Flea market/Garage Sale Etiquette

[KingpinSlim]

Whenever i have some time off i tend to go to local flea markets and garage sales to check out what kind of retro goodness people have for sale.

It happens quite often that i find people who are selling things far below it's actual value.
This happens most of often when kids/families have a stand. They either go by eBay prices or lower than that. This only becomes a problematic situation when they aren't actually aware of what they have.
Children are usually not well-versed in these matters and sell items like a GBA SP AGS-101 and GameBoy Micros among other things for ridiculously low prices.

I know that some people bank on things like these and take advantage of such situations.
I personally find that despicable. Especially re-sellers are known to behave shamelessly like that.

We should treat each other fairly and ethically when dealing with one another and not try to make a quick buck off of someones lack of knowledge.

Whenever i find something like that and am interested in purchasing it, i explain to them in detail what they are actually selling there and then make them a fair offer.
People usually respond very positively to it and one kid was so happy that he gave me a handful of GameBoy games just because i didn't try to rip them off.

Retro-collecting should be about the passion for gaming, not about profit.

Tl/dr: Stop ripping off kids.

 

[VinsCool]

I usually just buy if I get into a great deal. I collect stuff, I do not intend to resell, therefore, there is nothing wrong at buying their stuff for cheap.

 

[FAST6191]

I am not one for brow beating people into lower prices, neither am I one for lying about things (oh that is a far more common model so). However the internet is right there so if someone can't be bothered to look it up on that or otherwise do the work then I am not bothered in the slightest to relieve them of things some value considerably higher.
Do I also have to pay people more for broken things I have the tools, time (usually not a lot needed) and talent to fix? Similar question for things most would consider scrap but I can strip for valuable components? What about things I can adapt?

By and large I do not do anything that would make me have a hard time sleeping if I had morals, not telling people what something is worth when I am not asked to value it is not something that would bother me there. About the only time I might consider it is I am having an ongoing relationship as some people do seem to get a bit upset here if they find I know what goes.

In similar threads I have mentioned my favourite axiom of business, that being "something is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it". Still true but here the sentiment rather than the message carries, though if your market or pool of buyers is those at the flea market/car boot/standing in front of your house then the message also works.