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> Two yuppies in a living room buying an e-commerce engine from company A and selling merchandise made by company B and warehoused and shipped by company C, wit

> Two yuppies in a living room buying an e-commerce engine from company A and selling merchandise made by company B and warehoused and shipped by company C, with customer service from company D, isn’t honestly adding much value. It's funny he mentions this. I know someone who makes millions a year doing exactly this. Her value add is finding vendors, finding drop shippers, and marketing the products. But she doesn't build any tech or hold or make any inventory.

mjevans 4y ago
Sounds like a store / shop / service provider to me.
RoddaWallPro 4y ago
I've a cousin who does something similar, and also (according to him) makes in the high hundred-thousands/low million range. In theory, it sounds like easy money, but I personally would probably break down in tears from boredom if I had to work on drop-shipping widgets, even if I was raking in the cash.
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fsckboy 4y ago
> isn’t honestly adding much value...makes millions a year doing exactly this if you are making money, you are adding value. You are putting products in front of people who want them at an attractive price for them. If you make the products from scratch and do that, or if you drag them the full length of the silk road, or if you buy a pack of cigarettes and stand outside and sell them as loosies, if people are buying from you, you're putting in your effort and making money which is the measure of value-add. Convenience stores can make money right next to lower priced supermarkets because walking accross the parking lot and to the back of the supermarket to get a quart of milk can feel like the silk road. edit: downvoted for explaining how actual economics works? If you haven't studied economics, you shouldn't be making your feelings known, it's not a matter of opinion or preference, it's a field of study. how is value-added tax calculated? on your feelings, or simply on how much money you make? QED
- vageli 4y ago
  By this logic, ticket scalpers provide significant value.
  - jedberg 4y ago
    Ticket scalpers used to provide significant value. They provided liquidity in the market. If you wanted to get rid of some tickets you bought because you couldn't go anymore, you could sell them to scalpers. If you wanted last minute tickets to a popular event, you could buy them from scalpers. But now that the venues manage their own secondary sales, the scalper is just extracting rent.
    - fsckboy 4y ago
      it is not extracting rent to sell something at the market price. They are engaging in almost riskless arbitrage because the OEM for the music or sports event sees some value in nominally pricing the event below market.
  - thefaux 4y ago
    Ticket scalping creates jobs and is a progressive tax on the wealthy. Both conservatives and liberals should love it! /s
  - fsckboy 4y ago
    the reason ticket scalpers will never go away is that they provide a value added service, allowing people access to an event at a late date when they care more about the event than the money. You may not like that, you may think only true fans of an act who plan ahead should get to see the act, but the people who own the tickets don't feel the same way you feel, and they sell their tickets to people who have the right combination of more money and more desire to see the show. My sister was coming to visit me in NYC, she's a huge Red Sox fan, I bought her and her friends Red Sox Yankees tickets, they had a blast. I was happy to have done it. The tickets were expensive. I got value for my money. ticket scalpers are no different than stock brokers, I go to them when I want to buy shares of Tesla, and I have to pay the market price. They are the people who are willing to sit there and wait for my transaction without knowing if I'll ever show up, an activity that I don't want to engage in and I'm happy to pay them for it.
opportune 4y ago
This is basically just the internet version of… any retailer that isn’t vertically integrated? Do we honestly think that Barrel & Crate’s business model is that different? Yeah, you have a weak moat, but if your niche isn’t big then even a weak moat may not be worth crossing
- jedberg 4y ago
  Crate and Barrel holds inventory. They buy it in advance. Also I think they have items that you can't get anywhere else that are made special just for them?

mjevans 4y ago

Sounds like a store / shop / service provider to me.

RoddaWallPro 4y ago

I've a cousin who does something similar, and also (according to him) makes in the high hundred-thousands/low million range. In theory, it sounds like easy money, but I personally would probably break down in tears from boredom if I had to work on drop-shipping widgets, even if I was raking in the cash.

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fsckboy 4y ago

> isn’t honestly adding much value...makes millions a year doing exactly this if you are making money, you are adding value. You are putting products in front of people who want them at an attractive price for them. If you make the products from scratch and do that, or if you drag them the full length of the silk road, or if you buy a pack of cigarettes and stand outside and sell them as loosies, if people are buying from you, you're putting in your effort and making money which is the measure of value-add. Convenience stores can make money right next to lower priced supermarkets because walking accross the parking lot and to the back of the supermarket to get a quart of milk can feel like the silk road. edit: downvoted for explaining how actual economics works? If you haven't studied economics, you shouldn't be making your feelings known, it's not a matter of opinion or preference, it's a field of study. how is value-added tax calculated? on your feelings, or simply on how much money you make? QED

vageli 4y ago
By this logic, ticket scalpers provide significant value.
- jedberg 4y ago
  Ticket scalpers used to provide significant value. They provided liquidity in the market. If you wanted to get rid of some tickets you bought because you couldn't go anymore, you could sell them to scalpers. If you wanted last minute tickets to a popular event, you could buy them from scalpers. But now that the venues manage their own secondary sales, the scalper is just extracting rent.
  - fsckboy 4y ago
    it is not extracting rent to sell something at the market price. They are engaging in almost riskless arbitrage because the OEM for the music or sports event sees some value in nominally pricing the event below market.
- thefaux 4y ago
  Ticket scalping creates jobs and is a progressive tax on the wealthy. Both conservatives and liberals should love it! /s
- fsckboy 4y ago
  the reason ticket scalpers will never go away is that they provide a value added service, allowing people access to an event at a late date when they care more about the event than the money. You may not like that, you may think only true fans of an act who plan ahead should get to see the act, but the people who own the tickets don't feel the same way you feel, and they sell their tickets to people who have the right combination of more money and more desire to see the show. My sister was coming to visit me in NYC, she's a huge Red Sox fan, I bought her and her friends Red Sox Yankees tickets, they had a blast. I was happy to have done it. The tickets were expensive. I got value for my money. ticket scalpers are no different than stock brokers, I go to them when I want to buy shares of Tesla, and I have to pay the market price. They are the people who are willing to sit there and wait for my transaction without knowing if I'll ever show up, an activity that I don't want to engage in and I'm happy to pay them for it.

opportune 4y ago

This is basically just the internet version of… any retailer that isn’t vertically integrated? Do we honestly think that Barrel & Crate’s business model is that different? Yeah, you have a weak moat, but if your niche isn’t big then even a weak moat may not be worth crossing

jedberg 4y ago
Crate and Barrel holds inventory. They buy it in advance. Also I think they have items that you can't get anywhere else that are made special just for them?