A neighbor knew I like to cycle, so before he moved out of town, he gave me an ancient Raleigh bike that had been languishing in his basement. It was mummified by a thick layer of caked-on dust. The tires were so dry rotted, I had to bear down to get it to roll.
I didn’t have the ambition to restore it to its former glory, so I snapped a few pics and put it on Facebook Marketplace. I asked Nora how much she thought I should charge. “Ten bucks?” she said. I settled on $35.
Within two hours, I had eight messages inquiring about the bike. I sent them each a reply: “I changed the price to $135, let me know if you want to come see it.”
I told Nora about the interest and the price hike, and she got a sour face. “That’s not right,” she admonished.
“Why not? I’ve dropped my prices when no one is interested – this is the flip side. I’m not a fixed-price retailer like Target,” I said.
“It’s OK, different people have different morals,” she replied, seriously.
“Gee thanks, that makes me feel better,” I wise-cracked.
I eventually settled on a $100 sale with one of the original guys who was interested. He waxed on about how happy he was, and how he was going to lovingly restore it.
The cash is nice I guess, but even better is facilitating the perfect match between an old object and an appreciative new owner.
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