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I feel your pain @RBefort. I've done a lot of buying and selling throughout my life but for some reason I am unable to make it consistent. Buying and selling is definitely a tricky process.It appears to me that sellers tend to set their prices above the market so they can maintain their margins from the lowballers. In some cases, sellers also set prices at market value and decline all lowball offers or give you a slight discount which is not enough to make any profits. Here is a hypothetical scenario I find myself in a lot...
So let's say there is a pair of shoes you want to buy. The seller is selling it for $100. The real market value of the item is $70 dollars. You message the seller and make an offer for $60. The seller declines and says "I will do $70". From the buyer's perspective (you), it appears to be a good deal as he dropped the price down by $30. At this point you have to make a decision. Since this is just an example, let's just say you decide to pull the trigger and make the purchase. Let assume you bought the item off Craigslist. At this point, you got the product and everything seem to be going right until you realize there is no margins to be made. You try to put it on Ebay and Amazon only to realize, if you priced it at $100, you are most likely unable to compete. Everyone on Ebay is selling it for $70. As for Amazon, it is an absolute price war. If your listing is not around the top 5, it is extremely difficult to sell. Factor in shipping and fees from Ebay and Amazon and now you got negative profits. If you decide to list it on Craigslist and price it at $100 (just like the seller did to you), you will realize that you are back at square one because now you're trying to maintain your margins and others are lowballing you now. Factor in time wasted messaging seller(30 minutes), time driving(1:30hr roundtrip) , gas (15-20miles),wasted inventory space and now you got a nightmare deal that will end your buying and selling career quickly. Not quite sure how anyone can pull this off consistently.
@Vigilante has an interesting point.This seems like the only solution, but then again, your probability of striking a deal is low which makes this business model extremely inconsistent.
well if it's easy, anyone could do it.
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