Fair or Unfair?

In the past, I've always asked myself if it could be considered as fraud when people who do businesses try to make as much profit as they can on a product, while knowing fully well that the cost of making that product is way lesser.

_{photo by Xavier Teo}

Is it wrong to sell a product that cost just two dollar for the entire cost of making and packaging that product for a hundred dollar, making over ninety-eight dollar profit on it?

Many people have had different answers to this question, and while some say that it isn't wrong because it's business, and you're actually paying for something, others say it is wrong to do such a thing, but then I couldn't help but notice that those who say it's wrong base their reasons off on morals and human conscience, and not based off of something like a law or a rule that could see to it that people who do this kind of things are punished in some kind of way when caught.

Personally, I think I'm still sitting on the fence for this one because I remember back in the day when I still was a little boy, I had heard a story from someone else in church, talking about another member of that same church who was into the business of selling cars.

And according to the story I heard, the man had earlier bought two cars for a particular amount, and when he sold the first one, he had made a profit that was enough to cover for the capital he used in buying both cars. When I heard that, I remember thinking that he must have gotten lucky and made a lot of money from the sale, but I only saw it as profit and not as someone who was preying on those who had no idea what the price of what they were buying was being sold for.

To me, that is business. As long as no one is forcefully taking money from you, and you're satisfied with what you're paying for, it shouldn't really matter if the prices of that product was hiked up or not. It will only hurt when you eventually find out the truth, just like I felt when I told the story of how someone intentionally lied to me about the prices of some of my school documents the other day.

It hurts, but I could do nothing about it, and all everyone who heard the story said the day I found out was that the guy outsmarted me, so I counted my losses and lived with it.

Thinking about the whole thing, all I can say is that doing something like that is wrong, but I'm not one hundred percent sure that it's a crime... But then I stand to be corrected.

Also, let say we flip it the entire situation and the guy who sells the product, instead of making profits, sells it for a loss because the guy who's buying it from him knows that the seller is desperately in need of money.. Is that wrong for the buyer to do or is it just business??