Bad Behavior At The Flea Market

Sure the seller should have known better and sure he was ignorant. Nevertheless, I believe in fair fights!

Here is my point.

https://goccf.com/t/42692

The poster is talking about getting a good deal from the dealer because the dealer is clueless about foreign coins.

-SWUSC

Yeah I read that post swusc. Not the same situation at all. The difference is intent. It was not the intent to cheat the dealer out of a rare foriegn coin. He just bought a lot unseen and found a good coin. In my Flea Market scenario if the Gollum guy had walked in, saw a bag of coins and said I'll give you ten dollars than he made a good deal. He didn't. He went through them, knew the value was much greater before buying, and knew the buyer was clueless. The intent was to defraud.

SWUSC, no question he had no business setting up a booth and offering coins that he knew nothing about. I also concede that the rude guy was not technically a crook, but I do think his actions were unethical at best. As for helping the stupid, I have always been a rescuer. A trait that gets me in trouble way too often. These ethical situations are tricky, but they are interesting to discuss.

I go to flea markets all the time. Sometimes 2 or 3 a day on weekends. One I go to on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Over many years of this I realize the average mentality of people there sometimes would total less than that of a Chimpanse. At flea markets you are usually dealing with some that don't even know what is going on in the world. Almost every week I run into someone at those places that still shocks me as to their mental abilities.
Example: not long ago a guy was selling CD's for $1/each or 3 for $5. He just could not figure out why no one wanted to buy 3.
One seller had a package of photo paper on his table for $1. I asked if he had any more. He almost angrily yelled at me that he had a lot more in his car but if he puts it out, people keep buying it.
I usually leave a flea market laughing.
That person that was so rude is what I consider just the average person I run into there all the time. The bigger the flea market, the more likely you'll run into people like that.

My wife and I go to flea markets and auctions all the time and have searched many a can and bag of coins. After looking through them, I ask the dealer what they are asking. Generally, the price they ask is a good buy and I purchase them. I do not feel bad if I have made a good buy but never attempt to negotiate the price down. I do not feel it is my job to educate the seller. I have, in a couple of instances, suggested that they buy a book and reprice their product. I don't mind giving $15 for what might be $30 in coins when I am done but cannot pay $15 knowing that there is a $250 coin in the bag.

Jim

The rude part, to me, isn't the price issue, it is asking to look through a bag and mister lawn chair potato jumping up and grabbing the bag. I would have pushed him back, but that is just me. It helps to be 6-2 and 225. Price negotiating is just that. People can be rude or polite, offer low or high, it really doesn't matter. If a seller won't give me a price, I offer a really low price. I have a standing offer at our local pawn shop to buy all his ASE's for $15.00 each, and he refuses. I can go buy rolls of ASEs online for around $17.00 so I am not going to offer more than that. The pawn shop owner counters at $25.00 each and I politely say no thanks. He will not come down one penny so the ASEs sit in his glass case and my money sits in my wallet. No feelings hurt and no harm done.

I think swfusc is correct, if you are going to sell something, you had better have a price, a range and an idea what you are selling. Mr. lawn chair was a potential customer, no matter how rude. But to grab something that another customer has asked about is wrong.

The way I see it, yes, the seller should have done some research to see what it was he was selling first. Whether he comes under the class of "expert seller" is hard to say. Was he selling other items too, or just coins? If the former, he could be said to be well outside of the realm, but if the latter, more so.

It was obvious that the seller was largely ignorant, however, and the $8 initial offer was not only insulting, but was meant to take advantage of the seller's ignorance. The guy was a total idiot, upping his offer to $50, though, because it obviously showed the seller that this was the case.

It all comes down to a question of ethics. Despite the fact that the seller should have known better, is it ethical to take advantage of someone's ignorance in such a situation?

I guess the answer is whether or not you could sleep nights after doing so.

The shoe goes on the other foot more often, though. Usually it's the dealer that tries to take advantage of the seller's ignorance by offering an insulting price for an item, in my experience. I'm not saying all dealers are like this, mind you, but I've witnessed a great many who are.

As for the behaviour of the collector, it is clear that he was motivated by greed.