Real-life MMD: Should I buy up cheap stock from a friend so I can flog it myself?

Talent

No dilemna here, there is nothing wrong with what you suggest.
However, I would advise you not to do it. I pretty much guarantee you will be left with unsold stock, you will have sold some at a profit, some at cost and some for a loss. You will forget to factor in your time.

JayD

I am sure the lady wants to be rid of her stock quickly, with as little fuss or effort as possible. If you are willing to buy it, I imagine she would be grateful and is unlikely to care what you do with it.

Selling on ebay is a good way to make money but please be aware of the costs it involves. There are listing fees, sellers' fees, Paypal fees and postage - which can be quite expensive - to send the items to your buyers. Plus it can be quite time consuming.

She obviously doesn't want to take that on - so if you do, then don't feel guilty. You will certainly have earned any profit you may make.

Grumpy_chap

1. Tell your friend that you will buy the stuff and you plan to sell it on - be open and upfront, and pay her the price she asks or not at all. Do not go into a bargaining position with your friend as you do not want to loose a friendship.


2. Only do it if you can afford to loose all the cash you pay to buy the stuff.


3. Then crack on, and any return is a bonus. If it really does well, you could take your friend out for a slap-up meal.

stmartinsdiver

The general view seems to be go ahead and buy the stock and sell it on eBay. I agree this is fine but let your friend know what you plan to do first.
I imagine they will be pleased of the certainty in shifting their unwanted stock without any hassle so they will know exactly what they have to play with..
You are helping them to achieve this by taking on the risk, work and cost of selling on ebay so if you are happy to do this then good luck to both of you.

Grumpy_chap

Did you ever consider that your friend is either absolutely desperate to get cash and shift the stuff, or maybe - just everso maybe really like quite a lot - they already shifted all the stuff with decent value that can be sold on easily for a half-decent return through ebay or other channels, and what they have left is just the tat and whoever takes it is doing them a favour by taking it so they don't have the bother of dumping it, and if they get some residual cash for the final bits that is all a real bonus. Just a random thought, eh?

marich

Why do you think your friend is not going down the eBay route ? Why are so many warning you off it ?

Lots of people think they see an opening but , unless they've been down that path before , they don't know what they might have to get past to get to where they want .

It's your choice - you might be hard up but if you think eBay is 'easy money' then dream on !

tallgirld

No it's not out of order.


Buy it off her for next to nothing and SELL IT!!!

SpecialBrew_2

Most people will have already been down every road out of desperation before conceding that a business has failed, and it's possible that your friend is dismissive of selling the items on eBay because she's already tried it. She could be reluctant to admit it either because her already battered pride won't let her, or because she's less of a friend than you think and is subtly encouraging you to help solve her problem while knowing that doing so is unlikely to help with your own.

I agree with the people who say that there is nothing 'immoral' about buying the stock from your friend with the intent to sell it on. She is a businesswoman and knows how these things work (and if she doesn't then it would explain why her business is failing). You have absolutely no reason to feel guilty about being your own first priority, and your main task should be to establish what the potential costs of storage, repeat advertising (listing) etc will be to you over the long run and work out whether it will really be worth your while.

Whichever way it goes, there's the chance you could lose something, whether it's cash or the friendship that's obviously important enough to you to have you worrying over the question. She could be resentful towards you if you ended up profiting from the deal, but it's just as possible that you could end up resenting her if it all went pear-shaped. Be careful. What you're really considering is putting your hand in your pocket to buy her headache from her in the hope that you've already got your own easy-to-swallow pill and risking your friendship on the outcome. Good luck.

meknowalot-51

I think you should hurry up and buy whatever looks like turning a profit before someone else does.You've told her about the advantage of selling on ebay so don't feel guilty.The more you buy off her(bulk) the cheaper it's going to be.

ska_lover

why worry, if you don't do it, a stranger will come along and do it