Do you care what buyers do with the phones you sell?

[Greg G.]

A buyer contacted me and said he was interested in a payphone I have for sale for an art project.  Frankly, that makes me a little wary, even though I know I can't control what they do with it.  It would be a kick in the head if it came full circle and ended up in the Hideous Phones thread!

[Owain]

That would be awful.
I think the only way you can keep control over what happens to things is not to sell them.

[Greg G.]

That would be awful.
I think the only way you can keep control over what happens to things is not to sell them.

It's true that I have a tough time selling any I have.  I would never turn a profit on them for all the time I've spent cleaning and restoring them.  The exception with this one is that it's a post-divestiture payphone that I got for a steal and needed almost no restoration.   

[WEBellSystemChristian]

It might be a good idea to leave a message in the description, asking the potential buyer to preserve the piece as it is, and not alter it other than restoration.

[Fabius]

Call me mercenary, call me a heritic, call me infifferent to the historic value of telephones But I wouldn't lose sleep based on what a buyer does with what I sell.

Oh, also, don't call me late to supper.

[CanadianGuy]

I would try not to care. It's only stuff. Collecting and preserving seems to be a weird human-only thing. Dont get me wrong, I like historical/vintage things, but given enough time, this stuff will eventually disappear or end up being found in an archaeological dig. Of course, that depends on whether the planet will sustain life that long, but I digress.

[19and41]

If the money's right sell it.   It isn't the only one left and there will be fewer of them if they should decide to have their artful ways with it.  If they pay enough for it, they hay have a change of heart and turn from art to telephone collecting.   

[Doug Rose]

I work hard on the phones I sell...bring them back to life in working condition.  Once they go to another home, they are no longer mine.  New owner can do as they see fit....Doug

[LarryInMichigan]

I certainly wouldn't like the idea of a buyer turning a fine vintage item that I sold them into a "steampunk/altered art/who knows" artwork.  IMO, it is almost like someone who takes great care to raise purebred horses/dogs/etc. selling them to someone who is going to use them for target practice.

Larry

[paul-f]

I have attempted to educate some buyers of "interesting" phones about the historical significance of their purchases, in hopes that they will preserve them or at least make reversible modifications.

On the other hand, if a seller tried to tell me what to do with a phone I bought, I'd totally ignore him/her!   

[Victor Laszlo]

I'm reminded of a famous quote: "If a buyer changes, modifies, breaks, paints, burns up or loses a rare telephone, it just means that the value of all of our similar telephones just went up a few bucks."  Niccolò Machiavelli.