Ethics and Trading - Your opinion wanted.

Not sure if this belongs here or Riverside. Mods feel free to move it.

I found myself in the following situation this week. I'm curious. What would be the right/moral thing to do and also what would you have done?

I lucked out and a nice bow dropped for me the other day. I'm not much of a trader so I really don't know what stuff is worth. I knew enough to know that this bow was worth something so I zipped on over here to the price check forum and asked the experts.

I received 2 replies to my PC request. The first said 80-90k. The 2nd said that was too high and more likely 60-80k.

Next I listed the bow for sale in the high end forum. Starting bid at 60k, Buyout 100k. I immediately (less than a minute) received a buyout bid so I pm'd the buyer and gave him my contact info and when I'd be available ingame.

Thru out the day, I continued to receive private PMs offering me 100k + various amounts of ectos for the bow, however I'd already agreed to sell for the buyout price of 100k so I turned down all the additional offers.

In the end, my original bidder backed out of the deal and I sold the bow to the first person that PM'd me for 100k even. I figure that since I listed 100k as buyout it would be wrong to sell for more. It was my fault for putting up a buyout price that was way too low. (Note to self: all future sell posts will have a b/o of 1 million plat )

So, what's considered good trading etiquette? Did I do the right thing or just scam myself outta a few ectos?

I know that if I walked into a store and picked up an item with a $5 price tag and the store owner said "I think I could sell that for $7 at the expo next week, I'll hang onto it", I'd be very very upset and probably never go back to the store again.

Bottom line: I can't complain. I'm 100k richer than I was last week and to me that's a lot of money. I can afford those chaos gloves now once I convert the cash into ectos.

IMO you did the right thing in sticking with the guy that won the auction. But once he backed out, the auction was void and you could have sold it for whatever you wanted to.

Glad to see that some people at least consider these kinds of things when trading.

QFT.

I couldn't agree more really.

Glad to see that there still are some nice persons around

what bow was it btw? Also i agree after the "winner" backed out you could have had a new sale. Or alot of times in High End sales if you don't know the worth just put a Starting bid...and post a Buyout after finding out what type of attention the item is getting.

Congratulations on being a good person. I saw a guy not too long ago selling Adamantine shields with -5(20%) and +30 mods for 5k. That wouldn't be so bad, if he weren't selling collector items. I pmed the guy about it and he told me there wsa plenty of poor people looking for a good shield.

...

That's why I don't like the open market. I have a guy I sell all my stuff to for 1/3 guru listings, so I sell quick and he gets more merchandise. We're both happy that way!

I agree with Shadow Spirit that once the original guy backed out, you were free to sell it to someone else. I also think that selling it to the next guy who PM'd you offering 100k was the right thing to do. It also would have been alright to sell it for more, if someone had PM'd you offering more, however, I don't think it would have been right to refuse to sell it for 100k since that was the buy-out you had put in the forums.

what kind of bow was that?

If you were offered something like 100k +5e i would have stayed with the original buyer but if there were offers like 100k + 50e i would have whispered the buyer to tell him he needs to pay what the bow is worth if he really wants it.

Well the bow was a Silverwing. I know they are worth a lot of money, but mine was Req 13 which sorta put a dampener on the dollar signs in my eyes.

LOL, Valeria. I wish the offers were that good.

I think I would have done the same, with one addition: I would be sure to give negative feedback to the person that originally bid. When someone backs out of an auction deal all should know about it.

You did the right thing, the pricing of items is always subjective.

There will always be people that think an item is overpriced no matter what you list it at and others that really want it badly and will pay over the normal value of that item just to get it.

/agreecompletely

Once the buyer backed out of the auction all your obligations were gone.
You had full rights to do whatever you like with the item with no consequence.

It's kind of weird someone would buy a req13 silverwing bow for 100k even thought the heirophants bow is also 100k but it's a perfect req9 green. They are the same skin except I think the heirophants bow is dyed black, which is fine by me.

its because the green version has some worthless mods

Never post a buyout straight away.. See what people are willing to pay.
Wait till people either ask for it or offer a buyout...

you did right thing but it wouldn't have mattered if you sold it to highest bidder. Just look at all "powertraders". What do you think they do?

A few extra ectos are merely just pixels, but your dignity is something you live with. Even if it is online, we're all still human and deserve respect and honesty. I think you did the right thing.

heh well im sry but if im ever sellin in game, im not the very nicest, i look for what fetches me the highest price. I do this only because sometimes i don't know the pricing... Heres one example:

I was selling a memory wrapping to a guy asking for it agreed on 5k, then boom a message goes on board buying for 8k so i immediately tell this guy nvm higher offer. so the original buyer, then one who agreed on 5k, offers 9k... of course I accept and i make 9k...4k higher then the decided price... I think i might have been a little lower, but I feel that 1k difference is all the difference to me.

True i feel bad about it now, but its not like we will ever see each other again, more or less remember... I just know i don't wanna get ripped off.. i still have my dignity and besides...its just a game

I had the exact opposite thing happen to me. I was on the auction and offered the buyout price on a sword. After the auction ended the seller sold the sword on the open market and when I asked about it he stated that he got more money for it than I had offered. He didn't even try to contact me at all, simply decided he could get more and sold it.

So yeah, I think you did the right thing.

Dante - I have had the same thing happen to me, agree on a price with someone then have someone else offer more before I made the trade with the original person. In those cases I ALWAYS go with the first person that I make a deal with. To me its a question of honor - just like a handshake is. Guess thats just me though.

The old saying goes...

"Buyer beware." Same thing can be said for: "Seller beware."

It's just something you learn as you use this forum to sell stuff... don't ever put a B/O on an item unless you know for sure you would sell it at that price. And if you're not sure about selling the item and might have seller's remorse, simply put this comment at the end of your auction: "I reserve the right to not sell this item."

Of course, nobody's going to slap a lawsuit on you if you don't sell it for the B/O price, but ya, it's ethically not right to back out on the price you set yourself. Then again, buyers are usually worse at retracting their bids and/or backing out of their agreements.

You definitely did the right thing, sticking with your original buyer. However, once the original sale was voided, it was a free market again ^^. Glad to hear that there are people out there who play with dignity. If you commit to something, stick to it.