Does it seem like everyone is a Flipper / Reseller these days?

V

vintagecollectibles831

Active member
I have such a hard time selling a cue or case for example, because everyone is either super cheap, or they are a flipper / reseller, and just unwilling to pay a reasonable price.

On the other hand, I see cues and everything billiards related that are priced for insane amounts of money, and sellers are willing to sit on them, without budging on their price for years, if needed.

I feel like my only option for a quick sale is ebay, but then I have to take a huge gamble on a no reserve auction, buyers that might no read my listing, or view my pictures, and ebay fees, which take a good chunk out of my sale.

There just are no bargains to find anymore. Seems everyone is a flipper / reseller, and can afford to hoard their goods, until the right buyer comes along.

I do not even shop on ebay anymore, for cues, because I feel it is pointless.

Shopping for cues from any of the US Marketplaces also seems pointless, because bargains or even anything reasonably priced is so rare anymore.

And yet, I post a cue or case for a reasonable asking price, and I can't sell it very quickly, and still get low balled.

I guess if the item is not brand new, or in mint condition, that also makes it very hard to sell.

It must also come with a CF shaft, because that is the big thing these days, or nobody will want it.

Oh, and don't ever write to a dealer / reseller, because you are not going to get anywhere near a fair price from them, even in trade value, even if they would be interested in what you have.

Just have to put it on ebay, at no reserve, and hope for the best, if a quick sale is needed.
 
It simply can’t be the case that there are both no good deals to be had buying cues and also that it is impossible to get a terrible price for a cue you’re looking to sell. The market for used cues is not very liquid, so if you want a good price you’ve got to be willing to wait for the right buyer to find it. Flippers/resellers serve a purpose by bringing liquidity to the market – they will bid against each other to create a floor so your $5,000 cue doesn’t sell for $50.
 
nmh2008 said:
It simply can’t be the case that there are both no good deals to be had buying cues and also that it is impossible to get a terrible price for a cue you’re looking to sell. The market for used cues is not very liquid, so if you want a good price you’ve got to be willing to wait for the right buyer to find it. Flippers/resellers serve a purpose by bringing liquidity to the market – they will bid against each other to create a floor so your $5,000 cue doesn’t sell for $50.
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It seems that the Flippers / Resellers buy up anything that is a good deal, making it harder for anyone else to find anything fairly priced. It is Flippers / Resellers fault that everything is priced so high. And, off the topic of billiards, but this is why there is never anything decent in a thrift store for example, and the reason why even at a thrift store, everything is priced really high.
 
The worst right now to me is the predator bk rush’s . They keep making different colors which is fine but they sell out right away to flippers who triple the price butttt people are dumb enough to buy a rush for 2k Simply because predator painted it white so it’s on them.
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
It seems that the Flippers / Resellers buy up anything that is a good deal, making it harder for anyone else to find anything fairly priced. It is Flippers / Resellers fault that everything is priced so high. And, off the topic of billiards, but this is why there is never anything decent in a thrift store for example, and the reason why even at a thrift store, everything is priced really high.
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This is a good point. THere is a guy who sits outside our local Goodwill on Tuesdays (that is when they put out the new stuff. He drives a panel truck, and will fill it up with pretty much anything, and turn around and sell the stuff on FB marketplace.

Lately, the used, donated stuff at Goodwill is basically the same price as new stuff from Walmart or Amazon.
 
jokrswylde said:
This is a good point. THere is a guy who sits outside our local Goodwill on Tuesdays (that is when they put out the new stuff. He drives a panel truck, and will fill it up with pretty much anything, and turn around and sell the stuff on FB marketplace.

Lately, the used, donated stuff at Goodwill is basically the same price as new stuff from Walmart or Amazon.
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Yeah, and I blame this trend on youtubers who Vlog, and post about all their great flipping buys on youtube. It has turned everyone into a flipper. I have stopped going to thrift stores, because I find it to be completely pointless. Even the thrift stores themselves are researching values, from sold ebay sales, for example.
 
trob said:
The worst right now to me is the predator bk rush’s . They keep making different colors which is fine but they sell out right away to flippers who triple the price butttt people are dumb enough to buy a rush for 2k Simply because predator painted it white so it’s on them.
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Absolutely correct. My first experience with this phenomenon was years ago with sneakers. People were buying up Air Jordans and reselling them. Sadly, it has trickled to the pool industry. I believe pool is getting popular again and people will resell since there is hype with new equipment.

Somebody said my cue is worth 6k. I told him no because he showed me a picture of a cue online that was for sale.

I will tell people exactly what I told him....I bought my cue for way cheaper because I got it build from the cue maker. Support them. It may take some waiting time but you are paying way cheaper than the used market.

I even got a quote for a "monster" cue and it came out to be the same price of a basic cue from a reseller. LOL
 
jokrswylde said:
This is a good point. THere is a guy who sits outside our local Goodwill on Tuesdays (that is when they put out the new stuff. He drives a panel truck, and will fill it up with pretty much anything, and turn around and sell the stuff on FB marketplace.

Lately, the used, donated stuff at Goodwill is basically the same price as new stuff from Walmart or Amazon.
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Goodwills have gotten smart, that is why they have an auction site. Finding a homerun as a GW or a SA is like hitting the lottery. They have spotters in the stores. You hardly find guitars anymore in the stores unless they are beat to sh*t, otherwise they are all on the auction page.
JV
 
billiards_watch said:
Absolutely correct. My first experience with this phenomenon was years ago with sneakers. People were buying up Air Jordans and reselling them. Sadly, it has trickled to the pool industry. I believe pool is getting popular again and people will resell since there is hype with new equipment.

Somebody said my cue is worth 6k. I told him no because he showed me a picture of a cue online that was for sale.

I will tell people exactly what I told him....I bought my cue for way cheaper because I got it build from the cue maker. Support them. It may take some waiting time but you are paying way cheaper than the used market.

I even got a quote for a "monster" cue and it came out to be the same price of a basic cue from a reseller. LOL
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Crossroad Cues is one dealer, for example, who seems to be way overpriced, for cues that he offers, but they always sell, so he seems to be very smart about the market. I love his insight to custom cues, and his youtube videos, showing his cues, but his prices just seem insanely high to me.
 
classiccues said:
Goodwills have gotten smart, that is why they have an auction site. Finding a homerun as a GW or a SA is like hitting the lottery. They have spotters in the stores. You hardly find guitars anymore in the stores unless they are beat to sh*t, otherwise they are all on the auction page.
JV
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It is funny. A lot of people donate their Meucci cues to Goodwill, and then Goodwill will put them on their auction site, and the cues will auction off for way more then they are worth, in my opinion.
 
mjantti said:
I get a lot of friend requests on facebook from unknowns, mostly from the US, and when I look at the profile it’s just a (re)seller/flipper profile filled with cues and other pool merch. Been going on for 2-3 years now.
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Lol, yeah, this guy recently sent me a Friend request, just so he could ask me about a Mezz cue I posted about years ago.
 
My absolute favorite is the fucking flippers that pull down photos from Shopgoodwill or Hibid and then post into Reddit asking folks to help them identify and value this cue they just inherited. I always post the auction back into their thread with some gee whiz here is one just like it comment.

My second favorite thing is running up the prices of Shopgoodwill auctions so I can bleed off as much profit as possible off these scum suckers. I hope they go broke, their car gets repossessed and their mortgage gets called by the bank.

Their is no finer feeling then seeing a Shopgoodwill cue get listed on eBay for $200 over a remotely reasonable price that I know I ran the auction cost up on!
 
I bought a used cue here on AZB of a respected custom builder.
I paid what I felt was a very reasonable price. I contacted the builder and was quoted a complete refinish and wrap where my total investment would be 1/3 the price if the builder sold the same cue again.

A couple years later I stumbled on an old Offer Up listing of my exact cue, same figure in same points, etc. and same time frame.
The ask was 3.5 times less than I paid, so I assume this was the max price my seller paid, more than likely less given the site.

Was I upset? No.

I am glad for flippers that spend untold hours hunting various sites to offer it to somebody like me that has no desire to spend the effort.

I feel the same way towards ticket scalpers that I have used for sold out sporting events for close to 50 years.

Guess I could have reduced this wall of words to just three:
Quit yer snivelin'!
 
I think it is fantastic that there is a new crowd of flippers. I applaud anyone that sees a dwindling market and player participation, see's technology moving in an entirely different direction, and still thinks they can make a buck. In fact, I hear threaded socket fuses are making a comeback. Better get to the ATM...

JV
 

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I just started looking again recently. I used to be very good at finding bargains, but I am not a flipper. I have only ever sold four cues.

Ebay, Goodwill, Buya, Offer Up, are all still good. You just have to know how to search and be ready to move.

You also have to be willing to take some risk. Poor descriptions from people that don't know what they are doing, fuzzy pictures that don't show everything you want them to, and most importantly inaccurate listings.

Sure, we see lots of people listing cues for way more than they are worth. But I guess you haven't seen the one's that have no idea what they have and sell a cue in an ad that misrepresents the cue. Wrong spelling, misidentifications, etc.

I got a cue on Goodwill that wasn't even listed with the pool cues. Probably nobody else that would want it ever saw it.

Running searches for common misspellings and misslistings can open up a whole new world.

Joss? Juss or Josh. Just an example. Pool cues listed as billiard ques, and all kind of aberrant spellings.

I will not give all my secrets. If you are going to buy from people that know what they have, and know how to list it, with the pictures and details buyers need, you are barking up the wrong tree if you are looking for bargains.

I have been going through five years of posts here that I missed and I saw more than one cue identified as an "Asian import" POS that was not.

I just landed a Fellini for $100. So, I'm happy.

I also like buying from AZB members occasionally. Fair, straightforward, no problems, but I often know who they are.

I went back through my PMs, five years of them. I was amazed at how many people offered me cues and cases for bargain prices, just for being here, and I was gone.
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
It seems that the Flippers / Resellers buy up anything that is a good deal, making it harder for anyone else to find anything fairly priced. It is Flippers / Resellers fault that everything is priced so high. And, off the topic of billiards, but this is why there is never anything decent in a thrift store for example, and the reason why even at a thrift store, everything is priced really high.
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What's stopping you from buying the same cues they are buying?
 
A guy bought a cue on here this week for $1000 - which seemed high to me - and he has it on e bay today asking $3000 - the cue sales world is all over the place. The dawn of e bay was the time to pick and sell - it was lots of fun, profitable and relatively a fair market while it lasted - all good things come to an end.
 
I agree buyers are cheap and smart. I wonder if Facebook and Craigslist allows the patient seller to hold out for a better price --- something not as common in the past? I wonder, too, if many of the older cues are losing value since a lot are not considered as good today as they were in the past.

I noticed one exception, however. I posted here of four not-remarkable cues with soft no-brand cases that sold combined for $45 each including shipping. How did that happen? I wonder if selling it as a four-cue/four-case package helped.

See https://forums.azbilliards.com/thre...25-cues-for-180-works-out-to-45-each-🎱.572800

Although already sold, see it for a while on eBay (you got to scroll down to see it) at https://www.ebay.com/itm/3961459552...d=link&campid=5335988529&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

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jasonlaus said:
What's stopping you from buying the same cues they are buying?
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You have to be at the right place at the right time. These days, it seems that there are so many people interested in flipping / reselling, that it is extremely unlikely that you will find that listed bargain at just the right time, when it gets posted, for you to grab it, before someone else does. I have completely given up any hope of finding bargains here in the US, and for years now, I have only shopped in marketplaces in other countries, to look for bargains. For a while there I was finding a lot of Meucci Originals in a certain marketplace, but not anymore. The secret seemingly got out, and it is now very rare to find bargains in that marketplace. So, now I try to search in different marketplaces in Europe for example, hoping to find a good deal. Hoping to find a marketplace that other flippers have not found yet. It is very unlikely that one exists anymore. That is how many people are out there looking for bargains. It just feels completely hopeless anymore. Everything now is so incredibly overpriced it seems.
 
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