Selling stuff to Family?

[FuryofFive]

How does everyone feel about selling used items to family

do you generally sell it or give it to them.

I figure if the item can still be sold for a good value. id sell it to them. less than i would anyone else, but still sell.

such as a year old laptop. paid $400, added extra memory for like 50+, upgraded the HDD to 320gb for about another $100 told them id sell it to them for 200/225, this was to my aunt. i am always fixing her computer problems. so if i sell her a machine i know i worked with. there may not be a problem

In other instances, im giving my sister a PC of parts that ive used. i however bought a new case for the rig(re-using case for new build) i asked for 75$ the videocard/CPU/OS alone are worth that. so i figured doing them a favor.

How do you all feel about selling stuff to family?

 

[Peelback79]

If it's not super expensive, give. It's not a shame to sell, but I usually make them a really good deal. You might also end up getting some of it re-gifted back as Christmas/B-day presents. Win win meng.

 

[D1gger]

I will usually just give them my hand me down computers and such that have a low value (< $500). But I don't like to sell more expensive items to family, such as cars etc. as if anything bad happens (breakdown ... repairs needed) it can make for an uncomfortable situation.

 

[OutHouse]

hard lesson i learned. NEVER sell to friends or family or coworkers period.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Good in theory, bad in practice. It ends up costing too much.

 

[Fritzo]

I'll give it to them if it's close family. I'll sell it at a very cheap price if it's something expensive (car large TV, etc) just so they don't feel guilty about taking it.

 

[Baked]

Never in my life time. Don't even give it away.

 

[FuryofFive]

yeah thats what im doing for my sis.. its a new case, so im gonna make her pay for just that. the rest is all used stuff

the laptop however is worth a couple hundred. still in great working condition. rivals lots of the crap they sell in stores(nothing great) but i know i could hock it for a couple hundred.

 

[Tremulant]

With family and close friends, I usually barter for stuff. I give them something and they owe me a favor. Of course, I don't ever give anything that I'm not willing to part with.

I try to avoid selling/giving stuff to co-workers.

 

[FuryofFive]

Originally posted by: Tremulant
With family and close friends, I usually barter for stuff. I give them something and they owe me a favor. Of course, I don't ever give anything that I'm not willing to part with.

I try to avoid selling/giving stuff to co-workers.

that works usually... but what happens if the people have nothing i want hah?

 

[Modelworks]

Depends on the item. If I have a lot of money in it, then yes I sell it to them, at a cheaper price than anyone else. Not going to give something like a car to a family member . If I sell them a car and it breaks down later, we have good enough family relations that we know that the person wasn't trying to put something over on the other family member.

 

[FuryofFive]

heh I hate selling, makes me feel like a cheap bastard. but im the one who initially sunk the cost of everything including the extra's. nothing wrong with wanting to recoup the costs.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Not worth starting a family feud over when it dies in 6 months and you aren't willing to spend $400 to repair it.

Either give it to them free but as-is, or sell it in the FS/FT forums or on eBay.

 

[effowe]

I would sell at a cheap price if I had sunk some money into it, but dealing with computers and families is an endless headache. Once you sell it to them you are their lifetime free of charge warranty repair service, which is WAY more trouble than it's worth.

 

[FuryofFive]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Not worth starting a family feud over when it dies in 6 months and you aren't willing to spend $400 to repair it.

Either give it to them free but as-is, or sell it in the FS/FT forums or on eBay.

hah.they've been asking me

 

[Fenixgoon]

depends on the item. i bought a bunch of DVD's from my brother, for example, but chances are i'd probably just give it to them

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: FuryofFive
yeah thats what im doing for my sis.. its a new case, so im gonna make her pay for just that. the rest is all used stuff

the laptop however is worth a couple hundred. still in great working condition. rivals lots of the crap they sell in stores(nothing great) but i know i could hock it for a couple hundred.

Just make sure it's clear she should pay for any maintenance and upkeep for the car. Otherwise she'll use some lame ass excuse that "well you put miles on it so you pay maintenance!"

 

[AstroManLuca]

Really depends. I'm more inclined to do that with my brother than my parents or other relatives. I'm more inclined to give stuff away, but sometimes we sell stuff to each other. Other times we just trade stuff. We always give each other good deals if we do sell stuff. Normally it's because the one buying can really use it but the item is worth something if it's sold online, and even though we sell it for less than we'd normally get, it's more convenient for both of us.

Also, my brother is much less likely to need to use me as tech support if he buys something of mine. He can fix most things on his own.

 

[waggy]

depends.

i purchased 2 items from my sister. a car and a computer. years latter i found out she screwed me really bad on both.

i have baught a bunch of stuff from my dad. i have always got a good deal. most of the time i get it half way paid down and he says to forget the rest. last one was a sofa he paid $525 and really didnt fit in the house how he wanted. so he sold it to me for $250 and i paid $100 and he said forget the rest. hehe

 

[alkemyst]

If I am going to sell something I usually price it at 50% of what I could sell it to a stranger for.

It's as-is always...If it dies the next day I would refund...but 2-3 months later no.

That said, most that end up selling stuff to family are raping them and know they wouldn't get those prices in the open market.

I used to constantly be called on 'new' laptops that someone got from a family member and paid more than a new Dell that would smoke it.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: FuryofFive

Originally posted by: Tremulant
With family and close friends, I usually barter for stuff. I give them something and they owe me a favor. Of course, I don't ever give anything that I'm not willing to part with.

I try to avoid selling/giving stuff to co-workers.

that works usually... but what happens if the people have nothing i want hah?

Even if they don't have something right away, they'll remember how nice you were to give them a perfectly good PC (or whatever). They may give you something nice in the future, or help you out at some point in the future when you're in need.

Sell the items externally if you're tight for cash; otherwise give them to your family or trade. Don't sell to your family.

 

[SilentZero]

Give don't sell..unless its a 4th cousin or something.

 

[Mide]

family always wants a lifetime warranty

 

[RKS]

I only sell to people I don't know. I've just gave away a couple nice 19" LCDs to family. My sister-in-law and my parents were thrilled to have larger monitors and I could justify the 30" S-IPS and 24" S-PVA/P-MVA to my wife.

 

[imported_Imp]

I sold tickets to a family member and ended up losing quite a bit just cause of the "it's family" markdown.

To sell something that can actually break/fail would be annoying since they can and will bitch you out. Then you'll get peer pressure to replace/fix it. Ughh...