# Do people fine being a merchant distasteful? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028 "2015-08-05T01:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028/41 "2015-08-06T14:59:58Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > “drop shopping,” which is apparently what it’s called when you list other people’s Amazon items on ebay and ship directly to the buyer. That’s not what drop shipping is. Drop shipping is where you sign up with a wholesaler that operates a dropship scheme. You list their products on ebay, amazon, your own website, wherever, and when you make a sale you put the order in at the wholesaler who will then ship direct to the customer (usually complete with packing slip etc in your name rather than theirs). While it’s technically possible to sell a $20 item for $50 (you’re technically paying a sort-of, maybe wholesale price and then selling it on at RRP), in practice that doesn’t happen. Competition is usually quite fierce and you’ll most likely find a whole bunch of sellers on ebay selling the item for $20.50 or some such - you’ll end up making pennies in profit on every sale if you want to be competitive. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028/42 "2015-08-06T15:03:53Z")
Some years ago many (or at least a vocal few) here in the US were publicly griping about ATM fees, especially those charged by a bank when their ATM was used by customers of other banks. The Onion published one of their fictitious “man on the street” comment collections on the subject, with one of the respondents declaring, “I don’t think it’s fair for a bank to charge a fee for a service it provides.” It was supposed to be funny (and it was), but it really was an accurate summary of the people who were complaining, and it does seem to embody the hostility/disdain that some people have for people who make money by providing a service. Point being that yes, I have previously seen the attitude described by the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028/43 "2015-08-06T16:33:23Z")
> [@The\_Angry\_Badger](#): > > That’s not what drop shipping is. > > Drop shipping is where you sign up with a wholesaler that operates a dropship scheme. You list their products on ebay, amazon, your own website, wherever, and when you make a sale you put the order in at the wholesaler who will then ship direct to the customer (usually complete with packing slip etc in your name rather than theirs). > > While it’s technically possible to sell a $20 item for $50 (you’re technically paying a sort-of, maybe wholesale price and then selling it on at RRP), in practice that doesn’t happen. Competition is usually quite fierce and you’ll most likely find a whole bunch of sellers on ebay selling the item for $20.50 or some such - you’ll end up making pennies in profit on every sale if you want to be competitive. People who sell Amazon stuff on ebay call it drop shipping, whether it’s technically true or not. Looking into this has led me to some internet marketing forums where people discuss this strategy. Apparently Amazon does not wish to be a drop shipper, though, and will shut down Prime members who are shipping to many multiple addresses. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028/44 "2015-08-06T20:52:36Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Some years ago many (or at least a vocal few) here in the US were publicly griping about ATM fees, especially those charged by a bank when their ATM was used by customers of other banks. The Onion published one of their fictitious “man on the street” comment collections on the subject, with one of the respondents declaring, “I don’t think it’s fair for a bank to charge a fee for a service it provides.” It was supposed to be funny (and it was), but it really was an accurate summary of the people who were complaining, and it does seem to embody the hostility/disdain that some people have for people who make money by providing a service. In Canada people actually were calling for such fees to be outlawed. Apparently people have some sort of Constitutional right I was previously unaware of to get cash from any ATM they want, rather than schlepping their lazy asses a block or two over to get cash from an ATM associated with their bank. But that isn’t so much opposition to “merchants,” it’s opposition to a specific charge in a specific industry, much the same way people hate airline luggage fees or giant charges for going over on your data plan. Some things just piss people off and some don’t. Why airline luggage fees infuriate people but, say, having to pay for a skin for your cell phone does not, I don’t really know. I don’t know why people go berserk over ATM fees but seem okay with the high price of beer in restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028/45 "2015-08-06T22:24:13Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I don’t think this is a widely-held belief about merchants. I _do_ think lots of people have the attitudes towards prices and costs that you’re getting at, I just think they’re so ignorant that they don’t realize that _every_ merchant prices things based on making money. True, it’s more of some sort of objection to the idea of mark-up and of making a profit off of something you did not produce, beyound what those persons believe to be “fair”. I recall back in 2006 when a sales tax was first rolled out around here, and every natural or legal person who provided taxable (or potentially taxable) goods or services had to get a “Merchant Certificate” from the Revenue office (including those who’d be certified as exempted): there were quite a few groans and moans especially from various types of licensed professionals, human services and creative sector people, to the effect of “but we’re not merchants/traders!” :dubious: 😕 Excuse me, you have inputs and expenses; you sell a good or provide a service, and you charge such as to cover your inputs and expenses and make a living… unless you’re volunteering it all for no remuneration in the name of humanity/God, you ARE engaged in commerce. **RickJay** , good point - people get irked about the notion that they are being “charged to get my own money” (well, then go to \*your \*bank and get it). Or they feel a luggage allowance should be something intrinsic to their air travel, or else tha a fee charged for it should involve a guarantee of simultaneous delivery. But those are cases where it’s unbundling/passthrough/“transparent billing” that creates the friction – when those costs were built into the ticket price, or into your own bank’s fees and interests (and exchanged with other banks through the clearinghouses for paper checks), and averaged out over all customers, they were invisible to them. (That in many if not most cases they get used as “profit centers” is a different story, but then it again devolves into “how dare they profit from my need”) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028/46 "2015-08-07T14:58:07Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’ve never _in my entire life_ heard anyone say anything like this. What about “windfall profits tax”? Is it not the same underlying premise (that too much profit should be somehow controlled)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-fine-being-a-merchant-distasteful/727028.md?page=2)