Is there a reason why the price on BTC-E is so much lower than the other exchanges? It's currently trading at $1018 while Bitstamp is $1054. The Chinese exchanges are even higher. Couldn't someone just buy on BTC-E and sell on Bitstamp? I'm assuming I'm missing something so if someone could explain this to me it would be much appreciated!
Buying BTC will cost few % fees and then selling them again will cost certain % fees too. That will cover up all the profit you might make when selling.
There are certain reasons why some exchange websites have a varying price range. It depends on several factors such as Price rates, website's fame and traffic, bonus offered by such websites, demands from customers and the admin's decision to increase sale. Personally, no fool would buy BTC now. The time to buy had long expired after BTC crossed the 840$ mark. You can hope to earn some coins now and wait for the perfect chance to sell again.