Interesting Ethical Question from Baltimore

[AtlasFan]

At least Chuck bought the Mile Highs at .10 a pop (cover price) --- so accounting wise, the Church family "broke even" on the original cost of the comics....

[HOTFLIPS]

There is a guy who does that here in Jersey. He sets up at the local one day shows, Clifton, East Hanover. He is from a Hospice Center here in Jersey. Doesnt know what he has in the boxes, he claims, but he seems to know a little I would suspect. Every book is a dollar. He is mobbed by dealers and people who come in early at the beginning of the show. I don't look at it because well, you know comic dealers. I don't want to bump and fight at eight in the morning.

 

He was there a few times, don't know if he still sets up.

 

I donated 10 cases of bags and boards (for some reason im remembering they were Golden Age size) to him because I respect what he is doing and it is for a good cause. Anyone who takes time out of their regular schedule to help people deserve props. He never asked for a donation but if plastic and cardboard could help his cause, then i can do that.

 

Jeff

[dem1138]

I would also add that a lot of people, including myself, dropped a few dollars in the bin and took nothing in return. I am quite positive nothing would have been done by this local Baltimore Humane Society had they learned that there were a few valuable books in the boxes. I would like to believe that in the end, it all balanced out for them in that the people who donated and took nothing made up for the people that "scored" by paying $1/valuable book.

[Foolkiller]

If you're talking about the wacko, human-loathing HSUS - Humane Society of the United States, then they deserve whatever they got, including counterfeit bills, stolen books and bounced checks.

 

If it was a local humane society organization, more likely to be engaged in non-political help to animals, then I see your point.

 

I'm pretty sure it was some local grass roots organization. They didn't exactly look super sophisticated.

[CKB]

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

 

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

 

I would have done the same thing, and then offered a check for about half-estimated-retail of whatever I was able to pull. (Assuming it was really the Humane Society or ASPCA.)

 

[PEP]

Hmmm.....if I buy something for the price they want, what's the problem?

 

Is there a problem then if I sell it later on for 10 to 20 times more than what I paid?

[Han]

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

 

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

 

I would have done the same thing, and then offered a check for about half-estimated-retail of whatever I was able to pull. (Assuming it was really the Humane Society or ASPCA.)

I think that's reasonable. yeah, they're a charity, whatever, but I think giving them a bigger end of the deal than a pittance is worthwhile, considering what the hell they're doin'.

[the blob]

i'd like to think i would do the "right" thing like I do at my LCS when he gives me a box of unsearched drek he paid 3 cents each for and gives me first dibs on and I pull out the obvious no brainer books that he wouldn't be selling for a buck (like an Ultimate Spidey 2 or whatever) and hand them to him (i think of it as a courtesy to him for giving me the first crack at new cheap stuff he picks up), but the reality is that i probably would have grabbed the keys at $1 a pop but also bought some other books that i might not normally be willing to spend $1 on to even things out a bit. at the end of the day someone is going to hose them on this, might as well be me.

[DrWatson]

They weren't hosed. They received what they asked for and them some as donations were made without books being taken.

[comicalgems]

Yeah at the last dollar sale I went to I did this very thing where I justified buying some books that I normally wouldn't buy by averaging out "Oh hey I got X-Men 266 in NM so I can pick up some other books" I think I also nabbed something like five copies of Omega Red's first appearance for instance.

 

I think that I've made my opinion well known.

 

I see no difference in this and finding a similar setup where there is no key issues and they refuse to take less than a dollar a book.

[The Troll King]

Back when I sold old toys and had collections coming in all the time I use to frequently pay more than the asking price for the items.

 

I found this to be good in several ways.

 

In the future, if someone found something else to sell they always brought it to me first and knew I would give them a fair price.

 

Secondly, I always had a good stock of stuff to sell to my customers.

 

Lastly, No one ever felt like they were getting hosed in a deal.

 

I had a guy show up to my house one day with a Radio Controlled Sand-Crawler (the Jawa variety) and after playing with it on my kitchen floor for a few minutes I asked the guy what he wanted for it and he said "I don't know, $50?"

 

I wrote him a check for $100

 

I made one phone call and had it sold for $200 in less than an hour to one of my customers in Belgium. The going price at the time for one was close to $300.

 

win-win-win for all involved.

 

That same customer bought two more items from me totalling $900 less than two weeks later.

[Point Five]

I hate to admit it, because I do have concerns for other people and try to do the right thing, etc... but I'm pretty sure that, given the specific scenario Brian describes, I would buy the books for a buck a pop. I do give to charities and to homeless people on my own time, but these are comics in a comic show that are for sale at a certain price point. I'd buy the books.

 

In the "little old lady yard sale scenario" we sometimes debate, where you're actually meeting the person in need and the money is going to make or break them, I think I'd feel much more of an obligation to educate the person. I'd sure like to think so anyway.

[the blob]

i was at a shop the other day and some 30something woman came in and asked about selling some cards and comics to the shop (she didn't have them with her). one of the young guys behind the counter tells her she shouldn't sell anything without knowing what they're worth and should get a price guide.

 

at first i thought the guy is really doing his boss a disservice telling her to look in a guide where she will get unrealistic notions of value, but on the other hand, he was potentially going to sell her $40-$50 worth of price guides and he probably figured all she had was junk at home anyway.

[Foolkiller]

My discomfort with how things broke was really more to do with the fact that this isn't your normal dealer set up. It's a charity -- and not a dealer. Normally I'd not care -- I'm not saying anyone was hosed, but I'm just less than comfortable with it -- if it was the American Cancer Society or whatever, would we still say, well, they got what they asked? I dunno, if it's someone who's an actual dealer fine, but to me, I guess I'm thinking of just what we should do, not a declaration of the technical merits. But this is a grey area and that's why I threw it out there.

[BrianR]

I have also owned a store. Now when a guy comes in lugging a box of books..I looked at them and would ask how much he wanted. If he said $200 I would look at it and if it were a box of post unity valiants..laugh. Once it was a box of AS from #4 double copies up until 300. Yes siree I bought them with a quickness. I felt guilty later but he wasn't a charity and he had the ability to look them up online or in a price guide as well as I could. I have bought 10 cent and 15 cent comic books at yard sales for "Half of the price on the cover"

 

But when the person is saying they are for charity I feel a bit different about it.

 

I had a VERY good customer. Decide to give his collection to the boyscouts. It would have been Okay had these been run of the mill 90's books. But these were very good books. Keys and pricey books thousands of them. At one time I evaluated his collection for insurance purposes and it was nearly $260,000 worth of books. I really wondered what the Boyscouts did with all those comics.

 

Goodwill does not sell comic books. They throw them away. Any printed matter pre 1985 goes in the recycle bin. I wonder what goodies have been shredded there!!

 

Goodwills in AZ sell comics. I found a Weird War tales 1 recently in one for $3.00

Kinda beat though. They rarely throw out anything anymore as someone will buy it.

[CycloneComics]

 

 

 

KARMA

[comicwiz]

This is troubling on so many levels. Ethical issues aside, when this kind of thing goes on, it will make people less inclined to donate anything other than quarter bin books, which in turn hurts charitable causes because eventually the books will be branded as not even being worth the requested donation amount.

[500Club]

I'm not sure how many other Baltimore attendees present at the con saw the Humane Society set up selling off books for $1 a piece basically as a donation.

 

I basically blew right by, donated some money, but got no books, and apparently, it was a large donation of comics made by someone. In it were some fairly nice bronze books as well as a number of keys (WWBN 32, 33, ASM 298, 299, 300) -- and these were, of course, sold mostly to dealers.

 

I've heard this story second hand, but know for a fact it's true since it was later verified that the pickups were made by some of the dollar book dealers (who got some and then were sorry they missed out on getting the "big" scores) who saw the books first hand. Now that being said, I don't know what exactly the dollar book dealers did or didn't do to help the humane society, but from the sound of it, there was some bragging about the "scores" they made.

 

I have a small problem with this in that it isn't some dealer set up who picked up a new collection but was too lazy to go through it. It's the humane society and the people running knew very little to nothing about comics, as they admitted. It's a charity -- maybe donating a little more than a buck a book would have been appropriate? How about someone pointing out to the charity, say one of these dealers, that you could make much more or cull a few of these better books out for them to help them. I'm not saying the dealer couldn't make some money on it, but how about evening it out a bit to help the charity.

 

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

 

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

 

Probably a case where no wrong was done, but more right could have been done.

[TheShadowKnows]

I'm not sure how many other Baltimore attendees present at the con saw the Humane Society set up selling off books for $1 a piece basically as a donation.

 

I basically blew right by, donated some money, but got no books, and apparently, it was a large donation of comics made by someone. In it were some fairly nice bronze books as well as a number of keys (WWBN 32, 33, ASM 298, 299, 300) -- and these were, of course, sold mostly to dealers.

 

I've heard this story second hand, but know for a fact it's true since it was later verified that the pickups were made by some of the dollar book dealers (who got some and then were sorry they missed out on getting the "big" scores) who saw the books first hand. Now that being said, I don't know what exactly the dollar book dealers did or didn't do to help the humane society, but from the sound of it, there was some bragging about the "scores" they made.

 

I have a small problem with this in that it isn't some dealer set up who picked up a new collection but was too lazy to go through it. It's the humane society and the people running knew very little to nothing about comics, as they admitted. It's a charity -- maybe donating a little more than a buck a book would have been appropriate? How about someone pointing out to the charity, say one of these dealers, that you could make much more or cull a few of these better books out for them to help them. I'm not saying the dealer couldn't make some money on it, but how about evening it out a bit to help the charity.

 

Had I seen this, I would have certainly let the people know who were running the booth to let me go through and pull some of the books out that were worth well more than a dollar so they knew and understood what they had.

 

Anyone think I'm wrong? Thoughts, opinions?

Everyone likes a good deal.But this is kind of like stealing from the blind.Throw in some extra money.After all it is for charity.

[Ogami]

Interesting ethical question, indeed.

 

The answers tell us much about the way the respondents would do buisness.

 

Was what they did illegal? Certainly not.

 

Was it unethical? To some.

 

Was it immoral? To me it was, and to others who've responded. To others, it was not.

 

 

 

 

I am reminded of Bill Ponsetti paying much more than he had to, to a little old lady who didn't know any better but had an amazing Superman collection.