&gt; don&#x27;t want the money you&#x27;re willing to pay<p>You could run this same critique against any bid after the first bid, because it&#x27;s lower than the amount they were willing to pay. The consequence of your argument is that all auctions are immoral.<p>In reality, prices are negotiated between a field of willing suppliers and purchasers. There will almost always be some &quot;producer surplus,&quot; some amount producers get beyond their bedrock price, and some &quot;consumer surplus,&quot; some amount consumers save over what they would have paid. It&#x27;s just typical to find some middle ground in any transaction.<p>Here there was a middle ground, because $1 was not the only compensation, there were other personal benefits from taking on the work. It seems at the core you&#x27;re saying he should have only valued money, that he should not have been allowed to &quot;enjoy the work for other reasons&quot; unless cash was involved, because some people prefer cash.<p>That doesn&#x27;t seem like a sound ethical principle either.<p>&gt; To fail to understand this basic difference is silly.<p>Also, maybe avoid dismissing other commenters as &quot;silly.&quot; It&#x27;s how these threads tend to slide off the rails.<p>EDIT: Warning - Sorry for some ninja edits, tried to expand my position. I didn&#x27;t delete anything controversial, just added additional thoughts.