Is scalping ethical?

[jondaris]

A friend of mine recently laid into me for scalping DVDs, saying it was wrong and unethical.

What happened was that I came across four copies of the Rhino MST3K collection Volume 10, which was recalled and pulled from store shelves because of rights issues with one of the films.

Because I knew that the set had been recalled, I bought all four copies. I kept one, used one as a Christmas gift for my roomie, and plan to sell the other two on ebay for whatever the market will bear.

My friend claims that this is unethical behavior, and that the right thing to do would have been to leave the other two copies on the shelf for another fan to buy.

What do you think?

[Pirate]

Well,

In a "perfect world" scenario, two MST3K fans would have walked in right after you and bought the remaining sets. However, more likely the case was that another scalper would have gotten a hold of them.

In order to make this whole thing ethical, I would advise placing them on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of the purchase price.

You have to ask yourself whether you bought the other two sets to make bank off of unlucky fans who couldn't find the sets or to keep them out of the hands of...ahem...other scalpers.

[Astrakan]

I don't think it's unethical at all. It's all basic supply and demand stuff. Capitalism if you will. And I don't see anything wrong with buying a good and selling it for whatever people are willing to pay for it.

KM

[umainebearman]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

I don't think it's unethical at all. It's all basic supply and demand stuff. Capitalism if you will. And I don't see anything wrong with buying a good and selling it for whatever people are willing to pay for it.

KM

Yeah Christ if you have the money and go in and buy everything in a store and leave nothing for anyone else I say to bad! They shoulda got there earlier. If you friend thinks it's unethical ask them about the people selling ps3s and stuff like that on ebay. Hell you had people going to buy them with no intentions of playing them. If you bought 'em do what you want with them. if you can make some coin off them more power to ya.

[Monterey Jack]

I fucking DESPISE people who do this. I collect soundtracks, and if it's a pressing of 1,000 copies, you can bet it'll sell out within 12 hours because greedy bastards are snapping up half-a-dozen copies at once so they can sell them on eBay for $50 a pop later.

[furthest1]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

I fucking DESPISE people who do this. I collect soundtracks, and if it's a pressing of 1,000 copies, you can bet it'll sell out within 12 hours because greedy bastards are snapping up half-a-dozen copies at once so they can sell them on eBay for $50 a pop later.

i think that is lame too, but hold the distributor and manufacturer responsible for arranging that proper. Peeps shouldnt be allowed to buy out the store.

[billnye97]

Just because it sucks doesn't make it unethical. I agree it's called capitalism. I've bought dvds used that are rare and resold them on ebay to make money. I also do it a ton with videogames. If someone wants to spend $100 for This is Spinal Tap Criterion so be it. I personally won't do it but there are other people who will. If you perservere you will find it cheaper. I bought This is Spinal Tap for $8 used and Rushmore Criterion for $10. You just have to be patient. Just like I will get a PS3 at retail when there available.

[chiprocks1]

Is scalping ethical? Indians did it all the time back in the old west. Im going to go out on a limb and say that cowboys had a problem with this, even back in the day without DVD's.

[iluvalex]

It pisses me off people do this. Greed, plan and simple. This would be no different than the scalpers who buy up all the good seats at a concert. The scapler is the only one that wins. Everybody else get screwed without a kiss. Don't tell me I should have got there sooner. Some asshole is trying to make money. I'm just trying to enjoy my purchase.