money & friends: what would you do?

[AlecBGreen]

Here is my situation.

Several months ago, a good friend gave me 3 boxes of old college textbooks. He knows I teach the same subject in high school and wondered if I wanted any before he dontated them to his old schools library. He recieved them free b/c his friend works @ the publisher. The other day I was going through the boxes and wondered how much they were worth so I looked several up on Amazon. The average resale price was around $80. Since there are about 30 books in all, this is quite a bit of money. I am assuming he has forgotten about them b/c he dropped them off many months ago and has never asked me about them. My wife and I are not poor but we arent exactly rolling in the dough. As I see it, I basically have two options:

1) sell the books on amazon, dont tell him, keep the money
2) alert him to their worth, suggest he sell them instead of donating them

Reasons for Option #1 - he didnt want them, doesnt care what happens to them. hes forgotten about them. I can really use the money (~$2500)
Reasons for Option #2 - he didnt GIVE them to me, just said take what you want and he'ddonate the rest to college. selling them would be a breach of trust.

What would you do? Why? I have pretty much decided what I am going to do but I want to hear what yall have to say.

[nuxvomica]

1. Tell him you're gonna sell them and then sell them

Why not tell him about the sale? It will probably make him happy that you made out on the deal.

[AlecBGreen]

3. devils advocate

me "hey dude, you remember those books? i took a few like you offered, but i decided to sell the rest. i made over a thousand bucks!"

him "wtf dude? those were my books!"

[Sanity Claws]

2. #2

He gave them to you in lieu of donation because he knew you taught the same subject. He wasn't looking at it as a money making proposition for either you or him. His aim seemed to be helping students.

[AlecBGreen]

4. He wasn't looking at it as a money making proposition

cause he didnt know they were worth anything :evilgrin: if i tell him they are worth something, i imagine he would want to sell them and keep the $

[Sanity Claws]

5. Are you sure?

I only know what you wrote. It sounded to me like he was trying to help out students.

[AlecBGreen]

7. i think he was trying to de-clutter

they recently moved (twice in a short period) and I think he was getting sick of packing & unpacking big boxes of books he didnt really need. that they would go to students seemed more like an afterthought.

[unpossibles]

6. Sell them

He knows the worth of them, and I can say this because I too work for a textbook publisher. If I sold my books I'd lose my job, so i don't and your friend would probably face the same problem. Also, be careful if you do, as more publishers are cracking down on blackmarket book sales, including eBay and Amazon.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Just the fact that you asked the question here leads me to think that for you

option #2 is what feels right but you're hoping to be convinced by strangers on the internet that it's okay to choose option #1 because you'll see some green.

How about option #3: tell him what you did to assess value and that you'd like to sell them rather than use them in your classes because you want the money. Then let him decide whether he wants them back for charitable donation.

[crispini]

17. I think your option #3 is the best choice. nt

[GoCubsGo]

18. How about Option #4

Sell them and give him half the money.

[Gormy Cuss]

20. That would work if he gave consent, but the way it's described it's not clear

that he gave them to the OP without strings and for that reason if I were in the OP's position I'd check with my friend first because I wouldn't want to risk the friendship. Not knowing the OP's friend, I can say that with my friends some wouldn't care in such a situation, others would be annoyed because they meant what they said -- the offer was for the OP to take books that would be useful as textbooks, not as a way to pay the bills. That's why I suggested Option #3.

[MissMillie]

9. For a friend, I would go w/ option 2

I mean really... isn't that how you'd want your friends to treat you?

[redqueen]

15. +1

[Kali]

10. why not offer to split the sale with him or something?

[MiddleFingerMom]

16. Agreed except I wouldn't offer.

.
If I interpreted that right, "take what you want" means (to me) if
you want to take them all and sell them, that's your choice (unless
he absolutely specified he was giving them to you to use in a class).
.
However, I would offer him half the proceeds. He's a friend. Another
option is to give HIS half of the books out to students for free.
.
If he donated them to the U., wouldn't they just sell the books to
students at a used price anyway?
.
He could give his half (you, too.. but YOUR choice) to some emergency
fund at school for students in need.
.
Although, I'm probably missing one of the fine points of this quandary.
.

[Bertha Venation]

11. my totally slanted opinion

since I myself am hurting for money right now, I'd say sell them without telling him.

Not worth much, I know, but that's what I'd do. I'd let my need override any qualms.

[Heidi]

12. if you're asking us, you have qualms about the ethics, no?

Why do _you_ think is the right thing to do?

If I were you, I'd sell the books and phone him up and say, "Hey, all those books you gave us...we sold 'em, and we'd like to invie you over for dinner/drinks to celebrate."

If you hadn't mentioned that he might have donated them to a college, which might have helped kids who don't have the means to even guy used textbooks, I'd say you owe him except a thanks. But you could have donated them, too, to help kids who need textbooks.

Depends on your priorities. When you were a college student, was there not one person in the world who made your path easier? I had that, and now that I'm nearly 47, I kind of like to be that kind of supporter of higher education. :shrug:

[Deep13]

13. Were they a gift or not?

If it was a gift with no strings attached, then you may do what you like. He could have sold them, but didn't. And if they sit around too long, they will be worthless because a new edition will come out.

OTOH, if he actually asked to to hold them for him, then they are still his and you do not have a right to sell them. Did he just unload them on you or did he tell you he was reserving the right to take them back? If he just gave them, they're yours and that's that. If he left the door open to reclaim some of them, then they are still his and you are borrowing them.

You might want to ask him if he intends to reclaim any because you are thinking of selling them because you could really use the money. Remind him that text books have a finite shelf-life.

[GoCubsGo]

19. Their finite shelf life is probably why he passed them along.

My colleagues are always dumping books every time they move to another job. Especially old text books. They don't want to move them, as it gets expensive. Moving companies charge by weight.

[Callalily]

14. Do you have/know students

who could use these books? It is my understanding that your friend gave them to you to pass on to students.

If you don't know of any students who could use the books, let your friend know their worth and ask his opinion.

A friend is worth a lot more than $2,500.00

That's my opinion.

Good luck with your devision.

:hug: