What's wrong with "flipping"?  

I don't see how the rule against flipping has any benefits at all.  I'm referring to the rule against selling items for above the price that you purchased them for, so that you cannot buy items on sale or below market price to resell here on head-fi.  

It seems absurd to me that just because (for example) Amazon had a 1 day sale on Triple.fi 10's that no one is allowed to sell them for above $100 for the next couple of months, and you aren't even allowed to post a "want to buy" ad for above that price.  What about the people from Europe and Canada?  They weren't able to take advantage of the sale since it was for the US only, and now they can't even request to buy them from here?  There aren't exactly hoards of people selling triple.fi 10's for $95....  So they're now stuck either paying the normal price from an online store or purchasing from somewhere like ebay.  However, a large number of ebay sellers aren't willing to ship out of the US and plenty of people don't trust ebay or simply don't want to use it.

While I realize that it wouldn't be good for the forums to become a commercial marketplace, I think that flipping is much more personal than commercial sales.  In a case like of the triple.fi 10's, the rule is practically eliminating all legit normal sales of the headphones and leaving only "charity" sales.

In my personal experience, I paid $130 for a used pair of triple.fi 10's without accessories before the sale.  Now that the prices have dropped due to the sale, I find it ridiculous that I would not have been able to use that $130 to purchase a brand new set here on head-fi.  If I didn't have access to ebay, I would still have to pay full price for the earphones.

I also don't see anything wrong with the people who are selling these items either.  They're not driving prices up or anything.  If you happened to catch the sale, then good for you.  If you missed it, then these people provide an opportunity to you get the item for a slightly higher price but still well below normal retail price.

I don't see how banning flipping makes head-fi a better place at all.  

By they way, the sticky about "flipping" in the Classifieds section has a broken link to the "full rules" which definitely doesn't help.  Also, my normal account seems to have been suspended for "flipping"  I pmed a mod about it, but I think it's rather unfair that I would get no warning whatsoever.  Before coming to this forum I had no clue at all what "flipping" was, and I would hardly consider selling an item or two to be a commercial sale.  Sure, there's a sticky, but it's labeled "commercial sales" the add-on about "flipping", especially regarding the amazon sales was only posted recently and people don't exactly go read those rules regularly to check for changes.

If you didn't want to read any of that, this is the summary:  How does the rule against flipping bring any benefits at all to head-fi?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MomijiTMO 

Ban ban ban

Well, it's not like I break the rules all the time, just listed 1 item for a bit above the deal price because I didn't know about this rather obscure rule.

And I'm not saying that what I did was right, and I'm not trying to argue.  I'm just curious as to what good the rule does.

The sale didn't seem to end even after the items were out of stock, later people just had to wait an extra few weeks for their headphones, so I don't think the sale ended early.  Either way, you really can't expect something like this to last and I don't think you can blame anyone for missing the deal.

Also, even if I were concerned for the people in the UK and Canada, just listing my one or two headphones at the price I got plus shipping wouldn't help.  There's far more demand than what a handful of people willing to sell at well below market value can cover.

I found out about the deal because I check sites like bensbargains, slickdeals, and craigslist several times every day.  I suppose I "flip" as a hobby sort of, since I'm still a student and this is more profitable and takes less time than getting a job as a cashier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by salannelson 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aseria 

I suppose I "flip" as a hobby sort of, since I'm still a student and this is more profitable and takes less time than getting a job as a cashier.

So if it takes the place of a real job, then it isn't really a hobby then is it?

 

The FS forum on here is for the good of the community. It allows the members here to expand their horizons, so to speak, and try out different kinds of headphones with less risks; if you don't end up liking a certain pair, you pass them on to another member who could like them.

 

The FS forum is NOT for people like you. It is not in place so that you can take advantage of other members. It is not craigslist. It is not here so that you can make a profit and not have to get a real job like everyone else.

If I did nothing and just asked my parents for money would that count as a job too?  I'm a student right now so my job is to learn and this is on the side.  You could call it a part time job if you want.

This doesn't take advantage of people at all.  As of now, people have the choice of checking the trade forums all day waiting for the handful of people to list headphones at well below market price, or buying at full price from a retailer.  The rule prevents these headphones from being sold at the street price that every other kind is being sold for.  If someone was nice enough to list headphones at the price they got them for then they still will.  If people were going to list headphones at a reasonable price but above the sale price, they're now going to go to some other site like ebay or craigslist.  If people were trying to buy headphones at a cheaper price but not a killer price, they now cannot get them from head-fi unless they are lucky enough to nab one of the few pairs that are sold for the sale price.

Let me summarize my question in one line.  How does this rule benefit the trade forums or any members?