CAUTION: don't be TOO helpfull

there is really such a thing as beeing too helpfull. I have done it all my life. EXAMPLE: Got a call from a lady at a church she had two old HPs to get rid of , I offered my usual $5 each and she wanted $10, + she is asbout 40 miles away. She said but they work, I said but they are out of date and basically useless. The only thing they may be good for is some one who cant afford a computer at all and then just for face book and other basic things. her responce OH wait that gives me an Idea, let me call you next week. by by computers. Your in business to hopefully make a little money, giving others Ideas on what else to do with there stuff is not the way to do it.

Thanks for the headsup oldude. I don't pay either. I emphasize saving toxins from the landfills. I have an ad on swap and shops on facebook. sw GA swap and shop, se AL, my county, a few other counties and a few cities. My latest ad
says: Giving (or getting) a new computer for Christmas ? Let me recycle your old one....help me keep lead out of our landfills. I've had two calls and one was a small truckload.

im real familiar with the bad Karma, where is the line to sign up for the good karma thingie : )

I am business minded overall, I however will go way out of my way to help the elderly/disabled/veterans even if I do not make $$, that is part of my civic responsibility. That is what sets me apart and builds good community relations.

Originally Posted by olddude

im real familiar with the bad Karma, where is the line to sign up for the good karma thingie : )

If you find out olddude, let me know would ya??

See I love to help and give ideas even if I'm at risk of losing a sale. For the most part I find that if I'm openly honest with someone they feel more comfortable in making a business transaction with me. AND if I lose the sale then you know what I still feel good and know that God will take care of my needs. Plus, what we do can be very simple, but in the end it is NOT easy! Only 3% of people actually follow through. Kinda why I do my Youtube videos. I could be teaching local competition to do what I do, but in the end I helped someone.

A few months back a guy came to buy a laptop from me, and after talking to him, I told him I could fix his cheaper. Turns out this guy is a gold mine! He drops about 40 old/broken laptops on me and boxes of old cellphones and cords. He said there was more to come. I repaired a couple of laptops for him in return and he was happy. Where I screwed up was painting his palm with a $50.00 bill after selling the phones for scrap. The flow of recycleables has now stopped, and he is now "telling me" about all the great oportunities to make money off all this stuff...of course I have to act like I didn't make a killing off the stuff he gave me previously .

I fully understand what your saying and obviously agree, how ever Had I kept my big mouth shut I would have had those computers, they would have been properly dismantled and disposed of, the church could have bought one extra turkey for some one and gotten rid of the junk. as it stands now, one of several things is going to happen. 1. they will remain in the storage at the church for another 3 or 4 years. 2. they may be sold to some one not as environmentally safe as me. 3. they will be given to some one who wont be able to use them as they are and cant afford to up grade them, 2 things will probably result from #3 A. the church will get a falce sence of benovalence, B somne one will be very dissapointed when their big Christmas present is a computer they cant use.

Did I over think this or what. : )

Transparency and honesty build much better relations than the "fog of ignorance"..people will find out eventually what items are worth..then they are pissed. If you educate them, they spread the good word everywhere. I would have the Church keep your contact info in case they need you services..it is all how you phrase things. Good news travels slow and bad news travels fast. I have kept irons in the fire that took years to pay..but when they do watch out!! Its payday!!

I ran a small computer repair business out of my house years back. A lady calls me and asked me to work on a machine she just bought locally. I said sure, bring it over. This lady was elderly, maybe as old as olddude?... she asked me how much it would be to upgrade her machine so it could access the internet, run a modern version of windows, and be useful.

This machine was crap. Very old for the time and would need so much work to get fixed up... not to mention not having a license for the OS she wanted. I told her what I found and told her I could sell her one I had rebuild for much cheaper then it would cost to fix hers. "but I just bought THIS one, why would I buy ANOTHER one"

She left in tears and call me and the person that sold her that machine a bunch of crooks. She was so upset she didn't take the machine back home with her. I stored it for over a year before tossing it... (way before I recycled them).

After that I made sure everyone knew exactly what they were buying from me and I never sold obsolete machines... only useful machines. Right now I see sellers trying to dupe buyers into buying PII machines for $100 and label them as "good second machines" . I really hate that.