Q: I sent out many e-mails searching for a scalped ticket to a Michigan football game. A woman offered me one at a price well above face value. I agreed, but before we could meet to close the deal, I found a cheaper ticket and bought it. I think this was OK because there were three days until the game, so she had time to find another buyer. What’s more, scalping is illegal and violates university policy. Agreed?
– I.M., Ann Arbor, Mich.
A: How delightfully hypocritical! Having agreed to buy a scalped ticket, you justify stiffing the scalper for scalping. You restore my faith in American ingenuity; as Benjamin Franklin observed, we can devise a rationalization for anything we care to do.
But your moral tap dance is superfluous; you did no wrong. If the seller had time to find another buyer, then it was reasonable to withdraw your offer. Many a transaction includes a cooling-off period, an opportunity for a buyer to reconsider.
Other types of deals have their own standard practices. In some, a handshake is binding. In others (real estate, for example), even after an offer has been accepted, it is not unusual for a seller to subsequently accept a higher bid – the process doesn’t end until contracts are signed. What customs regulate scalping? Who knows? It seems to be a market in which, short of gunplay, nearly anything goes.
Your self-justification fails for another reason: While scalping may be contrary to law or to school rules, there is no consensus that it actually harms anyone.
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Q: At a friend’s recommendation, I hired a contractor and paid in advance for some special-order items. When these did not show up on time and the contractor wouldn’t give me a satisfactory explanation, my friend called her and said that she would not pay for work the contractor had done for her unless my items were delivered. They arrived the next day. Did my friend act ethically?
– Darren Katz, Atlanta
A: Your friend has a legal obligation to pay what she owes the contractor, no matter how badly the contractor treats other people, even you. She could have simply talked to the contractor, urging her not to let down someone who had recommended her. You could have called the Better Business Bureau or taken the contractor to court.
It is hard to criticize your friend ethically. Your friend used her leverage in pursuit of fair play, not to bully the contractor into doing something unreasonable. I wouldn’t want this tactic to become common practice, but I can’t fault it.
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