If you had bought this picture for $2 later to find out it's worth $5,000,000, would you feel an obligation to share some of the proceeds with the shop from which it was purchased?
If I bought a picture for $5,000,000 and later find out it's worth $2, do I get my money back? No, didn't think so.
Lottery tickets are not a parallel, given that it's luck of the draw that determines the value of the ticket. At the time of purchase, the ticket is worth exactly the price of the paper it's printed on.
Here's a better, less extreme but real example. I just purchased a mandolin from a seller of vintage guitars. Paid $750, and were I to be patient I could probably get $1200 out of it. I have no plans to sell it, as I bought it to play, but let's supposed six months down the road I do sell it. Do I send a spiff back to Jimmy's Vintage Guitars? Nope. Jimmy admittedly doesn't know jack about mandolins. Jimmy didn't even get the model right, even though sixty seconds on Google would tell you the one easily-seen distinguishing feature that says it's a Gibson A-50 and not an A-40. I don't feel bad for Jimmy, because if he's going to take stuff to sell, he should know what he's selling because it's his business. Jimmy better have a big pile of "Vintage Instruments Value" books on the shelf, and know how to use the internet. I also assume that whether he obtained by trade or cash, he felt he got an acceptable deal when he took the instrument. So even though I got a bargain, Jimmy came out okay, too.
Now, I'm not a total bastard. Were I to find, say, a 1923 Gibson F5 at a yard sale for $50, I'd give the person $500. Two reasons for that: such an instrument is worth several thousand dollars even in rough shape, and I don't expect a person selling Grandpa's mandolin at a yard sale to have any idea of its value. They're not in the vintage instrument business, they shouldn't be punished (too much) for not knowing what they're selling. They get 10x what they were asking, and I still get a steal, everyone goes home very happy.
In the end, someone got lucky and it wasn't the person that sold the picture. I might very well kick back a little to the original seller, but I most certainly wouldn't feel obligated to do so.
I might give them a tip if I'm a regular customer, but it's not as obligatory as tipping waiters. I think it is customary to tip the dealer when gambling, though.
Tipping is very dependent on the local customs, tipping a waiter in Germany for example (especially in the more rural areas, or traditional restaurants) will be somewhere between unexpected to outright insulting.
Tipping dealers in UK casinos is actually forbidden by the 'Gaming Board' (gambling commission) to discourage "cheating" since they believe that if dealers might get a cut of the winnings they might be inclined to stack the odds in the player's favor.
> Tipping dealers in UK casinos is actually forbidden by the 'Gaming Board' (gambling commission) to discourage "cheating" since they believe that if dealers might get a cut of the winnings they might be inclined to stack the odds in the player's favor.
Are you sure about this? I've played poker in UK casinos where tipping was very common
Yes there are games in which you cannot tip, in all others the tip doesn't go directly to the dealer and there is an official process to distribute it, and even that's is restricted.
"Licence condition 10.1.1
Tipping – personal licence holders
All non-remote casino operating licences
1 Licensees must only permit tipping of staff holding personal licences where a tronc system is
operated; that is to say, where all tips are pooled and distributed amongst the employees
concerned. A separate tronc may be operated for each of a number of categories of licensed
staff."
It's seems that all tipping was universally disallowed until 2005 (haven't been in a UK casino for about 10 years)
"In the rest of the world, tipping the dealer for success is the norm. In Britain it has become legal (on implementation of the 2005 Gaming Act) and now it is acceptable. It is still however not as commonplace as in other places in Europe or America."
Beyond that it's subject to the 2005 gaming act and the tornc and personal license holders schemes.
In horse racing however, it is polite to tip when collecting your winnings. This applies if you're actually at the race, not sure if it's different in betting shops.
Wait, what? In Germany, you're expected to tip your waiter ten percent for good service. Not tipping is only done for terrible service. Including in rural and traditional areas.
Whenever something like this comes up (item bought at flea market and the like sells for millions), this question or similar gets asked. But why is that? The purchaser bought the photo at $2, which is what the store priced it at or was willing to part with the item. That's the only obligation the purchaser had. Pay the store money.
I think you're right: there's zero legal or moral obligation to share your fortune with them.
But I understand why this idea comes up. Put yourself in the shoes of the "junk shop" (from article) owner or flea market vendor. We're not talking about a high-end antique store. The seller is likely not wealthy. They're going to be devastated that they let this opportunity slip through their fingers.
A tip or kickback of, say, $25,000 would only be 0.5% of your pre-tax gains, but it would likely be a significant windfall for them, let them pay off some debt or take that vacation they've always wanted to. It's a nice gesture and would help take the edge off that anger and regret they'll inevitably feel for the rest of their life.
However, before I did that, I would consult a lawyer. On the one hand, sharing a small piece of the pie with them might give them something to lose and make it less likely they'd bring a frivolous but possibly expensive-for-you lawsuit against you – by an attorney who's working on commission and betting that you'll settle. On the other hand, giving them a cut might open the door for some line of reasoning or set some precedent that they're legally entitled to a portion of the proceeds. I don't know. That's why I'd consult a lawyer. :)
What if a blind person were selling a box of old useless foreign currencies for $2 but when you look through the box you discover there's a couple of $1,000,000 US Treasury bonds (valid, cashable) inside? Do you quickly snap it up, thinking it's a fair trade because you're paying the asking price? Or is there a sense of having taken advantage of the blind person as they couldn't see the value of what they were selling?
I'm not suggesting any sort of obligation towards the junk shop; it's an interesting thought exercise of where one draws the line when there's a knowledge gap between buyer and seller, particularly one involving six orders of magnitude difference in value.
If I had a good relationship with the store, or if it's a well-kept store that's a substantial boon to the community, sure. But otherwise it's like trading stocks - the seller was betting that the value is low and will continue to be low. Would you give money to the trader who sold you a stock that later dramatically rose in value?
Probably not no, they probably picked it up in some bulk purchase. If it came from a garage sale or the like, then maybe? But a junk shop deals in this world, that this, that they should be aware could have something amongst all their stuff that is actually worth a fortune.
Lottery tickets are not a parallel, given that it's luck of the draw that determines the value of the ticket. At the time of purchase, the ticket is worth exactly the price of the paper it's printed on.
Here's a better, less extreme but real example. I just purchased a mandolin from a seller of vintage guitars. Paid $750, and were I to be patient I could probably get $1200 out of it. I have no plans to sell it, as I bought it to play, but let's supposed six months down the road I do sell it. Do I send a spiff back to Jimmy's Vintage Guitars? Nope. Jimmy admittedly doesn't know jack about mandolins. Jimmy didn't even get the model right, even though sixty seconds on Google would tell you the one easily-seen distinguishing feature that says it's a Gibson A-50 and not an A-40. I don't feel bad for Jimmy, because if he's going to take stuff to sell, he should know what he's selling because it's his business. Jimmy better have a big pile of "Vintage Instruments Value" books on the shelf, and know how to use the internet. I also assume that whether he obtained by trade or cash, he felt he got an acceptable deal when he took the instrument. So even though I got a bargain, Jimmy came out okay, too.
Now, I'm not a total bastard. Were I to find, say, a 1923 Gibson F5 at a yard sale for $50, I'd give the person $500. Two reasons for that: such an instrument is worth several thousand dollars even in rough shape, and I don't expect a person selling Grandpa's mandolin at a yard sale to have any idea of its value. They're not in the vintage instrument business, they shouldn't be punished (too much) for not knowing what they're selling. They get 10x what they were asking, and I still get a steal, everyone goes home very happy.
In the end, someone got lucky and it wasn't the person that sold the picture. I might very well kick back a little to the original seller, but I most certainly wouldn't feel obligated to do so.