If I go to a store and look at any product then buy it online, have I violated the gospel or any moral law?

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atassina

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If I go to a store and look at any product then buy it online, have I violated the gospel or any moral law?
 
That’s how a free market society works. I realized after my freshman year of college that buying textbooks from the school was a ripoff, so I would go to the student store and find out the information on the books i needed and buy them online. In answer to your question, no of course not assuming your not buying something illegally.
 
If I try on shoes, clothes, and generally examine other purchasable items, aren’t I violating an ethical rule? It seems that I am using the benefits of the items in a brick-and-mortar store without following through on the unwritten agreement: “I am there to purchase something, therefore my presence in the store may lead to a purchase from them.”

However, if I have no intent to purchase from them, am I not stealing something from the merchant? Why? Because my real intent is use the items in the store to buy online. Something is wrong with this approach. My moral radar is beeping loudly on this issue.
 
atassina said:
If I try on shoes, clothes, and generally examine other purchasable items, aren’t I violating an ethical rule? It seems that I am using the benefits of the items in a brick-and-mortar store without following through on the unwritten agreement: “I am there to purchase something, therefore my presence in the store may lead to a purchase from them.”

However, if I have no intent to purchase from them, am I not stealing something from the merchant? Why? Because my real intent is use the items in the store to buy online. Something is wrong with this approach. My moral radar is beeping loudly on this issue.
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If your well-formed conscience is yelling at you not to do this, then you have an obligation to listen. However, THE ACTions, you have described are not grave in matter. If it were, window shopping, or walking around in a shopping mall would at least be an instance for near occasion of sin. In your example, the only thing that you are leaving the store with is knowledge (shoe size, how a coat fits, etc). Merchants don’t require payment for this information. The price tag is placed on the item itself and that is what must remain in the store if no purchase is made on your part.
 
Of course not! If the store wants to stay competitive, then they must price the items according to what people will pay. If the store’s price tag is higher, that is a chance the store is taking…will people pay that much to have the item now, or will people buy off a website and wait for shipping?

If I can find things online for cheaper, I will buy online. I needed a major item for my home. I went to the brick and mortar store and got all kinds of information from them about this item. It was a big item, they had a sale until the end of the month, but they would not deliver (the store was only a few miles from me, so not a huge issue), so I would have had to use my son’s truck to get the item home.

I researched online, found the exact item at a different retailer, and they were having a free shipping promotion. Plus, there were no brick and mortar stores of that brand in my state, so I did not have to pay sales tax. By purchasing online, I saved over $100, PLUS they delivered the item to my door!!

Yes, I had to wait 2 weeks, instead of taking the item that day, but for $100, I will wait!!

Winning!! 👍
 
The store could charge you admission if they wanted, they don’t, you are welcome to do the things you do for free you are not doing anything wrong, there is no unwritten agreement and the store loses nothing from you visiting, whether you visited or not the store would have the same running costs.

If you knew the various ways such stores try to manipulate you into buying stuff you don’t need and paying them more than it is worth you would not give this a second thought.

I have worked in retail, trust me when I say you owe the store nothing.

Your moral radar is malfunctioning in my opinion, what is morally wrong is to waste your money by spending it frivolously when so much of the world is in need, not saying that is what you are doing by the way.
 
atassina said:
If I go to a store and look at any product then buy it online, have I violated the gospel or any moral law?
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not in my wildest imagination. has someone said something to you to suggest otherwise? Prudence is one of the cardinal virtues, and it is certainly lack of prudence to buy something on line you have not first seen and examined.
 
atassina said:
If I go to a store and look at any product then buy it online, have I violated the gospel or any moral law?
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Are you referring to any specific gospel or moral law? This question seems vague, to me.
 
atassina said:
If I go to a store and look at any product then buy it online, have I violated the gospel or any moral law?
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If you walk into a store and look at any product and then buy it at another store because it’s cheaper, have you violated the gospel or any moral law?

If you need gasoline, are you morally obliged to go to the first gas station you see, or are you allowed to go to a gas station a block away that has it 10 cents a gallon cheaper?

Are you morally culpable if you clip coupons (since somebody else may not be able to afford to subscribe to the newspaper where the coupons are inserted)?

In other words, there is no moral law against thrift.
 
I have actually done the opposite from time to time.

Find something I like on-line and print it out … then take it to a store and ask what they can do for me.

With appliances, particularly, the store’s response is … hmmm, well, I think we can do better … and they will deliver, install, service, and take away the old appliance.
 
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