Money Moral Dilemma: Should I sell student discount laptops?

A question about : Money Moral Dilemma: Should I sell student discount laptops?

Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:

Should I be selling laptops I buy with my student discount?

I'm a student who can get 15% off laptops, plus a free warranty that would normally cost Ј200. I've bought a few laptops and then sold them on eBay with the warranty. The buyer pays less and I make a little too – only the computer firm loses out. My friend thinks I'm abusing a student discount offered as goodwill. Is she right?

Click reply to have your say

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Best answers:

• The computer company doesn't lose out they make the same profit margin. The high street retailers are being bypassed and they lose out.
  Your friend is correct you are abusing the privilege.
  I hope the taxman catches up with you and makes you pay tax on your profits and seizes your computer assets until you pay up.
• If you are buying goods specifically in order to sell on, you are classed as a business seller by ebay. (If you are simply selling on your own unwanted items then you are a private seller.) This gives the buyer all sorts of additional protection under ebay's terms and conditions, so beware. The warranty may also be invalidated when the laptops are sold on so your buyers may not be happy if they need to fall back in this.
  As a student you are unlikely to earn enough to have to pay tax (unless you are selling hundreds of laptops per year) but the previous post is correct - ebay 'business' sales are indeed liable for tax.
• In no way are you taking advantage of a discount being offered.
  The retailer is offering you a discount to attract your custom and, if you're making multiple purchases, they've clearly succeeded so are making more money than if they didn't.
  You are selling them on to a third party for a profit and that is absolutley fine - let's face it that is the whole basis of our economy
  Couple of cautionary points for you to consider though - what is the status of the warrently on the goods - does it transfer with ownership? Secondly, don't forget to declare all income/profit to the taxman - boring I know but better safe than sorry
• Remember: The "computer companies" have a large mark-up on things like Laptops anyway so they aren't really losing out.
  If I was in your position, I would.
  I looked at discounts I can get with my work but by the time I have added selling fees, PayPal fees, it wouldn't be worth it for me. Local Facebook selling pages aren't that great for what I have to sell either.
• The discount was not offered as goodwill! It was offered in order to get more students to buy the product. And I don't think there is a moral problem in buying things cheap and selling them for a bit more. That is how many people make their livings.
  However, you do have to follow the ebay rules, and you also have to declare the income to HMRC (not just because better safe than sorry, but because it's the law and it's the right thing to do). Phone them and tell them the situation. And you should probably check the small print in the warranty, to make sure that is still valid when you sell them on.
• Well fair play to you, you've spotted an opportunity and taken it - an entrepneurial spirit. "Right" or "Wrong" can't deny its a handy bit of money making!
• You're not abusing the student discount, you're making use of it. However, while I have no moral objection to anyone buying something and selling it for profit for themselves - we all know Alan Sugar started on a market stall - you are operating as an eBay business seller. See the definition here: https://pages.ebay.co.uk/businesscentre/identification, specifically you are a business seller if you "sell items that you have bought to resell" which you are quite clearly by your own admission doing. It doesn't matter if it's 5 or 50 laptops. I suggest if you don't want to comply with their policies and register as a business seller you find another way of selling your laptops on.
• how much profit is this person makin
  say the laptop costs Ј300 less 15% student discount
  costs buyer Ј255
  ebay buyer pays say Ј290
  seller then gets Ј290 less 10% less 3.4% paypal & 20p so in theory isnt making anything if sold at slightly less than they would normally pay
• Once you have bought a laptop, discounted or not, you possess the ownership of it, in other words it becomes your property to dispose of as you wish. Presumably the computer company is able to sell more laptops because of the discount, so where's the dilemma?
• the seller has the option to restrict the number of laptops you can buy in a year, and they also have the option to sell directly via ebay themselves and cut out the middleman (ie. you) and take that profit themselves. As it stands, they are effectively paying you a small amount to do separate marketing for them - I would question how much time you are spending doing this and work out what you are getting per hour - then consider whether your time could be more valuable doing something else.
• Probably legal but definitely unethical.
  I think that the way you have phrased the question shows that you are already aware of this.
  Someone has been persuaded by a retail store to sacrifice their profit to provide an offer for students. Your scam and others like it will become known and fewer offers for students will be made available.
  If you think that you deserve more money etc than other students because you have been 'clever' enough to exploit someone else then carry on, but don't expect anyone to admire your ethical standards or to give you validation for your actions.
• In summary then................
  What's the business plan here?
  What do the T&C of the original sale say?
  How is warranty affected?
  Have you advised ebay?
  Have you advised the taxman?
  What's the net margin on the resale?
  Is this the best return you can get for your time?
  Perhaps more time spent studying would be a good idea!
• I think it is fine to do what you are doing as long as, like other posters have said, you follow the correct ebay guidelines and pay the HMRC the correct amount of tax.
  I know a couple of my local shop owners who buy discounted goods at supermarkets and then sell them in their shops at a higher price. That's business.
• It seems like you are buying via the NDNA National Desktop and Notebook Agreement which is only open to students and those that work in education. If you want to find out if it is morally right, then contact the NDNA and tell them what you are doing.
• I'm surprised there's no limit to the number of laptops you can buy with this discount. But if there's no limit, the seller clearly doesn't mind giving the discount away. They're making money selling laptops they'd probably not have sold without the discount. So everyone's happy. Carry on.
• Of course you shouldn't buy them in order to make a profit on eBay!
  In other news, I'm looking for a laptop...