Business Ethics opinions needed Please

[danmckee]

Hello everyone, before I give the situation, I would like to make it perfectly clear that I am not involved except both parties are friends of mine.

A card is listed on a business's website for sale.
A buyer adds it to his cart, then purchases and promptly pays for it for $400

He then receives a message from the seller:

"I am afraid that the card you ordered on our online store last night are not currently available. They were not supposed to be listed on our online store as they are away for grading, we do not know when it will come back, and the grade could be anything from no grade to a high grade. I will however make the card available to you when I get it back from PSA. We will issue you a refund on Monday when we are back in the office."


The card came back a 2.5 and the seller charged the same buyer $700 now.


Your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

Thanks
Dan Mckee

[wazoo]

This makes it so tough. This is like the second time seeing this, just like the Otey blank backed southern league card that was won fair and square, but once the seller authenticates it, knows he will get more for it. It's tough in this case, but the card was falsely advertised.

[ullmandds]

That's lame...the seller should have removed the card(s) from their for sale page while they were away for grading.

I'd chalk it up to a lost card and not deal with that seller again...unless $700 is a perceived fair price...not much action one could take...in my opinion!

[lharri3600]

I guess my question is this, was there a scan of the card in a holder before the purchase was made.

[danmckee]

Originally Posted by lharri3600

I guess my question is this, was there a scan of the card in a holder before the purchase was made.

No, the card was pictured raw when it was purchased.

Thanks

[oldjudge]

Seller sounds like a jerk. I'd never deal with him again and tell him where he could stick the card, slab and all.

[calvindog]

From my reading of this conundrum I'd say that Dan is unethical.

[kmac32]

A contract is a contract. If the card was listed and sold for an original asking price then the deal should go through. To charge more after the fact is unethical! Otherwise refunds need to be issued ASAP and the deal is dead. If the person is willing to pay more after the fact, then that is his problem.

[White Borders]

Hey Dan,

There's been a couple times over the years I've gotten really good deals on ebay auctions, paid promptly, and then received a message from seller stating he "mistakenly" listed the card but realized he had previously sold it. (And yes, the same seller put the same card back up for auction a few weeks later!) I think this sort of thing is quite unethical, but I typically just take the refund and take my business elsewhere. Life's too short to get panties in a bind over these things

Best regards and happy collecting
Craig

[howard38]

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[seablaster]

Originally Posted by howard38

Does a grade of 2.5 really justify a 75% jump in the price of the card?

Seriously!

The buyer could've told the seller to pound sand when he was offered the card at $700. Sometimes depending on how long we have been looking for a difficult card our judgement may be unduly influenced and we might pay up. I'd like to think all of us have been in that situation. The buyer paid and now has a bad taste in his mouth. I also feel the seller should've completed the transaction for the original $400. After all, the card is still the same. He lost a customer and maybe several more depending on who the buyer shares his experience with.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by seablaster

Seriously!

The buyer could've told the seller to pound sand when he was offered the card at $700. Sometimes depending on how long we have been looking for a difficult card our judgement may be unduly influenced and we might pay up. I'd like to think all of us have been in that situation. The buyer paid and now has a bad taste in his mouth. I also feel the seller should've completed the transaction for the original $400. After all, the card is still the same. He lost a customer and maybe several more depending on who the buyer shares his experience with.

Yeah, he'll lose a customer until he has something I need.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Leon

Yeah, he'll lose a customer until he has something I need.

Yeah, just like folks will boycott an auction until that happens.