GREED: Is what I am doing wrong? am I wrong? Biblically

"Worth" is somewhat relative. You are making an implicit assumption about the fish tank that you have extensive knowledge of worth and value of the object, and your potential buyers do not have such knowledge and have limited options.
If your fish tank was "worth" $100 and you were "greedy" and tried to sell it for $1000, you have enough competition from other fish tanks in the market that I doubt you would be successful.

 

Zach,

Thanks for the compliment. Mark's article can be found here:

http://blog.togetherforthegospel.org/2008/02/the-bondage-of.html

I hope it helps.

Blessings,

The Archangel

 

I don't agree with this. You're back to including language that says that anybody that sells things for a living is sinning. The grocery store people would be sinning when you shop there... after all, they're being selfish by making money off of you to benefit themselves, right? If you don't agree with that, you need to try communism or something, because capitalism isn't for you.

Like I said before, I sell trailers. Yes, I repeat the process over and over. I've sold hundreds. Why is that a problem?

I'll let you in on a little piece of advise. When I was in college, I took a business class, and we had a guest speaker. He said something that I thought was crazy at the time, but as time goes on, I cannot find a way to say that it is wrong. He said:

"Business is simply the art of taking money out of one man's wallet and putting it into your own... without resorting to violence."


Yes, there are people who take that to the extremes and stretch the limits of the laws and such, but by and large, it is very true. And, with that in mind... if you found a good hookup on fish tanks that you could buy for $80 all day long, and sell them on eBay for $300, over and over... you're not immoral, you're a businessman. The only way that is immoral is if you get addicted to it and its taking away from your family or whatever, or if you are lying about the condition and quality.

Otherwise, you are providing a service that somebody else is happy to pay you for. Period. There's no shame in that. Everybody is selling something. Even if it's not a problem, by having a job at all, you're selling something... like your time, knowledge, strength, etc.

 

What kills me about all of this is that some people think that retail jobs are perfectly ok. For example, if you own a fish store, and you sell fish tanks for a living, that's perfectly ok. And, if you take trade-ins, and things like that, that's ok.

Yet, when an individual who isn't in the fish tank business as their normal job buys a fish tank then resells it, it's automatically bad. Why is that? It makes no sense. Why is it that some of these same people who thinks it is bad will shop at eBay, where 90% of the people on there are doing this?

I've gotten bad comments and bad looks before because along with my trailers, I also resell jeeps. I've got it down to a science. Jeeps get real cheap in the winter. February is a great time to buy a jeep. You can buy one then flip it and make an easy $1,000 two months later in a different market when it warms up. Some people automatically think this is highly immoral. Why is that such a bad thing to do? Why is it that some of those same people would do the same thing in the stock market if they knew it was guaranteed? There's no difference.

More than that though, why is it perfectly ok for a car salesman to do this, except make 4 times what I do? Some people just need cash more than a jeep, and I give that to them. Other people need a fun jeep more than cash, and I do that as well. I simply provide a service, I don't twist anybody's arm. I buy them from one place and sell to another, that's the power of the internet. I make one person happy that he's getting rid of a jeep and gets some cash out of the deal, then I can sell it 3 states over to somebody who has alot more money and never would have found it in the first place. Everybody's happy, yet it's sinful to some people for some reason.

Sure, I benefit myself. Yet, the guy I bought it from is benefitted because he unloaded his jeep. The guy I sell to is benefitting because local ones cost 4 grand more. Everybody's happy, what's the problem?

 

Oh I agree, but just because you sell a fish tank for profit, or even do it regularly, doesn't mean you're greedy. It all depends on how those activities and the profits change your life.