In your opinion, is it better to buy/sell faster while making less profit, or buy/sell slower while making more profit?

[There]

This is more of an opinionated question. It seems that most of the people on, for example, tf2outpost are buying items for around 50% of what they're worth, and then selling them for 150% of what they're worth. I know that people will agree to this, but they certainly won't get trades quickly. If you put up a trade for buying weapons for 90% of what they're worth, and then selling them for what they are worth, you trade faster, but make less per trade. In your opinion, which is better?

[AwesomeMcCoolName]

Demands on a couple things....

 

1) what item is it? 

2) How much have you got to invest? (If you have 100's of refined just lying around then you might as well be patient)

3) How many do you have? As long as you have some in stock buy as cheaply as possible, and when your supply starts to dwindle, THEN you pay more. 

[Baloo]

All you have to know is where the equilibrium price is and go for low profit. It is much faster and much more profit than going lower and selling for higher.

 

Example:

 

Random item: Strange Holy Mackerel

 

Suggested backpack.tf price: 7.5-8 keys

 

Smart quicksell buyer:

 

• Buying price: 6.5-7 keys
• Selling price: 7.5-8 keys

 

Dumb quicksell buyer:

 

• Buying price: 5-5.5 keys
• Selling price: 9-9.5 keys

 

You think you'll profit more with the dumb way, but once you factor in the time it takes to get someone to sell that low and find someone to buy that high, you've got the other person flipping 5-6 S. Fish by then for around a key profit, so while you only did one sale and made roughly ~4 keys the other guy is over there making ~5-6 keys in the same amount of time.

[cleverpun]

I prefer lots of small transactions--all those scraps build up eventually, and the consistency means you have a better profit margin overall.

 

I do have some bigger margin trades open, but I dont rely on them.

[There]

That's what I thought. Clearly outpost is filled with dumb quicksell buyers, though, as almost all quicksells are about 50% higher than the value of the item.

[☣Long218☢]

quicksell buyers here.

sell fast with low profit always better because I can still make some extra money while having enough to grab a great deal when one happens.

[base64]

Flip fast. My time is precious. 

[Shipin]

http://www.tf2outpost.com/user/235562

Do what this guy does with his keys. Act like you want to restore the key price by buying for 3.33, then sell em' for 4.33 ref.

[Hugh Jazz]

http://www.tf2outpost.com/user/235562

Do what this guy does with his keys. Act like you want to restore the key price by buying for 3.33, then sell em' for 4.33 ref.

His past few trades show him buying at 4 ref, not 3.33 ref.

[Baloo]

His past few trades show him buying at 4 ref, not 3.33 ref.

 

He set it up to make it look like he was buying for 3.33 refined: http://www.tf2outpost.com/trade/9740459 not sure why though...but fuck logic.