First thing they taught me in college about education was don't argue with children because you can't win - grow up and join the rest of us in civilized society.
First thing they taught me in college about education was don't argue with children because you can't win - grow up and join the rest of us in civilized society.
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
Back on topic here.....if buying extra copies only to be resold at a profit pisses some people off, then they must not be customers of mine at Betts Books.....when new S/Ls come out for a King book, I sometimes (depends on the publisher) get to buy up to three copies (rather than being limited to one like most of you folks) that I can resell....and PLENTY of you come to me with extra copies that I buy (you profit) and that I am able to resell (I profit too usually). So does that make my business wrong ethically? I understand it may seem so to some people and I'm cool with that.
Dragline : Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me - with nothin'.
Luke : Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
David, if you stop selling to us, thats when we will be pissed at you :-)
:-) Not planning to stop any time soon!
Dragline : Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me - with nothin'.
Luke : Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Yeah, we know where you live mate !!!
We all float down here!
Agreed, there is something to the intent when someone says a word (along with tone, context, body language-etc). It definitely makes it worse or better depending on the situation.
However, the person saying words like "retard" or "fag" doesn't get to say I didn't mean to offend you so why the hell are you offended? When you chose to use words you know could and probably will offend someone (rather than similar words that make the same point) then the 'I can say whatever I want' argument is at the very least tactless and shows a definite lack of class.
Discussion about disparaging and or insensitive remarks is for another thread. Not this one.
Please stick to the topic.
Members who stray will receive a warning PM from me.
Here's my take on this whole issue... my husband and I considered making the trip to see King at his next signing on the East Coast this summer. In addition to the fact that we'll have a new baby to prevent us, we also have no money left for "fun" stuff since we've been preparing for the next generation of King fan. How would we be able to justify the trip, if we were to decide to go? We would go together... each of us would get a book signed... and we would sell one copy in order to "profit". Our wallet takes less of a hit, you get the opportunity to add to your collection even if you weren't able to attend the event. If both parties agree to a fair sale, no harm done.
Let's say a new Oy statue is released, only 10 available. I decide to purchase all 10 and resell at higher rates. Is it fair? No. Is it wrong? No. I personally wouldn't be quite so drastic... but if I had enough funds to "invest" in something like that, I would buy two or three instead of the one that would never leave my collection. Why? Not to "profit" so I could be wealthy, but as security for the rest of my collection. If times got tough now, I'd have to part with books and items that I love because my duplicates are already long gone. Picking up a few extra items that could be resold later for a higher value would allow me to preserve my collection or provide me with the finances necessary to expand my collection at a later date. It's simple money management. Just like buying two huge packs of toilet paper if they are on sale, so you can save a few bucks wiping your ass later.
Just for the sake of discussion, let's say the distributor makes a rule "one to a customer" in an effort to allow 10 fans to purchase at the issue price. Is it wrong to manipulate IP addresses or mailing / credit card combinations, or getting friends and co-workers to purchase multiples on your behalf?
Regardless of one's answer, does it matter if the intent is to have "security for the rest of [a] collection" vs. intent to profit?
I know there are people who see no problem with buying up multiple copies of a book despite a publisher placing safeguards to prevent this. (Safeguards which are easily overcome).
There are plenty of ways to justify it but even you admitted in your post that it's not fair.
Right/wrong is a bit of a gray area as there's a certain morality to it as well. Personally, I wouldn't feel quite right buying two things and selling one for double the price just so I could have one basically for free. Essentially you're getting someone else to pay for the things that you want and profiting on others greed and/or desperation.
I'd compare it more to buying TP at the gas station 2 blocks away instead of buying it at the store that's a 5 minute drive. Sure the gas station is close and convenient, but you are going to pay twice the price for that convenience.
Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right . . . but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?
El Jefe - back on topic as commanded.
Lol - the 'wipe your ass later' comment was hilarious.
Circumventing the publisher's one per customer rule without their consent is suspect from a purist morality standpoint. The only benefit is to the individual and it does not serve the common good (JSM) and you would not want everyone to do it (IK). But...on the long list of bad things you can do, this ranks with not paying a parking meter and running the risk you might get a ticket. Not paying the meter (or letting it expire and riding out those last 10 minutes) takes away income from the local community which benefits others too.
On a side note, getting friends to purchase seems like a more acceptable practice (other options stink like a lie).
I guess bottom line - I would not lose much sleep either way.
Hey if someone is willing to pay me twice what I paid for something ill do it in a heartbeat and not feel even a little guilty. Profiting off of others is how you make money. I'm not holding anyone hostage or making them buy anything. I always get a kick out of people who bitch about something not being fair. What gave you the impression that life was fair?
I don't think that's the real issue here. That is, I'm not sure anyone on this site would disagree with that. The secondary market for anything has the potential for wide variations in price compared to the original sale and people should be able to sell at what the market will bear.
Uh, I think that price variations in the secondary market IS the issue here, whether it is in fact a good topic to take issue with or not. MOST on this site agree that people should be able to sell at what the market will bear, but a few apparently do not.
They're easy to overcome because they are mere tokens. It's policy not law; they know quite well how the market works. Not that they (as a whole company) especially care once they've made their sales. Lip service is paid to prevention just to defuse the very type of hard feeling that inspired this thread. That's all.
The problem that arises is that different subjects share the same physicality; we're affected by the decisions made by others. Property from one party's point of view represents common resources in the views of other parties, with this disparity of perspective increasing as more is accumulated, so that at high levels, the 1% choose, in what seems a logical enough fashion, whether to wipe their asses today with the lives of Africans or Asians. You did a good job of presenting how things look from the inside of the process for people who might not understand that there is rarely any ill intent, yet it's still possible such sense of being removed from moral concerns is really just illusion.
Pardon me for dragging religion into it, but I like to point out when people say "Money is the root of all evil." that the actual quote from 1 Timothy is "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." I believe that capitalism is a relatively useful tool, but it is good for everyone to keep a measure of caution alive within themselves about it. Real life may not be fair, but that doesn't mean that we have to wallow in the unfairness.
This would once again depend on the situation for me. At an event where we would accrue travel/ticket expenses, my husband and I would probably still get two in order to make the trip more "worth it". And, since he would be paying to attend also, I wouldn't feel this was cheating. (Especially since we would resell as an auction - where the buyer can determine the value - or for a reasonable cost, not a set price that would be "double" the purchase price).
If we're talking books released for sale with no expense except the purchase price... my husband and I may still purchase one for each of us as an investment, but would never involve other friends etc. to buy out any more. And the "investment" is because - prior to meeting - we had two separate collections. My husband still has some of his own (duplicate) items in his office, but we agreed they could be parted with if we fell on truly hard times. (I tend to keep my collection items in new condition, while my husband likes to read and re-read and sometimes share his coffee with the items in his collection). So, technically, it would be two separate items to two separate customers for two separate collections... and we even have separate collection funds (though our travel fund is joint).
Also, if it was something that was limited to a very low number, we would only buy one. Maintaining good standing in the collecting community is important, as is keeping up good karma. Plus, the goal is not to turn around items for a profit as a business. The goal is to sustain a collection without allowing it to become a financial burden.
Honestly, I don't think we've ever sold a King item for profit... mostly because we've never attended any King events and have never found ourselves to be in desperate need of the funds. All the King books I've rehomed have either been gifted to young collectors, donated to local libraries, sold for charity, or traded to fill other gaps in my collection. Of course, in the near future, I expect we may be parting with more items to fund our continued collecting... since our usual "fun" money is now "diaper" dollars. (Although - remember how our collection funds are separate? - my husband always seems to have more collecting cash than I do and I have a feeling he may not use quite as much of it on the baby as I will.)
From a buyer standpoint, if you happen to have an extra copy of a book I cannot get elsewhere, I will determine whether your price matches my budget... I have no problem walking away from a sale because the price is too high, even if it means leaving a gap on my shelves. That's my choice. Of course, I could be eternally grateful that your husband is reselling his copy from an event that I could not attend... or I could be disappointed that all ten copies of the book I need are being sold by you at ridiculous rates thanks to your IP sneakiness. For the record, knowingly manipulating regulations (like the one per customer rule) for the sole purpose of reselling at an extremely high rate should get you some bad karma.
I don't collect S/N's never mind S/L's but i'm curious to get the reaction from the members here if a copy was bought purely to 'flip' and make a profit. There are a lot of people here who it would seem be willing to pay $1000's for this book. If it was sold for $1k - 2k (a sum easily supported short term with a credit card) and then sold for 2k - 3k, thats a pretty hefty profit. Would other members be glad of an opportunity to get hold of a copy (especially those with large wallets) or would there be anger at the profiteering?
This is in no means a statement of intent - I am just curious to know the other members feelings - chances are its going to happen.
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
Does PS require payment at time of order? Unless someone has the funds to pay off the charge immediately without the flip, that amount could be on the card for a while if they pre-sell months in advance and PS charges upfront rather than when it ships. It sounded like they don't have the signature sheets passed around yet so it is possible they are about where CD is with their Carrie and it seems Brian said they were hoping for a September ship.
Should have to paid for in full at time of purchase...
HELP ME FIND
Insomnia #459
ANY S/L #459
My goal if purchased is purely to flip the book