low price for friend, why?

stabeek

Hi,

Why do people sell something to a friend for a low price? It's often heard, that somebody got something cheap because it was a friend that sold it, and so a great bargain. To some, it's seen as a favour, which is fine between friends, but I argue here that it isn't: it's more like money .. and money between friends is different to favours, it should be paid back pretty exactly and promptly.

I'm trying to understand the logic here. I mean, you sell something for below the market value, because it's a friend. You could have advertised on donedeal or adverts.ie and got the market price from a stranger. In a way if a friend gets something cheap off you, you are more or less giving them money.

Maybe it's an urban myth of some sort, because it's very rare you hear the opposite, when the seller speaks "I got more money for it, because I sold it to a friend". In fact, I have never heard that.

Let me say, it is justified in certain situations: it could be, because the friend badly needs it, OK. That they got a promise off you some time ago about it, also OK. Maybe there's a flaw in the object and only a friend would accept it, also OK.

My general attitude now, when I hear someone say "oh I got a real good price for it, because a friend sold it to me" is "OK fine, but getting it off a stranger for market value is also cool ... and perhaps even better in the long run" so I ignore the boast.

Julez

I like my friends, it feels good to help them out. Selling online or using adverts or donedeal leaves you with unknowns also, people messing you around, not showing up etc. etc. Selling to a friend gets rid of all that hassle for you.

In short, you give your mate a discount cause your sound and you don't have to deal with idiots. You both win.

antix80

Few reasons...

It takes time and effort to sell on adverts or donedeal. By reducing the price and selling to a friend it's win-win.

You might hope what goes around comes around... A reduced price can be seen almost as a favour.

If you're selling something relating to a hobby or interest, you might like to see your friend with the item over a stranger.

Xterminator

It works both ways. you look after your friend who you are in a position to help, and when they are in a position to help you; then thats what happens.

Badly Drunk Boy

Just say you buy 10 widgets for €500 each and plan to sell them for €700. You hear that a good friend is looking for that exact type of widget so you sell it to him for €500 (or maybe €550-650). Because you like your friend, you left him have it for cheaper and you forego the chance of making a profit (or as much) on that particular widget.

Because it's good to have friends. And he might return the favour, but even if he doesn't, it shouldn't matter...

magicbastarder

i understand the value of friends, and i give my friends preferential treatment; i don't see any contradiction or strangeness here.

Esel

Friend price - it's a thing.

wotzgoingon

I got a new 4k 120Hz Tv sometime last year and sold my old year old(at that time) 4k 60 Hz to my mother for €300.

Charles Babbage

Is the OP from Cavan?

Gary Scrod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117748612#Comment_117748612

No, he just happens to also be as tight as a gnats chuff.

FatherTed

Do you have friends?

Housefree

Get the market price from Adverts, you obviously don't sell on it, low balling is a professional sport on there

putthekettleon

A friend of mine has a upmarket men's clothing shop, asked me if I was interested in a wool suit and overcoat, which I was. He was clearing out winter stock and sold them to me at cost price. Nice guy, he knew that I was looking for new work threads and he knew my size. I dodn't think I had to repay the favour, a couple of pints and we were square. He saved me a few hundred quid, or I could have bought some polyester crap for the same price. Sometimes buying from a friend works out. I don't think friends should buy or sell cars from each other, it gets messy.

Treppen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117751675#Comment_117751675

He probably wrote it off as unsold against tax.

So really, by you paying cash in hand he made more.

P.S. use "a" if followed by a consonant and "an" if followed by a vowel, although it's slightly different for abbreviations/initialisms like 'an S.U.V.' for 'a Sports Utility Vehicle'.

Potential-Monke

I wouldn't sell anything to family or friends. Simply because, I don't want to be hearing it when that something breaks and suddenly the great deal was me fecking them over. Same with jobs, I won't hire family/friends to do a job, because I do want somewhere to go back to if it's not done right. With family/friends, that becomes messy.

Strumms

It can backfire... I sold a car to a neighbor / acquaintance / occasional drinking buddy 7 or 8 years ago.... car was 5 years old.

id never sold a car to anybody before but he took a look in it, at it and went for a test drive, he really liked it and I told him what I wanted, an honest acquaintance / mates rates price while not screwing myself either.... inside the car was pristine, outside was the same with the exception of a scratch near the petrol flap or whatever you call it..bout an inch, difficult to see...very low mileage, always serviced when it required to be and one owner who he knew, me....

Anyway, he asked for time to think and rang me four days later with an offer that was almost a third lower then I’d intimated to him I’d be looking for... I wanted 11,500 he offered 7,500 and kept going on about market value and the scratch and how much he’d need to spend repairing it....he was known as a bit of a skinflint by some actual friends of mine who were in the same golf society and I’d heard them criticizing him over stuff like bets, rounds in the pub after, and just general carry on... one too was always refusing a bet on the first but if he was playing well he’d offer a wager on the last 9, best score... he worked as a manager in a shipping / freight company for years, early 50’s, no kids at home

after a month he had a change of heart, knew he was getting a seriously good deal and we shook hands on 10,500... my dad reckons I should have told him to fûck off....car is still outside his gaff, I pass it.... he never repaired that scratch.. never thought the same of him afterwards, nice enough company but a weird not nice way with money...

ShatterAlan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058203841/low-price-for-friend-why

I have a friend who has an apartment in Alicante. I get a "mate's rate" from him. He could easily get £500 a week for it but I get it for 250. It's a bargain for me plus he knows that he can trust me not to fcuk the place up. He knows I will launder the bed clothes, take out the rubbish, vacuum, shut all the blinds, lock all the doors and windows, empty the fridge and turn off the gas and electricity. He knows he doesn't have to have someone come around and make sure it's all secured and clean. Win-win.

ShatterAlan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117751748#Comment_117751748

What about "a European country", "a used car", "a one-time event"?

LollipopJimmy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117748588#Comment_117748588

You charged your mother for a second hand tv? Not something I could ever do, I'd rather hand it over and starve

PsychoPete

If I do work for any of my friends, I do it at cost price and likewise with them. I bought my car from a friend in the trade, on the forecourt its probably a €20k+ but I gave him €13k for it take it as it was with no warranty just straight out the door. I got a decent deal and he made a few pound on it for doing nothing

iamstop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117748523#Comment_117748523

aka mates rates.

Riesen_Meal

The day the PS5 came out and I got one, I sold my mate my PS4 Pro for 100 quid, I could have gone up to GameStop and maybe got 150 or 170 or something for it on the day, but you tend to look after your friends with mate's rates, I would have just flogged it anyway to someone on Adverts but would rather see my mate get the use out of it...

antix80

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117748588#Comment_117748588

I wouldn't brag about that. You should have just gifted it to her.

Kindness. Also good will begets good will. No man / woman is an island as they say. A person is an island as they say. It can pay dividends to be kind to family, friends and neighbours. It depends on the individual I guess but that is how I would look at it. I grow veg and I give bits and pieces generally to those who do likewise for me. I have a friend who gives me trees and another honey. My brother gives me timber. I visit my parents ergo I stay in their house for free. A neighbour shuts the hens for me if I’m away. My mother in law lives alone and often thinks of us. She kindly got us some furniture from a friend of hers for free. A older lady lives next door alone. She’s just a nice lady. I give all these people eggs and veg occasionally and they are appreciative. It’s a mutually beneficial thing. As for the OH’s siblings and friends who live farther away I might give them something once a year. They wouldn’t see the same value in the gift in my opinion due to a different way of looking at life. Others would be very aprecative but I don’t see them so often. You adjust your generosity if someone is ungrateful or takes the piss. It creates good will among decent people or rather people with an outlook less consumerist is my answer. The same reason people give a little money back on the asking price if you buy something informally or give friends rates I’d say.

nj27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764868#Comment_117764868

it’s like Ralph Cifaretto said to Artie Bucco, if you don’t pay me I can’t hurt you.

Muppet Man

I never sell my mates anything... its either free to take away as-is, or i sell it at market value to strangers. It can get messy and awkward if whatever is sold stops working.

Ray Palmer

The simple answer is somebody is a friend and people like to do friends favours. I had a car that I could have got €500 for it but my friend had just lost his job and his car crapped out on him so I gave it to him. A days work for me and I would easily spend a day helping him out if he asked.

Hotblack Desiato

If you ever build a PC for family or friends, or even help them to do it, or answer a question when they're buying the parts, you'll be their unpaid tech support for life.

Tony EH

Why do people sell something to a friend for a low price?

Do you know how a friendship works?

2ndcoming

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117748588#Comment_117748588

Was it her birthday or something?

Rainmann

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058203841/low-price-for-friend-why

You need to rethink your outlook on life.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774280#Comment_117774280

At least your with it. Two people in this thread think I should have just giving it to to her for free. Tbh she got a pretty good deal. It worked out great, her Tv broke and 120Hz Tv's were doing the rounds I said I will upgrade and sell it to her for cheap. Everybody wins.

Partly because if something goes wrong, at least they got it at a cheap price. Don't like selling something like a vehicle or an electronic device to a friend but I've done it and it's always discounted because something could go wrong.

GSBellew

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774304#Comment_117774304

I gave my parents a car that's would cost me a few €k to replace, they needed a car, clutch went on theirs and they were stuck, I didn't really need a diesel at that point, bought a petrol runabout and let them fire on with the diesel, it helped them out.

The way I see it is that I owe my parents a hell of a lot more for the childhood they gave me, the love the happiness, the holidays, the memories, the cup of tea when you pop in on an evening.

Come to think of it, I gave them my first widescreen TV back in the day when I upgraded.

The idea of charging them for something just doesn't enter my head.

Darc19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117751748#Comment_117751748

I don't think you understand retail.

You can't "write off against tax".

If the clothing cost €200, it's a €200 loss if you throw it out.

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774274#Comment_117774274

Does friendship automatically include a discount on everything you may sell to each other? News to me...

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058203841/low-price-for-friend-why

Why would you think it’s a boast? I’ve heard people use it as an explanation as to why the price of something was lower than it should be, but it never struck me that they were boasting….

I sometimes sell surplus electric components to friend at cost or a little below cost after finishing a project. I do it because I don’t want the hassle of dealing with the public if components fail. My friends know I did not sell them defective items on purpose so it’s easy to sort out among ourselves and secondly it’s not my business, it’s not how I make my living.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117778175#Comment_117778175

No. But you do shit for your buddies and they do shit for you. It's simple.

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117778494#Comment_117778494

Doing and selling are different things. I do **** for my friends, but I don't sell them anything.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117778511#Comment_117778511

The "selling" isn't the "doing". The reduced price as a favour is. 😉