Ebay Hats: Victories, Defeats, Gripes & Items of Interest

[Just Daniel]

Of interest: it is certainly not anyone’s responsibility to educate a seller or anyone else, but I would guess you might agree that does not make it wrong (or even bad) to do so.

I personally don’t think there is anything immoral about purchasing something below market value. The information needed to determine something’s worth is readily available with relatively little effort. I feel like if a seller is not willing to put the time in to properly price an item then it’s either not of much concern to them or they are happy with the profit on the price set.

I don’t really see how me going out of my way to correct someone’s pricing or educate a buyer is the right call or my responsibility. As an example I definitely didn’t do that when I bought a 50’s OR in great condition for $12.00 and wouldn’t do it if it was me getting a great deal in the future.

@Ivano selling off his finds here is a good example of someone who took the time to learn about what he was selling. He offered hats up at a price that was fair for all parties.

 

[Just Daniel]

Hmm more interesting.

Assume just neighbor, not a particularly good friend?

I think then you have to put a sort of value on your standing in the neighborhood. You can be seen as someone who got a great deal on a hat, or someone who helped out a neighbor. I’m not sure anyone would look down on you either way.

Hmm. I bought a 30s Knox excellent from a seller at a market for about $25. I see the seller often but don’t always interact. A different seller I see all the time and talk to a lot offered me a 7X CB for about $100, I took it without arguing or offering more. This is a fairly high price for a hat in this antiques market.

Neither example exactly fits your question, I think if the 7X seller that I talk to a lot had offered the hat for a lot less, I would have told him he was a little under the mark, but that’s because we have a fairly regular buyer and seller interaction.

The first example might be closer, because although I see the seller in the market, we’re not really friends or anything. I bought the hat for cheap without blinking an eye.

....again though, if I was not going to buy either hat I would have given them information on both hats. My commercial altruism does not trump self interest, but in the absence of self interest it is a different story.

Sorry for the long answer, the example really interested me.

You find a perfect Maclacklin 100 in an old hat box at a garage sale. You know it is worth well over $1000 but the seller has it tagged as $5. Do you tell the seller the real value or do you buy it and walk away? The seller is your neighbor down the street.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Hmm more interesting.

Assume just neighbor, not a particularly good friend?

I think then you have to put a sort of value on your standing in the neighborhood. You can be seen as someone who got a great deal on a hat, or someone who helped out a neighbor. I’m not sure anyone would look down on you either way.

Hmm. I bought a 30s Knox excellent from a seller at a market for about $25. I see the seller often but don’t always interact. A different seller I see all the time and talk to a lot offered me a 7X CB for about $100, I took it without arguing or offering more. This is a fairly high price for a hat in this antiques market.

Neither example exactly fits your question, I think if the 7X seller that I talk to a lot had offered the hat for a lot less, I would have told him he was a little under the mark, but that’s because we have a fairly regular buyer and seller interaction.

The first example might be closer, because although I see the seller in the market, we’re not really friends or anything. I bought the hat for cheap without blinking an eye.

....again though, if I was not going to buy either hat I would have given them information on both hats. My commercial altruism does not trump self interest, but in the absence of self interest it is a different story.

Sorry for the long answer, the example really interested me.

its a complex issue and doesn’t lend itself to short answers.

Someone else was whining and brought it up; apparently they believe they should be able to determine what is right for others to do. There are the same few who can’t keep their opinions to themselves and then get huffy when anyone dares to stand up and express an opposing opinion. I don’t complain that others don’t share my beliefs, and I don’t initiate the discussion, but I’m not the sort to not stand up for myself. It also rankles when trolls claim to know what you’ve done or haven’t done. So presumptuous.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I recently had family of a deceased Lounge member reach out to me. This member wore the same hat size as I do and he had some hats id love to add to my collection. I have never met the now deceased member and I’ve never met his surviving family. I offered to help them accurately describe the hats and I suggested that they list them on ebay where they can have the best exposure and hopefully get the highest price. I let them know which hats I was interested in, but I told them to use ebay to ensure they were getting the best price. As a hat collector, this might not have been in my best interest, but as a person who is trying to live his faith and generally be a good person it was an easy decision to make.

I don’t look for opportunities to judge others, but when those who don’t know me make unsupported and ignorant claims I stand up for myself. I mean, what kind of person complains about people being kind and helping others? Those folks’ justifications and rationalizations are just weak attempts to excuse avarice and selfishness. I don’t go about whining about them, but I won’t be silent when they bemoan that others are acting with honor.

 

[Bamaboots]

All of these arguments are so damn silly. Not one here has ever informed an anonymous seller that a hat they were interested in buying was WAY undervalued and underpriced. “Oh, please let me pay you more for that hat than what you are offering it for.” Yet they do it when the hat is not their size. No one here has ever failed to boast of a deal or a bargain they have found. How about you Goodwill shoppers? Any of you ever bought a used car. Sometimes no other words cover it.

What a bunch of bullshit!

 

[Héctor Fernández]

Lol.....

 

[Just Daniel]

On a related note, not a bad little eBay victory. I didn’t offer to pay any more, and even dropped the shipping a little.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

On a related note, not a bad little eBay victory. I didn’t offer to pay any more, and even dropped the shipping a little.


View attachment 215477 View attachment 215478 View attachment 215479 View attachment 215480

Outstanding! How many One-Hundreds do you now have?

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

On a related note, not a bad little eBay victory. I didn’t offer to pay any more, and even dropped the shipping a little.


View attachment 215477 View attachment 215478 View attachment 215479 View attachment 215480

Err...cough, choke, spit, s**t!!
B

 

[Rmccamey]

You find a perfect Maclacklin 100 in an old hat box at a garage sale. You know it is worth well over $1000 but the seller has it tagged as $5. Do you tell the seller the real value or do you buy it and walk away? The seller is your neighbor down the street. He is a single father and just found out he has terminal cancer.

 

[J Williams]

Of interest: it is certainly not anyone’s responsibility to educate a seller or anyone else, but I would guess you might agree that does not make it wrong (or even bad) to do so.

I recently had family of a deceased Lounge member reach out to me. This member wore the same hat size as I do and he had some hats id love to add to my collection. I have never met the now deceased member and I’ve never met his surviving family. I offered to help them accurately describe the hats and I suggested that they list them on ebay where they can have the best exposure and hopefully get the highest price. I let them know which hats I was interested in, but I told them to use ebay to ensure they were getting the best price. As a hat collector, this might not have been in my best interest, but as a person who is trying to live his faith and generally be a good person it was an easy decision to make.

I don’t look for opportunities to judge others, but when those who don’t know me make unsupported and ignorant claims I stand up for myself. I mean, what kind of person complains about people being kind and helping others? Those folks’ justifications and rationalizations are just weak attempts to excuse avarice and selfishness. I don’t go about whining about them, but I won’t be silent when they bemoan that others are acting with honor.

I do believe it really depends on the context. I think messaging a random ebay seller to jack up the price on a hat you aren’t going to purchase is a strange thing to do especially knowing it could be one of the fine members of this community missing a deal. Hell I felt bad once when I bid a few times on a hat and decided to buy another one as this jacked the price up a bit for another member here.

That being said I feel I would have done the same thing you did in your situation Brent. I do think that speaks some to the point of my post as well though. Those people reached out to someone for help and maybe to sell some of the collection. They took at least a bit of care in assessing what they had rather than just taking a guess and throwing them on the bay.

 

[J Williams]

You find a perfect Maclacklin 100 in an old hat box at a garage sale. You know it is worth well over $1000 but the seller has it tagged as $5. Do you tell the seller the real value or do you buy it and walk away? The seller is your neighbor down the street. He is a single father and just found out he has terminal cancer.

Well now he really needs the money so you offer him $2.50

 

[Just Daniel]

Aha. So he won’t be needing the money

If it was a hard luck case, I think we’d all help a little.

You find a perfect Maclacklin 100 in an old hat box at a garage sale. You know it is worth well over $1000 but the seller has it tagged as $5. Do you tell the seller the real value or do you buy it and walk away? The seller is your neighbor down the street. He is a single father and just found out he has terminal cancer.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I do believe it really depends on the context. I think messaging a random ebay seller to jack up the price on a hat you aren’t going to purchase is a strange thing to do especially knowing it could be one of the fine members of this community missing a deal. Hell I felt bad once when I bid a few times on a hat and decided to buy another one as this jacked the price up a bit for another member here.

That being said I feel I would have done the same thing you did in your situation Brent. I do think that speaks some to the point of my post as well though. Those people reached out to someone for help and maybe to sell some of the collection. They took at least a bit of care in assessing what they had rather than just taking a guess and throwing them on the bay.

Just to set the record straight, Justin, I don’t go through ebay listing looking to educate sellers. It’s rare that I do more than ask for photos of labels behind sweats or ask for measurements. Often I do write something like “it’s actually not from the 1940s and if you’d cut your price in half I’d be interested.” I look for good deals and I try to get hats for a fair price. I’ve also often written to sellers something like this: “Your hat may be worth what you’re asking, but it’s more than I can pay. If you want to sell it for $XXX please let me know.”

My issue is that some think it’s actually wrong to educate a seller. That I just don’t get.

 

[J Williams]

You find a perfect Maclacklin 100 in an old hat box at a garage sale. You know it is worth well over $1000 but the seller has it tagged as $5. Do you tell the seller the real value or do you buy it and walk away? The seller is your neighbor down the street. He is a single father and just found out he has terminal cancer.

My honest answer: If I was interested in purchasing the hat for myself I would let him know of the actual value and offer him the maximum I was willing to pay for the hat. This now places him in the position of accepting my offer of say $250 knowing it's worth more but certainly a far cry from the $5 he was asking. If I was buying it to fulfill Max's bounty I would just broker the sale and make Max give me another hat for my troubles.

 

[J Williams]

Just to set the record straight, Justin, I don’t go through ebay listing looking to educate sellers. It’s rare that I do more than ask for photos of labels behind sweats or ask for measurements. Often I do write something like “it’s actually not from the 1940s and if you’d cut your price in half I’d be interested.” I look for good deals and I try to get hats for a fair price. I’ve also often written to sellers something like this: “Your hat may be worth what you’re asking, but it’s more than I can pay. If you want to sell it for $XXX please let me know.”

My issue is that some think it’s actually wrong to educate a seller. That I just don’t get.

Oh for sure, I didn't think you where. Every time I've messaged a seller it's been to reduce a price or gain more information about size as well. I really don't know who does what nor do I care to make it my business. I enjoy the debate. I personally haven't had any weird issues with anyone here. All of my dealings have been pretty straight up. @Frunobulax gave me shit once when I was trying to sell a hat and didn't set a price but he felt bad after

 

[Hurricane Jack]

It was getting so deep in here BB, I had to take a break & find my chest waders.

It must be the ethos of some religions nowadays to permit the telling of lies & permit guilt by insinuation. As you will recall you & I were both accused of making a post about a certain member's wife. There was no such post ever made. When asked for proof we were told the post was taken down quickly either by the poster (you or me) or by a bartender. So there was no proof; It was to imply guilt by association. We all know, including the bartender at the time that there never was any such post. Of course no explanation for lying or an apology was ever forthcoming.

I can't wait for the day should a Stetson Ermine show up for sale anywhere & my altruistic instincts kick in. Such fun I will have. I think first I'll get in some practice by being Altruistic Price Manager for GoodWillShops.com.

 

[Héctor Fernández]

This has been an eye opening experience about human behavior and its capabilities. Virtue signaling can be a God send for writer's like me.

Thank you for giving me my next blog topic. I will make sure to give the Lounge its do credit, lol....

 

[Bamaboots]

It must be the ethos of some religions nowadays to permit the telling of lies & permit guilt by insinuation.

Along with a lot of “they, them and some” being those responsible for judging others. Heathens, they are!

 

[Just Daniel]

Probably exactly one less than I need...

I think I only have two that have stars in the liner crest without plastic, those are the real prizes! And two non-sliver bellies, but one of those is a later stingy brim I do not wear often.

Outstanding! How many One-Hundreds do you now have?