Honest question about "resell" threads

I notice that a lot of people on multiple forums will post that they are looking for resell lots. Which in turn is basically saying anyone who is "hard" up for cash sell me your stuff for way cheap so I can turn around and flip it for a sizeable profit. I see it this way because most of the time I see people post stuff on these "threads" and the "resellers" respond "No thanks, not enough money to be made" and so on. I get when people have large lots that they don't have the time or desire to break it down and would rather get one quick sum of cash. But when I see people offer say four cards that just a quick list on eBay could net them way more money... why do they do it? Maybe I am in the minority but it just baffles me. I myself see any thread with looking for resell and I just shake my head and move on. More because if I need the money that bad I will just sell it myself.

So my one question is..........
Why do people sell just a few cards to someone who specifically states that their intention is to buy your items cheap and make money... when the initial seller can do it themselves and make more money?

This not calling anyone out. I just dont get it and it doesnt affect me one way or another as I stated I go right by threads like this, , but I am honestly curious.

Honest question about "resell" threads

I would guess speed and convenience. Only deal with one buyer. If money isn't necessarily an object and you're just a hobbyist I could see why some might sell that route to turn things over quickly. I've sold lots of things over the years. Made a profit on about 3 items. Doesn't bother me in the least. Granted I'm not talking high end items or collections though but I guess if I collected or dealt in high end stuff it would all be relative to how much I could tolerate losing


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I woud think if i was a hobbyist I would make sure to at least get fair market or close to it so I could support my own hobby vices. to me it is like giving money away.... it is different if I am helping a fellow collector work on their PC.. i have sold cards below market to help out because i know they will enjoy the cards, just not so someone else can flip a quick profit.

Ease and how quickly/bad you need the money are the biggest factors.

Plus, a lot of folks just don't need the money that much and don't want the hassle of making multiple sales...

I could understand these reasons:

Ease and how quickly/bad you need the money are the biggest factors.
speed and convenience
Only deal with one buyer


I have a hard time with this one as it contradicts the top one above and I am not so sure people are as charitable with their money as this would imply:

a lot of folks just don't need the money that much

People are lazy and or stupid is the only thing that can explain who responds to those types of threads.

I've serious wanted to make a thread that says "$500 to spend on resale lots"

Send me $700 in PayPal and I'll send you $500 back. You don't have to mail me anything, you get to keep your cards and you get $500! It's a win win win!

And then to have the audacity to tell people they aren't going to make enough money on them. Other than fakers the absolute scummiest people in the hobby are ones that make those types of threads

I've purchased a few and realized y people sell them, it's quite a hassle. If u have the time to list several auctions u can do OK with them but with postage being more expensive I think u would have to buy just a few mid end cards instead of many lower end cards.

I'm a reseller but shy away from these threads from these reasons because I generally think it's scummy. But in my experience there are lots of different reasons people do it, most of which have been mentioned here.

In addition to reasons listed, sometimes I find that - believe it or not - people do not do ebay. I've had lots of people tell me they don't have ebay accounts.

However, I operate a bit differently...my focus has always been volume, so I don't want/need to make 30+% profit on a purchase. Also, as a top rated seller I get 20% off final value fees, so I can afford to make a little less. And I generally don't look for small lots - saying something like max of 5 cards for $500 - the rare times I HAVE made threads I specifically look for large lots.

Some people just do not want to deal with selling on ebay. Listing the cards takes time (especially if you don't do it often) and can be annoying. If you do an auction there's a chance it won't sell at all if you set the minimum too high, and a chance it can sell for less than market value for some reason if you let it run at 99 cents. If you do a BIN/BO you have to deal with people making garbage offers and telling you off when you counter with a reasonable price. You might get a ******* buyer who returns the card or tries some type of partial refund scam. Some people are willing to pay a certain price to not have the headache.

This comes up with people who use consigners to sell their cards. I use one and the percentage I give up is well worth it since I rarely have enough time to handle the shipping and also the headaches around returns...

phillyfan0417 said:

This comes up with people who use consigners to sell their cards. I use one and the percentage I give up is well worth it since I rarely have enough time to handle the shipping and also the headaches around returns...

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I think that cosigners can be a useful resource and I can understand this statement. I did mention that I understand when people sell larger lots why they would be more prone do doing it.

it is when I see " have XXXX $$ looking for 3 or 4 cards for resell. It make me laugh that people would actually do it. Me personally would have a hard time straight up asking people to sell me there stuff for dirt cheap.

If you guys don't think these types of deals are common I think your kidding yourself. People love to turn over card and/or money. The quick sell is extremely convenient for some people and it works out for both parties. I def don't consider any reseller "scum". How much % do you think some of these larger dealers pay on their product that you buy from? They had to get the inventory from sources and they damn sure are paying retail to obtain. If its not for you, just don't sell.

Ryan

If you don't sell on eBay, or have only a handful of feedback, it might be worth it to sell them to someone else because bidders are naturally skeptical about sellers who don't have much feedback. And yes, if you don't know how to sell on eBay, it can be a pain. Plus, like others have said, you deal with nutballs at times. And if you're doing an auction, you may need the money faster than an auction allows.

If you were in a hard spot and needed money right away, I could see doing it. Any other way is most likely laziness or ignorance. Not in a bad way. But you either don't know how to fool with it or just don't care to. And it'll cost you.


Btw, and I'm by no means taking up for folks who try to scam others, but even a local card shop will usually give around 20% of high book at most, and only for hot cards or popular players. Is that really any different? Not all shops are the same. But no one's shop is giving full price or even close to it.

If you wish to get top dollar or close, the only way to do it is to go straight to a collector to make the sale. These are pretty well known rules by now I'd think.

RStadlerASU22 said:

If you guys don't think these types of deals are common I think your kidding yourself. People love to turn over card and/or money. The quick sell is extremely convenient for some people and it works out for both parties. I def don't consider any reseller "scum". How much % do you think some of these larger dealers pay on their product that you buy from? They had to get the inventory from sources and they damn sure are paying retail to obtain. If its not for you, just don't sell.

Ryan

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I am not in the opinion that a reseller is "scum". I understand the idea of why people do it. My question was why sell $600 dollars worth of known sale value to someone for $400 if all you are selling is 4 cards. It takes little to no effort and you are basically giving someone else $200 of your money. If someone wants to do it fine, that is on them. I just don't get it with all the outlets to sell collectibles these days it makes little to NO sense to me why you would just "give someone else your money.

At least the resellers are being honest in their threads and it gives me an easy way to see their intentions and avoid at all cost. But for the people that sell their items for an extreme discounts are either too lazy to do their research or just plain foolish. A retail store that purchases their inventory from wholesalers, has a license and pays taxes on a their sales is different than someone who scans the forums ACTIVLEY looking for desperate people to take advantage of IMO. To each his own I guess but as as you put it at the end of your post, I would not sell as it isn't for me and I am willing to put a "little" effort in not to lose my ***

mrdallas said:

I am not in the opinion that a reseller is "scum". I understand the idea of why people do it. My question was why sell $600 dollars worth of known sale value to someone for $400 if all you are selling is 4 cards. It takes little to no effort and you are basically giving someone else $200 of your money. If someone wants to do it fine, that is on them. I just don't get it with all the outlets to sell collectibles these days it makes little to NO sense to me why you would just "give someone else your money.

At least the resellers are being honest in their threads and it gives me an easy way to see their intentions and avoid at all cost. But for the people that sell their items for an extreme discounts are either too lazy to do their research or just plain foolish. A retail store that purchases their inventory from wholesalers, has a license and pays taxes on a their sales is different than someone who scans the forums ACTIVLEY looking for desperate people to take advantage of IMO. To each his own I guess but as as you put it at the end of your post, I would not sell as it isn't for me and I am willing to put a "little" effort in not to lose my ***

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What if you needed the money. Like...tonight? You might reconsider....

people just dont wanna deal with the hassle. On a few card lot theres not much room for margins then again maybe the person who has the cards dont have much into them. I sell for people all the time for whatever reason some people are comfy with letting someone else do the work and it is work to scan list and handle transactions. As a top rated seller I consistently get more for my cards then the avg sale. Theres all sorts of variables that go into someone not wanting to sell their own stuff. Some people ask for ridiculous margins some dont.

predatorkj said:

What if you needed the money. Like...tonight? You might reconsider....

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Luckily i put myself in a postion in my life that I dont need money in inmediate fashion. I guess there may be those that are desperate enough where getting money "right now" is needed. I guess I am just fortunate at this point. Boy hope I never get there.

Back when I had time, and money was considerably more valuable than my time, I would never have considered dumping my collection (in part or in whole) for pennies on the dollar.

However now that things have changed and my time is much more valuable than potential profits lost, I see myself as the perfect candidate for unloading in the 15% to 20% range.

I don't really collect anymore and have boxes of cards collecting dust, that for minimum hassle could get rid of in one shot for some quick cash.

Now mind you I do not have a $100,000 collection. But for me, and I can only assume some others, it may be a viable avenue if and when I ever had the desire to get rid of them.

I'm of two minds. I have a monster box with a couple hundred cards I think are saleable that I wouldn't mind not owning any longer. I'd like to turn them into money. I think I could net, picking a random number, $500 for all the cards in the box, after fees and such. The time it would take to scan, pack, and ship all those cards is probably several hours. Plus I just hate scanning. I don't know why, but the act of turning on my desktop PC, sitting in my office chair, and, due to my somewhat diligent nature, making sure they are in clean top-loaders, carefully placing the cards on the scanner all lined up, and editing the photos is just too much for me to bear to do more than once or twice a year. Even for PC items I'd like to show off. Then the time it takes to list them, keeping track of whose paid, printing out labels, packing up like I'd like to have my cards packed, tracking who I've shipped to, worrying about BS paypal claims which, going by these boards seems to happen a lot more frequently now, just arrrghh! It makes me think I wouldn't mind taking $250 or even $200 for the lot in one shot. After all, the $500 is just a number I assume based on basic familiarity with what I already bought. Actual prices realized may vary greatly. So if someone wants to take on the risk and effort to grind out profit from my laziness, I may say go ahead.

The problem is that, from what I've seen, the people will do that tend to be jerky jerks. Like it's your obligation to give them enough profit. If you're a dealer and you depend on reselling things people bring you, you can be nice about it, or you can act like it's a burden to begin with and be offended when someone wants to sell you something for dimes on the dollar instead of pennies. You want to buy my cards, here's the price. I don't care what you intend to do with them afterwards, that's your business.