Chris Brogden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> This is hypocritical. If you are going to argue on ethical grounds that
it's unfair to extend > the auction (even though the seller has that
right), then you have to admit that it's
also unfair for the buyer to try and force the seller to sell it for
significantly less than it's worth.
Chris,
I don't follow the logic here. I would be "forcing" him to sell it at a
lowball price only if he stipulated a time limit. If he said, "OBO by the
end of 30 April," you bet I'd "force" him to comply with his promise.
> In other words, you're saying that it's ethically okay to screw the
seller because you want to > read OBO literally, but it's not ethically
okay for the seller to read OBO literally and delay > the sale until they
receive a fair bid.
If I'm saying that, it's news to me. As I wrote earlier, I don't lowball.
Even if someone is out of work, I would not take advantage of his
desperation. I almost invariably cite a cross section of recent prices. Rob
Studdert can attest that I sent him a list of recent prices for a 28/2A so
that he would set an adequately high reserve when he posted the lens on
EBay. (As it was, he was well aware of its value.)
I simply can't follow the second part of your sentence, the clause about
reading OBO literally. Since no temporality is implied in OBO, there is no
time limit to extend.
American list members over forty may recall the 1970s new-car dealer who
said, on a television commercial, "You can drive away with this car for
just 3,500 bananas." One customer drove up with 3,500 bananas and insisted
on getting the car. The dealer refused. The court supported the buyer.
Would I do such a thing? Never. Do I regard that buyer as a scumbag for
taking advantage of the word "bananas" when he knew in his heart that the
dealer meant "dollars"? You bet.
Chris, as I wrote in the passage you quoted in another posting, I have come
to understand from you and others that no deception is intended by OBO. It
is not unethical. It is frustrating and, to the literalists among us,
misleading.
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