If I gave someone a yo-yo and they gave it away I wouldn’t mind at all. If they sold it I’d be disappointed, not earth shatteringly disappointed, but disappointed none the less.
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Yeah but the stuff you give is too GOOD to sell, man!
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That’s what she said
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That doesn’t actually… make any sense…
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She said that too
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This conversation is amazing.
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I agree. It’s kind of an awkward subject but it’s nice to hear people’s opinions
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no no, I meant that’s what she said
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I have a number of yoyos and a couple of beanie babies and bobble head sports figures that were given to me by special friends. They are all special to me and I will not part with those.
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I think the key to what you said is, “special friends.” And while I am extremely grateful to all I’ve received extras from, I couldn’t honestly consider them all special friends.
With that said I have never sold a gift, yoyo or otherwise, but have no problem trading it away to someone who may give it more love than I could.
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I thought about it more, and ive come to a new conclusion. Complete stranger gifts a yoyo vs mom gifting you a yoyo for your birthday. If you dont like the yoyo, which yoyo is less ethical to sell? The answer is neither. Mom would probably want you to do whatever you want with the gift, and would probably feel bad for you if you didnt like it and would encourage selling it instead of her reap the loss over an unenjoyed gift (can confirm that my mother at least feels this way). A complete stranger may think you are being scummy by trying to capitalize on his charity, and was probably operating under the assumption that you would be grateful for the item itself.
I think im switching my opinion to zslane’s on this one. Once you receive the gift, it is yours. No grace period is required for you to do whatever you want with it. Time does not change the difference between ethical and unethical behavior.
If you are the giver in this situation, think about it for a minute. You did a charitable act by giving someone something for free. Why would you begrudge them if they decided that getting money back for said gift out-weighed the benefits of using said gift? If you did feel this way, the act of giving the gift also came with the stipulation that the recipient had to be grateful and use the item with alacrity for you to feel truly satisfied. Charity is supposed to be selfless in it’s most idealistic form (as a volunteer EMT I have struggled with this thought first hand when patients were less than amenable), so you feeling mad, disappointed, or even begrudged is the equivalent to immediately wanting monetary profit once receiving a gift. A true gift comes with no strings attached.
tl:dr - sentimentality has nothing to do with ethics or morals.
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I still think that selling a gift, or capitalizing on charity as you put it, is still frowned upon. Does the recipient have the right to do it? Yeah sure, it belongs to them now. But should they?
And why in your mind is sentimentality divorced from ethics or morality? If you consider the fact that we are humans and not machines, I think they go hand-in-hand. That’s just me though. Honestly, this isn’t a hill to die on and we don’t have to agree.
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What if someone gave you a house as a gift? Should I have to give the house to the next owner if I need to move or would selling said house be immoral also?
We’re not talking about houses were talking about yoyos.
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They should do whatever pleases them most with it. I mean, ideally gifts are meant to be enjoyed directly on the gift’s merits, so possibly the burden is on the gift giver to give a more desirable gift? It would be like gifting my local mechanic (who uses Snap-on) a set of Craftsman wrenches. Should he hold on to them or even use them? Why not just sell them and appreciate the monetary gain that the gift afforded him?
Because illogical emotional attachment has very little to do with violating ethical or moral values on a broad scale. Have you ever met a hoarder? Literally everything to them has sentimentality, but sometimes you just have to take out the trash, and doing so violates no code of ethics that I am familiar with. In the same vein, why should I keep a yoyo I don’t personally like using?
Imo giving away a gifted yoyo is a charitable act of itself, since you are now literally giving away something of yours that has tradeable value. Selling it is literally neutral on a goodness scale; it is not a decent or indecent trade. Equivalently, keeping it is also neutral. Giving it away to someone who would appreciate it (something perhaps the gift giver should have considered) is a net positive. An indecent act would be to sell it for more than it is worth.
If you think I sound cold, im not. I took a class on ethics and logic in college, and sometimes you had to break an argument down and analyze equivalencies before nailing down moral and ethical consequences. Initial emotions and prejudices usually got in the way before a stronger argument was made. I am simply making an argument, not stating facts. Controversial issues can never truly be made black and white.
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Interesting, thanks for clarifying.
The purpose of the thread was not to get to the bottom of any kind of moral or ethical truth, I just wanted to know what people’s opinions where. This comes up from time to time and it’s interesting to see what people think.
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Well personally; I’ve given stuff away for years. I’m always looking at the board. And sometimes when I see that somebody is looking for something or they just need something in particular that I have; one way or another I get their contact information and I just sent it to em. It’s kind of a one-way secret Santa thing. I get a kick out of it because when I was a kid I always like the idea of getting something just out of the blue with no expectations but Bam there it is; ha ha.
I’m still pretty much the same way but about a year or so ago my view and enthusiasm changed slightly…
One of the guys on the board posted up that he was looking for a fairly rare yo-yo. Not necessarily an expensive yo-yo; just a fairly rare yo-yo. It was a yo-yo that was prototype but released in a small or off batch and boy was it hard to get. I was fortunate enough to get one. And then a few months later at a contest I ended up with another one. I don’t mind having two of something but if it’s a Grail for somebody else and I’m not really doing anything with it and I got it for free anyway. It’s really a lot easier for me to give one of them away because I know I still have one left and I make somebody else really happy. That is in theory anyway?
I don’t have to know the person well. I don’t have to like the person. I just have to be aware that they are really trying to get something and they’re just not having any luck. And if the stars align; I end up sending them something.
This particular instance what I sent was not a total surprise. I contacted the individual and told him I had two of what he was looking for and I would gladly send him one if that would make his day no strings attached. He didn’t need to send me anything or trade me anything. My initial thought was that he wanted this thing so bad that he would just be thrilled and treasure it and have fun just like I did when I was a kid and somebody gave me something. Of course neither one of us are kids people think different that later stages in life. Things in general seem more disposable now especially if you come by them for free.
So to still integrate the surprise technique; I decided to put a couple extra yo-yos in the box just to give it a little more hefty and the und boxing would just be a little cooler. So in the box I put in a plastic dream, an aluminum dream and something else I can’t remember right now but I’m pretty sure there were four yo-yos in the box. One he knew he was getting in three he didn’t know he was getting.
A few days later he got back to me via email quite enthusiastic about his surprise box. He think they had thought of me and was pleasantly surprised by the extra goodies I put in there.
But that primary yo-yo he was looking for; that was a real high point for him. He said man I’ve been looking for that thing for so long I didn’t think I’d ever get one and I have one; thank you very much.
He got back to me several days later and he told me that he had played with all of them and he Thought they were all really nice and a lot of fun. And thank me again for that rare YYF yoyo he had been looking for.
About three weeks later in the BST he posted up all four of the yo-yos for sale. He listed them as new, in the packages and unused.
Nothing to get mad about but it did kind of dampened my enthusiasm for future consideration of who really wants what so bad and they can’t live without it in they have to have it and if they ever get it; boy o boy; they will really really keep it keep it and appreciate it…
Or… just put it up for sale three weeks later.
I still send stuff here and there. I’ve been doing it for years. But I got admit I think a lot more carefully before I decide to send somebody something that they might not appreciate so why bother?
I fully understand that when you give somebody something you’re relinquishing all ownership and future consideration and the object is no longer yours; period.
The gift is obviously in the giving but that being said; all results are not equally satisfying.
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I will never sell any yoyos that are given to me; it just doesn’t feel right. Similarly, if I were to gift someone a yoyo, it would be with the intention that they play with it, not sell it. If they played with it for some weeks and didn’t like it, I would rather them give it away to someone else who could use it.
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Well that’s just the scientist in me trying to break down and analyze things. And quite honestly I’m glad that I did, because I learned something from the exercise. That said I still stand by what I said originally, in that I probably wouldn’t sell a yoyo that was gifted to me. Respect is important to me.
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I will comment from the other side of this. I was gifted a yoyo out of the blue (not one I was looking for) and was very touched as it came from a Instagram “friend” i.e. stranger. I tried really hard to love playing that yoyo, but I never did. Instead it just sat in my case.
I sold it over a year later and took that money to buy one I really wanted and couldn’t afford otherwise. In my mind and heart, I now attach the sentiment to the one I bought, bc without the original generosity, I never would have gotten the second one. The one that actually gets played.
I have traded a secret santa throw as well for the same reason…just didn’t like it.
I have also sold a yoyo i won via giveaway (that time I was desperate for the cash to cover a road trip to get free furniture from my parents).
I do feel some guilt, because of the ideas expressed here. But for me it comes down to intent…I did not seek out freebies to just sell.
I do however think it is deplorable to get one you are desperately looking for only to turn around and sell it. (What? We all have a line)
I also try to do my part to gift what I can. I have a box that I am working on right now for gifting some random noob(s) at Christmas.
I will also say that $20, $50, $100 may not mean much to some people, but for some of us we just don’t have that kind of spare income. I am lucky to spend $20/month on all the different aspects of this hobby. Look at that over a year and you are talking about 1-2 new throws (more if you buy used/or budget friendly) and some string and accessories.
One last thing…the random gifted came with a note saying “I want to help you grow your collection”. What’s the point of a collection you don’t want to throw? I know I will always look at gifting this way: I gave it to you, if you don’t like it use it to get something you want.
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