ethics question...?

Question

I run a site where you can sell your stuff, or barter or just give it away (to keep landfills less full) Anyway, a member on there posted that she was selling COUPONS for gymboree. It was 75 off purchase of 150. She had 3 of these types of coupons and sold them for 33 dollars for all.

Do you think its morally right to sell free coupons?

it is for my county in my state. and the people live in the same town. and this coupon thing has never happened before, and has nothing to do with keeping landfills less full. My site is for furniture, clothes, dishes, basically anything you can throw away that someone might be able to use.

Look into it, because you sound like one @sshole that belongs in a dumpster

Answer 1

No. It's morally offensive. Free is supposed to be free. It is the moral equivalent of ticket scalping.

Answer 2

Well if some one is stupid enough to buy something that was to be free in the beginning, then i say she got off pretty well.
But if you are worried about legal issues call the company that the coupons are good for and ask for their corporate office and then asked to be directed to their legal department. Then you can explain what is going on, and how you are affiliated with her.
You also said that your site is used "to keep landfills less full" I don't see how 3 coupons will take up that much space in a landfill, especially sense you can recycle paper. So maybe she shouldn't be using your site to begin with. For all you know the coupons could be good just for a Gymboree in her local area. If so you better hope she has found buyers near her. If not i wouldn't be surprised if some one sent you an e-mail questioning the ethics of you and the site. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Your question is only about morals, here? In the Bible it says, "A laborer is worthy of his hire." So, if she went to the trouble of getting the coupons, keeping up with them, offering them on your site, and shipping them, then she's done some work. So, morally, (technically) we're okay.

If your question is about ethics, though, as the title implies, that's different. Ethically, I would not PERSONALLY have done this. I would have found a friend who had children and offered them to him or her, or thrown them into my recycle bin, or put them on the bulletin board at my church, or done a hundred other things to get rid of the coupons without putting them in the landfill. No, I DON'T think that something that comes to you for free, without any effort on your part, should be sold as a product. Ethically speaking, that is.

Legally speaking, some coupons cannot be sold. A quick search of the Gymboree website turned up a thing called "Gymbucks." You don't mention if this is the type of coupon she had for Gymboree. If it was, then her sale was illegal... I found this in Gymboree's Gymbucks terms and conditions section: "Gymbucks may not be sold, altered, duplicated, negotiated, auctioned or bartered and may not be transferred in conjunction with the sale or barter of another item(s). Any violation of the above will result in deactivation of the affected Gymbucks."

So, I'd say check out your coupon source before selling. And I'd say the answer to your question is probably going to be no, overall, it's not all right to sell coupons.

Answer 4

I've seen people selling coupons online. As we're in a free country where supply and demand rules, it's not quite wrong either. Think of it this way, by charging a bit, they're making a little extra cash. By purchasing it, someone will save more money in the long run. If there was a way for them to get the coupons free- they'd have done so... or perhaps they already have gotten them free and can't have any more, so they buy them from others who won't use them. They're not hurting the company- as the company put the coupons on the market so people would use them to buy their product. They're moving more inventory as a result, and making money.
Granted, we can't know either's situation- but it seems mutually beneficial to all parties. The coupon holder makes some money, the coupon buyer saves some money, and the company makes money on their product. :)

Answer 5

I believe they get around that on the major auction sites by saying the bidder is paying for their time to clip, package and mail the coupon. Personally, I think it's unethical, but I think there are too many dangerous criminals on the streets to worry about someone selling coupons.

Answer 6

Chances are the coupons have a statement on them that says something like "No Cash Value" or "No Face Value", meaning that they are not legally sellable in this way.

Answer 7

I had sex with prostitutes that I met through craigslist. Now that's immoral. Supplying the demand for free coupons and making money on them is priceless. For everything else there is Master Card.

Answer 8

Why not? Businesses do it all the time for publicity. I've seen auctions where businesses are actually auctioning off coupons and discounts. If people are willing to buy them, then why not?

Answer 9

I would say that the issue here is that, by violating the intent of your website, her action was unethical.

I don't believe the act itself was wrong - just WHERE she chose to do it. In the future, I would suggest you tighten up the rules of your site in order to maintain the control you desire. Once you have done that, I would feel comfortable in bombing this woman's message and others of its type.

Answer 10

No - she should have either given them away or traded them for something she wanted more. If I were you, I would set up some type of rule prohibiting this.