Woman slammed for selling item she got for free to friend – but some disagree

A woman has been criticised for trying to sell an item to her friend that she got for free from Amazon – some slammed her for it, but others claimed it was a good deal

Sometimes, to make a bit of extra cash, you may sell things you don’t need online – and that’s fine, it’s something you’re more than entitled to do. But if you got sent a duplicate product, would you feel right selling it to a friend to make a profit, even if you were selling it at a reduced price? That’s what one woman tried to do, and some were horrified – but others backed her decision.

She took to Reddit’s ‘Am I the a**hole’ forum to explain that she and her fiance had two friends over for dinner, and she’d offered them first refusal on an item they’d received two of – but it backfired when the friend realised she wanted them to pay, resulting in an argument.

She wrote: “My fiance and I had our two friends over for dinner tonight, who are a couple, and towards the end where they were getting ready to go home, I asked them if they’d like to buy our brand new unopened item because we have two.

“Amazon had accidentally shipped us two of the same item and told us to just keep the other one. We have no use for the other one so we were going to sell it on the Facebook market for £99.50 ($120) because it’s £132 ($160) on Amazon.

“Said friend said “don’t you need it?” We explained that we have two and that Amazon accidentally shipped two and let us keep the other one for free. Friend said “that’s really nice of you to be giving us this!” and I realized friend thought we were giving it to them for free. It started getting really awkward as I explained that I asked if they wanted to buy it.

“Friend said “You got it for free and are trying to sell it to us? That’s not right, friends don’t try to profit off of their friends”. They brushed it off, said their goodbyes, and left but you could tell they were disappointed. Not disappointed that they’re not leaving with the item, but at me for trying to sell it to them.

“I didn’t think anything of it at first as I was originally trying to sell it, I wasn’t thinking and just thought that maybe my friends would want that deal.

“I feel stupid and rude and that maybe I shouldn’t have asked at all. I also want to add that they’re not the type to try to get things for free, it’s completely just principle for them. My fiance says I’m not the a**hole but that could be biased for obvious reasons.”

In the comments, the opinions were mixed, with some saying what she’d done was fine as she’d been upfront about it, but others slamming her for her decision.

One wrote: “Selling it on Facebook for some extra cash is one thing, but trying to sell it to your friends because you thought they’d “want the deal” is gross. It’s not a deal, it sounds more like a rip-off.”

Another said: “Not the a**hole – let’s say someone inherits something or wins a lottery, technically you got it for free. That doesn’t mean it’s of no value.

“The same thing happened with my aunt she got an extra speaker, she asked me if I wanted it at 70% of the actual price. I took it, and was thankful that she considered me for this offer.”

Someone else suggested the original poster could’ve done about it in a better way, writing: “I think the thing to do then was for the original poster to say, “I’m going to sell this extra thing on marketplace for $$$. I know you said you wanted one, before I list the item, are you interested? I would sell it to you for $$ instead of $$$. If not, no worries.”

“This makes it clear that the original poster plans to sell it but will offer it to a friend first for a better deal.”

A Redditor agreed, commenting: “Had they been upfront about why they were selling it, the friends might not have got as offended.”

“Why would i just give items for free, friend or not?”, another fumed.

“Friends could easily have said ‘no thanks’. Sounds like they wanted it, just wanted to demand it for free. Gross”, someone raged.

Who do you think is in the wrong here? Let us know in the comments.