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[MegaManTrigger]

Nothing wrong with reselling, blame the companies that don't produce enough that make this an issue.

In fairness, there's a difference between scalping limited editions, and scalping regular products. I always see people doing both regardless.

 

[televator]

I hate reselles on Offerup. They are fucking vultures.

 

[That Damn Kid]

I usually resell a couple things I buy at yard sales, to make up for the gas I used

 

[Booker Dewitt]

Picture yourself 10 years old.
The brand new Nintendo Switch you've been reading about online for months is about to hit the market. You've been eagerly expecting it for such a long time...
You're in luck, it comes out just a couple of weeks before your birthday.
So when your parents ask what kind of gift you want, you don't even hesitate for a split second: the Switch it is, of course!

Comes March 3. The timing feels so right! Your dad remembers when he got his own SNES back in the day.
$299+tax is a bit of a stretch financially speaking; your family is typical middle class, your parents aren't rich and have a few debts. Plus they have to get you Zelda along with the console.
But they know you've been making tremendous efforts at school in the past few months in order to get good grades; they promised you you'd have your Switch if you did, and you delivered. So now it's their turn, and they're happy to oblige.

They go to Walmart, their usual place to buy stuff. But no Switch. "When are you going to receive new stock?" they ask. The employee has no idea.
Your parents leave Walmart and go to a mom and pop store. "It's usually a bit more expensive", they say, "but at least he'll get his present". But alas, no luck there either.
"Let's check Amazon", your dad says. And Amazon he checks. Both your parents' faces blemish when they discover the only Switches available are marked up at least 100%.
They can't afford that.

They're left with no choice. Right after you finish your dessert that evening, they tell you : "I'm sorry dear, we can't find your game console anywhere." Your mom tears up a bit when you reply: "but you promised!"
"We know. We're sorry. We'll try to make it up to you."

Fast forward.
Christmas. The next year. You're finally there, with your Switch still wrapped in gifting paper.
In the meantime, one of your calssmates, the "rich" kid who always has everything before everybody else, managed to get one and invited you over a couple of times to try it. So when you open your package, it's a lot less magical, of course. You're still happy, sure. But rich kid has already spoiled Zelda and Mario for you.
Bah, you know you'll have fun anyways. You're 11 now. You've learnt to live with a bit of disappointment.



All of this because on launch day, some guy decided to snatch 6 Switches he wasn't even interested in instead of buying 0, just to "make a buck". Of course, he sold nothing with his 100% marked up price, and three weeks later, ended up craiglisting half of his stock for $340 - barely making any money off the units because of the taxes he had to pay on his initial purchase.
He calculated his net profit for the total operation. They barely amounted to $200, thanks to one man who caved in for $400 early on.
The scalper was satisfied nonetheless: "suckers", he thought.



Now the question is: do you want to be that guy?

This is hilarious. Necro justified.

 

[HawksWinStanley]

I just find it kind of pathetic. But I think that about a lot of professions.

The scalping, not the reselling.

 

[johnny956]

In fairness, there's a difference between scalping limited editions, and scalping regular products. I always see people doing both regardless.

The company makes it limited so again it falls on the companies for doing it

 

[br3wnor]

I'd never clown on someone for doing what they have to do to put food on the table. I personally would never be a reseller or ticket scalper but I also recognize that I was born w/ certain privileges which allowed me to ultimately pursue a more conventional career path.

I actually give resellers a lot of credit due to the never ending hustle they have to employ to make money. It takes a lot of self determination to do it on the scale needed to make a decent living. It sucks that I very rarely even consider going to concerts because I know a lot of tickets will be bought by bots and resold 2-3 times the cost but at the same time until an actual crack down takes place, these people are just gaming the system for a profit. It also sucked when I wanted an NES Classic but couldn't bring myself to spend $200 on one (though that's more Nintendo's fault than anyone else).

 

[Zen_Arcade]

It's inherently selfish for no other reason than greed.

Considering neither one of those things are particularly positive traits, I'd say that yes, scalping is inherently bad.

 

[Von Krukru]

I should try that someday too, no shame. Thats one of the most first-world problem ever, I see no problem taking profit of it. I grew poor, still struggling even with a full time job, that's an opportunity like another in my book.

 

[Two Words]

I think any type of labor that does nothing but exploit people is bad.

 

[Sulik2]

No, it generally means people are stupid, the product is under priced or the company didn't do proper market research and under produced an item compared to demand. Nothing wrong with making profit off people with no patience.

 

[pestul]

Yes. The NES Classic scalping frenzy proved this again(although it was mostly Nintendo's fault for not making enough).

 

[MogCakes]

Playing the system as they say. If that's how you make your living then so be it. But if you buy up multiple stock of a limited item, people will hate you, if you care about public opinion.

 

[digita1alchemy]

OP how much time a week do you spend acquiring inventory? I know mostly how FBA works and have considered giving it a shot, but I figured I'd have to spend way too much time finding inventory for it to be worth it.

 

[radios shipping overview]

I should try that someday too, no shame. Thats one of the most first-world problem ever, I see no problem taking profit of it. I grew poor, still struggling even with a full time job, that's an opportunity like another in my book.

You have some interesting class dynamics at work in your sense of morality.

 

[muteki]

Reselling readily available items for a profit is fine with me as long as you are reporting all your income/paying your taxes and such.

Limited or rare items though and that crosses the line.

 

[Mushroomer25]

Scalping is an inevitable result of a broken system, especially for tickets. Though 'broken' may be a bit generous, since the main ticket companies now profit off it via sites like StubHub.

It's not something that can be fixed by consumers, beyond a mass-market boycott that will never get the momentum to happen. As a result, I can't fully condemn the practice. Somebody is going to scalp. One individual isn't going to make a real difference.

 

[Black-Wind]

Depends.

If you're buying up all of a rare item (say Amiibo) or highly demanded tickets to an event and then just trying to flip them for a profit, then you're nothing but utter scum.
If you're just buying items while they're cheap/on sale and then reselling them for something closer to standard price when the discounts are over, I don't really see a problem.

This right here is my thoughts on this.
One is just taking advantage of deals and sales to make a profit.
The other is just taking advantage of people, using online fuckery to snatch all possible tickets for an event or brute forcing a grip on a popular new item by running around buying as many as you can just to resell them cause it's going to take months for the company to replenish the stock you and your kind are holding.

Scum imo

 

[bebop242]

Don't agree with it at all. You are not adding anything to the product, your just a troll under the bridge. But capitalism gunna capitalize.

 

[SaviourMK2]

It;s shitty but people pay the scalped price. Hard to justify doubling your money

 

[Von Krukru]

You have some interesting class dynamics at work in your sense of morality.

Buying entertainement goods and selling them at a higher price is not moraly wrong for me. That's nothing serious or important. I would never do this if that was some important stuff like medicine or food. I would gladly give my own for free for those in need. But some games or toys? Don't care, nobody's missing anything vital. But I'm too lazy to plan ahead and do that anyway, so eh? Your collectors editions are safe I guess. Nuances of grey etc.

 

[btrboyev]

Scumbags, all of them.

 

[Culex]

Stubhub is disgusting. It's sad that you have zero hope but to purchase inflated ticket prices for most events from them. Yankees tickets especially. Literally every ticket is bought en mass at the start of the season by probably a handful of people and thrown onto stubhub.

 

[Lasthope106]

Do I hate it when it comes to getting an item, ticket, or something I want? Yes, it sucks a lot, and it angers me. Do I think it's bad? Absolutely not. People have to do what they have to do. There is nothing wrong with making a little profit for yourself.

 

[Ryzaki009]

Yes it is that said if someone's fool enough to pay the price you make that money.

 

[J-Rod]

I consider it low class and scummy, because it is a way to extract money out of other people's work without adding any extra value or service to warrant it.

 

[Seirith]

I do not scalp tickets and such like that but I do buy things cheap at garage sales & thrift stores and sell them locally and on Ebay for more money. I did have a more conventional career but I lost it after hand surgery resulted in CRPS so I am not able to work due to days of being in so much pain I cannot stand to use my hand and limited use of my left hand and no use of my left thumb.

On less painful days, I can list and sell items and on more painful days or days I just feel awful I can just stay on the couch with no boss to call in to.

Did I lose income from my old job? Yes. Would I like CRPS to go away so I could go back to work? Yes. At the same time, I like selling on ebay and being my own boss. Do I feel bad about what I do? Not at all.

 

[MoogleMan]

dollar shave club buys dorco blades then resell them at a higher price.

I've priced blades from dorco; I pay less with dsc all things considered (shipping, frequency, etc.).

 

[sixteen-bit]

respect the hustle

 

[Astral Dog]

No.not inherently just kind of an ass

 

[Woo-Fu]

Nothing wrong with reselling, blame the companies that don't produce enough that make this an issue.

So you're saying you can just put twice as many seats in Madison Square Garden? OK...

 

[ThLunarian]

Scalping reveals the true market value of an item in accordance with supply and demand. MSRP is usually outdated; it's either too high, which means not enough people will buy it, or it's too low, which means it sells out too quickly. The price at which a scalper successfully sells their product is usually closer to the true value of the item.

If the manufacturers knew they could sell their item for as much as scalpers get away with, they would also mark it to that price.

Scalpers are really no worse than the companies that set the original prices on the product. If you hate on them, you're also hating on all companies in general (which is an indictment of capitalism, and that's a legitimate point of view. But they're the same thing)

 

[HeySeuss]

I couldn't do it full time but I've definitely flipped stuff I've found at Goodwill a time or two. Do you do the buy a clearance item at Walmart and take it back to another Walmart that the same thing isn't on clearance and pocket the difference? That's scummy.

Otherwise, can't really complain much. Supply and demand and all.

 

[brawly]

Can't knock the hustle. It's materlialistic stuff that goes beyond your needs.

 

[Cat Party]

Buying stuff at garage sales/goodwill and then reselling online is totally fine. It's no different than a thousand professions where the work is in connecting a customer and a product.

Buying up products/tickets with limited quantities and reselling for a higher price is disgusting. I don't care if you can make money doing it. It's scummy in every way.

 

[mashoutposse]

It's perfectly fine. MSRP is a suggestion and a guess.

The reason why certain products sell tens of millions of copies is because they are strategically priced under the true market value as perceived by those customers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with exploiting this discrepancy.

Instead of getting mad about it, accept and embrace it. The bottom line is that the overwhelming majority of consumer transactions in America are perfectly consensual and the only consistent way for me to earn $1 from you is to offer you something worth $1.01 or more. The bigger the discrepancy, the easier the sale, and the more room for middlemen to step in and rectify the inefficiency. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you'll learn how to earn significant money in this country.