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Guilty conscience

Started by 1Cool,

Guilt  

366 members have voted

  1. 1. Guilt

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255 posts in this topic

sckao

sckao

Posted
Posted
sckao I really hoping your kidding. In this forum you never know.

 

It has nothing to do with ethics or morals at all... I'm just saying it was a bad example.

 

 

It was a perfect example, you're just not drunk enough to understand it.

 

It was a perfect example of what? Please spell it out for me... (shrug)

 

Are we to accept the blanket statement "Never at the risk of others" as well? Is that some sort of universal truth?

 

 

 

 

Everything I, and Mr.Bedrock, say should be taken as universal truth. To do otherwise is blasphemy.

 

 

 

Our hobby is comic books. Comic books people, fricken comic books. Little miniature books with colored pictures in them. One step away from children's pop up books. Think about it.

 

If you're going to steer this away in another direction.. that's fine.

 

But to limit this to "comic books" is to do a disservice for the business practices that are the underlying basis for this discussion.

 

We have a business that provides a service between sellers and buyers for a fee. A seller and buyer attempt to circumvent that business arrangement. If this happens on a consistent basis, the business will fail. The platform for the exchange of goods linking buyer and seller will go away.

 

It doesn't matter that we're talking about comic books.

 

Is it okay to shoplift from a large store versus a small mom-and-pop store because the larger "can afford it?"

Before you start predicting the crash of eBay, shouldn't you keep in mind that they charge a fee simply for listing the item for sale in the first place?

 

They actually DID NOT DO THIS WHEN THEY STARTED... Indeed, it could be said that the practice of charging listing fees (even for items that did not sell) was what made eBay successful.

 

eBay began in 1995 as AuctionWeb, a site that Pierre Omidyar launched to find an outlet for his girlfriend’s Pez dispensers. [sckao note: This Pez part is a fabrication and was purely marketing. ] In March 1996, the site, which had attracted 4,400 subscribers, began to charge a small listing and success fee. By January 1997, AuctionWeb had $2,5 million in monthly transactions and revenues of $165,000. [from http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/cases/documents/EC7.pdf ]

 

Note that Yahoo! Auctions did not charge a listing fee, and Yahoo! Auctions is no longer available in the US. (I'm not saying that's why Yahoo! Auctions failed... I'm just saying that was part of the reason why eBay succeeded. The number of auctions with no bidders probably is quite high.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1Cool

1Cool

Posted
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Posted
I see nothing wrong with what you are doing and apparently neither does eBay. If they wanted to fix the sniping issue all they would have to do is automatically extend the auction another 5 minutes if the last bid comes in with less than 5 minutes left in the auction.

 

It would be benificial to everybody - the sellers would get more $$$ and the regular buyers would have a chance to up their bid without having to watch the second hand of the clock.

 

Tough cookies for the snipers...

 

 

I see your point but unfortunately its really not the point. I really didn't want to avoid the snipe process - I was able to get an uninformed seller to sell a few key comics at way under the market value by avoiding the auction process. I actually avoided a few larger name sellers because I knew they would never end it early. Of the 4 people I contacted - two said buzz off and two said ok. I kind of felt like a big shot getting a great price on a set. But looking back - it came at the expense of two rookie sellers.

 

It does take two to tango but I am the experienced person of the two - so I am the one that should have known better. I do realise that a good percent of dealer/comic shops do this every day when they purchase a collection for pennies when its worth big $$ but I don't do business like that in engineering so I can't justify doing it in my hobby.

 

Temporary Head Scumbag - formally know as 1CoolEngineer :angel:

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DrWatson

DrWatson

Posted
Posted
I see nothing wrong with what you are doing and apparently neither does eBay. If they wanted to fix the sniping issue all they would have to do is automatically extend the auction another 5 minutes if the last bid comes in with less than 5 minutes left in the auction.

 

It would be benificial to everybody - the sellers would get more $$$ and the regular buyers would have a chance to up their bid without having to watch the second hand of the clock.

 

Tough cookies for the snipers...

 

 

I see your point but unfortunately its really not the point. I really didn't want to avoid the snipe process - I was able to get an uninformed seller to sell a few key comics at way under the market value by avoiding the auction process. I actually avoided a few larger name sellers because I knew they would never end it early. Of the 4 people I contacted - two said buzz off and two said ok. I kind of felt like a big shot getting a great price on a set. But looking back - it came at the expense of two rookie buyers.

 

It does take two to tango but I am the experienced person of the two - so I am the one that should have known better. I do realise that a good percent of dealer/comic shops do this every day when they purchase a collection for pennies when its worth big $$ but I don't do business like that in engineering so I can't justify doing it in my hobby.

 

Temporary Head Scumbag - formally know as 1CoolENgineer

With the guilt trip you're taking, you must be Catholic.

 

Where's my ruler? hm

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skypinkblu

skypinkblu

Posted
Posted
I see nothing wrong with what you are doing and apparently neither does eBay. If they wanted to fix the sniping issue all they would have to do is automatically extend the auction another 5 minutes if the last bid comes in with less than 5 minutes left in the auction.

 

It would be benificial to everybody - the sellers would get more $$$ and the regular buyers would have a chance to up their bid without having to watch the second hand of the clock.

 

Tough cookies for the snipers...

 

 

I see your point but unfortunately its really not the point. I really didn't want to avoid the snipe process - I was able to get an uninformed seller to sell a few key comics at way under the market value by avoiding the auction process. I actually avoided a few larger name sellers because I knew they would never end it early. Of the 4 people I contacted - two said buzz off and two said ok. I kind of felt like a big shot getting a great price on a set. But looking back - it came at the expense of two rookie buyers.

 

It does take two to tango but I am the experienced person of the two - so I am the one that should have known better. I do realise that a good percent of dealer/comic shops do this every day when they purchase a collection for pennies when its worth big $$ but I don't do business like that in engineering so I can't justify doing it in my hobby.

 

Temporary Head Scumbag - formally know as 1CoolENgineer

 

You mean Rookie sellers, right? so you were the Mile High Guy later on? :makepoint:OK...here... :makepoint: You were very very bad... :makepoint:

 

Now get over it...and have a peaceful day...

 

Personally...I treat this as a hobby...I WANT to keep treating it as a hobby, it helped me deal with a very stressful job and luckily, I can treat it as a hobby......but I think what you described is what people will do in business...and for some people that business pays the mortgage...

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Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer

Posted
Posted
asking a seller to end an auction early is wrong. ending an auction early because a buyer has asked to do so is wrong. if you have agreed to sell an item via the auction format, and the auction is set to run for a specified number of days, any action used to try and circumvent that is evidence of a poor ethical choice. how we choose to conduct ourselves when things aren't a life or death situation shows our true nature. if you're willing to screw over the rules because you don't deem them important enough to follow, then who is to say you won't do the same when the stakes are slightly higher?

 

EBay's rules allow you to end an auction early. Why?

 

This is, on the face of it, a ridiculous question.

 

The answer is simple:

 

You can end the auction because you no longer wish to sell your item.

 

The answer is NOT "you can end the auction because you wish to sell it offline to someone who found you via eBay".

 

 

Thanks for a valid answer to my ridiculous question. That's why I asked it.

So you see, it ain't so ridiculous after all.

(BTW, your answer, while not completely ridiculous, is only partially correct.

What you should have said is...

You can end the auction because you no longer wish to sell your item through eBay

 

But does that still make me "scummy" as Jim pointed out earlier? :(:cry:

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DrWatson

DrWatson

Posted
Posted
asking a seller to end an auction early is wrong. ending an auction early because a buyer has asked to do so is wrong. if you have agreed to sell an item via the auction format, and the auction is set to run for a specified number of days, any action used to try and circumvent that is evidence of a poor ethical choice. how we choose to conduct ourselves when things aren't a life or death situation shows our true nature. if you're willing to screw over the rules because you don't deem them important enough to follow, then who is to say you won't do the same when the stakes are slightly higher?

 

EBay's rules allow you to end an auction early. Why?

 

This is, on the face of it, a ridiculous question.

 

The answer is simple:

 

You can end the auction because you no longer wish to sell your item.

 

The answer is NOT "you can end the auction because you wish to sell it offline to someone who found you via eBay".

 

 

Thanks for a valid answer to my ridiculous question. That's why I asked it.

So you see, it ain't so ridiculous after all.

(BTW, your answer, while not completely ridiculous, is only partially correct.

What you should have said is...

You can end the auction because you no longer wish to sell your item through eBay

 

But does that still make me "scummy" as Jim pointed out earlier? :(:cry:

No, go forth and consider yourself to be scum free, my son. pray1.gif

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nik

nik

Posted
Posted
I have a clear conscience :angel:
That's a loaded statement. :whistle:

 

 

There is this German nanny that keeps coming to my shop recently. 5 times in the past week and a half. Today she made it pretty obvious why she has been coming visiting so much.

 

 

My will power is fading :tonofbricks:

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DrWatson

DrWatson

Posted
Posted
I have a clear conscience :angel:
That's a loaded statement. :whistle:

 

 

There is this German nanny that keeps coming to my shop recently. 5 times in the past week and a half. Today she made it pretty obvious why she has been coming visiting so much.

 

 

My will power is fading :tonofbricks:

I wouldn't admit it on a public chat board. Next time just use 1-800-FLOWERS. :screwy:

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