Among Dunedin's students, there is a common interest: the desire to acquire stuff, or to get rid of stuff. The primary tool used in this pursuit is the Wild West of TradeMe: Facebook Marketplace. With fewer barriers in making a listing, no fees, and an overall freer second-hand market, it’s a one-stop shop for all manner of goodies. But there’s also more opportunity for fuckery to take place – reselling side-hustlers included. If Critic’s sources are correct, it’s on the rise.
Resellers are pretty self-explanatory: they make purchases to resell the item at a higher price for profit. One student, Max, got in touch with Critic Te Ārohi to warn about the phenomenon of Facebook resellers. “Yeah bro, I was buying this PS5 for $550, but when I got it, I realised the power supply was munted. When I tried to contact the guy, he’d already blocked me, so I couldn’t even report him.” One might argue it serves him right for not playing Xbox.
Following Max’s horror story, Critic reached out to several students to understand how widespread Marketplace reselling is in the community. Many students used Facebook Marketplace, but only some were aware of the concept of reselling. One student remarked: “My flatmate got ripped off on there.” Another was very against it, calling resellers “bottom-feeders”.
Not many students Critic spoke to said that they would engage in it, with responses ranging from “I think its a good idea, but ceebs” to “fuck that bro I don’t want to fuck people over.” Another admitted to reselling clothes, “Anything I stop wearing I sell, except for the stuff my mum buys me.” On the ethics of his business, he said, “Honestly, if you're reselling clothes it's good. So many clothes in op shops are too expensive and just end up getting chucked out, so it’s better if people wear them.” Better start investing in jorts and Birks.
Luke, a 3rd-year Food Science student, is a regular reseller – and he’s made a pretty penny doing it, too. When asked about his business, Luke said, “Oh yeah, I only really do one [sale] a week. Been doing it for about a year, probably made about $1700.” That’s one way to beef up the student budget. “One time I found a TV for free and sold it on for $200, that was pretty good.” It isn't really about making a living for him. “I mean, it's not like I’m gonna be doing it the rest of my life. It’s just something to do, and it gets me a bit of pocket money to buy a kebab on the weekend."
He gave three keys to success for any future Marketplace magnates interested in starting their own enterprise: “Having a car, browsing Marketplace at every waking moment, and if an item is too expensive, just get your mate to lowball the seller through another account.” The golden goose for resellers is finding an item listed for free, such as a janky-looking bike. With a bit of Kiwi ingenuity and student-style fiscal desperation, that once-worthless bike can now be resold for $50. Cha-ching!
To those reading this and questioning the morality of such trades, Luke claims that he sees no issue with the hustle. He always improves the value of each item, fixing or cleaning them before returning them to the market and “stands by his flips”, dealing with any gripes that the customers may have. However, not all resellers maintain standards like these, and some operate on a “buyer beware” level.
It’s not all doom and gloom in the reseller sphere. Some genuine goodness can be found in the item trade, according to Luke, who recounted to Critic his story of acquiring an old radio, cleaning it up, and selling it at a discounted rate to an old pensioner who had owned a similar radio when he was a young boy. “Sometimes a smile is better than the money,” Luke shrugged. Lovely.