Year of Yummm Reselling Results – Turned Out To Be Easy $$$
Last year Red Robin had what looked to be a pretty amazing deal. They were offering a year’s worth of gift cards at a discount. They called it the year of yummm. This deal was only live for a few hours and I jumped on it without really knowing how it would work. It ended up working pretty well and here are my year of yummm reselling results.
Details of the Offer
Red Robin was offering a $15 gift card on the first of every month for a year ($180 in total) for $99. You could buy up to 8 of these or $1,440 in gift cards for $792. The public resale rates for their gift cards were in the 75% range when the deal came out.
I wasn’t sure if they were actual gift cards or just dining vouchers that couldn’t be resold. Because of that I only decided to order 3 sets, huge mistake! I was worried about getting stuck eating $1,440 at Red Robin.
My Figures
Because of the unknown aspects of the deal I purchased 3 sets at $99 a piece for a total $297. Then on the first of each month I would receive and email with 3 – $15 gift cards in them. Once I saw that they were actual gift cards I was relieved but also upset that I didn’t purchase more.
Over the 12 months the sale price would vary some but I ended up selling the $540 in gift cards for a total of $424.88. That is a average of 78.7%, slightly better than the current public rates.
My net profit over the year was $127.88 for a rate of return of 43%.
Conclusion
This was one of the easier deals I have done. It did take a long time to recoup my investment which could be a turn off for some (almost as long as ticket reselling). Had I done the full amount of 8 I would have made a profit of $341.28. Looking back I am upset I didn’t purchase more and get some for my wife as well.
But, the number one rule of reselling is never put in more money then you are comfortable with losing, or eating in this case. Sadly, it doesn’t look like Red Robin is bringing the offer back this year.
Did you take a part in this deal? Let me know your thoughts on it in the comments.
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Who buys these from resellers at less than a 20% discount? You can get them from multiple sources that cheaply year-round. For example, RetailMeNot currently has over 2,000 cards in inventory at 18% off, and Raise was selling them at 20% off earlier this week.
I’m not sure I would be willing to advance Red Robin $800 upfront, hoping they don’t flood the market with cheap gift cards after you buy in. There are several vendors that I won’t buy at less than a 30% discount, because I know they sell them on the open market for cheap: Hooters, Massage Envy, and some smaller chain restaurants that will sell to Sams Club at 30-40% off.
Where did you sell these?
I sold them to a buddy who is a sells them on Raise. CardKangaroo is at 77% right now and Cardpool is 71% etc. So there were ways to make a profit even through regular public resale sights.
I did 4 sets and my results were about the same as yours… Although I did miss out on selling a few when I learned Red Robin is my nephew’s favorite restaurant and I took him for his birthday.
“Two words, uncle Clayton: Bottomless Fries.”
“Alright, bud. Let’s go!”
Haha nice – at least that trip was free though 🙂
Kudos! Sadly I did not partake in the deal. I think next year I’ll try to do more different types of reselling.
Always good to try out different areas even if you start small.