Scavenger Life Episode 336: What Would You Do?

11/19/17 – 11/25/17

Items In Store: 2,044
Items Sold: 19
Cost of Items Sold: $60 (around)

Total Sales: $666 (Let’s hope that is not a bad sign)

HIghest Price Sold: $85 (Antique Ox Yoke Primitive Farm Hanging Light Man Cave Rustic Cabin)

This isn’t the most expensive item I’ve ever sold, but I think it is one of the most unique.
I just had to have this when I saw it.

Here it is: https://www.ebay.com/itm/332453762433

Average Price Sold: 35.05
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $ 29
Number of Items listed this week: 26

Decent week. Unusually quiet last Sunday and Monday, but the sales increased Wed. and beyond. Did a little retial Arbitrage on Friday, so we will see how that works out.

Quick question: i sold a bowling ball on Truegether. I want to ship it Fedex but Paypal doesnt have that option. Is there a place on Truegether to do that or do i just need to send it totally separate using Fedex Home?

Mark

The bowling bowl sold for $29.69. Sending it USPS is $60, which is more than the customer paid in total.

Week of 11/19-11/25
Total Items in Store: 1,696
Number of Items Listed: 44
Number of Items Sold: 64 (Includes 2 Etsy)
Weekly STR: 16%
Total Product Sales: $6,726
Cost of Items Sold: $328
Gross Profit for Week: $5,946
Highest Item Sold: $5,000 – 275+ Piece Department 56 Dicken’s Village
Competition: Highest Priced Sale: Veronica wins the week and Veronica leads for the year 27-19.

No, that total sales number is not a mistake.

However, that includes a $5,000 sale of a 275+ piece Dicken’s Village collection we sold on consignment for a person in our area. Now to hope that it all goes through. They are paying for this on a monthly plan with the original seller, and we are just in the middle making sure it all goes smooth. We are due a 15% commission on the sale once it is complete in April, so let’s hope it goes through.

The listing numbers are down with the holidays and taking some time off to spend it with my family. Was a bit of a rough week on a lot of fronts, so we could use some prayers for some smoother water…

Working on my contract job for the next two weeks, but I’m committing to still getting listings up each day early. So list from 5-9, work the contract job from 10-6. Trying to keep both gigs going right now.

Week of Nov 19-25
* Total Items in Store: 1193
* Items Sold: 18
* Cost of Items Sold: $30.19 + $9 Commission
* Total Sales: $568.91
* Highest Price Sold: $200 Mink coat
* Average Price Sold: $31.61
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $32.77
* Number of items listed this week: 35

As I mentioned under the “slowest week ever” topic, my week has been pretty normal with 18 sales. I had 6 sales on Thanksgiving Day, but then Black Friday & the weekend were quiet. I did sell a few higher priced items that made my total sales a bit higher than normal.

I was thinking about how to deal with returns. I understand that you guys can just accept a return, and then choose not to refund the full amount because you are in the beta program. For those of us that are not and the buyer is asking you to pay for return shipping, I think that perhaps accepting a return right away may not be the right decision. If it is a light weight item, especially first class, or if a mistake was made in the description, then I think yes, just accept it. But, if return shipping will cost a higher amount, perhaps the seller should contact the buyer first and plead your case as to why a “not as described” is not appropriate. The seller can also contact ebay if the buyer doesn’t respond in a day or two. But, the seller should accept the return no matter what before the buyer has the right to escalate. Is that four days? Then, the seller could call in ebay after the item is returned and plead your case.

A few sellers have recently commented on the forum where they either offered a partial refund and waited too long to respond or have accepted a INAD return and had to pay for shipping after receiving the item back. I think that a seller should document their objections to paying shipping before accepting the return.

Just my 2 cents.

Week November 19-25, 2017

Total Items in Store: 898
Items Sold: 27 (1 Amazon)
Cost of Items Sold: $167 (16.9% of sales)
Total Sales: $984.82
Highest Price Sold: $200 (1962 Barbie with Tweed Suit)
Average Price Sold: $36.47
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $30
Number of items listed this week: 4
Promoted listings test: 16 sales, $745.86 (75.7% of total sales), $37.80 fees (5.1% of sales)

Another good week, definitely above average for me. I do love this time of year as the non-registered buyers start coming through more often, they rarely try to haggle on price and just Buy It Now. As I’ve noted over the past few weeks the percentages of sales that are coming through Promoted Listings is incredibly high now. My hypothesis is that the surge of shoppers that aren’t familiar with eBay may be navigating/clicking on the promoted links, while seasoned eBayers are looking for the best price/nearest location of items.

Not too much listing/sourcing activity this week during the holiday. My wife & I hosted my parents, her parents, and her sister. It was a nice Thanksgiving and then on Friday we took my parents to the World Trade Center grounds – the new park and pools first and then up to the top of One World Trade – as they hadn’t been since it was still a pile of rubble 10 years ago. Incredible views at dusk!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Brian Treasures from Grandmas.

Like I said before when I initially saw that you sold the jacket for less than it was worth, I used to specialize in vintage denim–my partner would have advised me if I had found that jacket, he has had the brand before. 1920’s and older is considered very old in the denim world. I don’t blame you for not selling it, I would have really had to think long and hard about letting a mistake of that magnitude go–I have made some pricey mistakes, on an Italian pot worth at least double what I got for it (on auction) and a print that also was worth more than twice as much–I did ship those items because I still got hundreds of dollars for them.

Congratulations on that amazing jacket sale. That’s amazing.

My numbers for this week:

Total Items in Store: 2074
Items Sold: 43
Total Sales: $803
Cost of Items Sold: $106
Average Price Sold: $18.69
Average Cost of Item: $2.49
Highest Price Item Sold: $51.96 x 2 : ULTIMA V for PC and for Commodore 64
Number of items listed this week: 48
Average age of items in store (in days since listing): 287
Average number of days between listing and selling this week: 126
Median age of sales (in days, between listing and selling): 50
Sell-through rate (for the week): 2.07%
# of Hats Sold: 23 (53% of sales)

I’ve worked for a couple of online ecommerce companies over the last 5 years. One thing I noticed in recent years is that a lot of people are on their phones making purchases on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day. To try and capitalize on this I started a sale in the middle of the day on Thanksgiving Day and I ended up making the most sales I’ve ever had in one day (14). I don’t know if it was a fluke. Black Friday was very quiet for me but then Saturday was another very busy day. This is not a particularly popular time of year for hat buying so I’m grateful for all my sales.

Hope every has a good week.

Congrats on a phenomenal week. I hope your old denim jacket buyer can’t still come back and give negative feedback. Did he already leave positive feedback? I would have done the same, even if I did receive the negative.

Congratulations on the jacket sale. It was truly buried “treasure”

Nov. 19 – 25
Total Items in Store: 928
Items Sold: 16
Total Sales (Gross Profit): $415
Highest Price: $115 (Brown & Sharpe Micrometer Model 55 2″-6″ Set)
Average Price: $26
Returns: 0
Cost of Items Sold: $32
Costs of Items Purchased this Week: $341

Business really dropped off for me at the beginning of last week. I only sold three items up until Thanksgiving day. Then it was like the floodgate of sales opened up. But that’s not been unusual in my experience. It’s always dead right before a major holiday, but sales resume just like normal right afterwards.

We had a nice time off from work and went to a huge auction about 1.5 hours away from us. I ended up buying lots of glassware…one of the things I dread selling. But there wasn’t really much else to buy at this one. But my score of the week came that same day when I bought a box lot of almost 200 glass plate negatives from around 1910. I spent more than I anticipated – $155. But I think I’ll make my money back pretty easily enough judging by my sold item research.

In regards to your denim jacket sale, I truly believe you made the right call and it’s what I would have done. If I sold an item and I found that I underpriced it by $40 or $50, then yeah I would just consider it a lesson learned and forget it. But as in your case where it was over a grand, I would have lost some major sleep! From a business point of view, we’re in it to make money and I’m sure that customer would understand despite their anger for not getting a steal. Even a corporation like Walmart wouldn’t sell a 72” HD flat screen TV to a customer for $50 if there was a mistake with the price tag.

By the way, if you’re looking for more wool socks, I’ve had pretty good luck at TJMaxx and Marshalls. They’re usually “seconds,” but I’ve never had any issues with them. And I’ve found them for over half off the retail price, sometimes only $4 or $5 a pair. I usually don’t focus on name brand, but instead look at the wool percentages written on the package. I steer clear of anything less than 75% wool, but that’s just personal preference and depends on what you want to use the socks for. I’ve found SmartWool, Darn Tough, and Cabot and Sons for way cheap.

What I’ve learned about eBay over the last decade is that the “binding contract” aspect of the sale is BS. We’ve all had MULTIPLE buyers that haven’t followed through on a sale. It’s frustrating. But as they say, “cost of doing business” dealing with these deadbeats. And so we all move on and make our millions on eBay.

That said, when a seller backs out, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT’S BEEN ONLY ONCE IN OVER 8 YEARS, I say, we should get a pass as well. Right? That’s my feeling. Nonetheless, I cringed when you told the story.
What would I have done? THE EXACT SAME THING.
Caren
eBay ID: TheSpeckledGoatLLC

I think you guys aren’t acknowledging just how shady what you did was.

If I was the original buyer I would have absolutely left a negative and called Ebay to report what you had done. It wasn’t a “mistake”, the buyer had more knowledge than you and took advantage of that to scoop up a deal, which is exactly what you and I do everyday when we buy stuff at yard sales and thrifts and flip it online.

How would you feel if someone you bought an item from at auction realized what it’s worth and came knocking on your door demanding it back because its worth 20x what you paid him for it?

I get it, it’s a super valuable item. If I was in your shoes I might do the same. But it’s super shady, especially trying to blackmail the buyer into not leaving a negative by telling them you’ll block them from bidding on it.

Last spring I found 16 pairs of Smartwool socks in the Goodwill bins. None of them were paired up so I probably spent an hour meticulously going through that bin of socks/undergarments/smalls one by one. Luckily our Goodwill outlet isn’t very competitive and no one else was interested in old socks so I was able to take my time.
Since I was paying by the pound I probably spent less than $5 for all of them. I thought about selling them but ultimately decided to keep them.

Interesting convo as I’m finishing up the podcast on % of your store that is high dollar. You’re absolutely right, you can’t sell something for $1000 if you don’t have something listed for $1000.

I just did a quick analysis of my store (currently 898 items):
– 559 listings under $30 (62%)
– 276 listings $30-$100 (31%)
– 62 listings over $100 (7%)

And then an analysis of my sales over the past 90 days (257 sales):
– 159 sales under $30 (62%)
– 84 sales $30-$100 (33%)
– 14 sales over $100 (5%)

Pretty astounding how close they mirror each other. So, presumably, if I get more $100+ inventory, I would also sell more $100+ items. But can a store survive with only that inventory? I would think not because the volume would be lower.

You guys! That jacket was a message from the universe that you need to do auctions occasionally– only under the right circumstances. I think the right circumstances would be an item that is unique and you have nothing to compare with. ALWAYS start the auction high, as high as you would have set the Buy It Now price. Then you have lost nothing– no risk in comparison with BIN.

I would have done the same thing– said that it was a mistake and relisted as auction.

I did choose to eat a $500 mistake one time (had a $1000 email offer on an amber necklace that I had sold as BIN for $500.) I have chosen to eat other mistakes as well. But $1000 is a lot of money, and I see nothing unethical about what you did. Airlines don’t always honor their mistake airfares, by the way.

Personally, I am really surprised you guys shared the story because what occurred does not seem consistent with the general selling thought pattern that has been shared in here.

I am surprised that the buyer (who you noted is also a seller) did not try to pursue the case through ebay. It would seem to me that ebay would have probably taken some action that may have resulted in a loss of the money you earned by canceling the sale after you agreed to it and then putting the item back up for auction. It may have also resulted in some action taken on your account.

Very tough situation you were in with that Denim Jacket sale. Since you asked the question of “What Would We Do?”…

If we were in that situation, we would have honored the original sale for $60. Our thought was that at the time the sale was complete (payment), you didn’t know how valuable the jacket was. Learning after the fact (after they paid) doesn’t change that. Was it an expensive mistake? Possibly. You still would have made money on the deal, but not as much as you could have if you had known how valuable it was beforehand. The only “loss” is in the lost Opportunity Cost.

But how many valuable items have we all passed up in garage sales, thrift stores, etc. because we didn’t know how valuable they were? I’m sure we all do it all the time. And we bank on the fact that most of the rest of the population passes on them as well. And we love the fact that we are willing to learn more about items and put in the work to sell items at a profit. That knowledge is how we make our living. And sometimes…others will do it to us if they know more. There is always a bigger fish…

For Veronica and I, we always think that the right thing is if it works in the reverse. The best analogy I can think of is that if you were at a garage sale, found that jacket on sale for $60, you KNEW that it was worth hundreds if not $1000, you paid $60 (planning to flip it for huge profit on eBay), when another buyer at the payment table tells the seller what it was really worth, then the seller says “here is your $60, I obviously made a mistake, so the sale is void”. I can only imagine how that would have looked.

Would you have honored their request, after you had paid for the item?

I know that as a buyer in that situation, after I paid, the deal should be done. So if I would have expected the deal to go through as a buyer, then I have to honor the deal as a seller. For us, that is the line. You pay the money, the deal is done.

End of the day, this is just our opinion. And it is worth what you paid for it…zero. We are all free to do things as we would like. Can I tell you how to run your store? Nope. I love the phrase in the hiking world “Hike Your Own Hike”. Meaning that we should all do things in our own way, and we get the rewards and punishments as a result of those decisions. No two hikers carry the same gear, do things the same way, etc. But we can learn by asking others how they do things, and then decide what is best for us. Just like you did by asking this question.

Still lots of love for you guys, love what you do, and the service that you guys provide. Just a professional disagreement. Heck, we are still in disagreement on a lot of things: GTC vs 30 Day, List & Forget It vs List and Attend It, Mannequin vs Floor…

Just par for the course… LOL!

$50 to $1,000 ???? Yes, I would have canceled the sale in a heartbeat, you had to.. I bought something extremely rare like that once from a yard sale. Sold it immediately, shipped it, then found out what it was worth a few days later.

It’s an interesting question of “what would you do”. I would have have honored the sale and Matt would have canceled. Anyhow I applaud you both for being honest and sharing the story. It would have been just as easy to say the original buyer didn’t pay and that you relisted. No one here would have been the wiser. I appreciate your honesty and openness to have the conversation! Back to listing. 🙂

I’m surprised the ‘wrong color’ situation isn’t more common – especially with clothes. Ebay should have a Pantone Color Chart on their site that all sellers and buyers can refer to… Sellers can just refer to the Pantone color code that best matches the product they are selling.

My numbers for the week:
Week of Nov. 19-25, 2017
Total Items in Store: 478
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $59
Total Sales: $505
Highest Price Sold: $70 (Adidas black, shell toe, Superstar bb shoes)
Average Price Sold: $25.25
Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $87
Number of items listed this week: 24
Sold prices do not include shipping charges (we do not offer free shipping).

Store ratio: 2/3 used clothing, 1/3 non-clothing/yard sale type items.
Net “profit” for the week, $355 (after all fees and purchase costs). Average net sale $17.75, this week, ($17-$18 usually). Ave. profit per hour, $27 (includes listing & shipping 3-5 items per 2 hours worked), ave. is $25-$30 per hour.

Had another great week selling snow boots and other cold weather items. Still have about 1/2 of inventory priced at 15% off to get things moving and to sell winter items before Christmas. Money spent on new inventory during 4 thrift store visits, and should bring in $500-600 in future sales.

Last week, a cashier at a thrift complimented me on my blanket lined, jeans jacket I was wearing. Told him I bought it at his company. And the jeans I was wearing, and the sweatshirt, and the belt and shoes ($18 total!).

11/19/17-11/26/17

Tough week. Had my store on vacation mode a good portion of it with a return date of the Monday after holiday – not sure if that effected sales. I did identify an issue with our calculated shipping where we were not offering FedEx smart post for a lot of listings that by adding really improved our shipping costs – hopefully that helps as it was a big slip up on my part. We did see 5 sales already this week so hopefully it is a sign of things to come.

The recent conversations that Jay has been toting around focusing on bigger inventory has gotten me thinking — as the last 2 months i have been bogging myself down on one estate i purchased that has stuff of lower values and longer tail. Earlier in the year one thing i did pretty well was source bigger items — and my sales were a lot better then — so i am taking the initiative to do sourcing everyday and focusing almost entirely on big items (with some balance on smaller stuff to keep the funnel going as needed) While I did not have the biggest listing week last week with the holidays my emphasis on bigger items went well and already flipped a keyboard 70 dollars to 170 one day online. Back to it and looking to hit my listing goal of 100 items for the week to get back on track.

Total items in store (beginning of week): 861
Items sold: 5
Weekly sell through: % 0.58
Total Sales: $195.4 (no shipping)
Average price: $39.08
Cost of items sold: $31.91
Gross profit: $156.32
Highest item sold: MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 3 LOGIC MOTHERBOARD X883815-010 + Housing w/ Battery etc.. (86.00 cost, 0 dollar cost.)
New items listed: 4
Asking price of new items listed: $1029.00
Cost of new items listed: $210.00

I would honour the sale. It’s simply the right thing to do.

I love your podcasts and admire your transparency and honesty, but I feel sad that you cancelled the sale.

Sure, no one likes to feel like they are ‘losing money’, but actually the original selling price is the one you set based on the research you had done and your experience. You set it at a level you were happy to accept, given the work you had put into it. The original buyer just knew more about the item than you did.

This information imbalance is one of the things that enables us to do what we all do. In fact, we completely rely on it to buy our stock at a low enough price to profit from the re-sale. I think we have to accept that sometimes we will be the ones who do not realise the ‘full value’ of something.
That feeling when something sells really quick is always a mixed one. Great, it sold, but – oh no, I priced it too cheap! I am a fool and I know nothing! We just have to learn from it for next time.

Doing business online provides a de-humanising distance which can lead us to behave in ways we wouldn’t dream of behaving face to face, with real human beings. Imagine that the original buyer is someone in your community. Someone you shared your Thanksgiving meal with. Someone with whom you wish to build community.
Do you still cancel?

$1, $100, $1,000 or $10,000 +++ makes no difference.
Good business practice and integrity have no price tag.

T-Satt:
“By doing that, does the buyer of the original item get a second shipping notice from eBay?”

I would guess yes, and I never thought of this. I would make a lousy criminal, obviously.

Caren
eBay ID: TheSpeckledGoatLLC

My numbers for the week of 11/19/17:
Total Items in Store: 99
Items Sold: 16
Cost of Items Sold: $54
Total Sales: $495 + shipping
Highest Price Sold: $65 tie (Christmas luminary & Camo Hunting Vest)
Average Price Sold: $30.94
Returns: 0

If I have an item that I can’t find info on, that is always going to get listed as an auction the first time around. I put a high starting bid and let it go. Even if it doesn’t sell, you can tell alot by the interest in gets in watchers and views. If it doesn’t sell but gets a lot of attention, you can figure your starting price was close, or even accurate and you just need the right buyer. Then you know where to price it as a BIN. And if there is no interest, at least you know it is not one of those rare “denim jackets”. You don’t have to know everything if you use Auctions wisely. And I have said it before but starting a $.99 Auction on a sure thing item (one that you are very aware of the going price on and that has high sell through) generally ends in a higher than average sale price and seems to boost sales across the board…like a loss leader without loosing anything.

On the sale — just curious, does worthpoint (7 years back) have any data on the item? Apologies if that was covered on the podcast i was in and out packing the car while listening. Personally i think it is well worth the money if you are selling professionally – not just for avoiding mistakes — it just saves sooo much time as well.

Great podcast. It too would honor the sale.

Store Week 11/19/17 – 11/25/17
Total items in store: 1642
Items sold: 16
Cost of items sold: $33.73
Total sales: $503.91
Highest price sold: $100.00 (Vintage quilt top)
Average price sold: $31.49
Returns: 0
Money spent on new inventory this week: $3.00

I’ve worked in retail for the last 24 years and this was the first Thanksgiving/Black Friday that I’ve had off in probably that many years (or very close to it), all thanks to eBay! It was a glorious holiday – I didn’t get up and leave the dinner table early to go to work, I relaxed and made pies, and I even went shopping myself on Friday. eBay is definitely something I’m thankful for this year!

My sales weren’t exactly exciting last week, which was probably closely related to my relaxed holiday break. But it was totally worth the time with family. And this week is off to a good start. Cyber Monday is treating me alright!

Also, I haven’t quite finished the podcast, but I’m totally in awe of the jacket sale! That’s a tough call, but I think it might be worth the possible bad feedback to get that sale (although I’d feel pretty bad). I sold a pristine jean jacket last year that I knew was good, even though it wasn’t Levi’s. But I put it up for I think $300 or so and it sold instantly (as did a Levi’s denim hat that I sold for $250). I think I’ll definitely try the auction route next time I find good denim. Thanks for another great podcast!

I wish I had the problem with the $1000+ denim jacket!!!
But the people who have commented and said you were wrong are welcome to their opinion. And it’s just that their opinion, everyone has one. No one knows what they would do until they are faced with a similar situation.
I personally applaud you for the fact that you shared your story with everyone. You could have just let the sale pass and never comment. But you put it out there for all to see. When everything is said and done it is your decision and yours alone.
At this point in my ebay store I would have done the same thing. That sale alone is more than I have made in each of the last three months. When you have to work ebay alone and work around taking care of your sick husband, something will suffer. And it won’t be my husband. My house, my lawn, my ebay store but not my SweetiePie!! I’m fine with ebay the way it is for me now. I just need to be able to source higher profit items again.

Wow, cool podcast. I was actually wondering about that jacket because I was creeping on your solds on that Monday morning and saw it. Nice sale!

I had a good week on eBay, terrible week at home. Us and the two kids got a nasty stomach flu that stuck with us from Thursday to Monday, and I’m still quite weak from it.

Sales: CAD$653, 10 items, $65/item average
COGS: $138
Expenditures: $104
Net profit: $298
Listed: $1310, 9 items
Notable sales: perfume $25–>$125. This is the first time I tried selling perfume, looking good! That $25 paid for 3 more bottles that are also listed. Otherwise, just a lot of bread & butter stuff, as you say.
Didn’t scavenge anything all that amazing.

R & J, I grew up in rural W.V., and my grandfather wore this style jacket. He was a carpenter, but it was a commonly used jacket, all occupations. I recall referring to it as a ‘railroad’ jacket, I suppose because it was standard attire for railroad crews. Based on where you live, this may be one of more you find. Good luck. BTW, the real take away for me in this sale is the way Ryanne handled unravelling and reconstructing the transaction. Well done!!!

Yeh, ‘chore jacket’ would be more accurate.
This discovery makes me wonder what else I’ve passed on without investigating potential. Little wake up call.

Better described as “back” in Morgantown, WV after being in Fla. and Ga. for 40 yrs +/-.

What would I do in this case with the jacket? This us a difficult question because I’m not sure if it is just a business issue or a moral issue.

This happened to me in a different way. My lister accidentiasly llisted a $90 pair of shoes for about $25 and they sold right away. I merely saw it as a business decision. I thought it wouldnt be worth a defect at that time because i would lose TRS status, so i sent the shoes.

So, if this is merely a business decision, then I think J & R did the right thing.

But what if this is a moral issue? Then it us either black and white or gray. If it is a black and white moral issue, then I agree with T-Satt, it doesn’t matter how much money it is, right is right at any price.

But if this is a moral gray issue, then I believe there are two principles to guide us. 1. Do you have to lie to make it work? If so, then I believe it is wrong. 2. Dont go against what your conscience says. God gave us a conscience to guide us. If you go against what your what your conscience says, then I believe it is wrong. As the famous Monk said many years ago, “to go against conscience is neither right nor safe”.

So to me the real question here is to define what type of issue we are facing here.

Mark

I’m curious, why didn’t you price this mega high with best offer like you usually do? It’s very possible you left another 1k on the table. Note the four players bidding in the last few minutes of the auction. After the buzz that was created after the first sale, maybe deep research and consultation would’ve been the way to go?

I think you guys handled it well! If it ever happens to me I will handle it the same way!

I haven’t read all of the comments yet so I don’t know if anyone recommended a show on Netflix called “Blue Gold”. It’s all about a man who buys and sells jeans and he travels a lot to Japan to auction them off. So I am not surprised that someone from Japan bought the jacket.

Funniest line in the whole thread:

“A whole lot of the ‘disappointed dad’ outrage”. LOL X 10,000.

Some sad collateral damage from all of this: My irrational fear of listing a $1000 item for $50 (which causes me to diddle away hours doing ridiculous amounts of research on what usually turns out to be a $20 item) has now been fanned into a flaming fireball of stupidity.

I want to hire your helper. Or a shrink. Or both.
Caren
eBay ID: TheSpeckledGoatLLC

I would do the same thing for an extra $50 on the jacket, let alone $1000.

I’ve had a lot worse things done to me for the sake of money or worthless objects by other people. People I know, politicians, my employers, family, etc. don’t follow through on promises all the time – I couldn’t care less if I made a stranger across the country mad for $1000 and they are out nothing they didn’t have 2 seconds before the eBay sale.

$1000 is life changing money to me – that’s 2 weeks less I would have to work in my life, it would be a huge chunk off my mortgage. Getting an extra $1000 any day would be the greatest day of the year for me – especially if it only means burning a non-existent bridge with a complete stranger.

Total Items in Store: 432
Items Sold: 20
Cost of Items Sold: $263 + $35 free shipping
Total Sales: $932
Highest Price Sold: $170 (Plates from last year’s day after Christmas sale Plate Set
Average Price Sold: $47
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $250+ (Part 2 Indy thrift Xmas boutique plus some online RA)
Number of items listed this week: 16

Great week for me, though some days were completely dead. Saturday was the best day. Friday felt like no sales. This time of year is so busy it’s like whack-a-mole. What do I need to take care of next? The post office drop bin is always full and people drive like crap. My kids also inadvertently downloaded a bunch of bugs in our computer and my credit card number was relayed. Still trying to fix that and we are not techies. So, ground my listing to halt and I’m shipping on the phone and posting this at work on a break. Enjoyed the shopping binge up to Thanksgiving and now plan to keep sitting out until the day after Christmas clearance. So busy with the kids, relatives I missed a couple of price adjustments on RA – doh! I hope this is a good week for everyone on Ebay and that I can get back to listing on a clean machine this week. The phone is so small to list, I need the keyboard.

Regarding the jacket, I almost didn’t comment. But, I decided to say that I hope you don’t let the discussion get you down. It’s easy to just write whatever on the internet. At the end of the day, we’re all learning and growing.

Nov 20-26
Items in store: 788
Sales: $467.49
Items sold: 19
COGS: $44

I am a contracts attorney and what occurred is legal. I often hear “but it’s not fair…moral ethical..blah blah” from both buyers and sellers. I tell them the fair part is what they agreed to in the contract – that is the “fair umbrella” they choose to stand under. Whether this “contract umbrella” has holes that allows rain to fall on one or the other is dependent on the facts of a certain situation. It could go in favor of one or the other.

Issue: May a seller cancel a sale on eBay for any reason?

Rules: Ebay User Guide which all sellers and buyers “sign” allows for cancellations. It does not require buyer agreement to unilaterally cancel a transaction.
“Errors” is an intentionally vague term that can go in favor of buyer or seller. To operate on this platform requires an assumption of risk that the buyer may never pay; the seller may cancel. Further, parties agree to the “remedies” – feedback and refunds.

Analysis: Regardless of how one views an error as right or wrong, it is allowed by the terms of the contract – the User Policy; although the policy gives examples of an error, there is no prohibition on cancelling due to pricing in error. A remedy is available to the buyer – negative feedback and full refund to make him “whole again”, which is the standard remedy. Ryanne and Jay offered the remedy, which was accepted albeit with some drama on buyers end.

Conclusion: The cancellation was legally allowed. As regarding ethics, the morality of any Marketplace should be set by a code of conduct. Ebay has Policies and User Guides with vague language. Until Ebay decides what is a “moral” error and sets this forth in its Policies, it is permissible to cancel a sale, as long the seller also provides the required remedies.

My two cents. I would not consider this in the realm of Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices as the buyer agreed to the rules and has been provided a remedy.

I would have absolutely cancelled the sale, but I would have put it up for Buy It Now for an absurd price like $5000 instead of using an auction. Like you said, someone had a proxy bid and would have paid up for it had someone else put in a competing bid. I think an absurdly-priced BIN without “make an offer” would trigger either an absurdly high full-price sale or else a slew of unsolicited offer emails.

As for the ethics, someone was going to sell this jacket for over $1000. It might as well have been you. I don’t see an issue with cancelling as the pricing truly was an error.

The forum will be state court if arbitration cannot be resolved. The ebay policy and user agreement can say “you create a legally binding contract”, but state laws determine what is a contract. There has to actually be a forum to have a dispute – there is no “EBAY COURT”. So there will have a plaintiff and defendant in state court. The plaintiff can present the ebay user policy and the judge will see what terms the parties agreed to; however since so much is undefined, it will be a hard fight. That being said, even if someone “wins” the case against the seller, they cannot generally force a sale and delivery of an item. The buyer gets “made whole again” – a refund (and maybe legal fees). The seller cannot force a payment either but can be made whole again too – such as costs of re-listing the item. No more legal advice from me – this is a cerebral exercise that has no real application. No one will normally go to state court over an ebay transaction; a settlement would occur before that likely to kill the issue for everyone. OUT for me on this topic. And no more legal advice – the thought makes me sick to my stomach. I am quitting the law in six months to sell full-time so I don’t have to talk to people everyday and listen to their problems. Take care everyone.

I would have sent it at $50. No judgement, love you guys, but I’m very suprised. Just sayin’…

I bid on a Dries Van Noten men’s coat… worth a few hundred, like many, many hundreds. The seller got the spelling of the designer’s name wrong, so I nabbed it for under $100. They cancelled, no explanation. I was furious – but nice, and persistent, in my eventual responses (pricing error). I can’t tell you how many times I under-priced things and sent it anyway, and I mentioned this in my Emails. The seller wrote back: ‘well, sometimes life gets in the way of good business, and sometimes not.’

There are many unicorns out there. Virginia, Beverly Hills, Idaho, even Hoboken. You just have to recognize them (you know this already, I’m sure). But to screw someone because you were salivating for a few extra hundred? Oy. Scary. It’s a little scary.

I must say now though – I have a business idea called “Ebay Court”. I’ll do televised arbitration “Judge Judy” style (which is what she really is – an arbiter). Guest judges will be allowed. We’ll get all kinds of crazypants on “Ebay Court TV”. “Crayzpants” is my own legal jargon term. The “Case of the Swapped Dolphin Sculpture” will be a good starter.

Judge me if you want, but I would have done what Jay and Ryanne did. I’m not going to explain or rationalize my position, just telling it like it is.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Utahbill.

RR Store Week Nov 19-25, 2017

Total Items in Store: 1,378
Items Sold: 21
Cost of Items Sold: $22.39
Total Sales: $332.71
Highest Price Sold: $42.29 (UK Jimi Hendrix album cover; no vinyl)
Average Price Sold: $15.84
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $48.78
Number of items listed this week: 13

Fascinating question this week. Truth be told, I would have done the same thing. If there was over $1000 bucks just sitting on my porch, it would eat me up. I look at it like this: I (and Jay & Ryanne) operate my business with a high level of integrity and customer service, whether it’s a $5 dollar or $500 dollar item. As a result, my defect rating is very low. If I have to take a ding to turn $50 into $1000, then so be it. I can live with that. It’s not like this situation arises on a regular basis. One slight bending of the rules does not a “shady” seller make.

Jay, I’m also surprised at some of the reactions. There must be some pretty sore fingers out there from all that wagging. And I’m literally laughing out loud at some of your responses. You’re really stirring the Instant Pot!

Took some time off from listing to be with family and friends leading up to and including the holiday. No good deed goes unpunished, it seems. Awful week! But this week I’ve already surpassed last week’s total, and after hitting some great estate sales over the weekend, I’ve been listing plenty. Off to list more.

*Paul*

I agree with Jay and Ryanne. We play by eBay’s rules, and as pointed out above, they allow for cancellations, even after payment. I’m not sure where I would place the line between underpricing by $10 or $1000 and letting it go or canceling for more money. Under $100 I’m pretty sure I would let it go and make sure I didn’t make the same mistake again. But when it is a few hundred, I’m
pretty sure I would cancel and re-list.

On a different subject and pod cast, just curious when the next Shampoo & Booze will be out, I think it has been a couple of months. What made me think about it is this link on military.com about an unusual Air B&B: Military.com

I was reading thorough the comments above. And it got me thinking about my own experiences as a buyer on this crazy thing called the internet. When you are buying from regular people…on eBay, Facebook, one of the myriad of selling apps out there…it is a different set of rules. I don’t consider it a done deal until I have the item in my hands. I source often on local Facebook groups. It is pretty normal to have people back out, change their minds, whatever. It’s happened to me plenty of times that a deal falls through after it was made but before it was in my possession: “I just looked this up and they’re going for $$ so I want 20x what we agreed on, my husband doesn’t want to sell it for that price, my kid saw me getting rid of it and wants to keep it after all. I have heard every single one of these. And as a buyer it’s frustrating…but not really THAT frustrating because I know it can happen in these venues. Your buyer has a right to be peeved, but he’ll get over it. Probably faster than you’d think because he never actually had the jacket.
Totally to justify and just to make yourselves feel better, you could look at it this way. If you bought a brand new car and were waiting on delivery of it (custom order paint), and it comes off the docks and is on the way to the dealership where you are going to pick it up, and the dealer-owned hauler gets in a wreck setting your new car into flames, who’s car is it? Does it go on YOUR insurance claim when you never even touched it yet? Or does the dealership assume ownership until safe delivery is made to the customer? Just another way to look at it.

Nov 19 – Nov 25, 2017
Total Items in Store: 379
Items Sold: 16
Cost of Items Sold: approx. $16
Total Sales: $205.63
Highest Price Sold: $30 (Lululemon pants)
Average Price Sold: $12.85
Returns: 0
International Sales: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $47.76
Number of items listed this week: 36

Oof, it was a slow week w/ a couple of $0 days, yikes. I wasn’t too focused on it though since my main goal was to get my active listings up, w/ a goal to be at 500 by the end of December. I was so close to 400 yesterday, so I pushed through and got to that goal — even resorting to looking for items that had dropped off mistakenly, I found 2! I know there are probably a bit more. But enough is enough w/ the low sales, so back to giving that a bit more attention by running a sale and some auctions. And for the next couple days, will be cutting back from too many hours on eBay and giving home some attention, it’s a wreck. Have a good week everyone.

Since you asked, I would have honored the sale. And I am surprised that you didn’t.

I wish places like GOODWILL would stop playing pricing roulette at the cash register when an item has not had its price altered or switched.

My wife and I had a great conversation about this story last night over a dinner date. I would have honored the sale and dropped the buyer a line congratulating him. No Question, I know I would have. Going with my gut, I think $5k would have been my minimum price to considering cancelling. $1k doesn’t move my business ethics meter.
My rationale is that I don’t want to cross that line and put a price on my integrity. Karma has treated me well in the many deals that have come my way, and many more are still to come. A thousand bucks is a minimal thing in the grand scheme of things.

My wife would have made me cancel the sale and relist.

My wife’s rationale is… THAT’S a THOUSAND DOLLARS! We need that money! We have 4 kids! You want to quit your job! That would help!

So yeah, my wife wins that argument over my sentimental reasoning. The buyer will get over it.

In regards to the negative feedback here, I think the thing that is irking people here are two things:
-You lied to the buyer and said it was a mistake – it wasn’t.
-You feedback extorted the buyer so he would have a fair chance at winning the item he already bought. (Pretty clever really)

I’m not judging you – those two lines are facts.

Knowing this story was coming I expected the story to be that for some reason the buyer didn’t pay and you caught a break. I too was surprised you cancelled it.

So having said all that, take your lumps, let it roll off and move on. You are satisfied with the outcome and that’s all that matters. It was a great story and I’m thankful you shared.

For some of y’all that are taking this way too seriously, you need to get off your high horses and realize that J&R aren’t some all-powerful faultless ebay “God’s” who dictate your direction in business. They’re just people and are subject to the same ethical dilemas we all face. Cast those stones folks, I’m sure if you were laying bare your business in transparent honesty on the internet like J&R do then there’d be plenty o’ stones flying your way.

My main problem is with all the douche bags who wrote J&R to rub it in their faces they undersold the item. Why do people do that? Does their life have so little substantial value to them that they just have to go around peeing in other folks cheerios to feel some form of self worth?

Total Items in Store: 903
Items Sold: 12
Cost of Items Sold: $33
Total Sales: $282
Profit: $249
Highest Price Sold: $40 Silver Jeans
Average Price Sold: $23.50
Average Profit: $20.74

I have an unpaid item that I didn’t include – $100 pair of shoes. Ugh…
Pretty bad week – no sales Friday-Sunday on ebay! That was weird. All the sudden on Monday I have a bunch of sales. Apparently folks only shop while at work. Lol.

I took off two days this week to give me a really long weekend. I wasn’t allowed to take off last week because so many other folks were. I took off the time to really focus on the garage conversion to my ebay room and completion of the den (former poorly converted ebay room) to a gameroom.

I insulated the garage ceiling, got a 5000W heater, and cleaned out a bunch of junk. I was able to get all of my games moved into the now totally awesome game room. I’ll snap some photos to post next week once it’s clean – still misc crap lying everywhere as I finish the garage.

Due to all the work going on, no listing happening. This needed to happen, so I’m fine with no listing happening.

Have a great week!

I have been thinking about this for a couple of days. There are so many facets. Living in a glass house is tough. I have had my integrity questioned and I have questioned integrity and it never leaves you feeling good about what happened. Hopefully people appreciate the honesty and the sense of self it takes to put a tough decision out there but, but more importantly, in my opinion, the sense of self it takes to weather the judgment of the decision.

My initial reaction was that I would not back out. I priced it. I didn’t fat finger the number. It was a price I picked and now I must honor it just as I would expect it to be honored. But that is because I think of it in terms of me as a person, not a business.

But this is a business. J & R are CEO’s of their business. They answer to themselves, the shareholders.

Let’s assume we are all shareholders in XYZ Corp. The CEO structures a deal to sell a division for in a structured deal for $1 Million. Once the deal is inked, internal information surfaces that suggests that the division will be worth $10 million to the new company. Given this change, wouldn’t you demand that the CEO find any way to undue the deal? In fact, I think every one of us would call for their heads if they did not try to find the provision that undid it. It’s business. The CEO owes maximizing the bottom line to it’s shareholders. Is it any different that the CEO’s and shareholders are one and the same?

When I remove the personal aspect of it, my analysis changes and my “gut reaction” to how I would handle it seems to go away. It’s business. In that light, they had to make a business decision. What was the cost of undoing the deal? The only two costs I see are negative feedback and the theoretical danger of a lawsuit. They managed the negative feedback portion and removed it as a cost. As for litigation, that would never happen for the reasons previously stated and the practical aspects. As a career litigator, I can tell you that you couldn’t afford me to recover what, a grand in damages? And the buyer would have to sue in J & R’s state unless they could prove substantial ties to their own state, so buyer is having to fund the small claims action in another state including travel. That won’t happen. So what is the downside to canceling the sale other than putting it out there for public fodder? I think they acted as CEO’s should.

On the jacket issue, I don’t look at it as a moral issue, but isn’t it a legal issue in some way? isn’t there an implied contract to making a sale on ebay? I am also curious why didn’t you take the buyer’s $600 offer–wasn’t that a decent compromise?

I see there’s a lot of comments on the denim jacket. I haven’t read all of them, but if I was the buyer at $60 that had my purchase cancelled I wouldn’t have had an issue with it. Since Jay and Ryanne were honest about the situation. Honesty carries a lot of weight.

I have seen sellers cancel sales due to “out of stock” “broken item” “lost item” etc only to later relist the same item at a higher price. In that situation as the buyer I would leave negative feedback.

BTW, all the people who contacted you for selling that jacket at too low a price were just upset that they didn’t buy it first. If they had purchased it they wouldn’t have said a peep.

On another note I just bought some wool socks at costco 4 pair for $8. Not sure of the % of wool, but they certainly are warm and comfortable.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Gompers.

I vote this as the thread of 2017 – enjoy reading everyone’s thoughts and opinions on the jacket!

For some reason, this thread reminded me of a great old tv show (from the 1980s) called Ethics in America. For those you enjoyed this debate, you might enjoy listening while you list. It’s free here Ethics in America Episodes Video Link

Items In Store: 325
Items Sold: 1
Cost of Items Sold: $7.50(around)
Total Sales: $55

HIghest Price Sold: $55 (Allen Edmond Shoes) Also lowest price!!!

Poor week from post-vacation fallout. Does anyone else have this? I was gone for 16 days and I put my store on a long handling time, gradually reducing the handling time. Did pretty well, selling 10 items while I was gone.
Once I got back I started listing within 24 hours to get some fresh items. And the store collapses-literally one sale. The weird thing is this is a pattern the last 3 times I travelled. Sell well while gone. When home immediately list, list every day, trim a few prices, run a sale and the store stalls. Any ideas why?

Returns: 1
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $ 0

My first ever auction win on Everything But The House (bleh), was a vintage cookie jar of no great value, but the family that owned the estate reneged on the whole auction and locked the auction company out. EBTH sent a message saying basicallly, “we’re having our lawyers look into it, but stuff happens.” Never heard another word about it, so it seems, at least in the world of EBTH, the seller is king.

But on the topic of liability, I don’t see how any buyer could claim to be owed more than the value of the winning bid or accepted offer, which, in R&J’s case, was refunded to the buyer. But then, I’m no lawyer.

I just want to add one more thought to the jacket bit. The idea that there is a legal infringement is ridiculous. I have on at least 2 occasions purchased something from Walmart online, at rock bottom prices. I completed checkout…paid for the items. They ran out of stock on the “special price” quantity of items. My orders have been cancelled…not backordered…cancelled. With a stock form letter apology. Actually I just pulled one up from my email.
Exact quote: “Thank you for shopping with Walmart.com. Unfortunately, we’ve had to cancel the items listed below because they were not available in your selected store when we were preparing your order for pickup. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.”
So you see, they did not merely backorder my item and fulfill it at the price I purchased it at. They cancelled & refunded it without my consent. If I want the item, I would have to repurchase it when available, and at whatever that future price is listed at. The jacket situation is not much different in my opinion. The reasons may be slightly different, but the means to the customer is the same. I’m not getting the item I wanted at the price I wanted. Welcome to online shopping!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but wanted to pop in to say hello!

I would have cancelled that sale in a heart beat. Obviously buyers don’t have to honor the terms of the contract and pay for items, so sellers are not really bound either. It’s not cool to cancel a sale because you priced a $100 item for $50. But a $1000 item for $50? I’m on your side.

Hope everybody is having an awesome holiday selling season!

Bryan

I still want to know what J&R’s thinking was on not taking that $600–they had NO idea what the jacket would ultimately earn.

Lots of interesting discussion this week. 🙂

November 19 – 25th 2017
Total items in store: Etsy 469 // Ebay 598 (Items not crossposted I list different types of things on Etsy and Ebay)
Items Sold: Etsy 28 // Ebay 21
Cost of items Sold: Etsy $70.68 // Ebay $66.90
Total Sales: Etsy $411.65 // Ebay $407.79
Highest Price Sold: $49 Masters of the Universe Blast Attack action figure
Average Price Sold: $16.72
Returns: 0
Number of items listed this week: 23 (listed at $279)

I was out of town visiting family most of last week which was great. I am thankful for the flexibility that selling on ebay gives. I left my shop active while I was away (just extended the handling time) and shipped a whole bunch of orders on Monday! 🙂

TSatt, thanks for the ideas. I sell clothing, shoes, vintage eyeglasses, fabric, ephemera, leather goods, books, Le Creuset pans, hats, costumes…. I have about 15% in auctions. Those I would switch around the picture and relist while I was away. My way of keeping a few listings new almost every day. Hey I just sold some water shoes!

I don’t know what I would have done about that jacket. I definitely have lost money in the past letting things go that I mispriced both on and off ebay, but it was always a matter of convenience and I never left that much money on the table. I am more tolerant of what some might see as ethical lapses in a business context following whiskey’s reasoning basically, whatever side of the transaction I am on. So I would agree with J&R’s decision.

As a lawyer, though, in addition the analysis of whiskey and ThriftShift I would think about a couple other issues. If I was a seller in a hypothetically similar situation and if I thought the buyer had a solid contract (that’s a big “if” despite ebay’s insistence that it is), I would worry about cover and getting “home-teamed” on jurisdiction. Under the UCC (to paraphrase), the aggrieved buyer could cover – purchase a substitute item – and then obtain a recovery from me for the difference in cost. I was able to get a substantial judgment for a client once on that very cause of action.

As for home team jurisdiction, the buyer could go into his court and argue that there is personal jurisdiction over me based on the single transaction which is the basis of the suit, even without me having substantial ties to that state. A judge sympathetic to the local’s loss at the hands of an out-of-stater might keep that case. I had cases where this happened as well (I’ve been on both sides of it).

But these are the worries of an obsessive lawyer, thankfully retired from that.

This was a great discussion going down a wide range of rabbit holes! The FOB talk reminded me of me stubbornly putting FOB Shipping Point terms in my listings for the longest time so I could wash my hands of the item once I put it in the mail despite ebay’s FOB Destination system. I sold everything at .99 auctions, as-is, no returns, if damaged in shipment it’s your problem. I don’t do that anymore and I don’t fight the system either.

Since you posted in Lawyerease Temudgin, LOL, a simple question is an item posted in good faith and purchased and paid for subject to ANY sort of binding contract? There has been some case law roughly established for private antique sales, several years ago an old Man brought a Titanic ticket into a local Antique auction house who outright bought it for the $1200 the buyer asked, it sold for in excess of $100,000 and the old man sued and won his case based on the supposed superior knowledge of the auctioneer (not that applicable here but it should be of interest to any pro dealer in antiques.)

I see nothing wrong about canceling the sale. You made an error in the listing, it happens. Ebay has a system in place to weed out the sellers that abuse the cancellation system (i.e. canceling sales every time an auctioned item didn’t sell high enough). These sellers eventually rack up enough defects to be suspended. A one time cancellation shouldn’t rise to the level of an international incident. I haven’t read the string of comments above but this is the internet and commenters love to be sanctimonious on the internet.

Linda – it did make perfect sense. I went in to check my seller ratings expecting to find a late shipment on the item that I did the switcheroo on and it doesn’t appear as a late shipment. So hopefully I avoided a bullet.

What I did learn from your post – by checking my seller ratings I found out that a more recent label I printed (within the time frame) which I later voided and made a new label the next day because the weight was wrong, ended up being a late shipment per eBay. So, lesson to me was don’t guess at the weight to print on time, thinking you can make changes later. Reprinting with correct postage later makes it a late shipment and a defect. Crap. Crap on a stick.

So indirectly, thanks for the heads up.
Caren
eBay ID: TheSpeckledGoatLLC

My initial reaction was that I would honor the original sale, even if it would mean giving up the opportunity to get $1M. When it’s an ehtical/moral issue, the amount of money shouldn’t matter. I try to make it a rule to not let money be the primary deciding factor in anything unless it’s the only important factor. And I thought of this situation along the lines of “I gave my word and I must honor it” and the auction gavel example. However, after reading the many interesting and informative responses here, I have changed my mind. The ebay system is clearly NOT like a live auction, for the many reasons given. It’s a bit more loosy-goosy all around with cancellations happening all the time, particularly on the part of the buyer. So now I feel much more comfortable saying “oops! Sorry – I have to cancel”, though realizing that it would be really annoying (and not tolerated by ebay) if this were a frequent occurrence.

Great thread!

Hey, guys! Thanks for the shout-out. Always glad to help with a research project!

Last week was the worst online week I’ve had since September, when I started working traditional employment for 30 hours a week… though I still brought in a little income from eBay. This week has gone a bit better, and I scavenged and listed some pretty decent items as well. I’m still largely limited to 30-minute strikes after school before the kids get home. It’s surprising, but I’m still finding decent items on a pretty regular basis. I’m shooting for a minimum profit of about $50, although I don’t always get there. I’m more flexible if an item is really interesting or attractive to me, of course.

And since you asked, as for the jacket sale, I would have honored it. Not because I think J&R did anything illegal, immoral, unethical, or outside the standard mores of the community — I think 90% of people I know in real life the selling world would have canceled the sale and relisted it. But, knowing myself, I would have honored the sale. I think I would have felt guilty (not saying J&R or anyone else *should have* felt guilty, just that I *would have*, inherently, because of how I’m put together) if I’d cancelled. I would have wallowed in self-loathing about letting it go for $60, of course, but I would have done it. I can intellectually appreciate the arguments on both sides of this question, and — again — my argument has nothing to do with legality, ethics, or morals as written on paper or parsed out by philosophers or eBay attorneys. It has nothing to do with what I and my family can truly afford to leave on the table. It’s just what feels like the right thing to do, for me, in this limited scenario.