Shopping Ethics

[SquarePeg]

It's always bothered me to shop around online, benefiting from one retailer's wealth of information but having to purchase from another based on price and/or better return/exchange policies.

How do you reconcile this? I'm thinking maybe I should just "donate" $10-20 to a retailer for his/her obvious labors of love in providing such helpful information. I'm talking about what seems to be one-man operations, someone running it out of his/her home kinda places.


Just curious!

[VinceG]

I'd say keep doing what you're doing. If a retailer wants to give away free education to the Internet, that's on him. If he's going to do that and not bother coming up with an interesting, unique product to sell, then you're under no obligation to throw money at him. If you had extra cash to spend, you'd have bought from him in the first place.

If you really want to help him, send him an email telling him the exact rationale you went through to make your buying decision. He probably won't thank you for it, but them's the breaks, pal.

[Clint Cora]

People do this offline at the retail level as well and it's all part of doing business. I accept this type of thing as a business owner. Thankfully, many customers out there are willing to pay a slight premium for better service.

As a consumer, I'm the same way. Sometimes I will still go for the lowest price despite getting better info from somewhere else and sometimes I would stick to the business who I think would give me better overall value in the longer term.

I'll always try to maintain some loyalty to businesses if they have served me well for a long time but if price or something else becomes an issue, I'll give them a chance first to retain my business. But if they can't then I won't feel guilty at all switching. This is capitalism. You are the consumer so you deserve the best in terms of everything that is important to you and if a certain business failed to win your business because of price or something else, that's their issue.

[SquarePeg]

Hmm, okay, thanks guys. I need to man up or something!

In the end, I had to go with good ol' Amazon...I am all for the underdog, but I guess I'm really not!

I wonder how small businesses can survive, never mind grow -- though luckily for this dude, he's an authority in his field and doesn't seem to lack for a living; been selling his stuff since '98!

[Clint Cora]

Originally Posted by SquarePeg

I wonder how small businesses can survive, never mind grow -- though luckily for this dude, he's an authority in his field and doesn't seem to lack for a living; been selling his stuff since '98!

The small businesses who are thriving are those who can offer better service than the bigger competitors. They also offer unique products or services that bigger companies don't deal with. Otherwise, forget about going into a price war with Walmart.

[SquarePeg]

Originally Posted by Clint Cora

The small businesses who are thriving are those who can offer better service than the bigger competitors. They also offer unique products or services that bigger companies don't deal with. Otherwise, forget about going into a price war with Walmart.

Yeah, like I said, that's how I wonder how he makes a living! Despite being an authority in his field, he carries stuff that Amazon carries, only without the generous return/exchange policies....

So is there such a thing as shopper ethics?? I mean, we as consumers want "business ethics," but in ethics are about a certain reciprocity....

[Cado]

Originally Posted by SquarePeg

Yeah, like I said, that's how I wonder how he makes a living! Despite being an authority in his field, he carries stuff that Amazon carries, only without the generous return/exchange policies....

So is there such a thing as shopper ethics?? I mean, we as consumers want "business ethics," but in ethics are about a certain reciprocity....

In short, no. I am a big advocate for small businesses but not solely for its own sake. Where I'm at most of the small businesses have gone defunct in the face of Wal-Mart and while the consumers are partly to blame-lots of novel stores have gone under when they did offer something unique to our area-most of them did nothing the bigger guys didn't. For instance, we have a Gamestop in town and for a while we had a small game shop at the edge of town.

It was in a terrible location, for one thing-it took me an hour to find it the first time I went there. Secondly, it only offered old games and movies, and while I am a lover of retro I ask: Where are the tournaments? Where are the contests? Where are the all night game marathons? Why isn't there some kind of lounge so this is more of a hangout than just a store? If you're not fostering a sense of community within the area and you're not selling anything I couldn't get off of ebay then why would I support you over someone else, online or off?

The idea that something should be kept afloat just because it's this or that is ridiculous. Do something novel or don't complain when the big guys eat your pie.

[Brutha]

How do you reconcile this? I'm thinking maybe I should just "donate" $10-20 to a retailer for his/her obvious labors of love in providing such helpful information. I'm talking about what seems to be one-man operations, someone running it out of his/her home kinda places.

You could link to his website on facebook or on your blog.

[SquarePeg]

Originally Posted by Brutha

You could link to his website on facebook or on your blog.

Thanks, that's actually a great idea!

[SquarePeg]

Originally Posted by Cado

Secondly, it only offered old games and movies, and while I am a lover of retro I ask: Where are the tournaments? Where are the contests? Where are the all night game marathons? Why isn't there some kind of lounge so this is more of a hangout than just a store? If you're not fostering a sense of community within the area and you're not selling anything I couldn't get off of ebay then why would I support you over someone else, online or off?

That's interesting...I remember an old neighborhood computer store selling Commodore 64 systems hosting the local users' group...unfortunately, they closed down a year or so later due to folks pirating stuff!

Did you read about bookstores increasingly charging for once-free events such as author talks and so forth? Apparently the reason businesses don't offer such communal events anymore is that there are just too many freeloaders -- no one feels an obligation to purchase; folks just come for the show (and refreshments) and leave, time and again....

Originally Posted by Cado

The idea that something should be kept afloat just because it's this or that is ridiculous. Do something novel or don't complain when the big guys eat your pie.

The problem is that we all know how power corrupts, and how the big guys always wind up changing the market in their favor...even beyond ethics in the simplistic sense, isn't a diverse ecosystem essential for our own prosperity, too?

[James81]

I think its great if you received value from someone and want to give them a donation. I bet the provider of said resources would really appreciate such a gesture.

[Cado]

Originally Posted by SquarePeg

The problem is that we all know how power corrupts, and how the big guys always wind up changing the market in their favor...even beyond ethics in the simplistic sense, isn't a diverse ecosystem essential for our own prosperity, too?

If they don't provide anything novel then no. Diversity merely for the sake of diversity is worthless. Don't get me wrong, the ecosystem is pretty much dead if the big boys are the only ones who get to play, but if the small guys are wiped out because they didn't do anything worthwhile then it's better to let the system feed on itself and start anew. Everybody's so terrified of destruction when really it's a necessary part of the cycle.

The biggest issue we face from corporations is that they sway governmental policies to favor them to the extent that little guys can't compete even when they do offer something unique. That's the problem, that's what we should be looking out for and those are the businesses who deserve support. Businesses like the game store I mentioned above deserve to die because as a customer they didn't offer me anything I couldn't get better, cheaper, or more conveniently elsewhere. Throwing money at a win/lose dichotomy to flip-off the man is a band-aid solution at best and a cry of "%^&$ ME HARDER!" at worst.