I visited my parents this past weekend. My mother was telling me about what happened at a recent garage sale she went to. Someone was selling a Corning Ware cornflower piggy bank. These were made in England, and they're very hard to find now.
The lady had marked the pig with a price of $5. My mother snapped it up, took it up to her … and asked her, “Do you know that you could sell this for $100?”
My mom was right. There are two listed on eBay right now. One doesn't have any bids but it's starting at $25. Another is Buy It Now and the seller is asking $200. She didn't need another one, but she didn't want someone else to get it that cheaply, and there were plenty of dealers in town who would have spotted it easily and probably even would have tried to talk the seller down to $2, knowing full well it was worth $100.
So, she helped the seller out. I probably would have bought it for $5 myself, and not said a word.
I've come to be pretty careful about tipping my hand to what I know. I made this mistake at a pawn shop when I bought a coin. Not only was the coin marked below what it should have been, they got the weight wrong … and it was low. Meaning: I could have practically stolen that coin from them, and they never would have known. But I made the mistake of saying, “Gee, that seems heavy.” Sure enough, they weighed it, and promptly marked the price up.
At another pawn shop, though, I learned my lesson. I bought some more coins, including some Peace and Morgan silver dollars. The owner didn't know which dates were the key dates. I got a 1921 Peace dollar for a common-date price. Just smiled, put them into my pocket, and walked off with a little spring in my step.
Some other time, I saw a set of handbells on eBay. The seller had said that the bells were Schulmerich bells. There were a few bids on them. A commenter piped up and said, “Those are Whitechapel bells.” Whitechapel bells are English bells and command higher prices. The seller cancelled the listing, and relisted the bells, identified them correctly … and started at a much higher price. They didn't get any bids. (Serves her right.)
I just don't feel that it's my job to educate people when I'm in negotiations with them. If they've set a price on something, why should I argue that it's worth more? They'll be happy if I buy it from them at that price, unless someone else tells them what it was really worth. Then they're the bad guy.
I just don't see any good reason to kick good deals like these out the door. How about you?
I’ll buy the product at the lower price and won’t tell anyone it’s worth more
My initial response is that I’d take advantage and make some money myself. A deal is a deal, right? But if it’s an old lady selling something or someone that I just immediately take to or like, then I might help them out.
Just another reason to be nice to people in general. Karma is ever present.
When I was growing up, I learned a lot of valuable advice about this sort of thing from my parents. They always told me it depended upon the situation.
My parents read all sorts of books about old collectable items, and they seemed to know the value of everything. To use your example, if they saw something worth $100 being offered for $5, then it would depend on who was selling it. If the item was being sold at an auction and their $5 bid was the top price, then they bought it for that price and that was the end of it. Their reasoning was that by using the auction process, the seller had essentially agreed to any price. Additionally, the seller had a professional advocate in the auctioneer they used, and there would also be many other knowledgeable people who would be bidding. If they were the only ones smart enough to know $100 was being sold for $5, well, then that was their reward for studying.
Similarly, if they found such a bargain in a professional antique shop, then they would also buy it without paying more and without mentioning anything. A retail specialty shop is a professional business. They ought to know the value of the things they sell. They did not feel they were “taking advantage” of a shopkeeper who was that ignorant. Also, in that setting, it is again a public place and many other people could buy it. The shopkeeper moves many items each week. He/she needs to learn from mistakes on one item and do better in the future.
On the other hand, occasionally someone would come to them personally with an item to sell. Maybe they were from the neighborhood or were a friend of a friend of something like that. They came to my parents because they thought they would know whether this was worth something and might buy it for cash. They treated that sort of situation much differently because it was a private situation where a non-professional came to one individual with some level of trust. In that kind of situation, even if the seller initially indicated they wanted to sell it for $5, my parents would have told them it could be sold for $100 to the right collector. They would probably offer $40 or $50 for it. They felt that was a fair markdown for providing the information and being willing to put in the effort to find the buyer who would ultimately pay $100. Most of the time, people would sell it to them and then word also got around that they did not take advantage of people in their dealings. Sometimes there were people who didn’t understand why they would only pay $50 for a $100 item and decided to sell it themselves for $100, but they almost always came back a week later and sold it to them for $50.
If I’m buying online, my first instinct is to check or wonder if a)all the parts are there, b) if it’s probably stolen and c) if it’s a made-in-china ripoff (as opposed to a made-in-china original!).
The T.V. and traveling show “Antiques Roadshow” would not exist if not for the obvious answer to this question.
The only time I worry about things like this is when I’m given too much change for a purchase, because I know that’ll directly affect the cashier, either in the paycheck or the employment status. Any other time, a deal is a deal. I’ve seen a lot of stories like this concerning old cars kept in barns in pristine condition. Old man dies, old lady decides to sell the cars for way, way less than they’re worth.
Grats on the link from Consumerist, though.
It’s not the buyer’s responsibility to educate the seller.
If the seller doesn’t know the value of an item, that’s his/her problem.
An item’s “worth” is the price a buyer and seller agree upon. As an online eBay seller, I can tell you that judging worth based on unbidded auction listings is foolish. Sellers over-inflate prices and settle for a lower price. If it cannot be sold its worth $0. Its “value” is the usefulness to its owner.
We recently sold a tiger’s eye necklace at a garage sale for $2. The buyer came back later feeling guilty, saying it was worth $30 and wanted to return it. I refused to take it back. We got $2, its worth to us. Knowing there are still honest people out there was worth the other $28.
You mom seems like a busy body involving herself in other people’s business.
I think it’s less ethically ambiguous now than it would have been 20 years ago. It is not hard to get an idea what the going price for something is now, for most items. By pricing things without checking, they are saving effort, at the cost of missing out on the occasional score.
They have gained something by opting for the lower price that they would not have gained had they gone for the higher one.
20 years ago, most people, with most items, would not have had a choice.
For me, it depends on the situation. If it’s an artist, I will generally let them know they’re selling their work too cheaply, unless I think they might get angry.
If it’s in a store like Walmart, I won’t say anything because generally they have ripped me off in the past. (Didn’t give me my $60 cash back at the register and then claimed the cashier didn’t have an overage when they reconciled at the end of the day. Also, things that ring up for more than they’re marked, that I don’t catch till I get home.)
At a garage sale or something similar, then it depends on whether or not I like the person. If they’re a jerk, then too bad. Sweet little old lady, then yes, I’ll tell her.
I’d buy it at the cheap price. I have no idea why the seller decided to go with a lower price. I’ve seen plenty of yard sales where items were for sale in order to get them out of the house, not to make a profit.
I am firm believer in “caveat emptor” (i.e., let the buyer beware). But I also believe the free market is a two-way street, so let the seller beware too (otherwise known as “caveat venditor” in Latin)!
That’s my $0.02 (after taxes),
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
I agree it’s fair to tell people who might not know better that their knickknacks are worth more than they’ve priced them. I’ve overheard used book dealers who have been kind enough to tell would-be sellers that they were pricing items too low.
However, different factors also affect the economics of how people set prices, particularly on items that can be difficult to sell/ship/move. I was shopping for wedding dresses through Craigslist and often gowns that cost some brides thousands were being offered for much less just because they had no room to store them or were moving. Some had had found another dress that they preferred and wanted to recoup any of the money they spent in exchange for a dress that was new-with-tags. They could try to sell it through other means (eBay, for example) but didn’t want to go through the hassle of shipping it.
Same thing holds true for furniture, camping equipment, etc. that sometimes is barely used … it’s only worth the price that someone is willing to pay to carry it away.
You could be cool and tell them it was too low. if they didn’t knwo what they had or you could, just buy it and chock it up to a great deal found on Ebay yet again. like that camera I find a while back. 2am and suddenly theres a camera listed for some incredibley low price. well I bought it. great deal. what can I say. It’s ebay.
Thanks everyone for the comments! (My apologies for being slow in approving them all.)
David: You’re right that judging prices from unfinished auctions on eBay isn’t the best. I checked the completed auctions and didn’t see any recent ones.
I’ll offer the fence riding position of: it depends.
On one hand, that’s why you go to garage sales – for the deals. And yeah, maybe they don’t know what they have or what it’s worth. Would I hesitate to snatch up a deal. No way. If I don’t then that pushy lady with the big SUV will.
But, on the other hand, if the person selling the item seems less than capable of researching an items value or may have mis-marked it, then yeah, I’d consider helping them out.
The point is not for one party to get hurt. It should be a win-win.
There are a couple of basic rules here that we need to recognize.
First, there is no such thing as a bad deal. If the seller accepts the price and the buyer accepts the product (and no fraud was involved), then it was a good deal for both parties. If it weren’t, then one of the parties would object and the deal wouldn’t take place.
Second, we often hear people say, “Do you know what that’s worth?” I always tell them, “Yes, whatever someone will pay you for it.” You see this at auctions all the time. Sometimes people pay more than retail – way more than retail. And, sometimes things sell for pennies on the dollar. It’s worth what you can get someone to pay you for it.
Clair
If I’m selling something, I make sure I know what its worth before I slap a price tag on it.
If I see something thats waaaayyy underpriced, I buy it (ocassionally turning around and re-selling it for a profit).
Thats not stealing, and if the seller can’t be bothered knowing what they have, why should I tell them?
The comments above do a good job of differentiating between different circumstances. The buyer generally has no legal obligation except in the narrow situation where they have some special relationship or a contract with the seller that creates a legal duty to protect the seller’s interest. Perhaps in some other cases, their words or conduct could indicate they will give an impartial opinion.
Some economists make the case that a buyer who gets a good deal and then resells is performing an economic service by taking merchandise from a place where it apparently was not worth as much or didn’t offer as much utility, and placing the item into a stream of commerce where it is valued more.
Regarding coins specifically, if I found valuable coins at a pawn shop that were underpriced, I would be skeptical of the coins’ recent history. They could be counterfeits, cleaned, or stolen. It seems unlikely that someone with coins would sell them to a pawn shop at well less than their general market price. While grading of coins can be challenging, enough online resources exist to get a ballpark estimate. A thief may not go to that trouble – after all, he has invested less in acquiring the coins than an honest seller.
Morgan and Peace dollars in particular are so commonly traded that even most pawn shops probably see them from time to time. And a buyer certainly shouldn’t feel sorry for the pawn shop if it misses the opportunity to make full profit from the items.