Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Moral Ebay Dilemma

spidermonkey

15:20 / 05.11.03

How would you feel if say you had bought something for £1.99 from a charity shop, posted it on ebay and within hours it had been bid up to £70?

I'm having a moral panic about taking their money, what do you think?

Mourne Kransky

15:25 / 05.11.03

I'd be thrilled to bits and making a list of things to do with my money. Could spend it all on one bespoke Ali G impersonator, for instance.

I had two friends who bought a vase in a junk shop in Edinburgh. Pricey, cost a couple of hundred quid. Sold for quarter of a million at auction some months later. They bought a holiday home in San Francisco and partied very hard till the dosh ran out.

Good for you, smart little simian.

w1rebaby

15:39 / 05.11.03

Nah. I'd blow up eBay and then top myself.

bitchiekittie

16:00 / 05.11.03

I'm sure that, if they're paying 70 pounds for something old, then they're quite glad to have found it.

consider the 68.01 profit you've made as your finder's fee.

Antigen

16:19 / 05.11.03

I wouldn't worry about making a profit. You earned it, added value by bringing the thing to the people who wanted it. It's not asif you knocked them over in the checkout line at the thrift store and wrenched it from their shaking hands.

I'd worry more about US Homeland Security's interest in E-bay. Rumor has it (not to mention a few mainstream news items which I can't seem to find now) that E-bay has joined an agreement to turn over transaction and user data to the US Federal government.

Eloi Tsabaoth

16:40 / 05.11.03

Surely the best bit of Ebay is its seedy, 'alley in the back of the pub' atmosphere.
Oh and Xoc, she doesn't need to buy an Ali G impersonator. She has a perfectly functional one already installed in her house.

Mourne Kransky

17:32 / 05.11.03

Don't come any more bespoke than that, Bizunth.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

18:16 / 05.11.03

I thought fleecing people for their hard-earned readies was the whole philosophy underpinning eBay. I don't know what it is about that site, but people seem to be willing to pay more for stuff off eBay than they would in a shop. I think it may be something about 'winning' an auction, as opposed to going out and buying it retail that adds a certain frisson to the transaction.

I just sold a 6 month old graphics card, (boxed, no manual, no driver CD) for £94 + £6 p&p, which amounts to £10 more than the retail price, delivery included. A friend of mine buys games from play.com, plays them for a couple of months, then sells them at a profit on eBay. Nice.

They say the value of something is determined only by what people are willing to pay, so if someone is willing to pay 70 quid for something, then that's what it's worth.

Olulabelle

19:04 / 05.11.03

Good for you spidermonkey. I wouldn't worry about fleecing the people on ebay, if they wish to bid over the odds for something, that's surely their own concern. However, if you really wanted to be moral about it you could always donate a bit extra to the charity shop where you bought the object. (Burning desire to know what it is, BTW.)

I saw a man on television auction off a necklace he bought in a charity shop for a fiver. He made £450 so he decided to give some of his profit back to the shop. Altogether now: Ahhh, bless.

spidermonkey

06:36 / 06.11.03

Thanks for the advice all, I like Olulabelle's idea of giving some money back, may well do that.

Really regretting now that I put the item on for 10 days, I've got 9 still to go and have in a panic wrapped the item up and locked it away!

The only thing is I still cannot see how it can be worth more than a tenner, another one went on ebay 2 weeks ago for that amount. Maybe it's really rare and I just don't know it, or maybe the two people bidding each other up just have too much money!

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

10:40 / 06.11.03

What is it?

Add Your Reply