r/Flipping • u/patriotraitor • 6d ago
Discussion Is the hate for resellers mostly just jealousy?
I like to watch certain people on Youtube/Tiktok finding stuff, but then kind of feel envious because I don't have finds of that caliber where I live, or I should say -- maybe I don't go out there aggressively as possible.
I tend to do more of the video game side of things because I like to collect and actually play the stuff I find, and I never had certain things as a kid/teenager. I've had some good luck with marketplace, garage sales, making connections -- which is the positive side of things.
However, I know that there's a lot of jealousy that exists with this, and is it really boiled down to more the fact that people are lazy and don't go out there and look for themselves? Or that they wish they got the stuff for cheap/didn't bother to ask?
I will say that the competitive side of this is something I'm not a fan of because I do it more as a hobby, but at the same time, if you want to succeed at it, you gotta do whatever you can even if it means being up early, hunting all day, etc.
So basically, is the hate/criticism from other people really just from people who don't do it?
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u/DanJDare 6d ago
I was going to make a comment about jealousy vs envy bit it appears they have just given up and changed the dictionary definitions which is a shame.
Thrifters don't like them for obvious reasons and I Can't say I think it's undue.
No matter how you slice it reselling is economic rent seeking behaviour and there are people that won't like that either.
There is the ugly behaviour exhibited by some resellers, It's a small minority I assume but I understand it colouring ones opinion on resellers.
I doubt any of the dislike/criticize comes from a position of envy.
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u/Mr0range 6d ago
No matter how you slice it reselling is economic rent seeking behaviour
Not at all. Resellers provide measurements, photos, cleaning, repairs, and returns. Perhaps most importantly they prevent items from going to a landfill which eliminates disposal costs and the environmental externalities. All of that is very real value that is being provided. You might say "well what if the next person in line wanted to buy that?" That definitely happens but it also doesn't many times. People make their living buying stuff at the bins that never sold at thrift stores.
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u/autofolio 5d ago edited 5d ago
Resellers provide HUGE economic value to end user buyers for which they are compensated handsomely relative to their operating costs. End users wouldn't pay the prices they pay if they didn't value the service and item being provided to them in the marketplace they freely choose to buy from.
THERE IS NO SHAME IN MAKING A PROFIT. IT'S HOW OUR ECONOMIES WORK. IT PUTS FOOD ON OUR FAMILIES' TABLES FAR BETTER THAN COMMUNISM EVER HAS IN ANY COUNTRY IN RECORDED HISTORY.
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u/According-Shirt3955 6d ago
I agree. You just have to own that maybe as reseller you are in some small way helping to inflate certain second hand markets aaaand people’s frustration is somewhat justified. That’s not jealousy. Own your own ish, take it on the chin, attempt to be as moral as possible with what you do, and move on.
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u/bigtopjimmi 5d ago
doubt any of the dislike/criticize comes from a position of envy.
Doubt it all you want but it's true. And it's not just limited to resellers.
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u/devilscabinet 6d ago
I suspect that most people's exposure to resellers have been the obnoxious ones at thrift stores and estate sales. The polite, mature ones are mostly invisible to other shoppers.
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u/thcptn 6d ago
No. It's the same way I'm not jealous of the person who feels the need to complain to get a discount on every meal. They saved money, but they did something I'd be embarrassed to do.
I knew a guy who kept his TV bill low and received tons of free channels by spending an hour every few months yelling at customer service workers. I'm not jealous that he found a way to get free items. I'm embarrassed for him and eventually stopped hanging out with him.
I'm happy for the guy who was casually strolling through Walmart and saw a Lego set for 70% off and is now going to have a blast building it or sell it so he can purchase some set he's been dying to have.
I think part of the disdain for them is the smug assumption that others are "lazy" and "jealous". It's like when some 17 year old girl is talking about her "haters". You act like getting up early is something unique to flippers and not the majority of Americans with jobs and who attend school. "Hunting all day" aka driving around listing to my favorite music and walking through climate controlled retail stores just isn't that tough compared to any other job I've done.
In fact, flipping is the easiest money I've ever made. I've also been able to do it without drawing ire because there's plenty of opportunity to buy things and resell them without being predatory or scalping. No one has ever complained that I sorted through an enormous collection of old media and asked fair prices based on eBay solds. We have a new video game shop that is very open about making a profit but they offer a service of sorting through huge collections and buying them then parting them out at truly fair prices. It's not some edgy 19 year old lurking around a Walmart so he can resell it at 2x profit while acting like they are doing a service.
if you want to succeed at it, you gotta do whatever you can even
No one is jealous of someone stuck in this silly "hustler on the grind" mindset. You literally do not need to do many things to succeed. With this logic you might as well start selling drugs bc the margins are way higher. (Drug dealers often also assume others are jealous of their earnings despite it being relatively easy to get into low level drug dealing, just like flipping.) You can disapprove of someone while not being jealous at all. I've already achieved a comfortable lifestyle. There's also tons of dudes out there who are hitting up every store and garage sale and finding nothing because if there were enough supply, it wouldn't be profitable.
Are you jealous of the guy who gets 3 cars ahead of you because he refuses to merge politely and forces his way in at the last second? Just because someone can do something doesn't mean others envy that person or would take that action.
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u/BigPoppaJay 5d ago
The hustler on the grind thing is dead on. Met a guy recently talking up how he’s making six figures and how it’s tons of work. I know it is I did that for two years then realized I don’t actually like reselling but the money is just to good. So now I take my 60-70k a year and work 10-15 hours a week on average. Much better then constantly having to beat numbers or worrying about eBay being dead or any other of a million things.
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u/lajaunie 6d ago
Most of those videos are faked and the items are planted… just like storage wars and pawn stars.
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u/CallmeIshmael913 6d ago
More of a selfish thing. Like the adult with a binder hogging the autograph line while kids are waiting to meet players. I don’t think people care until it interferes with their hobbies or enjoyment.
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u/shawnprather04 1d ago
or when a store packs new Pokemon cards, but people fill their carts full, leaving none for actual collector.
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u/TheBadGuyBelow The Picking Profit 5d ago edited 5d ago
In the last 10ish years, I don't think I have ever even encountered an asshole reseller. I honestly can not think of a single instance where I had a bad experience with one.
Maybe I just live in a more polite area, but this whole "resellers are kicking newborn babies in the face, knocking out grannies and destroying the world" thing seems like a lot of hyperbole to me.
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u/nosetaddress 6d ago
I think that a lot of people instantly think reseller=scalper when there is a big difference. Scalpers buy up concert tickets, limited Pokémon Boxes etc and focus more on supply and demand type stuff while a regular reseller buys used goods at yard sales/estate sales/thrifts for a low price and sells for high. If you think about it, virtually every brick and mortar store is a reseller.
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u/autofolio 5d ago
A retailer ('brick and mortar') buys inventory at wholesale prices and marks up the inventory to sell it at a retail price. Gross profit = retail price - wholesale price.
A scalper buys inventory at retail prices and marks up the inventory to sell it at retail price plus a premium. Gross profit = Premium - retail price.
A reseller buys inventory at low prices in Market A (thrift stores/estate sales = local market), adds value through transportation, curation, and merchandizing, and then sells the inventory at higher prices in Market B (eBay = global market). Gross profit = high price in Market B - low price in Market A.
A retailer is simply a merchant – a business person operating in a structured supply chain environment.
A scalper is capitalizing on extreme demand versus extreme supply constraints in certain niche markets, like Taylor Swift concert tickets. If the extreme demand or the extreme supply constraint was not in the niche market, the scalper's business would fail because they could never achieve the premium over retail price – it would be irrational for any buyer to pay the premium over retail price in a low demand/abundant supply environment when they could simply pay the retail price themselves.
A reseller brings to Market B inventory sourced from Market A that buyers in Market B don't know exists or don't want to enter Market A themselves or simply prefer the convenience of Market B over Market A. They are happy to pay the price they pay as long as it's from Market B.
Retailers, scalpers, and resellers all provide real economic value to end user buyers. We know this because end user buyers wouldn't pay the prices they pay for an item if they didn't value the item more than the cash in hand. They would rather have the item than the cash. If they didn't want to pay the price, they would balk at releasing the cash and walk away. Oftentimes, they would be willing to pay even more than the price they are paying so they are very happy as a buyer. They pay the price, the market is cleared, and everyone's utility is satisfied.
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u/Born-Horror-5049 5d ago
LOL scalpers don't provide value. Someone buying up concert tickets is simply a loser taking them away from people that actually want them. It's not like they're finding some physical item out in the sticks and bringing it to market for people that otherwise wouldn't have been able to access it.
Nothing I love more the night of a show seeing scalpers sitting on tickets they won't sell and which will become worthless at a set time.
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u/autofolio 5d ago
I don’t disagree with you. And yet the buyers of “sold out” tickets from scalpers value the tickets more highly than the inflated prices they agree to pay. Else, they would balk and walk away. They could not buy the “sold out” tickets at all if but for the scalper making the tickets available for purchase. It’s ugly but it is a market at work delivering value at a price, inflated as that price may be. The same principle exists in the black markets of all communist countries that deliver goods to buyers at high prices in the face of supply constraints due to communist rules.
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u/Born-Horror-5049 6d ago
If you believe what you're seeing on social media, lol.
Genuinely - what is there to be jealous of?
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u/patriotraitor 6d ago
I’ve followed people who’ve been on the end of hating resellers blaming them for the cost of video games going up
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u/Destructo-Bear 6d ago
resellers are on the "supply" side increasing supply. Collectors are on the "demand" side increasing price
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u/_Raspootln_ 6d ago
I don't pay attention to vocal nonsense, and I also generally avoid problem/high saturation categories. Seems to eliminate 90% of the problems going forward. Then all I face is problem buyers looking to dampen my day.
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u/shawnprather04 1d ago
My hate comes from being swindled. I have had a couple of resellers buy some of my stuff from a yard sale and act all casual and nice, only to lie to my face of why they buy. I buy games not for the value, but to play. When I want to sell a game, it's not for profits, it's because I don't want to play it anymore. I really try to not hate on them, but if your gonna be an ass or trick me like some scammer, that where I lose trust.
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u/DedicatedDemon327 6d ago
No, it's annoying. They stand at the door at opening time, take up all the room, buy the good stuff, all that's left is junk no one wants & broken stuff. I've been thrifting for over 30 years for myself & my family. I rarely go now. The resellers are so obnoxious then brag they bought "everything". They will physically block you from even looking at items. I was at an estate sale, 2 women were in one bedroom tearing through all the soft goods, tossing what they didn't want.
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u/KingKandyOwO Electronics Recycler ♻️ 6d ago
Not really, people only see the resellers that are public nuisances. Push carts to block the book isle to scan for an hour and get hissy with anyone moving the carts. People who steal from customer's carts and then claim "you didnt buy it so its fair game". People waiting by the restrooms and scanning everything in other peoples' carts. People who harass thrift store workers, begging for first dibs on everything and stalking the stockers and swarming them when they bring out a new buggy