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Simon Robinson wrote:
> > Luckily, SO FAR, Profiteering is VERY rare in our community (I don't count
> > Ebay as being part of our community).
> >
> > In my case, I am selling stuff on Ebay and doing auctions to support my
> > Lego habit. If I didn't sell stuff, I couldn't buy ANY Lego anymore, my
> > budget has been tightened too much (I need to pay off CC debts so we can
> > seriously consider buying a house). So while my current auctions are all
> > about Profit, I don't consider them Profiteering, if you can see the
> > difference. The Profit goes to pay off current and past Lego costs in my
> > case.
>
> Sorry to be pedantic, but I'm not sure I'd agree with this.
> You seem to be saying that whether it is profiteering or not depends on
> what you're using the money for. I'd say it depends more on whether
> the profits you're making are reasonable, and on how your'e treating your
> 'customers'.
Reasonable? Whether or not one views the amount of profit to be reasonable is
completely beside the point. That is because the *market* determines the value
and thus the amount of profit one can make. If I find a set at 80% off and turn
around and find a buyer willing to pay 200% of retail, is that any different than
if I buy 10 sets at full retail and auction them off and make back 300% of my
investment? In an auction I don't even determine the price! [1] And even if I am
asking to much for an item (=too much profit), then no one will buy it. Simple
supply and demand. I would say that unless you are dealing with actual friends
or family, this issue is mute (sic). We may like to think of our Lugnet community
as both, but it's different. Sometimes it feels funny (to me anyway) bidding
against people you know, etc., but I think in the end it all boils down to supply
and demand and providing services which are (to me) immensely invaluable! And
I'd like to thank everyone right now with whom I have so far dealt because you all
have made the process a pleasure. I love you, man <sob> "You're *not* getting my
silver bricks!"{:^)
[1] Unless you are shilling, but that would be another discussion all
together...."but that would be another discussion";-) [2]
[2] Apologizes to Leslie Nielson [3]
[3] Obscure <sorry> reference to the movie Airplane!
-John
>
>
> If I didn't know anything about the market rates and someone managed to
> convince me to buy a metroliner off them for $2000, I'd say that's
> profiteering. I wouldn't care if they want the money to donate it to
> some worthy charity as well as buying other lego.
>
> Conversely if someone who doesn't care anything about Lego sold me a metroliner
> for $200 because they'd bought it somewhere for $150 and wanted to make
> a profit, I would NOT consider it profiteering. They'd be offering a fair
> trade at a reasonable price - and I'd be happy.
>
> btw I'm not trying to accuse you of anything - as far as I can see
> everything you've done is quite reasonable. (And incidently I
> don't think you need to apologize for selling stuff on ebay - that's
> a perfectly legitimate way of selling something) I'm just quibbling about
> definitions here :)
>
> Simon
> http://www.SimonRobinson.com
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Who had the 5571 Inventory?
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| (...) Ah - the theory of the perfect free market. It'd be nice if it always worked like that - but it doesn't for various reasons, most notably that people don't always have perfect knowledge of the market. The going rate for something might be $300 (...) (26 years ago, 24-Mar-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Who had the 5571 Inventory?
|
| (...) Sorry to be pedantic, but I'm not sure I'd agree with this. You seem to be saying that whether it is profiteering or not depends on what you're using the money for. I'd say it depends more on whether the profits you're making are reasonable, (...) (26 years ago, 23-Mar-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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