Can you please explain to me in detail how buying and selling for profit works?

Are you talking about trading in US shares and bonds or looking into Spanish investments, about which I know nothing.

Is your permanent address a Spanish one? If so, none of the investments that i use would work.

It is best to park the money in something really safe (even if it pays low interest) for now while you do your research. I would do nothing until you are better educated. “Get-rich-quick” schemes are dangerous and often fatal. Slow and steady works best in the long run.

These are not necessarily simple questions. The right answers will vary, and quite likely will depend on who you want to sell to, what products are common and dear in your area, how much money you want to invest, and many others. You may want to take a class about it, if you are serious.

I mean, you can simplify it down to “buy low, sell high,” but that’s like simplifying the world’s religions into “be excellent to each other.” The devil is in the details. And sometimes, the things that seem like the right answer, end up… not so much.

In short, consider your market (people who want to buy something), figure out what they want, and figure out how to best supply that demand.

To put it simply, you buy low and sell high.

This principle is common knowledge, but most people seem to be unable to put it into practice.

For example, when the stock market crashes, everyone panics and sells off, causing it to crash even more. But if you know what you’re doing, this is actually the time to buy everything you can get your grubby fingers on (just don’t buy anything that’s on the verge of bankruptcy, unless you’re really daring)!

Then just sit and wait a few years for the market to rise, and sell when everyone else is in a buying frenzy (just don’t wait until after the bubble bursts or you’re back at the starting line again).

Just to clarify, we are not talking about the stock market. We are talking about directly selling to the public.

Also we are only talking about a small investment to start with, maybe 500 or 1000 worth of items to sell.

For a small amount of money, one thing to consider is taking orders for specific items before you put any money into stock (i.e., inventory). Research sources, and if you can access a source of product for less than someone is willing to pay you to procure it for them, go for it.

I was thinking christmas cards, they usually sell in shops for 2 to 5 bucks each, and I can get them cheap enough to sell for 1 buck each and still double my investment.

There are so many ways to do retail that it’s impossible to answer this question in a Fluther post.

That’s tough. You have to have the talent to sell.

A story: I’m a computer geek in my day job (Shhh! That’s a secret) and I was laid off by a major tech corporation back in 2000. The economy was nearly as bad as it is now, and I took a job selling cars at a Ford dealership. After 6 months, I sold a grand total of 0 cars and was shown the door. Luckily, I got another computer job after that. If you have a talent to sell, then you an sell air conditioners to Eskimos. If you don’t have a talent to sell, don’t waste your time trying to even sell portable heaters to Eskimos :-p

A friend on mines son is making tons of money buying and selling motorcycles the last few years.

If you are mechanically inclined you could buy cars, boats, cycles, tractors, and other vehicles and flip them for a profit with modest investment in repairs and perhaps painting.

@HungryGuy I used to do sales, but quit because I was selling so much and my boss kept putting pressure on me to keep it up if not keep bettering it. I’m not the best, but I can sell.

@poisonedantidote – How would you get your Christmas cards to people? Would your Christmas cards be different from others on the market? If you can’t sell them, what would you do with scads of leftover Christmas cards? Are you looking to sell to the public at large, or to friends via the Houseparty Guilt system? Have people expressed a pent-up desire for Christmas cards? These are some questions to ask.

@laureth I live in spain with a large English community, there are not really any English cards around here, I was going to buy English cards (so to be different) and was thinking I would street vendor them to the large British community.

As for the idea of cards left over, I had not thought of that, I don’t like the sound of that one bit.

@poisonedantidote – In that case, then find a family of related products that you believe in. Find a dealer that can supply you with them at wholesale prices, rent a kiosk at a mall, and start selling them.

Have you had training in sales? Maybe you can do that to hone your selling skills…

@poisonedantidote

Okay, Christmas cards. That’s a start. What do you plan to do for the rest of the year?

@HungryGuy Very basic training only.

@CWOTUS No idea, meth maybe? jk

@poisonedantidote : Can you get a temporary job as a salesman in a decent retail business? Learn the ropes, the trade, the economics and the customer base. Then you can quit and try something that is more speculative and allows you more independence.

@gailcalled I have a strange situation.

In a couple of months I will be going to the uk to meet an online friend that I have been talking to for some time now, when this happens, I will be doing something different to now.

At the moment, I have a nice big pile of cash, but it is not a round number, for now my plan is to round that number off and see what happens next.

I don’t need to look for work yet, and looking for work in a country I’m leaving is a bit pointless, In the UK I can do sales again maybe, what with all the shops.

@poisonedantidote – Then get some sales training! Real estate brokers and car dealers are always looking for salespeople and are willing to take inexperienced people off the street with no sales experience at all, and train them on the theory that if they have more salespeople they can sell more inventory (ignoring the fact that sales is a function of the number of customers that come in…not the number of salespeople on the floor [provided you have enough salespeople to service all the customers]). You usually have to agree to work there for 6 months or so, as I did for them to pay for the training.

Well, that’s the thing, @poisonedantidote… “what” you plan to sell will determine to a large extent “how” you will be selling it.

My daughter has her own business, selling sandwiches, wraps and salads. But she doesn’t do that online, which I can’t imagine would ever be very successful. And she doesn’t have a factory, because to make and sell 100 or so wraps, salads and sandwiches daily doesn’t take such a huge investment. And it’s doubtful that door-to-door would ever work well (who’d want to buy the sandwiches at the end of the day?), so she has a food cart operation. She sets up on the street at a particular location, and people come to her.

Greeting cards can be sold in any number of ways. Part of your problem is… they already are sold in most channels that will have them, and people are used to those channels.

So… what else have you got? If you’re looking for an idea of “what to sell”, then… sandwiches, wraps and salads are doing pretty well in Madison, Wisconsin. Maybe you could operate a food cart?

@CWOTUS Lots of British bars here, I’m betting it would not be hard to move some scotch eggs and pork rolls. That sure is food for thought, you see what I did there.

@poisonedantidote: What is the interest rate for the Euro in Spain if you put your boodle in a savings account or a conservative money-market fund (or the equivalent)?

And can’t you get a job for only a couple of months? Lower echelon sales persons jump ship all the time. Earn a little cash, save a little cash, learn a little.

@gailcalled Where I live work is season based, all tourism. For now anything I do I have to do alone. A part time job of some kind would be nice, but only to help the days pass faster. A job here is doubtful until next year around the end of February.

As for savings in savings accounts, I can’t really do that. 4.5k can and did go in savings, but any more and the tax man will ask questions.

@poisonedantidote; Now that you are thiin, strong and buff, can you do caretaking or odd jobs for private (paying under the table) folks?

Too bad you aren’t my neighbor. I’d hire you in a shot. I need planting, pruning, staking, compost turning, removal of blow-down from Irene in the woods, standing on ladders and bench-pressing Milo (while my lower back mends).

Use your imagination. It’s a good one. And do you know for sure that your new relationship will work? I thought that you had not yet met each other.

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@gailcalled answering in private

In an attempt to guide this back on topic a bit:

I’m not really looking for a new career yet, I’m more just interested in buying and selling. So that I can decide if it’s something I want to be bothered with.

I will be having a little job change once I go to the UK, I’ll hold down a regular job for a while, but in about a year I plan to totally change my style. I don’t want to work for other people any longer. Buying and selling could become my new thing perhpas.

I have enough saved that I could try a couple different things, but for now will just sit on it for a year or so, adding to it, perhaps with small time selling.

Here in the U S we have a government program where retired people give tips and advice to newcomers, through the Small Business Administration. You can find advice at this online site.