
Ask HN: Do you sell to your friends? - dmitripopov
My product is featured on BitsDuJour today, and early in the morning I got a purchase notification with dramatically familiar name and email. I refunded the order right away and contacted the person with anger and frustration. I always give away free licenses of my product to people I connect with personally, so it was very disappointing to know that someone I know so well tried to buy a license instead of just asking for it. She replied that asking for a free license of a 299USD product was unacceptable for her self-esteem and the full price was too high so she took advantage of the discount. Oh well...<p>Now I am left with mixed emotions. Is it OK after all to sell to your friends? Given that it is not a physical product and it does not cost me much to give it for free. Furthermore there may be others who even felt uncomfortable when I angrily rejected their money...<p>What is your experience with situations like this?
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gus_massa
Don't be angry, take this as a friendly support of your business. She think
that it's a good product and she need it, so she wants to buy it. As a side
effect, the money will help you to keep your business afloat. It's a win-win.

It depends a lot on the nationality/ethnicity of each person. Where are you
from? Where is she from? If you are from country A and she is from country B
and both live in country C you need an UN expert to answer the question.

It also depends on the profession. Some profession have an honor code. Some
professions are more eager to give a free first consult. And it probably
depends on other factor too.

Have you offered to give a free license? If she refuses the free license,
should you offer it again? It depend s lot on the nationality/ethnicity.

Can you offer a free upgrade? I'm not sure if this is an aceptable solution
for both parts!!!

tl;dr: Humans are complicated :)

~~~
dmitripopov
Anger was an initial reaction :) I got cooled down pretty soon.

We share the same ethnicity but live in different countries now. I think it
has more to do with personal traits than ethnicity.

Anyway, I can't except her money. I guess it's a kind of my own personality
glitch :)

