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28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

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Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#3

Post by thecollate »

I am surprised that there is so much margin. Is this because:

1. Amazon product delivery is so convenient that users don't mind paying little extra or

2. Walmart discounts products valuing their warehouse space more. Thus not realizing there was demand for the product elsewhere or at a different time.

Seems like it would be simple for Walmart to figure out this arbitrage and shelve products for longer time. Any thoughts ?

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#4

Post by rjromero »

thecollate wrote: post #3

I am surprised that there is so much margin. Is this because: 1. Amazon product delivery is so convenient that users don't mind paying little extra or 2. Walmart discounts products valuing their warehouse space more. Thus not realizing there was demand for the product elsewhere or at a different time. Seems like it would be simple for Walmart to figure out this arbitrage and shelve products for longer time. Any thoug…

3. When buying things from Amazon, if I don't meet the $25/$35 limit or whatever, I will sometimes, stupidly, search for something else I need from the store and will pay up to $5 more for it through Amazon. Things like folder separators, a pack of staples, etc.. You can get these things for $1 or $2 at Walmart, but on Amazon, maybe $4, $5.

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#5

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

thecollate wrote: post #3

I am surprised that there is so much margin. Is this because: 1. Amazon product delivery is so convenient that users don't mind paying little extra or 2. Walmart discounts products valuing their warehouse space more. Thus not realizing there was demand for the product elsewhere or at a different time. Seems like it would be simple for Walmart to figure out this arbitrage and shelve products for longer time. Any thoug…

Exactly both - this is a temporary sort of arbitrage but is great for both these entrepreneurs and the end consumer in the short term. I will be surprised if they survive in the long term, since most of their business model is designed around the lack of Walmart and Amazon talking to each other. I think it would take a relatively simple collaboration between the two (though that might never happen) to completely destroy this business.

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#6

Post by wpietri »

thecollate wrote: post #3

I am surprised that there is so much margin. Is this because: 1. Amazon product delivery is so convenient that users don't mind paying little extra or 2. Walmart discounts products valuing their warehouse space more. Thus not realizing there was demand for the product elsewhere or at a different time. Seems like it would be simple for Walmart to figure out this arbitrage and shelve products for longer time. Any thoug…

I will occasionally search Amazon for things whose prices I know, like Trader Joe's items or something I bought at a local store. Sometimes Amazon sells it themselves, in which case the prices are reasonable. But often, somebody random will be selling it at a large markup.

My theory is that plenty of people are not particularly price sensitive and just want the thing to appear. I'm stubborn enough (or cheap enough) that I'm very reluctant to reward the arbitrageurs. But I'm sure many aren't.

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#7

Post by thecollate »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #5
thecollate wrote: post #3

I am surprised that there is so much margin. Is this because: 1. Amazon product delivery is so convenient that users don't mind paying little extra or 2. Walmart discounts products valuing their warehouse space more. Thus not realizing there was demand for the product elsewhere or at a different time. Seems like it would be simple for Walmart to figure out this arbitrage and shelve products for longer time. Any thoug…

Exactly both - this is a temporary sort of arbitrage but is great for both these entrepreneurs and the end consumer in the short term. I will be surprised if they survive in the long term, since most of their business model is designed around the lack of Walmart and Amazon talking to each other. I think it would take a relatively simple collaboration between the two (though that might never happen) to completely dest…

I think pricing trends monitoring aka camelcamelcamel.com would be enough for Walmart to figure this out. They don't need to actually talk to each other IMO

Re: 28-year-old makes millions buying from Walmart, selling on Amazon

#9

Post by merb »

rjromero wrote: post #4
thecollate wrote: post #3

I am surprised that there is so much margin. Is this because: 1. Amazon product delivery is so convenient that users don't mind paying little extra or 2. Walmart discounts products valuing their warehouse space more. Thus not realizing there was demand for the product elsewhere or at a different time. Seems like it would be simple for Walmart to figure out this arbitrage and shelve products for longer time. Any thoug…

3. When buying things from Amazon, if I don't meet the $25/$35 limit or whatever, I will sometimes, stupidly, search for something else I need from the store and will pay up to $5 more for it through Amazon. Things like folder separators, a pack of staples, etc.. You can get these things for $1 or $2 at Walmart, but on Amazon, maybe $4, $5.

> Things like folder separators, a pack of staples, etc.. You can get these things for $1 or $2 at Walmart, but on Amazon, maybe $4, $5.

In germany buying stuff in bulk sometimes requires to travel like 50km, I've seen people plenty of times make bulk buys over amazon, because it is more convenient.

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