Most people think they have something special but it isn’t.
But how do you address those situations when someone has something special, but isn’t aware of it?
I personally draw the line between resellers and laymen.
If a reseller isn’t aware of what they have, I have no moral qualms with taking them for a ride. This is because I can assume they purchased it for less than what they are selling it for, and it’s not my place to adjudicate how it ended up in my hands.
If it’s a laymen, I have a moral block on taking them for a ride. Even though I know it would benefit me, and I never intend to resell. I just cant do it. (the best deals)
I was discussing this with a close friend around a campfire last night and I was told I was too nice.
Resellers and anything online is fair game. I totally understand the temptation in getting a good deal and I’m not necessarily going to judge someone for taking that deal, but lets not kid ourselves here. If you’re at a yard sale or something similar, the morally right thing to do would be to inform the person of the value of what they have if they’re selling it for significantly less than its true value.
The free market is the free market. If someone is selling something for a price and hasn’t researched what it’s worth beforehand, someone with more knowledge is in no morally deficient position by purchasing it.
I would draw the line at intentional deception for monetary gain. For example, if a friend of yours has a collection and you lie to them about the value of the collection in order to buy it at a significant discount.
In my experience, I’d rather inform the seller and try to work out a reasonable price that allows both parties to feel like they’ve won. Uninformed sellers are often grateful and will accept less than market price, knowing you were honest and are offering more than their original price. Personally, that’s how I’ve always preferred to handle these situations; however, I’m not depending on Pokemon for my livelihood. I enjoy finding deals and sourcing cards for my collection and to resell, but if the margins are too extreme it doesn’t feel right to me. Just my opinion, I realize others may feel differently.
I would also draw the line for children selling their cards or clueless parents. If I was buying cards from them in person, I would feel quite bad and would mention the true market value. But nowadays, even these circumstances are pretty rare.
Everyone has morals until they roll up on ma and pop’s garage sale with their grandson’s pokemon binder. You know you’ll be profusely sweating when you see that 1st edition zard and have to act like you’re giving a losing offer of $100 in their favor
Generally I’d feel a bit mean not informing a clueless individual of an items market value.
Is there any kind of legal issue if you’re a reseller/business and mislead someone with a valuation or purchase?
There’s a case in France where a couple took an antiques dealer to court after they discovered an African mask they sold him, for $157, made $4.4million at auction. Not sure what how it all concluded.
I’ll start saying that this argument makes a bit more sense when buying in person. When purchasing online, I admit it would be almost impossible to even reach out the seller without someone else clicking “buy it now”, in minutes if not seconds. You surely could try, but it seems hard to believe that someone would even listen to a weirdo in their ebay messages.
I think there’s a healthy middle ground, where you can get a very good deal without taking advantage of a weaker part.
I don’t think I would be ok buying something extremely expensive or rare for pennies, when the seller is just a dude clearly out of the loop, especially when they could be in some fragile position (a kid, elderly, a neighbor who doesn’t even know what a pokeymons is, a friend who trusts your opinion, people in financial difficulties…). People usually appreciate kindness, if they refuse or keep not trusting you it’s ok. At least you tried
If you’re buying from a card store, yeah it’s really their job to perfectly understand the market and be sure that every cards are priced accordingly: they are responsible for themselves and their economic success.
