[Closed] Am I a bad person?

No.

?Joe? should not attempt to use his status as a disabled veteran for sympathy and especially on buying a toy car. If he is legally disabled, he has a government guaranteed income and is in a much better position than many right now. I would just let the offer expire and not respond.

I often make lowball offers on eBay because each seller is in a different position. Some may need money right away, others may be selling from a big box of stuff they got for free. Sometimes it works.

I try not to be suspicious of folks.

But, I get notes like this all the time. My problem is I have no way of knowing if this person is truly a disabled vet or a handicapped person or someone that is homeless. They may well be. Or...they may be someone playing on our sympathies, hoping for a handout.

There are too many people who work harder at garnering donations than they do at finding work. There's a whole subculture of people that have learned that churches, charitable organizations, and certain people will give them money or things if they just ask for them.

That being said, there are plenty of folks out there who are struggling with situations that are beyond their control and truly in need. The difficulty is, it's almost impossible to determine who is who when they show up at your door unannounced.

We have a generous Benevolence Fund at our church. 15% of all our collections go toward missions work or back into the community to help folks. But, we have learned the hard way to help either people we know or people who know people in our congregation. That we we know we are meeting a valid need.

Either way, let your charitable contributions go the VA for disabled vets and let your business be your business. I see no valid reason for you to feel guilty about a virtually anonymous request for you to lose money.

Not a bad person at all Albert. When I did toyfairs..

the same person each time would come to my stall and say 'Give me a discount, I'm a pensioner'. My standard reply was 'So am I', which was true. At least this was face to face. Online is more difficult but I'd go with the others here.

No, you are not a bad person

My opinion: if you are in a bad situation you don't buy models. So, you can apply the not for you and not for me, and make him another offer... but it's your business, and as you say, you and your family should eat, school, pay the bills, etc...

But you are not a bad person, that's very clear...

Regards Albert

The fact that you are asking proves you are not a bad person.

I agree with everything said thus far.

Well said

Ditto!

Thank you, all! You make me feel better.

I sell models on eBay too. I would ignore the offer.

"Bad"?

We all have to make that judgement for ourselves, but unless you had a "Make offer", then if anything, he was "Bad" for making an unwanted and unreasonable request, and then appealing to emotion to distract from or even justifying his own sense of entitlement to do so.

I get tired of people doing what ever they want and then feeling perfectly justified and entitled in doing so, and then using whatever means available to get away with it. The circumstance of his personal situation notwithstanding, it's just "Bad" to go outside the bounds of both expected, accepted behavior and good taste to guilt people into doing what they clearly do not want to do. Had he simply explained how much he likes your item and can only spend "X" I would have a lot more respect for him. Here, I'd have no problem ignoring the request, to say nothing of denying it.

No. Don't worry about it Albert.

I agree with David Crowe and John Kavukas.

models

No Albert you are good for wanting to help, but if someone is truly in need or hurting they certainly don't need to buy models. It is like these days people wanting to take their pet bobcat on an airliner.

You nailed it, Fred. Well said!