He is also adding "liquidity" to the "market" by immediately buying new listings, and holding them for a few days until the right buyer comes along. Without someone like him the seller would have to wait several days to find the right buyer.
If liquidity and risk transfer is such a value, wouldn't you want this service-for-sale to be clearly visible to all?
This is my theory: If a person doing this were clearly distinguishable on Craigslist from regular individual sellers (and buyers) a great number would be swayed away from doing business with him. I think most people on Craigslist see it as the lubricant between buyers and sellers, intended precisely to replace middlemen like him. I think his ability to sell that liquidity and risk-transfer for profit would depend on his ability to blend in.
You might reasonably argue that I'm wrong. But if you do, then not only would you not object if (in a hypothetical universe) we were to clearly and involuntarily distinguish dealers and Craigslist profit-makers like him from the regular buyers and sellers, but you would see it as beneficial to him.
[edited to clarify wording slighty]
But most of all: Amazon and eBay are themselves middlemen. They take a cut. Every time you buy or sell, a cut goes to support the platform you used to find and buy or sell. Active dealers with more transactions give more support to those sites. If you like using them you're probably okay with those dealers.
Craigslist doesn't take a cut (outside of certain job postings in certain big cities). It's a community platform for individuals. Dealers profit only themselves, contribute nothing to support the site, and offer little if any dubious "value" with their interference. This is not exotic knowledge for users of Craigslist.
3 years ago I was broke and bought stuff on craig's list, (specifically camera equipment) and sold it on eBay and held some and sold it on craig's list later. I negotiated hard on the phone and only bought stuff far below market value.
I only sold stuff for far above market value and I ended up with an extra $300 a month or so which was a huge difference in my lifestyle.
I noticed something with the sellers I dealt with. Most were wealthy, or made very good incomes and just wanted to get rid of the item. They didn't want to deal with a bunch of buyers, they wanted someone who would give them cash fast in a straight forward transaction. That is the "service" I did for them.
Buyers wanted the item, but wanted someone who would tell them it worked, and back it up, provide good photos and description etc.
--- Fast forward 3 years and I make enough money that when I buy and sell stuff on craig's list I am primarily interested in a fast, easy transaction where I'm saving money over the new price, but not concerned about getting an extra $20 out of it.
I basically changed places and I am happy that middlemen are able to provide me with fast, easy transactions.
--- One tip too. To get the absolute best deals put up WANTED ads on specific items. I bought stuff for ridiculously low prices that way. 60% off the mean. And you don't have to be the first to respond to the ad. A lot of people search for the item they are about to sell before they post it and when they see your WANTED ad, you provide the service they want and they are happy to get less than the item is worth.
This guy's service could be described as dealing with random craigslist sellers for you, who can be quite a hassle if you get unlucky.
And unlike modern stock trading, not all Craigslist listings are created equally. He seems to be doing the dirty work that sellers don't want to bother with. Besides, everyone knows that if you want get paid a reasonable value, you put something on eBay, but that's too much hassle for these sellers.
Without him in the picture, buyers could have purchased their items for less and saved money.
Without him in the picture, buyers might not have found the items and wouldn't have the benefit they think buying the items at all will give them. He's doing a major public service.
And yet, they didn't. The items he's selling are still cheaper than they would have been brand new, and he's in effect connecting people with items they want, for cheaper enough for them to afford them, for a relatively small fee.
You ought to rally against real estate agents, brokers, etc. harder than against this guy.
Well, that and managing to ferret out poorly displayed/marketed items and re-post them with better advertising. That is a valuable service, but I'm not sure how much of his activity can be meaningfully characterized as doing so.
Do buyers and sellers go to this man the way people go to real estate agents for their services? What would Craigslist buyers and sellers think of what he does if they knew about it? Respectfully, I think they would strongly prefer he weren't interfering.
Having tried to buy things on Craigslist, nice, clear photos are amazing - it saves me the trouble of shlepping somewhere, looking at the clearly mis-represented item, sighing, and shlepping back home.
As far as the sellers, what exactly are they losing? They stated the price they wanted to sell for, and they got it. You could argue that they could have gotten more with a better camera, some cleaning, and a better ad, but at that point you can argue that nobody should hire ad agencies.
If he's in the business of helping people buy and sell things on Craigslist then he should go to prospective buyers and sellers on that basis. And if he did, he would not make the kind of profit he's making.
How is this worse than someone who needs the item getting it for free?
Blah blah "price discovery is a service in a free market blah blah" does not apply to Craigslist.
There are a few ways a job like this could be ethical and productive, respecting the hippie community culture of Craigslist but improving efficiency in exchange for a share of the profit, instead of merely siphoning gains out of the system:
* Buy items that fail to sell (perhaps because they are geographically remote), and resell them from a more accessible location. http://craigstruck.com is a variation on this model.
* Buy junk, fix it up, resell it. ("Upcycle"/ "speculative repair work"
* Take good stuff that doesn't sell, and re-market it better.
[0] "spec" is a funny auto-antonym: "Speculative" or "to specifictaion"
I want to say you're wrong, but I'm not even sure how you reached this conclusion.
> It's definitely abusive of the Craigslist community.
How so?
It's a big controversy in communities like freecycle that attempt to maintain a certain charitable ethos and actively say that flippers aren't welcome, sometimes with exceptions for people who repair things (it's usually considered okay to take something broken free with the intent to repair and sell it, because that isn't pure flipping). Probably less controversial on Craigslist, which is a bit of a free-for-all.
As long as someone takes care of moving out of my place, I'm happy. If it goes to someone like this guy who flips to make a living and support his family, that's cool with me.
If he wasn't flipping the stuff, he'd be looking for donations. That's why he started doing this in the first place.
1) He retakes clear photos of the merch at a variety of angles - something that many craigslist postings lack
2) He himself has a threshold of quality, and inspects the product before picking it up from the original seller - I would much rather trust a guy who buys 10 cordless drills a week on craigslist to know the drill is bad, than relying on my limited knowledge of cordless drills and their common defects.
I'm willing to pay a few extra bucks for his vetting.
To the seller: I'm going to make probably $100 on this washer in a couple days by Windexing it and taking some good photos. That's your fee for my pickup and selling "service."
To the buyer: I bought this washer a couple days ago for $100 less. That's your fee for my delivery and vetting "service."
I'd like to know how much is e.g. Apple paying Foxconn for each iPhone, doesn't mean I think they're wrong for not telling me.
(Purely hypothetical example, I don't buy stuff from Apple)