from: Ian.M on June 27, 2015, 05:59:10 pmYeah, and the nice thing about that is the majority of the batteries came with an external charger, so I've got a charger for any I re-purpose for projects.Quote from: Ian.M on June 27, 2015, 05:59:10 pmThe screen protectors are "generic" ones you have to cut to size. Almost skipped them but I threw them in because 55 packs of 5 didn't take up much space in the $20 bag I was filling. I am going to save a few and cut ones for my mp3 player, and the LCDs on my multimeters.The cell phone cases are actually the most current stuff. Most of them are for iPhone 6 and a few iPhone 5.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2015, 07:20:21 pm
content: Quote from: Carl_Smith on June 27, 2015, 03:37:30 am"The more you buy the more you save". Good for you.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 28, 2015, 06:43:36 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on June 27, 2015, 10:20:08 amProbably not worth the cost once they catch fire. Rule of thumb is to avoid cheap batteries from China, especially Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer's. They are cheap for a reason and more often than not will lack the safety mechanisms found in genuine batteries.Same goes for chargers and anything else that plugs into mains power -- If it's really cheap, I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it without being able to verify what's actually on the inside.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2015, 10:00:30 am
content: 99% of everything comes from china. There is cheap stuff from china, and good stuff from china. Sooooo.....Yea. Just cause it's from china, doesn't make it crap.Otherwise an iPhone would be crap.You have to shop smart. Buy many samples, and be willing to test on your own.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 28, 2015, 10:10:59 am
content: Quote from: george graves on June 28, 2015, 10:00:30 amI did say "rule of thumb'. Essentially if it's too cheap, then it's probably crap.Quote from: george graves on June 28, 2015, 10:00:30 amIt pretty much is. It's a toy. Android and Microsoft (even BlackBerry OS despite their falling market share) are leaps and bounds ahead in many ways. But that's just my opinion.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2015, 12:38:59 pm
content: $8100 worth of stuff? Even if you had only won a loaf of bread for 1/4 price you'd still get someone jacking himself off telling you that it must have been made with bone meal.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2015, 02:09:33 pm
content: No, produced in China, so not bonemeal, just added melamine!Actually most of the posters in this topic have been reasonably constructive.@Carl: YOU SUCK!(traditional USENET response to those who boast about oneoff scores/deals they got)

author: Carl_Smith
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2015, 05:42:25 pm
content: Quote from: Ian.M on June 28, 2015, 02:09:33 pmAh, USENET. I used to spend a lot of time there, on sci.electronics.design and a few other newsgroups. Then about 10 years ago the ISP I had at the time dropped their usenet server and I never bothered to find another one.When I grabbed all the cell phone batteries I didn't even look at what they were for. I sorted my haul, and there are about 45 charger & batteries for Samsung Galaxy S3. Don't know how much I'll get for those, especially when it seems like everyone on eBay selling them are doing free shipping.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2015, 04:13:56 am
content: Quote from: george graves on June 28, 2015, 10:00:30 amLike who has time to buy many samples of anything and spend the time to test it all?

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2015, 09:21:43 am
content: Depends on what your needs are. Ask mikeselectricstuff how many packages he receives from china in a week.

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 29, 2015, 06:33:02 pm
content: Quote from: Carl_Smith on June 27, 2015, 03:37:30 amI'm not sure they payed more for it to the chinese factory...:-)