Sucky Customer Suckivolves to Sucky Store Owner

[TheWolfEmperor]

A customer needed some heavy things brought out to her truck. So I was waiting by the L-cart until all of the pertinent transactions were completed.

A heavy set gentleman rode up to me on a motorized cart and asked,

"If I buy things from your store and sell them at my store for a little more, is that legal?"

Now he didn't specify what things he was planning to buy. During my training it touched on the concept of buying something in say, Vermont, and crossing state boarders or something. There are laws regarding the purchase of tobacco and alcohol for resale, etc.

All I said was, "I can't tell you whether something is or is not illegal as I could be held responsible for whatever I say to you later. But if a customer can get it at our store for cheaper, why would they buy it at yours?"

He mumbled something about how he only wanted to know if it was legal. I repeated my statement, leaving out the last part. He rode off into the sunset, presumably to try and trap someone else in a legal snafu.

[earl colby pottinger]

Legal Woes

If he wants real legal advice he can do his own research on the internet or pay a lawyer to tell him.


It sounds like he is either very lazy or he was trying to trap you. Worse, assuming he was innocent if you told him it was okay (which it usually is inside a state) he could be crossing state lines and when he gets in trouble with the law guess who also get dragged in the legal quagmire with him.

[Ironclad Alibi]

"I don't know" is always a perfectly valid answer.

[TheWolfEmperor]

I probably should have just said "I don't know". Sometimes my brain mouth filter slips and I forget myself. Or I figure if someone's asking me I feel like I have no choice but to let a nugget of Vulcan logic float past my tongue.

[RealUnimportant]

I think you gave the best answer you could, and it was a really good one too, and it actually worked! "I don't know," while often true (and I've used it myself) usually invites you to either follow it with "but I can find out" or prompts them to ask you to find out for them.

I'm curious what product you could be offering at a low enough price to make the margins worthwhile for such an endeavour, considering all the taxes and overheads...

[Buzzard]

There's also the little questions about where he intends to sell, permits, licenses, and (drumroll) TAXES! Oh sure, just open a store and it'll all work out.
Why someone would go to a RETAIL STORE to buy something to sell at the RETAIL level is a bit beyond my ability to fit me own head up mine or anyone else's ass. There's the whole wholesale and distribution system designed to feed retail just sitting there, ready to provide goods. (at a lower price, and shipping can be arranged)

[Deserted]

"I don't know" is always a perfectly valid answer.

For this sort of thing, "I'm not a lawyer" is also valid.

[LadyofArc]

Why someone would go to a RETAIL STORE to buy something to sell at the RETAIL level is a bit beyond my ability to fit me own head up mine or anyone else's ass. There's the whole wholesale and distribution system designed to feed retail just sitting there, ready to provide goods. (at a lower price, and shipping can be arranged)

We used to get these a LOT when I was working at Supermarket Hell. Typically they were people who were taking advantage of various specials to stock their little corner shop (because driving to the nearest wholesaler apparently cost too much -_-). They also tended to be dicks about it on occasion, especially if they wanted us to get another box or something. And no, we did not have item limits at the time.

The only time I ever had someone do this and was actually apologetic about it was a guy who would come in about once a fortnight to stock up on supplies for his footy club's canteen. He'd only take a few of each item (so there's plenty for everyone else), and wouldn't take something if we were low on it. He also admitted that he only went to us because we were cheaper than the nearest wholesaler. Given it was the local footy club, it also kind of made sense for us to have a good relationship with them - community building and all that .

[greek_jester]

The only time I ever had someone do this and was actually apologetic about it was a guy who would come in about once a fortnight to stock up on supplies for his footy club's canteen. He'd only take a few of each item (so there's plenty for everyone else), and wouldn't take something if we were low on it. He also admitted that he only went to us because we were cheaper than the nearest wholesaler. Given it was the local footy club, it also kind of made sense for us to have a good relationship with them - community building and all that .

That's actually fairly common. We have a leisure facility on our books, and they have a built-in food service area (mainly pub grub), and they tend to buy most of their soft drinks/booze at the local supermarkets as it's cheaper. They do also use the wholesaler, but they pay attention to deals (particularly buy one... deals) and go wherever will be cheaper, once you factor in mileage paid to whatever employee gets sent.

[CyberLurch]

IANAL, but I think it's perfectly legal to purchase an item from a retail store for the purpose of resale. There are limitations, of course - for example, weapons, regulated materials, items that require the buyer to be of a certain minimum age, medicines, and so forth, and all subsequent sales would have to meet legal requirements as well. But general merchandise? Nah, I could buy a crate of hammers from Home Depot and sell them at whatever price I can, and as long as all the taxes are handled properly, it's all good. As was pointed out previously, it would be difficult to actually make a profit doing so, but I could see situations where it could be done.

Sticky points might arise with regard to warranty claims and similar issues, but those would all be civil matters.

[Rosco the Iroc]

After one of the school shooting .22 ammo got real scarce so some reason, only mart of wall did not jack up prices and local gun shops would kick back to the gun counter people to know when exactly the order was there to buy it up. They were getting boxes of ammo for $18 and reselling it for $50-80. Legal yes- also a dick move yes. Finally they caught on and limited it to 2 boxes so they brought 5 people to buy up the cases. I just quit shooting it till people calmed down and quit cleaning out the store when it was in stock.

[Nunavut Pants]

I have been on the inside of a mail-order car parts biz. There were a number of items that we found listed on SUPER MEGA PARTS RETAILER's web site for less than the wholesale price that my friend's smaller outfit paid. It seems that the discount for being a huge customer of the wholesaler was very large... Either that, or they were getting the stuff directly from the manufacturer, and the wholesaler's margin was quite hefty.

I told people just to buy it from the big retailer directly. I'm not sure if we sold many of those things ourselves.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Why someone would go to a RETAIL STORE to buy something to sell at the RETAIL level is a bit beyond my ability to fit me own head up mine or anyone else's ass. There's the whole wholesale and distribution system designed to feed retail just sitting there, ready to provide goods. (at a lower price, and shipping can be arranged)

That requires things such as a physical storefront, a line of credit from a bank, and the ability to order in large lots. And probably other stuff as well.

I am guessing he doesn't have all, or more likely, any of these things.

[Trixie]

Every so often the fast food places near my store will come in and clean us out of something because they need it. Not sure if that's exactly the same thing, though. I'm pretty sure we have convenience store owners come in and buy 2 liters of soda on sale for their stores. And then we have couponers come in and buy up our stuff to resell on Facebook (or so I've heard). If nobody says anything to me about why they're buying something, I don't really care. If they are cleaning off our shelves I call the manager and they give permission or not.

I think this guy was a dumbass for asking something a random employee probably wouldn't know. Or it could be one of those things where if you have to ask it's probably not legal.

[TheWolfEmperor]

There was an independent movie theater that closed last year. I remember one time they bought out the candy from one store because their own shipment was late.

I could see doing something like that, certainly.

I definitely didn't get the impression that this guy was a successful business owner. I don't judge anyone on their appearance but my instincts say he was a corner cutter who takes the path of least resistance much of the time.