Ethics Q: What would YOU do?

[justonwo]

I think if you rip someone off that's ignorant, it's unethical. If people are selling rare/fine guitars because they don't know any better, the right thing to do is inform them what they have and then make a reasonable offer based on the known value.

[drplayer]

Originally Posted by Haasome

It depends. If they had a 1940 Martin they were selling for $500 I would clearly tell them. If they were selling a 2008 Martin D28 for $1200, I probably wouldn’t. Same goes on the other situation. I would not accept a ridiculous offer without some discussion involving appropriate value. Everyone has their own comfort zone. But I think it is worth imagining how you would feel if someone was dealing with your spouse or family member - and use that as a guideline.

I’m in this camp...

[ALBD]

It definitely depends on circumstances but generally:

Scenario #1. Buy it. Add some cash to the price and say keep the change.

Scenario #2. Wait till the husband is in the loop.

[KenL]

I once went to a garage sale. It was late in the second day of the sale and things were pretty picked over.

Off in a corner, sitting on the floor, was a snare drum in a wooden case. It was priced at $5, and was a Ludwig. I had no idea what it was worth, but knew it was a bargain at that price. So I bought it. I asked the 20 yr. old (my guess) seller how old it was, and he said his dad played it in high school, which would have put it at an early '70s model (my guess again).

Took it home, cleaned it up a little bit, and saw that similar drums were selling on eBay for a pretty penny. So I listed it, and was amazed when it sold for $175.

This was a case of an ignorant seller and a clueless buyer. Being the clueless one, I didn't lose a minute's sleep.

[UncleJesse]

I think that there are a lot of people who would say that they would tell the seller it was priced too low but would, in fact, pay the cheap price and leave with it.

[Villamarzia]

When you have to ask others’ opinion on ethics, it usually means you know where the border stands and you are just looking for consensus to cross it.
Your question is the answer.

[RP]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

I think that there are a lot of people would say that would tell the seller it was priced too low but would, in fact, pay the cheap price and leave with it.

Yeh, there is that....

[Rexsblues]

Garage Sales are usually where people sell items they don't want to put time into researching and listing on Ebay. They're just looking to unload unwanted items and get some quick cash. If I saw a great guitar deal I'd take it. Anyone can use google, and if they wanted top-dollar, they wouldn't be selling it in a garage sale.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by RP

Yeh, there is that....

Ethics or no, maybe the person would never have a chance to own a pre-war martin guitar somehow stumbles across one at a garage sale and their frugal side shouts down their ethical side.

[GHS]

I've been in that situation and I would have to say..it depends...1.If the seller is an arrogant obnoxious type my thought would be that A. there may be a hidden problem with the guitar I cant find or see right off so I'd take the low price and leave. or B. the seller simply does not know what they have. I have done this with other items ( 1940's fishing lures and such). I clued them in as to what the collectability was, how rare to find them in perfect shape, etc. This not only gained respect but folks also offered other items they had ( fishing nets, reels, etc), and we both walked away feeling good. Honest dealing builds good karma.

[Paddy1951]

I think the question here is ethics vs. morality.

The two are not necessarily the same.

Big business likes to believe it is moral because it has ethics. Often, it is not.

I work for a business that provides services for the banking industry.

I stuck my neck out once and asked why we still did business with a well known large bank that was caught using fraudulent marketing practices not once but twice.

The answer was that it was just one part of this bank that broke the law and....

Here is the what it's really all about...

There was so much money to be made by continuing to do business with this particular bank.

Never mind that thousands of consumers were placed in financial jeopardy.

This may seem far away from the garage sale scenarios.

There are folks that can afford to take a big hit and just want to get rid of something. No problem, then.

But if you suspect the sellers price is the result of ignorance, then is it MORAL to take advantage? They may really need the money from a fair price.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Kalani

Scenario 1:
Let’s say you went to a garage sale and saw something that you new was too cheap. Would you let the sellers know? Would you make sure they new? Or would you just buy it—-they didn’t do their research, their loss, your gain?

Scenario 2:
Same as above but husband wasn’t there, didn’t answer his phone when wife called him, you don’t know his thoughts, and she made you a ridiculous offer.

What would you do?

Note: to further complicate things, ad say’s “Garage Sale- Everything Must Go- My Loss, Your again”

Are being purposely vague in case one of us was at the same garage sale?

[leew3]

I'm with the 'it depends' camp but wanted to share a positive story in this vein.

The amazing guy who works on my guitars was brought a very old Telecaster by a local retired music teacher. She had bought it at the beginning of her career in the 50's and it was one of those mythical 'it's been laying under the bed for decades' kind of finds.

She planned to give it to her son in law who was learning to play but wanted it checked out first. Our luthier told her it was very collectible and if she wanted to sell it he knew a collector who would be interested. Cut to the chase, he got her $20K for the guitar from a collector and drove it to the buyer. He did ask for a 10% 'finders fee' for his labors but still, he surely did the right thing! Now she can buy her son in law anything he wants....well except that prewar D18.....

[jklotz]

I was in the grocery store the other day. Checked out, took cart to car. Got home and realized they didn't charge me for a $15 bag of dog food in the bottom of the cart. Next trip in, I told the manager. He said don't worry about it, it was the cashiers job to account for everything, and he apologized for the cashier not doing a good job then thanked me for being such a good customer.

Moral of the story - doing the right thing almost always ends better for all involved.

[nitram]

The replies tell one all there is to know about the repliers.