Quote:
Originally Posted by TaylorOtwell  Quote:
Originally Posted by py3ak All right, make it a little more complicated. There is a yard sale, and it is obvious that the condition of the family is one of desperately selling everything they own to meet some crushing financial burden. But, they have an original Monet sitting on a lawn chair with one broken arm --price tag $5.00. Do you tell them then? | I don't know if I am understanding this correctly, but I think you are asking should the buyer inform them even though they are charging way too much for the lawn chair...??? 
I say yes, the buyer should tell them. No matter what evil they may have committed, we cannot return evil for evil. |
"evil for evil" ??? Now you are just being silly.
True story.
My dear wife visits a yard sale. She sees a large (very large) assortment of Thomas & Brio train pieces in a box marked $10. She purchases said box. At the time that she pays for this item the owner of the aforamentioned item laments all the money that was spent buying these toys for kids who never used them.
My dw googles these items & finds that they are "worth" over $500 if sold on ebay. She then throws them in the train box with all of the other trains.
Fast forward to today; the toys have been well used by several kids & would no longer bring even 50 bucks on ebay.
Question. What were the items "worth"?
Some have theorised that these items are worth the "maximum price paid, by anyone, anywhere". This is silly.
Any item for sale is worth what the buyer & seller freely agree it is worth. Period. Full stop. End of sentence.
I would never have paid 500 bucks for toys that wear out. i would have paid $10, $20, $40, $50 but not $500! So the trains are not "worth" $500, to me! The fact that a (nonexistent) "buyer at $500" may exist is not a factor in this transaction.
A "potential future purchaser at a higher price" DOES NOT EXIST! You may find such a person, later, after advertising, after spending time & money, BUT at the time of the original transaction, the do not exist.
If I attend an auction & I buy $1000 worth of widgets , based on my belief that I will later find a buyer of these widgets at $1200, have I defrauded the final puchaser of widgets of $200?
Any one who sais "yes" to the previous question is a crank, on the same level as a person who believes that "cars can run on water, if only oil companies would let them!"