Buying on AliExpress for €1 and reselling for €5 on Wallapop: the math doesn't add up

Buying on AliExpress for €1 and reselling for €5 on Wallapop isn't worth it

Buying on AliExpress for one euro and selling the same product on Wallapop for five. The margin exists. The question is whether anyone pays with their time what that margin promises. The answer that emerges from the accumulated experience of those who have tried the business is uncomfortable: haggling eats up the profit, along with logistics and the grind of dealing with strangers.

The scheme is an old one: import cheap from Chinese platforms and resell to local consumers who don't compare prices. It works as long as the buyer doesn't know how much the product costs at the source. And they know more and more.

Gross margin is not real margin

A seller who operated for a while with IP cameras, speakers and bluetooth headphones managed to make between €300 and €400 a month for leisure. The model had a trick: he bought through Amazon and the Chinese supplier refunded him the amount. When the system became popular, the effort stopped paying off. "It got saturated with people doing the same thing and the effort/reward went to hell," he sums up.

Another, more modest case talks about around €200 extra a month selling AliExpress products. He found a niche in the motorcycle world and motorcycle knee pads became his star product. He quit for the same reason as the previous one: the daily dealing with buyers who want everything for free wears you out.

The calculation nobody makes at the start includes the time spent taking photos, writing the listing, answering emails with ridiculous offers, packing and coordinating shipments or meeting in person. And the risk that the electronics fail and the seller ends up providing free after-sales service.

Haggling as an invisible tax

The most illustrative case isn't about importing, but pure second-hand. A barbecue bought for €90 on sale, used twice in a year and a half and listed for sale at 75. Thirty messages. All haggling except one. Offers of €30. Of €65. And flimsy excuses —"it seems to have a scratch on the right side"— to squeeze out ten more euros.

That's the real tax of the business: the time and patience spent negotiating with someone who isn't coming to buy, but to try. The seller's conclusion is blunt: anyone making money this way "would be the most bitter person alive."

What really sells, and to whom

The catalogue is a mixed bag: socks, junk, fashion bracelets —the Fortnite ones were a temporary hit—, used brand clothing and sneakers, motorcycle knee pads, speakers, headphones. Used men's clothing raises doubts about its market, but some people sell sneakers that cost €80 for €20 and reinvest the money in leisure.

The bargain-hunting business has a fundamental problem: the products are cheap and look cheap. A bluetooth speaker holds up; a phone case doesn't. And the niche matters more than the product: anime merchandise in a big city or specialized accessories yield more than a generic catalogue.

Is it worth it? For a short period, maybe. In the long run, the market itself closes the door.