How Do Y'all Flip Watches?

[Chiboy]

My current watch experience (31 years on my first Rolex, awaiting my Daytona as #2) does not suggest that this forum, as evil as it is, will turn me into a serial watch flipper. But you never know.

I am curious how you do it semi-efficiently. As I have been spending way too much time here I have read numerous posts about people going through watches in very short order, and about how they don't lose much in each transaction or always make a bit or whatever. It seems to me there are a lot of obstacles to overcome:

1) Sales tax -- a killer here in IL, but can be avoided most times with private purchases or out of state addresses. I assume flippers never pay sales tax

2) Buying at full retail -- other than really hot watches, like the SS Daytona which is cheaper at MSRP from an AD than it is in the aftermarket, flippers can't afford to buy from an AD and then sell in the aftermarket and break even or thereabouts.

3) Buying from Trusted Sellers -- a cursory look around, and I don't pretend to know who all the TS are here, suggests that in the Pricing Universe, ADs are at the top, but TS get a premium over, say eBay, Craigslist, and private transactions due to the extremely low risk associated with buying a $5,000-$50,000 readily counterfeited luxury item.

4) The possibility of a new acquisition needing a $500-$1,000 service -- Unless a watch is new or almost new, there is a decent probability that it is not being sold freshly serviced, so a service budget should be accounted for in the price.

5) Shipping with insurance -- I don't know how much it costs to Fedex a small box with $10,000 or $20,000 of insurance, but I assume it is significant, especially for private individuals who don't have a commercial account.

So with the above "issues," the largest of which is buying from a TS ($$$) and selling privately ($$), how do people do it effectively? I get the idea of buying something well, but it probably is hard to do when TS know the market at least as well as you do.

Thoughts?