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Message:: [QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 2728573, member: 27832"]Let's go with that analogy. I was in south-central PA during one of the worst snow winters on record. There was huge demand for snow shovels, and all the local stores sold out. I had business in VA, where shovels were plentiful. I didn't actually buy a bunch to resell, but I did think about it. If I had, I would've charged about enough to cover my cost, because I saw it as helping with an emergency, not a profit opportunity. But I didn't do it, and so the snow-shovel shortage continued. On the other hand, if I had thought in terms of "hey, I can buy a hundred shovels, flip them at a $10 profit on each, and make a quick thousand bucks", I might have felt dirty -- but a hundred people would've gotten their shovels the next Monday, instead of waiting a couple of weeks for the stores to restock. Now, imagine this instead: the forecast says a big snowstorm is coming. A few people spend the next few hours running from store to store, buying ALL the shovels at each store. When everybody else gets off work, they're confronted with empty hardware-store shelves, and a bunch of Craigslist ads and street-corner sellers offering shovels for $50 each. Hey, that's the market rate! The stores shouldn't have under-priced their shovel offerings. I think that summarizes at least a couple variants on "flipping" behavior, and maybe illustrates why some people think flipping is evil and others think it's good.[/QUOTE]