Selling(flipping) Posters you don't have...yet

McDung · Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:58 pm

Is it "ethical" to sell(flip) posters you don't have yet like let's say you purchased an Ames/Klausen subscription and auction/sell(flip) it off eBay but made it clear in the description you don't have it in hand yet. It'll arrive to you within 4-6 weeks.

Codeblue · Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:08 pm

Let your conscience be your guide....

coxgt · Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:17 pm

Imho this one seems like a no brainer, I can't image that it is good practice to sell something on ebay if you don't even have it in your possession.

marshhouse · Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:33 pm

I guess it depends on who you ask. It's not something I would do though.

My personal ethic is not to sell anything I don't have in hand. So many things can go wrong when a poster is en route. Plus, I like to be able to say that the print has x concern or whatever. Also, do I really want someone giving me grief cause I haven't shipped in the 6-8 weeks or whatever? No thanks. I've had a number of posters take much longer than that to arrive.

sunsetbrew · Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:07 pm

I have seen people do this the night of a show to take advatage of the sizzling hot market. Many people complained about that dude. Make you own judgement. As long as he delivers, he is not really breaking any rules. I think at least half the people where just pissed about how much he was making (up to a 1000% markup over night). Meanwhile, other people were selling for face value.

sunsetbrew · Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:07 pm

Codeblue wrote:Let your conscience be your guide....

The most correct answer.

Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:54 am

Technically, ebay does not allow it, but they also don't enforce anything unless someone turns it in.

Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:35 am

i paid in advance for a poster once.

once.

Flimby · Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:54 am

I am not a big fan of this practice.

moemoe6434 · Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:14 am

morst wrote:ebay does not allow it

no you can not, it is not legal per ebay AND there is no way to guarantee the condition OR that you will even recieve it.... Yes, you paid for it but have you ever had anything lost in the mail.?

Flimby · Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:29 am

moemoe6434 wrote:
morst wrote:ebay does not allow it
no you can not, it is not legal per ebay AND there is no way to guarantee the condition OR that you will even recieve it.... Yes, you paid for it but have you ever had anything lost in the mail.?

not true. eBay does allow "pre-sales" with some conditions. The seller must state in the auction that they do not have the item in hand and they must ship within 30 days.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/pre-sale.html

One major downside to this practice is that it dramatically cuts the buyer's time to file a paypal claim if an issue arises. The Paypal claim deadline is still 45 days from the sale, regardless of when the item is to be shipped.

McDung · Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:25 am

What are your views then if selling an item outside of eBay, but you don't have it yet ? Are your views still the same?

Flimby · Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:56 am

McDung wrote:What are your views then if selling an item outside of eBay, but you don't have it yet ? Are your views still the same?

Codeblue wrote:Let your conscience be your guide....

Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:59 am

If it's a trade or sale I'll strike a deal with someone I know - because I feel that since we already have an established relationship and all, I don't feel bad about saying that we have to wait until it's in hand to strike a deal. I've actually done that a couple of times in the last few months where I was waiting on a piece from another trader.
But I'd not do something like put it on my EB page (at least not FS/FT) until it's in hand. Something just wrong about that to me I guess.
But to each their own.

Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:16 pm

Flimby wrote:not true. eBay does allow "pre-sales" with some conditions. The seller must state in the auction that they do not have the item in hand and they must ship within 30 days.

Thanks for the correction Flimb, I was just going from memory, but I knew they had some prohibitions on it. When the Pollock Coventry went up on Dry Goods, there was a mad rush to put them on ebay even though they could not be shipped in time.

That snag about the disputes is very real too, small window to get resolution on that type of sale. ebay should have a longer time available if they're gonna allow it at all.