Originally Posted by wrk101

While apparently, I fall into this "more respectable craftsman" category, I do not consider my method of flipping any better or worse than the other model.

I give the "arbitrage" flipper a lot of credit. First, he has to find bikes, cheap. He is spending time and effort to find them, for sure. Secondly, he is putting time and effort into marketing the bike. Third, there is the risk of the deal not working out, and tying up cash waiting for the sale to be completed.

I have bought a lot of bikes from the DKO flippers. They find them, and I pay them a finders fee. They make a good buck, and I make a buck or two as well. My last flip sale was on a bike I picked up off ebay from a DKO flipper. Paid him $165 for the bike, did the full service, tires, tubes, cables, etc., resold it for $400. I've bought several from this guy, every single one of them a different size. I am sure he did nothing to the bike, picked it up at a garage sale or wherever.

+1 To Auchen's comment. The guy I don't care for is the one either selling a damaged bike, or misrepresenting the bike as something special/high end or whatever.

When I buy bikes from flippers, they always are in category #1, selling bikes as is. The best deals for me from flippers tend to be from those that aren't too good at marketing, or they just want to move bikes fast (so they don't put any time into marketing, or knowing bikes, or whatever).