Guilt over Getting Too Good of a Deal?

[jpmcwjr]

Pappy- That was me! I'll PM you my address so you can send the extra $120....
On a more serious note, a good thread. Thanks for the OP, and congrats on breaking the photo posting barrier! And "large" is almost an understatement!

 

[scloyd]

Welcome to the forums Doctoryes.
About 15 years ago I walked into a Goodwill type store and sitting on a shelf was a Royal Doulton Toby mug with a $2.00 sticker on it. The mug was beautiful, no cracks or chips. I bought it and sold it on ebay for more than $60. Did I feel guilt? Nope. Don't feel guilty...enjoy your pipe.
Now, if I'm paying my bill at a restaurant and the waitress gives me back too much change by mistake, I'll let her know. If I see someone drop something out of their pocket or purse, I'll speak up.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Guilt is based upon your feelings, your own internal compass of right vs wrong. In general, I don't rely on other people to determine that compass reading one way or the other. I personally see eBay, in general, as a whore's market place. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of pipe buyers selling and buying each day. If it was such a steal, why then did nobody else jump on it? If you're concerned about not receiving proper value on an eBay sale, you have tools to protect against that happening. I also seriously doubt the seller took a significant loss or he wouldn't have sold it to you for the amount he did.
So there's my attempt at logically thinking through it. At the end of the day though, you need to examine your own compass and decide if you still feel the need to spend money to equalize your guilty feelings. You must be a pretty good person as most people's compass wouldn't be registering on this. Good luck with your decision.

 

[pipebaum81]

Per the norm Sable nailed it. We’ll feel as good as the value of our deeds.

 

[mso489]

sable's the bigger grown-up in his situation. Sometimes when things tilt my way, I let them go. If someone were desperate for funds, I'd be more prone to try to give them a better deal. An award winning pipe carver at the end of a pipe show offered me a pipe for about a third what I knew was its value. I felt a little weak in the knees. He certainly knew what he was doing. I'd commended his work before, to him, so I thought maybe he just wanted me to have one of his pipes. Not long after that, he passed on, and I just took it at face value, and was glad I hadn't bid it up out of misplaced generosity or evenhandedness. Situations are so different.

 

[doctoryes]

Thanks for all of the input guys! So, i did message the seller and tell him how happy I was and let him know where the stamping was. I am a believer in karma, the seller has a pipe shop, was super nice, and while it may or may not have effected this auction, I didn’t want his livelihood affected by not knowing where to look in the future. The picture he did take of stamping was of the grade/year, and it was faint. Because I watch a lot of auctions, I’m pretty sure it would have sold for more had it had a pic of the makers stamping, hence the guilt. You could tell that others had asked about the makers stamping because of the edit in the description. He was just happy that I love the pipe and everything went well with shipping, but appreciative also.
As for reselling, I don’t ever intend on reselling my pipes. On the other hand, I generally only buy estate pipes that I feel I could resell at a profit if I don’t like the way it smokes or I don’t have interest in the pipes anymore (I’m looking at you estate dunhills). In this case a grade B large barbi for $250 felt like a good deal regardless. I am happy to say that it smokes amazing and I will never get rid of it! I don’t have all that many pipes anymore, but it has definitely made me rethink my price point in estate and new purchases in the future. I tend not to spend more than $100 per pipe (still waiting on my Norup, anyone have experience with them?), and occasionally $200 if I *really* like the pipe.
I am curious though: what’s wrong with buying and selling on auction sites? It seems to me that the pipes tend to sell for much cheaper than they would at shops and shows, and if you look long and hard enough, you might be able to find great deals!

 

[redglow]

You can sleep well tonight having cleared the deck.

 

[doctoryes]

Thanks, I think! Hahah

 

[warren]

I am curious though: what’s wrong with buying and selling on auction sites? It seems to me that the pipes tend to sell for much cheaper than they would at shops and shows, and if you look long and hard enough, you might be able to find great deals!

Nothing wrong with such. I don't, as a rule, buy any pipe I haven't fondled and examined closely. I prefer to look a seller in the eye while discussing a pipe I'm handling. No real interest in used pipes. If I had a particular interest in a brand or some such I would, as that is about the only way of securing collectables/antiques. I'm lucky in that I don't have to look for cheap or used.
Some are averse to buying used due to sanitary concerns. I firmly believe a pipe is easily sanitized.

 

[mechanic]

I buy stuff off of auction sites i dont know why their is disdain towards them the people listing stuff know its a gamble otherwise they can put a reserve price on the item i dont see anything to feel guilty about.

 

[mtwaller]

I’ve been lurking on this thread and something about it just hits me in the feels. I feel like part of pipe smoking, at least some tiny part, is about being a classy gentleman. Doing the right thing and being an upstanding person never goes out of style, it makes you feel good, and that’s what a gentleman should do. I’ve enjoyed reading all of your responses.

 

[mso489]

I try not to get too deep in rationalization of my own behavior, but I can freely say that the seller in this case gained valuable information which is likely worth the difference between what he got for the pipe and what he could have gotten with better identification. Live and learn. I think this ends up win-win.

 

[doctoryes]

I am going with win win too! Even if the stamp was buffed off, I am more than happy with the quality of smoke from the pipe. Because he didn’t know where to look on this pipe (to be fair, the stamping is usually where he photographed on all the other barbis’ I have seen in person), I would like to think we helped eachother out! Super nice guy.

 

[tulsagentleman]

This is an interesting thread. I have bought quite a few pipes on eBay and some were a good deal and some I was disappointed with. In either way, it is both buyer and seller beware. I would no more feel bad about getting a good deal than kicking myself for paying too much. That comes with the territory. To contact the seller and give him some helpful information is a gentlemanly thing to do. To come back and send him more money to soothe your guilty conscience is uncalled for. Would you go back and complain you paid too much and ask him for a refund? Unless he intentionally misrepresented his product, he would just laugh at you. Take the beautiful pipe that you got for a bargain price and smoke it.

 

[mikethompson]

I've never felt bad for getting a deal, nor at selling thrift store furniture to hipsters. That's how it goes.

 

[doctoryes]

Ha! My conscious is cleared! Thanks all!