Is Ebay really worth more than friendship?

[isaacsquared]

Even if i gave him ten a piece its still a profit to him

So? If he found a $100 bill laying in the parking lot, does that mean he should give it to you for a $20 videogame just because you're friends? I do favors for my friends when they need them, but if a buddy just came up and acted like he was entitled to a hundred of my dollars, regardless of whether I worked for it or found it on the sidewalk, I'd know they're not really a friend. I'd probably punch them in the face and then take their sister to dinner if I found out they went to a message board just to complain about me not giving them the money.

[Anayo]

Friends should be willing to lose a bit of money for each other now and then over something like that. Of course, being a "friend" to begin with is a prerequisite.

[dedalusdedalus]

Even if i gave him ten a piece its still a profit to him

I'd probably punch them in the face and then take their sister to dinner if I found out they went to a message board just to complain about me not giving them the money.

I neglected to comment on that point, but I agree with you 100%. Instead of complaining about what a shitty friend he has, the OP should consider just how good a friend he is.

So from the content of his posting, we can conclude two things about OP as a friend. If you're OP's friend, OP will: (1) expect you to sell him things for cheap, just because you managed to scoop them up on the cheap; (2) complain about you behind your back on an internet forum if you refuse to do so.

Yeah...I think ebay's worth more than THAT friendship.

[Jerkface Killah]

I call shitty friend. In this story, the friend is reported to have said, "I have them if you want them". Typically this kind of statement would imply some kind of deal or negotiation. Maybe a trade or a trade plus some money. But full retail price between friends? That's shitty.
I have a friend who had a second copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga (found it at a thrift store, sweet score) and some other awesome Saturn titles. He sold them to a friend of his (this was before we met) for $100. He could have sold them on eBay for 3 or 4 times that amount but friendship counts for something.

JFK

[Kebo]

Sorry, but it's pretty selfish of you to want to save a buck at your friend's expense. What he now has is a commodity with real-world value, no different than a car or a book or a videocard. He was willing to give you a discount on them. You seriously wanted them $10 a piece? So if I was your friend, could I just say "hey, I'll give you $20 for $120. I'll hold on to the $120 and keep it safe...unless I stop liking it someday, which is completely possible, then I'll be able to use the $120 as I see fit, which will probably have gained interest actually".

There comes a point where both friends should respect the other's good fortune and not try to capitalize on it. It's not like you're in dire need of these games, they're merely a luxury. Why don't you give him $120 worth of games in exchange? The ones of yours that he'd want? If you win a scratch ticket, are you going to give him 90% of it? I doubt it.

[CRTGAMER]

Sorry, but it's pretty selfish of you to want to save a buck at your friend's expense. What he now has is a commodity with real-world value, no different than a car or a book or a videocard. He was willing to give you a discount on them. You seriously wanted them $10 a piece? So if I was your friend, could I just say "hey, I'll give you $20 for $120. I'll hold on to the $120 and keep it safe...unless I stop liking it someday, which is completely possible, then I'll be able to use the $120 as I see fit, which will probably have gained interest actually".

There comes a point where both friends should respect the other's good fortune and not try to capitalize on it. It's not like you're in dire need of these games, they're merely a luxury. Why don't you give him $120 worth of games in exchange? The ones of yours that he'd want? If you win a scratch ticket, are you going to give him 90% of it? I doubt it.

Oh just sock that "friend" already, he has 2 versions.
He should have at least sold you one at a friendly price.
No, not $4.99 but not $50.00 either.

[17DaysOlderThanNES]

you sound pretty young, and young people tend to be shortsighted in terms of favors. As people get older, they find doing things like buying people lunch, inviting them to some kind of event (and paying for their tickets), etc. will net you a trustable friend that will be there when you need them (like broken down on the side of the road at 3 AM). In the business world, favors and hookups are a way of life, if you are unwilling to be generous for the sake of being generous from time to time, expect to go bankrupt pretty quick. No one likes a cutthroat penny pincher when it comes friends or business partners. That said, you gotta be careful with that as sometimes they will just take and take and never give back. We call those people "pricks".

The real question here is:

A) how good of friends are you? are you at his house every day or is this just some dude you vaguely know? A best friend should cut you a deal, but a vague acquaintance doesn't owe you anything.

B) did he know the value before you asked about them or was he planning on selling them in the first place? I mean, you can't just run in and ask for a huge deal when he was already going to sell them on eBay. At the same time, if they were just collecting dust and it slipped out that they were worth alot, that's a little douchey, but again, if you're young (and neither have jobs), I can understand him wanting more money.

C) (this is more of a statement) just because they are $5 at GameStop doesn't mean that's fair market value. GameStop doesn't always reflect the real market value (which is why you COULD NOT get Final Fantasy VII for several years prior to the demise of the PSX section. $20 in store vs. $70 online is a big gap, too big for people not to snatch up the cheap copies). Now, if he knew you wanted them and ran in and bought them at GameStop for $5 and then said "$60 each please", I'd kick him in the nuts. That's what happened with the PS3 at launch and for everyone that bought a launch system and scalped it on eBay, you're officially a douche. The reason you can't find it at GameStop is because the people in charge of pricing aren't paying attention to legacy systems as much.

D) is this the game you're talking about?:

from where I'm sittin, that's $40, not $60.

E) have you considered grabbing up a Dreamcast and just burning a copy of the DC version? Used/working/complete (hookups) Dreamcasts sell for $20-$30 all day long and have no method to prevent burned copies from being played. If you're collecting to have a pretty game on your shelf, that's another story, but collecting is an expensive hobby, so if you're young with no job, I'd hold off on that and stick to ROMs/ISOs and christmas presents for the time being.

F) (again, not a question) if he refuses to deal at all and is a good friend (vs an acquaintance), you could always get him back with an equally douchey act. Next time he's somewhere getting food and goes "oh damn, I'm short, can I have $5?" be like "nope, where's your Phantasy Star money? enjoy cleaning dishes!"

G) (not a question, anecdote) I'll soon be moving to NYC and thus have to sell my car as cars are completely impractical there. Rather than see what the most I can get for is, I'm selling it to a friend that has wanted a Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V since they came out but never had the money. I'm selling it to him at straight KBB value even though I have $1250 in mods done to it (NISMO isn't cheap) and it's in pristine condition. It's worth it to me to sell it for less to know someone is getting it that will appreciate it and take as good of care of it as I do.

[the7k]

I remember I sold my Wii to a friend of mine for $285. I needed money at the time, and he was more than willing to pay that much.

That's more than the retailer price, but it was still less than the resale price at the time. (plus, it had a ton of VC games on it.) Did my friend really care? No. He was still getting a bargain and I was still getting money.

Another friend ended up selling me a copy of Metal Gear Solid for GBC and Gamecube Ethernet Adapter for $35 altogether, even though each of them only cost him $5. Did I really care? Kinda at first, until I realized I was getting both of them for a lot cheaper than I could online. He makes a nice profit, I get what I want for cheaper than elsewhere - the world keeps on spinning.

I often have sold stuff at a 'friend' price, and bought stuff at a 'friend' price - but I sure as hell don't expect it to happen all the time. Especially not if there are easy alternatives. Business and friendship are not at all similar, so don't try to use one to influence another - otherwise, you'll likely lose both.

[mas]

O.K guys I'm going to tell you all what a great buddy he his. I'm not going to say fu to him but I will remember this in case he wants anything from me. Last night I read all your post and I called him this morning seeing he was home since his wife is a lawyer and he doesn't need to work so I told him that I might of been rude to him and If I was then I'm sorry. I also told him that those are his games and he can do what he wants with them. I also said Frank if you want to put the games up on ebay, I have an account with a lot of positive feedback and we can go to my place look at what there worth and put them up for sale. He says and I quote" Its ok dude yesterday I went the store and sold them for 30 dollars. I was pissed because I said Frank I would of bought them for thirty if you wanted but you said fifty a piece and you know i dont have a hundred dollars to dish out between the wife and the kids. I couldn't afford that, but thirty I could come up with. He's like sorry man whatever its not like you really wanted these or else you would of gave the the hundred. Whatever I learned to never ask a buddy for games or money for that matter and if i want something I'm going to have to get it myself.

[17DaysOlderThanNES]

wow, that dude is a fucking idiot on all accounts. Sounds like my cousin that sold his games for pennies to GameStop when I would've bought them for more. WTF are people thinking with this shit?