Moral dilemma. Wwyd?

[employeewoes]

Keeping it vague and brief.

Someone advertised something on a selling group for £20. I knew it was worth much more so snapped it up. I've now had many offers to buy the item for £150.

Should I offer the original seller some more money?

SmileyClare yes, I would. I'm still contemplating keeping it.

SmileyClare I had one previously, and sold it as I wasn't using it. I sort of regretted selling it but I can't work out if that is my hoarding tendencies or my actual desire for the item! So when I saw this cheaply, I saw it as a way to get back what I had sold. I then put it on a facebook group for the item to check it was genuine (I was fairly certain it was) and people DMd me wanting to buy it. I haven't fully decided to sell yet.

@AlternativePerspective my point was just that I did do research, I tried to ascertain if the items were worth any real money or just good for freecycle / table top sale, and unfortunately for me the antique dealer didn't spot this one item which is very distinctive and probably the priciest item which a specific luxury goods company sell, so he clearly wasn't the right person to look over my stuff.

There is only so much time and energy in the world to spend trying to value stuff before sale!

My story was an interesting addition to the thread, nothing more. I did conclude that OP should IMO keep the money and not think more about it.

In the fiver vs 750K incident I'd say there is more obligation to give back properly to the original owner, maybe £50 or £100K I'd say.

But £20 vs £100? Nah, it's fine

No. They were happy with the price they got for it.

Unless the person was vulnerable no. I've given stuff away because I just want it gone, if someone profited from it that's their initiative

No! They got the price they wanted for their product.

You can now go get the price you want.

I’d only share if I had bought it from a close family member, and should have explained to them they were underselling.

This happens at auctions every day. That is why dealers go to auctions and buy them then sell them at a profit. It is perfectly norma. Sell it if you don't want it. But if you bought it because you want it then keep it and enjoy the bargain.

I would wait a few months until I had the courage to sell it again.

Good grief no.
As others have said- you are not responsible for their decisions. They could have researched it better and fixed a different price. You cannot nanny people, they are a fully grown, responsible adult who is responsible for their own actions. If they choose to sell it at the price, thats their choice and their responsibility.

Stop taking responsibility for other people's lives! Its nothing to do with you so sell it without a second thought.

What, no, of course not! They decided what they wanted for the item, they got it, none of their business what you do with it. As PP said, if you sod it for less, would you expect the original seller to reimburse you?

Only morally wrong if you actively defrauded them and only got the cheap price because you claimed to be a starving single mother or something.

Not really, it's not a huge amount more. Not like you're selling it for £10,000

Agree with others, there's nothing immoral going on here.

Whether the seller is "vulnerable" is a moot point really. You can't tell whether a stranger from an online selling forum is desperately selling all her belongings to escape an abusive marriage (for example) or has learning difficulties or something. Or is in fact scamming you into buying shoddy fake goods.

Online buying is a gamble really which just happened to pay off for you this time.

Isn't this the premise on which antiques dealers make money? Unless you bought it off someone vulnerable, I don't see what's wrong

I think you're fine because you paid what they asked. I wouldn't put it back on the same group though, nor anytime soon. Ignorance is better for them!

No .... they were happy, you are happy. Win, win.

Sell it, pocket the cash. This is literally how business works. There's no moral dilemma at all, imo.

Don't worry about it. Not for that amount and the context.

YANBU and I'd sell it on for what it's actually worth (maybe not on the same group though!). Caveat venditor and all that.

It would be the kind thing to do. I would do it. The world is full of horrible things, I like to add to the nice pile.

No, of course not. That is how business works - big or small. You paid the asking price. They wanted £20 you paid it. Job done.

Whether the seller is "vulnerable" is a moot point really. You can't tell whether a stranger from an online selling forum is desperately selling all her belongings to escape an abusive marriage (for example) or has learning difficulties or something. Or is in fact scamming you into buying shoddy fake goods

Exactly. I dont get the "maybe theyre vulnerable" thing. How on earth would you be able to tell?! - are you going to send them a questionnaire? Unless you are a close personal friend, and know the person already you arent privy to their personal life and you dont have the right to know their private details. By that rationale, every time you bought something off eBay or etsy or facebook, you'd have to message the seller and quiz the person first about it and noone ever does that! I'd be extremely insulted if someone messaged me on eBay and asked me if I knew what I was doing and was I 100% sure I wanted to sell my item and did I need help with valuing it. I'd find that unbelievably patronising.

So you bought it to make a profit if you had no intention of keeping it?

This is the moral side of things to me, not that you deprived the owner, but that you deprived someone who was as similarly aware of the thing, but couldn't afford to pay full price, from getting what they wanted cheaply.

The seller got what they wanted, and if you needed the money yourself then that's fine too, but if you don't need the money, it's nicer not to take it out of the system.

It's the same as when the internet made charity shops no longer a place for genuine bargains, the poorest were the ones most impacted by bargains disappearing.

But certainly no obligation to the seller unless they were vulnerable and you actually took advantage.

I've bought numerous things and sold them on. If someone can't be bothered to do their research then that's their issue. Obviously if the seller was clearly vulnerable in some way I would not purchase but otherwise not an issue.

No

No.

Ooh @employeewoes do tell us what it was puhleeze