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 Replies: 102 / Views: 10,455 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
Ya'll are way over thinking this. I've been a business owner for most of my adult life. As a plumbing/general contractor there were times I got in a hurry when giving a bid & missed something; as an antique dealer I've under priced items through ignorance and/or clerical error. If you value your reputation & want repeat business you pay for your own mistakes. It's that simple.
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Valued Member
United States
161 Posts |
If I were in the situation and the seller was still offering to ship the coin, I could never say no to that. All you ever hear is buyer beware, with countless tales of buyers getting hosed on the bay. Between the chinese morgans and the fake mint-marks its never ending and risky. Now that a buyer has a seller-beware situation they are supposed to have a moral obligation and be understanding of a sellers mistake? Pooey. I would take the coin for $10 every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1536 Posts |
Sure, stores honor mis-mark items all the time and honor it. In this situation, the seller just sent it and I received it today. I have had to send back three lots of coins lately. One from Webstore where the seller hid they were all cleaned and I was told "you got them cheap, what do you want?" when it was an auction. The next time they were no where near the grade they stated and I was attacked for wanting to returning them receiving multiple threatening messages and they bid on coins of mine just to mess with me. The next was a bunch of buffalo's that were all restored that you couldn't tell were and one picture looked like they used a blur tool to conceal it. Of course I can't blame these situations on other sellers though.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5862 Posts |
I'm really torn about this one, to be honest. Having been a long-time buyer and seller on ebay, I know that buyers and sellers both hope to get a great deal at auction. It's just the nature of the game. Sellers hope that a bunch of naive bidders will get into a bidding war and drive the price way above "fair market value" and this is something to celebrate and brag about when it happens. Nobody contacts the high bidder and says, "Gee, I really think you paid too much for that item, so you only have to send me half the amount." Similarly, every bidder is hoping that some factor, whether it be a poor description, blurry picture, wrong category, etc., will keep all the other knowledgeable bidders away and they will end up getting the item for far less than fair market value. This is, once again, something to celebrate and brag about, and nobody contacts the seller and says, "Gee -- I really paid way too little for that item, so please let me give you a little more money." Again, this is the nature of auctions and the way the game is played, and the situation is totally different from a retail store where it's considered unethical to overcharge for an item or take advantage of a mis-tagged item. Having said all that, however, here we apparently have a case where the seller meant to sell an item at auction but instead mistakenly listed it with a low BIN price as if it were at a retail store. I give the seller all sorts of props and kudos for being willing to go through with the deal and eat the cost, but if I were the buyer I would have absolutely refused to accept either the coin or the $100 offered in its place. Again, though, it hinges on why the item sold for such a low price. If it were simply a matter of starting an auction at $9.99 and no other bidders showing up for whatever reason, I would have been celebrating and bragging about getting it for that price... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
Tell me how it is unethical to buy an item that is mis-marked? I simply don't believe that and people do it all the time. If you found a rare variety in a bargain bin at a show would you alert the seller or just buy it? Of course it is always easy to sit back and claim moral high ground without having no stake. I bet a lot of people would accept this coin no problem given the opportunity and some even demand the seller go through with it but if they were the seller they wouldn't send it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
Anyhow to get away from the moral debate on what people claim they would do, here is the coin. It is EF as described correct? Of course I am not going to claim item not as described and ask to return it. I should check to see if it has an "S" mintmark, wouldn't it be too much if it had one?  Edited by buddy16cat
02/04/2013 6:43 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
615 Posts |
The difference between you finding a rare variety and you finding a miss-priced coin is not even close. If that was at a show, finding the variety would be something where knowledge played a factor, whereas a miss-priced item is simply a human error, and would be caught on the spot. The nature of ebay doesn't allow for that sort of correction of human error, just offers people the chance to profit from other people's mistakes. The whole thing makes me feel uncomfortable. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
Yes, I realize there is a difference but mistakes happen in the real world as well. I did not realize this was a semi-key but any Morgan listed at $9.95 is an obvious error. The seller made an error and I just happened to be there when they did. Things get mis-marked and businesses honor them. On the other hand I can show you posts where I listed a V nickel with a hit where the mintmark is, maybe it was caused by a fake mintmark that fell of and members of forums were outraged because I said I wouldn't want to send it if it was a 1912S and sold for 99 cents free shipping. which I know of course it wasn't a 1912s when I listed it but do realize things like that do happen. So if I accept a coin that was listed by mistake I am unethical but if I didn't want to send the coin I am unethical as well. Of course I do realize there is a big difference between those that are ethical and those that are self-righteous and judgmental. Edited by buddy16cat
02/04/2013 6:58 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5862 Posts |
I apologize. At no time did I mean to imply that you were self righteous or judgmental. I was simply explaining my ethical feelings on the matter. To repeat, I think the ethical thing to would have been to refuse either the coin or the $100 and just agree to cancel the deal, but I certainly don't think you were at all being self righteous or judgmental in accepting the coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
Of course as it has been mentioned it is easy to be on moral high ground when the situation doesn't pertain to you. I wasn't referring to myself or others as self-righteous or judgmental just making a general statement. I bought the coin for the listed price, they shipped it. I am going to keep it, and that is that.
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Valued Member
United States
161 Posts |
I applaud the morals and ethics of some of the members of this forum. I used to be like that one day then realized that nice guys finished last and the only person that is going to look out for your best interest is yourself. (I have been turned bitter!) If you have a chance to profit off of someone's mistake, that's just business. (That might just be the business degree talking). If it were the other way around, 9 out of 10 times, the seller or dealer will hose you. If you are at a coin show, and a dealer is offering to sell you a coin at a fraction of the price, are you going to turn moral oral and tell the dealer that you cannot accept it because you think you should be paying more? No way Jose!! As a business man, the seller did the right thing. He kept a customer happy, in a buyer's market, and that customer has already given him over 5 pages of free advertisement in this thread and I guarantee almost every single one of you checked out his listings, I know I did. Some of you may have even bought some items. That's smart business and in my opinion, he already made back the money he lost with the coin.
If we all bought and sold at the same price no money would ever be made, and no money would ever be saved.
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Valued Member
United States
161 Posts |
buddy16cat, That coin is ugly, you should just sell it to me, but I refuse to pay you less than the rebook value!!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
That is funny MrMorgan, it reminded me of these Two Cent Pieces I bought. I resold one to an address that included in care of a flea market. I wonder what they are going to do with it? That coin was bought and will be sold three times before it makes it into some collection. I believe to some that is ethically wrong to pay less than $250 so if I list it for $200 so it moves, you can pay me more. Maybe I should sell it for $20 since it is wrong to charge more than double what I paid for it? Of course it would be ethically wrong for people to buy it at that price so I won't list it for that. It is true though many dealers will hose you given the chance. There is a hit on the cheek I didn't see on that coin. Should I put a item not described claim in and return it. Edited by buddy16cat
02/04/2013 10:08 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
I have been lurking on this thread for a while and have finally decided that I would do what would allow me to sleep at night and look at myself in the mirror in the morning. That is all any of us can do in a situation where there really is no truly right or truly wrong action.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1536 Posts |
I am over two hundred and fifty posts. Should I sell this here or where would you sell it?
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Replies: 102 / Views: 10,455 |
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Posted 02/04/2013 12:54 pm
