How does this business make money?

Take a gander at this site:  https://ousell.com/collections/men's  (not a canoe)

I found it in my FB feed so I clicked on it.  I'm not really looking for answers as to whether or not it's a legit site (although speculation might be fun).  I'm more curious about where they get their stock, why is it so cheap, and how do they make money?

Things like 3-piece suits for $10, leather duffel bags for $6, and free shipping on orders over $39.  Even if the items are horrible quality, I don't understand how they're that cheap.

Stolen? unclaimed shipping container?  Killed all the people in the sweatshop before payday?

My best guess is they're a liquidation wing of an investment firm.

Firm bought a company, loaded it with debt, bankrupted it, now some intern got stuck getting rid of all the product. 

Or it's like the $3 computers on wish. They don't actually exist, but people will buy on the off chance they do, and never care enough about the $3 when it never shows up.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

you ask how they "make money", which i associate with "make a profit."  and there's probably no way a brand could make money at those prices.

I'm with Rev. If it's not a scam, it must be a liquidation process.

What the hell, I'll risk $10ish.  

Gonna make sure its on a card not connected to anything vital.  My bet is it'll be horrible quality or incorrectly sized.

With that in mind, go bigger?

Edit: quick Google has many links to negative reviews.  Never-ending.

Too bad, I liked some of the jackets.

I was looking at the duffels and backpacks, but there are few things more frustrating than cheap luggage.

It's also clearly Asian clothing sizing.  The suits say that a XXXL jacket fits a 42 chest.  Translated:  they don't make a suit big enough for me

Mr_Asa said:

What the hell, I'll risk $10ish.  

Gonna make sure its on a card not connected to anything vital.  My bet is it'll be horrible quality or incorrectly sized.

With that in mind, go bigger?

 

Edit: quick Google has many links to negative reviews.  Never-ending.

Too bad, I liked some of the jackets.

Mom gets me visa gift cards for Christmas every year.  I keep them around for just that kind of thing.

Money launder?

The first item that pops up looks like it was taken from this site:

https://buffalojackson.com/products/bridger-leather-down-vest-dark-brown?variant=39470693187636

I'd be shocked if the company in the original post actually ships anything.  After enough complaints and negative reviews it'll pop back up with the same stolen images under a new name.

That looks scammy enough that I wouldn't order from them. 

The old adage, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is, comes to mind. 

I usually just check if I can buy the Chinese stuff on aliexpress. Like when I see the same item on Amazon from 50 different sellers, usually it'll be 1/3 the price direct from China. 

They don't have the stuff and never ship it. That's how they make money. $10 suits are easy to make money on when you don't actually provide a suit in exchange for the $10. 
 

There's a similar site out there for outboard motors. Stuff like 1/2 price new Honda outboard claimed to be "in stock" and shipping from the Philippines or something like that. Order one and they request that you pay with wire transfer. If you insist on credit card they'll do that but then string you along trying to run out the clock on the chargebacks. They give you a tracking number that always shows in transit or stuck at customs. If you wire transfer they're just gone. Yet the site remains despite unanimous negative reviews online. 
 

In comparison ripping off $10-$50 at a time for suits that don't exist seems like small potatoes. 

I'm sure they don't have them in stock.  It's likely a side hustle gone bigger where they just share links from other sellers and drop-ship stuff.

It's definitely too good to be true, just a curiosity of what the underlying model is.

https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/ousell.com

It's a scam (based entirely on a google search that found a website I had never used before)

that being said; check out privacy.com.  They allow you to setup "virtual credit cards" and they can be scoped to spending limits only certain types of transactions, etc.  I have never used it but it feels to me like a credit card proxy to protect your more sensative information.  

Andy Neuman said:

I usually just check if I can buy the Chinese stuff on aliexpress. Like when I see the same item on Amazon from 50 different sellers, usually it'll be 1/3 the price direct from China. 

That's a thing on eBay, too. But the catch is, to get it from aliexpress you have to buy 100 of them, and they take the slow boat from China to get here.  So you're paying for convenience, basically. 

Hey, Jeff Bezos became a gadzillionaire being a glorified shopkeeper, why can't everybody?  Only a fool would actually try to do something, you know, productive. 

My guess is they have nothing and once they get a couple hundred credit cards charges they disappear. They couldn't care less if you get your money back from your credit card company, which you shouldn't if your dumb enough to use the site.

These scams are all over Instagram too.

Well this took about 2 minutes....

https://www.onlinethreatalerts.com/article/2023/1/5/is-ousell-a-scam-or-legit-online-store-review-of-ousell-com/

volvoclearinghouse said:

Andy Neuman said:

I usually just check if I can buy the Chinese stuff on aliexpress. Like when I see the same item on Amazon from 50 different sellers, usually it'll be 1/3 the price direct from China. 

That's a thing on eBay, too. But the catch is, to get it from aliexpress you have to buy 100 of them, and they take the slow boat from China to get here.  So you're paying for convenience, basically. 

Hey, Jeff Bezos became a gadzillionaire being a glorified shopkeeper, why can't everybody?  Only a fool would actually try to do something, you know, productive. 

aliexpress usually lets you buy small quantities, alibaba is a B2B and typically works in volume.  

They make money by scamming you. See what I did there!