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Would you take advantage of an uninformed seller?

Fred A. Fotoman dies. His widow, Exa, is selling his Leica M3 at a yard sale for $20

  • Just take it, since no one is looking anyway.

    Votes: 3 3.4%

  • Haggle the price down to $5, telling Exa it's an old film camera no one would use anymore.

    Votes: 4 4.6%

  • Buy it for $20 and congratulate yourself on a good deal.

    Votes: 19 21.8%

  • Tell Exa it's worth more than $20 and offer a larger amount (e.g. $100-$500).

    Votes: 25 28.7%

  • Tell Exa it's worth much more and mutually research & decide on a price.

    Votes: 29 33.3%

  • Something else (explain).

    Votes: 7 8.0%
  • Total voters
    87
  • Poll closed .

That seems reasonable.
 
It depends. Usually at a yard sale, I tell the person I know it's worth more, but the cash I have in my pocket is what I have. That's how I walked away with a Nikon F kit at a yard sale for $40 once...the interaction began with a woman asking if I was looking for anything in particular, and I replied with the obvious. She grabbed a box down from a dusty garage shelf, and inside was an F kit with 50/1.4 and 135/2.8 nikkors. She asked me to throw her a price, I did, and she wanted over $100...she had bought it new and knew it was worth something. I had two $20 bills in my pocket and showed her. I told her it didn't really matter if I bought it or not, and if it was distressing her too much, to not do this deal. Some hemming and hawing later, with her kids telling her she'd never use it, and I was loading it into the pannier on my bike. She knew it was worth more, but chose to sell it to me for less. She also mentioned a hasselblad kit, and I told her to just go to the reputable used gear dealer in town, since they would give her a fair price, unlike me.

Another more recent one:

I stumbled upon a ridiculous cache of gear on eBay...old leica screwmount stuff. Tons of it. Contacted the seller half an hour after the listing went up, trying to get him to sell outright. It was incredibly vaguly listed. He didn't want to end it early...no hard feelings on my part. He knew it had value, he just didn't really care. In the end, it was down to a day with no bids. He contacted me, worried it wouldn't get bids, and he wanted to list it more specifically, but was anxious because 'ebay wouldn't let him end it.'

I informed him he could indeed end it, and told him how to do it, and offered to identify the gear so he could get the money he deserve. He thanked me graciously, and told me to toss him an offer--the condition was that he take it or leave it, no haggling, no counteroffers. I sent him my offer, and continued with my offer to help him identify/list the gear (for free) if he thought my offer was too low. He took my offer, and said that if I was going to go through the work of identifying it for him, I should be the one to profit. In the end, we were both happy--I had a very nice phone conversation with the older gentleman, and we arranged the payment and shipping details. Beyond just getting a good deal, it was just a nice, human interaction, which is seeming to becone rarer and rarer.

Honesty goes a long way with this stuff.
 
Kyle M. said:
It's ok it happens, I'm sure theirs still somebody out there who won't agree with what I'm doing. But then again you know what they say about opinions.
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yup, .. i should just just keep my yap shot .. thanks for understanding
at least the seller knows it was going to be used by someone he knew or sort of knew ...
 
hamradio said:
... She also mentioned a hasselblad kit, and I told her to just go to the reputable used gear dealer in town, since they would give her a fair price, unlike me.

...
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that conclusion.
 
Eh, she mentioned wanting to trade in on some newer gear, and I knew anyone else would give her more than the $100 I'd offer up.

Plus, it wasn't even gear I'd use anyway...it would've just been a flip. I was feeling like I had already gotten a pretty solid deal on that F and didn't want to exhaust my quota of future great deals, if such a thing exists.
 
LOL... okay guys... I'm okay with the sarcasm... cuz' I'm a tuff big boy theses days... you can't hurt my little feelings dammit (sniff, sniff).
 
I'm in a bit of a pickle here.

I made the mistake of asking questions about a Craigslist ad (no price) for a full darkroom kit that I really don't need and my wife will not want brought into the house. I was really hoping to find a sink or plumbing. The seller knows nothing about photography and it was all left in her new home by the previous owner. In our exchange she mentioned a price that I told her was fair but more than I could pay, given my circumstances. I also told her a couple places that might buy it or sell it for her on consignment, but they didn't pan out. Now she asking me if I will give her a few bucks and come and get it instead of trashing it.

I don't want to offer her too little, but don't want it to end up in the trash, and don't really want it all in the house. Any suggestions?

Oh, the only part she wants is the sink. It works perfectly in her greenhouse.
 
Happens to me often, tho not as much when I was managing the university darkroom.

I would 1) not pay her anything, but instead offer to try to sell the stuff and split the proceeds, or 2) offer her as little as possible (you are saving her time and money taking it away) and give the stuff away.

I got one guy all pissed off one time. He cleared out the all the old photo chemicals from under his house that belonged to his grandfather and wanted to give it to the university. I high-graded the collection, but would not take unmarked bottles of chemicals nor chemicals that were rock solid, etc. He wanted to use the university as a waste disposal site. I reduced his pile of chemicals by at least half, though.
 

That's a good idea and would be an equitable solution, but I'm not sure I want to get mixed up with any selling hassles. Thanks for the reply, though.
 
Or...

If Exa is attractive, take her to lunch and console her. With a name like Fotoman, there has to be a whole closet full of cameras and gear. :w00t:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Would it be ethical to snipe her?
 
I voted 'Something else'. I'd tell her that the items are worth 20 times more than she's asking, but I could not offer my time to help her price and research everything. I might advice her to use a reputable firm to help her auction off or sell the items, and make a lot more money on them.
 
pdeeh said:
Would it be ethical to snipe her?
Click to expand...

moose10101 said:
Only if you do it manually.
Click to expand...

Ehh... there are far more efficient tools for sniping than the old fashioned man-ual method so she may not even be interested in being sniped... let alone getting short-changed in the process... something she's probably accustomed to.
 
Welcome to the forum Ducky. Hope you have thick skin and survive your first day.
 
Unpopular only with some folks. Realistic to others. Done by even more but they won't admit to it.
 
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