Ethics exercise...
Weiss
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Stopped in to the B&M over lunch. Asked if he had anything. He tossed me a small bullion piece he'd gotten earlier in the day:
I'd gotten a Cortez mine JM bar a few months back, so he thought I'd like this 1/4 oz as a companion. Flipped it over looking for the JM mark, but the initials on the back probably indicate Northwest Territorial Mint.
That's fine. Not as cool as JM or Eng, but it's still a neat piece. Asked him how much, he quoted me $338--melt at today's spot prices (which I hadn't seen since early in the AM).
My nephew was with me, he asked for 90% and my dealer sold him a handful of circ mercs at 19x. All good. We left with our prizes.
Catch the issue?
Not a quarter. Looks like a quarter, logical as a quarter. But it's 10 grams. That's what, about $100 difference in my favor.
What would you do?
I'd gotten a Cortez mine JM bar a few months back, so he thought I'd like this 1/4 oz as a companion. Flipped it over looking for the JM mark, but the initials on the back probably indicate Northwest Territorial Mint.
That's fine. Not as cool as JM or Eng, but it's still a neat piece. Asked him how much, he quoted me $338--melt at today's spot prices (which I hadn't seen since early in the AM).
My nephew was with me, he asked for 90% and my dealer sold him a handful of circ mercs at 19x. All good. We left with our prizes.
Catch the issue?
Not a quarter. Looks like a quarter, logical as a quarter. But it's 10 grams. That's what, about $100 difference in my favor.
What would you do?
We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
--Severian the Lame
--Severian the Lame
0
Comments
The "ethics" part of the question is a little cloudy; it
is more a question about the presence/absence of
"self interest."
The seller likely paid for the item as a quarter ouncer.
No loss to the seller on that front.
If the seller is a stranger that I will not deal with again,
I will mark it up as a simple fortuitous gain.
If the seller is a regular contact - or someone I want
to make a regular contact - I will let him know of his
mistake and pay the difference.
<< <i>I'd gotten a Cortez mine JM bar a few months back, so he thought I'd like this 1/4 oz as a companion. >>
The dealer sold it to you as what he mistakenly thought was a 1/4 ounce. I would tell the dealer you noticed the mistake and bring him the difference.
It will guarantee that you keep getting shown stuff in the future, and, most importantly, it's the right thing to do.
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
TD
maybe because i hear too many stories of folks getting ripped, or maybe i'm just cranky right now.
On the hologram on the reverse of every current PCGS slab, what is the word at the very top in the hologram? Enough said.
Buy him a bottle of single malt.
No?
Naive?
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Dont get me wrong, I dislike most dealers the same as I dislike most spiders. But whats right is right, and Weiss going back to pay the difference is right.
One piece of info that I didn't disclose because I didn't think it was important (though some of the responses indicate that it was): I hadn't gone in with the intention of buying anything, least of all another hunk of gold. My "budget" was in the neighborhood of a 10 oz bar of silver tops. Say $300. The $338 was way more than I was prepared to spend. Paying a fair price for 10 grams would boost that to way over $400. So going back and paying the difference to keep the piece wasn't really an option.
So what did I do?
I went back. Told my dealer "I had a real problem with that gold bullion I just bought". Then handed it back and told him it was 10 grams, not 1/4 oz. He started to apologize and told me he'd pay me the difference--then realized I'd paid too little and started laughing. Of course he thanked me several times for being honest.
Anyway I told him 10 grams was out of my budget for the week, so I got a refund. Told him I'd probably be back in a week to pick it up anyway. Grabbed a partial roll of silver halves on the way out for 19x face. I'll post 'em tomorrow in the PORN thread
--Severian the Lame
We don' need no stinkin' METRIC SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You did the right thing.
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I tend to agree. But I've also handled this situation both ways over the years. In one instance while set up at a show I quoted a better date PF65 seated half dime as a type coin and was $400 under CDN. The buyer who was a dealer brought it to my attention. I let him have it for the quoted price even though I think he would have paid the extra $400. I just plain failed to look at CDN and that was my laziness, nothing else. On another occasion I underquoted a PF66 Walker without having checked a recent blue sheet. That was a $200 error. The dealer insisted that he pay the $200 though in my mind I was obligated to honor my quoted price.
Still, I know if I brought this $100 difference to the attentionany of my local B&M's, that on the next transaction or two it would be entirely forgotten. I'd be charged whatever they felt they could get from me on the next coin. There would be no lingering effects of the good Samaritan.....in fact probably only 24 hour moratorium before normal dealings resumed. The dealer could have easily weighed the gold coin and figured out it was 30 grams. If he paid the previous seller only 25 grams for it then he's certainly not entitled to another freebie on my end. So I'm supposed to sweat $100 on their laziness or lack of attention to detail when I know full well that at times they rip the public a "new one" on over the counter purchases? My favorite local B&M and probably the most ethical purchased some rare, key date, raw choice mint state gold coins from an elderly woman for about 30% of CDN (purchased 2-3 points down to be "safe"). I tried to offer them 95% once they were graded but was quickly denied. Ok, so that's a $55,000 "miscue" to the original seller. And I have to sweat $100? Come on. Why is their rent any more important than my mortgage?
I compare this situation to your local Stop & Shop, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. How often are mismarked prices in the buyer's favor, especially when you consider items that are on sale or discounted? Yeah, almost never! I'd venture that for every 50X a customer technically overpays, that one walks out the door having underpaid for some reason that slipped by the cashier. Not good odds. The odds are not that much different in your B&M. So you're supposed to go back to Stop & Shop and tell them they made a $2 error in your favor while during the course of the year, they probably overcharged on $100 for sale priced items? And this 30 gram gold coin was not mismarked. It was fairly and legitimately priced by the seller.
roadrunner
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
It boils down to what type of person one is and how it makes them feel doing the right thing.
(x2,Meltdown),cajun,Swampboy,SeaEagleCoins,InYHWHWeTrust, bstat1020,Spooly,timrutnat,oilstates200, vpr, guitarwes,
mariner67, and Mikes coins
<< <i>Dont get me wrong, I dislike most dealers the same as I dislike most spiders. >>
I don't understand. What do you have against spiders?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire