Money Moral Dilemma: Should I sell student discount laptops?

Mr._H_2

Kernow666 wrote: »

how much profit is this person makin

say the laptop costs £300 less 15% student discount

A 15" MacBook Pro with Retina Display and 2.3 GHz processor costs £2,200. The OP doesn't say they are buying Apple laptops but the point is that there are plenty of laptops that cost a lot more than £300!

The fact that people could think it's "morally wrong" to sell something for more than you buy it for blows my mind! The OP is not forcing anyone to buy the laptops from them, and if the manufacturer/retailer doesn't want people to buy laptops with the discount in order to resell them and make a profit they can either not offer the discount in the first place or restrict the number of computers per year an individual can buy.

What is required is to declare the profit made to the taxman.

actd

the seller has the option to restrict the number of laptops you can buy in a year, and they also have the option to sell directly via ebay themselves and cut out the middleman (ie. you) and take that profit themselves. As it stands, they are effectively paying you a small amount to do separate marketing for them - I would question how much time you are spending doing this and work out what you are getting per hour - then consider whether your time could be more valuable doing something else.

Seakay

Probably legal but definitely unethical.

I think that the way you have phrased the question shows that you are already aware of this.

Someone has been persuaded by a retail store to sacrifice their profit to provide an offer for students. Your scam and others like it will become known and fewer offers for students will be made available.

If you think that you deserve more money etc than other students because you have been 'clever' enough to exploit someone else then carry on, but don't expect anyone to admire your ethical standards or to give you validation for your actions.

LesD

In summary then................

What's the business plan here?

What do the T&C of the original sale say?

How is warranty affected?

Have you advised ebay?

Have you advised the taxman?

What's the net margin on the resale?

Is this the best return you can get for your time?

Perhaps more time spent studying would be a good idea!

djb77

I think it is fine to do what you are doing as long as, like other posters have said, you follow the correct ebay guidelines and pay the HMRC the correct amount of tax.

I know a couple of my local shop owners who buy discounted goods at supermarkets and then sell them in their shops at a higher price. That's business.

GrumpyWithMoney

It seems like you are buying via the NDNA National Desktop and Notebook Agreement which is only open to students and those that work in education. If you want to find out if it is morally right, then contact the NDNA and tell them what you are doing.

pennypinchUK

I'm surprised there's no limit to the number of laptops you can buy with this discount. But if there's no limit, the seller clearly doesn't mind giving the discount away. They're making money selling laptops they'd probably not have sold without the discount. So everyone's happy. Carry on.

Lynzog

Of course you shouldn't buy them in order to make a profit on eBay!

In other news, I'm looking for a laptop...:beer:

rojanich

LesD wrote: »

In summary then................

What's the business plan here?

What do the T&C of the original sale say?

How is warranty affected?

Have you advised ebay?

Have you advised the taxman?

What's the net margin on the resale?

Is this the best return you can get for your time?

Perhaps more time spent studying would be a good idea!

Spot on analysis and clear delivery.

mr-tom_2

Setting aside the moral dimension, there is a more practical one. The originating company are likely not obliged to offer support to buyers further down the chain, especially when the buyers are outside of their chosen market.

This will depend on the Ts&Cs, which you should check carefully before selling on.

Why would you care? Becuase you don't want to be left with customers expecting support from you if the manufacturer doesn't want to know.

On the moral front, there are arguments in both directions, most of them already covered well here. I won't attempt to restate what others have already said far more eloquently than i could.