A resale happens when a user purchases or wins an item on The Realest, receives an offer from another user, and accepts the offer. These users are referred to as an "Owner" and an "Buyer", respectively.
Any item that has been purchased through a buy-now transaction or won in an auction through The Realest becomes available for anyone to make an offer.
Here is how the resale process works:
- Item is purchased: As soon as someone has purchased any* item through a buy-now transaction or won an auction through The Realest, the item will become available as a resale item visible to all users.
- Item becomes available for resale: All resale items (i.e. all items that have previously been for sale/on auction) can be found on The Realest's website under the section labeled "Make Offer" (direct link here).
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The Buyer submits an offer: Any registered user that is interested in an item can submit an offer to the Owner, as long as it meets a minimum threshold. By default, the minimum threshold will be set at the value that the Owner originally purchased/won the item at. Owners can change the threshold for each item that they own in their settings (more information here).
- For example: If the Owner purchased/won their item for $100, any Buyer may by default place an offer of $100 or more for the item. If the Owner only wishes to receive offers at $110 or higher, the Owner can change that in their settings (using the link above).
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The Owner gets notified: Once the Buyer submits an offer, the Owner gets notified and has 48 hours to accept, decline or send a counter-offer.
- Note: Buyers cannot see the username of the Owner at any point during the transaction; nor can the Owner see the username of the Buyer.
- The Owner makes a decision: If the Owner declines, the Buyer gets informed. If the Owner counter-offers, the Buyer gets the opportunity to accept or decline. If the Owner accepts the offer, the Owner and the Buyer get informed, and the transaction moves forward to the next step.
- Awaiting shipping; money put in escrow: The Realest emails the Owner a shipping label to print, which the Owner uses to send the package to one of The Realest's facilities. The offer by the Offerer gets put in escrow (i.e. the money gets put on hold).
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The item gets verified: Once the package arrives to The Realest's facility, the authenticity and quality of the item get verified. If something seems wrong with the item, the Owner and the Buyer will be both contacted to determine next steps. If everything looks right, the transaction moves forward.
- Note: The exact duration of the verification process may vary depending on the item type. If you have questions about the specific timing of your transaction, please contact support@therealest.com.
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A new Owner is assigned: The item gets shipped to the Buyer (now the new "Owner"), the ownership records get updated, the original Owner's payment gets paid out, and the item once again becomes visible as a resale item to other users.
- Note to Owners: Please make sure to add your preferred payout method ahead of time (more information here).
For a breakdown of the charges associated with a resale, please see more information here.
*Exception: If a buy-now item is offered in multiple quantities and is still actively being sold through The Realest as a primary sale, the item will not become available as a resale item until the primary sales event has concluded. Additionally, any item that is in an active transaction between Owner and Buyer is temporarily not visible on the site during the transaction period.