KBB doesn't differentiate between a Toyota dealer or an independent dealer. A dealer is anyone with a dealers licence.
I'm aware of the technical definition, but the expectations of price for a storefront dealership with a showroom and service department are markedly different from even Joe's Roadside car-for-all lot, let alone some guy curb-staging in front of a house he doesn't own. Just because you have a dealer license doesn't mean you can command the same price as a branded dealership.
And what someone paid for it is irrelevant. In a free country you're not entitled to make a profit?
Well, it's entirely relevant when discussing it on this site, we all have a rough idea as to what you paid for it. I know what invoice was on all my vehicles I've purchased, I know what my dealer made for profit.
Everybody likes to think they are getting a "deal". Your reputation as somebody that flips cars for profit on here and comes off as a cheapskate certainly colours the nature of this discussion, even if you don't want it to. Hence my earlier remarks.
No, I didn't pay $2,400-2,500 for it.
Quoting you from that thread:
atikovi said:
Well I finally got it today. They ran it through the lane every week since May. Hope those who think it's a $3K truck know what they're talking about 'cause I paid more than half that. Which is twice what I wanted to pay.
So, you paid less than $3,000 and more than $1,500. Maybe you only paid $1,700 for it? Maybe my $2,400-$2,500 was being overly generous.
I PUT that much into it above what I paid for it. And again, what does that have to with the asking price?
Even if I accept that at face value, if you paid $2,000 for it for example, so you've got $4,500 into it, you are trying to make 33% profit on it. I understand this is your "gig", but you need to understand that we are all aware of that, and since everybody else here is also looking for a deal, you trying to make more than double what you paid for it (because we know you didn't pay $3,000)
seems ridiculous. That's what you are experiencing in this thread, a group familiar with the background story of the vehicle as well as your posting history, which is setting the tone/nature of the dialogue accordingly.
Unfortunate? Perhaps, but rather natural.