A while back I bought a sort of rare gaming console online after finding it for a good price and using a coupon. It’s something I’ve wanted for years so I finally hopped on it. I ended up finding it in a like new condition elsewhere for around the same price. So I ended up with two of them. My sister knew I had both and planned on selling one and keeping the other to get some money back. Occasionally when she was reminded of me having it, she would casually say “I might want it” or “I like it. It looks good, you could sell me it instead” and I would tell her, “If you’re willing to buy it from me it can be yours”. But it never went further than that. I did linger on this for months, but I finally decided to post a listing online a few days ago. I even told her that I did this that day, and that I expected it to sell quickly due to its rarity. Still, she didn’t show much emotion about this, except a casual joke for me to take it down and give it to her instead. She jokes a lot with me though. She didn’t try to tell me anything about wanting it and wanting to pay for it. Two days go by and I check the listing and see it’s getting more and more likes and again I tell her this. Still not much response.
Finally last night I tell her I got an offer. I also say I am firm on its price as I’m trying to get back what I paid for it, and that I was going to tell the guy that. Then we talk more about the game and I show her it, she looks at it and turns it on. Finds my listing online and likes it and begins talking to me about maybe buying it in real life and not the listing to avoid fees. As we are talking, the guy from earlier buys it for what I asked for. Suddenly she feels remorse, saying that all this time she wanted it from me but wasn’t sure if I was going to really sell it or not. When I told her that I mentioned my listing online all week, she said that she didn’t think it would really sell so quickly and thought she could still have a shot if she got her money together. Now she wants me to cancel the sale with the guy because it is “something she would do for me”.
I told her that it’s not fair to the buyer, and that I should honor the sale. And that she honestly showed so much interest too late. But now she feels like I’m doing her dirty, and that I should have known that she had some interest in it from the beginning. I’m very conflicted and a bit confused, as I want to honor the sale, as bad as the timing might have been, but I don’t want her to be mad at me for shipping it out today.
Edit: I will also mention, that night when we were talking she was saying she could give me part of the money this week and part of it in 2 weeks. So she was making a plan to possibly buy before the guy scooped it up.
She wanted you to give it to her for free
this is a fact.
NTA Your sister will never buy it from you: she’s hoping you’ll just give in and give it to her for free.
It would also be pretty crap to not sell it to the guy who accepted your price. Your sister has had months to make you an offer and/or give you the money.
NTA. She made you wait for months and was never clear on whether she actually wanted to buy it. Was she just waiting for you to lower the price or give it for free? She had her chance and didn’t take it. Online buyer bought it fair and square for the price you wanted. Maybe your sister will learn from this.
Tbh I feel like if you cancel the sale for her she isn’t going to buy it, or want it for a discount/free. So NTA.
NTA…She was fishing for a freebie if she could get it. She had first dibs and missed out. Better luck next time.
Life has many lessons. Your sister has learned one about being proactive to prevent missed opportunity. This will improve her life, should she choose to internalise it properly.
NTA, you waited plenty of time and were clear she could have it if she paid for it. She’ll probably be mad at you for shipping it out, but only because she thought she could get a cheap and/or free item instead of you following through on what you had plainly told her.
She had *months* to get her money together and buy it from you.
She chose not to do so.
You did nothing wrong.
NTA.
NTA. You snooze, you lose. Don’t feel too bad, if she was really interested in the console, she would have made you an legit offer by now.
NTA she wanted you to give it to her for free. All of those “jokes” were not jokes she said it in a joking way in case you rejected her but that was her soft launching the idea of you giving it to her. I bet if you took her up on her giving you half now she would never pay the second half cause she would already have it and find some excuse of you don’t really need the money.
NTA. She wanted you to give it to her for free and didn’t care enough to take it more seriously as long as she thought she had time to decide. You went above and beyond to offer it to her – for a price which is reasonable. Her argument has absolutely no merit. She had sooooo much time to claim it but thought she might not need to. You don’t need to be confused. Go forth with the sale and this should be a lesson to her.
PS – First, she was not making a plan to buy it when the guy scooped it out, if she was she would have told you that.
PPS – Secondly, it’s bogus that this is ‘something she would do for you’…that’s a total hypothetical that is very convenient to claim now is ‘proof’ that you should do this. No.
NTA. The item is sold now. She had months to buy it and didn’t. If it’s something she wants, she can buy it from someone/somewhere else now.
NTA for completing the sale. Y W B T A if you canceled it, in which case I also predict that your sister would expect a “family discount”, i.e. you will never get your full price from her. She was not joking when she asked you to give it to her. She was just testing the waters.