Teaching children to buy and REsell on ebay

In article ,
says...
That's "American-style values"? Having 5 and 6 year olds doing
things that they can't legally do, and won't really understand?
At 8, do you teach them how to run phishing schemes?

I agree. And at 9, do you teach them how to slash someone's throat and
steal their wallet?





"The chief business of the American people is business."
Calvin Coolidge, Speech in Washington, Jan. 17, 1925
30th president of US (1872 - 1933)

--
James E. Morrow
Email to:

Check out the scores of "homeskewlers" who do just that, and claim it's
edumakatshunel.

"Ignoramus18683" wrote in message
...
What do you people think, is it a good idea to teach 5-6 year old
children to buy stuff at garage sales and sell them on eBay for
profit. I think that it teaches some useful "american style values" as
well as provides quick education about numbers etc.

i

"deja.blues" wrote in
newsFiOh.3654$J21.1703@trndny03:

Whatever happened to the lemonade stand?

well... in a lot of areas, it requires a permit. in some
areas it even requires a business license & health
inspections.

Have him start a collection.
The first rule of success in the buy/sell business is to
collect what you love, become an expert in it, and then
maybe you'll make money.

i agree with this.
you have to know what you're selling to make it worth it & you
also need to know your market. finding a niche, learning all
about it & collecting are all very useful skills.
lee

WoW! L@@k at that!

"Ignoramus18683" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2007 09:13:50 -0700,
wrote:
On Mar 27, 10:03 am, Ignoramus18683 ignoramus18...@NOSPAM.
18683.invalid wrote:
What do you people think, is it a good idea to teach 5-6 year old
children to buy stuff at garage sales and sell them on eBay for
profit. I think that it teaches some useful "american style values" as
well as provides quick education about numbers etc.

i

That's "American-style values"? Having 5 and 6 year olds doing
things that they can't legally do, and won't really understand?
At 8, do you teach them how to run phishing schemes?

Do you think that Phishing is part of "American values"?

I'd rather see today's children learn reading, spelling, and grammar.

There is no better ways to learn spelling than typing eBay auction titles.

I have seen people use their little kids as shills at garage sales,
to get things cheaper. That's a good lesson in dishonesty.

I would agree with that.

i

In article , Flerd Trantle says...

That's "American-style values"? Having 5 and 6 year olds doing
things that they can't legally do, and won't really understand?
At 8, do you teach them how to run phishing schemes?

I agree. And at 9, do you teach them how to slash someone's throat and
steal their wallet?



Oh don't be so melodramatic!!!

At nine, they'll be selling Gucci knock-offs ;-)

Banty (hey, that's enterprise)

On 27 Mar 2007 16:22:07 -0700, Banty wrote:
In article , toypup says...

On 27 Mar 2007 10:44:34 -0700, Banty wrote:

In article , Ignoramus18683
says...

What do you people think, is it a good idea to teach 5-6 year old
children to buy stuff at garage sales and sell them on eBay for
profit. I think that it teaches some useful "american style values" as
well as provides quick education about numbers etc.

i

Teach them to make money by creating something, providing a service, or adding
value to something.

Don't teach them to be parasitical middlemen.

I see nothing parasitical about it. The child will buy it at a price the
seller find fair. If the seller did not find it fair, the seller wouldn't
sell it. The seller is mostly selling stuff he himself no longer cares to
have around. The seller could just as easily post it on eBay, but he
prefers not to because it is too much trouble. He sells it to the child
for less because it is more convenient. The money he loses to the child is
payment for his savings in time and trouble.

The child then resells it at a fair price. The buyer wouldn't buy it if he
wanted to pay less. He could just as easily hunt down garage sales for the
item but he prefers to pay a little extra for the convenience. That is the
value the child is providing the buyer.

This kind of thing is really trading on ignorance. Ticket scalping has the same
rationalization - bought at offered price, offered again at what the market can
bear. What's the harm american way it's the buyers problem if he wants to buy
it blah blah blah and all that. But no value add. Many buyers forced to go to
the scalpers.

I have not experienced much instances of scalping, but my gut instinct
is that scalping occurs where tickets are underpriced to begin
with. So, then, if presumably a lot of thinking goes into properly
pricing ticket, just how rampant scalping really is?

Not that little kids selling on eBay can get to this kind of
damaging extent, but it's very closely akin to something called
"scrounging" which DOES happen around garage sales.

Scrounger comes very early in the mornings with $$$$ cash and a pickup truck,
snatches up certain kinds of goodies (baby stuff, electronics, etc.), only to
add a big markup and resale at flea markets and so-called "multifamily garage
sales". Which only forces those who would pick up something at a neighborhood
garage sale, to go to Mr. Scrounger-cash-pickuptruck's flea market table to get
anything decent. So gives up or shells out cash that they wouldn't have if it
weren't for Mr. Scrounger. It actually de-distributes the items, as well.

Just For Your Information, baby stuff and electronics are some of the
least desirable resale items. At least as far as I am concerned.

These things jack up the price, and restrict the buyer.

Well, since they all find buyers (assuming that the Scrounger sells
them on eBay), they do not restrict the buyer, the products simply go
to a higher paying buyer.

REAL value-add things are, for example, antique collectors using
their *knowledge* and buying power over time, visiting many estate
sales and auctions, to assemble a collection from a certain time
period for resale. Interested individuals could not easily
duplicate these efforts (visiting many estate sales, etc.), so there
is real value add in his resale when they buy from him.

I fail to see the difference.

i

That's "American-style values"? Having 5 and 6 year olds doing
things that they can't legally do, and won't really understand?
At 8, do you teach them how to run phishing schemes?

I agree. And at 9, do you teach them how to slash someone's throat and
steal their wallet?

I have seen people use their little kids as shills at garage sales

So what? It's a free country. Shilling should be legal.

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:29:23 GMT, deja.blues wrote:

"Ignoramus18683" wrote in message
...
What do you people think, is it a good idea to teach 5-6 year old
children to buy stuff at garage sales and sell them on eBay for
profit. I think that it teaches some useful "american style values" as
well as provides quick education about numbers etc.

i

Not a good idea. Kids of that age should have a lot better things to do,
like reading , writing , pets, and sports. Numbers occur in every part of
life (cooking, shopping, laundry, banking) so use them instead.

Kids of that age don't have the patience to deal with the time scope of
Ebay auctions, either. Garage and rummage sale shopping with the goal of
posting on Ebay for profit is a huge time sink - my mom does it full-time
since retiring and it's more than a 40-hour-a week job, though she makes a
profit, there's a lot of hit and miss in the beginning until you find your
niche. There are a lot of skills that buying and selling on Ebay requires,
and a child of that age probably has one or two.

Well, think about of any other activity. For example, let's say that
you want to teach a child how to vacuum. In the beginning they do not
have vacuuming skills, but they learn as they go under parents'
supervision. Same applies to fishing, playing soccer etc. Same is with
eBay selling, it is something that would need to be done under
parental supervision.

As for things having a week or two turnaround, that's a perfect
opportunity to teach patience. I often do "projects" with my son that
take weeks, need items to procure etc. That teaches some skills like
planning and patience.

I'm not sure that Ebay is representative of "American style values" ,
whatever that means to you (your quotation marks) . There are lots of better
ways to teach math skills. Whatever happened to the lemonade stand?

It is not my thing. I have nothing against it, but I would not
personally want to be involved.

Have him start a collection. The first rule of success in the
buy/sell business is to collect what you love, become an expert in
it, and then maybe you'll make money. My mom loves and has been a
collector of vintage clothes and textiles for years, now she's
making money. My husband has done the same with cars, motorcycles,
and the associated parts.

Yes. I think that he can start with toys.

i

"Ignoramus18683" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:29:23 GMT, deja.blues wrote:

"Ignoramus18683" wrote in message
...
What do you people think, is it a good idea to teach 5-6 year old
children to buy stuff at garage sales and sell them on eBay for
profit. I think that it teaches some useful "american style values" as
well as provides quick education about numbers etc.

i

Not a good idea. Kids of that age should have a lot better things to do,
like reading , writing , pets, and sports. Numbers occur in every part
of
life (cooking, shopping, laundry, banking) so use them instead.

Kids of that age don't have the patience to deal with the time scope of
Ebay auctions, either. Garage and rummage sale shopping with the goal of
posting on Ebay for profit is a huge time sink - my mom does it full-time
since retiring and it's more than a 40-hour-a week job, though she makes
a
profit, there's a lot of hit and miss in the beginning until you find
your
niche. There are a lot of skills that buying and selling on Ebay
requires,
and a child of that age probably has one or two.

Well, think about of any other activity. For example, let's say that
you want to teach a child how to vacuum. In the beginning they do not
have vacuuming skills, but they learn as they go under parents'
supervision. Same applies to fishing, playing soccer etc. Same is with
eBay selling, it is something that would need to be done under
parental supervision.


At the age of five or six, a child can be taught to perform tasks, like a
circus monkey, but for what reason? Is it something they are truly
interested and show some aptitude in, or is it what the parent wants? Not
every kid is Tiger Woods.