Morality, ethics, steals and deals of collecting

[TonyTheTiger]

I think it's the times that we know we can get away with something that we must remain the most ethical. Specifically because those are the times it's easiest to toss values aside.

Take situations where there's no actual "theft" going on but you are still getting something for nothing and essentially screwing over the next guy, whoever that may be. For example, walking into a GameStop, going through all the used DS and Wii games, and copying down the registration codes to earn points on Nintendo's website?

On one hand, GameStop does not guarantee those codes will work so technically the next buyer should not expect that they will. As far as GameStop is concerned, the registration codes in used games are junk. If people buy used games and the codes works, they got lucky. If not, they got what they paid for.

On the other hand, you still got something for nothing. And the actual buyer, who would have gotten lucky, lost out on that little perk.

Is this unethical?

What about haggling it down to $5? To me that would be a jerk move too, though plenty of people seem to haggle down anything they can.

I'm inclined to say no. I think even in a good buying situation it's ok to negotiate since you aren't forcing the other party to accept the deal. I don't think trying to turn a good deal into a great deal is a bad thing. I think ethical problems start when there's some sort of absconding with something the seller did not intend you to abscond with and the mistake is obvious. You buy something for $15 and pay with a $20. The seller accidentally gives you a ten instead of a five. You realize the mistake but keep quiet and leave. Yes, the seller should have been paying attention. But at this point I'd say the ethical thing to do is speak up about it.

The reason is, again, balance. If you left and only later realized the seller gave you a single instead of a five you'd want the remaining four dollars. If you expect the seller to eat his loss you should be willing to eat your loss when things don't go your way. But nobody ever does that kind of math. Nobody who gets screwed on Ebay says "well, this time I ended up paying full price for a broken Turbo Duo but last time I bought a Sega CD and the seller accidentally left a copy of Snatcher inside. So I guess I won't file a complaint here because the previous "win" makes up for today's loss."