“Buckwheat for a thousand rubles! You won't choke? "

"Medusa" found people who trade in scarce goods at Avito (for example, buckwheat and gaskets) - and talked with them

In mid -March, the inhabitants of Russia felt the first consequences of sanctions. Finding buckwheat, sugar, diapers and gaskets in stores has become more difficult. The packaging decreased in volume, prices for equipment and office paper jumped several times. Against the background of these events, resellers were activated: they asked for 1000-1500 rubles for a pack of gaskets on the Ozone. On March 21, in Kazan, a man was detained who tried to sell 50 kilograms of sugar at an inflated price. "Medusa" found people who trade in scarce goods at Avito, and found out how they are doing business at this time.

Buckwheat

“Now many, including Instagram, say:“ If you can invest in it, dare! ”” Says Victoria Sukhal, a 32-year-old entrepreneur from Moscow. Two years ago, she decided to leave the post of deputy director in a large retail network and start her job.

The salary was high, the load was too. At some point, the girl was so tired of the irregular schedule and early ascent that she decided to leave. “I realized that I give all myself, but I have no choice but money,” says Victoria. She decided to invest earned money.

Victoria began to earn money on marketplaces . Using the Yandex.Wordstat service, the girl monitored popular search queries in Yandex to guess what the demand in the near future will be.

“For example, the annual trend is New Year's events. Christmas trees, toys, garlands, ”the girl explains. - Last summer, we earned well on swimsuits, shales, pareo. More [in the midst of the pandemic] were relevant of sanitizers, antibacterial napkins, and so on. ”

In February 2022, buckwheat unexpectedly entered trends. From the past work, Victoria had contacts with manufacturers. One of the acquaintances told her that in the new supply, buckwheat will rise in price by 20–25%: "Apparently, something will happen." “We, people from trade, understand that if they raise prices, then two options are possible: either purchasing power will decrease, or some incident will happen. People will begin panic, and this will lead to exciting demand, ”the entrepreneur explains. So she switched to buckwheat, which she immediately began to trade.

Typically, a girl purchases goods in wholesale markets, and then sells it on Ozone, Wildberries and Yandex.Market. In early March, when buckwheat began to disappear from the shelves of stores for a short time, Victoria decided to master Avito. On the site, she placed ads for the sale of cereals. For five kilograms of buckwheat or round -grain rice, the entrepreneur asked 1000 rubles, for five kilograms of long -grain rice - 800.

Victoria says that in this way she decided to help people from the regions who could not find cereals on store shelves. Demand turned out to be large - 50 packs of five kilograms were ordered at different sites from Victoria. But the price did not suit many. “People called different ages and different sexes. We talked about how dishonest and bad people we are. All sorts of unpleasant words, with obscenities, ”the entrepreneur recalls.

At Avito, the young man wrote to her: “You sell buckwheat for 1000 rubles! You are not oily, you will not choke? " “I sincerely wish you that you can earn in your life so that it is inexpensive for you. To make it expensive for you - this is a villa in the Maldives, ”Victoria retells his answer. -And now I advise you instead of sitting on “Avito”, being upset because of prices and accusing power, pulling yourself together and trying to achieve something. Just as I do, a woman. ” Her message remained unanswered.

At the same time, Victoria herself is sure that she earns only 50 rubles from each pack.

Why only 50 rubles?

This is how Victoria explains this:

“Five kilograms of rice cost 1000 rubles. From this amount we immediately subtract 7% of the taxes. There are already 930. Paid placement of the announcement on Avito costs 600 rubles. You can place 10 ads with this money, but I have only four products. Accordingly, we divide 600 by 4, we get 150. [930 - 150] 780 rubles remains. ”

In addition, Victoria needs to spend on the road to the market and vice versa, according to its calculations, gasoline goes - 148 rubles. “Consider it already 632. Crouping rice, which costs more than a long -grade, will cost 550 rubles. 632 minus 550, 82 rubles remain. This is my “dirty” profit. I can spend some more out of it on a package, ”Victoria sums up. “I believe that I have a“ clean ”I have about 50 rubles left with one package of cereal.”

In recent weeks, everything has become even more difficult. Victoria complains that suppliers change prices every day - they call one by phone, sell on the other hand. Because of this, the entrepreneur cannot calculate whether she will manage to earn at least something. Sometimes the goods simply are not available. “You can sell ten packs of cereals, and then come for them and hear:“ It will only be tomorrow, ”Victoria explains. - You begin to ride in circles in all markets and look. No one has anyone. And on marketplaces, if you do not take the goods when you ordered it, you automatically get a fine - from 30 to 50% of the cost of the goods. It turns out that he worked for three days, went to zero, or even a minus. ”

This has already happened. In mid -March, Victoria sold 10 packs of cereals on the marketplace, but it was not on the market. As a result, the entrepreneur received a fine of 30 thousand rubles, which aborted all her revenue not only for February, but also for the previous months. Due to the unfulfilled order, its ads automatically decreased in the issuance.

Meanwhile, cereals reappeared in stores. “I can say that the peak of exciting demand has already passed. First, manufacturers set the condition: raise the price no higher by 5%. Accordingly, they realized that they would trade in minus, and no one needs this. And they began to clamp. People saw that the goods were disappearing, and began to buy them sharply. A deficit has formed, ”Victoria explains. - But now, hard price restrictions for manufacturers have canceled , introducedchecks , and all this encouraged them to the fact that they began to ship the goods into stores in small batches. It becomes more or less accessible to people. Of course, not at the old price. As it was before, it will not be. ”

Victoria has fewer clients. But the entrepreneur is sure that the demand for her product will not go anywhere: “I sell five kilograms of cereals at once. There are people who will not go to the store, regardless of whether there will be a shortage there or not. They will be ordered over the Internet so that the goods are brought to the house. This category of people nailed to me and will remain with me forever. ”

Paper

Anton 25, by education he is a customs officer, by profession - a builder, and in his free time, according to him, "what he does not do." The last two weeks, Anton has been selling office paper on Avito - 600-850 rubles per pack. Before the crisis, such a package cost about 300 rubles.

Anton registered on the site back in May 2019, but never tried to earn money there. I went occasionally to sell some unnecessary things, such as an old phone.

Two weeks ago, the media began to write about the shortage of office paper. Then Anton decided to earn extra money: he began to buy paper on Avito and sell it there, but a little more. To make where to store the boxes, he took off the warehouse-garage for 20 thousand rubles a month. According to Anton, his income has already covered expenses.

“They take the paper very actively: I get from 50 to 70 calls per day. Everyone needs it, and in stores prices are two times higher than mine. You’ll call the Komus , there the Svetocopy pack costs 1600 rubles. I have exactly the same original for sale for 800-850 rubles. So I also do a good thing, ”Anton is sure. According to him, they take the paper well - and in a month it earned about 100 thousand rubles.

The price of paper depends on the manufacturer, the reseller explains. “Green Svetocopy is the most expensive, because buyers love it the most. Canon and the Snow Maiden are in no way inferior in quality, but the demand for them is less, respectively, and the price is lower. ”

The entrepreneur has not yet encountered negative reviews. He says that people, on the contrary, thank him for his help: “The girl purchased paper in large volume, just a whole car. They loaded, and she says: “To what our country was brought to? Already we buy paper in garages!” ”

Anton market fluctuations do not bother. He is sure if the demand decreases, he and other sellers simply set the price for paper below or switch to some other product.

Technique

Michael has been developing his store on Avito since 2019. He sells Apple technique, new and used: iPhones, watches, headphones, macbooks. All at a reduced price. So, on the website of the official reseller “M. Video” iPhone 13 Pro 128 GB costs 150 thousand rubles, and Mikhail can be bought the same phone for 118 thousand rubles.

He took up phones eight years ago. I accumulated some money, bought a used iPhone, sold it more expensive, bought another phone to earned. After some time, Mikhail attracted friends, and the business began to grow. Now Mikhail 29, his company has six people, and he recently moved to the Arab Emirates. His online store now works for two countries.

“Mostly we cooperate with private traders. The client bought something, and then he urgently needed money. He gave us the device - new, sealed. We checked and sold at a reduced price. When we have any shortage, we bring the technique [to Russia] from abroad. Or order from store employees. They can ship us something cheaper-apparently, they somehow bypass taxes, ”says Mikhail.

According to him, usually in February and March there are few orders, but this year the opposite is true. “Every day we get a hundred messages on Avito. Over the past 30 days, about two million have earned - twice as much as in December, the most profitable month. ”

But new difficulties have appeared. Due to the collapse of the ruble, the Apple technician went up by 30–40%, and the devices that he purchased before the crisis quickly ended-Mikhail had to sharply raise prices. In addition, gadgets began to return more often: customers prefer to hand over the device if they find the same one by several thousand cheaper.

Mikhail believes that for a crisis this is a typical situation: first the goods grow in price and “literally scattered”, and then you have to work in a minus. However, the entrepreneur believes that the situation will only worsen. “Apple’s technique ceased to be imported [to Russia], soon the devices in warehouses in stores will end. From this, at first, those people who are engaged in used. Buyers will look closely at Avito and other areas where old devices are sold. Clackles will be drawn from Russia, who will be bought somewhere and bring here. ”

According to Mikhail, the main problem of " gray " devices is the lack of a guarantee. Apple used to give a world guarantee for all its devices, regardless of where they were bought. Now only specific products have this - for example, AirPods headphones. But on new models of iPhones, starting from the 13th, the world guarantee no longer extends. Mikhail also fears that if there are too many shuttles, then importing equipment will be more difficult. “It seems to me that they will pay attention to this abroad and can close the entrance as Cubans ,” he says.

In March, Mikhail was going to open another office in the center of Moscow, but the plans had to be postponed for an indefinite time. “For several months, probably, there will still be some kind of movement. We work as a purchase, so we will still exist. And then, perhaps, everything will bend a little. If deliveries are not resumed, then the alignment will be very bad. For everyone, ”says Mikhail.

Gaskets

On February 22, Valeria, a 20-year-old student of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, flew to Poland to study on exchange. Two days later, the war began in Ukraine. Valeria and her parents decided that she would remain in Poland and see how the situation would develop. At first, everything turned out well, but in a week Poland broke out educational agreements with Russian universities. Students were allowed to stay in the country where the situation began to heated - according to Valeria, the rector of the university asked Russian students to “spread less about where we come from”, as this is a “security issue”.

Soon, Russian bank cards blocked in Europe, and limited money transfers abroad from Russia. Valeria could no longer receive financial assistance from her parents and pay for a hostel. March 25 Valeria left back to Russia. When she asked her relatives what to bring as souvenirs from Europe, mother, aunt and sister, according to her, shouted in chorus into the phone: “Bring the gasket!”

“I read on the Internet that, indeed, some kind of horror is going on with these gaskets and prices for them. I left late and went to the last open store. For some reason, there were only Naturella-not the best, but I still took a whole car [eight packages]. I took it for every taste and color. ”

Valery was driving home in the Moscow Region through Kaliningrad. There, the girl went to the store and was very surprised: the prices for gaskets were the same as before the crisis, and the assortment was much wider. Then she had the idea to resell European gaskets to Avito: "Why not?" Right in Kaliningrad, she photographed Naturella packs and published an ad.

“I set the price at 350-400 rubles per pack. Overstated, I agree. But, for example, for Moscow, where these gaskets are now selling 1000-1500 rubles, this is an acceptable cost, ”the girl argues. At first, her announcement was blocked - for the fact that she "sells primary necessity at an inflated price." But the girl studied other people's ads and quickly realized how to get around this restriction.

Many sellers at Avito put one price, and in the description of the goods they indicate a completely different one, so Valeria did so. The girl admits that I initially wanted to put the price three to four times higher, but she was afraid to get angry messages. “This is not even fear, but some kind of conscience inside me, or something. Some shame. Although they say that in business there is no such thing as “shame”, ”the reseller concludes.

Valeria decided that she wanted not to earn, but simply to recapture the difference in the Russian and European price: “If I sell all these gaskets now, I will receive in the amount of a thousand two. For a poor student, this is at least cool [to spend to] go to a cafe with friends. ”

For four days she received two calls - and both of men. One wanted to buy gaskets in bulk, but the girl explained to him that she did not have goods in this quantity: “This is not for my wife and daughter. Wholesale, as a rule, is purchased by people who want to resell and make money on it. ”

On March 18, a photograph of a man appeared in social networks, which stands at the cash desk with a trolley stuffed with gaskets. At that time, men were mainly traded in Avito. Women accused the resellers of the fact that because of them a deficit formed, and flooded them with messages: “Why are you selling? Have you suited you? " Sellers in response simply changed the names in the profiles for women.

Now the situation on Avito is already different: for 20 “women” selling gaskets, there are 10 “men”. The goods are sold in boxes of 12-16 packages, the average price is 220 rubles apiece. Retail is more expensive: one package will cost 350-500 rubles. Most often they sell Always brand gaskets, Naturella and Libresse are less popular.

Valeria was also unlucky with another client: “The young man called. It was nine in the morning, I was still sleeping. And he says: “Valeria, I'm sorry that I will boil you. We have a collapse, we have the end of the world, we need gaskets, I’ll drive up today, tell me where to buy everything, how much money is needed?” ” They agreed on the meeting, but at the appointed time the caller stopped answering, the deal fell off. Other buyers have not yet appeared-the girl’s houses are still lying eight imported packs of Naturella.

Vera Yampolskaya