Your Take: Flipping Items on Craigslist for a Profit
Two weeks ago I purchased an item listed on Craigslist that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t use. I was sure that I could resell the item for about 3-4x the purchase price. I wasn’t looking for a flip opportunity; I just happened across it. There it was: a great deal. It was so great, in fact, I didn’t haggle with the seller. I paid the price, loaded up the item, and walked.
After making the deal, something inside me felt a bit…cold. And that gives rise to this post. I wanted your take on being on each side of a deal where one party is going to flip the item for profit. So I came up with these questions. My answers are at the bottom.
#1: Would you buy something on Craigslist, a yard sale, or equivalent just to flip it?
If you answer “yes” to #1:
#1a) If the seller asks you what you’re going to do with the item, do you tell them you’re going to resell it?
#1b) Do you feel guilty about flipping the item? Why/why not?
#1c) Would it be any different if the seller was selling in distress (e.g. foreclosure)
If you answer “no” to #1:
#1d) Why wouldn’t you buy something to flip it?
—–
#2 If someone flipped something they bought from you, would you be upset about it? Why / Why not?
Here’s my answers. I hope you’ll comment so I won’t be the only one…
#1: Yes (obviously, I just did it).
#1a: If asked, I would tell the seller it’s part of how I make some extra spending money for fun things our family enjoys. If the seller doesn’t ask, I’m not bringing it up.
#1b: Well, I felt a little guilty this time. Since I didn’t tell the seller, I was a little bit nervous about listing the item on Craigslist just because that seller might be offended…
#1c: It depends on whether I feel like the person is at a real negotiating disadvantage… In other words, if someone is selling a diamond engagement ring for $50 because they need to buy food, I couldn’t do that deal – clearly there is a negotiating power difference. If, on the other hand, someone really wants something moved quickly but they aren’t particularly disadvantaged, I might feel like I were doing them a service by taking it.
#2: I don’t think I would be upset if someone flipped it. I *would* be upset if someone lied to me about whether or not they were going to flip it if I asked. I feel like if I’m not smart enough to price an item at market value, and another person is willing to take the risk of buying it for resale, I’m ok with that.
What do you think? I hope you’ll weigh in…
Comments & Conversation on this Article...
13 Responses to Your Take: Flipping Items on Craigslist for a Profit
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June 13th, 2008 8:24 am
#1 = Yes
#1a = Honesty is the only way to go. We do that occasionally to make some extra money…typically with ebay.
#1b = I don’t feel guilty, people go to yards sale all the time looking for under priced items to sell.
#1c = That’s a tough question. I’m not sure, it would depend on a case by case situation.
#2 = Why would I be upset? It’s the same situation, someone see’s value in something I’m selling. I want to get rid of it and I do when they buy it. It’s the American way!
Great post Fred…don’t beat yourself up!
June 13th, 2008 11:41 am
1. yes
1a. why not? they want to be rid of it anyway. (though I probably wouldn’t just volunteer the information)
1b. if I hadn’t been honest, definitely. if I had, not. if I hadn’t been asked, maybe a little bit.
1c. I don’t think so. some of the best house purchases are foreclosures, same goes for other items. but you mentioned someone selling a diamond ring for food – totally different, that one I wouldn’t do (I’d tell her to keep her ring and buy her some food, or at least send her to a pawn shop where she’d get a fair price and have the chance to buy her ring back).
2. not upset with the person, but more upset with myself for missing out on an opportunity/ not paying attention to market value.
June 13th, 2008 10:55 pm
I’m a real estate agent. I can get you a good deal on a cheap house. Put some “sweat equity” into it and then resell it for a huge profit. I you can just “flip” the house without putting any sweat equity or money or anything else into it, that’s even better! Just make sure that when you buy and sell the house, I’m your real estate agent!
I’d be very happy to see you successfully complete a house flipping project. It would be win/win for both of us. I can only assist in the project- I can’t guarantee that you will be a successful flipper. But if there’s anyway I can help, I’d be glad to try.
I’ve heard people run down the concept of “flipping” houses. That’s ridiculous. If you can do it and make some money, that’s great! Please send me an e-mail any time, my e-mail address is on my web page.
June 13th, 2008 11:05 pm
I like the idea of flipping so much that I’ve added your blog to my real estate web page!
June 14th, 2008 7:28 am
@Todd & Tyler-I’m glad two people see it basically the same way I do. Looks like no one took the time to weigh in to the contrary, so maybe its just an unsubstantiated fear I have
… In any event, I still haven’t sold the item I bought to flip – have it priced real high right now to feel out the market. I’m going to relist today at a lower price.
@JB – I removed your URL from the comments because your comments are SPAM. We always appreciate incoming links, but please ensure that you are responding ON TOPIC to the post (which was about the ethics of flipping goods on Craigslist). Otherwise, it looks like you are simply pushing goods/services.
June 14th, 2008 10:51 am
Fred,
Gotta be honest, though it is contrary to popular thought here, but I don’t think I’d do it in most cases. I’d be left feeling “cold” and here is why…
There are so many people out at yard sales and on freecycle and craigslist who NEED the generousity of others who aren’t looking to just make a buck. I, myself, have been blessed numerous times at yard sales where the person was making a little extra cash and not trying to make big bucks. It has been amazingly helpful to our family.
Now, that being said, the American Way is a free trade market and there is nothing illegal about flipping the items. Guess I am not always about the American Way and the almighty dollar…? I would probably feel better about it personally if the item had been listed for a long time and no one wanted. course, that won’t make a good flip, huh?
The argument could be made that if you didn’t do it, someone else could have. Yep. That’s true. But I guess I just wouldn’t want to be that person.
Now..in the clearance ailes at the mall, I have often considered flipping ridiculously priced items, like the Children’s Place computer glich that landed me leather jackets for the kids for $3.99. Nice ebay flip could have happen. (Didn’t do it more cause I don’t have time for all that).
Is there a difference? Maybe. Maybe not. I guess folks in need usually hunt ebay, craigslist and freecycle more than the mall in my mind…but I have no evidence of that.
I think I answered the first ones. Would I be upset if I saw something I sold at a generous price to someone I thought they could use and then saw it flipped? Yeah, I guess it would bug me that someone took advantage of my generousity to make a buck.
On the other hand, perhaps they were just glad to be rid of it…just sharing my thoughts.
But, like it was said…that is the American Way. Guess you just have to follow your own convictions…no hard core “rules” here.
June 15th, 2008 4:40 pm
You should go easy on yourself, but I certainly side with Mary. I probably wouldn’t flip an item myself, mainly because I’m not that entrepreneurial. It would bother me if I gave away something for free and the person flipped it. I gave away an electric clothes dryer on Craigslist last year. I’d inherited it when the mom-in-law moved to a senior apartment. It was costing us too much to run and a new gas dryer was a better option for us. Because electricity is so expensive here (compared to gas) and because we wanted to get rid of the dryer quickly, we listed it on Craigslist for free. It was taken by a couple who claimed that their landlord paid for electricity, but not gas. They picked it up, took it off our hands and we were glad to see it gone. But I hope they didn’t lie to us. I would really hate it if they did. Even though it doesn’t really matter in the end.
June 15th, 2008 9:30 pm
Mary – I think your perspective on others’ needing our generosity is good reason to feel bad about flipping. I do think that Craigslist probably isn’t the best place to try to get rid of things to be generous (perhaps Goodwill or something else) because there are enough people on CL trying to make a business out of it that there’s not much room for generosity to make its way to the neediest person. That said, one of my good friends bought a car on CL for $500 that he’s still using, and the fact that he wasn’t buying it to flip it was a real motivator for the people to sell it to him. They felt like they were making a real difference in someone’s life.
Why S? It sounds like the satisfaction you took from helping someone out was a big part of the exchange for you. I think this is true for others too, which is perhaps why I felt a bit ‘cold’.
Anyhow, I’m glad two more people on opposite sides of the spectrum weighed in on this. It’s interesting to see how different people think.
June 16th, 2008 4:39 pm
Okay, all that being said, I must add a caveat to my previous comment. If I received an item for free (like on freecycle), I absolutely would NOT turn around and sell it for a profit. If I couldn’t use the item, I’d relist it on freecycle. Same with gifts from people (for example, we were given an insane amount of baby clothes from friends) – those types of things you just ‘pass it forward.’ But if someone is selling an item (ebay, craigslist, kijiji, garage sale) and it’s way underpriced…well, that’s just different. In my mind, anyway.
June 16th, 2008 4:52 pm
Just to add my (late) two cents…
my husband and I actually run a small side business buying, fixing, and selling musical instruments that we aquire from pawn shops and craigslist. Of course, we do put some skilled knowledge into fixing them… (although we have been known to pick up a VERY cheap instrument from a pawn shop and resell without touching it)… but I would never lie about where it was going, and we do sell under market rate to students.
I would never sell an item I got “free”… in fact, I was very hurt to see the 5 cookbooks I gave away on freecycle at the used bookstore the next week.
I usually don’t buy things (other than instruments) to turn around an sell… unless the items ar part of a “package” and I really want part of the package… like the porch columns (all TWELVE of them) that I bought.
June 16th, 2008 5:53 pm
I used to sell antique books and miscellaneous items on eBay as a side income. I would pick things up at estate sales, garage sales, and even from dumpsters and turn them around for a profit. It was a part time job, and you look for the best deals to support your family.
I once bought an art deco radio at an estate sale that I knew was worth way more than the $25.00 I paid. I turned around and sold it on eBay for $800.00. I was feeling pretty darn smug and rather proud of myself as I helped the new owner load it into his truck; and no, I didn’t once feel guilty that I had made such a killing. I am not the one who set the original price at $25.00. (And the estate sale was even a “professionally conducted” one.)
But as the guy got back into his truck, he said, “I hate to tell you this, but this radio is worth closer to $3000.” I was surprised, but not upset. After all, I had set the terms for the auction and if I had conducted even five minutes of research, I would have discovered the true value of what I had. They always say “let the buyer beware,” but the same should be true for sellers.
So here are my answers:
#1: Would you buy something on Craigslist, a yard sale, or equivalent just to flip it?
Yes, I have in the past and still do on occasion. Yard sales and estate sales, that is. Haven’t flipped anything from Craigslist yet, but that’s probably because I’m too lazy to drive around and get items.
#1a) If the seller asks you what you’re going to do with the item, do you tell them you’re going to resell it?
I don’t think I’ve ever been asked this question. Not sure what I’d say. Although at every single estate sale I’ve been to, the seller knew that the early crowd were the pros.
#1b) Do you feel guilty about flipping the item? Why/why not?
Absolutely not. If it’s an estate sale, I never haggle, and pay the price set by the seller. There’s nothing to feel guilty about. At a yard sale I will sometimes haggle; that’s part of the game. But I don’t feel guilty for buying something that somebody wants to sell, no matter what my intention for the item is.
#1c) Would it be any different if the seller was selling in distress (e.g. foreclosure)?
I was once at an estate sale where I told the seller something was worth way more than they were selling it for. She didn’t care; she said she just wanted to cash out now. During a foreclosure, or rather a pre-foreclosure, a seller doesn’t always have the luxury of time. They need cash ASAP, and can’t always afford to shop around for the perfect buyer. So even at this kind of sale, I’d probably still just pay whatever they were asking.
June 22nd, 2008 10:30 pm
The big factor here, and I’m surprised no one has brought it up, is the issue of business taxes. If I were going to make a habit of reselling items for profit on Craigslist, I would need to register as a business to feel ethically and legally right about it. Just because the marketing channels and sale locations aren’t the normal ones for most retail companies, if that’s something you make a repeated practice, I think that makes you a business, a small one, perhaps, but a business, nonetheless.
I know there are tons of people who do it, and probably not many (if any) of them are registered as a business. I would guess very few are paying business taxes to the government on the profit they are making, or claiming it on their tax returns as income (even if they are registered as a business).
I’m all for entrepreneurial ways to make a little extra money. But if you are going to do it, call it what it is: business, and make sure you follow the law when doing business. That includes paying taxes on what you are making, and getting whatever licenses might be required by your local/state governments.
- Scott
September 17th, 2008 8:44 am
I am a radio collector and I buy items and sell some to keep funding the hobby. I have encountered several deals similar to Joanne’s above (although I would never have rubbed it in her face that her price was too low). I am very familiar with specific radio values and know a good deal when I see it, and sometimes I don’t always sell items for top dollar. I will sell radios at collector’s flea markets (where the buyers are knowledgeable) and get much less than ebay prices. I know for a fact that many of these end up on ebay shortly after I sell them. But that’s OK because I didn’t want the shipping hassle, and I had to price it right to get rid of it. I will make a profit on most deals, usually not much, but then I will turn it around and buy another radio to keep the collection going.
Here’s a question for the blog: If there was a $10. painting at a garage sale that you knew was worth $1,000., would you buy it or inform the seller what they have? How about if it was worth $100,000.?