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I'd aim more for Aliexpress to Amazon arbitrage. I've seen people selling stuff with 3-10x markup, Realtek SDR dongles, bluetooth speakers, etc. It's nuts. And

I'd aim more for Aliexpress to Amazon arbitrage. I've seen people selling stuff with 3-10x markup, Realtek SDR dongles, bluetooth speakers, etc. It's nuts. And I've seen people who know that still pay for it because they didn't want to wait for shipping.

gregw134 10y ago
You have to be a Chinese citizen to sell on Alibaba. They make you type in your Chinese identification number (whatever it's called) when you sign up.
- nerfhammer 10y ago
  Is there a market for Chinese identification numbers on Alibaba?
- ultramancool 10y ago
  That's only to sell though - I mean buying there and selling on Amazon or similar.
giarc 10y ago
The problem with this would be shipping times. I'm assuming this set up would be to list items on Amazon that you can purchase for cheap on Aliexpress? If so, Amazon buyers might not be happy with long ship times from China.
jandrese 10y ago
If they're shipping crates over to the US and sitting on the inventory then they're not doing arbitrage. That's vanilla reselling. They're even providing a service by offering considerably quicker shipping times. Arbitrage makes money purely off of information disparities between the parties. The guy who is better plugged into the market is able to mark up items in the middle of a transaction without having to take on any risk or provide any service.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- ikeboy 10y ago
  Arbitrage can provide a service as well.
- nerfhammer 10y ago
  Arbitrage != asymmetric information. Arbitrage just means bridging different markets with different prices for the same item. The parties in one market may well be aware that the prices are different in another market, they just can't/won't/don't bother to access the other market. Information disparity between parties in contrast is referred to as "asymmetric information".
  - pjlegato 10y ago
    The case of importing from Ali, holding inventory, then reselling in the US is still not arbitrage. Arbitrage is by definition riskless simultaneous buying and selling of the same product in different venues. Since the Ali importer is buying and selling at different times, the importer is assuming the risk that the market clearing price in the US will change before their inventory can be sold.
    - nerfhammer 10y ago
      One academic definition of arbitrage includes zero risk, but usually not in contexts where it refers to something that happens in the real world, perhaps given that it's impossible in reality.
      - pjlegato 10y ago
        Actual arbitrage is very rare in the real world. If you're holding inventory at all, you're not doing arbitrage.

gregw134 10y ago

You have to be a Chinese citizen to sell on Alibaba. They make you type in your Chinese identification number (whatever it's called) when you sign up.

nerfhammer 10y ago
Is there a market for Chinese identification numbers on Alibaba?
ultramancool 10y ago
That's only to sell though - I mean buying there and selling on Amazon or similar.

giarc 10y ago

The problem with this would be shipping times. I'm assuming this set up would be to list items on Amazon that you can purchase for cheap on Aliexpress? If so, Amazon buyers might not be happy with long ship times from China.

jandrese 10y ago

If they're shipping crates over to the US and sitting on the inventory then they're not doing arbitrage. That's vanilla reselling. They're even providing a service by offering considerably quicker shipping times. Arbitrage makes money purely off of information disparities between the parties. The guy who is better plugged into the market is able to mark up items in the middle of a transaction without having to take on any risk or provide any service.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
ikeboy 10y ago
Arbitrage can provide a service as well.
nerfhammer 10y ago
Arbitrage != asymmetric information. Arbitrage just means bridging different markets with different prices for the same item. The parties in one market may well be aware that the prices are different in another market, they just can't/won't/don't bother to access the other market. Information disparity between parties in contrast is referred to as "asymmetric information".
- pjlegato 10y ago
  The case of importing from Ali, holding inventory, then reselling in the US is still not arbitrage. Arbitrage is by definition riskless simultaneous buying and selling of the same product in different venues. Since the Ali importer is buying and selling at different times, the importer is assuming the risk that the market clearing price in the US will change before their inventory can be sold.
  - nerfhammer 10y ago
    One academic definition of arbitrage includes zero risk, but usually not in contexts where it refers to something that happens in the real world, perhaps given that it's impossible in reality.
    - pjlegato 10y ago
      Actual arbitrage is very rare in the real world. If you're holding inventory at all, you're not doing arbitrage.