Do you Amazon?

[Herdfan]

The eBay thread and recent "videos" have made me wonder.

I am not talking about buying from Amazon, but selling on Amazon.

Seeing all these videos where people go to Marshall's or similar and use the Amazon Seller's app to preform retail arbitrage.

My thoughts on this are:

1) You only make money if the items actually sell. So buying 20 of some random toy that might not sell quickly seems kind of risky
2) If you do the "Fullfilled by Amazon", all you are doing is carrying inventory for Amazon. On your dime.

Like most things, it can't be this easy.

 

[Apple fanboy]

The eBay thread and recent "videos" have made me wonder.

I am not talking about buying from Amazon, but selling on Amazon.

Seeing all these videos where people go to Marshall's or similar and use the Amazon Seller's app to preform retail arbitrage.

My thoughts on this are:

1) You only make money if the items actually sell. So buying 20 of some random toy that might not sell quickly seems kind of risky
2) If you do the "Fullfilled by Amazon", all you are doing is carrying inventory for Amazon. On your dime.

Like most things, it can't be this easy.

We sell to Amazon as well as do FBA and sell on market place. The company is very good at making money for Amazon.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I have never sold on Amazon, and these days, (extraordinary convenience notwithstanding), I don't buy from it either.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I only use Amazon once or twice a day.

 

[Joe]

I read Amazon is going to raise prime memberships again.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Only buy, but rarely.

 

[Clix Pix]

Yep, saw the news about Amazon raising the price of their PRIME subscriptions..... It'll be a while yet before mine comes up again for renewal, so am not particularly concerned right now. As it happens, just ordered a couple of things from Amazon today, primarily for the convenience factor of not having to run from store to store hoping to find those items available on the shelves. Both will arrive on my doorstep and that will be that.... I've never sold anything through Amazon and have no intention of getting into that kind of situation.

 

[Citysnaps]

I Amazon all the time. And that saves me a ton of time not having to run around looking for stuff, either physically or online. Their no-hassle return policies are excellent when needed.

 

[Thomas Veil]

This thread came to mind over the weekend.

We have a Leap Frog toy farm that’s been hanging around even though the grandkids are too big to play with it. I was gonna just give it away or garage sale it.

Until I saw it being resold on Amazon for $59 (unboxed, fair condition) to $199 (never opened). And I have to admit I did this:

But really, how realistic is that? I mean, this toy still works, but it’s gotta be 20 years old and it’s meant for toddlers. Would somebody really pay $60-200 for that?

 

[Huntn]

The eBay thread and recent "videos" have made me wonder.

I am not talking about buying from Amazon, but selling on Amazon.

Seeing all these videos where people go to Marshall's or similar and use the Amazon Seller's app to preform retail arbitrage.

My thoughts on this are:

1) You only make money if the items actually sell. So buying 20 of some random toy that might not sell quickly seems kind of risky
2) If you do the "Fullfilled by Amazon", all you are doing is carrying inventory for Amazon. On your dime.

Like most things, it can't be this easy.

If you have an item here or there you want to sell, eBay is the way. I have not investigated selling on Amazon, but it appears to me if you have a presence there as a seller, you are more or less expected to have a steady supply of the item you want to sell, but I could be wrong about this.

 

[Huntn]

This thread came to mind over the weekend.

We have a Leap Frog toy farm that’s been hanging around even though the grandkids are too big to play with it. I was gonna just give it away or garage sale it.

Until I saw it being resold on Amazon for $59 (unboxed, fair condition) to $199 (never opened). And I have to admit I did this:

But really, how realistic is that? I mean, this toy still works, but it’s gotta be 20 years old and it’s meant for toddlers. Would somebody really pay $60-200 for that?

As you may have read, recently I made about $900 selling Crabtree and Evelyn discontinued items that originally sold for $10-15 for $70-90 each. So this is no comparison to a garage sale where neighbors want to pay you $1 for an item. And if there is anything you desire to sell, the advantage of eBay is that you can actually see activity regrading items and class of items, how much they are actually selling for, to determine what a realistic price for it might be.

eBay has gotten better since the last time I used it, 10 years ago, they handle payment’s and offer discounted shipping labels.

 

[DT]

So this is no comparison to a garage sell where neighbors want to pay you $1 for an item.

Hahaha, I'll swear if you put "free" on an item, someone would ask if you'd pay them 25¢ to take it

Off topic, but writing the above reminded me, I have an item I need to get a better eval on, some of them are worth a decent amount, some a few hundred dollars, it's a Capodimonte plaque, keep forgetting to do something with it ...

 

[Herdfan]

If you have an item here or there you want to sell, eBay is the way. I have not investigated selling on Amazon, but it appears to me if you have a presence there as a seller, you are more or less expected to have a steady supply of the item you want to sell, but I could be wrong about this.

And that is what it seems these people are doing. The use this app that scans barcodes and tells you how much an item is selling for on Amazon. Then it calculates profit based on what you are buying it for. They will walk into a Marshall's or TJ Maxx and find an overstock item that is cheap. Check potential profit and buy all the store has and send them to Amazon to sell.

Retail arbitrage.

I will see if I can find a video that will link from here.

 

[Herdfan]

Hahaha, I'll swear if you put "free" on an item, someone would ask if you'd pay them 25¢ to take it

Off topic, but writing the above reminded me, I have an item I need to get a better eval on, some of them are worth a decent amount, some a few hundred dollars, it's a Capodimonte plaque, keep forgetting to do something with it ...

Try Cherish. High end ebay type site. We have some of my mom's stuff on there. Lot's of designers use it trying to find unique pieces.

We have some friends who own self-storage units. Once a year or so they fill a unit with stuff they don't want and auction it off with the other auction units. He says he will make maybe $150-200 but he doesn't have to fool with selling each individual item.

 

[Herdfan]

Here is a youtube video of a guy who bought some hair clippers at Costco for $40 and selling them on Amazon for $100.