Post Your Wins

[Gailete]

Of course, gains are taxable income so there's that to deal with later.

Of course, there is ALWAYS that to deal with for anyone ambitious enough to work to make more money!

[QuarterMillionMan]

Yes DisneySteve explained it well. My brokerage acct is with Scottrade and I think it is $7 per trade, so it cost $14 to buy & sell. Scottrade defines Day Trading as such;


Day Trading
Day Trading Overview
When you continuously buy and sell investments within a very short time, perhaps a few minutes or hours, and rarely hold them overnight, you're considered a day trader.
Counting Day Trades
The Financial Industry Regulatory*Authority*(FINRA) has implemented strict requirements for accounts thatactively day trade. To identify these accounts, FINRA has defined a Pattern Day Trader as someone who completes four or more day trades in a rolling five business days.



This was my actual order execution;
This notice is to inform you that the following trade has been executed, subject to modification according to the rules of the exchange:
Trade Type: BUY
Security Symbol: VXX
Quantity: 274
Price: $47.23
*
This notice is to inform you that the following trade has been executed, subject to modification according to the rules of the exchange:
Trade Type: SELL
Security Symbol: VXX
Quantity: 274
Price: $49.10

[disneysteve]

Day Trading Overview
When you continuously buy and sell investments within a very short time, perhaps a few minutes or hours

Exactly. Making one round trip trade doesn't exactly qualify you as a day trader.

Day traders tend to go for small gains but large volume. Rather than looking to make a dollar or two per share, they may trade when the stock moves up 10 cents but instead of 250 shares, they might trade 10,000 shares and the buy and sell might only be minutes apart.

[Gailete]

Huge win for me. I have been trying hard all year to be setting aside the appropriate amount of money for taxes as we are self employed and due to our house loan we also have to pay those and not through excrow. Today I send in a Property tax bill of over $3000 and got the 2% early payment discount. While this has not been a real financially succesful year so far, it is better than last, so to have managed to save that amount was a thrill for me. Too many times I had to put that on a credit car.

[msomnipotent]

Huge win for me. I have been trying hard all year to be setting aside the appropriate amount of money for taxes as we are self employed and due to our house loan we also have to pay those and not through excrow. Today I send in a Property tax bill of over $3000 and got the 2% early payment discount. While this has not been a real financially succesful year so far, it is better than last, so to have managed to save that amount was a thrill for me. Too many times I had to put that on a credit car.

I wish our county had an early pay discount. Our property taxes are $12,000, so 2% would be great. Congratulations on your win!

A few small wins for me yesterday. I noticed I didn't get credit for a few shopping trips through Ebates from two months ago, so I sent in what they needed and got the credit. Only about $20 total, but that is something. I have to watch them like a hawk now because this is happening all too frequently with them. I also got a refund from Amazon for something I bought as a lightening deal, which leaked, and then Amazon said it wasn't returnable. It didn't say it wouldn't be returnable when I bought it, so I complained and got my money back. It was only about $7, but it is the principle. Amazon is turning into a junky flea market.

[Gailete]

Amazon is turning into a junky flea market.

It isn't so much that it is a flea market, but that they have let foreign sellers sell on their site and all they do is scam people. If you buy on Amazon makes sure that you are buying American, or Canadian, etc. Not a place where in less than five minutes a new seller can list from 20,000 to 100,000 items and then don't have a single item that they say they have to sell. They just collect money for 'sales' and then disappear.

And check peoples feedback. I'm appalled at people that buy from someone with feedback in the 80's and 70's. This isn't school where a B or a C is okay to have. Someone selling with a 75% feedback means that they have disappointed 1/4 of their customers, at least the ones that will complain. Try to buy from sellers with a 95% or higher feedback.

Starting Monday, October 2, Amazon is going to handle refunds, etc. to 'help out' we sellers (something we didn’t ask for and it is being forced on us). That kind of help I don't need. I would rather discuss the problem with a buyer. In my case usually the problem is they bought the wrong size, decided the pattern is too hard to make even though they are buying a Vogue designer pattern, which in my head would compute to being more difficult, and those that from the time they ordered until they got the pattern, usually 2-4 days here in the states, they no longer have time for the project. Now Amazon will give them a prepaid label, that comes out of seller's pockets, to send the item back in for a refund. Sellers can lose money because they can end up out of pocket on return shipping for something that isn't their fault at all! The other day someone bought something from me elsewhere and almost immediately wanted to cancel the order, I ended up losing money since a business seller must pay PayPal for each order processed even if the whole thing is refunded, so I lost money just because someone didn't check the size they needed or found it elsewhere for cheaper. And for refunds you lose the cost of the initial shipping supplies that cannot be used again. For sellers that sell a whole lot more than I do, they can be losing big chunks of money daily because of this.

I do it because we need the money.

[Gailete]

While it isn't much, I needed a new black cartridge for one of our printers. The lowest cost on Amazon was $29.94. I had just gotten a CVS on line offer for 40% off one item and 30% off any non-sale items. I got the ink for $17.87, Two bottles of an OTC med that hubby and I use, buy one get one half off and a package of toothbrushes as I keep forgetting to pick them up when I am in the store, and they were 30% off, I also was able to use a $3 bonus buck that I had in my account and got free shipping besides, all for things we needed. Not counting free shipping, I saved $26.

[JoeP]

We just got back from a 2 week trip to Scotland, and it was paid for before we even left. In fact, we started saving the day we decided to plan, which was 8 months ago. We used a combination of cash and credit card, and when we got back to the states, the card was paid off immediately.

[disneysteve]

We cancelled our Netflix DVD plan yesterday. Yes, we still had a DVD plan. The problem is we weren't using it nearly enough to justify the cost ($12/month). We mailed back the discs we had this morning. We'll actually get $15 back for one of them related to a billing error a couple of months ago and we'll be saving the $12/mo. from now on.

If we want to see a movie that isn't streaming or free On Demand, it will be cheaper to buy it (On Demand, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, etc.) than to keep paying for the DVD plan.

[rob62521]

Don't know if this counts, but some friends bought me a case of half pint Mason jars. I have shared jams, jellies, and pickles with them and have reminded them to return jars and they usually do, but the additional jars was a nice gift.

[MonkeyMama]

sold! $150 (Basically a $0 rental for something that made my life infinitely easier).

We are doing the same right now with a musical instrument. I expect to sell it for the same price we paid for it.

As an aside, the used instrument had a $600 sticker price in the store. We were looking to pay $300-ish for a solid brand. This was just the first store we went to, but a store that sells high quality used instruments that don't need repairs. When it was clear we weren't going to just drop $600 without more shopping around, and they couldn't talk us into renting, they dropped the price on the spot to $300.

In other wins, my husband won two tickets to see George Takei speak. Technically the retail value is $150, but it's part of a speaker series and the only way to get tickets is to buy the entire series ($450 per person). So I am feeling very lucky with this win.

[MonkeyMama]

We also got back from Europe last month. I am just realizing I never added this to this thread. The entire trip was spurred by $500 round-trip non-stop tickets to London (from west coast). Historically low exchange rates helped to make the decision.

Oh, and we redeemed $1,000 in gift cards, from credit card rewards, last month. We did also pay for about $500 of our Europe trip with credit card (travel) rewards.

[Gailete]

After being away for years, I have been slowly dipping my toes into ebay again. I tweaked and relisted something that didn't sell last week, within minutes, not even five I think, one of the items sold for $36 plus shipping and I got it free from my BIL. Never had anything sell that fast in 16 years of selling on line! Happy Dance.

[msomnipotent]

I checked our two back up credit cards since we haven't used them in 2 years. One had enough points for a $25 gift card, so I ordered a Yankee Candle one. Not sure if I will use it towards family Christmas gifts or give to my daughter to give a friend as a gift. I also noticed that Chase discounted the points needed for Petsmart gift cards enough that I was able to get 2 "free" $10 Starbucks cards with my $200 in Petsmart cards.

[Gailete]

I checked our two back up credit cards since we haven't used them in 2 years. One had enough points for a $25 gift card, so I ordered a Yankee Candle one. Not sure if I will use it towards family Christmas gifts or give to my daughter to give a friend as a gift. I also noticed that Chase discounted the points needed for Petsmart gift cards enough that I was able to get 2 "free" $10 Starbucks cards with my $200 in Petsmart cards.

I've had some Christmases where it was reward points and my Christmas club that paid for all the presents. My son does most of his Christmas shopping using cards he gets from doing surveys, etc.

If you are old enough, you can get quite a few different gift cards for 10% off the face value through AARP, so an instant 10% off and you can still take advantage of any discounts, coupons that the store puts out or you find on the internet. I just got a box delivered from CVS. They sent me a code for 40% one item as well as 30% off anything not on sale, I also was able to use a current $3 bonus buck and got free shipping. Ended up saving $26! When I need ink cartridges for my color printer, I wait if I can for a nice 40% off coupon for on line items to buy them. This one was discounted to less than $18 instead of $30!