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Thursday 2 June 2011

TOWIE

The only way is ETHICS (not what you were thinking huh?). OK, here's my ethical dilemma.


http://www.just-nice-things.co.uk/2010/04/15/gosh-holographic/
This is a photo of it on Helen's lovely nails. If you have this polish you should read her post because I didn't find this an easy polish to work with (impossible actually) and Helen tells you how to avoid the pitfalls. Thanks, Helen, for permission to use your pic.)

Yesterday I found 2 bottles of GOSH Holographic in Superdrug. Looks like they've been storing them in the dirty laundry basket since Methuselah was a lad but unused bottles they are nonetheless. I think they may have a supply that they dripfeed slowly onto the display.

So my plan is/was this - ebay them, hope to exceed the fiver I spent on each of them, spend the resulting profit on something I want. I tweeted my delight at finding them because I know they are fetching above RRP on ebay but my pleasure was short-lived. Why?

Well,  I realised that there a lot of polish enthusiasts out there who didn't manage to get this polish when it was readily available and can't now easily afford or justify the prices these are commanding on ebay. Many (no, MOST) readers and bloggers are a lot younger than I and consequently less well-off and I began to feel rather guilty.

On the one hand I don't want to rip people off (but nobody forces you to buy polish and it's not quite like elevating grain prices in the developing world) but on the other hand there is a market for this and I'd like some more cash to splash as I'm having to be particularly careful at the moment because of my mother's nursing home fees (but is it OK for me to capitalise on my credit card to drive speculation?).

Plus I have another of these I only used once...

What do you think are the rights and wrong in this?

Jenni

10 comments:

  1. Hmmm. It's hard for me to not be biased as this is my favourite polish ever, I only have a small amount left and no way can I afford to buy it on ebay. So I wanna say 'noooooo don't sell it! Give it to meeeeee!' :P
    However there's nothing ethically wrong with selling it marked up in my opinion. If people want it enough and can afford it then at least you're offering it to them.
    Maybe if you're feeling guilty you could compromise, do a giveaway for one (or your own bottle if you don't think you'll use it again) and sell the other?
    I don't really think there's a right decision, it's just up to you. If selling it is going to make you feel really bad then don't do it but if you just think that you should feel guilty then you should sell it because I don't think it's something to feel bad about.

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  2. is that not a half price sticker on the lid you have peeled off soooo you got them for £2.50 each not £5

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  3. I say sell. I dream of the day I walk into superdrug and find a shelf fullof these, sitting unloved. I'd get three, one for me, one to sell, one for a giveaway so I could get myself 11tybillion followers and rule the blogoverse...

    There is nothing unethical in buying to sell for a profit, it's how the world goes around. Consider it good business sense and if you find more, I'd do exactly the same.

    The one thing I would do however, if I found a couple on a lonely superdrug display is make sure I didn't take the last one, unless there was only one or two, in the hope that someone else would get the same thrill of finding a beauty.

    Hx

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  4. Hard question. I was able to get my hand on one bottle when superdrug had a sale, so it only cost me £2.50 one bottle. I saw on ebay selling as high as 24.99. I really don't know but like i always say there is market for expensive and cheap things. So you do what your heart tells you to:)

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  5. Why not put them both on eBay, one at a reasonable Buy It Now price and the other as an auction, which I see people do a lot with multiples of products.

    I had no idea this was such a hot item, just had a look on eBay at what it's going for and holy wow that's insane!

    xx

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  6. Thanks, people. Superdrug removed the half-price labels. I paid full-price. That's how I know it's old stock. Because it goes back to the time they WERE half-price.

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  7. As much as I really hope to get my hands on this someday, I don't have a problem with you selling it, if you start the price at a reasonable amount, and people bid it up, that's just the way it goes. Sure if you manage to find a few of them, it would be great to have a giveaway (and your Ebay'd ones will probably cover the cost of that), but I can't imagine anybody berating you for selling them at a profit so that you can enjoy something else.

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  8. I love this shade :) I wish I had GOSH in my country too <3

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  9. Hmm I think my nails look far from marvellous there, but thanks for the compliment :)

    Sell it. There's a recession on.

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  10. Crazy buy it now prices on eBay annoy me greatly, especially if coupled with VVHTF!!! and other text in the description that implies the seller is doing me a favor listing it at any price. Auctions that start at a price regular mortals can pay and then get bid up to crazy prices by buyers are fine. Disappointing if I don't want to pay the crazy price it takes to win, but that's how auctions work.

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