How are some sellers able to sell so cheap.

[inhawaii]

When i'm out shopping i'm always on the lookout for bargains that i might be able to sell on eaby. 

I'll only sell items if i can double my money (or more).

I was at Costco the other day and saw this 8 pack of Oral-B toothbrushes that were discounted down to $10.  I thought to myself "I could sell these on ebay". I got home and went on ebay to do my research. 

[bigdeals.etc]

There's also the possibility that the sellers got the saying backwards and are actually "buying high, selling low."

[mg152]

Detergent is a high theft item. They had to put the anti theft stickers on it. Sad, really!

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@mg152 wrote:
Detergent is a high theft item. They had to put the anti theft stickers on it. Sad, really!

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Detergent is not a cheap purchase 😞

I couldn't imagine being an underemployed young mother these days .... the cost of Detergent, diapers and formula (which is kept locked up in a cage in one of our local Wally Worlds) is outrageous 😞

[pburn]

--GENERAL--

Think maybe things like that get stolen in order to sell them, rather than actually being used by the individuals stealing them?

Either way, it's a bad/sad deal.

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@pburn wrote:
--GENERAL--

Think maybe things like that get stolen in order to sell them, rather than actually being used by the individuals stealing them?

Either way, it's a bad/sad deal.

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Probably ... it's still a bad deal for economically challenged folks that actually need the items 😞

As an aside .... most local sales groups and apps don't allow the sale of formula and diapers. You can give them away free, but you can't sell them.

[slippinjimmy]

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

Just adding on to my post ....

I have a drawer FULL of Oral-B toothbrushes.

My dentist gives me one and my periodontist gives me one, every time I visit.  That's 4 a year for the past couple of years (2x dentist 2x perio).

That's FREE inventory 🙂

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^^^^ This!

I have a drawer filled with them and my dentist will give me as many as I want since the P&G reps dump huge boxes of them on a regular basis (along with toothpaste and dental floss).

No matter what the product is there are usually sales reps with a trunk full of samples to give away.

[pburn]

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

Probably ... it's still a bad deal for economically challenged folks that actually need the items 😞

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Agreed. I just wanted to step back from implying that impoverished people steal laundry detergent, in order to avoid stigmatizing them with that stereotype. (I'm sure you weren't implying that, either, BTW.)

[slippinjimmy]

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@pburn wrote:
--GENERAL--

Think maybe things like that get stolen in order to sell them, rather than actually being used by the individuals stealing them?

Either way, it's a bad/sad deal.

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Toothbrushes? Probably not (not worth enough). On the other hand, replacement brushes for electric brushes, the relatively expensive disposable razors, batteries and baby formula are very popular items for shoplifters not to mention out the back door by the caseload.

This is why these items are often placed near the store checkout or in the case of baby formula often kept in locked cases.

According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) as much as $13 billion worth of goods is shoplifted each year from American retailers and businesses. This amounts to around $35 million every single day.

https://www.ktvn.com/story/39525076/alarming-facts-about-shoplifting-in-america

[yuzuha]

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@fuzzface50 wrote:

"And then there's always the ones who are impossible to compete with as they get that nifty 5 finger discount. "

I get questioned about this quite often selling new box items on CL.  People are scared at first wondering how I can sell items cheaper than Walmart when my items come from there.  Basicly buying out of season stuff and holding them to the next season usually before selling works for me.  Yep, I wait for the basement clearance price and buy what is left. 

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Yep, this is what I do-- I buy holiday/seasonal stuff after the holidays for 90% off and then just sit on it until the next year.  I have about eight storage boxes full of brand new Christmas stuff that I'm going to start listing soon, almost all of it purchased for under $5 apiece.  I just bought an entire storage box worth of summer seasonal stuff that's going in my storage unit until next summer.  You just have to be patient and play the waiting game.

[inhawaii]

You would never guess what is kept in a locked case here in Hawaii?

Canned corned beef.

[yuzuha]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

Just adding on to my post ....

I have a drawer FULL of Oral-B toothbrushes.

My dentist gives me one and my periodontist gives me one, every time I visit.  That's 4 a year for the past couple of years (2x dentist 2x perio).

That's FREE inventory 🙂

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^^^^ This!

I have a drawer filled with them and my dentist will give me as many as I want since the P&G reps dump huge boxes of them on a regular basis (along with toothpaste and dental floss).

No matter what the product is there are usually sales reps with a trunk full of samples to give away.

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I go to beer and wine tastings weekly and the reps there are usually happy to foist off all of their promotional stuff (coozies, stickers, pins, hats, etc.) on you once it starts getting near closing time because they don't want to have to drag all of it back with them.  I've had reps literally hand me three or four hats and go "please take these" just so they could get rid of them!  So I've got piles and piles of assorted breweriana that cost me absolutely nothing to obtain.

[7606dennis]

That is a good question.  However, it is doubtful that you will ever get someone that is doing it to share their secret with you.

I suppose if one has no money tied up in the product and little or no overhead one might able to sell for less than other sellers that do.  Of course, there is always the theory that the use of a loss leader to bring in more potential buyers of other goods you are selling might be the reason, but I don't think it works well here on eBay where you don't have them walking past items to get to what you're actually selling under cost.

I suppose that it makes some sense if you are using the Sam's philosophy to drive your competition out of business by undercutting their prices until you can take over the market and raise your prices to whatever you want.  Of course, again I'm not sure how that would work for online sales. 

[pburn]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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@pburn wrote:
--GENERAL--

Think maybe things like that get stolen in order to sell them, rather than actually being used by the individuals stealing them?

Either way, it's a bad/sad deal.

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Toothbrushes? Probably not (not worth enough).

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Just to clarify, my post was supposed to be referring to the giant sizes of laundry detergent, diapers, etc., not toothbrushes.

[fuzzface50]

Not sure if it still works because I am no longer a walgreens shopper  but years ago I used to sell those disposable razor shavers every 3 months here.  You just wait but every 3 months they would do a bargain on those razors and when you combined the deal, with coupons and their point system then you were making money before you walked out of the store with them. then I would sell them as a lot here.   Free inventory for ebay.

Like I said this was years ago and I probably haven't been in a walgreens in at least 5 years. For some reason the walgreens  rewards program quit working for me and at that time they had no clue on how to fix it so I haven't been back in a walgreens since.  Maybe after all this time I can reapply maybe.  They had other really good deals that worked well with their rewards program.

[penguins_dont_fly]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Sorry, computer trouble.  But you guys were smart enough to figure out what i was going to say.

So it turns out i can't sell them and  make a decent profit. 

I just makes me wonder how are these other sellers getting their product so cheap?

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Ha! I completely missed the fact that you made it back to the thread 🙂 I thought you had just seagulled for some reason 🙂

I think we covered all the bases on the original question before we segued into shoplifting, laundry detergent  and baby formula 😉