Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To SELL my phone to my son?

58 replies

Latte81 · 01/05/2011 10:38

I bought a San Fransisco phone and it cost me £100. I've looked after it so it's still in new condition - my son has always loved it and really wants one. So anyway I've only had it since christmas but I'm fed up of it and am going to by a HTC Wildfire. Son asked if he could have the San Fran but aibu to sell it to him for £40 so I can put the money towards my new phone? They're still selling for £70 second hand so it is a massive discounted price! lol I think he see's it as being a bit tight as Im his mum!

OP posts:
usualsuspect · 01/05/2011 10:40

how old is he?

BluddyMoFo · 01/05/2011 10:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bogeyface · 01/05/2011 10:42

Not unreasonable at all. Its a good lesson to learn that if you want something you must save and pay for it.

DS has so far bought a small TV, a PSP and some games from me and DH! We didnt charge him anywhere near market value, but enough to make the point iykwim.

If you didnt give it to him he could hardly walk into a shop and expect them to hand it over for nothing!

Giving kids things that would otherwise be binned or shoved away somewhere is fine, but something that you would otherwise ebay or trade in and get a good deal for they should pay for.

animula · 01/05/2011 10:43

I'd say YANBU.

Friend wanted to give ds his IPod, and we asked him if he wouldn't mind selling it to ds, for a token amount. Ds gets given an enormous amount of stuff (there are very few children in our extended family) and we thought it was at risk of becoming an issue. Just wanted ds to have an idea that material goods don't fall like rain from the sky.

don't know if we we right/wrong/unnecessarily worried but that's what we did.

Bogeyface · 01/05/2011 10:43

Regarding the age thing, if he is too young to earn money to pay for the phone then he is too young to have it imo, so age is irrelevant!

Original poster
Latte81 · 01/05/2011 10:43

Sorry he's £12 and gets £5 pocket money a week

OP posts:
Original poster
Latte81 · 01/05/2011 10:44

lol he's not £12!! I mean he's 12 years old!

OP posts:
bigTillyMint · 01/05/2011 10:46

YANBU - he needs to realise the value of things.

DS really wanted an ipod nano, so he got mine for his birthday present. He knew they cost over £100 and was happy to have it, even though it wasn't new.

HappyMummyOfOne · 01/05/2011 10:46

To expect him to pay to top up i'd say was fine, so sell it to him I think is plain wrong.

Bogeyface · 01/05/2011 10:48

why HappyMummy?

somersetmum · 01/05/2011 10:48

Two month's pocket money?? That's a bit steep, or will you allow him to pay it in instalments?

But, I agree with the principle - you should charge him something, especially if he really wants it

Original poster
Latte81 · 01/05/2011 10:50

well I've sugested he sell his current phone to his younger brother for £20 - therefore he only has to find another £20

OP posts:
worraliberty · 01/05/2011 10:50

Unless he's got some money saved, you might want to give him some jobs to do to work it off.

Bogeyface · 01/05/2011 10:51

Also, something that DH just said, DS has taken far better care of things that he has saved and paid for than things he has been given. Knowing that things dont just appear when you want them and working/saving for them makes them far more precious and he is likely to be much more careful with it than if it was just handed over.

AuntiePickleBottom · 01/05/2011 10:52

i wouldn't sell stuff to my children

somersetmum · 01/05/2011 10:54

Oh, ok that's not so bad, but I think I would still let my ds pay in instalments; £10 up front and then reduce his pocket money for five weeks or something, but I would have to factor in what he uses his pocket money for and what he has planned for those weeks so that he's not left short.

My ds is 13 so I do have an idea of what this may/may not include.

somersetmum · 01/05/2011 10:56

Oh, and should have added - how old is ds2 and how will he manage to find the £20? Similar rules will need to apply I think.

Original poster
Latte81 · 01/05/2011 10:59

ds2 is 10, he has £70 in bank as he likes to save! he might decide he doesn't want it though, it's hard getting him to part with money Grin

I'm thinking of leaving DS1's pocket money alone and instead giving him a few jobs to "earn" the phone. Could start off the phone value at £40, each time he does a job for me knock it down £5, would that be fairer do you think or is that child labour? lol

OP posts:
FabbyChic · 01/05/2011 11:00

I wouldn't expect my children to pay me for something like a second hand mobile, I would say that is really mean and tight.

If you want money for it sell it on eBay.

What happens if your son NEEDS a new phone or doesn't have one do you make them save for it. A mobile nowadays is a neccessity.

Jeez Im surprised at how tight and mean you are.

heliumballoons · 01/05/2011 11:02

YANBU as it would cost him £70 to get oone 2nd hand if he decided and I have the wildfire and love it. Grin

Original poster
Latte81 · 01/05/2011 11:03

well thanks for that fabbychick but I don't think teaching kids that they can have anything they want for free is very useful for when they're older and realise life isn't so simple!

DS was bought a mobile phone for christmas the year he started secondary school. Why would he need another one unless he'd broken or lost it? in that case, yeah I'd expect him to buy his own! if it really was that desperate you can get phones for £10 now - or is it a neccessity to have smart phones too? Hmm

OP posts:
shinyshoes · 01/05/2011 11:05

I agree with Fabbychic, if u want money for it, sell it on Ebay.

Paying 2 months worth of pocket money is very steep.

I wouldn't sell anything to my children I think it's wrong.

ThePrincessRoyalFiggyrolls · 01/05/2011 11:07

I think working it off in house chores is a good idea - he obviously doesn't need it as he has it and he WANTS it so he needs to work for it. I don't think you will be instilling any bad ethic by doing this. If more people did perhaps we all wouldn't have relied on credit so much blah blah - I could go on about wanting it all right now Grin, but working for it with household chores is a good one. Perhaps you could do a chore chart - you want him to "pay" £40 for it so perhaps you could say

  1. Loading the washing machine = £1
  2. Unloading/Loading the dishwasher = £1 (if you have one)
  3. Washing on line = £2 (I hate that job myself!!)
  4. Making tea for everyone etc etc

That way he still gets to keep his pocket money, he is earning more "money" instilling good work ethic for the future, you are getting things done for you around the house so he is effectively helping out. However this would have to be above and beyond his usual chore rota and something to help the whole family out rather than just tidying his room etc.

I am not sure that I would take his pocket money away from him for it but you could say that he needs to keep some of it for top ups?

Good Luck

Tortoise · 01/05/2011 11:12

YANBU. It's good to learn the value if things and that you can't always get what you want.
DS2 is buying a Nintendo DS game off me, bought a bundle off ebay for the dsi, planned to re-sell all the games for profit! He is happy with that.

nancy75 · 01/05/2011 11:16

I can't imagine selling stuff to my children, I also can't imagine if my parents had a phone they didn't want that they would take money from me for it. It seems mean to me sorry.