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Ethics and moral obligations when buying?

Started by The Black Hand ®,

62 posts in this topic

The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

Posted
Posted

If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

I'm ammending this to cover a LCS or dealer.

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DrWatson

DrWatson

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

You are under no obligation to tell her what they are worth. You ask the price. The seller prices. You either buy or you don't. Same way with any other transaction under the sun.

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Flaming_Telepath

Flaming_Telepath

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

I sell it for her on consignment. On a sweet copy, at 20% fee, I'd be more than happy...and I reckon she'd be blown away.

 

Win/Win, I reckon. (thumbs u

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joeypost

joeypost

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I have been able to live without too much money in my pocket in the past. Taking advantage of someone who is not educated for a few extra dollars would not allow me to live with myself.

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

I sell it for her on consignment. On a sweet copy, at 20% fee, I'd be more than happy...and I reckon she'd be blown away.

 

Win/Win, I reckon. (thumbs u

 

 

I agree Nick....there is no amount of money to be made off of a transaction that will allow you to rationalize away that you took advantage of someone who did not know better (regardless if they set the price).

 

In a situation like this there is more than enough money to make everyone happy. In fact the person who picks this up from her should be thrilled she didn't call heritage and is allowing them to make money at all.

 

 

C

 

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The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

Posted
  • Author
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

I sell it for her on consignment. On a sweet copy, at 20% fee, I'd be more than happy...and I reckon she'd be blown away.

 

Win/Win, I reckon. (thumbs u

 

Good answer. :applause:

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ArAich

ArAich

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

I sell it for her on consignment. On a sweet copy, at 20% fee, I'd be more than happy...and I reckon she'd be blown away.

 

Win/Win, I reckon. (thumbs u

 

 

It's hatrick if you include the buyer in the equation... ;)

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Comicdey

Comicdey

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

Realistically, little old ladies aren't hanging around your average collector offering up books.

 

So,

 

If you were at a garage sale, and a little old lady was running it, and there were copies of TEC 27 and Action 1 priced at $1 each...would you buy them, or would you tell the lady. If you told her after you bought them, would a call to the police or a recanting of sale take place.

 

I think I'd probably buy them, sell them, and then give a chunk of change to the previous owner in my scenario.

 

In the previous scenario, I'd probably buy them also, and then get their name and number and return a large chunk of change also. My reasoning is that if you tell someone that you're going to take 20-30% for selling a $100,000 comic for them after you've told them the value, I'm betting they walk away and find another cheaper avenue to sell the book, and do a bit more research. I don't think I could live with myself for not making the deal.

 

I know how stupid I felt when I missed out on a long box with TOS 39 up and TTA 27 up for $500 at an auction when I mistakenly thought I was high bidder........... :boo: Still got everything else though (thumbs u

 

If the seller knows that they are extremely valuable and still came in to talk, then I'd go with Flaming's option and sell them for them and try to get the best price I could with a commission.

 

Of course this is all conjecture, as....Realistically, little old ladies aren't hanging around your average collector offering up books.

 

 

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1Cool

1Cool

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Of course - I would tell her I will take both of them off her hands for $1.50. Who pays retail??

 

Didn't the Mile High collection get purchased for a couple hundred dollars? And this guy is considered a leader in the industry.

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Jeffro.

Jeffro.

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

I sell it for her on consignment. On a sweet copy, at 20% fee, I'd be more than happy...and I reckon she'd be blown away.

 

Win/Win, I reckon. (thumbs u

 

:applause:

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Scheradon

Scheradon

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

Well, if you get it cheap enough you could be "a younger person with a lot (less) of (working) life ahead of you" :devil:

 

It can be a gray area for these types of situations. On one hand, why should it matter if it's a little old lady, or a female in her mid 20's, or for that matter a guy who's 42? If one views these types of transactions (where someone scores a major one-sided transaction) as a "rip-off", then it really shouldn't matter who the seller is.

 

Now, one could also argue that as long as the seller is an adult and not so old as to not even know what they are doing, then it's up to them to do their own research, know what they have and set an asking price.

 

I do believe that no one should decieve a seller by telling them what they have is worthless or a reprint (when it's not), etc.

 

If one is to do what might be considered "a moral thing to do" and tell them upfront how valuable their item is (even after hearing their extremely low asking price), then kudos to them for being a good person. The question would then be, where do you make that cut-off? How much of a profit is too much?

 

I don't know that I could condemn someone who takes adavantage of a good deal when it comes to them. How many of us always dream of that scenario where we stumble upon an estate sale with a box of old Actions and Tecs priced at a $1 a piece? Would we be evil doers if we snatched those up and shakily handed over every dollar we could claw out of our wallets?

 

 

Edit: I do want to say that my viewpoint is from someone who is a collector and not a dealer. I do believe if you are a store owner and someone comes in specifically seeking your knowledge and expert opinion with perhaps the intent to sell, you should at the very least make your overstreet available to them.

 

If they were to charge in with a box, plop it down and say "I'll tkae $100 for the box" without inquiring an opinion on value however, your end is pretty much to take a look and say "yes" or "no".

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
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So, if someone posts a $5,000 book on eBay with a BIN of $500, then is someone supposed to contact the seller and let them know that they have under priced their book?

 

 

Is that the scenario that was forwarded for debate?

 

C

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Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

Posted
Posted
If a little old lady approaches you with an Action1 or Detective 27 to sell, are you obliged to tell her what the value of the book is, or do you keep your mouth shut and ask"What are looking to get for this book?" What if she's on social security and the money could go a long way towards her finacial security and you're a younger person with a lot of working life left ahead of you?

 

I sell it for her on consignment. On a sweet copy, at 20% fee, I'd be more than happy...and I reckon she'd be blown away.

 

Win/Win, I reckon. (thumbs u

 

The presumption seems to be that the book would be resold.

 

If I ran across either one of these books, I'd want to keep them! Does that change the rationale at all?

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The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

Posted
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So, if someone posts a $5,000 book on eBay with a BIN of $500, then is someone supposed to contact the seller and let them know that they have under priced their book?

 

 

Is that the scenario that was forwarded for debate?

 

C

 

No it wasn't. The first time I sold a comic book to a comic store owner, I asked " I'd like to sell,Is this worth much?', I'm assuming that's a common question. He pulled out the price guide and showed me the value and offered to buy it for a percentage of that value. I was instantly educated, informed and given the option of selling or not. The scenario I put forth was a Comic shop or dealers place of business not an auction or a yard sale. Also, I'm talking about many, many thousands of dollars here.

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DrWatson

DrWatson

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Posted
So, if someone posts a $5,000 book on eBay with a BIN of $500, then is someone supposed to contact the seller and let them know that they have under priced their book?

 

 

Is that the scenario that was forwarded for debate?

 

C

 

No it wasn't. The first time I sold a comic book to comic store owner, I asked "Is this worth much?', I'm assuming that's a common question. He pulled out the price guide and showed me the value and offered to buy it for a percentage of that value. I was instanly educated, informed and given the option of selling or not. The scenario I put forth was a Comcic shop or dealers place of business not an auction or a yard sale.

No, your situation dealt with purchasing a book from an assumed uninformed individual. The fact that it's a "little old lady" in your scenario should not matter.

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