Is Hick a Shady Businessman?

As you recall, Hick has become a flea market marketer, and now an auction seller as well as a buyer. Most of the stuff he's selling are things that he has picked up over the years. Some of it belongs to me and my sister the ex-mayor's wife, having been cleaned out of my mom's house, and not donated to the local ministerial alliance thrift store. We were pretty sure Mom would have wanted her stuff to actually help people and not become profits for Goodwill. As far as profits for Hick...I think she wouldn't have begrudged him making a buck (or 20% of each buck) for himself, on the items not suited for a crowded thrift store.

That's the deal we have. Hick does all the work, and takes 20% of the profit as a sellers fee. I'm fine with that. Today he was going through stuff from Mom's house, and said he found two bags of clothes.

"I thought we donated all the clothes. Your dad's suits, and your mom's coats and skirts and dresses and some shoes. But this was stuff that didn't look like your mom's. I found a pair of Wrangler jeans shorts. SHORT shorts! I doubt your mom would have been the one wearing them!"

"Wait a minute! Did they have fringe?"

"Yeah. They were all frayed. And they were THIS short!" Hick motioned a cut like a bikini.

"Oh, come on! They weren't THAT short!"

"I don't know WHO would have worn them...unless you and The Pony carried them home when you were cleaning out your old room."

"Yeah. We brought home some bags of stuff. I guess you put all of that in the same place."

"I found a bag of sweaters, too. I don't think I could sell them. I might take them up to the auction and sell them in a lot with some other stuff."

"That's fine. But Sis doesn't need to get a cut of THAT action! Those were MY clothes. She cleaned out her own room." Hick was agreeable with that. He would never let Sis get even one cent more than I got, and especially not give her part of my proceeds. Hick and Sis are kind of the same about money, when it comes to how much Sis and I are entitled to.

"I don't wanna screw you guys. But the auction charges 20%, and I'm going to take my 20%, and that means 40% is coming off, so you won't make much."

"I don't care if you take 20% of the profit."

See? Val is reasonable about the proceeds of her old junk. But Hick will pull a fast one if she lets him.

He took some other clothes to sell at his flea market storage shed. Clothes that do not fit Val any more. Clothes that were purchased, but were TOO BIG when the season rolled around to wear them. Clothes still in the packaging, but with no receipt.

When that storage shed store was still just a glimmer in Hick's eye, I told him he could sell those clothes. And he did, the first day he put them out, for $185. Let the record show that I was not expecting the whole $185. Hick gets his cut, after all. But Hick wanted THE ENTIRE PROFIT! Claiming that they were purchased with OUR money, so he should get all of it. How does THAT work? Bought with OUR money, yet I get NOTHING!

Just to be a contrarian about it, with him trying to pull a fast one on me, I insisted that those were MY clothes, and all he should get was the 20% seller's fee. Thing is, my mom used to give me and Sis some new-clothes money every fall, when it was back-to-school time. Sometimes I spent it right then, sometimes I waited for a sale, or sometimes I waited to get more seasonal outfits, depending on what was in my wardrobe. So chances are that these clothes were purchased with that money, and not household money. Hick and I rarely buy new clothes for ourselves, most of that allowance going to drape the boys in gladrags for school and college.

Anyhoo...Hick was okay with that. Because my argument made sense to him.

Here is where Hick completely lost his senses. He has junk buddies who also sell online. Hick is computer literate, but now that he's not at work, he has no computer, and uses his phone. Even though I offered to let him use my laptop, Shiba.

Hick had other ideas. He already has an eBay account, but that's from buying. It shouldn't be a problem to set up a seller's account. Which he thinks I can do for him. And run things from the online end. I figure it's probably not that hard, since he plans to only do the BUY IT NOW sales, so that I don't have to watch it constantly. He even said he would take the items to the post office and ship them. All I'd have to do would be list his merchandise, and give him the info on the buyers.

"Okay. I'm pretty sure I can do that for you. And I'll take 20%."

"Ha, ha! Yeah, right!" Hick was really serious about this being a joke.

"I don't know why you're laughing. That's only fair, right? If I'm doing the work of listing your items online, then I should get a 20% seller's fee."

"Oh...well...yeah, I guess I can do that."

See how he is? That old gander better realize that this goose is taking 20% if she does any of the work. Fair is fair. I haven't even asked him for a cut (and don't plan to) of the household items he's probably showcasing with his wares, without telling me, even though they were bought with OUR money...