MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should Pete bid for Carl's amp on eBay?

tallgirld

What kind of friend is that who didn't know his broke friend was after a guitar amp?

He should ask his friend to cancel the auction and just give it to him for £50. If not just bid the starting price of £50 and if he wins let him know that he will NOT be paying the postage as he will come and collect it himself.

BOYBUY

yes, definitely, get a bargain, he could have put a reserve on it !

snootybutnice

Bid on it. Tell him you've bid on it because you want it and also to "get the auction going". Tell him you're going to keep pushing up the price if you can and that most "savvy" ebayers bid last minute. If you win then it's "fair do's". If you get it for the bargain price of £50.00 then you will buy him a pint as well. He can refuse to sell but then may get struck off by Ebay. :rotfl:

tototo

The moral thing would be for Pete to advise Carl to end the auction and show him how to list properly with pics, reserve, or even a higher starting bid since there's only 1 hour left so they cannot apply a reserve. Better still, like others have suggested, warn Carl then bid for Carl is willing to sell for then he knows he either wins or friend gets a good deal after all. There's still 1 hour so anyone else could be watching and it could have better bids but you cannot take risks on Ebay as we are all on there for a bit of a bargain after all! The dilemma is he is looking for one but friendship is for life so why risk losing a friend for a £50's worth of item when he could point out the mistakes to his friend?

raymond

My answer to the question based only on the information provided and not what I think may or may not be the case ....

There is no guarantee he woule get it for £50 as someone else may well be waiting to put in a bid. There is also no guarantee someone else will not place a last minute bid of £50 and win it even if he doesnt bid.

He should place a maximum bid of whatever he is prepared to pay for the amp, that way he can assure his "friend" that he was willing to outbid any other offers up to whatever. When he comes to sell it he could promise to split any profit with his mate.

dave2

Pick up the phone and tell Carl his amp is going for a song and offer to show him how to relist properly. While I'm at it say what I'm willing & able to pay, but admit he could do better with a proper listing.

BTW when I sold my car I had a friend list it for me because I'd never used ebay and he had a good rating. Got a good price and I gave him about £100 commission. Pete could also offer to do similar.

pineapple

You can argue till you are blue in the face about the value of things. But in an auction scenario, they are only worth what they sell for at that point. If Pete gets it for £50, that means no one came in higher.
So - what dilemma?

plimsoll

I've had a friend sell me for £70 something they were going to advertise (not on eBay) at a price likely to get them final result of £100 in order to bless me & save themselves the hassle. I have often sold to friends for less than "strangers" or given them things I would have sold that they need/want. So I don't completely understand why so many think you should pay a mate more than you would've if you'd seen the same item listed by a stranger. Even when I was new to eBay I had the sense to check completed items for what I wanted to sell & see what the differences were between the ones that sold for highest price & those that sold for less to try to copy good technique as far as possible....

JDPower

I think Mick should definitely buy it, then there's no problem between Pete and Carl. Dilemma sorted

therrawbuzzin

The guy is supposed to be a friend, for heaven's sake.

He's only selling it in the first place because he needs to.

Lend/give him the dosh he needs to tide him over.

Get your amp elsewhere and don't be a parasite.